T3 Awards 2020: Specialized Roubaix Sport takes the yellow jersey as our most beloved road bike

The daddy of all road bikes has pro spec but is comfortable enough for mere mortals to ride

T3 Awards 2020: Specialized Roubaix Sport is our #1 road bike
(Image credit: Future/Leon Poultney)
Duncan Bell
By
published
in News

In our Specialized Roubaix Sport review, we called it the 'ultimate road bike all-rounder'. As well as sitting top of our guide to the Best road bikes for quite some time now, it's also bagged the road bike yellow jersey in the T3 Awards 2020, making it the winner for the second year in a row. 

So… what is it that makes this Specialized bike so special, and sets it ahead of the péloton? Quite simply, it's like a high-end road bike for us mere mortals; it's fast as hell, yet also surprisingly comfortable, thanks to Specialized's tech innovations.

Named after a notoriously bum-rattling bike race – 'bum-rattling' is the correct terminology that pros use – the Roubaix packs a genius, shock-absorbing cartridge into the front stem. This means that while the stiff carbon frame gives the bike a rangy athleticism, there's enough give to take the edge off nasty holes and bumps in the road ahead.

• Six reasons to buy Specialized Tarmac SL7

The result is a blend of performance and comfort that can't be beat. It may lack the flashy finishing kits of some comparably priced road bikes but the frame and forks more than make up for that. They're the perfect foundation for enjoyable riding now and future upgrades.

The frame is made of FACT 10r carbon, which is stiff enough to give excellent power transfer through the cranks. It also happens to handle like a whippet on the run. An excellent set of components is headed up by Shimano 105 11-speed gearing, and powerful – necessarily so – disc brakes. Specialized's finishing kit is also excellent, long-lasting and comparatively comfortable by road bike standards.

Put it all together and the Roubaix Sport a high-performance bike that is ideal for those who put in the long, hard miles. This is a cracking bike and a deserving winner of this year's T3 Award for Best Bike. You owe it to your batty to buy one.

• Find out about all the other winners in the T3 Awards 2020…

Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years. 

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."

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