Just how good is the best? Iain Treloar puts a jaw-dropping superbike to the test.
Lighter, faster, smoother—it’s long been the mantra of road bike marketing, the core to the justification for extravagant and expensive machines. It’s easy to be skeptical about whether anything can justify the bombast of these claims, and it’s extremely easy to question whether anything can justify some of the price tags involved.
So, to get it out of the way up front, this bike costs in the order of $20,000. This is a considerable amount of money. Done.
The Bianchi Specialissima is the new range-topper from the venerable Italian marque, and it’s essentially their ‘climbing’ bike. Bianchi has a high profile sponsorship of the Dutch team Lotto-Jumbo, whose riders still spend most of their time on the Oltre XR2 for aerodynamic reasons; the Specialissima is what they pull out for their more hilly days.
The impressively lightweight frame (claimed at sub-800g) forms the basis for a feathery build in basically any configuration. If you dress it up with top-shelf gear, as on our test bike, you end up with a machine comfortably below the permissible weight for competition; the bike I was riding weighed in at just 6.18kg. In the hands, this feels every bit as impressive as it sounds.
Bianchi’s stated aim with the Specialissima, however, isn’t just to create a lightweight onetrick pony, and it’s to the company’s credit the main impression the bike gives isn’t one of impermanence or skittishness. Whilst it’s weight is low, it’s a solid and reliable feeling machine; a bike that equally at home on descents and in a bunch as it does climbing double-digit gradients. I have ridden few bikes as light as this, but fewer still that feel anywhere as well-rounded.
Although aggressive in geometry—my 57cm test bike had a head tube of just 16cm—the Specialissima is almost plush in its manner. The frame utilises Bianchi’s Countervail technology, a proprietary viscose elastic material built into the carbon layout, that’s exceptional at filtering out buzz and chatter from the road. We’ve previously tested Bianchi’s Infinito CV, which was the first bike to use this material. That bike is more of an ‘endurance’ geometry, and has a slightly softer ride, but provides confirmation of the role of Countervail in the feel of the Specialissima. In brief, the frame is highly effective at filtering out the noise of imperfect surfaces; my testing of this bike involved 500km of country roads, at times quite rough, and I never found myself wishing for more comfort. Rather than feeling nervous, the Specialissima is solid and planted.
Our test bike was supplied with a Campagnolo Super Record EPS group-set, and Campagnolo Bora Ultra 35 tubular wheel-set. The latter, doubtless had something to do with the impeccable climbing ability of the Specialissima—it’s a <1,200g wheel-set that rolls forever, although I was able to get a little brake-skimming lateral flex out of it on extreme gradients. Braking on descents, particularly in the wet, required a little mental recalibration; my brakes were set up opposite to what I’m used to and the carbon braking surface wouldn’t be my choice for every day.
I’m not an enormous fan of Campagnolo’s gearing as a rule, but I found their top-shelf group-set charming and intuitive, with a vitality that’s been engineered out of the electronic group-sets of the company’s rivals. And ergonomically, it’s flawless.
That’s a descriptor that applies to much of the bike; there’s very little that I’d change if I bought this bike, even if such thoughts are in the realms of fantasy—the days of being able to afford such an outstanding machine are in my very distant future, if ever. It was almost as if the bike was put together to my preference; the FSA KForce bar and seat-post, and OS99 stem, were identical to what I have on my own road bike, so their comfort (albeit subjective) was a foregone conclusion.
Bianchi’s celeste green is a distinctive marking of the brand, but on the Specialissima they’ve opted for a brighter, lighter version. It’s beautiful and striking, and paired with the elegant lines of the frame and cleanly classic profile, makes it one of the best looking bikes on the market. The finish is suitably immaculate; a matte finish (which, it must be said, is a bit of a pain to keep clean) has the logos hand-painted in black via stencil.
What the Specialissima represents is the cutting edge of carbon technology—a frame where comfort, performance, low weight and superb handling go hand in hand. It’s not a bike that’s pitched, or priced, for mass appeal; it’s an exquisite outlier. But what’s most exquisite of all is how uncompromised it is, how lively and rewarding and fun. It’s a new benchmark by which I’m now forced to judge road bikes, and that’s deeply unfair to the rest of the market.
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