2016 Venge

[Butcher]

I'm certain with the Tour, Chris is a bit overloaded right now.

[ghisallo2003]

We are patient.

What would someone from R&D be doing actually during the tour rather than leading up to it?

[Butcher]

Drinking like all the other big wigs.

[Philbar72]

Nice to see both marquee venge riders ditched their Venges when wet yesterday. braking issues apparently.... cav is still on his last one. could also be fit issues.

[Calnago]

Regarding braking issues... I'm not at all surprised.
The brakes are mechanical and still use cables. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to look at the new Venge (or any bike with a convoluted internal routing system) to see that the path those cables need to follow is anything but smooth with minimal, and gradual bends. Friction in the cables in all of those bends occurs, and that translates directly to how the brakes will feel at the lever. I have no idea how the actual new calipers work but even if they are the silkiest smooth calipers available, the cables still have to get to them in order to activate them. I would bet that, if Cav and others are complaining about the brakes it's a case of them just not feeling as smooth as what they are used to due to at least in part, the series of twists and turns the cables have to go through before they get to the calipers themselves.

If you can do something simply, it's simply better.

[goodboyr]

And given that the s5 achieves equal or better numbers with regular brakes and routing you have to wonder.......

[jeffy]

you know what it's like, you get a brand new bike - have a few rides - and love it.

Then it rains for the next few days so you use your old bike.

I am sure that's what has happened with Cav and Sagan.

[spud]

as someone noted a few pages back, the brake design is self advancing/energizing. Exactly what you don't want in slick conditions - goes from no brakes to way too much brakes without predictability.

[chrisyu]

Bottom line, both Cav and Sagan are happy with the new bike but the reality is we got race ready bikes to them too late for them to feel immediately comfortable replacing their old bikes at a big race like the TdF - a misstep on our part due to pushing timing on getting everything done. Stuff as simple as a different drop shape all the way to different cornering and sprinting feel, combined with the high stress of the TdF means they have been (and will be) going back and forth in an attempt to adapt to the new bike as seamlessly as possible.

For example, Cav's primary bike had/has some pre-production prototype parts on it - we were able to swap out that stuff on his spare bike right at the TdF start but he wasn't comfortable immediately racing on it not having done any long rides on it yet, which is understandable. So we're in a bit of a transition as we get their bikes fully up to production spec. It just happens that we're making that transition during the biggest race of the year. Not ideal, but I personally think it speaks to the performance of the bike that the teams and riders are even willing to entertain doing it (typically, this would be a huge no go).

Re: Cav and brakes, not sure what exactly was said, but I'm willing to bet it was referring to an initial build of his first bike which again had pre-production parts as well as a couple of other build issues. I believe this has all been addressed on his 2nd bike and his comments were likely in reference to the specific build he was riding then. We're committed to having everything absolutely dialed for our riders, pro and otherwise.

[uraqt]

All that makes sence Chris, thanks for following up and posting during your busiest time of the year... and good luck @ the big race : ) !!!!

C

[ghisallo2003]

Yes. Thanks for taking the time out.

Good luck to Cav. Something is not quite firing right, but lets hope he is riding himself in.

[Philbar72]

Great response Chris.

[Dodger747]

Of course, you could just speak normally and say "Bikes are very personal and some riders like them, others do not".

Instead you get some political/newspeak nonsense trying to justify why a star rider has gone back to the older bike. Or maybe that's just the cynic in me...?

[goodboyr]

Well, they are back on the new bikes today. So, the cynic in me says that they just got a hotel room lecture from the sponsor.......................

[djconnel]

Good! Cav will win the stage today and all the fatty masters riders will be swarming their Specialized dealers again, credit cards in hand.