Anyone riding a Specialized Tarmac SL3...?

bristolpete

By happenstance I looked at one of these yesterday. Gotta say it looks like a great bike.

Very very light and superb build. Great value for money frame only to....£1899..99 seems very good. The only negative I could find was the lack of internal cable routing, but thats no big deal....

Anyone riding it?

PieterM

Got a size 58 frameset waiting in my living room
Will be built up next weekend and hopefully get some riding in immediately so I can let you know next week!

bristolpete

PieterM wrote:

Got a size 58 frameset waiting in my living room
Will be built up next weekend and hopefully get some riding in immediately so I can let you know next week!

Cool - great, a reply!

Let us know how you get on. I hear this thing is a rocket uphill....?!?!?

Lovely frame set.

pmannion9

Hope to buy this frame early next year if i can get it cheaper !!!
I think someone got it on here for about £1,600. think their LBS was doing 20% off sale or something... Worth shopping around anyway...

And yeah - it looks NICE and got excellent review!!!.

Daimler

Hiya,

Yep that was me.
£1600 from Phil Corley cycles on special offer....it's now back up to £1899.
I chose the Saxo Bank colours.
It's a storming bike.
Lightning quick up the hills and very stable.
Acceleration is quick and every pedal stroke goes straight into pushing you foward!

I bought the frame set and swapped over my parts from my Felt bike I had upgraded.
Running SRAm Red gears/mechs, Fulcrum RS torq chainset, American Classic 350 sprints, Easton carbon bars, easton alloy stem, KCNC CB1 brakes and Nokon cables.

I'm now on the hunt for another pair of wheels...thinking Mavic R-Sys SL at £1350 or maybe some American Classic Magnesiums (if they ever actually make any that is!).
Did my first big ride on it yesterday in the Luton Reliability ride. No aches/pains etc so I nkow it's perfectly set up for me already.
I think I have a thread with pics on this forum too. ...under Your bikes/rides....whatever it's called.
Building the bike up as a frameset is much cheaper than the whole bike.
Fair enough the whole bike gets a BB30 but thats not the end of the world having a standard threaded cup BB.
Built mine for just over £3.5k

greasedscotsman

What's the stiffness of the bars/front end like? I have an '07 SL and it's a bit wobbly. It's OK, but for someone who started out on steel bikes it's not quite what I would like.

Daimler

It's very stiff at the front end but very stable and not uncomfortable....it's a perfect blend...and I'm not just saying that.
The 1.5in lower headset certainly works very well.
Bearing in mind my ride yesterday was the first big ride out on it to have no aches/pains, no wrists aching etc was really surprising.
I run the Easton EC90 SLX equipe bar with Easton EA90 stem and it's spot on!

I had a Felt F4 carbon frame with Ritchey WCS carbon fork at the front and that flew up hills but felt less stable decending whereas the Tarmac feels so well controlled.

Brakeless

I've got an SL3, i've only done a couple of Hundred miles on it but so far so good. I don't really feel in a position to comment much on it because I've never had a bike of similar style/price to compare it to. What I do know is that it makes my Roubaix feel very 'sloppy'. I really thought buying such a good bike was abit OTT but the difference is amazing.The only slight downside is that I've had the saddle slip a little but I think that may be down to me being too cautious when tightening it.

Ands

pmannion9 wrote:

Hope to buy this frame early next year if i can get it cheaper !!!
I think someone got it on here for about £1,600. think their LBS was doing 20% off sale or something... Worth shopping around anyway...

And yeah - it looks NICE and got excellent review!!!.

Mr Ands got his SL3 frameset from the Specialized Concept Store. He was offered £200 worth of kit or £150 cash discount, if he paid for it outright (as opposed to taking it on 0% finance).

There is an offer on their website at the mo for 10% of the value of the purchase in kit, but it does say no cash alternative. (There was no offer on when he got his - he just asked if there was a discount if he paid outright and they said yes.)

greasedscotsman

Ands wrote:

Mr Ands got his SL3 frameset from the Specialized Concept Store.

But what does Mr. Ands think of it? Does he post on here, we need a mini-review!

Ands

greasedscotsman wrote:

Ands wrote:

Mr Ands got his SL3 frameset from the Specialized Concept Store.

But what does Mr. Ands think of it? Does he post on here, we need a mini-review!

Mr Ands doesn't post on here, but here are his thoughts!

He has described the SL3 as phenomenal, and "goes like a rocket". Super, comfy - like someone's laid a rubber mat on the road, incredibly stiff, handles well, very responsive steering, amazing acceleration. He regards it as the best fitting bike he's had/best geometry.

He's really pleased with it - he sold his C50 to buy this and he did love that bike so the SL3 had a lot to live up to. He has been riding the SL3 on 8 year-old Kyseriums (waiting for some tyres for his good wheels) so he expects it to ride even better when he's got the other wheels on.

greasedscotsman

Ands wrote:

Mr Ands doesn't post on here, but here are his thoughts!

He has described the SL3 as phenomenal, and "goes like a rocket". Super, comfy - like someone's laid a rubber mat on the road, incredibly stiff, handles well, very responsive steering, amazing acceleration. He regards it as the best fitting bike he's had/best geometry.

He's really pleased with it - he sold his C50 to buy this and he did love that bike so the SL3 had a lot to live up to. He has been riding the SL3 on 8 year-old Kyseriums (waiting for some tyres for his good wheels) so he expects it to ride even better when he's got the other wheels on.

Cheers Mr & Mrs Ands

Looks like I'm gonna have to get saving for one. That or start mugging old ladies...

(PS. Sorry, Britstol Pete, didn't mean to high jack your thread, but thinking of gettin one as well...)