The Spring Classics are the most exciting and dynamic bike races of the year. These long European one-day races are often punctuated by cobbled road sectors that give riders a bit of extra challenge. The roughest and most famous cobbles are found at Paris-Roubaix. It’s known as the Queen of the Classics, but thanks to the brutality of its cobbled roads, many also refer to it as the ‘Hell of the North.’
The toughest and most infamous cobbled sector of Paris-Roubaix is the Trouée d'Arenberg—the Arenberg Forest. It is the namesake for our own Litespeed Arenberg endurance road bike. Let’s take a closer look at what makes the Arenberg Forest so legendary and how we built the Litespeed Arenberg to conquer everything from the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to your longest and toughest rides.
The Arenberg: The Toughest Cobbles of Paris-Roubaix
Bikes have to be comfy when riders are attacking Arenberg at 35 mph! Photo: A.S.O./Pauline Ballet
“Paris-Roubaix is a horrible race to ride but the most beautiful one to win." - Sean Kelly, two-time Paris-Roubaix winner.
Paris-Roubaix is one of the toughest one-day races in the world because it features the toughest cobbled roads in all professional cycling. Many are farm roads that see little to no maintenance or traffic. These cobbled sectors receive a star rating from 1-to-5 to describe how rough they are and the Arenberg is one of only three 5-star cobbled sectors—the roughest of them all. Of the three 5-star sectors, the Arenberg is the one that riders fear the most.
The Arenberg was added to Paris-Roubaix in 1968. After the Second World War, many of the cobbled roads originally used in the race were paved over, which changed the character of the race. Race organizers went searching for new cobblestone roads and a racer named Jean Stablinski suggested the Arenberg near his home. The roughness of the road initially shocked the organizers, but a recalcitrant desire to create the ultimate challenge meant the sector was included. It has since become part of what makes Paris-Roubaix so mythical.
The rough Arenberg cobbles are extra dangerous when wet! Photo: A.S.O./Pauline Ballet
The Arenberg is notorious for having exceptionally large and irregular cobbles that are spaced far apart. The road is quite narrow—only 3 meters wide—with a prominent crown in the center. It is unique among Roubaix’s many cobbled sectors because it’s a straight 2.4km road with no curves. While this sounds like it would make the sector easier to ride, it actually increases the danger because racers enter the sector at over 35 mph. The high speed makes impacts with cobbles more violent and bikes harder to control, often leading to race-ending mechanicals and crashes. The Arenberg causes so much chaos that the winner of Paris-Roubaix generally comes out of one of the groups leading the race after exiting the sector.
The Litespeed Arenberg: Made for the Roughest Roads and Longest Rides
Improving rider comfort is the key to conquering Paris-Roubaix’s tough 160-mile course or any long-distance ride with rough or imperfect roads. Vibrations and harsh impacts increase rider fatigue. If your bike can help absorb those vibrations and impacts, then you will have more energy to dedicate to pedaling, which will allow you to ride farther, faster. This is why cobbled Spring Classics like Paris-Roubaix have driven the development of endurance road bikes—bikes that place a greater emphasis on comfort than traditional road racing bikes.
The Litespeed Arenberg is our premier endurance road bike and it’s designed to match the best carbon endurance bikes in terms of frame compliance, weight, and efficiency, while also providing the unmatched durability and beauty of titanium. It will maximize comfort on rough roads or long all-day rides without a major sacrifice in speed.
The Litespeed Arenberg increases rider comfort in three key ways: increased frame compliance, relaxed geometry, and wider tire clearance. To maximize frame compliance, our Litespeed Arenberg is handcrafted from 3AL/2.5V titanium. Titanium frames are renowned for their supple and “springy” ride quality. The material naturally dampens vibration and dissipates energy from bumps, while also providing a bit of energy return or “spring” with every pedal stroke. It’s why many will describe the experience of riding a high-quality titanium frame as a “magic carpet ride.”
The Litespeed Arenberg, however, extracts titanium’s full potential with a fully custom tubeset. Unlike other titanium brands, we have the capability and knowledge to draw and shape all of our titanium tubes in-house. We precisely manipulate wall thicknesses and tube shapes throughout the length of every tube, which allows us to reduce weight (the average weight for a medium frame is 1,430 grams) and tune our frames to achieve specific stiffness targets and flex characteristics. As a result, the Litespeed Arenberg is more vertically compliant for comfort, while maintaining higher lateral stiffness for pedaling efficiency. Custom tube shaping also allows us to make all of our tubesets size-specific, which means the Litespeed Arenberg will provide the ideal amount of comfort and stiffness for riders of all sizes.
Then there’s the benefit of “endurance geometry,” which means the Litespeed Arenberg has a more relaxed riding position than a traditional road racing bike. Endurance geometry makes it easier for riders to tackle long and demanding rides, especially on rough roads. Increased stack height puts riders in a more upright position. This takes weight off your hands, arms, and shoulders, and reduces strain on the lower back, so you feel fresher for longer. The bottom bracket is slightly lower, and the head angle is slightly slacker, which increases overall stability. This helps the bike stay planted on rough roads and makes it easier to control when you’re tired from a long day in the saddle.
Finally, the geometry of the Litespeed Arenberg is designed around modern 32-35mm tires. Clearance for tires up to 35mm wide means you can choose tires that allow you to use the lowest tire pressures possible to maximize your comfort, traction, and confidence on varied road surfaces. Combined with the natural compliance of a handbuilt titanium frame, wide tires take the titanium “magic carpet ride” to the next level.
Without question, the Litespeed Arenberg is among the most comfortable and capable endurance road bikes on the market. It’s ideal for riders who are pushing their limits in terms of distance or anyone riding less-than-perfect roads. But you don't need to be beating yourself up in the Arenberg Forest to benefit from an endurance bike! In fact, endurance bikes like the Litespeed Arenberg are almost always the most practical choice for the majority of road riders. A bike that provides a more comfortable ride experience will enable us to ride farther and ride more often, without sacrificing much (if any) performance to a more aggressive road racing bike. Ride a Litespeed Arenberg and you’ll see immediately why nothing compares to the feel of Litespeed titanium.