By Larry Meyer, DPT, CEO of BUILD
I have been a professional bike fitter for eighteen years, and in that time I have been slowly nudging road cyclists a little farther forward over the bottom bracket. Every time, the payoff has looked the same: more usable power and a more open hip angle. So when a frame arrives built around that idea, I pay attention.
The forward position is not one answer for everyone, though. A climber and a sprinter ask different things of the same hips and legs, so the call on saddle, reach and cranks comes down to the individual rider, never to the discipline label. Think of a key cut for one lock: the ONE shows where the lock is heading, and each rider's key still has to be filed by hand.
With that in mind, I took notice in the spring of 2026 as Factor's ONE began rolling out, most of all at Modern Adventure Pro Cycling in its first season. Factor had launched the bike on December 11, 2025 and calls it the "fastest UCI-legal road bike in the world." Its geometry is a rider-first answer to a question I have been asking for years: what if the frame were built around the position, instead of the position being forced into the frame? The ONE's year was split: its only confirmed pro win came in 2025 on the prototype, the men's WorldTour team it supplied left, and the U.S. team that races it most deepened its commitment.
The ONE pairs a steeper seat tube angle of about 76° with a longer reach, a position built for a farther-forward saddle, and a fit meant for cranks of around 165–170 mm. Those are the four levers behind my Velodynamics reel video: seat tube angle, saddle position, reach and crank length. Here I track how the bike did this year, how Modern Adventure used it, and whether the idea will spread.
How the ONE performed in 2026
The only confirmed win on the ONE is Jake Stewart's stage 5 of the 2025 Critérium du Dauphiné, ridden while the bike was still called the Prototype (BikeRadar). Israel–Premier Tech then raced it at the 2025 Tour de France. I found no confirmed 2026 race win credited to the ONE by name.
Three things shaped its year:
- The men's WorldTour team left. Scott confirmed on December 3, 2025 that it would replace Factor as supplier to the rebranded NSN Cycling Team (formerly Israel–Premier Tech), supplying the Addict RC, Foil and Plasma (BikeRadar). BikeRadar reports that sponsors Premier Tech and Factor had required the team to change its name and end its Israel affiliation. The team agreed in October, but Premier Tech left in November. Factor never announced its own exit; Scott's deal confirmed it.
- The women's WorldTour team stayed. Human Powered Health raced the ONE XXRAY Plus at the 2026 Tour de France Femmes in SpongeBob SquarePants paint, and Ma Petite Entreprise rode a Patrick Star edition (Cycling Weekly).
- Reviewers rated the bike highly but not as a revolution. Escape Collective called it "what the Venge might be" if Specialized revived its aero platform (Escape Collective). Cycling Weekly's July 22, 2026 piece named the ONE among the bikes with progressive geometry (Cycling Weekly).
Factor's claims of up to 22% faster than the Specialized Tarmac SL8 and about 15% more efficient than the 2024 Cervélo S5 are its own wind-tunnel numbers. They are not independent results.
Modern Adventure: a real-world test, and a yes for 2027
Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, the team's name this year, is staying with Factor and deepening the deal. Factor announced on June 16, 2026 that it is becoming co-title sponsor (Cycling Weekly), and from 2027 the team will race as Modern Adventure Factor Racing (Cycling Up To Date). Factor's Continental development team folds into the structure, and the stated goal is the Tour de France within five years. Contract length and financial terms were not disclosed.
The riders' experience of the ONE shows up in three places:
- Early season, the ONE was the everyday race bike for some riders. Sean Christian said he'd raced it "for most days this year." Cole Kessler called it "a very stiff bike," said it is "a massive advantage" in a breakaway and said he would take three minutes of a rougher ride on the cobbles for that (Factor's own team recap). Cycling Weekly confirmed he rode the ONE rather than the OSTRO VAM at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (Cycling Weekly).
- At Paris-Roubaix, the team chose a different bike. Modern Adventure rode the Monza instead of the ONE or the OSTRO VAM. Factor's press release said the Monza was the more durable frame, and Cyclingnews noted the ONE was "just too stiff, it seems" to be smashed over the cobbles. Factor put the aero cost of the Monza versus the OSTRO VAM at about 2.5 watts, and manager George Hincapie cited its wider tire clearance (Cyclingnews, Domestique).
- The results were good, but none are credited to the ONE. By early June the team's wins included two stages and the overall at the Tour de Wallonie for Ben Oliver, Stefan de Bod's South African time trial title, and Samuel Flórez's stage 5 win at the Tour of the Gila (Cycling Weekly, Cyclingnews). The sources I opened do not say which bike each rider used for those wins.
The lesson is the same one I see in the fit studio every day: the right bike depends on the job. The ONE suits breakaways and aero days, and the team picked other Factor models for the cobbles. I found no public statement from Factor or the team about the ONE's performance beyond these rider quotes.
Other teams and bikes heading into 2027
I found no announcement of another team adopting the ONE for 2027. Factor's confirmed 2027 footprint is Modern Adventure Factor Racing, plus its women's partnerships. The other brands are moving toward the same position by smaller steps.
| Bike | How it compares to the ONE | Source |
| Factor OSTRO VAM | Predecessor with the closest geometry; the ONE's wheelbase is 16 mm longer in the 56 and 58 cm sizes | Cyclingnews |
| Specialized Tarmac SL8/SL9 | Factor's wind-tunnel benchmark; in Cyclingnews' size comparison its head angle is 72.5° vs the ONE's 73.3°, with 19 mm less reach and 4 mm more stack in a 58 cm (SL9) | Cyclingnews |
| Colnago Y1Rs | Similar bayonet-style front end and price | Cyclingnews |
| Cervélo S5 | Popularized the bayonet-style head tube the ONE also uses; Factor claims ~15% better efficiency than the 2024 model | BikeRadar |
| Ridley Noah Fast 3.0 | Cycling Weekly cites it as typifying progressive geometry, with a steep seat angle and long reach | Cycling Weekly |
| Scott Foil (NSN Cycling) | Aero platform that replaced Factor at the former Israel Premier Tech; I could not confirm 2027 geometry changes | BikeRadar |
| Merida Reacto | Bars adjust down to 360 mm, narrower than the UCI allows in races; aero thinking, not the ONE's geometry | BikeRadar |
Riders are also personalizing what they race, such as Jonas Vingegaard's 1x drivetrain on the S5. That points to individual fits, not a new geometry from those brands.
Trend or one-off?
The position is a trend. The ONE's specific frame is more likely to be copied in pieces than as a whole. Three pieces of evidence shape that view:
- The position is already moving in the peloton. Cycling Weekly reports that sub-170 mm cranks are more widespread following Tadej Pogačar, and that the UCI's relaxed saddle-setback rule has brought saddles forward over the bottom bracket (Cycling Weekly, July 22, 2026). Fitter Dan Smith said he would not be surprised to see manufacturers head further toward steeper seat tube angles, taller stacks and longer reaches for race bikes, and that with that geometry extreme stem lengths become less
necessary. - The shift has limits. Pogačar rides 165 mm cranks (Cycling Weekly). Vingegaard tried 150 mm cranks and has since moved to 160 mm (BikeRadar), so riders are still finding where short becomes too short. I found no reliable survey of what sprinters and classics riders use, so I do not compare them here.
- The experts disagree. Fitter Bianca Broadbent is skeptical that pros need progressive geometry such as a longer reach, and says taller head tubes would cost adjustability (Cycling Weekly). On cranks, Cycling Weekly says the science shows different lengths do not significantly change power output. Cyclingnews notes that a 1999 study, with a single subject, found the highest power at 180 mm, and fitter Jon Wild warns that cranks that are too short can be harmful (Cyclingnews). Crank length is still a fit decision, not a rule.
One caution for my own claims. A steeper seat tube angle and shorter cranks change posture and joint angles, which is what Velodynamics measures. Whether they make a given rider faster is a separate question that needs testing, and the sources above do not settle it.
What to watch in 2027
As of late October 2026, Factor has announced no geometry change to the road ONE, and no 2027 version of it. Its newest variant is the ONE SP, a time-trial and triathlon bike announced on September 24, 2026 (Factor). Four things are worth watching:
- Modern Adventure Factor Racing's first season under the new name. Watch which Factor model the riders choose by race type, and whether they publish results tied to a specific bike.
- A ONE win at the WorldTour level. The Dauphiné stage is still the headline, and Factor no longer has a men's WorldTour team to add to it.
- Rival aero launches. Scott's Foil at NSN, a Specialized Venge revival that reviewers have been asking for, and further Tarmac and Noah updates will show whether the ONE's seat angle and reach become the norm.
- UCI rules. Handlebar width and saddle-setback limits have already shaped these bikes, so any further change would move the whole field.
As a fitter, my takeaway is that position is leading the frame. When I can show a client what a 1.5° seat-angle change or a 7.5 mm shorter crank does to hip, trunk and knee angles, I am already working the way these bikes are being designed.
Sources are linked inline and come from Cyclingnews, BikeRadar, Cycling Weekly, Escape Collective, Domestique and Cycling Up To Date; rider quotes taken from Factor's own team recap are labeled as such. This piece was inspired by Dan Chabanov's Bicycling article, "This Groundbreaking Aero Road Bike (Probably) Changes Everything About Bike Design" (Spring 2026).