Best Road Bikes: Seven Race And All-Rounder Bikes Worth Considering

Introduction

The past few years have been unusual for the cycling industry. Demand has outstripped supply, and new bike launches have been fewer and further between than in a typical season. That does not mean there has been nothing worth riding. A handful of machines stand out for how well they combine low weight, sensible specification and day-to-day usability.

The seven bikes below are the ones we would point a friend towards when they are shopping for a new road bike. Some are out-and-out race machines, one is a value-focused entry point, and one deliberately turns its back on aerodynamic optimisation. Each has a clear purpose, and each has trade-offs worth understanding before you commit.

How We Chose These Bikes

We looked at the things that decide whether a bike stays enjoyable after the first month: frame weight and ride quality, aerodynamic work that is backed by real data, the specification you actually get for the money, tyre clearance, and how easy the bike is to live with and adjust. Integration matters here too. Fully hidden cables look clean, but a two-piece bar and stem or a standard round seat post makes a bike far simpler to fit and to sell on later.

Price is part of the picture, but not the whole of it. A cheaper bike with a good frame and room for a wheel upgrade can be a smarter long-term buy than an expensive bike with a specification you cannot change, and a slightly heavier frame with better geometry can be more rewarding to ride than a lighter one that fights you.

Giant TCR: A Light Race Bike With Aero Touches

The TCR, short for Total Compact Road, is a thoroughbred race bike from Giant. It has always been a lightweight machine, and at its most recent update Giant sharpened the TCR’s aerodynamic credentials with truncated ellipse tubing, a shape claimed to reduce drag. Notably, the TCR does not adopt the dropped seat stay trend seen elsewhere, and from an aesthetic point of view that is easy to appreciate.

Weight remains the headline. The top-end model comes in at 6.6 kg, while the Shimano Ultegra Di2 build sits at 7.37 kg with 42 mm carbon wheels and a power meter as standard. That build costs £5,199 or $6,000, and in its 2021 form the TCR won a best race bikes test on the strength of being lighter than the competition.

Across the range there is space for 32 mm tyres, and Giant sends all of its carbon models out of the door with tubeless wheels, which suits riders who like sealant setups. The brand also continues to avoid fully integrated cables, using a two-piece bar and stem instead. That is not the fashionable choice, but it is a practical one. The top-spec Advanced SL Zero, with a frameset at £2,549 or $3,350, was less convincing; the ride felt quite stiff, and much of that comes down to the integrated seat post, which also limits saddle height adjustment to a few millimetres and can affect resale value.

Liv Langma: A Race Bike Built Around Female Riders

Liv is Giant’s sister company, and it builds bikes around female riders. The Langma is its own bike rather than a rebadged model, but it shares many of the conventions of the TCR, and it has been raced at World Tour level by the Liv Racing team.

The first Langma was not entirely convincing, but for 2022 Liv increased fork stiffness by 50 percent on the SL model, and that change came through clearly in the ride quality. Tyre clearance matches the TCR at 32 mm, and the Langma pairs truncated ellipse tubing for aerodynamic gains with skinny, traditional seat stays.

Boardman SLR 8.9: Strong Specification At An Entry-Level Price

The Boardman SLR 8.9 costs £1,100, which is admittedly a little cheeky given that it won a sub-£1,000 group test. The reason it earned that win is straightforward: the specification is good enough to justify saving a bit longer. The frame is aerodynamically optimised carbon, and Boardman built its own wind tunnel before discovering that running one is a tough business, so its aero claims carry a certain amount of added respect.

It was the only rim brake bike in that test, while everything else at the price came with cable-operated disc brakes. In braking testing the rim stoppers were actually the fastest, and the rim brakes, carbon frame and lighter wheels brought the overall weight down to 8.75 kg. That is heavier than bikes costing three or five times as much, but considerably lighter than the competition at this price. Shifting comes from Shimano 105, another impressive inclusion at this level.

The geometry is fairly sporting, with a low front end, but the reach is not particularly long, which makes the bike easy to live with. If you want a more stretched-out position, a longer stem is all it takes. The overall conclusion was that this is the kind of machine that can stay with a rider from the beginning of the cycling journey right through to racing, and a wheel upgrade makes it an excellent investment.

Vitus Vitesse Evo: All-Rounder Performance Without The Huge Outlay

Vitus is the in-house brand at Wiggle, and the Vitesse Evo is a bike for a rider who wants a performance package without a huge outlay. The Ultegra Di2 model tested comes in at £3,699, which is still a significant investment, but look for similar specification elsewhere and you will need to spend about £1,000 more. Vitus also offers a more aero-focused bike, while the Vitesse Evo is built as an all-rounder with climbing and great handling at the front of mind.

The built bike in a size medium weighs 6.67 kg. The frame clears 30c tyres and has space for up to 32s depending on the tyre and rim combination. Brake and Di2 cables are exposed at the handlebar, which is not entirely fashionable but will suit some preferences. The geometry is sporting, with tight 410 mm chain stays that create a really nippy ride quality.

The 30 mm wheels on that build were from Reynolds, with a 21 mm internal rim width and 29.5 mm external, and they pumped 25c Schwalbe Pro One tyres out to 28 mm. Much of the finishing kit, including the handlebars, stem and seat post, is carbon, which most mainstream brands simply cannot offer at this price. It is all standard too: a 27.2 mm round seat post and standard bar and stem measurements, which is good news for anyone who likes to fettle and tinker. The ride performed excellently on climbs, descents and flat roads, and the only thing left to wish for was a deeper 50 mm wheel.

Merida Scultura: Aero And Comfort Refinements

Merida’s aero race bike is the Reacto, and much of what the brand learned developing it has been passed down to the Scultura 5, which receives a subtle 2022 facelift. The marketing pitch reads a little like buzzword bingo: lighter, more aero, more compliant vertically, and increased lateral stiffness. Merida did send over significant data behind those claims, though.

The Scultura 5 CF5 frame has a claimed weight of 822 g, with the fork at 389 g. That is a 38 g saving over the previous iteration, or 4.4 percent, which is not to be sniffed at from an engineering standpoint even if few riders would notice it on the road. The primary aerodynamic update is a new one-piece cockpit with all of the cables hidden from view, complete with split spacers and a metal sleeve that wraps around the carbon steerer to remove any worry about cable or clamping damage.

The hidden cables, a hidden seat post clamp and even lower seat stays add up to a claimed 4.2 percent reduction in aerodynamic drag. Merida has also increased comfort by fitting 30 mm tyres and shortening the seat tube to allow more flex through a longer seat post. The model tested is a team edition with Dura-Ace at £7,750, and lower specification models are expected to follow.

Cervélo R5: A Dedicated Climbing Bike

The R5 is Cervélo’s climbing bike, and the 2022 model has already proven itself at World Tour level. It is not one of those semi-light creations; the focus is squarely on low weight. The frame weighs 703 g with a 329 g fork in a size 56, and savings have been found elsewhere too, with the stem and bar losing 12 g and the seat post 20 g. The result easily comes in under 6.8 kg.

Cable routing is now internal, providing a marginal aerodynamic saving, and minor adjustments to the tube profiles save a few watts, such as a fastback profile on the seat tube and seat post. The geometry is unchanged, with the fork trail adjusted by half a millimetre to compensate for a larger tyre. What has changed is the seat post offset, from 25 mm to 15 mm in the larger sizes, which Cervélo says allows for the more forward position that bike fits are leaning towards.

The junction of the down tube, seat tube and seat stays sits 15 mm lower than before, making the frame more compact. Compact frames are generally a little lighter than non-compact ones, and dropping that junction also increases the leverage of the seat post, giving a little more compliance without altering the geometry.

Specialized Aethos: Ride Quality Ahead Of Aerodynamics

The Specialized Aethos is a very different beast to everything else here. Specialized markets it as a non-race bike because it has not been optimised for aerodynamics, but the geometry mirrors that of the Tarmac. It simply uses round tubes, which make for a stunning ride quality. Ridden on the same loop as a Tarmac, it showed minimal speed difference for a very similar power output, so unless you are racing and every second counts, it is easy to recommend.

The Aethos was designed to be focused entirely on ride quality, and that results in two tube profiles that are extremely traditional. What separates this bike from something you might have bought in the 1990s is the weight: the frame on the S-Works model in a size 56 is just 585 g with a 270 g fork. That is another reason it is a non-race bike, because it is simply too light for the UCI limits. A featherweight frame always feels amazing thanks to quick acceleration and a weightless climbing feel. Science says aerodynamics makes you faster, and it is right, but this bike has you grinning from ear to ear from the very beginning of every ride.

The S-Works bike is not cheap at £11,750, and the non-S-Works model is still to be properly assessed, though it has a slightly heavier frame. For 2022 Specialized also released a Rival eTap specification for £4,500. The only caveat is that at these kinds of prices you might be able to go custom and have ride quality tuned for you. If you do not have the time for that, and you ride your bike for the pure, unbridled love of it, the Aethos is well worth checking out.

Buying Advice

Matching the bike to the riding you actually do matters more than chasing the lightest frame on the list. If you race or ride fast group efforts, the Giant TCR and the Cervélo R5 are the most obviously performance-focused options, while the Liv Langma delivers a similar race-ready character in a package built around female riders. The Vitus Vitesse Evo sits in the middle as a genuine all-rounder, with carbon finishing kit and standard sizing that make it easy to live with.

At the value end, the Boardman SLR 8.9 is a reminder that a well-chosen frame and a sensible specification can carry a rider a long way, especially with a wheel upgrade later on. If ride feel matters more to you than aerodynamic numbers, the Specialized Aethos is the outlier worth seeking out. Whichever you choose, check tyre clearance, look at whether the cockpit and seat post are standard parts, and think about how easily you can adjust the fit. Those details tend to matter long after the initial excitement fades.

Conclusion

These seven bikes cover a wide range of priorities, from an entry-level machine that can grow with a rider to featherweight frames built for climbing and a bike that deliberately ignores aerodynamic optimisation. None of them is perfect for everyone, and that is the point. Match the bike to the way you ride, and any of them can be a rewarding purchase.