Watt-controlled training, nutrition according to a plan and faster regeneration through agonising treatments with the fascia roller. Those who meticulously prepare for the next marathon, or perhaps even the season's highlight, often turn their entire lives upside down. The renunciation of fatty foods or alcohol seems almost ridiculous when you consider that some professionals leave their marital bed to spend the night in an altitude chamber for a few extra watts in their legs. When your entire life is sacrificed to long-distance endeavours, the question of the perfect equipment naturally also plays a decisive role. If you go to bed with a growling stomach, you are unlikely to want to compete in the next race with second-rate equipment.
For our test of the fastest marathon bikes in the world, our selection criteria were just as strict as the qualification standards for the World Championships. Only the most successful bikes from the professional business made it into our test. In addition to the bikes of marathon world champions Héctor Leonardo Páez and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, our choice fell on the bikes of Cape Epic winner Nino Schurter and Urs Huber, first in the marathon world rankings. Of course, we didn't test the original competition bikes of this exquisite group of riders, but asked the sponsors for the commercially available replica models. However, at least on the Bulls, there is no recognisable difference in the equipment. Due to the individual sponsorship contracts, the bikes from the other manufacturers differ slightly from the professional riders' equipment.
Apart from the Colombian Héctor Leonardo Páez, hardly any other professional athlete uses a hardtail. However, this phenomenon is easy to explain: If the purchase price is not an issue, marathon fullys end up with a top weight of around ten kilos. The weight joker that hardtail riders usually play
usually play in favour of more comfort and better downhill performance. For all those who have to finance their sports equipment themselves, we give a tip for a cheaper version of each bike.
Ultimately, all four bikes have one thing in common: if the performance on the next long-distance ride is not really convincing, it may be due to your lack of asceticism, but certainly not to one of these test models.
You can download the complete comparison test of the four marathon bikes from BIKE 5/20 as a PDF below the article. The test costs 1.99 euros.
Why not free of charge? Because quality journalism has a price. In return, we guarantee independence and objectivity. This applies in particular to the tests in BIKE. We don't pay for them, but the opposite is the case: we charge for them, hundreds of thousands of euros every year.
- Bulls Wild Edge Team
- Canyon Lux CF SLX 9.0 Ltd
- Giant XTC Advanced SL 0
- Scott Spark RC 900 WC
