2012 road bikes from Viner, Felt and Giant

It's Bike Porn Friday. Quite frankly, Eurobike is way too big for us to cover it all in depth – or even 10% of it in depth – so here's a quick round up of some of the prettiest road bikes that have caught the collective Road.cc eye over the past couple of days. Don't forget to check back later because we'll be adding more, possibly on the bottom of this story, possibly elsewhere... depends how the mood takes us. 

Italian handbuilt specialists Viner have a new bike at the top of the range, the Maxima RS2. It uses higher strength carbon than Viner have used previously which allows them to make a frame that’s as stiff as before but a little lighter. The claimed weight of the new frame is 930g, although each one is made to measure so they’ll vary slightly from one to the next.

The RS2 comes with flattened chainstays rather than the round ones on the original RS. The idea is that they improve comfort. The rear dropouts are now carbon rather than metal. If that makes you nervous, they can still be replaced if they ever get damaged – it’s not like the whole bike needs to go to the great bike tip in the sky.

In line with most other top-end road bikes now, Viner have moved to internal cabling for the RS2, and you can have either mechanical or digital shifting. The fork is new too. The profile tapers towards the rear to be more slippery through the air, and it weighs in at just over 300g. The carbon is Italian made and the bikes are handbuilt in Italy.

All in all, it’s a thing of beauty but it’s far from cheap; you’re looking at £5,000 for the frame and fork.

The Mitus takes on many of the previous characteristics of the original Maxima RS. In fact, it is essentially the Maxima Mk1 with a few tweaks like internal routing for the rear brake cable.

The frame weighs about 1kg and along with the fork it’ll set you back £3,300. That’s considerably cheaper than when it was called the Maxima, so if you’re in the market for a high-end made-to-measure dream machine, take a good look.

The Perfecta is made from T800 carbon and Viner reckon it’s both stiffer and smoother for 2012. It’s intended to be a little more comfortable than the Maxima race bike, so it’s sportive-friendly.

The Perfecta drops 150g to just over a kilo.

The Gladium was previously a moulded monocoque but now it’s 100% made to measure with a new tubeset. We can’t help you on the price because it hasn’t been set yet.

The Aeternum comes with a Inox stainless steel frame and it’s shiny as you like. That frame weight 1300g while the fork is 320g.

The news from Felt is that 2012 UK prices will be significantly lower across the range than in 2011 – we’re talking 10% here, and that has to be good news.

The F series of road bikes come with the same frames as previously. The series opens with the £649.99 F95 which comes with an alloy 6061 butted frame and a Shimano Sora/Microshift groupset. And it’s not just green, it’s monster green.

The carbon-framed F6 is likely to do well with because it has the same SRAM Apex-based spec as last year but at a lower price. That one will set you back £1,499.

Towards the top end of the series, the F2 looks cool. It’s the one with Shimano Ultegra Di2 shifting. Pretty much everyone is offering an Ultegra Di2 option in their road bike range for 2012 – why wouldn’t you?

Felt’s comes in at £3,499 and they reckon that’s going to be competitive. It’s hard to judge because so few people have released their prices yet. Loads of manufacturers are being a bit cagey – probably trying to see what price everyone else goes for before setting their own.

Felt were among the first on the aero road bike scene with AR range that starts at £1,999 in 2012. The AR3 gets the Ultegra Di2 groupset along with Mavic Cosmic Elite wheels and it’ll set you back £3,599. It’s right on trend with its bright green trim.

The AR2 is £3,999. For that you get a SRAM Red group and SRAM S30 AL wheels. In keeping with the group, all the little details are red, right down to the valve caps and cable ends.

Giant have redesigned their TCR range for 2012 with the TCR Advanced SL sitting at the top of the tree. It’s one fast looking bike. Giant reckon they’ve dropped the weight for a medium-sized model by 144g to just 820g, making it one of the lightest platforms out there, without wrecking the stiffness of the frame.

Naturally, Giant have added bonus nanotechnology. Giant’s Carbon Nanotube Technology is a custom-blended resin that uses a tichy-tiny (that’s a scientific term) polymer to strengthen the frame.

Giant claim to have increased steering precision by 30% through their new OverDrive2 design which uses a 1 1/4in headset bearing at the top and a 1 1/2in bearing at the bottom.