"You can buy a car for that!" It’s a comment we hear a lot when the subject of expensive road bikes comes up.
You certainly can spend the price of a small hatchback on a bicycle these days. To see just what exotica is out there for a price of a new Peugeot 108 and just for a bit of fun, we’ve rounded up some of the most expensive road bikes currently available.
Materials: all these bikes have carbon fibre frames, and usually carbon fibre almost-everything-else. That's no surprise: if you're trying to make the ultimate bike, you want it to be feather-light and that means very high-strength composites
Components: SRAM Red eTap AXS, Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 and Campagnolo Super Record EPS are the high-zoot groupsets of choice here, all of them electronic
Looks: if you've got it, flaunt it, right? Colnago and Wilier certainly think so with their Ramato and art decor paint jobs, and Trek will paint your Project One bike in pretty much any colour scheme you can imagine, but many others are surprisingly modest
Disc brakes rule okay? Not quite — there are a couple of rim-braked bikes here because they're still the stoppers of choice if you're speccing with a gram scale
14 of the best and most expensive production road bikes for 2021
- Specialized S-Works Aethos Founders Edition — £13,000
- Merida Reacto Team-E 2021 — £9,000
- Bianchi Specialissima Super Record EPS 2021 — £11,999
- Giant TCR Advanced SL 0 Disc 2021 — £9,999
- Wilier Zero SLR 2021 — £11,950
- Canyon Aeroad CFR Disc EPS 2021 — £9,749
- BMC Teammachine SLR01 One 2021 — £10,250
- Trek Madone SLR 9 eTap 2021 — ~£11,950
- Cannondale SuperSix HM Carbon Dura Ace Di2 2021 — £10,499
- Colnago C64 Art Decor — £10,299
- Scott Addict RC Ultimate 2021 — £11,889
- Cervelo PX Series Red eTap AXS — £11,099
- Storck Fascenario.3 Platinum Aston Martin — ~£14,500
- Pinarello Dogma F12 Disk — £12,000
The cheapest bike here costs nine grand while the most expensive is almost twice that - and with a perfect storm of a global pandemic and Britain leaving the EU on 1st January affecting supply, many of them have gone up in price even more since our last update. Most of these bikes fall foul of the UCI's increasingly daft 6.8kg weight limit, but we don't think anyone who can afford one of these is going to care very much.
These aren’t crazy one-off bikes with expensive paint jobs, oh no, they're all standard production road bikes that you can buy online or from your local bike shop, though we doubt many shops will carry any of these bikes in stock.
Specialized S-Works Aethos Founders Edition 2021
Specialized says the frame of its new Aethos flagship featherweight weighs just 588g in a 56cm, a gram-count achieved by eliminating "lazy plies"— the layers of carbon fibre in a conventional frame that aren't really doing much aside from adding mass.
The objective, according to Specialized, wasn't to make a super-competitive race bike, that's the Tarmac SL7, but to improve ride quality for riders "that yearn for more than racing, that see the experiences of the open road as an equivalent to toeing a start line". And, of course, who have a pretty hefty pile of spare cash to spend on a new bike, a combination that's led to even more snarking about dentists than is usual when a major manufacturer launches a superbike.
Still, it's a hell of an achievement and when reviewer Liam tested the pauper's edition (costing £7,250 with Shimano Ultegra shifting) he was mightily impressed with how it performed on the back roads of Wiltshire, Somerset and the Mendip hills. There are just 300 S-Works Aethos Founders Edition bikes with a silver and holographic frame available worldwide, but there's also a more widely available SRAM Red ETap AXS version for just 12 grand if you prefer the Red Gold Chameleon colourway.
Read our review of the Specialized Aethos Pro Ultegra Di2
Find a Specialized dealer
Merida Reacto Team-E 2021 — £9,000
Merida's 2021 Reacto Team-E road bike is a race thoroughbred that excels on flat and rolling terrain. The straight line speed, stiffness and handling are all brilliant, but the ride may be too firm for some. This is unapologetically a race bike. Comfort is the last thing on the Reacto's mind, with the focus being entirely on speed. Kick the pedals round and the bike reacts with a surge befitting the superbike price.
Read our review of the Merida Reacto Team-E
Find a Merida dealer
Bianchi Specialissima Super Record EPS 2021 — £11,999
Back in 1985, at a bike show in London, Bianchi showed one of the prettiest bikes ever, the Centenario, finished in glorious dark chrome and hung with Campagnolo's finely-polished Record C components. I turned to my mate Pete and said "If I put that on my shoulder and run, how far do you think I'd get?" He said "I'll hold them off for you."
With its black carbon finish and just a hint of Bianchi's signature celeste blue, this version of the 2021 Specialissima Super Record EPS stirs similar larcenous feelings. It's a bike you'd surely have to ride like you stole it, so you might as well.
Giant TCR Advanced SL 0 Disc 2021 — £9,999
If you've got it, flaunt it, right? That maxim doesn't seem to have reached the ears of Giant's design team. They've chosen to hide the light of the new TCR Advanced SL 0 Disc under a stealthy grey bushel. It could only be less noticeable if it had a Klingon cloaking device.
And that's a pity because this is an absolutely stunning bike, in the words of our own Mat Brett. "Chuck the bike around, brake hard, do whatever you want, you won't cause it to waver or fluster. It's more than confidence inspiring, it's almost freaky," he wrote.
It comes fully decked out with SRAM's latest Red eTap AXS wireless groupset including a Quark power meter and Giant’s own carbon fibre wheels and finishing kit.
Read our review of the Giant TCR Advanced SL 0 Disc
Find a Giant dealer
Wilier Zero SLR 2021 — £11,950
Wilier bills the SLR Zero as the "first ultra-lightweight racing bike with disc brakes and fully integrated cables". That's a category in which it now has plenty of competition, but it's still a featherweight all-rounder by anyone's standards and manages to be both bang tidy with its fully concealed cables and attention-grabbing in this Astana team colour scheme. If you go for Shimano Ultegra Di2 shifting, an entry-level wheelset and one of the standard colourways, this bike can be yours for 'just' £7,100 at the time of writing.
Read our first ride report on the Wilier Zero SLR
Canyon Aeroad CFR Disc EPS 2021 — £9,749
Canyon is usually associated with value-for-money bikes, but with the new Aeroad CFR Disc EPS the German direct sales specialist has pulled out all the stops to create a stunning superbike. It has the same design and tube shaping as the regular Aeroad CF SLX, but uses Toray M40X carbon fibre for a claimed 140g weight saving.
You can have the Aeroad CFR with SRAM, Shimano or Campagnolo's top-end groupsets, but if you're going for maximum bank balance damage, then it's got to be Campagnolo.
Read more: Canyon unveils 2021 Aeroad 065 road bike
BMC Teammachine SLR01 One 2021 — £10,250
It's ten years since BMC rolled out their first Teammachine, a bike solely focussed on racing, but with enough tuned-in compliance that riders would reach the end of the race less fatigued than their rivals. It certainly seemed to go down well with the riders, as the following year Cadel Evans won the Tour de France aboard a Teammachine SLR and in 2012 Philippe Gilbert took the world championship.
BMC say they're now taking aerodynamics into account in the development process for the Teammachine, and as a result the new Teammachine with cables tucked away inside the bar and stem, and bottle cages that nestle into the downtube and seat tube, is "the fastest Teammachine SLR ever designed."
Trek Madone SLR 9 eTap 2021 — ~£11,950
For their 2021 top model Trek have taken the OCLV 800 carbon fibre developed for the latest Émonda and used it to build the Madone SLR frame, shaving 80g off the weight in the process. The new bike also gets the new Bontrager Aeolus RSL VR-C integrated bar and stem, and a choice of high-end Bontrager Aeolus wheels on the Trek Project One bike builder. A classic case of a bike that looks 100mph standing still!
Cannondale SuperSix HM Carbon Dura Ace Di2 2021 — £10,499
Cannondale's flagship endurance bike is packed with high-end tech, including high-modulus carbon fibre, Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 shifting with hydraulic disc brakes and a newly-refined frame that Cannondale says reduces drag over the previous version. And here's the EF Education First team replica in collaboration with Rapha.
Read more: Cannondale shows off bold new EF Pro Cycling team bikes
Read more: Cannondale SuperSix Evo - radical redesign with aero and comfort improvements
Colnago C64 Art Decor — £10,299
If you meld modern materials with traditional Italian frame-building and design, this is what you get. The C64 is a deeply-refined carbon fibre frame that's constructed by bonding tubes into lugs. That might not sound as sophisticated as moulding a frame in one piece, but it makes possible a wide range of frame sizes for a better fit, and it allows incremental refinements like the C64's new one-piece seat tube and lug without scrapping an expensive mould.
The C64 is handmade in Colnago's workshop in Cambiago. This version is fitted with the 11-speed version of Campagnolo's top groupset, Super Record EPS, and has one of the stunning special paint jobs for which Colnago is renowned.
Scott Addict RC Ultimate 2021 — £11,889
The Addict RC is Scott's super-lightweight racing platform, and this is the latest top-of-the-range version with Zipp 303 Firecrest wheels and a one-piece carbon fibre Syncros aero handlebar and stem. Like many 2021 top-end bikes it has SRAM's 12-speed Red eTap AXS wireless electronic shifting and disc brakes.
Cervelo PX Series Red eTap AXS — £11,099
It may not be blessed with looks, but if you’re into pure speed, the triathlon-specific Cervelo PX Series is probably as fast as it gets. This is not a bike for riding to the cafe on, that’s for sure. It's a full carbon fibre construction with SRAM Red eTap AXS gears, an aero chainset, hydraulic disc brakes and Zipp 808 Firecrest wheels.
Storck Fascenario.3 Platinum Aston Martin — ~£14,500
Need a bike to match your Aston Martin Vantage? Storck's got you covered. No guide to the most expensive road bikes could be complete without a Storck, but here the Germans have gone completely bok, outfitting their top-of-the-line Fascenario.3 Platinum with ultra-light carbon fibre components including carbon fibre cranks, THM brakes and Storck's own carbon bars and stem.
Storck's website says there is only a size XL left in stock from the original limited run of 107... so if you're a big lad or lass with an even bigger wallet, you're in luck.
Read our review of the Storck Aerfast Platinum
Pinarello Dogma F12 Disk — £12,000
With the ten grand psychological barrier well and truly smashed in the last couple of years, brands like Pinarello are taking off into the financial stratosphere with ultra-high-tech frames and the latest electronic shifting, in this case SRAM's brand spanking Red eTap AXS 12-speed groupset.
Pinarello says the latest Dogma "achieves the best aerodynamic efficiency values of any Dogma model to date" and comes in two distinct versions for rim and disc brakes.
Read more about the Pinarello Dogma F12 and F12 Disk
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