S-Works McLaren Tarmac

Consider this an FYI: with just 250 Specialized-McLaren Tarmacs made worldwide, only 15 allocated to the UK, and all of them sold during a month-long window in July, this isn’t an article on which to assess a future purchase. It is, however, an opportunity to show you again Nico Roche’s stunning Tour de France steed and to offer a little further insight into how a Formula One constructor and major league bicycle brand collaborate, courtesy of Specialized UK’s James Booth.  “It was a bigger project than just ‘bike’,” Booth told us, alluding to the S-Works McLaren Venge project on which the two giants first collaborated. “This time we worked on frame, handlebars, and wheels together. It was a really cool project to try and do a bit more with the technology they can provide.”

While the first collaboration was limited to the Venge chassis, the latest partnership has extended to special editions of the Roval CLX 40 tubular wheel and a new aero handlebar. McLaren’s involvement in the development of the Tarmac stems back to 2011, Booth revealed, and a small number of ‘black’ bikes placed at Astana’s disposal for the Tour. Seeds were sewn for the ‘Rider-First Engineered’ philosophy that Specialized has developed for the new Tarmac: one in which tube profiles and geometries vary across the size range in a bid to match ride quality to a rider’s build – more of which on the following page.

Specialized UK were originally allocated only 10 of the S-Works McLaren Tarmacs, but after selling all of them within a week, had its allocation increased to 15 – presumably generating a not inconsiderable return on a bike costing £15,000.

Roche and Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang rode the new machine at the Tour; one whose chassis is said to be around 10 per cent lighter than the S-Works iteration. The weight saving is a pleasing, but unintended consequence of a project whose primary aim was to increase stiffness. Omega Pharma-QuickStep’s Michal Kwiatkowski was another to receive the McLaren-edition S-Works Tarmac for the French race, and a handful more were deployed at the Tour of Poland, Booth says. “But we didn’t give them to ‘key’ leaders,” he continues, “for the simple reason that there’s enough pressure without changing bikes.” Astana’s Tour winner, Nibali, and OPQS sprint king, Mark Cavendish, rolled out of Leeds on ‘standard’ S-Works bikes with custom paint schemes (the Manxman for the first and only time), while pre-race favourite, Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), deployed his usual bike.

While Specialized UK’s Chessington HQ represents a considerably shorter commute from the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, most of the collaborative work between senior engineers from the two manufacturers took place in California, at Morgan Hill, according to Booth – the base for two of Specialized’s lead engineers, Chris D’Aluisio and Sam Pickman. D’Aluisio, in particular, has been central to the latest collaboration, having previously worked with McLaren on developments of the Venge and S-Works TT helmet.

“There’ll be more to come, for sure,” Booth says of the collaboration. “We’ve got an extended partnership. So far it’s working well. We’re not rushing to produce new products. We’re only doing it if we can make a rider benefit, and if we can’t, we’ll move on to the next project. There’s no specific target, like ‘one bike a year’ or anything like that; it will only be when things come to fruition.”