New Bike: '18 S-Works Venge Vias Disc.. and a few questions

[cbrshadow]

I’ve been looking to upgrade my 2012 S-Works Venge and then yesterday found a smoking deal on a brand new frame and wheels.

Frame: 2018 Specialized S-Works Venge Vias Disc
Wheels: Roval CLX 64 disc
Tires: Specialized Turbo Cotton



So need some advice on ordering a groupset for the new bike.

1) What are my options? I went over budget with the frame/wheels so I’d like to keep it as inexpensive as possible. Etap unfortunately is out of the question. What’s a good value option? I’m pretty sure this bike only allows for electronic groupsets. Ultegra di2 (disc) is about $1,500 on Merlin – is that the ‘best value’?
2) The bike comes with Speed Concept BB bearings setup for OSBB, which fits Specialized cranks. It would be cheaper to get Ultegra cranks on there I believe.. so I may do that. I’m afraid to add an adapter though since I don’t want any creaks in the BB in the future. What would you do?
3) I bought the frame from a coworker who races for Specialized. It’s brand new (never built up) but still technically ‘second hand’. I want to switch out the current Aerofly “flat” handlebars for the ones that rise 25mm. What’s the most efficient way to do this? Just buy from Specialized and sell the current set?

Any info would be a big help! I’m super excited about this new bike and can’t wait to get it built up.

[L3X]

1) you can run mechanical, check https://media.specialized.com/support/c ... 069863.pdf for reference
2) go with a proper bottom bracket and not some adapter etc. more parts = more chance of creaks
3) yes think it will be the best option. Also wouldn't go for second hand here as you basically never know what happened to them

[Noctiluxx]

I would go with Dura Ace disk mechanical (also $1500) for now while upgrading to Di2 at a later date.

[TLN]

I've seen several posts about etap for under $1500 recently.

[cbrshadow]

1) you can run mechanical, check https://media.specialized.com/support/c ... 069863.pdf for reference
2) go with a proper bottom bracket and not some adapter etc. more parts = more chance of creaks
3) yes think it will be the best option. Also wouldn't go for second hand here as you basically never know what happened to them

I appreciate the response! As for a proper bottom bracket, what would you recommend? Feels like a shame to get rid of the included Ceramic Speed bearings. I guess the other option is to keep the current OSBB BB and then buy a Specialized Crankset. Weirdly when I search for the Specialized crankset I don't see them available as a whole setup, only the arms.

[cbrshadow]

I've seen several posts about etap for under $1500 recently.

Wow, where at? If for Black Friday there's a deal for Etap under $1500 I'll buy it immediately. I imagine that doesn't include everything though (cranks, cassette, chain)

[cbrshadow]

It looks like mechanical is only possible if you run a "non Vias" setup on this bike. That means switching the stem to a standard stem, which I'd like to avoid. Looks like it's Udi2 or Etap if I can find a crazy deal on the etap setup

[lovemyway]

That is not true, you can run mechanical with the ViAS stem/bar combo, the description starts on page 23 of the aforementioned manual.

[cbrshadow]

That is not true, you can run mechanical with the ViAS stem/bar combo, the description starts on page 23 of the aforementioned manual.

I stand corrected - that's great news since it brings the price down quite a bit. Thanks for that

What's a good bottom bracket option? I read other threads where people are doing a "Praxis Conversion" on their OSBB setups. What does this mean? I assume it's a threaded BB that effectively makes your frame accept Shimano sized cranksets?

[anykarthik]

1) you can run mechanical, check https://media.specialized.com/support/c ... 069863.pdf for reference
2) go with a proper bottom bracket and not some adapter etc. more parts = more chance of creaks
3) yes think it will be the best option. Also wouldn't go for second hand here as you basically never know what happened to them

I appreciate the response! As for a proper bottom bracket, what would you recommend? Feels like a shame to get rid of the included Ceramic Speed bearings. I guess the other option is to keep the current OSBB BB and then buy a Specialized Crankset. Weirdly when I search for the Specialized crankset I don't see them available as a whole setup, only the arms.

I believe Specialized just uses Praxis chainrings with their crank arms on stock builds. You can get the chainrings quite easily

[dvq]

I own this frameset in this exact color

- You can run mechanical or electronic.
- You will likely need to buy some extra headset parts based on which you want to run, you will need to go through a dealer which needs to order them from warranty/service.
- You can only order the riser bars from warranty/service as well.
- Same goes for a different size stem.
- OSBB is BB30, any BB30 almost crankset will work -- you do not need to buy the Specialized crankset.
- An adapter will likely work fine without creaks, a number of the 2018 venge vias configurations come like this from factory.

Here's mine https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb4ru5vlSUO/

[dvq]

That is not true, you can run mechanical with the ViAS stem/bar combo, the description starts on page 23 of the aforementioned manual.

I stand corrected - that's great news since it brings the price down quite a bit. Thanks for that

What's a good bottom bracket option? I read other threads where people are doing a "Praxis Conversion" on their OSBB setups. What does this mean? I assume it's a threaded BB that effectively makes your frame accept Shimano sized cranksets?

Do NOT remove the OSBB. The OSBB that comes with the frame is totally fine. The frame is a carbon shell and then two alloy cups insert is EPOXIDED into the carbon shell with 3M DP240. Knocking them out is really difficult as the epoxy has a super high shear strength, they need to be scored and twisted out. Use a BB30 crankset or use the specialized bb30 to 24mm spindle adapters.

If you insist on removing the OSBB, here's what it takes: https://www.bbinfinite.com/blogs/news/s ... val-solved

[cbrshadow]

I own this frameset in this exact color

- You can run mechanical or electronic.
- You will likely need to buy some extra headset parts based on which you want to run, you will need to go through a dealer which needs to order them from warranty/service.
- You can only order the riser bars from warranty/service as well.
- Same goes for a different size stem.
- OSBB is BB30, any BB30 almost crankset will work -- you do not need to buy the Specialized crankset.
- An adapter will likely work fine without creaks, a number of the 2018 venge vias configurations come like this from factory.

Here's mine https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb4ru5vlSUO/

Wow that bike is beautiful. Really appreciate all the information!
I'm weighing the difference between mechanical vs electronic. I see a black friday deal on mechanical Ultegra for $659 for the whole groupset, but I wonder if that groupset would look strange on this bike.

I'm looking everywhere for a list of BB30 cranksets that would fit my bike without an adapter. Looks like the SRAM Red is a direct fit. What others should I be looking at?

[jlok]

What adaptor to use with Quarq DZero GxP?

[L3X]

I would either go for a Kogel or Cbear BB - I use quite a lot of them and have very little issues with them. The thing I like is that they have the correct width depending on the combination of BB/crank you choose, so no need for adapters, spacers etc. But again, thats just my 2 cents based on what I use, I'm sure there are plenty of other good options as well.