2024 BICYCLING BIKE OF THE YEAR ENVE FRAY

WHEN YOU ARE BUYING A NEW BIKE, IT CAN BE HARD TO PICK THE RIGHT ONE. CHOOSING THE BEST OVERALL BIKE IS TOUGH FOR OUR TEST TEAM, TOO.

- DAN CHABANOV

SOMETIMES, SELECTING BICYCLING'S BIKE OF THE YEAR IS EASY, BUT THIS YEAR, NOT SO MUCH. OUR TEST team evaluated dozens of models to crown 2024's best. We held several meetings-and a few spirited debates on the topic. After weeks of deliberation, each test team member made a presentation on their preferred bike and the committee handed down its decision.

The final three bikes were the Ritte Esprit, BlackHeart's revised Allroad AL, and the Enve Fray. All three have some key elements in common. They are bikes from slightly smaller, more niche brands. And they have abundant tire clearance for a road bike, with the Ritte being the most limited at 35mm, and the BlackHeart and Enve topping out at 40mm.

Drop-bar bikes with generous tire clearance are certainly nothing new. The modern endurance road bike has been around since 2003, when the original Specialized Roubaix was launched, and randonneuring bikes existed for many decades before that. But this new crop of bikes is enticing and exciting because it keeps getting closer to the ride feel of racier bikes, without sacrificing features like more-accessible geometry and room for wider tires.

Bikes in this category are sometimes termed all-road or endurance bikes, though other names for them pop up every few years-often coming from brands' marketing teams. The basic premise of the category is to take a road bike, add tire clearance, give it lower gearing, and tweak the geometry to make it more upright and comfortable than bikes intended for racing.

While these terms are still around, they feel misleading. After all, what is an all-road bike if some dedicated race bikes can clear 35mm tires? Or what is a race bike when a bike that clears 40mm tires can be built to be as light and nearly as aero?