Specialized Tarmac SL4 Sport

dannbodge

So I've had my Tarmac for a year now so thought I'd do a quick thread about it.

Bought from Hargroves Cycles, along with bottle cages and Mavic Kysrium Elites with S-works Turbo tyres (26c).
It came with 105 5800, Praxis Alba crankset and Tiagra 4700 brakes.

Whilst they were doing the build/PDI I got them to change the brakes for 105 5800 ones and fit 105 SPD SL pedals.

The first photo I've got of it. Taken the day I picked it up (My 27th Birthday)



After a couple of rides, I decided the saddle wasn't for me so tried a Fi'zi:k Arione and Antares.
Of these I chose the Antares and saved 150g in the process.

Spent all spring and summer riding around Hampshire on it, it a fair bit of comfort and was very happy.


6 months later and I managed to get hold of a full Ultegra 6800 groupset quite cheap. So set about fitting that along with a KMC x11SL chain and new bar tape. I had never been a fan of the way the Praxis rings shifted from small to large either.

dannbodge

Following that I was having some issues with my knee (overtraining after a month off for wedding/honeymoon) so decided I'd get a bike fit (just to eliminate bike position from the equation).

Ended up moving my cleats around, saddle up and backwards and dropping the bars by 15mm.
Also changed the saddle from a 143mm Wide Fi'zi:k to a Specialized Power saddle at 155mm width.



Following this, I just took it easy and have been slowly getting better.
Then came September and Revolve 24.

Ended up taking over 90 seconds off my previous years fastest lap time. This was down to the bike but also a lot more training and hill climbing over the year. So I fitted a new stem cap as a reminder.



I then took a month off to allow my knee to recover and cut my rides down from 4 a week at 40mi each to one a week at 20mi (flat). Whilst I was off the bike, I bought and built up a second hand Allez to use over winter.

Over winter the Tarmac stayed on my turbo trainer.

As it was getting round towards my birthday, I decided to treat myself to a new set of wheels.
I've always wanted deep section wheels so bought some 2nd hand Cosine 45mm full carbon clinchers off here.

Having covered over 2000 miles on the S-Works turbos, I decided another pair would be a safe bet. So fitted the Cosines with them along with Specialized Turbo inner tubes (lightweight Butyl)





So current spec:
2017 Specialized Tarmac SL4 Sport
6800 Ultegra, Compact crankset, SS Rear mech, 11-28 Cassette (also Ultegra)
6800 Ultegra brakes w/ Cosine Carbon pads
Deda Bar Tape
Cosine 45mm full Carbon Clinchers w/ Specialized Turbo tubes and S-Works 26c Turbo Tyres
Specialized Power Pro saddle
Weight: 8.2kg

Next upgrade will be new seatpost, bars and get the steerer tube cut down (might tilt the bars down a bit and possibly drop another 5/10mm from them)
Might also change the saddle to the S-works version if I can get one cheap enough.

paul_the_pedaller

Nice thread, good to see the evolution of your bike.

philwint

Very nice story

Orange is definitely the new black

sloppyschleckonds

Definitely marmite the colour, but glad you are enjoying it.
Sack the bar tape wrapper

dannbodge

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Definitely marmite the colour, but glad you are enjoying it.
Sack the bar tape wrapper

Certainly is very marmite.
I saw the bike in my LBS and knew straight away I had to have one.

Bar tape was done by me. First time I've ever done it.
I thought it came out okay, but there was a reason I only used £4 tape

1986sv

Bike (and tape) looks ace, nice work

tsaltzy10

What bottom bracket did you use when replacing the praxis crank with the Ultegra one? Thanks!!

slowmart

Great story and bike, enjoy in good health.

fixerupper

Yes , I like it ....

bmxboy10

tsaltzy10 wrote:

What bottom bracket did you use when replacing the praxis crank with the Ultegra one? Thanks!!

I have this question too.....

dannbodge

tsaltzy10 wrote:

What bottom bracket did you use when replacing the praxis crank with the Ultegra one? Thanks!!

A normal Shimano Ultegra hollowtech 2 threaded one.
The lower end Tarmac frames have a normal threaded BB.

I should really update this thread too. I've changed some more bits recently

bmxboy10

Dannbodge wrote:

tsaltzy10 wrote:

What bottom bracket did you use when replacing the praxis crank with the Ultegra one? Thanks!!

A normal Shimano Ultegra hollowtech 2 threaded one.
The lower end Tarmac frames have a normal threaded BB.

I should really update this thread too. I've changed some more bits recently

Really? I didn’t think so. I have the 2016 comp and have the Praxis M30 crank/B.B.

I assumed I would need the Praxis converter to go from the M30 to the new Ultegra? I am planning to fit Di2 next month.

dannbodge

solboy10 wrote:

Dannbodge wrote:

tsaltzy10 wrote:

What bottom bracket did you use when replacing the praxis crank with the Ultegra one? Thanks!!

A normal Shimano Ultegra hollowtech 2 threaded one.
The lower end Tarmac frames have a normal threaded BB.

I should really update this thread too. I've changed some more bits recently

Really? I didn’t think so. I have the 2016 comp and have the Praxis M30 crank/B.B.

I assumed I would need the Praxis converter to go from the M30 to the new Ultegra? I am planning to fit Di2 next month.

Yeah on this SL4 sport it has a standard threaded BB, whether or not it's the same for a 2016 comp I don't know (the Specialized website should tell you though - a quick look says that the comp is OSBB)

dannbodge

Update time:

When I was out a few weeks back (in the rain) I had a bit of an accident and managed to drop the bike (non drive side) whilst crossing a ford, which scuffed a shifter, the bar tape and broke a bottle cage.

It made me feel bad, so I treated it to some new bar tape and replaced the cage.

The bar tape was changed to Supacaz Galaxy (Neon orange), I had the steerer cut down and a new S-works stem fitted (30g weight saved)





Now I've started to look towards saving some more weight to break into the 7kgs.

One of my big hates has been the cone spacer.
So I bought a carbon one as used on the S-works Tarmac, along with a "superlight" 10mm spacer



Also got a new seatpost (3T Stylus 25 LTD -50g) and another saddle (S-works Power -53g)



So now the spec sits like this:

Tamac SL4 Sport (54cm)
3T Stylus 25 LTD seatpost - 213g
S-works Power saddle 155mm - 160g
S-works SL Stem 90mm - 108g
Shallow drop 420mm Handlebars -
K-edge out front mount + Custom Exposure Trace holder.
Supacaz Galaxy Neon Orange Bar Tape
2 x Specialized gloss black rib cage 2
Ultegra 6800 Groupset (Front & SS Rear Mech and Brakes)
Ultegra 6800 11-28 Cassette
105 5800 Pedals
Ultegra 6800 Crankset (172.5mm with 50/34 chainrings)
Cosine 45mm Full Carbon Clinchers
Specialized Turbo Inner tubes
S-works Turbo 26c tyres

Final weight: 8.1kg (TBC)

Next up will be S-works Aerofly handlebars + new cables, some titanium bolts (bottle cages etc) & Ultegra pedals

bluedog99

Thanks for the update, its cracking bike you have and good to see you are enjoying it.

anjizkit

great post. i recently bought the same bike and love whta u have done to yours.

Mr Stamp

Beaut of a bike, can I ask where you brought the carbon headset spacer, the cone one is dog ugly.

dannbodge

Mr Stamp wrote:

Beaut of a bike, can I ask where you brought the carbon headset spacer, the cone one is dog ugly.

eBay.
There is/was a guy selling headsets for S-works bikes, I messaged him and just asked for the top spacer.
Cost me £10 for two.

Mr Stamp

Dannbodge wrote:

Mr Stamp wrote:

Beaut of a bike, can I ask where you brought the carbon headset spacer, the cone one is dog ugly.

eBay.
There is/was a guy selling headsets for S-works bikes, I messaged him and just asked for the top spacer.
Cost me £10 for two.

Does this mean you have a spare or did you buy the top part of the headset and spacer? Sorry to fire another question off.

dannbodge

Mr Stamp wrote:

Dannbodge wrote:

Mr Stamp wrote:

Beaut of a bike, can I ask where you brought the carbon headset spacer, the cone one is dog ugly.

eBay.
There is/was a guy selling headsets for S-works bikes, I messaged him and just asked for the top spacer.
Cost me £10 for two.

Does this mean you have a spare or did you buy the top part of the headset and spacer? Sorry to fire another question off.

I do but it wasn't the right size (I think it left a gap underneath)
I just bought the first spacer and that's it (the rounded one)

dannbodge

So I was out and about yesterday and went over a crack in the road.
The bike made a really loud "crack" sound (it's not the first time it's done it either).

Upon inspection of the front fork, I've found this:



There is a chip in the paint, but it looks like there is a crack in the white behind the chip and also running along the LHS of the chip.

Looks like it's going back to my LBS for inspection.

johnnymcg259

oh dear.....that looks terminal to me. Pity....but hopefully a new fork asap?.....

dannbodge

Got the bike back from my LBS.
They checked with specialized and confirmed it's just a chip.

The mechanic did point out that my headset is slightly loose (steerer was cut slightly too long by about 1mm) so that was the cause of the noises, so put a 10mm on the top of the stack rather than the 5mm I currently have.

On another note, I got my Aerofly bars last week and new cables come this week. So they should be on by the end of the month.

dannbodge

This will be pretty much my final update (bar new wheels at some point)
Got my Aerofly bars fitted last weekend and now I've got nothing left to change

Gave it a good clean as it was filthy from riding on the damp country lanes and got snap happy with my DSLR. I'll get a display stand and go somewhere nicer later this year.

Bit annoyed at the final weight, but I'll change the pedals to Ultegra at some point, plus some Ti bolts and that should see me in at sub 8Kg.

Final spec is now:

2017 Tamac SL4 Sport
3T Stylus 25 LTD seatpost
S-works Turbo saddle 155mm
S-works SL Stem 90mm
S-works Aerofly 420mm Handlebars
Custom Revolve 24 2017 Timings Stem Cap
K-edge out front mount + Custom Exposure Trace holder.
Supacaz Galaxy Neon Orange Bar Tape
2 x Specialized gloss black rib cage 2
Ultegra 6800 Groupset (Front & SS Rear Mech and Brakes)
Ultegra 6800 11-28 Cassette
105 5800 Pedals
Ultegra 6800 Crankset (172.5mm with 50/34 chainrings)
Cosine 54mm Full Carbon Clinchers
Specialized Turbo Inner tubes
S-works Turbo 26c tyres

Final weight: 8.05kg

CitizenLee

I'm a huge fan of the big S and this is just lush mate! Such a nice build!

As for a "display stand"... you can find them free all over the place

ww88

Looks seriously good with the carbon wheels!

dannbodge

Been a while but here's some updates!

Did a few miles over the winter on it and decided in April that I'd bite the bullet and get a power meter so I could train on my commute. Decided on the Favero Assioma Duo pedals and got them fitted. At the same time I also picked up a pair of Fizik R1 infinito shoes.





Then my Garmin 520 was playing up and only lasting a few hours even after being fully charged, so I pivoted to a Wahoo Bolt:



I then started riding it 4 days a week to work and back, clocking up a load of miles and enjoying 99% of it by which time it was then July, so took part in the BHF ride at Goodwood Circuit:



After that I finally got my payments from work for having two patents granted, so treated myself to the wheels I've always wanted for this bike....Some Roval CL50s. I paired them with S-works Turbo tyres in 26mm again as I've enjoyed using them over the last 2 years.







Also finally managed to get the steerer cut down so it's only got a 5mm spacer on it:



A week later I took part in Revolve 24 again. Once again the bike was faultless and ate up the 192 miles that I clocked up in my 10 hours riding. No aches, pains or discomfort of any sort.







This bike just does everything I ask of it. It's comfortable, fast enough and I honestly just love it.

The only thing I'd change it for is a higher spec SL4 frame as it's a bit on the heavy side (7.8kg as shown above).

dannbodge

So final spec is now:

2017 Tamac SL4 Sport
3T Stylus 25 LTD seatpost
S-works Turbo saddle 155mm
S-works SL Stem 90mm
S-works Aerofly 420mm Handlebars
Custom Revolve 24 2019 Timings Stem Cap
K-edge out front mount + Custom Exposure Trace/Lifeline 600 holder.
Supacaz Galaxy Neon Orange Bar Tape
2 x Specialized gloss black rib cage 2
Ultegra 6800 Groupset (Front & SS Rear Mech and Brakes)
Ultegra 6800 11-28 Cassette
Favero Assioma Duo Pedals
Ultegra 6800 Crankset (172.5mm with 50/34 chainrings)
Roval CL50 Full Carbon Clinchers w/ Mavic Titanium Skewers
Specialized Turbo Inner tubes
S-works Turbo 26c tyres

Final weight: 7.8kg