2019 Best Carbon Road Bikes Under £2500
2019 Best Carbon Road Bikes Under £2500
Our guide to 2019 Best Carbon Road Bikes Under £2500 makes sure you'll get the right bike and the best price. £2000 to £2500 is a popular price point for carbon road bikes. You can get carbon road bikes for around £1500. They tend to come with pretty basic equipment. They will often be significantly heavier than aluminium bikes at the same price. For £2000 and above you will be getting a good quality carbon frame. Decent equipment that will last and good ride quality. In this guide, we have picked out the best carbon road bikes under £2500
Trek Emonda SL 6 - £2250
The Emonda is Trek’s classic road bike. It’s designed to be super light and race-ready. This is a bike that will romp up climbs and will be fast on flat and undulating terrain. You could race on this bike, take the lead on club rides or simply enjoy your local roads.
The ride position on the Emonda is what Trek refer to as H2. It’s the fit that suits most riders, including lots of pros. It’s not as extreme as H1 but still puts your body in the right position for power and performance.
The Emonda SL 6 complete bike weighs in at just 7.3kg. It can handle rider weights up to 125kg (over 19 stone). It comes with one of Trek’s 500 Series OCLV frames and forks plus a full 11 speed Shimano Ultegra groupset. The Ultegra equipment is often the choice of experienced riders. It works really well, is pretty light and won’t cost a fortune to maintain.
There’s not much to fault on the Emonda SL 6. If you are looking for a lightweight classic road bike with really good equipment this is it. If you do want disc brakes then there is an Emonda SL 6 Disc bike at £2700.
The Emonda SL 6 is available in either red or black. Currently, Trek only makes the Emonda a men’s bike. hey also use the same frames on all their higher-end men’s and women’s road bikes. You could easily convert the Emonda SL 6 to a ‘women’s bike’ by swapping out the saddle and bars.
Cannondale Supersix Evo Carbon Ultegra - £2099
Like the Trek Emonda, the SuperSix Evo is a super light bike ideal for climbers but it’s more of an out and out race bike. The ride position on the SuperSix is full-on bent over the bars, flat back, for maximum attack. If you want the fastest possible bike for racing then this is where you want to be looking.
Although named SuperSix Evo Carbon Ultegra it actually uses Cannondale’s own chainset and a Shimano 105 rear cassette. The SuperSix is very slightly heavier than the Emonda, weighing in at 7.9kg but a few careful upgrades would quickly drop some weight off it.
Like the Emonda there is only a men’s version of the SuperSix Evo. It can easily be converted to a ‘women’s bike’ with a change of saddle and bars.
Specialized Tarmac Disc Sport - £2350
The Emonda and SuperSix are both very classic road bikes. The Tarmac is still in this field but takes a lot of design elements from the latest aero bikes to help you cut through the air better. The Tarmac will climb, descend and corner as fast as you can make it go. This is a bike you could race on or use for fast club and sportive riding. Add a pair of deep-section rims and you will be flying.
The hydraulic disc brakes on the Tarmac Sport help contribute to the aero performance as well as giving you better-stopping power. They do add a bit of cost to the bike though so the rest of the equipment you get is 105 rather than the Ultegra found on the Emonda and SuperSix. The 105 equipment is still super nice and will be cheap to maintain but it does come with a bit of a weight penalty. As more and more bikes go disc only the Tarmac Sport Disc may be the more future proof design and if you really want to shed weight you can easily upgrade the 105 gearings.
There are men’s and women’s versions of the Specialized Tarmac Sport Disc available.
Cannondale Synapse Carbon Disc 105 - £2199
Like the Tarmac the Synapse comes with 105 equipment, hydraulic disc brakes and is available in men’s and women’s versions but it is a different style of bike. The Synapse is part of Cannondale’s ‘endurance’ range. These are bikes that were developed for use on classic races like the Paris Roubaix or Strada Bianchi. They have a more upright riding position, more confident handling and more compliant frames and tyres to soak up bumps. If you are not racing and ride regularly on rough UK country lanes these are types of bikes you should be going for.
Although it is endurance focussed the Synapse Carbon is still fast. Fit a flatter stem and you could easily race on it.
To help soak up those bumps Cannondale has used their SAVE micro-suspension technology. This introduces small areas of flex in the frame and fork while keeping the frame stiff where it needs to be. SAVE micro-suspension uses no moving parts, just clever use of materials. To make the ride even more comfortable the Syanapse comes with wide 28c tyres fitted and clearance for tyres up to 32c.
The Synapse Carbon Disc 105 is quite a bit heavier than the classic road bikes like the Emonda and the Supersix, weighing in at 9.4kg. If you can stretch to £2699 you can get the Cannondale Synapse Carbon Disc Ultegra which weighs in at 8.4kg.
Trek Domane SL 5 Disc - £2350
The Domane SL 5 Disc is a similar style bike to the Synapse but comes from a very different design approach.
The Domane SL 5 is available in men’s and women’s versions. It’s an endurance road bike equipped with 105 equipment and hydraulic disc brakes and weighs in at 9.39kg. Where it is different from the Synapse is how they deal with bumpy roads. The Synapse uses differences in frame materials to introduce flex in the frame whereas the Domane uses Trek’s IsoSpeed technology.
IsoSpeed ‘decouples’ areas of the frame and allows them to move independently. On the Domane SL 5, there is a decoupler at the back where the top tube and seat tube meet and another one at the front where the forks meet the handlebars. Each decoupler only allows a very small amount of controlled movement but it is enough to take the sting out of cobbles and potholes as well as smoothing out rough surfaces. This lets you stay in the saddle with the power down for longer with less fatigue so you get a faster bike overall. To soak up the bumps even more the Domane SL 5 comes with wide 32c tyres.
IsoSpeed has been proven in pro racing and is a really reliable piece of tech which needs minimal maintenance but it comes down to your personal preference as to whether you want more or less moving parts on your road bike.
Specialized Roubaix And Ruby - £2100
The Specialized Roubaix and Specialized Ruby are the men’s and women’s versions of the same bike. As the name suggests the Roubaix was originally developed for racing cobbles classics like the Paris-Roubaix but has since become incredibly popular for general UK riding.
The Roubaix and Ruby take a similar design approach to the Trek Domane using Specialized’s Future Shock technology to give 20mm of travel in the fork and at the rear of the bike. Although it works in a slightly different way to Trek’s IsoSpeed the basic principle is the same, allowing parts of the frame and fork to move to soak up bigger bumps and smooth out road buzz.
Where the Roubaix falls down is on the equipment. For 2019 the standard Roubaix comes with a mix of Tiagra and no-name parts. You have to go up to the Roubaix or Ruby Sport at £2600 to get the same level of 105 equipment found on the Synapse or Domane. Performance-wise the Roubaix and Ruby are great riding bikes and we would recommend them but there are better value bikes out there.
