Review: The BMC Roadmachine Hits the High Notes

The BMC Roadmachine is a classic endurance bike. It’s the kind of bike you’d immediately recommend for someone who wanted a fast road bike that wasn’t exactly a race bike. It’s also the kind of bike you’d likely get recommended by any bike shop that sells it.

The fact that we’ve got it here in our all-road test is really a testament to the state of the market. Endurance bikes are often called all-road bikes and the feature set is merging. In this case, the BMC Roadmachine leans towards the road side of things with a max tire clearance of 34 mm — well, 34mm as it’s built.

The limiting factor on the tire size is the front derailleur. If you ever wanted to get wild in the future you could reconfigure the groupset to a 1x and the frame itself has room for up to 40mm tires.

Unfortunately there’s no 1x configuration available in the models but the builds are generous with what they do offer. Our test bike was a little up market from some of the other options at a current list price of $10,399. Fortunately that up charge means you get everything you’d consider upgrading later.

As a note, there is also the BMC Roadmachine 01 X One available as an option that addresses the 1x build. Despite the name change the frame is the same for both bikes and the X One is really a build option offering SRAM Force 1×12 with a suspension stem. Given there’s only one build option for this, you do have less options but it also pushes the whole bike in a much more all-road direction. A frameset option would still be a better choice if it was available.

Either way, what you’ll find underpinning the BMC Roadmachine is a carbon frame with internal routing, downtube storage, and aero bottle cages included. The bright, high-quality paint is worth a mention here too. Then from there this build adds Shimano Dura Ace Di2, DT Swiss ERC 1100 Dicut wheels, a 4iiii power meter, and a one-piece bar and stem.

As far as geometry, you are getting a bike that really feels at home on the road first. The head angle is on the steeper side and it’s the slightly more bottom bracket drop and extra wheelbase that moves it from a race bike to an all-road bike. It’s perfect for never feeling left behind on the road and the only thing that seems overlooked is that bar size that doesn’t change through the frame size range.

Specs

What we like about the BMC Roadmachine

The thing to understand about the BMC Roadmachine is that it’s a road bike first. On one hand that means the tire size options are somewhat limited, but on the other hand it means that it feels fast and responsive on the road.

In terms of geometry you can see that play out by comparing it to the BMC Teammachine which is the brand’s road race bike. The all-road, or endurance, focused Roadmachine is incredibly close. Head angle is almost the same retaining quick turn-in and precise handling, but the Roadmachine sandpapers off the roughest of edges. The bike is a bit longer from wheel to wheel, mostly coming from a longer chainstay, with more bottom bracket drop for stability. The rider position is, predictably, more upright with significantly more stack while also being a bit shorter in the reach.

On the road all of that translates to the kind of bike that retains the kind of road bike feel you want when trying to drop the hammer. Turn in on descents is precise and there’s enough feedback through the tires that you always feel like you are doing your part to keep the speed up.

The details that make this an all-road bike are almost invisible unless you ride back to back. Long days feel easier with more of an upright position but short days at high-intensity won’t suffer. In Portland where I live there’s a couple of summer race options on weeknight evenings. You could happily take the BMC Roadmachine to any of these events without feeling slow.

On top of that ride feel, you then get a generous build and great extra features. Our test bike happened to have been a little upmarket with Dura-Ace, a 4iii power meter, and the one-piece integrated bar and stem but if you move down the model lineup you lose very little.

Whatever model you land on, you still get fully internal routing for that clean look. Lower models will have a two-piece bar and stem with cables routed under the stem but the look is still clean and tidy. On top of that the bottle cages come in the box and there’s downtube storage with an included storage pouch plus bento box mounts on the top tube. The included, and integrated, rear light on the carbon seatpost is also a nice detail.

What we don’t like

What’s immediately obvious about this bike when you start to dig is that it needs an update. It’s only been a year since the model got an update but somehow the builds seem a little behind the segment. 1x options are more and more prevalent on the road and there’s an odd split in the way BMC lists the models with this bike.

Both the Stinner Carizo and the BMC Roadmachine have room for up to a 40mm tire in the frame but not with a front derailleur. The problem for BMC is that you can’t purchase the BMC Roadmachine frame only and there’s only one choice for a 1x build which isn’t the latest SRAM 1×13 XPLR. Pair this frame with one of the latest 1x groupset options and you’d have a truly versatile all-road bike.

Livability

Remember when I talked about how great it was to have a clean and fully integrated look to the front end? It’s not so great for livability. The steerer tube and essentially everything about the bar and stem is integrated and proprietary. Nothing about that system is easy to deal with if you need to make adjustments.

Although I tend to be forgiving of the fact that most people only have to deal with these kinds of front end issues once, maybe twice, in the life of a bike it’s definitely going to be a hassle. This is partially exacerbated because with this model the bar and stem are a single piece and only offered in a single size on every frame size. Expect to talk to the retailer about getting it right at time of purchase.

On top of that you’ve also got a proprietary seat post and a press fit bottom bracket. Neither is a deal breaker, seat posts are commonly proprietary at this point, but be aware.

Who is the bike for?

The BMC Roadmachine is for the rider who wants a fast road bike but prefers a little more stability and comfort. This is basically a race bike with an easier to handle rider position. You are also going to want to be the kind of person who appreciates a contemporary silhouette. The angles, and even the paint, look modern but if round tubes are your thing, look elsewhere.