The Specialized Roubaix Expert is sublime in many ways, but has one major flaw

The Specialized Roubaix was once seen as an early retiree's option. Now it's considered one of the best endurance road bikes. With a minor tweak it could be suitable for riding on poorly maintained backroads.

The Specialized Roubaix Expert is a superb bike, but it's not very aesthetically pleasing. The headset-stem area is clunky and the baseplate is large. However, the performance benefits outweigh the visual downsides. The Hoverbar is likely to split opinion visually. It's a bit clunkier than the usual, and it adds an additional chunk of stack. There are reflective details at the seat clamp area. But it doesn't matter as the bike lives or dies on the strength of a strip of silver. In the metallic blue colourway called ‘Teal Tint/Ice Papaya/Black Reflective’ the Expert comes in.

The future shock is a little ugly but it's very effective. It's not got the scalpel like finesse of a pure climbing bike, but you can sprint up hills without noticeable impediment. The seat post is clamped lower in the frame with a wedge-based mechanism. On the fly saddle height adjustments are a bit involved, and best done with one of the best bike torque wrenches. The futureshock has added handling benefits too. Under heavy braking it sags dramatically, which allows a certain percentage of extra braking power. In cornering the front end can comply with the surficial imperfections. Finally, the marketing tag ‘smoother is faster’ is more true than most.

The Roubaix Expert is a superb bike but it's expensive. It's a full 12sp Ultegra Di2 setup with Roval Rapide C 38 wheels shod with Turbo Pro tyres. The Ultgra equipped Tarmac SL7 is the same price. Specialized has gone direct to consumer of late, which usually makes bikes cheaper.

Matt Hayman won Paris-Roubaix on a standard aero bike. Specialized Roubaik is an endurance road bike that offers gains in comfort and performance for many riders. It's not great, because it's too focused on the duality between recreational and UCI level riding.