Timing is everything, he believes. Forward thinking is an obvious plus, but it’s essential to carry the audience with you. Attaching a mountain bike fork to a road bike was considered shockingly innovative in the early 1990s, but the technology left the peloton almost as quickly as it arrived.

“It was almost too early,” Schuda continues. “People weren’t ready for it. So for us, it’s trying to find a balance. We want to push and innovate and lead, and we’ve got to do it in a way where we know we can bring some people along too.”

The security of the McLaren-derived simulation model provided all the reassurance Specialized needed to push the envelope with the new Roubaix.

“What we ended up doing was creating a Formula One-style simulation model, which we called the rolling efficiency simulator,” Schuda explains, describing this algorithm as the “product” of Specialized’s latest engagement with McLaren Applied Technologies. Mention of the F1 constructor creates the assumption of perfection, even in the abstract realm of number crunching, but this was not the case, Schuda insists.

“A lot of people hear that we have an efficiency simulator and think we have this beautiful computer model. It’s not that. It’s very raw, but it’s a very powerful simulation tool. The reason we created this tool was so we could run thousands and thousands of different simulations: whether it’s the amount of front compliance, the amount of rear compliance, the angle at which the compliance occurs. It allows us to do thousands and thousands of computations and to see what kind of trends we come up with. From those trends, our team can dig in and make physical prototypes to test ride.”

Specialized worked with McLaren to develop a Rolling Efficiency Simulator – not a physical device, but software to analyse the effect of compliance on mechanical efficiency. The software produced an intriguing result, or rather two: different types of compliance described as “splay” and “axial”. The former describes how the frameset bends around the front axle, while the latter describes vertical movement in the fork – an up and down motion that will be familiar to anyone who owns a suspension mountain bike. Specialized’s data suggest axial compliance was far more effective in improving the comfort of a bike.

Most major manufacturers allow at least two years for the redevelopment of a signature model, and Specialized is no different. Having decided at an early stage to make the new Roubaix a disc-only model, the project reached a fork in the road, if not total derailment, when, in April, the UCI suspended the testing of discs in all of its sanctioned races following injuries to Movistar’s Fran Ventoso at, of all races, Paris-Roubaix.

The goalposts had been moved. Schuda and his team found themselves working to a design brief headed “a bike to win Paris-Roubaix” and facing the very real prospect their creation would never see the pavé. Was he concerned?

“For sure,” he says with chuckle. “It definitely twists you up inside. It’s so fluid right now, what’s happening with disc brake bikes.”

Convinced they were working with the right stopping system for consumers, the team continued development of a disc-only model, and held a watching brief on events in Europe, specifically any missives issued from the UCI in Aigle.

Their decision proved to be correct. In October, the sport’s world governing body issued the following statement: “Following extensive examination of the equipment and a detailed safety report it has been agreed with manufacturers that the trial will restart on January 1st 2017, exclusively with discs which have been modified to ensure the perimeter edge of the brake rotor does not contain any 90-degree edges, but are smoothed or chamfered.”

Any further developments will be largely hypothetical. The new Roubaix is finished and while victory at l’enfer du Nord remains an outcome entirely beyond their control, Schuda and his team have met all other aspects of the design brief.

The S-Works frame weighs 900g, and even with the ‘dropped’ seat clamp feature for rear compliance, is lighter than its predecessor.  Additionally, the weight of the complete bike is no greater than the last Zertz bike, despite the inclusion of the FutureShock. Some achievement. Schuda says his team worked hard on reducing weight in the chassis, but also in the accompanying CLX32 wheelset. Weight, arguably a road bike’s most tangible feature, remains a key consideration, even for a project so focused on compliance.