The Specialized Aethos needs very little introduction. The old one is a bike I’ve lusted after for years, with its sleek, narrow tubes, sensible-ish cable routing, and a big two fingers up to the UCI weight limit, along with an aero package that’s, at best, a casual Californian shrug. It was a staple of the hill climb scene, a rider’s bike, and while I never got the chance to ride one, it has such a reputation that it’s a hell of an act to follow.
I must admit I was a little disheartened when I learned of the changes that had been wrought on the Aethos 2. The term ‘endurance’ is so loaded with connotations of retired men doing laps of Richmond Park (insert your local retirement ride scene here) that I was worried that riding it would be akin to throwing a leg over a shire horse and asking it to navigate a chicane with the agility of a dragonfly.
