The aero bikes are the new All-Road in the Paris-Roubaix 2024

The Paris-Roubaix 2024 is here and the times when this race was the laboratory where bike brands created specific models to face the cobblestones with the best guarantees are behind us. The versatility of current bikes has made cyclists not hesitate to use their usual machines with some minimal adaptations to mitigate the passage over the cobbles.

Goodbye to specific bikes in Paris-Roubaix

If we look back, just over a decade ago, several brands began to develop bikes called gran fondo, now classified in catalogs as what is now known as All-Road. A type of bike specially designed to absorb the impacts produced when overcoming the cobblestone sections of Paris-Roubaix to the maximum, and that, due to its longer and more relaxed geometry, as well as a more upright cyclist position, were presented as the perfect option for many cyclists.

However, these advantages for the common mortals became a drawback for the professional accustomed to riding thousands of kilometers on their usual bike and who was forced to alter their position for this race or make adaptations with inclinations and other inventions.

Over the years, competition bikes have evolved, incorporating brakes, with greater distances between axles and chainstay lengths, and, above all, with much more elaborate carbon laminates that allow for much greater absorption capacity than climbing and aerodynamic models that cyclists use in their daily lives. Just last year, Mathieu van der Poel triumphed in Paris-Roubaix on his usual Canyon Aeroad CFR.

Another essential change to achieve greater absorption has been the use of increasingly larger volume tires, with 700x28c now being the standard size in the professional peloton, a size that not long ago was extreme and only seen in Paris-Roubaix. Meanwhile, in this race, cyclists currently ride on tubeless tires of 30 or 32 mm, with foam inserts that allow them to use minimal pressures to achieve maximum absorption, minimizing the risk of punctures or tire blowouts.

This aspect is undoubtedly the most influential in the absorption capacity of bikes and has made it possible for cyclists today to not hesitate to use their aerodynamic bikes, whose qualities are of great benefit in such a fast race as Paris-Roubaix, with a completely flat route. Attention to aerodynamics also includes the use of high-profile rims, once unthinkable when cyclists rode wheels with ultra-low profiles and conventional 36-spoke radii, the most absorbent combination available in the late 90s.

Another key factor in not using all-road bikes in Paris-Roubaix is that they have lost the competitive qualities that those gran fondo bikes had, especially in terms of lateral stiffness or steering geometry that allowed for agile handling. Today's all-road bikes are more oriented towards pure cycling tourism and adventure. They include compartments for carrying tools, are robust to allow for gravel use, and the positions in which they place the cyclist are extremely relaxed, so, except for exceptions of some riders who use bikes like the Trek Domane or the Specialized Roubaix, more for advertising reasons than for their own conviction, the use of this type of bikes in the Hell of the North can now be considered a thing of the past.