When you get on your road bike, the chances are high that you want to go fast. You can see those KOMs on your computer, and you want to smash them. You want to beat your rivals. You want your name next to that crown. You can train harder, or you can train smarter. Buying an aero bike is one of those smarter training moves.

Stiff

An aero bike will not turn you from a Cat4 racer into a Tour de France hopeful, but it will help you go faster. They are aerodynamic, and they tell you that by being fast. One of the main reasons aero bikes boast about speed is that they are stiff.

These frames have stiffness as a side effect from the aerodynamic design stage. To sculpt tubes into aero shapes, tubes have to hold these shapes, which makes them stiff. When you ride an aero bike for the first time, you will notice this. You will definitely know when you stomp on the pedals.

Efficiency and Aero

What you'll experience here is your frame's ability to efficiently transfer your power when you pedal. However, there's a problem with pedaling. When you stomp on the pedals, the frame twists. This lateral movement causes the bottom of the frame to flex with each pedal stroke. You don't want that to happen; it's a waste of power.

An aero bike helps prevent that. Strengthening the bottom bracket area of the frame helps transfer power more efficiently. Aero frames have a large bottom bracket area for aero shapes and stiffness, shaped to get aero benefits.

The bottom half of your bike, the bottom bracket, chainstays, and dropouts are what transfer your power to the rear wheel. If there is flex in these parts, you lose power. A well-designed aero bike will have eliminated this flex in its quest to be aero.

New Aero Bikes

Eliminating flex helps the aero road bike get you that KOM you desire. Training smarter and harder with an aero frame will bring you significant results in your quest to be the best rider you can be.

We have chosen three aero road bike frames that you will feel have contact with this bottom bracket. Three frames that will allow you to ride to victory, and we haven't even asked about their aero credentials yet.

3T Exploro LTD

The 3T is a dark horse and the world's first aero gravel bike. Being an aero gravel bike allows the 3T to smash KOMs in less contested areas of the world. However, this bike comes with a huge bottom bracket and interesting chainstay construction. It is an aero road bike that can fit 40mm tires at its heart.

You can feel the stiffness from the moment you step on the pedal. Gerard Vroomen's DNA can be seen all over the frameset, but is this worthy of being a glorious successor to Cervelo? Only time will tell.

Colnago Concept

Colnago might have seemed late to the aero game. However, this late entry is more than made up for by the Concept. As is common with Italian brands, this bike has road racing heritage stamped all over it.

It comes with a threaded bottom bracket shell. The bottom bracket area is incredibly stiff, with chainstays melting into the bottom bracket area. The dropped seatstays update a traditional Italian brand into a modern aero road bike frameset.

ICAN A8

The ICAN A8 looks fast. It is designed to get you to the finish line as quickly as possible. The dropped seatstays not only tell you that the frame is stiff, but they also tell you that aerodynamics have been carefully considered.

ICAN's framesets are lower priced than their competitors. You can get this Toray T700 carbon fiber frameset direct from the factory.

You know this frameset is stiff because it connects a massive chainstay to a solid BB86 bottom bracket. All of your power will be driven along the rear wheel. It will help you push rubber along the road and reach speeds you thought were beyond your reach.

All three of these frames have similar design characteristics. Compared to the old round shapes of road bikes, they are all angular. They all feature modern carbon fiber construction, and they are all lightweight as well as aero.

They all hide cables from the wind. They all help you go faster. You do not have one of these frames and just sit around along the road. The one we have chosen is the ICAN frameset. It provides the same high-quality ride as the other two frames. The same ability to cheat the wind and a super-stiff frameset, but at a sixth of the price of the Colnago frameset and about an eighth of the 3T.