Pro Bike: GCN Checks out Peter Sagan’s new Specialized S-Works Venge

Can’t wait to see that wireless electronic FSA groupset on these Tinkoff and the QuickStep bikes. I wonder of Cannondale will use it as well.

Trading Super six evo for s-w venge =yikes!

I’ve ridden both extensively, before you ask….

Money Talks. is sounds like this: ssssssssssssssssssssss

Every time I see that name “Venge” – I think this;

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lv6sikamLS1qa0q13o1_500.jpg

The venge is a solid ride, I am stoked to see peter kill it this year. With proper teammates to push him and a super stiff/aero bike as the venge, he will destroy the peloton this year.

The venge isn’t supposed to be compliant, it’s a aero shredding race bike. You want a Cadillac, buy a Roubaix.

The Domane is definitely stiff enough at the BB. However, I feel an ever so slight bob from the decoupler(surely loses energy…look at YOUTUBE for people riding the Domane on a trainer). I’m thinking a lot of the tour riders don’t notice because they’re all under 160lbs with the exception of Rast( and Cancellara. Its worth it if you’re riding crappy roads all the time but I wouldn’t want to ride it as a bigger rider if you’ve got great streets, if you’re light, you probably will only get the pros and none of the cons.

Heard it will be another year before the FSA group is ready but they had to pay for a two year contact. FSA is buying Shimano groups for this year to fulfill the contract. Not sure if it is true though.

Matt and Rob,

The venge is a very harsh ride. They are very stiff and are hammer machines, but unless the road is perfect pavement, it is a shit bike to ride. The cannondale rides nicer, but they are very, very prone to cracks and damages at the top tube/head tube junction. I have seen quite a few break. They sacrificed a lot of strength to get to the weights they wanted.

The madone and bmc slr01 are two of the best riding bikes on the the market. The BMC could be the nicest riding carbon bike ever.

None of those bikes compares to a nice custom titanium whip!

FSA elec group will be out by TDF 😉

Kyle, plenty of people don’t like the bike which is why tons of very fast pros ride the Tarmac instead and plenty of pros are riding the aero Cervelo S3 and S5, even if they aren’t actually sprinters. A sprinter’s bike doesn’t have to ride like crap, a Giant Propel has a decent ride, Felt AR, Cervelo S5, the new Fuji(only one I’ve named that I haven’t ridden) is supposed to ride great. This bike is old tech(even if its still great in the tunnel). Everyone has pretty aero bikes now but they’ve been making them have a nicer ride on top of being aero and stiff…this is only aero and not even the most aero but is the worst riding

***Sagan is a guy that was winning on an obviously non-aero frame but a frame with a pretty good ride quality for being so stiff. This bike is less stiff and rides way worse than a SuperSix

So… Peter Sagan doesn’t know that he’s riding the wrong bike?

Correct pilf. No idea how much Cannondale was paying but Specialized could lose the complete net worth of Cannondale and be fine.

Man, what a bunch of ninnies! The Venge rides great… I have one and have ridden many other aero bikes. The main reason I picked the Venge over some other brands is because it could handle 25mm tires for better compliance in training. Put 25’s and air them up to 80 PSI and you are golden. Switch them with race wheels, and then you are set to race. Voila.

Read the science. All this talk of frame “stiffness” is equivalent to 4 PSI of tire pressure.

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Tech/Thoughts_on_science_perception_4571.html

Venge is 1st generation aero bike, and is old tech; compared to 2nd generation aero bikes it feels very crude. Surely Specialized are due to update the design for 2016?

I found the Venge uncomfortable to ride (I owned a Tarmac SL4 at the time) with poor steering precision (floppy), like a bike of 2 halves with an overly stiff rear causing wheel to skip unless on smoothest roads, and a floppy front end causing vague steering when changing lane or entering fast corners. Even when sprinting the frame does not feel as one, but like the head tube is trying to twist under power.

The Tarmac felt like a much more balanced ride in terms of power transfer, comfort and steering / handling. The SL4 was a big improvement on the SL2 I had before, which was just a bruiser on rough ground, and heavy too.

However, the Super Six Evo was another level compared to the SL4. I’ve also spent time on the new Tarmac (what would have been SL5) and its a subtle improvement compared to the SL4, but still not close to the Super Six Evo.

I’ve also ridden the Giant Propel which was incredibly impressive in terms of being a very balanced ride, with great handling, that did not beat the cr*p out of the rider, and a fast bike too.

I currently own a Giant Defy Advanced Pro (2015) which is a stunning ride, truly a race-like bike in an endurance package. Would be interested to try the Synapse Disc for comparison.