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Tired of uncomfortable, aggressive race geometry but underwhelmed by boring endurance bikes? The game has changed. Join us as we explore the Factor Monza and Specialized Aethos 2, two bikes that epitomize a new philosophy: high performance designed for real-world riders, not just Tour de France pros.
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Can you buy a bike with more endurance-style geometry and really have as much fun
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And the answer is a resounding... For absolutely years, the cycling media has been telling us
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not to go and buy the latest Tour de France pro-level bikes
0:20
Why? Well, because an endurance bike, or one that's a bit more orientated
0:24
towards the everyday rider, will be a lot better. Many of us don't have the pro level flexibility it takes to get the most out of a race bike
0:34
There has, however, been one big issue with that. Endurance bikes have been phenomenally underwhelming
0:41
In fact, I think I've had bigger adrenaline rushes rearranging my sock drawer
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And that leads me to these two bikes, the Facto Monza and the Specialized Athos 2
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I think that these two bikes epitomize this designed for us, not for Lycra clad pros in
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France. I get asked a lot what bike people should go out and buy. And whilst that varies hugely
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depending on whether you live in the mountains, the hills, what type of riding, how fast do you
1:09
want to ride? These two bikes keep on popping up. So let's go on a ride and see if we can work out
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whether you really can have your cake and eat it. So what exactly do I mean by designed for us? Because endurance bikes certainly aren't a new
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invention, but Factor doesn't even call their bike an endurance bike. So what exactly are these bikes
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and who are they for? Well, endurance bikes seem to be turning more and more into all-road bikes
1:49
they're getting massive tire clearances and they're even capable of some light gravel
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That's not the case with either of these bikes, although this specialised Athos II can take up
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to 35mm tires and the Factor Monza can take up to 34mm tires. So they're certainly very generous
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and on the rather crappy British roads, I mean, I like to race on a 30mm tire now and I like to
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train on a 32mm. So it's nice that both of these bikes can fit them in with room to spare. It also
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helps to future-proof them a little bit and they've both got UDH rear dropouts which again
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whether you agree or not with the technology it does seem like the bike industry is moving in that
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direction and therefore it's probably a good idea for if you're purchasing a new bike to get one
2:33
with that standard. So the key difference between these two bikes and the bikes that you would find
2:39
being raced in the world tour is their geometry and I know geometry is not the most interesting
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thing in the world, but it is the one thing that will probably
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give you the most comfort or discomfort when out on a long endurance ride Now Factor with the Monza have used what they call the Performance Plus Fit And what that basically means is it a little bit taller and a little bit shorter Other than that everything
3:05
else is identical. So it's got the same length chainstays, it's got the same seat tube angle
3:10
and it's got the same head tube angle as the Factor Ostro-Van, a World Tour race bike. And what that
3:16
means is that you can have what feels like a race bike, but with a position that is more suitable
3:23
for people who aren't doing several hours a week of strength and conditioning training
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Now, I've got all the numbers here, so they don't sound big, but this one is just nine millimeters
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taller and five millimeters shorter than the AustroVan. What that means is that you can have
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a fit that you find comfortable without running a load of really ugly spacers under your stem
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which is going to affect the handling of your nice new road bike. Feel free to disagree with
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me in the comments. I think that this is a really good looking bike, especially this blue on a nice
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sunny day. We got some nice comments earlier from someone with a Holdsworth, so you can trust him
4:02
I would choose the fact that this is pretty blue. As for the Specialized, they've taken it a little
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bit more endurance style geometry. So that one is 15 millimeters taller at the front end
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seven millimeters shorter in reach. It's got a longer wheelbase as well and that's thanks to
4:19
some longer chainstays. So that does make it feel a little bit less snappy but still snappier
4:25
still more race orientated than something like the Roubaix which is their long-standing endurance
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bike. It's also got a two millimeter lower bottom bracket and half a degree slacker head tube angle
4:38
However, they have stuck with the same seat tube angle, which I think plays a very large part in
4:45
how aggressive a bike feels, how far you are over the bottom bracket. So a steeper seat tube angle
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imagine it's like that, then you're going to be right over the bottom bracket. Whereas a slacker
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seat tube angle. You're going to be more over the rear wheel, like on a gravel bike or like on a
5:02
mountain bike. It's really good for stability. It's less good for feeling racy and putting power down
5:09
And on that note, another interesting point of this Factor is that you can choose either a zero
5:14
millimeter offset seat post or a 25 millimeter setback option. I like that from Factor and that's
5:20
something that you don't typically get even on race bikes actually. And even then it's only the
5:26
raciest of race bikes that allow you to select it. So it's nice to see that trickling down to bikes
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for us and not just bikes for pros. To put the Athos and the Monza through their paces in this
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very nice weather that we've been having, Assos have kindly kicked me out in their 2026 Mille GT
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S11 collection which is the latest in the Swiss brand famous endurance range Let me run you through it So the jersey is the S11 Evo featuring what ASOS calls AirCell aimed at keeping you cool when the pace or the temperature rises
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There's also plenty of trickle-down tech off of the EF Team Kit
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such as these raw-cut Eclipse sleeves, which are not only nice and low-profiled
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for maximum comfort, but also more aerodynamic for, well, I need all the help I can get
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Where I think ASOS kit really excels though is bib shorts, And these have the new Golden Gate 2 insert
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allowing it to move with your body instead of the saddle. So if you want your kit to be just as fast
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and good looking as the bike that you ride, make sure you check out Acelos' full range of colors
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and options using the link down in the description below. Right, onwards with the video
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One place that non-professional bikes always seems to come unstuck is with weight
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They don't have the top tier components on. They've got the less fancy carbon layups
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and all of that adds up and results in a much heavier bike
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However, that's not quite the case here. This Specialized Aethos II has a frame weight of 705 grams
6:59
and the S-Works Aethos II has a frame weight of 585 grams
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What that means is complete with Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset, the Alpinist CL2 wheels, so not the CLXs
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they've got the slightly heavier DT Swiss 350 hubs, It's got the Alpinist one-piece cockpit
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and a carbon fiber seat post, mirror saddle. The complete build weight is 6.73 kilos
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so under the UCI weight limit. No one can complain that that is a heavy bike
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And on the hills, it's very pleasant. The Monza, I mean, just by looking at it
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you can tell that this is gonna be a heavier bike. And actually, it's probably the one negative of this bike
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over the Austro van because it's around 250 grams heavier frame weight
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What that boils down to is an 1100 gram frame. Now compared to the Athos, obviously that's a lot heavier
7:51
It has a lot deeper tube shapes and also it's got some internal frame storage
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which I've been really enjoying actually. I didn't think that I would like it quite so much
8:01
As for the complete build, we've got a black ink bar and stem. And if you're in the UK at least
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buying from Visevelo, for example, which is Factors authorised dealer, then you can get loads of bar options, which is absolutely brilliant. This one is 130mm long
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It's 38cm across, but you can go for lots of different bar stem combos, which is very welcome
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The black ink wheels, they've got bladed spokes, so they're going to be slightly more aerodynamic
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than the round profile spokes on the Athos. They are hookless wheels, so make of that what you will
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and then of course the SRAM Force AXS groupset, which compared to Shimano Ultegra
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I think SRAM is definitely as good. It good in a different way I find that the Shimano road group sets are a little bit snappier The gear changes are a little bit quicker And it does feel a little bit more direct
9:01
However, with SRAM, I really like their gear ratios. So this one's got a 10-30 three-tooth cassette on the rear
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And what that means is you can have a slightly smaller chainring at the front, a 48 in this case
9:13
And it means that you find yourself switching between little and big ring less
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I find that on the roads around me that are a bit rolling, it's just very welcome
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So how do they perform out on the road? Well, I've ridden the Austrovan and the fact that Monza does feel every bit as quick as its World Tour bigger brother
9:34
that's not bad from a package that costs £3,000 less. Clearly, the two bikes are for different purposes
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This one is I would be more than happy turning up to to my local criterium on a Saturday
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but also it is comfy enough to ride every day. The Athos, meanwhile, I'm not sure I'd want to
9:55
race it. It is very nimble. That's despite the slacker front end. However, it is very pleasant
10:04
to ride. And if you're going on 100 milers, not too worried about your speed. It's very comfortable
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That rear end is really very nice and compliant. I would change out the tyres. I'm not a massive
10:17
fan of these specialized turbos. I'm not actually a massive fan of these Goodyear's either. I've just
10:23
changed these two out and I think you'd get even more performance and pleasantness out of both
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bikes. So what about that more relaxed geometry? Well, I think it doesn't have any negatives for
10:36
us in the real world. The pros for years and years have been running super negative stems
10:43
super long stems, try to get as far over the front end as possible. We don't need to do that
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We can't do that. Our hip flexors aren't flexible enough to do that. And what both of these bikes
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mean is that you can get into a sensible, racy, as fast as you like position without having to
10:59
cut corners. They're designed for us. So at the start of this video, I asked, can you really have
11:05
your cake and eat it? Can you buy a bike with more endurance style geometry and really have as much
11:12
fun? Is it going to be as nimble? Is it going to be as exciting? And the answer is a resounding yes
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There are some genuinely excellent options that you will never see being ridden in the Tour de
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France. And I think that's useful to remember because it's very easy to look at the pros
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what's Van der Poel riding? What's Pogaccia riding? Probably a bike that isn't as suitable
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for us as it is for them. So let me know down in the comments whether you'd consider one of
11:40
these two bikes or another endurance style bike or are you still going to copy the pros? Let me know
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down in the comments below. If you like this sort of content then please make sure you subscribe to
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the channel, give this video a like and we'll see you next time
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