- 22 hours ago
We compare the legendary Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8 against a full custom build based on the Seka Spear RDC frame. Is the era of big brand dominance over? See if our 'superbike killer' has what it takes to compete with the very best.
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00:00This is a limited edition S-Works Tarmac SL8 in red bulbora handsgrower colours,
00:06complete with a SRAM Red AXS groupset and Roval wheels, which makes it very similar to the bikes
00:12that mountain goats such as Primoz Roglic and Remco Evnipol will be using at this year's Tour
00:17de France. And I'm on the hunt for some mountain goats and that's why I've come to Cheddar Gorge
00:22on a particularly windy day. For the last nearly three years this has represented the very best
00:28of what you can go to a shop on a Saturday by yourself and then get dropped on on your
00:33Sunday
00:34club run. Specialized has gone to great lengths to design this bike as a package and if you go and
00:39buy it from the shop you do get the SRAM groupset but you also get a Roval handlebar, of course
00:44they're
00:44in bed with Specialized. You also get a Specialized Mira saddle and I realise they're not on this bike
00:50but you normally get a set of Specialized tyres as well. The SL8 has got many a great review and
00:57has become the benchmark of road race bikes over the last few years because it doesn't really have
01:03a weak point. Specialized has designed the whole thing and let's be honest it does work really well
01:09together. Of course there are alternatives that I could have chosen. I could have chosen the Cervelo
01:14S5 with the reserve wheels that I really like. The new Cannondale Super 6 is another excellent choice.
01:19However more and more people are being tempted by Chinese direct-to-consumer brands and potentially
01:26building their own custom build. Enter the Seeker Spear RDC.
01:43The other day I was having a chat with the Insurance Emporium who of course sponsor our
01:47Tech of the Month show and they said there's been loads of new bikes recently, what is the best bike
01:52in the world? And I said well it's really hard to overlook the S-Works Tarmac SLA. It's nearly three
01:58years old now and yet it's still probably the best in the business. But I did caveat that there's a
02:05lot
02:05of very exciting options coming from the Far East. Direct-to-consumer brands that are much smaller,
02:11less established and people might not have heard of that I think are doing some really interesting things. So
02:17they challenged me to go away and build my own custom build that I think can take it to the
02:22very best of
02:23the best. And this is it. It's a Seeker Spear RDC. RDC stands for Racing Day Combatant. It basically means
02:32it's the really lightweight version. So this frame complete with WindEye has a claimed weight of just
02:38685 grams which just so happens to be identical to an S-Works Tarmac. So my bike it's a size
02:44large and
02:45rather interestingly Seeker do all sorts of size options as do most brands but they also do two
02:51different fit options. So this is a regular but they also do a more racing orientated one which has a
02:57much
02:58lower stack height. I don't do enough strength and conditioning sessions to have that one and I'd
03:03have to then ride a load of spacers under my stem which I think doesn't look as good as this
03:09clean
03:09look. So that's the frame. What have I got on it? Well I've got the Rapier handlebar which from the
03:15front you can see looks very slim and racy. It's fully integrated. The brake hoses all go through it.
03:21The Di2 goes through it. It's a 130mm stem, 38cm handlebar width. It's got a little bit of flare
03:28as well so it is UCI legal but it's not going to make me like an absolute parachute. Also on
03:35this frame
03:35you get some proprietary bottle cages so they fit standard circular profile bottles but they're sort
03:42of aero integrated like the ones on the Giant Propel or the BMC road machine that sort of thing.
03:49As for group set I've gone for Shimano Dura-Ace because I've tried quite a few direct-to-consumer
03:56group sets and they haven't left me feeling like... I don't feel like they've got to their flagship
04:04product yet. The L2 one that I used was actually very good but it's significantly cheaper than SRAM Red
04:13or Shimano Dura-Ace and I don't think it's at that level yet. I'm sure in a few generations time
04:20they might well be. So it's full Dura-Ace apart from I wanted a power meter on the bike and
04:25the Shimano
04:26Dura-Ace power meter not only costs a fortune but it has had some trials and tribulations. So I've
04:31decided to try out a Magin Teo power meter. It's got carbon crank arms, it's a spider-based power meter
04:37and then I've got 53 39 tooth chain rings fitted. It's also 165 mil crank arm length. I thought I'd
04:44give that hype slash trend a go. So far so good. It's given me nice numbers. It's given me accurate
04:52numbers. It's not given me nice numbers because it's got these legs pushing it around but I have
04:57tried it against quite a few turbo trainers, indoor trainers and yeah the numbers seem to be reliable.
05:041134 tooth cassette on the back and they're fitted to these rather loud number six racing works
05:11wheels. So they're the 5058 wheels, carbon fiber, carbon fiber spokes and my favorite thing about
05:19them is the silver hubs. They do do much less bold, should we say, graphic options. This is the
05:26anniversary set so you get these silver decals. They do quieter ones as well. What else? Oh the
05:33handlebar tape that is straight from AliExpress. I believe it looks, well it looks very similar to
05:39a fabric knurl tack which I really used to enjoy using and I think they discontinued it. So I'm not
05:46sure white is going to last very long but it feels good, feels nice and then the saddle that is
05:52also
05:52from AliExpress. It's a riot ultimate so that means it gets the carbon fiber rails, the carbon fiber
05:58body and then it's got a 3D printed upper. The verdict's still out on that one. Haven't used it
06:04enough to be able to tell if that's going to stay or whether I'm going to have to spend a
06:09lot more money
06:10and get one from one of the more established brands. So I think you'll agree that it is a very
06:16nice bike but can something that I've cobbled together really take it to the best of the best?
06:23Well let's get on the road and find out.
06:36Whether you're in the stock build camp or you've spent months sourcing the perfect parts for a custom
06:41project a new bike can be a seriously sizeable investment and someone who understands this
06:46perfectly is today's video sponsor the Insurance Emporium. We've partnered with them for this video
06:51because they understand that a bike for many of us is more than just a mode of transport. It's a
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07:01So why can you trust the Insurance Emporium? Well they have a de facto 5 star rating, a trust
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07:10If you, for example, are lucky enough to have multiple bikes then you can cover up to 6 all
07:15on one policy against things such as theft, loss or accidental damage. If you want to race either
07:22your stock or custom build then you can also get competition cover and with some policies you can
07:27also get entry reimbursement if you have to pull out with an injury. If you'd like to check them out
07:32or find out anything more about their coverage options then there's a link down below and there's
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07:43So the Seeker Spear why did I choose this bike? Well firstly like the tarmac it's an all-round bike
07:52like it's not an aero bike it's not climbing bike it's designed to do both and in my books that's
07:58a
07:58good thing. The rides that I do, I do do some Criterion racing so the aero is important to me
08:03but also I just want one bike that I can race at the weekends that I can ride up Chelly
08:08Gorge on a
08:09Wednesday and feel like I'm not at a disadvantage on the hills either and with this frame weight
08:16that's certainly the case. Now also there's plenty of aero testing to suggest that this really is the
08:23real deal it is very fast. We'll pop some data from AeroCoach up on the screen now and also our
08:31friends at Cycling News have been and tested this very bike and they put it in their windtile testing
08:37and yeah seriously impressive stuff. It really does seem that an all-rounder bike isn't giving a lot
08:45way to the dedicated pure crazy Batmobile aero bikes at all really. The other thing about all-round bikes
08:55is that they are often quite a bit more comfortable. The tube shapes just lend themselves to a bit more
09:03compliance and that is one of the reasons again to go for the Seeker and I must admit I've been
09:08very
09:08impressed with the comfort. Now I must admit I do think that the rear-end comfort is more on a
09:13par
09:14with my SL7 than it is with the SL8. The SL8 they did a lot to really bump up the
09:21rear compliance
09:24and I'm not sure this is exactly the same level but it's not far off either. So it's ticked the
09:30weight
09:30box it's ticked the aero box and it has mostly ticked the comfort box as well. So does it have
09:37any
09:37downsides? Well it's not cheap it is slightly cheaper than the S-Works tarmac but it's not exactly what
09:46you'd call cheap and I think that's just an illusion that we have to get out of our heads. Chinese
09:51direct
09:52consumer bikes are cheaper but they're no longer cheap. They're not the cheap option. So yeah any
09:59negatives? The bottle cage has quite a sharp edge on it. The ones that come with the frame
10:07when I go to put my bottle back in it sort of catches and it's not the easiest to put
10:12back in.
10:13So that is one thing very minor. The other thing when you take your rear wheel out and put it
10:21back in
10:24the mech hanger just seems to move slightly and then the thru axle won't always go back in first
10:30go and then you have to undo the mech hanger with the four mil move it back to where it
10:34was where it's
10:34meant to be and then put your thru axle in. Certainly not the only bike I've had that issue with
10:39but it's not an issue that I get on my tarmac. It was ironically an issue that I had on
10:46the SL6 tarmac
10:47when I used one of them for a bit. So would I do it again? Well yes I think that
10:53I've got
10:54far more enjoyment and far more looks at the cafe and all that sort of thing by building my own
11:00bike
11:00rather than buying one off the shelf. Now I do need to caveat that with the fact that
11:06I'm quite a confident bike mechanic. I can do quite a lot of the jobs myself and remember
11:14that if you choose to do a custom build someone needs to build it. Someone needs to check that all
11:19the parts are compatible with each other which is a bit of a minefield and then they actually need
11:24to put it together which is a good few hours of labor and that could cost you. Make sure you
11:29build
11:29it into the cost. Now you might not agree with some of my component choices and that is absolutely fine
11:35but is that not the whole point of a custom build? It's my choice. I can do what I want
11:40whereas
11:41Specialized or Cannondale or Trek or any other brand they have to design to the average person. They have
11:50to play it safe. They have to sell a ton of bikes and so the spec options have to be
11:57broad enough and
12:00dare I say boring enough to suit everyone. I didn't have to be boring and I know a lot of
12:07you
12:08won't love some of the really loud garish graphics and things but honestly I just wanted this bike
12:13to be different to everyone else's on the group run. I think I've definitely been successful in that
12:18regard. It's definitely a conversation starter so yeah let me know what you think of it down in the
12:24comments below. I won't be offended too much. There is one other thing and that is that I've been quite
12:31fortunate with this build that everything has gone on it without any issues and obviously especially if
12:37you're buying off of AliExpress or if you're buying less known parts then there is a chance that they
12:43won't fit quite the way you intended or the compatibility might be an issue. Now I'm lucky enough to know
12:49lots of
12:50cyclists and obviously have my nose to the ground when it comes to bike tech and therefore I've avoided
12:57certain parts and only use parts which I know have a good reputation. However if you're building a custom
13:03build then make sure you look at forums, you read some reviews and yeah just scope it out before
13:10well you potentially make a very expensive mistake.
13:16So that's my opinion but which one would you choose? Let me know down in the comments section
13:21below. If you like this type of content then please make sure you subscribe to the channel,
13:25give this video a like and we'll see you next time.