First-look review: Specialized Venge ViAS

By now many of you will have already seen Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan riding Specialized’s new Venge ViAS at the Tour de Suisse. It’s perhaps the most radical departure from conventional bike design that we’ve seen in years and it’s sure to be polarising.

After a claimed 1000 hours of testing, prototyping and refining the design in Specialized’s own wind tunnel in Morgan Hill, CA, the new Venge has been shaped with the goal of being “the fastest bike in the world.” It’s said that this bike was the impetus behind Specialized creating their own “Win Tunnel”. With no expense spared, it boasts a completely redesigned Venge frameset (and integrated bar/stem), Roval CLX 64 wheelset, Quarq powermeter and Di2.

The claim is bold: “5 minutes”. This is what Specialized says you’ll save over 40 kilometres with the Venge ViAS package, no matter what type of rider you are.

It’s misleading to state that the bike alone will save you five minutes. The five minute message is a way of showcasing Specialized’s “aero is everything” obsession and the product ecosystem they offer that contributes to this tremendous time saving.

We delve further into these claims with wind tunnel baselining, real world testing, and McLaren’s F1 simulators. You can read our verification of their 5 minute claim here, but in the interest of keeping this succinct, I can say right now that it’s true.

Here’s a breakdown of what Specialized says each component of this offering will save you over 40 kilometres:

Venge ViAS with CLX 64 wheels: 120 seconds (compared to Tarmac SL4 with lightweight alloy wheels) *Assumed low to moderate winds on flat course

S-Works Turbo tyres: 35 seconds (compared to Continental GP4000SII 23mm)

Evade helmet: 46 seconds (compared to S-works Prevail or Giro Synthe)

S-Works Evade GC Skinsuit: 96 seconds (compared to an average short sleeve jersey and knicks)

S-Works 6 Shoes: up to 35 seconds (compared to current S-works shoes).*Due to rider foot sizes, differing pedalling motions, the airflow over shoes is highly dependant on the rider

Total: 5:32 over 40 kilometers

As you can see, the 5 minute claim comes from an already high standard of equipment as a baseline.

Again, we verified these claims here and assessed the ride qualities of the new Venge ViAS, but for now we’ll concentrate on the features of their radically new design:

: Chris D’Aluisio (left, with 16 years at specialized as a design engineer, and many more years with other bike companies) and Chris Yu (right, aka Dr. Speed after just completing his PhD in aerodyamics at Stanford) presenting the bike at their wind tunnel in Morgan Hill, CA.

: The various iterations of stem/handlebar prototypes that were tested during the design process. Making the front end of the Venge ViAS as aerodynamic as possible was low hanging fruit and the cockpit had much to do with the improvements.

: One of the Venge early prototypes. Every tube shape has been aerodynamically optimised as was the the rear triangle placement (which has been lowered).

: Specialized tested the wheel and frame flex and determined that the the most movement occursat the 12 o’clock / 6 o’clock position. The position of the Venge ViAS rear brake was determined by this testing in conjunction with their aerodynamic testing.

: A view of what the “Aerofly” cockpit looks like from the rider’s position. The cables for the brakes and shifting are routed internally through the handlebar, stem, headset, and frame to their respective components.

: The Di2 junction box is mounted underneath the bottom bracket. To charge the Di2 internal battery (located in the seatpost) there is a port and diagnostic LEDs visible on the other side.

: A view of the rear brake with the wheel removed.

: The Roval AF1 hubs were another part of this bike redesigned for optimal aerodynamics. They include CeramicSpeed ceramic bearings. Front Spoke Count: 16, Rear Spoke Count: 21

: Oversized bottom bracket with S-Works crankset and Quarq powermeter.

: The fork is designed to reduce aerodynamic drag, while providing a 30% increase in lateral stiffness (over their last model).

: The “Aerofly” cockpit features a negative 17-degree stem in an attempt to provide the optimal aerodynamic profile. And to balance out the aggressive position, the Aerofly handlebars feature a positive 25mm rise.

: Specialized took 6 months to develop special headset bearings and spacers in order to internally house all cable routing and brake lines, which resulted in the elimination of anything being left exposed.

: It’s not a fairing, it’s a brake…

: The rear brake cable routing is perhaps the only clumsy design feature of the Venge ViAS. Besides being the only cable exposed (aside from the rear derailleur), it’s a lot to ask for a brake cable to be routed this way. Performance certainly didn’t seem to be affected, but time will tell to see if this design could be improved.

: The Venge ViAS comes standard with Di2 electronic shifting and a Quarq powermeter.

: The rear triangle was lowered with optimal aerodynamics in mind.

: The rear brake placement had to do with two factors: Aerodynamics, and position with relation to wheel flex. According to the testing (and common sense when you think about it), a wheel flexes most at the 12 o’clock / 6 o’clock position. The position here has the least amount of wheel flex, thus reducing the potential for brake rub.

: The front brakes incorporate a design that some might call and illegal “fairing.” But Specialized was able to get around this by creating an entire braking structure which just happens to be the most aerodynamic as well. The brakes were designed with a performance benchmark that strived to be equivalent to Shimano Di2 dual pivot brakes. Specialized said they were satisfied that they brake just as well (in terms of modulation and power). Maintenance and ajustment looked to be simple, but we’ll report back after we do a longer term review.

: The front end of this bike was designed to have no cables showing to decrease aerodynamic drag. All cables are routed directly from the brakes and shifters internally through the handlebars, stem, headset, and frame.

: The integrated computer mount can be removed, and takes multiple models of cycle computers.

: The new Roval CLX 64 wheels were also redesigned with headwinds and crosswinds in mind. They were matched to work with the S-Works Turbo tyre, which on this wide internal rim width, measure 24mm/26mm wide (front/rear) Front Wheel Weight: 695g, Rear Wheel Weight: 850g

: Chris Yu riding a prototype Venge ViAS. White isn’t available at this time, but it certainly looks like it needs to be considered.

: A good look at the unique handlebar shape and integrated computer mount.

: The new SUB 6 and S-Works 6 shoes. Bottom, the new Evade skinsuit

Pricing

Model	USA Pricing	UK Pricing	AU Pricing	NZ Pricing
Venge ViAS Di2	$12,500	£9,000	$15,499.00	$17,500.00
Venge ViAS Frame	$5,800	£4500	TBC	TBC
S-Works Evade Helmet	$250	£170	$299.00	$375
S-Works Evade Skin Suit	$500	£300	$699.00	$650
S-Works 6 Shoes	$400	£280	$549.00	$600
Sub6 Shoes	$325	£250	$499.00	$500
CLX64 wheelset	$2800	£1700	$1,695.00 front/$2,295.00 rear	$1700 front/$2400 rear

Australian availability:

– SW Venge ViAS and Pro Venge ViAS will have very limited availability starting in late August
– SW Venge ViAS Modules will arrive in October
– CLX64 Wheel System will be very limited availability July
– SW Evade Skin Suit will have very limited availability starting in February (2016)
– SW6/Sub6 Shoes will have availability starting in August
– SW Evade Helmet in stock now

Head over to this post for our verification of the “5 minute” claim and for our first impressions on how the bike rode.

Full Disclosure: We would like to thank Specialized for hosting our visit to Morgan Hill, CA and providing us with this experience. Specialized has been a long time advertiser with CyclingTips.

Alee | CyclingAbout.com

The lack of cables looks amazing, but I bet Specialized mechanics around the world are currently banging their heads on their workbenches!
- Dave
  
  Not those who are paid an hourly rate for their work!
  
  $pesh owners are the ones who’ll be hating it.
Paolo

Makes Sydney house prices look like a bargain.
Guest

I ride in the real world on real roads, not in a wind tunnel (one particular brand of tyre saves 35 seconds over another brand. Really ??). Still, kudos to Specialized for the integrated Garmin mount – something Cervelo could have (and should have) thought of with their new S5 aero bar.
- Michael
  
  Actually you’d be surprised at how much of a difference tyres make. Add to that the tyres that the turbo were compared to the GP4000 IIS (clinchers) are considered the benchmark in terms of combined aerodynamics and rolling resistance when paired with a latex tube. Although the secret has been out for a while on the S-Works tyres.
  - Guest
    
    Specialized clincher tyres have been garbage in the past. Only the current Gen of Turbo / S Works tyres are worthy of comparison with other brands. I rank tyres according to these priorities – (1) grip, (2) puncture resistance, (3) grip, (4) frame & fork fitment, (5) grip, (6) rolling resistance & comfort, (7) grip, and (8) aerodynamics. Did I mention grip ? Aero means bugger-all to me if I’m lying on the tarmac because my front tyre has let go in a corner due to a loss of traction. Hope you take this the right way Michael, not trying to be a smarty or trashing your point :-)
    - dave
      
      I’d throw in rolling resistance in there with grip. the difference between the best and worst tyres can be in the neighbourhood of 20-30 watts at 40 km/h. rolling resistance matters way more than aero for a tyre
      - Dave
        
        It was in the list at six, quite rightfully behind everything which would have the potential to strand you on the side of the road.
- Danger
  
  This is especially suprising (cervelo not integrating the mount) considering the relationship between the two companies for the last x amount of years. Obviously 3T tried but it was hideous.
  - Dave
    
    We don’t know if there was ever any collaboration between Garmin and Cervelo, that’s a long bow to draw when we know nothing more than that both companies sponsored Slipstream Sports at the same time (one as a plain sponsor, the other as a sponsor-supplier) for a couple of years.
    - SuperDave Koesel
      
      Um, and Gerard Vroomen is a partner at 3T.
- Dave
  
  I’m surprised by the computer mount. I would have expected the $pecialized way to do that would have been to create their own computer (sold separately, of course) with their own proprietary mounting integrated into the new bike.
  - jules
    
    that has speed, distance, time. suck it up princesses :)
Onyourbike

It’s amazing how long it’s taken them to catch up with Cervelo ;-)
- Danger
  
  Im keen to see what cervelo do next. They don’t usually sit second for very long…
Michael Sproul

Any more pictures of the shoes (laced ones)?
philipmcvey

I was going to say what great value the CLX wheels are at $1649. Then I noticed that the price has a line break in it and that it’s $1649 for the front wheel. I suppose I’m going to need to take Smoking Joe’s advice and get a better job.
Karl

Aero might be everything, but apparently looks aren’t. Dog ugly (to my eye), not that this will stop cashed up hubbards cruising Beach road on one.
- mattb
  
  Your right. Everyone should ride bikes that look identical and cost the exact same amount. If they don’t we should call anyone different a hubbard
  - Sean Doyle
    
    If you are not racing you don’t need a race bike.
    - Nath
      
      If you ARE racing you don’t need a race bike…..whatever that is. I’ve seen an 15 year old rider on an ancient steel frame, 24spoke low profile alloys wheels and restricted gears take it to A-grade men on high end machines….. yeah, the guy is special, but it does prove that equipment is secondary and the NEED for a high end bike really is restricted to pro or rep racing, not A grade clubbies. Doesn’t mean you can’t have one just because you want it though. Same for A grade and E grade as well as the commuter cup.
      - Sean Doyle
        
        The point being that a thoroughbred race bike does have some concessions to everyday convenience. Of course you can race on a ‘normal’ bike and of course if you can afford this bike then I’m not going to stop you. These bikes help keep bike shops open and mechanics employed. Change in seasons and fluctuating body weight can have a big effect on the fit of the bike. Put 10kgs on and you are dropping your seat at least 5mm. What happens to the handle bar then. That $350 fit is now shit because you can’t adjust the stem. which means you are sitting a touch more upright and you start losing your aero benefit I’m all for hard edge race bikes that push the technology but for the vast majority of us these bikes aren’t what you want. In my opinion of course. :-)
        
        Nath
        
        Ah – I seem to have grabbed the wrong end of the stick and waved it about far too vigorously. Apologies.
        
        Sean Doyle
        
        Agh…. I was looking for a fight anyway. Specialized seem to push my ‘lets be obtuse today’ button a bit too easy.
        
        I can see why they have settled on some design outcomes. Proprietary components though have a risk of leaving one stranded when something goes wrong. It seems to be more common these days, someone putting the call out to try and get some obscure part before the race the next morning. I suppose if you have enough money you can buy a couple spares and stash just in case. I usually have a spare FD and RD and I’ve kept some older brakes for just in case but I bet these propriety components will not be cheap either.
        
        As I said, mostly my opinion and there will be plenty of people who will love it and will buy and ride it hard.
    - Gavitron
      
      “… you don’t need a … bike.”
      
      Fixed that for you.
      - Sean Doyle
        
        That doesn’t make sense.
Faz

That front end (stem and bars) looks like a couple of dislocated shoulders and an out place collarbone
- Jeff
  
  Fitting, as the guy who designed the stem recently did a grade 5 AC shoulder separation… karma?
- Dave
  
  To me they look a bit like F1 front wings from the last couple of years before the 2009 rules made them ugly.
  
  There may be something to that actually, because the main purpose of the centre section of the front wing is to keep the air flowing cleanly (not to create downforce and therefore drag) through the front end section towards where it splits around the tub and side pods.
  
  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/David_Coulthard_2007_Canada.jpg/800px-David_Coulthard_2007_Canada.jpg
  - Winky
    
    I just love the look of the front wings in F1. Crazy complex and yet elegant and purposeful – all at once. It’s as if they have a rule that if you add a vane or fin, you can’t take it off for the next version, just add more.
Dave

The seat must be pretty uncomfortable, every photo of it being ridden has the rider out of the saddle.
- Scott
  
  Nicely done
  - Winky
    
    There was a UK bike magazine when I lived there that would ONLY show photos of riders out of the saddle and in the drops. Every single photo in their bike reviews showed the test riders like this. No exceptions, issue after issue. It was quite funny.
Oh no, not again.

To save time, this bike should come with white, knee-high compression socks, a blue bandanna for under-the-helmet-dome-wicking, and a massive saddle bag containing untested tyre mousse that sprays hubbards in the face as the gather around their hapless mate.
Cam

Presumably the wheels are providing a significant chunk of the 120 seconds saved (aero vs. lightweight alloy), and then the comparison is Venge versus Tarmac. I’m guessing that like for like current Venge versus new Venge, the actual saving is probably something less than 10% of the 5 minutes. This is marketing at its best.
Mathematician

Breaking down the marketing babble to the actual important bit and run some numbers.

“Venge ViAS with CLX 64 wheels: 120 seconds (compared to Tarmac SL4 with lightweight alloy wheels)”
A zipp firestrike 404 saves 80 seconds over box section wheels. (according to their literature). The zipp fire strike is 58mm, the CLX 64 is 64mm?

So all up, 40 seconds on the frame over the old Venge. (minus 6mm worth of wheel depth if you really want to be that pedantic)
Velo magazine ran a test where the OLD Cervelo S5 was 51 seconds faster than the venge over 4:17 hours. Shrunk down to an hour that works out to be 11.9 seconds per hour.

So this new Venge frame is 28.1 seconds quicker than the OLD Cervelo S5 frame with an added 6mm wheel depth advantage.

Hardly groundbreaking but every little helps right? Especially with marketing.
- Cam
  
  40 seconds faster than a Tarmac SL4, not the old Venge…
  - Mathematician
    
    Ah my mistake.
    
    Also I forgot to mention bars, the old S5 had standard bars, let’s take a standard set of aero bars (zipp SL70 aero), they apparently save 6.4 watts over normal bars. Or about 50 grams of drag (flo cycling) which is 23 seconds. (“Biggest bang for you buck chart”)
    
    All up, this new Venge is 5 seconds quicker than the new S5? At that frame set price, Baum looks like a nice alternative.
    - Cam
      
      According to Specialised the old Venge is 45 seconds faster than a Tarmac, so I think we are at a time saving of around -5 seconds. Sounds too good to be true!!
- Marcus
  
  A good effort at deciphering the obscured numbers. Surely if the frame by itself saved a massive amount over other aero frames, and the old Venge, they’d isolate those numbers and be shouting about them! All I want to know is – if I were to switch my 2015 Tarmac frame for this new Venge frame, what’s the gain? I already have deep section rims etc…
  - BenW
    
    “All I want to know is – if I were to switch my 2015 Tarmac frame for this new Venge frame, what’s the gain?”
    
    A whole truckload of hype points.
  - Sean Doyle
    
    The gain is a lighter wallet. That has to be worth something.
- Chris Yu
  
  Hey, this is Chris from the big S. Just wanted to try and clear some of the numbers up. Yes, the 120 sec over 40km stat is compared to a Tarmac w/ alloy wheels. That was to illustrate the point that there is a substantial amount of time to be saved over a common traditional setup. Keeping wheels constant (in this case CLX60s for clearance in competitor frames), we measured between 55-60 sec over 40km saved vs. the original Venge and the current crop of competitor aero bikes. So the only things being compared there are the frame/fork and any required integrated components (bars, brakes, etc…).
  - Michael Sproul
    
    Chris, any chance you’ll be offering Giant a chance to come test their Propel in your wind tunnel now?
  - spaceguy
    
    off topic question… what is the make of the container that you have in your seat tube bottle cage, there?
    - Chris Yu
      
      We make it. It’s called the Keg and you can get it with a cool tool wrap as well. Great for lunch rides or similar short rides where you only need 1 bottle. Easy to move spares back and forth between bikes.
      - Silent Legs
        
        Another off topic question to Chris (still about bottles though):
        
        In the long Giro time trial, the Specialized teams all used the Shiv with the Elite Crono aero bottle. However, Contador had the bottle on the seat tube while Aru and Uran had it on the down tube. In the team time trial the Tinkoff Saxo riders rode with both setups. Is there no aero difference on where to place the bottle? Is it a personal preference/convenience thing? Since the team time trial was so short the riders most likely didn’t drink during the race. Did they use the bottles for an aero advantage, i.e. is the bike faster with bottles than with no bottles?
        Hopefully these questions could be answered in a future Win Tunnel video.
        
        Chris Yu
        
        W/ the narrower Elite bottles, the location isn’t as critical (ST vs. DT) so it’s down to rider preference. There isn’t an aero advantage to having the bottles, but the penalty is minimized with the aero bottles. So for long time trials, having it there just in case is usually what you’re seeing.
        
        Silent Legs
        
        What about bottle cages? As in having an aero bottle with the accompanying bottle cage; is it than more aero to have the bottle in the cage rather than cage with no bottle?
        My un-informed opinion based ranking (fastest to slowest):
        1: no bottle, no bottle cage
        2: bottle in bottle cage
        3: just bottle cage
        
        Is this correct?
        
        Chris Yu
        
        Pretty close. 2 and 3 are not too different in our testing and it will come down to specifics of which cage, bottle, and what location. But generally, a cage w/ or w/out a bottle tests about the same (this holds for aero bottles/cages as well as traditional bottles/cages).
  - Marcus
    
    Chris, appreciate your efforts in clarifying some of the numbers for us. Just to clarify some more though – you say here that with the same wheels (and presumably same helmet/kit, with only the frame/bars different), you measured 55-60 secs over other aero bikes and the old venge – which is obviously huge. But in another response on the other related post (https://cyclingtips.com.au/2015/06/can-the-specialized-venge-vias-really-save-5-minutes-over-40kms/#comment-2095018884), you said: “…all the current crop of aero frames, original Venge included, test very tightly together – typically within a 10 sec/40km band”. Does this just mean that the old Venge, and all competitor’s aero frames, are within 10 secs of each other, and then the new Venge is 55-60 secs ahead of them all?
    
    If so, then this is a very impressive figure (based on frame/bars alone), that Specialized should be advertising instead of the obscured 5 min number!
    - Chris Yu
      
      Hi Marcus, yes that is correct. And thanks for the feedback on what messaging to concentrate on. This one’s a bit tricky since we’re almost trying to communicate to two different rider populations (those already technically and aero minded like yourself, and the more traditional cyclists that wouldn’t be impacted by a comparison to other aero bikes).
      - Ragtag
        
        Just take the more ‘ethical’ sounding approach. Not that I am suggesting what you say is not ethical. But if you were us, what would you appreciate? These small little things alienate or make the bond stronger with the brand. What do you want the brand stand for? Colnago are probably lesser aero and less stiff and more heavy bikes, but the brand stands for things that are beyond all that. Colnago always says rider safety is more important hence a heavier bike to them is acceptable. That’s a clear communication which sounds reasonable. As a result it is not bought by everyone but aspired and loved by a lot!
  - sss
    
    Can you explain to me why your bicycle costs more than a 2015 Honda CBR1000RR?
    
    http://powersports.honda.com/2015/cbr1000rr.aspx
    - Ragtag
      
      The Honda does not have the aero numbers to be even compared against the 4 year old Tarmac SL4 with alloy wheels. There. Enuf said. Period. ;)
      - Dave
        
        But how many minutes could you save over 40km with the Honda?
  - Torbjørn Enger
    
    Hi Chris. Is the New s5 amongst the current crop, or is that to new?
Super Conrad

but will it take mudguards?
huphtur

http://i.imgur.com/OqMlRd6.gif
Tomas Narkus

Hmm… something very fimiliar.
Alex Lingley

Any word on the possibility of trickle down tech from this frame to lower cost variants? Love the bike but 12.5k is a big ask.
- Winky
  
  I’m not sure what “tech” you would want to trickle down. The only possibly good thing that I see on this frame is the partially concealed Di2 box in comparison to eveyone else just zap-strapping it to the stem.
  - Alex Lingley
    
    Sorry if I was unclear, I mean will there be different variants of this frame (expert, pro, comp, etc.) similar to how the current venge is sold.
    - Winky
      
      I was being a bit sarcastic. I like the general look of the frame, but not the brakes set-up or the strange ram’s horn bars. But I’m not a fan of the big red S at any time, really.
      - Lach
        
        Then best to just be quiet, no?
        
        Sean Doyle
        
        No, it’s the internet and if one can’t be critical about things then we’d end up with a world of mediocre.
        
        Lach
        
        Asinine remarks are not critical.
        
        Sean Doyle
        
        Don’t take things so seriously. ?
Simon

Was the “impetus” for this is due to the impetuosity of the market or the impertinence of the riders?
- mphillips57
  
  Either way, this is the pompatus of bikes.
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Pompatus
Michael Sproul

I’m seriously confused by the helmet pricing when comparing US/UK/AUS compared to the other gear!
- James
  
  For once we haven’t been screwed on the exchange rate pricing, looks good in AUD$ in comparison to what you’d pay in the UK or US..
  That said, that’s a lot of coin for a bike..
  - Dave
    
    That’s assuming that it will actually be available to people who have to pay for their gear.
mr. Slade

To be honest I don’t really like the new Venge. Maybe it will grow on me, but I would not buy it. I love my s-works Sl4 and I will probably change it for the SL5 or SL6 in the near future. The Venge is certainly not for everyone. It is expensive, but that is not the real issue because every S-works is expensive. The new Venge is not a bike for every terrain because I can’t imagine that it will climb very nice.
For me the new Venge is certainly a step forward if aero is the most important thing, but design is also very important and for me the new Venge is not beautiful design. I don’t like the brakes and the strande stem. I am also not a fan of the lower rear triangle placement. I like the solution for the Di2 juncbox and the removal of the cables. I bet it is a very fast bike but if you place this new Venge next to a Tarmac SL5 the Tarmac S-works looks so much more elegant imho. On the other hand this new Venge is from a engineer point of view an impressive achievement.
SeanMcCuen

that’s funky, and a little redundant up a climb.
OverIt

I don’t mind the bars. For us long legged, it might be a “nicer” way to reduce saddle to bar drop, without a load of stem spacers or flipped up stem or disproportionate head tube length.

However…

– The Di2 junction box is going to end up swimming in a muddy bath… one way to test Shimano’s water proofing i guess…..

– The rear brake cable looks precariously close to the rear tire.

– The bespoke brakes look like a fiddly mess, with difficult on the fly adjustment.

– Function has certainly been prioritized or from in many areas. The stem and whole aesthetic of the head tube is horrid.

– And all those aero gains sound perfect for a time trial bike…. but it’s not.

They did it because they could i guess….. Canyon far nicer to my eyes.
http://road.cc/content/news/154834-canyon-unveils-new-ultimate-cf-slx-aero-features
- Albert
  
  Agree with all this.
  Biggest concern for me is the brakes. While you might save 5 minutes over 40km, what happens if you get a flat? How many seconds is added to a wheel change because the brakes are so difficult to open and adjust?
Sean Doyle

When I look at it my eyes hurt. I can see why they have settled on aspects of the design but it just does not flow properly but I suppose we had better get used to it. Now tat companies are starting to move away from having the absolute lightest or stiffest frame aero will be the number one marketing number. Yes there are some real gains in aero but it’s going to get tedious. The obvious elephant in the room is the way the rider sits on these bikes.

The funny thing is the guys who will make the most use of the bike are the ones working part time at best so they can train etc. and will not be able to afford it. Also having that fixed cockpit setup means that the weekend warriors who have weight fluctuations over the years are going to have some uncomfortable periods on the bike.
RayG

Doesn’t saying it’ll save 5min over 40km “no matter what type of rider you are” defy the laws of physics? It’s been far too long since I studied science, but I seem to remember aerodynamics being far more important the faster you went – wind resistance increasing faster than your velocity.
- Dave
  
  Aerodynamic effects are generally proportional to the square of velocity, the difference made by a bike with “good” or “bad” aerodynamic design is a relatively minor deviation from that general curve.
  
  Cyclists don’t spend enough time going fast enough for bikes to need the designs to cater for stall effects at specific speeds like racing cars do, you don’t base the whole design of a sprinter’s bike around the aero performance on a very fast descent where the limiting factor is the size of the rider’s testicles.
  - RayG
    
    That’s sort of what I meant. Most of us aren’t going fast enough to get these gains.
  - jules
    
    aerodynamic (drag) effects are sensitive to speed, but also power. while cyclists go relatively slow, negating the impact of drag/aero, they also make relatively little power.
    
    100W of drag vs. 100kW of engine power for a car = drag inconsequential
    100W of drag vs. 300W of pedal power = drag suddenly important
- markpa
  
  The idea that all the gains would be cumulative seems impossible.
  One gain may increase the speed, then the others would have proportionately less effect.
  - Dave
    
    Very true. The magnitude of each gain would change according to which order the different gains were tested.
    
    In any case, I await a truly independent verification of the claim with head-to-head testing.
  - jules
    
    I assume they’ve measured the consolidated time gain and distributed it across components. rather than the other way around – which would be incorrect.
pedr09

That is one ugly Mofo. The white makes it more bearable to the eyes though.
ron

I likes Sagans bar/stem setup better – but im not sure if he is using Specialized components for it.

TDF – Venge vs Venge vs Propel for the Green Jersey…..this will be interesting
- peter
  
  i think the actual riders will decide who wins , not the bikes
Ian

Handlebar inspiration?
Chris K

“It’s perhaps the most radical departure from conventional bike design that we’ve seen in years.”
Look 795?
- Albert
  
  So much of this seems to have been borrowed from Look.
SeanMcCuen

overkill.
Ralph

Just further evidence that pro level bikes are moving further away from what the average road punter is looking for, something light, reasonably affordable, fast enough, cleanly design and pretty, rather than super light, expensive, very fast, messily designed and ugly. Or am I wrong?
- jules
  
  this is a race bike. it offers an advantage for someone who can buy this instead of killing themselves doing 20 instead of 19 hours of intense training a week. there is no reason to buy this for rec riding. it’s not snobbery, there are nicer looking, more affordable and just as effective bikes for rec riding.
  - Dave
    
    And I suspect it won’t be widely available anyway, only reluctantly so and only just enough to satisfy a UCI Technical Delegate that it is actually a production bike so Cav can ride one.
    
    I’m thinking that it will be like the “Evo” cars which had only 250 built to satisfy the old Group A touring car rules about 25 years ago which fell apart completely when Nissan showed up at Bathurst with what was closer to a Le Mans Prototype than a production-based touring car.
velocite

From an ownership and maintenance point of view the complicated internal routing of the brake cables seems vaguely nightmarish. Horrible, even. It strikes me that the answer should be hydraulic lines, AND, they should be a part of the frame, with convenient unions at the brake locations. Just a thought.
- Nath
  
  It does seem an ideal pairing for the SRAM hydro rim brake along with the (one day) soon to be released wireless shifting. Even the bulbous hydro hoods would look at home on those bars!
Cameron Harris

BMC just called. They want their seat stays back.
- Kell
  
  Cervelo just called they want their down tube back
Matt DeMaere

The innovations are really impressive for sure, but did anyone bother to do the following cost-benefit breakdown?

Item, Seconds_saved, Cost, $/second
Specialized Venge ViAS, 120, $12500, $104.17
Specialized Evade Helmet, 46, $250, $5.43
Specialized Evade GC Skinsuit, 96, $500, $5.21
Specialized S-Works 6 Clippies, 35, $400, $11.43

Without purchasing the bike, for an outlay that represents 8% of the full cost, you still get 60% of the benefit. There is also a ratio of 20:1 benefit for the helmet and skinsuit when compared to the bike, but those gains I would expect are going to be sensitive to individuals (fit and posture).

I’m curious how the other approaching aero road bike releases are going to measure up to this one. Seems tough!
- Andy B
  
  AUD plz
  
  That’s a damn expensive skin suit & shoes
  - Sean Doyle
    
    They are probably US prices so multiply by 1.25ish and add a bit to get local prices. I think.
    - Andy B
      
      Sorry I wasn’t clear enough, AUD prices are listed in the article
      I was just curious on cost per second based on AUD
Mr. Slade

It looks like my reaction is deleted. I wonder why?
Mr. Slade

I made a mistake. My comment wasn’t deleted. ;-)
CapeHorn

Hmm…
I am getting a Kilgon Bird of Prey vibe from those bars…
Peter

This is getting ridiculous – $15499 for a bicycle… You can find a brand new Honda CBR1000RR for that, Honda’s top of the line sports bike. I know people will argue that R&D, exotic materials, moulds etc cost but come on, bicycle manufacturers don’t even do threaded BB’s anymore to save money & so they don’t have to make frames to as tight tolerances. But how can they justify this sort of money when you consider the raw materials, tight tolerances required in engine manufacturing and the sheer number of parts and build time involved in motorcycle manufacture, not to mention freight & for the same kind of money, especially when you consider a part of the Honda price is made up of taxes (stamp duty) and registration.

I love bicycles and some top end ones are truly beautiful machines but this sort of money is unjustified and a bit silly. It’s just unfortunate that the road bicycle market seems to operate in a bubble that accepts this sort of pricing for a high end bike as’normal’.

The used bicycle market is very telling when determining the true value of high end road bikes. Nothing except maybe used underwear seems to have a worse residual value.
- Sean Doyle
  
  You could add on top of that DH mtb bikes. Top of the pile of around $10k and you get suspension both ends and disc brakes, more material, more parts, more development and complexity.
- Dave
  
  I’m guessing it’s that $pesh don’t actually want people to buy these bikes, they are just theoretically “available” to satisfy the UCI equipment rules so Mark Cavendish can ride one in races.
  
  I bet that the list price is only the start of the ways they’ll be making them hard for the average punter to get – I’m sure there will be further attempts at obfuscation such as long wait times and mysterious ‘allocations’ which all seem to be exhausted.
- Cam
  
  While I agree with you, you can pretty much make the same argument for any product. You can buy a Toyota Yaris for $15k and a Lamborghini Aventador for $900k, ostensibly they do the same thing.
  Development costs have to be some small factor (i.e. a wind tunnel doesn’t come cheap), but ultimately it is supply and demand and what someone is willing to pay for the ‘exclusivity’.
Ragtag

“Venge ViAS with CLX 64 wheels: 120 seconds (compared to Tarmac SL4 with lightweight alloy wheels) *Assumed low to moderate winds on flat course”
How much of this is wheels? I guess the major part since you are comparing them with alloy wheels and not carbon aero ones. As a journalist why don’t you ask the tough questions?
- jules
  
  carbon vs alloy not going to measurably affect aero performance.. shape – more so
  - Ragtag
    
    Yes I meant that since alloy cannot be made with such deep rims. Sorry for not being clear. Thanks.
    - jules
      
      don’t mention it – happy to nitpick anytime :)
Edward

It’s a sprinters bike. Do you think a top level sprinter will be riding on the front for 40 kms to get maximum benefit. They should release the time saved when a sprinter hits the wind with 200 m to the finish line? My guess it would be minimal. Nice work by the marketing department and nice bike too.
Aero Water Bottle

“(…) elimination of anything being left exposed”. But aren’t the watter bottles ruining the efforts? I think aero bottles would be much better.
Oscar Aguilera

The bike is just ugly, it can be fast and slippery all it wants, but those brakes that look fairings, the handlebars look like a front fairing of a formula 1 car and the humpback stem looks like it came back from the 80’s. I think the 80’s proved that aero isn’t everything, but here we are again. Like the original Cervelo S5 it’s dog ugly. The S5 was just revamped and has been much improved (but they did messed up the handle bars) let’s hope Specialized does the same with the Vias and fixes it. Btw, I have a Venge and it is beautiful.

First-look review: Specialized Venge ViAS

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