Built for the game-changers, the rule-breakers, the mavericks and the rebels, the Specialized Aethos is so light it’s illegal. Sculpted by science but powered by passion, this is the object of beauty which free-thinking riders have been waiting for.
Some cyclists are happy to follow the map, stick to the norms and blend in with the crowd. But a select few prefer to break free, tear up the rule book and forge their own path in life.
The Specialized Aethos – winner of the Men’s Fitness Best Buy award in 2021 – is built for all those free-thinking riders who want to stand out from the pack and do things in style.
A rebellious mix of cutting-edge design and pure old-school cycling romance, the Aethos is the lightest disc brake bike in production.
It boasts a sleek carbon frame that weighs just 585 grams, and a total bike weight of 5.9kg – way below the 6.8kg minimum weight limit required for elite UCI races like the Tour de France. The Aethos isn’t as light as a pro rider’s bike. It’s lighter.
The Aethos began with a simple conversation between Specialized’s world-leading designers: what if we ignore the rule book and just focus on building a bike which can deliver the ride of a lifetime?
This new breed of bike had to be fast, light, fun and exciting enough to offer a totally fresh and original ride experience. But it also had to be classy and elegant enough to represent the rich history of cycling and match riders’ raw passion for their sport.
What followed was the largest supercomputer simulation project Specialized have ever conducted. The design team created over 100,000 virtual frames to discover the optimal blend of shapes, stiffness and styles that would deliver the kind of superbike which any passionate cyclist would love to ride.
Shattering conventional thinking and traditional design methods, the Aethos features tubes with subtle, elongated conical sections which deliver the highest stiffness-to-weight ratio ever tested, to help create that gloriously illegal 585g frame weight.
The bike also boasts ultra-light 1,248g Roval Alpinist wheels, a tailor-made bar/stem combo for near-telepathic control, and a 136g seatpost. From dropouts to derailleurs, not a gram of weight is wasted.
But despite being the most technologically advanced bike Specialized has ever created, the Aethos is also a triumph of artistic design, with its sleek lines, elegant cable routing and traditional threaded bottom bracket adding some high-end heritage and vintage aesthetics to this proudly futuristic bike.
The result is a uniquely beautiful bike – priced from £4,500 to £13,000 – which wows tech experts and traditionalists alike.
It is time to forget about winning and start living: when you’re out on the roads, the Aethos serves up exhilarating climbing speeds, subtle handling, playful power boosts and confidence-boosting control to deliver a game-changing ride experience.
If you want to blend in with the crowds, there are other bikes out there for you. But if you’re looking for a head-turning superbike which matches your passion for heritage and innovation, the Aethos is the modern classic you’ve been waiting for.
Shop the Specialized Aethos range at specialized.com
