calebherndon said:
This one is made in the SL2 mold, I think the carbon layup is the same. I don't know the specifics on the molding processes but would like to know if anyone has some info. How does that 10r carbon ride?
I just bought the 2007 Specialized Tarmac SL:
http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?arc=2007&spid=22291
I've only ridden on it 3 times so far, but last night I did 25 miles. I've spent at least an hour each test riding the lower end 6r (Elite) and 8r (Expert) tarmacs.
I think the 10r carbon rides amazingly. I deliberately test rode them without gloves (that's how I ride anyways), fit the same (it's never exact, but it's close) and personally pumped up to the tires to 100psi to ensure the tire pressure wasn't a factor. The Elite and Expert had the same tires, but different wheels. So only the frame and the wheels were different between different test rides. I also deliberately rode them up on sidewalks, on a gravel trail for a couple hundred yards, and over recessed railroad tracks.
I thought the 6r carbon on the Tarmac had noticeable road buzz. My wrists are probably kind of sensitive, and like I said no gloves, but I never ended a ride without my wrists hurting a little. I spend all day on the computer, to, which means that sometimes my wrists hurt on their own by the end of the day. I'm trying to figure out how to say this without it sounding worse than it was - whenever I'd hit anything on the road, like the cracks on a sidewalk, I could feel a slight shooting pain in my arm on the 6r. It was just enough to comment on, but it certainly wasn't "incredibly painful" or anything. However, I imagined it would really start to add up by the end of riding 40 to 100 miles.
(On a side note, I also rode the 6r carbon Roubaix. It didn't have any of that jarring feeling at all, but instead it felt kind of dead and not stiff enough to get that fun pedaling feeling. I thought the 8r carbon Roubaix was very comfortable, but got that funner faster frame feeling back. None of the tarmac had a "dead" feeling to the frame.)
The 8r carbon was a really noticeable improvement. That road buzz was *nearly* entirely gone, but there was still some lingering buzz by the end of a 45 minute ride. Might be something that simply wearing gloves would take care of. That slight shooting pain was gone on sidewalks and normal street riding, but would show up again when I hit something bigger, like recessed railroad tracks or a soccer ball sized pothole. I would have bought this one at the time, but I really disliked the red, white, and blue color scheme and I was waiting to see the 2009 colors.
I couldn't test ride it anyways, but I certainly wasn't going to pay $5,500 for the Tarmac SL. Or $7700 for the SL2. Good lord - the $3,000 Tarmac Expert (8r) already cost more than I paid for my car! But then I found one on sale through the same bike shop - closeout as last years model. They wanted $4k for it...by the time I haggled and came back a couple of times, the cost was down to $3,500. Plus it was pretty, I didn't like the look of next years Tarmac colors.

And of course, it was 10r carbon...
So I took it for a test ride, and you know what? The 10r carbon has completely eliminated the road buzz. I mean it's just unbelievably gone. And there's none of that slight shooting pain whatsoever, no matter what I hit with my wheel. Now, it's not a miracle. "buzz" and "slight, but noticeable shooting pain" are gone, but I can definitely feel it if I hit a curb or something. Imagine that you have one of those commuter bikes - they look like a mountain bike, but with no shocks. And you have big fat tires on it, but they're inflated to 100psi. And you smack into a curb - that's what it's like on the 10r carbon. Only you've got skinny tires, and a much, much, much lighter frame.

I also noticed that I can feel the stiffness of the frame in the rest of my body a little after riding. My legs end up feeling a little stiff after riding. It's definitely not painful or anything, I just didn't notice it as much with the 8r and 6r carbon. That also could be the wheels - I know the wheels on the 10r carbon bike are super duper stiff.
So those are my thoughts. And there are definitely other people on this forum who have had different experiences - the guy with that cool shepherd dog picture (PJ352) has a Tarmac Comp (6r) frame and says he doesn't have any problem with the ride quality. But this is my experience - hope it's helpful!
