As we reach the end of another year in cycling, it’s time to look forward to the new road and gravel bikes we might see in 2025.
These aren’t the bikes we believe will be launched simply because they’ve already been teased at races, or we’ve heard whispered rumours about them – these are the bikes BikeRadar’s dedicated team of cycling fanatics desires above all else.
What new road and gravel bikes would you like to see launched in 2025? Let us know in the comments below once you’ve read our picks.
Liam Cahill – road and gravel presenter
MAGA – but not as you know it
Now, I wouldn’t usually consider myself – a centre-left leaning Brit – to be the biggest fan of MAGA. But if we change it to mean Make Aero Great Again, I’m the number one super-fan.
In 2025, I’d love to see more full-fat aero road bikes because, quite frankly, I’m bored of the diet-friendly lightweight aero bikes the pros have been using for the last few years.
Certainly, these are impressive bits of bike design, but I miss the choice aero bikes gave riders. So, the bike I’d love to see in 2025 is a new Specialized Venge.
Specialized dropped this model shortly after launching the Tarmac SL7 and we’ve been told repeatedly that it won’t be making a comeback. However, I’d love to see what the American brand’s designers can do if they fully embrace the UCI’s now-updated 8:1 tube shape allowance.
However, the bike which I think is more likely to arrive in 2025 is a new Cannondale SystemSix. The current model is rather long in the tooth, but it is still respected as one of the best aero race bikes on the market.
Cannondale’s designers are never afraid of being bold in their choices, so the resulting bike could be wild, both in terms of speed and looks.
So, come on American brands, get busy making aero great again.
A gap in the gravel market
In 2024, Van Rysel had instant success with its RCR Pro, a lightweight aero road bike that boasted superbike features at a more palatable price. It was so popular that the Team Edition sold out within hours of going on sale.
But Decathlon’s equivalent gravel bike doesn’t really exist. There is the Riverside GCR, but this isn’t the nicest-looking machine in my eyes and I think Van Rysel can do better.
The brand also has the RCX, a cyclocross bike that can take 40mm tyres. But clearance like this simply isn’t enough for most gravel racers anymore. As a result, I’d like to see something designed around at least 50mm clearance.
Given current trends, I’d expect to see the bike feature a fully integrated front end, along with hidden mounting points for a third bottle cage and top tube bag.
Given the speeds of most gravel races in 2024, the bike would also benefit from a suite of aero tube shapes.
But, unless Van Rysel continues the RCX line alongside this new gravel bike, it will need to have good tyre clearance and handling when used with a 33mm cyclocross tyre.
Go on, Van Rysel, you know you want to.
Jack Luke – digital editor
Cannondale and Trek’s answers to the Aethos
The Specialized Aethos won over hearts and minds when it launched in 2020, eschewing aero tech, internal cable routing and fussy standards, instead prioritising lightness, livability and ride quality over all else.
Despite being more than four years old – donkey’s years in bike tech – reviews and news about the Aethos and it’s now many derivatives are consistently popular with our audience.
As such, I’d love to see Trek or Cannondale follow up with an equivalent model – think a Cannondale SuperSix Evo or Trek Emonda SLR imagined for the modern era with classic frame shapes and the pursuit of lightness prioritised.
While not a directly comparable model, the impressively light Scott Addict RC struck a chord with our readers, whizzing to near the top of our news coverage for November. Riders still really care about weight!
While spicy headlines about impressively low weights help keep the lights on at BikeRadar, I’m not just in it for the delicious clicks – I also see the appeal of such bikes.
Ignoring my tiresome dewy-eyed rim brake nostalgia, the livability and handsome lines of my Giant TCR are key reasons I don’t feel compelled to ride or buy a newer bike.
Even die-hard aero weenie Simon von Bromley recently admitted he prefers the external routing of his old TCR long-termer to the full integration on the newer bike. This is salacious stuff.
Unfortunately, in the case of Trek, this is probably a pipe dream – the new Madone killed off the Emonda, and a focus on reducing SKUs means a new Emonda is unlikely.
I’m less clear on Cannondale, but given that the SystemSix is well overdue an update, it feels more likely the brand’s aero bike will be grabbing headlines next year. One can dream.
Ashley Quinlan – road lead
New aluminium superbikes, please
I’m talking to the whole road bike industry here: I’d like you to come to the table with new aluminium superbikes.
I don’t wish to lazily repeat Specialized’s marketing claim that the Allez Sprint is the world’s first 'alloy superbike' – but it’s probably fair to say it’s one of the only bikes of its kind.
Given that, in 2024, I tested two excellent (if expensive) alloy race bikes in the Standert Kreissage RS and Condor Italia RC (review coming soon) – and came away impressed by both – I can’t help but think this is a sadly under-serviced category in road cycling.
Normally, we tend to see brands creating alloy versions of their endurance bikes, such as the Cube Attain, Canyon Endurace AL and Scott Speedster.
There is a good reason behind this, of course, in the assumption that those coming into the sport may want a more forgiving geometry than would be offered by a race bike.
That said, it also locks those people who have tighter budgets, but may otherwise want a race bike, into owning an endurance bike.
As someone who started out on a Specialized Allez before it became a more endurance-oriented machine (ignoring the Allez Sprint), I hope we’ll see aluminium race bikes making a resurgence in 2025.
Come at me Canyon Ultimate AL, Cannondale SuperSix Alloy, Scott Addict Aluminium et al. I’m ready for you.
Warren Rossiter – senior technical editor
A special-edition Cervélo R-Series
On the road, I’d like to see Cervélo embrace its legendary special editions once again.
As good as the current Cervélo line-up is, with stunning road bikes such as the Caledonia, S5, Soloist, and feathery R5, I long for the day Cervélo produced real hyperbikes such as the original R5CA and RCA.
Both took the R-Series template and enhanced it at the brand's California tech lab, with the RCA boasting a still-impressive-today 667g frame weight.
I don’t want to see any dropped seatstays or an overt aerodynamic makeover. Simply refine and elevate the R5 to the highest levels, to match the likes of Specialized’s S-Works Aethos and Cannondale’s SuperSix Evo Lab71.
Cervélo was on-trend when it gave the latest R5 34mm of tyre clearance. Upping it to 35 or 36mm would help make it more of a modern-day Classics weapon, reminiscent of the Roubaix-winning R3s Stuart O’Grady and Johan Vansummeren used in 2007 and 2011 (respectively).
Of course, O’Grady and Vansummeren may have used 27mm tubulars (which was considered enormous for road tyres back then), but – thankfully – we know better nowadays and needn’t limit ourselves.
A new Cannondale Topstone Carbon
In gravel, I’m hoping to see Cannondale update the Topstone Carbon.
As it stands, it’s a bike I love, but as great as the current version is, I’d like to see a few updates to bring it in line with the best all-round gravel bikes available.
Increase the tyre clearance to 50mm from the current 45mm, and add in a UDH dropout to take advantage of SRAM’s brilliant direct-mount RED XPLR AXS rear derailleur. This is something I’d expect to trickle down to lower AXS XPLR groups in the next year, too.
The current Topstone Carbon also has a recess in the down tube, ostensibly to take Cannondale’s not-that-well-received SmartSense lighting system.
I’d like to see Cannondale replace that with a down tube storage system, like the one found on Giant’s latest Revolt, or the clever Fidlock magnetic-closure system of Guava’s Spot gravel bike.
Cannondale doesn’t need to change anything else, however. The Kingpin suspension system is excellent, and it definitely needs to stick with the standard, round 27.2mm seatpost, to allow riders to fit a dropper seatpost.
I'd also like to see Cannondale update its impressive, but expensive Lefty Ocho gravel suspension fork. I want more tyre capacity and longer durations between servicing, in particular, and it’d be great if the price could be more competitive with the best gravel suspension forks.
Simon von Bromley – senior technical writer
A new Cannondale SystemSix
Cannondale’s SystemSix is one of the fastest road bikes I’ve ever ridden, but there’s no denying it’s starting to show its age.
It’s nearly six years since we first spotted this radical aero road bike at the 2018 Abu Dhabi Tour, and we’ve not seen even a hint of a revised model from the American brand in years since.
Instead, most Cannondale-sponsored riders seem to have abandoned it in favour of the lighter, but still-quite-aerodynamic SuperSix Evo.
For me, though, the SystemSix’s less compromising nature is exactly what makes it the more exciting bike.
Although I awarded the SystemSix Hi-Mod eTap AXS a full five stars when I tested it in July 2021, there are a few things I’d update to make it fit for 2025.
As well as the usual improvements to things such as aerodynamics, carbon lay-up and so on, Cannondale should, for example, adopt the delta steerer design and updated cockpit it debuted on the latest SuperSix Evo.
That would enable the head tube to be narrower, and potentially more aerodynamic, and remove the need for the steering stop that limits the current model’s steering.
I’d also be wholly in favour of a new SystemSix dropping its BB30 bottom bracket in favour of a BSA threaded design (per the latest SuperSix).
And, although the SystemSix’s 30mm tyre clearance was generous by 2018 standards, a bump up to at least 34mm – to match Cervelo’s S5 – wouldn’t go amiss either, considering current racing trends.
The return of the Vitus Venon EVO-GR
Since its parent company, Wiggle, went into administration and was subsequently acquired by the Frasers Group earlier this year, the Vitus brand appears to have been mothballed.
That’s a huge shame, because while I never got to ride one, the Vitus Venon EVO-GR looked like an incredible performance-focused gravel bike at a great price.
Set up as an endurance road bike, it even won our coveted Bike of the Year award in 2023.
When we first got our hands on a prototype of the Venon EVO in 2022, it was immediately clear it had potential as a ‘one road bike for everything’ platform, with enough clearance for 45mm gravel tyres (when set up 1x) and geometry that kept things nippy and exciting.
If the Vitus brand were to be miraculously reanimated, there’s little to update here – perhaps just a touch more tyre clearance (you can never have enough for today’s ballooning gravel tyres), and a more conventional bottom bracket standard, such as BB86 or BSA threaded.
Otherwise, leave it alone and put it straight back into production, please.
Looking at what remains of Wiggle / Chain Reaction Cycles, there appears to be some remaining stock of this brilliant bike being sold at big discounts in odd sizes. So if you’re looking for a gravel bike bargain for Christmas, this could be it.
However, it seems safe to assume we won’t be seeing a new model any time soon, which makes me feel quite sad.