Getting a Beautiful 2021 Specialized Aethos Road-Ready

Our team of pro mechanics inspect, service, and repair hundreds of bikes every week to ensure they all meet our standards for Certified Pre-Owned bikes. Let’s take a look at what they’ve been working on this week. 

This 2021 Specialized Aethos came in with a pretty interesting build, and it had a few issues that needed to be addressed before it would be ready to earn its Certified Pre-Owned badge. Check out the video to see what our mechanics did to make this bike ready for its next owner:

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The 2021 Specialized Aethos Fix List

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Every used bike that comes through TPC undergoes a multi-point inspection where our mechanics check over the entire bike for damage and wear. The previous owner of this 2021 Specialized Aethos installed 33mm Pirelli Cinturato Cross H tires. These aggressive, knobby tires are designed for cyclocross racing, and they turned this Aethos road bike into a unique pseudo ‘cross/gravel bike. 

While we actually think this sort of mod is really cool, we don’t actually want to sell this bike in this condition. There are a couple of reasons for this: 

1. The Aethos is a road bike, and the vast majority of riders interested in the Aethos will use it for road riding. While swapping in knobby tires is a cool mod you can do at home, we want to sell the bike in its standard configuration. 
2. The Aethos can officially clear 32mm wide road tires. While these 33mm wide ‘cross tires actually fit well in the frame, we don’t want to sell the bike with components that aren’t officially approved by the manufacturer. 

Beyond tires, our team also caught a few more things that needed to be addressed to bring this bike up to showroom condition. Here’s what our mechanics repaired or replaced: 

• New Front Shifter
• New Shifter Hoods
• New Chainrings
• New Chain
• New Brake Pads & Rotors
• New Stem
• New Saddle

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The tires our mechanics chose were 28mm Specialized All Condition Armadillo Elite tires. We like putting Specialized tires on Specialized bikes and the All Condition is a great do-it-all and puncture-resistant clincher. They are tough, affordable, and great for casual riders and general training. Performance-oriented riders can choose to swap to their preferred tire without feeling like they’re wasting a high-end tire. 

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The biggest repair this Aethos needed was a new Shimano Ultegra front/left shifter. The internals of the original shifter were quite gummed up, preventing crisp front derailleur shifts. Our team chose to replace the shifter entirely to ensure optimal operation (the old shifter could potentially be repaired, and will be donated to our local bike co-op). To make sure the cockpit looked cohesive and fresh, they put a new hood on the rear/right shifter and replaced the bar tape. 

The chain and chainrings were beyond the wear standards for our Certified Pre-Owned bikes, so they were replaced. 

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Finally, a couple of cockpit components — the stem and saddle — were also swapped out for new components because they were also too worn. 

Every used bike is different, and it’s always fun for us to wrench on them and send them on to a new and loving home. Hopefully, the next owner of this Aethos will love it and ride it for thousands of trouble-free miles. Stay tuned for more bikes! 

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