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feature
Should I buy a race bike or an endurance bike? The big differences, explained
If you’re in the market for a new road bike then you could be torn between copying what the pros are racing around on or an endurance road bike. To help you answer that question we’ve pitted a Specialized Sl7 tarmac race bike against a Scott Addict 10 endurance bike.
Geometry
The most significant difference between the two bikes is their geometry. Whereas the Tarmac allows you to get as low and aero as inhumanely possible, the Scott feels more upright which will suit riders lacking flexibility and can help to reduce back pain at the end of long rides, especially for anyone who isn’t putting in ridiculous mileage each week like the pros.
> Bike geometry 101: Learn why frame angles & trail matter
Let's take a look at the head tube as this is often a dead giveaway. On our 54cm Specialized, it measures just 131mm. This not only puts your bars very low but the long top tube means the reach sits out at 387mm. Compare that to the Addict 10 and the longer head tube (145mm) makes the bars less of a stretch, meaning you don’t have to bend over as far. Of course, you could always put a load of spacers under the tarmac stem and use a shorter stem, but will affect the handling as the bike simply wasn’t designed to be used in this way.
Comfort or speed
The stiffness of the frame will also influence comfort. Typically, a race bike will be designed with maximum power transfer in mind whereas an endurance road bike prioritises compliance a lot more. This means that the endurance bike can take some of the 'buzz' out of the road and even though the latest race bikes no longer shake you to pieces they are significantly harsher.
This comfort often comes with an assumption that the endurance bike will be slower. But endurance bikes can be very fast if set up for speed. It was a Trek Domane that was ridden to the cobbled victory at Paris Roubaix Femmes with Elisa Longo Borghini opting for the endurance bike over the Emonda or Madone race bikes that she usually rides. This is despite 77% of the course being on paved tarmac.
> How to make your bike more comfortable - check out our 14 tips
An endurance bike isn’t going to hold you up very much, especially if the road is anything but perfect which, let's be honest, is most of the time. If you’re looking to complete a sportive as fast as possible then the additional speed due to comfort is really underrated. It is surprising how much getting beaten up by the road can fatigue you and it’s no secret that being fresher means you’re faster. You're also more likely to enjoy your ride.
Handling
The handling of each bike differs slightly thanks to the variations in geometry. The steeper head tube on our race bike makes it much twitchier, with faster steering. This is helpful when there are tight corners in quick succession such as during a criterium race, but it can lead to less confidence on descents.
The slacker angles and longer chainstays on the Scott Addict mean that the steering is slower but this leaves the bike feeling stable and more controlled. The easiest way to put this into context is by riding no-handed, on the Addict you have a good amount of time to react to where the bike is going, whereas on the Tarmac you have to continually readjust as the bike tries to dart from one direction to the other.
Equipment
Before heading out and buying either bike, there are a few other things to consider. Typically, an endurance bike will come with rangier gearing. For example, this Scott comes standard with a 10/36 cassette giving a sub 1:1 ratio which really helps on steep climbs for less powerful riders and prevents you from grinding up a hill at a really slow cadence. This does result in bigger gaps between the gears but Sram’s 12-speed setup does help to mitigate this.
Endurance bikes also typically come with wider bars as being aero is less of a priority. 44cm bars are common on endurance bikes just like the bar you'll find on the Addict. After purchasing either an endurance or race bike, there are changes that can be made to make a race bike more endurance-oriented, or an endurance bike feel more like a race bike. Bar width and stem length/angle are two of the more cost-effective methods.
> Upgrade your ride! - Six of the best bike upgrades
Race bikes are fitting wider and wider rubber in their frames but you’ll often find that Endurance bikes will have more clearance. Many racers now compete on 28mm tyres and are more than happy to train on wider than that for the huge comfort benefit. Endurance bikes can often take 32mm tyres, but if you want to use large tyres then make sure you do some research before buying.
So, which to buy?
Endurance bikes tend to get a bit of a bad rep for being slow but we think that quite a lot of amateur cyclists will actually be faster on one. Bikes like the Addict 10 can still feel pretty lively with a set of carbon wheels and a narrower bar while still keeping you comfortable on long rides thanks to the more relaxed geometry. Although minor changes such as stem height and length can blur the lines between endurance and race bikes you should think carefully about what you’ll be using the bike for and how often you’ll use it. There really is a limit to how far you can take either bike in the other direction before you start compromising both aesthetics and performance.
> The 10 best road bikes under £3,000 for 2022
> The 10 best 2021 sportive and endurance bikes
Our key piece of advice is to be realistic about your flexibility and to start by going for a bike fit. That way, you'll know which options are suitable for you.
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28 comments
The N∞-bike:
https://www.lafraisecycles.com/randonneur-650b
Road bike speeds for a real world bike.
Only disadvantage the price, since you can't find these ready made. But contrary to overpriced road bikes these actually are worth the money and thus keep their value far better.
Should I buy a race bike or an endurance bike?
What a silly question. The answer of course, is both.
Remember N=N+1 (apart from when N+1= divorce).
and yet P=NP would result in numerous accolades.
That formula is no longer valid. The upgraded version of the equation is: N = n-1+2.
Firstly, one must eye up the bike shed content to seek that bicycle which has become too old-hat. It might be the groupset, the type of brakes or even the paint scheme that marks out the now useless item. This must be sold (to an unfashionable fool, obviously) to provide a deposit for .....
The +2 new bicycles that have the latest gubbin, novel-type label and/or colour scheme. There is always at least two new special types of bicycle needed, as the advert svengalis will make ever so clear in their glamour-dream pics and hyperbolic gushes, emitted via the PR department to cycling websites across the globe.
But wait! Somewhere in the depths of the roiling sea of cycle-stuff emporiums, one or two heretics may be heard. "Wot is this all-road bike I hear of", you may wonder, "that is supposedly 'the only bike you'll ever need'"? Perhaps the formula can be N = 1-N?
This, after all, was the case for all we olepharts who cycled before 1979. One bike had to do as it was the only one we could afford. (Some of us even had to use the never-never). It's a wonder anyone cycled at all, eh, without STI levers and brakes that actually work!?
Anyroadup, if you do clear your bike shed of the five bikes in there now (or even the seven) in favour of the one all-road, you could think of it this way: when the consumer compulsion bites once more into your brain, with the usual resulting impulse of "buy more", there'll be plenty room in the bike shed to fill next to the all-roader (which will anyway likely become the latest -1).
*******
BTW, if there is a class of bike that is an endurance bike and the other classes of bike are therefore not-endurance, does this mean that the non-endurance sort can only be rid for short distances and periods? What are the lengths of these non-endurance rides?
Along similar lines, if there's an all-road bike and other bikes are meant only for this sort of road or that, to what degree may we differentiate the special road type bikes in order to evolve even more bike types to buy? I may patent the names of these different bike riding surface types, so I can pester the eventual inventors of such bikes for royalties.
How about: the Scottish over-gravelled backroad bike? Or the climate change melting-tar summer road bike (with tyres clad in non-stick teflon or similar and stabilisers to prevent the slides and topples)?
But I woffle. (It's that or trim the immense laurel hedge).
If I can only afford one bike, does that make me an olephart? I'm afraid I didn't cycle before 1979. The word is fun though - I keep flipping between pronunciations: the "old fart" derivative and the "elephant" derivative.
If N is the number of bikes you already have, then this will never work.
Seems reasonable to me. If you have no bikes, get one. If you have one bike you're fine, no rush to get a bike. If already you have more than one bike you'll probably be increasingly feeling like you're missing some from your collection and you need more. But if you're living with someone they feel you could usefully lose a similar number...
N is on both sides though so I can't see it working.
I assumed he was referring to a dynamical system where we have an implicit "time" dimension. Which of course would allow for some interesting cycles. (sorry)
Unlikely.
I'd assumed it was using p-adic numbers, so for example using 3-adic numbers, you can use N = 2 to solve the equation N = 1 - N
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-adic_number
Again, unlikely, the origin of the quoted formula does not have N on both sides in the first place. The correct number of bikes to own is n+1 where n is the number already owned, and a minimum of 3.
N = ½
Edited: to make the fraction more obvious
Quit clowning around.
So is a trike 1½ bikes?
Both.
Did ye no notice the "1"? Would it help if I called it "+1"?
If you watch 'Bike fit Tuesday' on You Tube, then it's a fairly simple answer. Race bikes are designed for 20 something pro racers who can put out xxx watts for 4-7 hours......Not the bloke who sits behind a desk from 9-5.
Be honest, put the ego away and get the most comfortable bike.......
No doubt somebody from the Peterborough Gazette will be along in a minute to inform me that weight doesn't matter, but the 2 bikes being compared here differ by 2 kg, so probably worth a mention in the article. Trust me, for those of us who climb a minimum of 1200m every time out, 2kg DOES matter.
(Specialized's own figures " ....at under 6.8kg out of the box, the Tarmac SL7 is ...." Scott's figures for the Addict 10 Endurance is 8.75kg)
In the English Fenlands maybe you have a point, but seen in the Alps or Pyrenees, a 3 spacer race bike configuration is fairly typical, and sensible. For those of us who spend our lives grinding up cols on the hoods, we have neither the need for a slammed stem, nor the additional ballast of an endurance bike (2kg in the example above). Best not to make sweeping generalisations based on your own small view of the world.
Have to agree!
I'm in Peterboghorror and have a TCR with spacers 😂
Are you racing?
Yes: Get a race bike.
No: Get an endurance bike.
If you are not racing you are only riding to enjoy the experience and any fitness and performance can be achieved and compared on any bike, so do it the most comfortable way.
But what if you are racing, but doing an endurance race, like the Transcontinental?
I've just got an Emonda SLR and it's great for the hills which is my main interest, I am comfortable in a fairly aero position though so happy on the flat too - I'm 51 now though. I also have a ti endurance bike for bigger distances but 100 miles on my Emonda was ok the other day
One interesting thing to clarify is whether for example a canyon endurace vs a canyon ultimate will be significantly different with all components being similar and the spacers set so that the handlebars are as identical as possible (ie removing more spacers on the endurace than the ultimate). Any experiences?
Honestly, the biggest problem I see is people just not being honest with themselves on what they expect from a bike and how they intend to use it.
Bike adverts are very good at selling us appealing stories, "be the fastest" to "cross a continent solo whilst carrying all possible supplies", but we're terrible at filtering these to answer a simple "what is most relevant for me?". I see race bikes with enough spacers to make the designer cry, and hear enough people complaining that they wish they could get lower on their slammed ultra endurance bike with ridiculous negative rise stem...
News Flash: If your idea of a good ride is a gentle journey for coffee (and that's a great riding style, no judgement
) then you don't need a Dogma or anything else overtly racy, no matter how sexy they may look in slammed setup, and if you're never going to do more than a Sunday ride, you probably are going to be frustrated by the sedateness of an ultra endurance cross continent bike with all the luggage attachment points that are never going to be used for anything other than a jacket and a sandwich....
Best solution is multiple bikes, I've got an "any weather, any time of day, any distance" bike and an overt (but not extreme) racer, but if you can only have one, you need to be really honest with yourself about what rides you *actually do*...
I wonder what they'd say if they saw my one-time UCI team development squad bike now (eight years later), not only maxxed out on spacers but with a 17 degree stem, so the bars are a scant 10cm below saddle height? I didn't want to give up the low weight (UCI limit 6.8 kg), stiffness and handling sharpness it offers but a back that's seen 53 years and too much rugby can't cope with a slammed position any longer. It gets some odd looks from the cognoscenti but for me it's perfect.
Buy an Aethos and you get both: A comfortable, fast, racy bike... 😉 (Not an advert, just a fan)
It's been a while since I've been window shopping, so I had to look it up. Wow. The Aethos hits the mark, a contemporary update on the general purpose Italian (and Italian-influenced) racing bikes we loved in the 1970s and '80s. Since I bought my Madone 10 years ago, this is the first new bike at any price level that has made me think about getting a new one. It's an exact fit to what I think a performance bike should be.