Model years in bikes

[BrazAd]

Are bicycles made by mainline manufacturers dated like cars? Meaning, when do the "new year" models come out?

I bought a bike in the last month with a build date of 11/21... and am wondering, is it a 2021 or a 2022 model?

It's a Specialized S-Works Roubaix, fwiw.

TIA,

Gary

[bikinchris]

The bicycle industry INVENTED the idea of model years. But there is no standard for when the new model year begins. Every company can decide on their own date.

[mtbmoose]

For Specialized, you can check the bike archive on their website to determine what model year your Roubaix is.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by mtbmoose

For Specialized, you can check the bike archive on their website to determine what model year your Roubaix is.

this.. most likely will have to match up paint/graphics to figure out which year since I think those years were pretty similar framewise (both SL7s I think)..

[BrazAd]

Thanks for the replies so far. I’m not able to register my bike with Soecialized as they require a proof of purchase (I bought it from the original owner), so Istill don’t know what year it is but I’m gonna ride it and keep on going!

Gary


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mtbmoose]

No need to register it to use their bike archive. Post a good picture of your bike here and I’m sure we could figure out the model year if you’re still unable to find it on the Specialized website. Happy to help out.

[osbk67]

Originally Posted by BrazAd

I bought a bike in the last month with a build date of 11/21... and am wondering, is it a 2021 or a 2022 model?

…

[Jcgill]

I feel like the bicycle industry got away from advertising the years of bikes during the covid boom with the year long waits and now with the loads of inventory.
I bought a matte brown (satin doppio gunmetal) Specilized Epic Evo last June which shows as a 2022 color in the archives along with Dove Grey and Raspberry Maroon for the 2022 colors.
I ordered it from the specialized website in mid June of 2023 and it was shipped to my local specialized dealer in about a week. The build date is January of 2023.

Before covid and supply chain issues it was common to have the new year models/colors show up to shops in August right after the Tour de France finished and then you could get 20% off the previous years models.