I have reviewed a great many of the best road bikes in my time, and on the whole, the ones that have stuck in my memory for positive reasons haven’t really been the aero machines. The Pinarello Dogma F was one I’ve waxed lyrical about to anyone who’d listen, and while it fared OK in our wind tunnel testing, it had a focus more on handling, balance, and weight than an out-and-out obsession with straight line speed.
On the flip side, the Cervélo S5 is, undoubtedly, a very, very fast bike, but despite this it left me feeling a little flat. There are exceptions to that rule; the Ridley Noah Fast 3.0 was both very aero and an absolute hoot to ride, and my colleague Josh couldn’t speak more highly of the Factor Ostro VAM, but if I had to make a choice I would pick the low weight and lively handling of many of the best lightweight bikes over aerodynamic performance any day of the week.
