Ed’s Letter
Everyone knows the n+1 rule. The correct number of bikes to own is one more than the number you currently have – but that only works up to a point. Eventually the equation needs to be reset. Once you have a climber’s bike, an aero bike, an endurance bike, a gravel bike, a touring bike and a unicycle, where do you go next? I suspect this is a question the bike industry has been asking of late, and the answer seems to be: start all over again.
The latest message is that the bikes we have are not really the bikes we need. Oh no. That aero bike should really be lighter, don’t you think? And that climber’s bike should really be more aero. And all of them should be comfier, and why not throw in wide tyre clearance for good measure? Then they can do double duty as off-road gravel grinders.
You don’t want n+1. You want n-n+1, where you get rid of all your obsolescent one-trick bikes and replace them with the one bike, the do-everything bike, the only bike you will ever need.
Certainly this is the message being pushed by bicycling behemoth Specialized recently. At the end of July it revealed the S-works Tarmac SL7, a bike that is lightweight and aero, racy and comfy, crunchy and chewy. So convinced is Specialized of the all-round performance benefits of the SL7 that it is discontinuing its aero model, the Venge, saying, ‘Our sponsored pros used to have to choose on race day whether to ride the aero race bike [Venge] or the light climber’s bike [Tarmac]. There’s no need for that any more.’ And so there it is: one bike to rule them all. No need for anything else.
And then something strange happened. Within a few weeks of the launch of the SL7, Specialized announced a brand new bike: the Aethos (see p13). Ultra-lightweight with almost round tubes and no aero pretensions, it’s the bike for, well, people who want something lighter than the Tarmac. Because, after all, you can’t really expect to get everything you need from just the one bike. No sir, you also need this other bike… And so the equation is reset. N+1 can start all over again.