BMC has taken much of what made their carbon Roadmachine endurance road bike popular, and redeveloped it into an aluminum 1x all-road ride dubbed the Roadmachine X. With wide tire comfort & grip, disc braking confidence, and quick road bike geometry the new build is ready to take on any road surface.
BMC Roadmachine X aluminum gravel all-road bike
The Roadmachine X isn’t entirely new, but a sign of even race-focused bike companies like BMC realizing that many cyclists are just looking to get out on the bike to explore. In fact, the same frameset had already been available with a more tarmac-leaning build as the Roadmachine 3. But BMC saw that many of its entry-level buyers were looking for more mixed-surface versatility, so they reconfigured the spec for a build ready to hit those quiet dirt & gravel back roads.
Tech Details
The new adventure build of the endurance Roadmachine family gets a triple-butted aluminum frame designed with the same general look as the carbon bike. BMC claims a frame weight of just 1270g for a 54cm frame, and 420g for the uncut full carbon fork.
From a first glance that means that the dropped setastays do a lot here to help provide some compliance in the rear end together with a 27.2 seatpost. While up front an oversized downtube with angular reinforcement around the tapered steerer headtube and bottom bracket provide handling and power transfer stiffness.
BMC says it goes even further than meets the eye with their Tuned Compliance Concept (TCC) Endurance tech informing the external shaping & internal tube butting to “take the edge off the uneven roads for a fast and forgiving ride and the highest degree of vertical deflection.”
The Roadmachine X gets about 0.5° slacker 71.5° head & 73.5° seat angles, plus 10mm longer 420mm chainstays vs. the carbon Roadmachines. This gives the alloy bike a slightly more stable feel riding on loose surfaces, while stack & reach numbers are similar to retain a proper road bike fit on the Roadmachine X. (Geometry of the Roadmachine X is the same as the Roadmachine 3 which share the same alloy frame.)
The biggest differences with the Roadmachine X are in the drivetrain and the wheels & tires. Gone is the road double, and in its place a mixed surface friendly SRAM Rival 1x drivetrain with a 40T chainring paired to an Apex 11-42 11-speed cassette. BMC also includes their own adjustable integrated chain guide which makes use of the vestigial front derailleur tab.
The new bike is built to more versatile, and ships with Mavic All Road Disc UST tubeless wheels (including the tubeless valves) and 34mm WTB Exposure tubeless tires. The previous alloy Roadmachine bikes had listed max tire clearance as 32mm. But it seems that was being conservative as the new Roadmachine X now says 34mm is the max, while the frame & fork do not appear to have been changed in any way.
The bike still gets the same hidden mounts for optional fenders and/or racks. But with fenders the max tire size comes back down to 30mm. The Roadmachine X also gets modular internal cable routing, plus flat mount disc brakes, and 12mm thru-axles.
Pricing & Availability
The new aluminum Roadmachine X is available in a single complete bike build for 2200€ with its SRAM Rival 1x drivetrain. The bike is available now in Stealth black only, and in a six size range from 47-61cm through your local BMC dealers.
