Endurance racing bikes around 4000 euros: 12 classics on test

Do you like riding 200 kilometres or more at a stretch? Or do you prefer leisurely, short after-work laps? Or are you flirting with the idea of taking up road cycling and dreaming of your first Alpine pass? In any case, you should read this test. Because the bikes we are comparing here are aimed at all of these scenarios.

So-called endurance or marathon bikes are built with the aim of being reliable and comfortable even on extremely long tours. What is comfortable for long distances also suits leisure cyclists and beginners. This is why endurance bikes are considered the ideal vehicle for making the fascination of cycling accessible to less trained and less experienced amateur athletes.

Endurance racing bikes are the first choice for an uncomplicated and relatively inexpensive introduction to road cycling.

These are the endurance road bikes in our test

• Canyon Endurace CF SLX 7 Di2
• Cervélo Caledonia 105 Di2
• Cube Agree C:62 SLX >> available here
• Focus Paralane 8.8 >> available here
• Giant Defy Advanced 0
• Koga Roqa Premium >> available here
• Merida Scultura Endurance Rival Edition
• Rose Reveal 04 105 Di2 >> available here
• Scott Addict 30 >> available here
• Stevens Izoard Pro
• Storck Fascenario.3 Comp
• Veto B983

Endurance racing bikes: What makes them special?

A more comfortable riding position, slightly wider tyres, smaller gear ratios and less complicated technology are the main differences to the more prominent, but in many respects more demanding racing bikes of professional cyclists. These details, tailored to the needs of leisure cyclists, made this type of bike increasingly popular from the early 2000s. Although some models had a somewhat staid image, they established themselves as the first choice for an uncomplicated and relatively inexpensive introduction to road cycling. However, the comfortably tuned road racers have recently fallen somewhat out of favour.

In just a few years, they have been overtaken by gravel bikes in terms of sales figures. As a result, many manufacturers now hardly offer any affordable road racing bikes and are concentrating their range on versatile gravel bikes. There is no longer any tailwind for this type of bike from professional cycling either: races such as Paris-Roubaix, which for a long time were a test laboratory and showcase for comfortable endurance racers, are now often contested by aero bikes, which are also ridden in all other races because they have become more comfortable in the course of further development and allow sufficiently wide tyres even for rough tracks.

Endurance racing bikes enjoy great popularity

However, this does not mean that the further development of long-distance specialists has come to a standstill, because "sensible" road racers are still popular in the medium price range, as shown by the latest TOUR reader survey, for example: 40 per cent of respondents would buy a marathon road bike next, which is significantly more than those interested in racing or gravel bikes.

Manufacturers are therefore working with undiminished ambition to reorient the endurance category. However, just like the very inexpensive ones, even the more luxuriously equipped variants have become rare, but the range between 3000 and 5000 euros is all the greater. The marathon road bike also benefits from the technical development of other road bike categories, as our current test shows. We have included bikes that cost around 4000 euros, which corresponds to the plans of the vast majority of readers who want to invest in a bike with electronic shifting in the near future.

Main focus of the test candidates

Twelve manufacturers accepted our invitation, including global pacesetters such as GiantMerida and Scott, the big German mail-order brands Canyon and Rose and the specialist retail brand Cubewhich have recently attracted attention time and again with their spectacular price-performance ratio. In this price range, you will find the cheapest electric ensembles from Shimano (105 Di2) and Sram (Rival AXS), and in rare cases a higher-quality counterpart. Modern carbon frames are standard, lightweight carbon rims are not yet, but are possible with good offers.

Even at first glance, it is clear how attractive the offers in this price range are. There seems to be little correlation between price and equipment level, and therefore also between the weight of the bikes. Once again, Cube stands out, because with the Sram Force and lightweight carbon rims, it is equipped far above average and, at less than 7.5 kilos, is by far the lightest bike in the test. For comparison: the Focus with Sram Rival, aluminium rims and cheap tyres weighs a good 1.5 kilograms more and is 300 euros more expensive.

Anyone who is familiar with the atypically sporty orientation of the Cube If you're a fan of the "all-rounder" - more on that later - you really have to go for it. Also attractive are the Veto as the only Ultegra bike in the test and the Rose Reveal due to its favourable price. A central advertising promise for marathon bikes is a high level of riding comfort, which is not only achieved with wide tyres, but also with suspension frames, forks and seat posts.

On our comfort test bench, the Canyon scored particularly well; even more than ten years after its introduction, the competition can't match the level of the leaf spring support. The majority of the candidates offer passable suspension, but deductions have to be made in this discipline. Cervélo, Stevens and veto.

Trend novelties

A test field with such prominent brands naturally also reveals new trends. One of them does not stop at this category either, namely the trend towards ever wider tyres. The overwhelming consensus among manufacturers is that the typical tyre width for long-distance riding will be 30 to 32 millimetres in the future. Most models even have room for 35 mm tyres. This makes the bikes somewhat heavier, but also more robust and comfortable and extends the range of use to unpaved roads.

As 28-millimetre-wide tyres are now standard on competition bikes, marathon bikes are once again setting themselves apart and pushing into the small niche of so-called all-road bikes. Exceptions are Cube - the decidedly sporty reinterpretation of the Agree rolls on 28-millimetre tyres - and Storck and Stevens, where the development of the frames dates back several years.

Giant and Koga go even further. The Koga Roqa allows 42 millimetre wide knobbly tyres, while the Giant allows 38 mm tyres - if this is fully utilised, they can compete with gravel bikes. When it comes to geometry, most manufacturers rely on the tried and tested; the riding position on a typical marathon racing bike is certainly sporty, but significantly less aggressive than classic race geometries. The fact that there are exceptions and extremes is a good thing, as the riding position and behaviour are ultimately a question of body size and individual preferences. If you are looking for an emphatically upright position, you should take a look at Canyon, Merida and Rose.

Endurance racing bikes: a suitable concept for every requirement

The comfortable models generally also impress with good directional stability. Cube, Storck and Veto are very sporty, comparable to competition racers. They also tend to steer a little more nervously. The integration of components, which has characterised the development of competition bikes in recent years, is also increasing in this category, even if this is not always conducive to easy handling. With the exception of Cervélo and Storck, the cables run in or along the handlebars and stem into the head tube. This looks modern, but usually causes problems when adjusting the position.

Cube and Storck come with one-piece carbon cockpits that are reminiscent of top racing bikes, but are extremely expensive to replace. For many prospective customers, mounting eyelets for bags or fixed mudguards might be more useful. At least half of the test bikes have the latter.

The fact that a once firmly established bike category has to reinvent itself to a certain extent also has good sides: More variety and exciting experiments enrich the genre. There is likely to be a suitable concept for almost every requirement - sooner or later. Detailed test results can be found in the overview; we have summarised the characters, strengths and weaknesses of the individual candidates in the test letters linked below.

The results of the endurance racing bikes at a glance

* LL = for life, CR = crash replacement, RA = racing exclusion

>> We have compiled all the information about our test here.