The Specialized Roubaix SL8 Pro is, as the name implies, made for Paris-Roubaix bike. It’s as all-road as you will ever find without picking an actual gravel bike and it stands out in the Velo All-Road Field Test for embracing the brief like nothing else.
While it’s a carbon frame endurance bike like most of the others, there’s features you won’t find elsewhere. Most recognizable among those is the Future Shock 3.0 at the front. This is an adjustable suspension for the rider’s hands, as opposed to suspension for the wheels, and it’s paired with a hover bar that brings your hands up even further.
Keeping things balanced at the rear of the bike is the S-Works Pave Seat post. The system starts by dropping the top tube at an angle to expose more seatpost. Then the seatpost clamp drops even further to move the point of deflection below the top tube. This isn’t what you’d consider suspension but it keeps up with the Future shock and provides more comfort than even the most flexible seatposts on other bikes.
These quasi gravel features are then paired with geometry to match. If you look at a more traditional endurance bike like the BMC Roadmachine, everything is more relaxed. The chainstay on the Specialized Roubaix SL8 Pro is longer, there’s more stack, and less reach. This is the kind of geometry that takes care of you in technical situations even if it’s not the most responsive or racy feeling.
What isn’t so off-road focused is the build. Our test bike priced at $7499.99 sported a 2x Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset with a 4iii powermeter and there’s no 1x build in site. If that was something you wanted to make happen you could reach for the frameset and build your own but there’s also not a lot of reason to do so. Even with a front derailleur Specialized promises up to 40mm of tire clearance.
Specs
| Frameset | Specialized Roubaix SL8 |
| Drivetrain | Shimano Ultegra Di2 |
| Gearing | 50-34T chainrings; 11-34t cassette |
| Handlebar/Stem | Future Stem Pro (90 mm) with S-Works Carbon Hover bar (40 cm) |
| Seatpost | S-Works Pave Seat post (15 mm offset) |
| Saddle | Specialized Body Geometry Power Pro Mirror, hollow titanium rails |
| Wheels | Roval Terra CL II, 25mm internal width, 32mm depth |
| Tires (control) | S-Works Mondo 2BR, 700x32c |
| For more: | Specialized website |
What we like about the Specialized Roubaix SL8 Pro
The entire selling proposition of the Specialized Roubaix SL8 Pro is that it’s one, small, step removed from a gravel bike. To that end you need to lean into the features that make that a reality. After all, there’s 40 mm of tire clearance and that was a full gravel bike only a few years ago. Today though that’s a positive but not the headline feature.
Instead, just like the section above starts with a discussion of the Future Shock 3.0 so too does this one. The identity of this bike hinges on that feature. You either see it as a positive or you look elsewhere.
If you are still reading then you see it as positive, and it is. The Future Shock design doesn’t change the ability of the tire to stay in touch with the road surface but it does take the road buzz out of the frame. Stick to the pavement and long days in the saddle just feel easier. The smoothest pavement will still surprise you with how much better it feels and broken pavement won’t even cross your mind.
Then there’s the seatpost. There’s less to say on that front because it’s less noticeable and it’s more conventional. The thing is that if wasn’t there you’d end up with an odd ride feel where the front and rear felt unbalanced. Specialized has done a good job making it all work.
Even more than the suspension-esque tricks though, the Specialized Roubaix SL8 Pro benefits from a great wheel spec. When I help people choose wheels I give the advice that you should always look for the widest internal width possible. It makes fro a larger air channel and more air volume with a given tire size. More air means a more comfortable ride and the Roval Terra CL II maximizes what works for road tires at 25 mm internal width. The lower depth and added strength of an actual gravel wheel makes sense here as well.
If we keep focused on features, there’s also plenty of options for food and water. You’ll find three bottle mounts plus bento box mounts on the top tube. It’s all there to support long rides in out of the way places.
It does also mean that the focus of this bike is a little less razor sharp when ridden. Just like the future shock, I wouldn’t consider it a negative because it’s the point of the bike. Just be aware that turn in is a little slower than a more road focused bike.
What we don’t like
Just like the positives hinge on the Future Shock, so do the negatives. The frame and geometry of Specialized Roubaix SL8 Pro might be a good match for a wider swath of people. Having the ability to run 40 mm of tires on a carbon road bike with a dropped top tube and a squishy seatpost has an appeal. So does a road bike with three bottle mounts, external cables, a hover bar, and 40mm tires on a 25 mm internal rim. Some of those people aren’t going to want to deal with the future shock.
A road bike, arguably, doesn’t need suspension for the handlebar. Unfortunately Specialized doesn’t sell the Specialized Roubaix SL8 Pro without the future shock. It makes for a heavier bike, 8.1 kg quoted weight, than you’d otherwise have and it’s another thing to deal with. It’s also, potentially, not your aesthetic cup of tea.
There’s also no downtube storage on this bike which seems like an odd missing feature. You could repurpose the bottom bottle cage as storage but downtube is a feature that’s looking more and more like a must have in this category. It’s missing here.
Livability
The Specialized Roubaix SL8 Pro is about as easy to live as you’ll find with any modern bike. Love it or hate it, external routing is less of a hassle and that’s what this bike has. There’s also a threaded bottom bracket.
That leaves, again, the Future shock to discuss. The system isn’t serviceable so if there’s an issue you’ll have a two year warranty and after that it’s a replacement piece that isn’t cheap.
Who is the bike for?
We love to own trucks and SUVs because one day we might need to haul something. For a lot of people gravel bikes follow that trend also. How much gravel, and what kind of gravel, do you actually ride? If you find yourself spending most of your time on the road either paved or unpaved, then the Specialized Roubaix SL8 Pro might be more than enough.
Swap on 40 mm tires and open the future shock and you can handle an incredible range of riding. This is an all-road bike in the truest sense of the word and if that’s what you are looking for then here’s the bike for you.