Now in its tenth year of existence, BMC’s Teammachine SLR01 has become a staple frame in professional racing, making quite the statement. It was pedalled to victory by Cadel Evans at the Tour de France in 2010 and Greg van Avermaet at the Olympic Road Race. 

The Teammachine sits as the race (or as BMC dub it, ‘altitude’) bike in the Swiss brands road range. The Roadmachine is their ‘one bike collection’ but in reality sits more at the endurance side and the Timemachine is poised as their aero weapon. The Teammachine is lightweight, race-focussed and suitably stiff, but also pretty comfortable for a race bike with its intelligent design. 

Although a fourth generation model was announced earlier this Summer, this review is of the third generation and there really isn’t a great deal to set the two apart. The new frame is more aerodynamic, has an integrated bottle cage system and an updated front end with a one-piece bar / stem system. 

BMC have always been a brand to be heavily focussed on their computer designed frames. BMC use what’s called ACE Technology, essentially a program where designers can model their bike on various factors and tune it to suit within certain parameters. Arguably, many of the current crop of heavily integrated bikes out there were inspired by this model as many seem to emulate the Teammachine’s design. 

BMC pioneered the dropped seatstay, which is almost ubiquitous on most of the brands offerings at the moment. This gives their frames a certain futuristic, boxy but clean aesthetic. The third generation Teammachine, like the first-generation Roadmachine had also done, omits the small bridge between where the top tube and seat tube intersect, on the one hand making for a cleaner look but also loses a little of BMC’s identity.

Integration is the main area where this third-generation SLR01 differs from its predecessors. Central to this is the ICS stem system. This system hides both the hydraulic hoses and Di2 wires through the underside of the stem and into the head tube where they run alongside a proprietary steerer tube and then journey down the down tube to their respective derailleurs or callipers. If you are using a mechanical groupset on this frame, you will have two cables exposed which enter a port in the down tube. They look rather unsightly on this frame as they sprout out and don’t take the cleanest path in terms of routing so if you are buying this frame, I would really look at having Di2 or eTap AXS on it. 

The ICS stem looks futuristic and clean-looking. It’s great that you can use a normal bar so you are not tied into a certain bar and isn’t as much of a royal pain as fully integrated systems are. 

Split spacers are employed so you can make adjustments to the stack height without having to take it all apart but if you want to change the headset, that will be a double brake bleed as both hoses run through the bearings. It’s not ideal and adds a lengthy amount of time onto what is a very simple job, so make sure you keep the bearings greased. 

Disappointingly, the top headset bearing is of a proprietary size. BMC say that it is a 1 1/8 but it mates perfectly with the ICS cover, preventing you from using anything else. I upgraded to a Chris King Dropset and the dimensions were perfect but the bearing will not sit in the cover. After contacting their support, they confirmed the bearing has to work with BMC’s cover. Other after-market options also won’t work. BMC also charge an exorbitant amount for a spare headset, which isn’t the best quality, so you will want to be religious in keeping this area maintained. Clearly, they bought a load during manufacture. Watch out for this nasty surprise! 

Mechanically, you will want to take care with the cabling on this bike. The Di2 wires / hoses have a tendency to rattle in the down tube so you will want to take the time to protect them during the initial build. The cables are secured with a pinch bolt on the underside of the ICS stem, just as they exit into the handlebar. You might want to get a friend for help here so they can pull the cables tight while you secure the cover that holds the cables. If they are not tight, they will also rattle! 

This frame has a BB86 bottom bracket which for a press-fit, is a pretty reliable standard and has been problem-free for me. I am just about to change the original after 10,000km – BMC spec a plastic Shimano BB86. A threaded bottom bracket would be better and is more foolproof but it’s good enough and is certainly one of the more preferable press-fit standards out there. 

On this Ultegra Di2 build, all of the wiring is well-integrated into the frame. The junction box is integrated into the top of the down tube which looks neat and means that you don’t have to have it unsightly poking from the bottom of the stem or at the bar end plug. Of course, if you’re running SRAM eTap, you would have no wires whatsoever. 

BMC utilise a D-shaped seatpost here for the seating which is both for aerodynamic and compliance reasons. The bolt to adjust the saddle height is neatly integrated into the bottom of the top tube and you can access it with most tools on the market with relative ease, unlike some other frame designs which are left wanting in this department. 

It is a different matter if you want to adjust the saddle fore-and-aft, as one of the bolts is not easy to access and it is a finicky and time consuming job as you need to align the bolt in between two O-rings. 

BMC use a direct-mount derailleur hanger which looks neat for the rear derailleur, if you’re running this standard. BMC save weight on the thru-axles that are ‘ultralight’ and ‘hollow’ which are a nice touch and have been problem-free. 

Another of the downsides of this frame is the front brake. BMC mount the calliper fixing bolt from the front of the fork so the calliper fits flush to the frame on the rear, saving the need for an adaptor. Aesthetically, this looks fantastic. However, mechanically, this is a low. It is very, very hard to align the rotor with the calliper. This isn’t just on my model – I have worked on other SLR01’s and they are all a nightmare. Pair this design with Shimano’s lacklustre road brakes and it is very hard to get rid of any pad rub. I’ve found that when you’re trying to put the power down or after a descent, the pads have a very annoying tendency to rub on the rotor for about 30 seconds and you get an annoying ‘ting’ sound. You’ll get this on other frames but this is noticeable on the front. I’ve seen other consumers get frustrated with this system and when I questioned BMC on their design, they insisted any pad rub was down to the brake calliper. One warrantied calliper later, this has helped somewhat but you can still get some rub. Tellingly, on the fourth-generation model, BMC have gone back to a conventional mounting for the front brake. I wonder why they did that… 

Spare parts for this frame can be obtained from the UK distributor, ZyroFisher. Many UK bike shops have an account with Zyro, so although a lot of parts have to be ordered from BMC direct, they are backed by a solid distributor. 

All in all, this is a very interesting and futuristic frame that three years since release in 2021, still looks state-of-the-art, and these are all small quirks, but quirks nonetheless, to live with. 

The Build 

This was a BMC Teammachine SLR01 Disc Three 2019 model but I have made some changes to the original spec. This has a Shimano Ultegra Di2 R8070 groupset. The groupset has generally been very good and I have been very impressed with the gears. I’ve been less impressed with the brakes though. I love how Shimano have integrated the hydraulics into the shifter and keep it the same size as their mechanical offerings but the braking is a bit on-off for my liking and lacks power. You don’t need to have powerful brakes as you don’t want to lock up the wheels but I would prefer more power here. SRAM’s road brakes are much better in terms of modulation and feel. 

The only deviation to the groupset is the chain and disc rotors. The chain is a KMC X11 SL. I find these are much quieter, much more durable and a lot lighter compared to the Shimano equivalent. the rotors are the Dura-Ace rotors which I upgraded purely for vanity’s sake – the black cooling fins match the aesthetic much better than the Ultegra ones, although they just as easily rub and ting on the calliper. 

The DT Swiss PRC1475 carbon wheels are an OEM offering but are largely based around the PRC 1400’s. They’ve been trouble-free and very good. They are shod with Continental GP5000 tyres which offer fantastic grip, speed and comfort and are a heck of an improvement over the Vittoria Corsa BMC specs the bike with. I found the Vittoria tyres to be lacking in grip and comfort, with a preposterously high minimum pressure for their size. 

The saddle is a San Marco Regale which is a very comfortable shape and its aesthetics match the bike very well. It is very light and has carbon rails. If it had a slightly bit more padding, it would be perfect. The bike came with a Fi’zi:k Antares, which I am not friends with from previous experience, so this was switched out instantly. 

The handlebar is a Zipp carbon which is a nice shape and has a short 70mm reach to allow me to run a longer stem, which I prefer as it improves the handling. The carbon bar dampens vibrations much better than aluminium although this Zipp one is a little on the stiffer side compared to other offerings out there. The BMC own-brand bar that comes on the bike felt like a cop-out considering the bike was close to £7,000, a very unremarkable aluminium offering and the shape didn’t really work well for me. 

Silca Nastro Fiore bar tape finishes the cockpit and it’s perfect in its grip, feel and durability, if on the expensive side. 

Overall, this is a pretty heady but realistic spec. You could easily get the bike lighter by running a more prestigious groupset and changing the wheels if you wanted to, so there is plenty of scope to get the most out of this frame.

How does it ride? 

Well, we have to talk about the ride, don’t we? This BMC Teammachine SLR01 Disc is a dream to ride. It is a very quick bike for its genre and really comes alive at higher speeds. The Specialized Tarmac is possibly a slightly more eager bike in terms of its handling compared to the Teammachine. The Teammachine is more comfortable than one might expect for a race bike, which often tend to be on the firmer side. Considering the integration of the front end, the steering on the bike feels telepathically smooth and reassuring. This bike has been predominantly ridden in the Chilterns and the Surrey Hills, where the road surfaces are pretty poor, and the bike hasn’t beaten me up. It has been taken on trips to the Cotswolds and Devon and has performed admirably there too. I can imagine this frame is a dream to ride in the Alps, which is what the brand have intended for it and it would likely be the perfect bike for it, as it climbs and descends with equal footing. 

The bike isn’t the lightest out there in feel compared to the Trek Emonda for example but it has a reassuring quality to its weight and is the best balance for the types of riding it caters for. In fact, the frame alone is lighter than the newer generation, perhaps signalling that the 800g mark is about as good as carbon frames are going to get without sacrificing anything. 

One aspect I wish this frame was better in is its tyre clearance. This frame can take up to a 700x28mm, which it just about does. The newer version can take up to a 30mm but I would like to see the clearances upped a little more for versatility and to allow you to run a wider range of rim and tyre combinations. A 28 tyre on a wider rim than the DT Swiss that I am running would be very tight and you need to make sure there is a sufficient gap between the tyre and frame to stop it abrading and damaging the carbon. 

Overall, the BMC Teammachine SLR01 Disc is pretty much as close to bike heaven you could desire and there is little to criticise. It will be interesting where the fifth generation of this frame changes, given how the fourth generation is an evolution rather than a revolution of this third-gen frame. It has been a joy to live with for 3 years and 10,000km and it hasn’t lost its sheen.