JUST RIDE the BIKE

Specialized Secteur Sport

If it was a tin, it would do what it says, on the tin

This bike was my first foray into road cycling, so it has a slightly special place in any kind of bike test. As we know, every test ever done is biased. By like/dislike of brand, of riding style, and size, confidence, mechanical knowledge, day, date, weather, and so on. You can get a few more people to ride a bike, but that doesn't make a robust sample, and all those people are different again, so you can't use large numbers to iron out the outliers (this is not a stats lesson - Ed). Anyway, as my first road bike I was new to the ways of on-display lycra (Mountain bikers keep all that stuff hidden away), and new to considering hills as good things to ride up, not just grim but necessary obstacles, in order to fly back down them. This particular one is what's known as an entry level bike (see box below). Rather than the offered free kit worth 10% of the price, I managed to talk them into taking the 10% off the price. Suddenly it seems like a very reasonably £585. 

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More epithets: This is an 'endurance' bike. Or more accurately it has 'endurance geometry'. This means it is designed so that you have less bend in your back to reach the bars, which are closer, and less low down than a bike with 'race geometry'. This means you can ride it for longer in comfort. Which I do. So this works well. Over time I have moved some of the spacers on the stem out, which has dropped the handlebars a very small amount. And is the reason I'd like to try something racier - to see if I can. 

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The Secteur, named after the section's of cobblestones (pave) from the Paris-Roubaix road race, is modeled on the more expensive Specialized Roubaix. Modeled means the same geometry, and then noticeable cheaper build, materials and component. That's fine with me. I do think it does a good job of dealing with the terrible state of the roads where I live. It has 'zertz' inserts built into the seat stays (of course it does), which are meant to provide some damping of rough roads. Hard to say without a control bike, but it does cope pretty well with potholes and so on. I quite often ride through them, so I can maintain my speed, whilst others with less robust bikes slow right down to avoid them. I can't advise on the best course of action, but I can say the Secteur is up to the job. It is comfortable to ride for hours in the saddle. It holds a line well when descending, and it is OK to climb with. I don't think this is a strong point, given the weight, which is substantial, but it's doable. The original handlebars were comfortable to grip, and not too large for my small-ish hands. Interestingly, when the bar tape was peeled off for a service I was shown some plastic shapers, which sit under the tape on the bar tops, and give it a much wider area to grip on the tops. A poor man's version of those wide aero-bars?

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One of the reasons the climbing is doable, is that the Secteur Sport comes with a triple chain ring on the front derailleur (those that scoff won't be reading this review, so it's fine to admit it). And it has got me out of trouble on more than one occasion. I hardly use it at all now, which is something of a statement about how my riding has improved, and there's probably now an argument for something different. But it's fine, so I keep it going. There is some satisfaction in watching the wannabees laugh at the triple and then besting them up a climb.

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