Specialized unveils the Tarmac SL4
Latest offering of the Tarmac family is lighter, stiffer and faster than ever before
When the Tour de France starts Saturday, select riders from the teams HTC High-Road, Astana, and Saxo Bank-SunGard, including reigning champ Alberto Contador, will be racing aboard the next generation of the Specialized Tarmac – the SL4.
“The pure race bike is the culmination of everything we’ve learned to date about working hand-in-hand with pros: taking their insight and putting it to use designing the fastest bikes in the pro peloton, without sacrificing the ride quality we all demand,” representatives from Specialized Canada said.
“The Tarmac SL4 is the stiffest frame and complete module in the industry (torsional), and by far the stiffest and lightest Tarmac we’ve ever made, resulting in a lightning fast machine. But while improving on those numbers, we’ve also managed to improve vertical compliance to maintain the legendary ride quality of a Tarmac. We all know it’s not just the numbers but the how balanced the ride is-that is our magic. And if you ask the pro riders who have racked up thousands of miles and hundreds of wins on Tarmacs over the years, they would agree.”
The bike will be available in Canada as either a frameset only ($3,700) or as a complete bike (SRAM Red version will retail for $8,800) and will arrive in retailers later this year.
