2018 TRENDS

The category that pioneered disc brakes for road bikes is in many ways the place to go for trend spotting. Unhindered by UCI rules and focused solely on comfort, efficiency, user friendliness, reliability and any other thing that makes long-distance road cycling more pleasurable, endurance bikes lead where others follow. Unsurprisingly, disc brakes have continued to dominate, especially with the introduction of the new Shimano 105 groupset, which has its own 105-branded hydraulic components for the first time. Canyon’s Endurace CF SLX is its first disc-brake-dedicated road bike for the endurance market. But now we’re seeing some nice refinements: flat-mount dropouts make for a tidier look, and with the large-scale abandonment of QRS in favour of 12mm thru-axles, we’re seeing removable levers specced for even cleaner aesthetics. With disc brakes comes more tyre clearance and endurance bikes have been busily exploiting this so that the 28mm tyre is increasingly specced as standard, offering more comfort and control with decreased rolling resistance. Brands like BMC, with its new Roadmachine, have taken the sleek and sophisticated integration of the Teammachine race bike, applied the same Tuned Compliance Concept and ended up with an impressively light frame weight of 1,100g. However, while in 2018 race bikes are available in any material as long as it’s carbon, endurance bikes also come in steel, aluminium and titanium. Check out Mason, B’twin and Enigma over the next few pages for examples of why this category has so much to offer.