Price: $8,000 (as tested)
Weight: 16.5 lb. (L)
Use: Road
Material: Carbon
Sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL
Few bikes right now are pushing the boundaries of road bike design more than the 3T Strada—an aero road bike designed for use with 28mm tires, disc brakes, and in a decidedly nontraditional twist, a 1x drivetrain. Every detail of this bike is fine-tuned for aerodynamic performance—and its unique frame is a real head turner.
One of two models from 3T, the Strada is the more pavement-oriented option. The other is 3T’s Exploro, which has an aero frame and even more tire clearance, so you can use it for gravel racing. The Strada, by contrast, is intended for traditional road racing or any ride for which fractions of a second are important. Both bikes have stiff, aerodynamic, carbon frames.
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Wide Tires on a Fast Road Bike
The Strada frame was optimized around 28mm tires. While some aerodynamic frames have clearance for up to 30mm tires, they’re usually tested with pizza-cutter narrow rubber, which makes for better wind-tunnel numbers but not a great ride. To get the best of both worlds, the curvy seat tube on the Strada was designed to “hide” a wider tire from the wind.
The Strada is missing its front derailleur, or even a place to mount one—3T designed this bike for single-ring drivetrains only, which eliminates a major source of airflow disruption around the bottom bracket. Taking away the need to mount a front derailleur on the seat tube allowed engineers to develop more-aerodynamic tube shapes to improve airflow around the rear tire. You lose a few gear options with a 1x setup, but 3T believes the aero advantages make it worth it for some riders.
The Strada’s aero considerations go far beyond the seat tube. The entire main triangle uses 3T’s Sqaero tube shapes, which curve with the path of airflow. Like a kamm airfoil design, the tubes have a flat trailing edge.
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An Aero Fork for Disc Brakes
The Strada has an asymmetrical fork to counteract the braking forces of flat-mount disc brakes. It’s compatible with 140 and 160mm rotors and designed to minimize frontal area, to reduce drag. It features the same Sqaero used elsewhere on the bike, which also improves stiffness and helps to give the Strada quick, responsive handling for an aero bike.
One tester had this to say about the 3T Strada: “It doesn’t only meet our traditional expectations of a race bike—responsive, very stiff, quick steering, and light. It is faster, smoother, and better riding overall because of them. The 3T Strada is a bold new paradigm for the road racing bike. Decades from now, you’ll be telling people you were riding when this style of bike was born.”
