One Bike To
Rule Them All
The All-New Tarmac SL8
Nothing is faster than the Tarmac SL8 thanks to a combination of aerodynamics, lightweight, and ride quality previously thought impossible. After eight generations and over two decades of development, it’s more than the fastest Tarmac ever - it’s the world’s fastest race bike. Your legs up for it?
Aerodynamic
16.6 seconds Faster over 40km The Most Aero Road Bike Ever Made By Specialized
Lightweight
685 Gram Frame Lightest on the World Tour
Ride Quality
33% Improved Stiffness-to-Weight & 6% Smoother. Goes Like Hell, Rides Like Heaven
*All times vs SL7
Aerodynamics X Lightweight X Ride Quality = Fast
Ride Science Proven The World’s Fastest Race Bike
Aerodynamics or lightweight alone don’t win races - speed is what matters. Delivering that speed requires creating an uncompromising combination of aerodynamics, lightweight, stiffness, and compliance. Through race simulations using real world data Specialized's Ride Science team knows the Tarmac SL8 is the fastest race bike ever made on the routes that matter.
16.6 Seconds Faster
over 40km
128 Seconds Faster
at Milan San Remo
20 Seconds Faster
Over the Tourmalet
16.6 Seconds Faster over 40kmAero In Everything
Specialized is putting aero where it matters - the leading edge - not just where it looks good. In the process they've created their most aerodynamic road bike ever - 16.6 seconds faster over 40km than the Tarmac SL7. Yes, it’s more aero than the Venge. With its new Speed Sniffer nose cone, you could say, it’s got a nose for victory.
The Sweet Smell of Victory The Speed Sniffer Nose Cone
Clean air is optimized for maximum advantage with the Tarmac’s new nose cone - the Speed Sniffer. By moving the steer tube back - the tube that determines head tube width - the leading edge of the head tube can be much sharper, delivering a much lower drag shape.
Roval Rapide Cockpit Leading Edge for a Winning Edge
The Rapide Cockpit (available on S-Works models and in aftermarket) shaves four watts of drag vs the already fast two-piece Tarmac stem and Rapide bar combination by removing a cluster of hardware on the leading edge.
Narrowest Seat Post Ever Thin to Win
Where Specialized finds meaningful aero gains beyond the leading-edge they optimize for them. Utilizing new UCI rules, the Tarmac SL8 has the narrowest, most aero seat post they've ever made ensuring fast moving, dirty air around the legs can flow back more cleanly.
Flo-Vis paint is one of the tools that Specialized engineers use to see how the leading edge of the Tarmac SL8 keeps flow attached for minimum drag, while other areas of the frame see less clean air resulting in less opportunity for aero gains.
685 Gram Frame: Lightest on the World TourMaximum Speed. Minimum Weight.
Specialized made the lightest production road bike in the world - the Aethos - and saw how it could marry blistering response in the mountains with a supple, all-day ride. Knowing just how much faster lower weight makes a bike over today’s demanding race courses, the Tarmac SL8 took learnings from Aethos to be easily built at the UCI minimum with a full aero set up.
15% Lighter
The team delivered a mind bending, scale tickling 685 gram frame - 15% lighter than the Tarmac SL7 and lighter than anything else on the World Tour*.
*Unless of course you count the time Kasper Asgreen raced the 585 gram Aethos frame during a Tour stage.
Breaking the Rules. Again.
With the ability to make lightweight a top priority in the down tube, seat tube, and rear of the bike, lessons from Aethos were applied. The frame’s shape carries load so efficiently that extra carbon stiffness layers become redundant.
Aero Where it Matters
You can look aero, or you can actually be aero. Specialized chose the latter and reduced the overall frame surface area to shed serious grams.
33% Improved Stiffness to Weight,
6% SmootherGoes Like Hell, Rides Like Heaven
With massive gains in stiffness-to-weight, the Tarmac SL8 takes legendary handling, aggressive responsiveness, and World Championship proven geometry to the next level. The bike is stiffer at the pedals, more precise at the bars, and combines it with a compliant ride in the saddle that sets a new benchmark for race bike comfort. Thanks to Specialized's Rider-First Engineering, every rider, regardless of size, gets the same unprecedented ride quality and handling.
The Next Level of a Next Level Ride
Tarmac’s next level acceleration and telepathic handling come from reaching bottom bracket, head tube, and front end stiffness targets with incredibly lightweight - a stiffness-to-weight ratio improvement of 33% over the SL7.
Get Comfortable Going Fast
In the saddle, the Tarmac SL8 delivers 6% more compliance, floating over rough road with a supple feel unique in the high strung world of race bikes.
Proven Winners
Tarmac’s World Championship proven geometry and 32mm tire clearance are identical to the SL7, ensuring easy adaptation and the versatility to run higher volume tires when needed.
Nothing is Lighter, Stiffer, or More AeroIt’s Lonely at the Top
No other bike has ever come close to the combination of aerodynamics, lightweight and ride quality the Tarmac SL8 delivers. In fact, the only bike close is the Tarmac SL7, the winningest bike on the World Tour over the last four years. It might be lonely off the front, but it sure feels good to be alone a top the podium.
Innovate or DieAren’t You Glad Some Kids Stayed in Science Club?
Creating a bike more aero, 15% lighter, with a 33% improvement in stiffness-to-weight over the 4X World Championship winning Tarmac SL7 took more than an obsessive commitment to Innovate or Die and our top spec FACT 12r carbon. Our engineering team pioneered an entirely new process to virtually design and test layup after layup, ply-by-ply, to reach our insane performance targets.
Data Driven Design Rider First Engineering
Using extensive data acquisition of forces through every part of the frame during real world testing, the Rider-First Engineered™ Tarmac delivers an optimal balance of stiffness, weight and ride quality at every size. It means every rider, regardless of size, can ride faster everywhere with Tarmac SL8.
Informed by 10,000 + Retül FitsBeyond Gender
There can be more difference between two male cyclists than between a male and female. Gender alone doesn’t provide nearly enough data to specialize and that means creating male or female bikes is arbitrary and outdated. Every rider can get the next level advantage of Tarmac SL8. It’s time to go Beyond Gender.
Heightened by Adrenaline
Inspired by the emotions felt in moments of adrenaline and heightened senses on the bike, the new Tarmac SL8’s colors and design breathe energy and life into the frame’s shapes. Specialized's team pioneered new techniques and pigments to create these effects with as little paint - or added weight - as possible.