A few years back, riders in the professional peloton were sticking weights on their frames to bring the bikes up to the UCI weight limit of 6.8kg (15lbs); and while the adoption of disc brakes and electronic groupsets have reduced the need for that, there are still some very light road bikes available on the market... as long as you have the funds, because shedding weight often doesn't come cheap!
If you want the lightest off-the-peg bike available (and the UCI limit doesn't apply to you): Specialized Aethos Pro
One for the rim brake fans (on a budget): Van Rysel EDR CF Ultegra
Best lightweight aero road bike: Scott Foil RC Pro
You want aero and low weight: Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8
A great lightweight all-round road bike: Cervelo R5
Best lightweight road bike for climbing: Factor O2 VAM
If you are a frequent reader of our bike reviews you'll know that a bike's weight isn't the be-all and end-all, often being trumped by aerodynamics or comfort in the real world. That doesn't stop us all wanting the lightest machine we can afford though, especially if you live in a hilly area. Plus we all know that at some point someone (even a non-cyclist) is going to do the 'car park pick up test' so that they can gauge just how light a modern road bike is, and you won't want to be embarrassed.
As a general trend, bikes have got a little heavier over recent years with the inclusion of disc brakes and derailleur motors on bikes with electronic gears, but on the whole road bikes are still very light. In fact, some of the models below aren't even anywhere near top-of-the-range, but still tip the scales at less than 8kg.
As you'll see from our list, carbon fibre is king. When it comes to reducing weight other materials often struggle to compete, especially when trying to balance stiffness and longevity too.
How we review road bikes
We take bike reviews seriously here at road.cc (although we have a lot of fun riding them) and make sure reviewers have full access to their test bikes for at least a month, ideally longer, to ensure they can come up with detailed and thorough observations about their experience.
We'll never publish a full review based off a test ride or two in an exotic location, preferring to allow reviewers to ride test bikes in their usual riding environment. The test report asks reviewers to assess quality, comfort, stiffness, value and numerous other metrics, before asking for a final score.
In the case of light road bikes, if a bike is marketed as lightweight we'll look to compare it to other light bikes on the market vs how it performs and how it's priced, factoring this information into the overall score.
Why you can trust us
All our reviewers are experienced cyclists, especially so when it comes to bike reviews. We think it takes a bit more know-how to properly review a bike compared to a pair of socks, so most of our bike reviewing gets done by our most experienced staff members and freelance contributors. We also have a rule that we only dish out review products to reviewers who would actually consider buying the item in question; we'll never give an aero road bike to a reviewer who only ever rides gravel, basically!
Also, we only ever recommend bikes that fared well in reviews in our buyer's guides, so you're not just seeing a list we've plucked from our backsides. We might recommend a different spec to the exact bike we've reviewed, but where this is necessary we'll only do so if we're familiar with alternative parts used on the other model.
A disclaimer...
It's worth noting that our top picks are not necessarily the lightest bikes full-stop, we're well aware of that before you tell us in the comments! This guide is a selection of fully built light bikes that are available to buy, mostly off-the-peg and, crucially, bikes that we've reviewed ourselves so we can recommend them to you.
If you're an extreme weight weenie and would rather build a bike yourself with the lightest bike frames and components in the world, check out this feature instead. If you want to drop some weight off your current bike, see our article on how to make your bike lighter. There's also some more info on how to buy or build a super lightweight custom bike in the FAQ section towards the bottom of this page.
We've selected our top six light road bikes first that you can find in the quick links, and there are plenty more recommendations further down the page.
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9 comments
Is it still 2003? Has no one told you about the fact that reducing bike weight by teeny amounts is nothing but a marketing scam? Have y'all been a-boo-boos for 20 years? Have a read of this and wake up:
https://www.cyclingabout.com/why-we-should-stop-our-obsession-with-bike-...
Carrying 5kg (11lb) on a 15.37km Circuit with 276m Climbing
Run 1: 39:55
Run 2: 39:25
Average: 39:40
Carrying 15kg (33lb) on a 15.37km Circuit with 276m Climbing
Run 1: 41:26
Run 2: 41:22
Average: 41:24 (+1:44 with 10kg extra)
Carrying 25kg (55lb) on a 15.37km Circuit with 276m Climbing
Run 1: 42:40
Run 2: 42:24
Average: 42:32 (+2:52 with 20kg extra)
The numbers from my test are a little abstract, so let’s extrapolate them out to 100km to see how closely they match Bike Calculator’s prediction of 78 seconds per extra kilogram.
Extrapolated Data: 100km (62mi) with 1796m (5892ft) elevation gain
5kg Load: 4 hours, 18 minutes, 4 seconds
15kg Load: 4 hours, 29 minutes, 17 seconds – 67 seconds per extra kilogram (+11:13)
25kg Load: 4 hours, 36 minutes, 47 seconds – 56 seconds per extra kilogram (+18:43)
The data is quite clear; bike weight is not as important as you think!
My real-world testing, along with the numbers from the mathematical models, suggests that a kilogram extra weight will likely add one or two minutes on a hilly 100km bike ride. And on a flat route, a kilogram is likely worth 10 or 20 seconds over 100km.
This is worth thinking about if you find yourself obsessing over bike and gear weight.
Your times suggest that even a few hundred grammes could make a significant difference in a race. Anyway, a lighter bike feels nicer.
Agree re: feel. Admittedly I don't have two otherwise identical bikes of different weights to make a truly fair test, but my lightest bike (c. 7.5kg, so not a total weight weenie) feels nicest.
The difference is particularly noticeable if you have to carry the bike upstairs after a long ride.
I had done something sort of comparison, when I started carrying my D-Lock on a bike mount and the bike seemed to be obviously slower to change direction. When put in a belt holster, the bike felt again light and sometimes I think I have forgotten it home, despite having the same overall bike and rider weight.
So a lighter bike is indeed more fun when riden, but to be honest for many riders it would be better for their wallet and the environment to try get thinner instead of becoming weight weenies.
The effect is even clearer if you hang a couple of bags of shopping on the ends of your handlebars.
True indeed, have done lots of shopping like that!
I did some completey independent, mathematical modelling on this topic. I also found that the difference on a course involving moderately rolling terrain was about 1 minute for 1 extra kg per 100 km ridden. I would like to take a poll to know what an average cyclists expects the difference to be, becuase I'd guess they would think 5 or 10 times the real value.
Are you sure your model is giving the "real" value?