Industry insider
Our senior tech editor Warren Rossiter caught up with the man behind the Tarmac, Chris Yu, Specialized’s director of integrated technologies
Warren Rossiter: How would you describe the new Tarmac?
Chris Yu: For us the Tarmac is race, from the original through to the new one, it’s been the expression of race. It reflects how racing has developed. We’ve had a lot of success over the years, thanks mostly to our athletes who have helped to refine and sharpen the Tarmac.
WR: What were the key goals in the Tarmac’s development?
CY: The priorities were handling, low weight, aerodynamics and compliance. From a rider perspective, that was how do we make sure they were confident in handling and turning and being fast when descending?
In terms of weight, we dropped 200g from the SL5 frame. We played with the materials, layups and number of plies. We ultimately used a much higher grade carbon fibre and a load more plies than ever before. Extensive wind tunnel testing in our own facility meant we were able to pin down the aerodynamics side of things. For compliance, we looked deeper into the effects of lightness and stiffness, for the Tarmac it’s so much more refined. For example, with the use of the D-shaped seatpost we had work out how to get that shape and engineer more compliance than a round post.
With the Tarmac performance is number one, and with so much heritage we have to get it right, it has to be instantly recognisable as a Tarmac too.