When Specialized launched the Aethos back in 2020, it was pitched as the brand’s rule-breaking bike: ultralight, deliberately non-aero, and not intended for the WorldTour. Five years on, the second generation is now official.
At first glance, and even second or third, it’s difficult to spot the differences to the original, but the updates are all to things we can’t really see, like geometry and tyre clearance, and internal hose routing – which we definitely can’t see.
Jase de Puit
Unsurprisingly, Specialized has chosen an evolutionary update rather than a wholesale redesign, keeping the Aethos’ look and tagline as the lightest disc-brake road frame on the market, while adding features that reflect how road bikes have moved on in the past half decade.
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