S-Works Venge 2019

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parajba
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:00 pm
Location: London, United Kingdom

by parajba

parajba wrote:
Wed Feb 13, 2019 10:37 pm
andreas wrote:
Wed Feb 13, 2019 9:52 pm
robeambro wrote:
Wed Feb 13, 2019 8:33 pm
andreas wrote:
Wed Feb 13, 2019 8:09 pm
Lol it's gonna be exiting to see if my 56cm Venge will fit my 184cm, 74cm saddle height and 8cm drop. I think I may have to order a really long stem.

If I bought it as a frameset, I think I would get the Tarmac SL6 with Aerofly II bars instead, a bit more comfortable, lighter and only a few watts difference.
People who have an objectively good reason to buy a Venge over the Tarmac are:
- people who love the sexy look of the Venge.

That's it. Maybe those who race crits and/or sprinters who just want a stiffer bike may have a good enough reason as well.

But with a ~10/15w difference at 45km/h (Venge vs Tarmac with flat handlebar, so with Aerofly one could think ~6/10w difference at 45km/h.. Which means virtually nothing at lower speeds) I think it is fair to say that all others who buy a Venge looking for performance gains over a Tarmac w/ same wheels and cockpit are being pretty naive.

Oh and don't get me wrong this is not against you, I may buy a Venge as well rather than a Tarmac, but I don't lie to myself thinking I'd go faster on it.. :mrgreen:
Idd, I seem to remember seeing some test results showing the difference to be even lower, around 4W, but I cant find them now?
My main reason for buying the Venge (pro) was that I got a fair pre-order deal on the complete bike and that I like the integrated look of the cables. A similarily specced Tarmac frameset build would have cost me around $1000 more, at which point it would be hard to justify not buying a Canyon with a higher level groupset for less money instead.
Buy the bike you like the look most. You will be faster on that bike. For me it was a Venge.

by Weenie


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parajba
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:00 pm
Location: London, United Kingdom

by parajba

parajba wrote:
Wed Feb 13, 2019 10:37 pm
parajba wrote:
Wed Feb 13, 2019 10:37 pm
andreas wrote:
Wed Feb 13, 2019 9:52 pm
robeambro wrote:
Wed Feb 13, 2019 8:33 pm


People who have an objectively good reason to buy a Venge over the Tarmac are:
- people who love the sexy look of the Venge.

That's it. Maybe those who race crits and/or sprinters who just want a stiffer bike may have a good enough reason as well.

But with a ~10/15w difference at 45km/h (Venge vs Tarmac with flat handlebar, so with Aerofly one could think ~6/10w difference at 45km/h.. Which means virtually nothing at lower speeds) I think it is fair to say that all others who buy a Venge looking for performance gains over a Tarmac w/ same wheels and cockpit are being pretty naive.

Oh and don't get me wrong this is not against you, I may buy a Venge as well rather than a Tarmac, but I don't lie to myself thinking I'd go faster on it.. :mrgreen:
Idd, I seem to remember seeing some test results showing the difference to be even lower, around 4W, but I cant find them now?
My main reason for buying the Venge (pro) was that I got a fair pre-order deal on the complete bike and that I like the integrated look of the cables. A similarily specced Tarmac frameset build would have cost me around $1000 more, at which point it would be hard to justify not buying a Canyon with a higher level groupset for less money instead.
Buy the bike you like the look most. You will be faster on that bike. For me it was a Venge.

pedalbasher
Posts: 52
Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:35 am

by pedalbasher

Thanks all. Fairly sure the 54 will be the one for me but I'll get in to the Specialized concept store and sit on a couple of bikes, and chat to the staff too.

I'm buying this primarily as a race bike. I'm light (58kg) and I race mostly on flat and rolling terrain, so I need every helping hand I can get. I also get my results by getting in breaks, so whilst the aero advantages might be small, they're important - it's often fine margins (seconds over the course of a 3 or 4 hr race) whether the move gets caught or not.

I'll probably also use it for gran fondos in the mountains as I target events like Marmotte, Maratona etc. But again I'll be riding these competitively and I don't mind compromising a small amount of comfort over a 5hr event for the advantages I'll be getting the rest of the time, even if they're pretty small.

From what I've read, the Venge is about as quick as they come, and the new model supposedly bridges much of the gap to the Tarmac in terms of handling, comfort and weight. I'm sure they're both incredible race bikes but for me, with my racing priorities, the Venge seems the right bike with not much compromise. Plus I have other non-aero bikes to ride for hammering out structured training in the rain or if I want to do an all-day epic or a cafe run with mates.

I'll be getting the frameset only at trade price and building it up with etap, Zipp 404s and Enve SES bars as I want them super narrow (the 40cm Enves come in at 35cm c-c with a big flare to the drops). Any issues with that plan in terms of compatability etc?

parajba
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:00 pm
Location: London, United Kingdom

by parajba

Picked up my new Venge to find this. Took it back to remove spacers (too many, they forgot to remove a few) and align the bottom one.

Can anybody explain what they have done? Why is the bottom spacer misaligned? Does not look right.
Attachments
1AB2D590-8345-4CF7-A720-5837DE2F0B34.jpeg

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12458
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

parajba wrote:
Fri Feb 15, 2019 7:27 am
Picked up my new Venge to find this. Took it back to remove spacers (too many, they forgot to remove a few) and align the bottom one.

Can anybody explain what they have done? Why is the bottom spacer misaligned? Does not look right.
https://www.amaincycling.com/specialize ... 11/p864852

Can you take a photo of the spacers from the back? I suspect the back corner is "unhooked."

parajba
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:00 pm
Location: London, United Kingdom

by parajba

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Fri Feb 15, 2019 7:51 am
parajba wrote:
Fri Feb 15, 2019 7:27 am
Picked up my new Venge to find this. Took it back to remove spacers (too many, they forgot to remove a few) and align the bottom one.

Can anybody explain what they have done? Why is the bottom spacer misaligned? Does not look right.
https://www.amaincycling.com/specialize ... 11/p864852

Can you take a photo of the spacers from the back? I suspect the back corner is "unhooked."
Unfortunately I don’t have the bike with me as it is with the LBS. How can a LBS get it so wrong? Makes me question the rest of the build.

L3X
Posts: 348
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:39 pm

by L3X

That's a bit overdramatic... if you look at the headset spacer set linked above, you'll see that on the shorter side of the spacers you can just click it together. That's it - takes 2 seconds literally.

RussellS
Posts: 916
Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:31 am

by RussellS

parajba wrote:
Fri Feb 15, 2019 9:57 am
How can a LBS get it so wrong? Makes me question the rest of the build.
You consider that an egregious, unforgiveable, incomprehensible error? Wow. Do you whip and beat your wife if your toast isn't perfectly toasted? Or bust her teeth out if there is a water spot on a glass? Looks to me like the spacer is less than one millimeter out of alignment.

parajba
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:00 pm
Location: London, United Kingdom

by parajba

RussellS wrote:
Fri Feb 15, 2019 6:16 pm
parajba wrote:
Fri Feb 15, 2019 9:57 am
How can a LBS get it so wrong? Makes me question the rest of the build.
You consider that an egregious, unforgiveable, incomprehensible error? Wow. Do you whip and beat your wife if your toast isn't perfectly toasted? Or bust her teeth out if there is a water spot on a glass? Looks to me like the spacer is less than one millimeter out of alignment.
I beg to disagree.

If it were a £300 Trek then you would be right.
On a £8000 Venge, aerodynamically optimised etc, 2 mm out of alignment is unforgivable given that it’s very visible and obvious that the mechanic did not pay attention.

parajba
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:00 pm
Location: London, United Kingdom

by parajba

Double post.

pedalbasher
Posts: 52
Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:35 am

by pedalbasher

Having posted a bunch of reasons above why I should pick the Venge over the Tarmac, I'm going round in circles with indecision. I think this question may help:

- In what circumstances / types of ride would you prefer to be riding the SL6 Tarmac over the new Venge?

robeambro
Posts: 1829
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:21 pm

by robeambro

pedalbasher wrote:
Fri Feb 15, 2019 10:08 pm
Having posted a bunch of reasons above why I should pick the Venge over the Tarmac, I'm going round in circles with indecision. I think this question may help:

- In what circumstances / types of ride would you prefer to be riding the SL6 Tarmac over the new Venge?
I had a dedicated thread about it, I'd suggest you read that. There were plenty of interesting points being made. It wasn't even meant to feature the Venge but eventually did: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=155256

Bottom line is, if you like the aesthetics of both, if you are to own one bike only, the Tarmac will most likely be the most sensible purchase, being somewhat more comfy and versatile. But a sensible choice may not be the one that makes you the happiest.

pedalbasher
Posts: 52
Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:35 am

by pedalbasher

Ignore - duplicate post now deleted
Last edited by pedalbasher on Sat Feb 16, 2019 8:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

pedalbasher
Posts: 52
Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:35 am

by pedalbasher

Cheers. Some good stuff on that thread.

If I go for a tarmac and run etap with discs, is there a way to have the front end completely free of cables?

I've seen a couple of people have opted for the venge stem on their tarmac; any particular reason for this? I'll be running a set of enve ses bars and would like to keep the front end as clean as possible - any stem suggestions if i choose the tarmac, please? I'm not paying 300 quid for the matching enve stem!

by Weenie


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parajba
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:00 pm
Location: London, United Kingdom

by parajba

It’s impossible to have the front end completely free of cables on the Tarmac due to the brakes. The cables are external.
That’s one of the reasons why I went Venge, a tidy and future proof cockpit. I firmly believe that in a few years all bikes will have internal cables, even the ‘climbing’ bikes.
Having ridden my new Venge for a week I can certainly say that it’s a very lively frame, not harsh at all, very reactive out of the saddle, and climbs certainly well (rolling hills). Does not feel like an aero bike at all in a good way (I am coming from a Cervelo S2).

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