BH has combined the best of their lightweight climber, fast aero carbon road, and even time trial / triathlon bikes into one new “ultimate road bike”, the repurposed 2022 BH Aerolight. With a light aero carbon frame and some unique new shaping, the reshaped Aerolight aims to be the perfect all-rounder for roadies looking to go faster on every ride.
2022 BH Aerolight lightweight aero carbon all-rounder road bike
Just a year and a half ago, BH updated their triathlon & time trial racing bike with disc brakes and complete cable integration in the Aerolight Disc, but weight savings wasn’t a key priority. Now that tri bike looks to get rebranded as the Aero TT, while a more versatile new <1kg aero road bike more appropriately takes over the Aerolight name.
The new Aerolight is actually said to be more of a mix between the latest lightweight carbon tech from BH’s <750g Ultralight EVO climber and the all-purpose aero integration of the proven G8 road bike. BH calls the new Aerolight a convergence of road bikes developed exclusively for either aerodynamics or light weight, the latest in a trend of <1kg aero disc brake race bikes.
Tech Details
The new Aerolight further evolves the shaping of the G7/G8 with Kamm tail tube profiles, dropped seatstays, a semi-integrated seatmast, and fully integrated cable routing. But now the new aero bike also gets dramatically swept fork legs to reduce drag from turbulence, a bulbous headtube sweeping into a more horizontal toptube, and horizontal chainstays kinked just before the rear axle.
BH says the new Air Bow front end design is key to making the bike faster. From the side the fork legs simply appear to angle forward from the crown, but it’s just as much a concept of moving the legs further away from the turbulent air spinning off the spokes, and creating space for turbulent air to pass more freely between the wheel, fork & downtube. A side benefit is improved vibration damping, as well.
Together with similar refinements at the rear wheel, BH says the Aerolight reduces drag over the otherwise similar-looking G8 by a huge 15.9%, a claimed savings of 5W at race speeds.
The new BH Aerolight claims a weight of just 950g for the new frame (M), using the same top-spec HCIM hollow core carbon tech as found in the Ultralight EVO.
Like all of their recent road bike debuts, the Aerolight is also fully-integrated, with full internal cable routing for hydraulic disc brakes using the oversized FSA ACR 1.5″ headset system. All complete bikes in the lineup even include one-piece cockpits for clean cable setups. The Ultralight also uses a next generation of the G7‘s integrated semi-seatmast with hidden wedge clamping for the shortened aero seatpost. There’s even a new aero taillight that can be snapped on from behind for more visibility.
The new aero road bike features flat mount disc brakes, 12mm thru-axles with BH’s hidden quick release lever, a BB386 EVO bottom bracket, 28mm tires with clearances for 30mm.
The bike even comes with a set of aero water bottles & cage that seamlessly integrate into the aerodynamic shapes of the seat & downtubes, and includes a tool box that fits under the bottles to care key spares for roadside repairs.
2022 BH Aerolight aero road bike – Pricing, options & availability
The new 2022 BH Ultralight comes in six stock sizes (XS-XXL), four standard complete builds, and five standard colors, or it can be fully customized in their BH Unique program. Its geometry is slightly tweaked over the G8 & Ultralight Evo beyond just adding the one larger size, with generally lower Stack, wide range of Reach figures depending on size, and slightly longer chainstays.
Complete bike prices start with the 5300€ Aerolight 6.0 with a SRAM Rival eTap AXS 24S 2x 12-speed build and Vision Trimax 35 wheels.
The Aerolight 6.5 sells for 6500€ with a Shimano Ultegra Di2 build (offhandedly also referenced as 24S) and Vision TC55 wheels.
The Aerolight 7.0 sells for 9000€ with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 (again referenced as 24S) and BH EVO 50 wheels.
And the top-spec BH Aerolight 7.5 retails for 12,000€ with a SRAM Red eTap AXS 2×12 group, Red AXS power meter cranks, and Zipp454 wheels.
Availability on the new bikes varies depending on size and spec, with the first bikes available starting the first week of September, but others with delivery dates in spring 2022.
