My finger hovered over the mouse as the screen urged me to hit the Buy button on the Specialized Roubaix Comp that was advertised at a huge discount on Sigma Sports. It was the 2019 model, perhaps the last in stock, and it was a genuinely good bargain with £1,000 off. Sod it..

Three days later I was advised that the bike I bought was so damaged that they couldn’t send it. In fact, they offered me a lousy 10% off the price of the current year’s model which ultimately meant me finding another £900. I couldn’t. After a few friendly emails we settled on a price we were both happy with and my new bike arrived.

I had never had disc brakes on a road bike and this was one of the primary reasons to buy it as I was feeling more and more exposed in the wet on my old Roubaix. I’m sure this is just a subconscious justification, but I also felt with the growing number of disc brakes bikes around me in my group that it would make sense to invest now whilst I had the ability to afford it and the time to enjoy it. That and the fact I am 50 next year and I wanted to treat myself.

The bike is great. It’s heavy, but it’s great. It drags a little uphills but to be fair I am comparing that to the Canyon Ultimate which is super light and stiff and literally zips to any power I can muster. In winter, on a heavier bike I’ve not really had time to test it properly but I can certainly say it is an all day rider not a race winner per-say.  If I were being ultra critical I would say the cabling at the front is a mess.  So messy in fact that it gets in the way of the Garmin mount a little and you almost have to force them out of the way when you attach the mount.  It’s fine once on, but it reminds my of why the new super bikes with no cables look so great.

What it is though is exceptionally smooth. The 28mm wide tyres are super comfortable and partly aided by the lower pressure of 90psi that I am riding. I suspect 85psi would be even more perfect but I’m not quite ready to go that soft yet. The FutureShock1.5 is nothing like as noticeable as I thought it would be and in fact it’s invisible to the eye too which is good news. Sure, if I press hard on the handlebars I can see and obviously feel the movement, but when riding over the bumps I don’t notice any ups and downs.

In fact, I don’t notice anything and I say that purely as good news. It’s so smooth that riding over a bumpy asphalt just feels like a different experience to anything that I have ever had before and it makes the ride so much more enjoyable because it’s smoother and less stressful. Dare I say it, but this confidence could even make me ride fast in the beds. Time will tell.

As spring comes I will let you know how it fairs with fitter legs and bluer skies but for now I can gladly report that it’s a winner and I’m glad my head trusted my heart and let me press that button.