There was a new Vielo that caught my eye at Sea Otter. The paint caught my eye at first, but then I noticed how clean the frame was — no plugs, no drilling, and very hot pink. It was the boutique bike brand Vielos’ newest offering to the gravel world, the V+1 Race Edition and it looks very fast.
Vielos’ new V+1 Race Edition is a fully wireless 1X frameset. The frame itself is the Vielo V+1 Alto frameset (880g) and it passes on the drilling, instead routing everything through the company’s one-piece stem bar combo. There are no cables, no holes, and the bike is fully optimized for 1X drive trains. The result is a spotless, fast-looking machine with a very attractive paint job.
Vielo Founder Ian Hughes explained, “The V+1 Race Edition follows the same design ethos as the R+1 Alto road bike. If you’re going to build it with a wireless group set, why not make the frame exclusively wireless?”
The Vielo V+1 Race Edition comes in three different build options and all are exclusively SRAM; Red, Force, and Rival XPLR. The model on display boasted a SRAM Red XPLR group set, Hope RX4+ brake calipers, Zipp 303 Firecrest wheels, Vielo carbon thru-axles, 3d printed carbon saddle, and Vielo’s one-piece carbon stem combo bars.
What about that paint job?
Vielo chose an Acid Red (pink?) to Orange fade paint job to compliment the updated frame. The fade (if you look closely) is an explosion of tiny ‘V+1s’ transitioning between the different colors ways.
Vielos’ second-generation V+1 gravel bike may look similar to the previous model, but it’s gone through quite a few changes. The frame gets slick updates; curved, flat, wide seat stays now take up to 50mm tires but the bike maintains a similar ride to the previous generation.
The chainstay and bottom bracket are now symmetrical, optimizing the frame entirely for 1x while retaining the ability to run 700 x 50mm tires without a dropped drive-side chainstay. This bike won’t take a front derailleur, so don’t even think about it. The extra-wide down tube to bottom bracket shell shares the same 1X concept as the Vielo R+1 road bike.
“We wanted to keep all the original frame’s key features. Specifically, we’ve become known for the light, fast, and comfortable gravel bike ride quality. Plus, I wanted to position the new V+1 as a fast (race) performance gravel bike, rather than a fat tire drop bar mountain bike or load-lugging, bike-packing type bike.” Said Hughes
The updated headtube now has an hourglass shape, similar to most aero ones on that market, and uses a 1″ 1/8th- 1″ 1/2″ tapered headset. Vielos’ new V+1 boasts an updated fork that increases tire clearance while improving the fork stiffness.
Along with the new V+1 Race Edition gravel bike Vielo showed off some very cool, and very light accessories. Vielo is now offering its carbon fiber thru-axles for sale, as well as its single ring optimized chainrings. The chainrings work with the Vielo crankset or any eight bolt direct mount crankset.
Vielo V+1 geometry and sizes
Vielo V+1 pricing and build options
The Vielo V+1 Race Edition is available in three SRAM build options:
• SRAM Red eTap XPLR $13,000
• SRAM Force eTap XPLR $9,170
• SRAM Rival eTap XPLR $7,890
It’s available now for pre-order from 40 Vielo dealers worldwide. The first delivery is expected in early May 2022. For more information and to get on the waitlist go to Vielo. cc
