BMC Teammachine R 01 LTD review

The BMC Teammachine R 01 is the Swiss brand’s latest all-round race bike, developed in conjunction with Red Bull Advanced Technologies (an offshoot of the Formula One team).

It straddles the divide between a dedicated aero bike and all-round racer for the brand, while the Teammachine SLR remains in the mix as a WorldTour-proven choice for mountainous stages.

For all else, though, the Teammachine R had quickly become the bike of choice for the then-named AG2R Citroën WorldTour team until the end of 2023, and is now the prime race bike used by the Tudor Pro Cycling Team on the ProTour second-tier level.

Irrespective of who’s riding it now, though, the BMC Teammachine R certainly feels like an unadulterated racer, with few concessions to those who might be better off with a more ‘sensible’ design or specific spec choice.

If your goal is to get from A to B as quickly as possible, I struggle to think of another all-round race bike as purposeful and focused as the Teammachine R.

BMC Teammachine R 01 LTD frameset

The headline story, when it launched, was that the Teammachine R was designed in collaboration with Red Bull Advanced Technologies.

The default links to the Formula One team and its technical chief Adrian Newey laid aside for the moment (there’s no evidence the famed designer had anything to do with the design of the bike), the Teammachine R features far more aggressive aerodynamics than the Teammachine SLR.

Instead, it outwardly appears to be more of an evolution of BMC’s Timemachine Road aero bike.

The key zone for attention was the ‘Halo’ fork, which has notably wide and angular shoulders. This is said to enable turbulent airflow caused by the front wheel to flow away from the frame, thereby reducing its tendency to stall there.

BMC says cleaner airflow left behind is then managed by the rest of the frame, effectively making the bike more drag-efficient (although, sadly, it doesn’t specify by how much).

It does, however, suggest that compared to the Teammachine SLR, it’s more aerodynamic (and stiffer), while paying a small weight and compliance penalty – there’s no such thing as a free lunch, it appears.

The top tube exhibits the distinctive angular design recent BMC bikes have become known for, tapering off from the deep head tube.

The bottom bracket area features a smooth upward arc from the down tube into the chainstays, which is said to help manage airflow, while offering a broad and stiff structure in which to fit the BB86 press-fit bottom bracket.

Higher up, the chainstay-seat tube junction is dropped, but features a shroud to shield the rear wheel’s leading edge. Below this, the seat tube arcs around the wheel for the same reason, and the dropouts are also shielded.

The bottle cages have been designed hand-in-hand with the frame – the down tube cage sits recessed in the frame, while the seat tube cage is recessed to a slightly lesser extent.

Both are positioned slightly lower down in the frame than I’d consider average (which is significant, because they can’t be adjusted, unlike some third-party cages).

BMC isn’t the only brand to perform this trick – Cannondale makes specific bottle cages and bottles for the SuperSix Evo, for example, while Trek’s latest all-round race bike appears to as well.

The proprietary seatpost is D-shaped, but sits forward of the wedge clamp behind it. This is fastened via two hex bolts situated on the rear face of the seat tube (rather than the common single bolt often placed forward of the seatpost), which is said to be more secure and easier to adjust and maintain.

Up front, the flat-sided steerer, alongside which hydraulic hoses run before entering through the lower headset bearing, is designed for use with BMC’s ICS cockpit system.

For a bike so heavily aerodynamically sculpted, it’s unlikely to be desirable to switch from the ICS Carbon Aero Cockpit as specced here – but should you need to, fitting a BMC ICS-compatible stem and your bar of choice is doable.

BMC says a Teammachine R frame weighs 910g (in a size 54cm) – that compares starkly to a Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8 at 685g (size 56cm), but it’s worth noting the deeper-section tubes here used in the name of aerodynamics.

A Ridley Falcn RS frame, perhaps a slightly more like-for-like comparison in terms of the aggressive ride position it offers, weighs 825g (size-medium, claimed).

BMC Teammachine R 01 LTD geometry

The Teammachine R’s geometry sits in close relation to the Teammachine SLR.

On my size-56cm bike, a 72.3-degree head tube angle is 0.7 degrees slacker than a Cannondale SuperSix Evo in the same nominal size, and 1.2 degrees slacker than a Specialized Tarmac SL8.

This is paired to a 73.5-degree seat tube, which is 0.2 degrees steeper than the SuperSix, and the same as the Tarmac SL8.

It’s reasonable to surmise that BMC is aiming to pitch the rider over the bottom bracket (in turn opening the hip angle to improve power transfer), but also intends to keep the steering inputs on the steady side.

The reach, at 393mm, sits in between those two reference bikes, but the stack is noticeably low at 563mm – 2mm lower than the Specialized and 12mm lower than the Cannondale.

While aggressive in this regard, it’s worth pointing out that it pales in comparison to the Ridley Falcn RS – in its closest equivalent size (a size M), that bike is 4mm longer and 12mm lower than the Teammachine R.

BMC Teammachine R 01 LTD specification

The BMC Teammachine R 01 LTD sported a SRAM Red eTap AXS drivetrain – until very recently, just like the Tudor Pro Cycling team. This specific build is now discontinued.

This has now been replaced by the latest Red AXS groupset, which my colleague Warren Rossiter has concluded is a broad match for Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9200 in terms of shifting and braking.

Importantly, the Teammachine R 01 One is available with the new groupset for the same money as the LTD was.

Both come with a 48/35T crankset with a spider-based Quarq power meter, although the LTD version here has a 10-28t cassette. The new One version has a broader 10-30t model, which will prove slightly more accommodating for climbs.

Otherwise, and rather neatly, the specifications of the top-tier bikes are identical (some brands change more than just the groupset when setting specs across similar-level bikes).

A DT Swiss ARC 1100 Dicut wheelset is fitted, with 62mm-deep rims.

Like the Cannondale SuperSix Lab71 EF Replica’s 60mm-deep wheels, this is a little deep for my personal preference, but I’m left in no doubt that unless I'm riding prolonged, steep climbs, this will be faster than a shallower all-round rim.

The hooked rims are contemporary in their design (20mm wide internally, 27mm wide externally), but there are certainly wider around – 21mm channels are considered the norm today, with some going even wider both internally and externally.

The rest of the spec leaves little to improve upon, though – the wheels come with ceramic bearings and DT Swiss’ top-spec 180 EXP hubs.

Despite the gaping space left by the Teammachine R fork’s shoulders, the clearance left immediately under the fork crown is sparse – BMC says there’s enough space for a tyre inflating to 30mm wide (as opposed to a 700 x 30c tyre).

Bearing in mind the spec choice of 26mm-wide tyres, which inflate close to the rim’s 27mm outer width at 80psi (5.5 BAR), fitting a wider set of wheels and/or wider tyres would begin to trouble the underside of the fork crown – and might upset the aerodynamics.

I would suggest a 700 x 28c tyre fitted to a rim with a 21mm-wide rim (internal) is probably as far as you should take it, given this combination tends to inflate to around 29-30mm wide.

As it is, BMC has specced Pirelli P Zero Race TLR SL rubber, which while likely efficient in terms of rolling resistance (its sibling Pirelli P-Zero Race TLR won our comparative rolling resistance test in 2023), is surely a choice made with clean and well-paved roads in mind.

I saw a few notable cuts appear in under 200km of riding in the UK, including a significant serration along the shoulder [pictured]. A swap to a slightly more resilient tyre (while some might prefer to go up to a 28c size) seems a sensible recommendation.

A Fizik Tempo Argo R1 saddle with carbon rails sits atop the proprietary seatpost. The brand fits the 10mm-setback version as standard – there’s no inline option.

A 25mm-setback version is available, but BMC says the option to swap free of charge is “managed by the retailer” – this is similar to Specialized, which also stops short of a free swaps policy, effectively leaving it to individual shop to decide whether to offer this.

The same applies to the handlebar. This is available in a single 360mm width (measured centre to centre), but customers can choose between 80-140mm stem lengths to suit their fit – again, at the discretion of the retailer.

The bar has 12.5-degree flare, 72.5mm reach and 135mm drop, which equates to 420mm wide at the drops and a naturally cantered-in lever position. This measured 33cm across on my test setup.

My test bike had the default 110mm stem length for the 56cm size frame, while all have a -12 degree stem angle. In all, it makes for the most businesslike, tucked-in ride position I can recall, bar the Ridley Falcn RS.

You also get an out-front mount with a Garmin and Wahoo-compatible insert. With the dedicated bottle cages, the bike weighs in at 7.25kg.

BMC Teammachine R 01 LTD ride impressions

The Teammachine R 01 is devastatingly stiff and fast – almost to a fault.

It rides like a dedicated aero bike, in that it delivers that sense of wind-cheating efficiency and rock-solid stiffness you usually get on those specialist machines.

The narrow handlebar is certainly playing its part here. Although it took a few rides to get used to (I normally ride with a 400mm-wide bar with levers tilted inwards for an approximately 380mm width at the hoods), the resulting reduced frontal area was doubtless reducing my overall drag – at least, when I took care to tuck my elbows in.

It excels on flat roads, yet is very capable on rolling terrain when you need to spike your effort to maintain speed over and beyond rises.

On that front, getting out of the saddle and rocking the bike from side to side under power initially felt a little sensitive through the bar (with the narrow width reducing the available leverage), but I was pleasantly surprised how easily I adapted. It’s easily rigid enough to absorb all the power I can put into it.

Switching to the Cannondale SuperSix Evo Lab71 and its 420mm-wide handlebar during back-to-back testing made the SuperSix’s front end feel very splayed-out by comparison (albeit I consider that bike to be well-balanced, overall).

The Teammachine R’s steering is responsive. However, the lack of leverage I’ve mentioned also brings about a requirement to manipulate the bar with more effort, even if the physical movement required was less. This is like the way a shorter wrench will require more effort to loosen a tight bolt than a longer one, but won’t move so far at the handle.

Once again, it’s mainly a matter of adapting and riding accordingly, as long as the fit works for you. However, I’d argue the overall experience will be a little more tiring on the body and mind than a less extreme layout.

I normally descend using a mix of hood and drop hand positions because I don’t always feel the need to push the limits of grip and talent. Here, I found myself almost always getting into the drops for their relative width (a generally advised position for fast descending, admittedly).

Having said that, and most importantly considering it as a point-to-point racer, I’m hard pressed to think of an alternative that feels as fundamentally focused and fast as the Teammachine R.

As I’ve said, the tyres are prone to nicks and cuts, but deliver excellent feel through the DT Swiss wheels.

The compliance is acceptable for a bike of this type – accidental pothole encounters are jarring, but road buzz is taken care of reasonably well. Fitting 28c tyres would likely help improve this a little.

BMC Teammachine R 01 LTD bottom line

The BMC Teammachine R 01 LTD is a very focused speed machine and is hugely impressive when you just want to ride fast.

That said, the ride position is aggressive, the narrow handlebar won’t be to everyone’s tastes (despite being a great foil for the bike’s primary usage case) and it delivers no more compliance than it absolutely needs to. It’s a qualified (and very expensive) purchase.

Nevertheless, to criticise a top-spec, focused race bike for not being suitable for a wider range of riders is unfair – it’s not supposed to be.

The bottom line is this: it’s one of the very best point-to-point race bikes in the world today, while it doesn’t feel alien when you take it up a climb or come down the other side.

While for this money I’d hope that bar and seatpost swaps would be supported by BMC, and most will benefit from more resilient tyres, the Teammachine R is a fantastic race bike.