after u ride a bike with the decoupler u just don't want to ride anything else; SOOOOOOO comfortable!

I have a domane and I would to try the new madone with the decoupler :)

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

If my memory serves me correctly, in The Tour, both (maybe just Sagan) at one point rode the old venge for a stage. I bet Specialized told them New Venge Vias or Tarmac only cause "technically" you could make a case for riding the Tarmac over the Venge but riding the old venge over the new is a downright marketing killer.

Even then, for the 1 or 2 stages they did bike switches toward the end of the race onto the ViAS. Eventually they stopped even doing that.

I had a "pleasure" to ride Vias... Lets put it this way, I'm 180lb and I felt it was a bloody boat anchor. This things is as heavy as my CX bike, not even close to my Madone 7 or even quite heavy Dogma F8. I can't imagine how 150-160lb rider would even pick this bike instead of SL4 or lighter selection.

Few other issues:

1. You can't turn handlebars all the way when placing this car at the back of your car on the back seat with front wheel out, I do not even want to think what will brake during first crash due to that fact.
2. New impressively looking headset rubs gains frame. Check every Vias; it will have small marks on the frame from rubbing as headset sticks to the back and vibrations/flex causes it to rub.
3. Switching wheels with different size rims will be a pain.

It is very sexy looking bike, to many proprietary parts, to many custom crap making this bike more of a showoff bike than fast racer. Specialized doesn't want to share profit with group set manufactures and trying to Frankenstein their own "inventions" stupid customers will pay for it.

Guys are not racing this bike not because they do not like it, if the contract says you race that bike, you do it, no matter what, then you throw it same as Wiggins did with his new Dogma with suspension that caused him to crash two times, then he switched to F8.

This bike is not ideal for racing, where people crash, and quick fix and go is crucial. Vias is fast, it will save you 50 seconds or what ever marketing guys say, but lets say you crash and it cuts the cables and you need to wait for new bike, and wait cost you 5 minutes, who cares about aero in that situation?

Good bike has to have it all: light, aero, easily serviceable, comfortable, stable, crash proof.

lol wut?

Don't even know where to start. Well, maybe I'll start with the crash-proof bike idea. LOL, keep looking for that bike and let me know when you find it.

As one the "stupid" customers who bought this bike, I have been riding and racing the shit out of it and loving it.

A bit of extra weight. Yeah, whatever. Less than 1kg over my Tarmac.

Chris Farley Voice on.... Did you remember that one time at the 2008 edition of Paris Roubaix when Magnus Bagsted's zipps exploded during Paris-Roubiax? That was AWESOME!!!! \ Chris Farley Voice

I wouldn't ride the Tarmac 98% of the time because nobody in the US races long enough to worry about minor differences in ride quality and outside of a handful of climbing races there is no reason to worry about weight over aero. Saving 3-10% in drag riding a Venge is too great an advantage.

ProTour guys live in a different world and what they ride shouldn't have any bearing on a mere mortal's bike choice. Unless you have to put your foot on the ground for braking, the Vias Venge should be what anyone on this forum should be road racing.

Not sure what you're talking about there. Plenty of classics-length races in the U.S.

Quote:

of a handful of climbing races

Not sure what you're talking about there either. At least here in California almost every significant road race is a "climbing race."




Ha! [almost] Anyone on this forum who races a Vias Venge does so for the same reason they commute in a Porsche Cayenne. Because they can, and it's cool.

When the Vias first came out I thought it was fug. Then I saw one in person at a local shop and was really impressed. It's a slick looking machine. Still haven't test ridden one yet because I know I wouldn't buy one because for that kind of coin I'd be more inclined to buy something different. But this post isn't about me. It's about the backlash. So here are my thoughts on that.

As cool as the bike is, it's complicated. It's aero beyond belief, so that's to be expected. This isn't based on opinion or conjecture, but by what Spec themselves have said i.e. needing someone well-trained to build it. Spec are reacting to this info in social media. Just take a look at the Vias posts on Instagram and you'll see the subtle hints of marketing at work. Along with the picture of a bike is the caption explaining that they built three of them in one day. And it was built up in no time. Those were written that way for a reason and the reason is to make it not sound like a PITA.

The pros don't seem to like it. Cav for the brakes and Segan for who knows what. The Vias is an aero machine with no compromise. And that's probably where the problem lies. It is a set system. If you don't it the way it is, you're screwed. Almost every other aero bike lets you have some kind of option. I wonder if part of this is in the handlebars alone. The S3/S5, the Aeroad, even the new Foil let the rider choose what kind of handlebar they want. And when you see the pros riding these bikes you're not going to see many riding with the aero bar options. I don't spend a lot of time on the tops of the bars, but I don't regularly go out on daily 5 hour rides. The pros do. Aero matters, but comfort does too.

Crits and tris are one thing, but grand tours and whathaveyou are a different animal. What's good for us might not be good for the pros. Sadly, what's good for the pros sells a lot of bikes.

But I'm going to go out an a limb and suggest that the superstitious Sagan takes a bike much closer to its performance limits than you ever have. Despite your "technical" crit experience. :)

So I picked up my Venge Vias yesterday and rode it this morning. By way of background I am in the 55-59 age group, i do participate in Sportif events but do not race bikes competitively. I do enter Tri's up to 70.3 distance. In addition to my new Venge i have a Cannondale Evo Blank Inc and a Shiv.

So the ride today was 41klm, undulating on a smooth surface, averaged 21.5 mph (so i am not quick). In comparison to my Evo (5.3kg) the Venge is heavier (7.7kg). Having said that it the Venge was faster today than my EVO is on that trip, i have ridden this road maybe 100 times.

I found the Venge to be very smooth and compliant. The Roval wheels roll really fast. The power saddle i hardly noticed which is a good sign. I had a Retul fit beforehand and changed the stem and seat post (zero offset). Black saddle and bar tape.

I am extremely happy with the performance of the bike, it is really fast, especially when riding above 25 mph. Braking felt good, similar to the Durace 9000 on my Evo. Not as good at the Magura RT8 brakes on my Shiv.

Its not the bike for climbing steep mountains, my Evo will do that for me. It performs similar to the Shiv, however without the bars, so i can ride with the bike pack and take my turn on the front more easily. It is a bike for certain roads and conditions and in those instances it does its job brilliantly.

Hope this helps clarify a few things

Bikes aren't just ridden in races. Lots of training hours that need to be taken into account as well.

To start off, I'm not sure if "backlash" means what the OP thinks it does.

What race in US is 6.5-7 hours? I've long disagreed with ST's *experts* about ride quality but I concur with Mike that it's a big factor for WorldTour guys. They're riding more in some weeks than most of the ST audience does in a month, so different perspective.

I saw the Domane a few weeks ago and have to say was intrigued. We're I to be looking at any bike, that would at top of list.

Also agree with you 100% about buyer. That's who Specialized is making it for. I first saw it at elite nats in June. Way too much bike for me but certainly tips the "looks badass" meter.

Dude I'm badass too!

Honestly it rides like a normal bike, not dissimilar to the Tarmac. It's not like riding a TT bike.

"What race in US is 6.5-7 hours?"
The only one I can think of is LOTOJA
;)

But the treks suck worse... Those teams were forced to ride the new aero Trek bike. The reason why the Venge vias disappeared at the tour for a couple days was due to the UCI complaining the bike was not within spec just like what happened in 2011(or 2012) when specialized rolled out their new shiv at the tour and were told they cant use it

So with Garmin mount, Garmin 520, water bottle and pedals ie ready to ride it comes in at 7.79 kg or 17.174 lbs. so not too bad really.

It's cause everyone is waiting for the faster "Turbo" version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gmZ_wdI_k4

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'It never gets easier, you just get crazier.'

That's frame drag, not overall drag. You'd save more with a decent shrug.

And I suppose you have a source to confirm this? They were too scared to use it in the mountains or the rain.

LOL....the Shiv that was introduced in 2011 was a tri-specific bike. It was designed w/o any consideration to UCI rules. Further, it was introduced at Kona, which is October. The Tour is in July. So in 2011, the bike had not been introduced. By the '12 Tour, everyone knew it was UCI illegal. The idea that any team tried to use the Shiv in the Tour is laughable.

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

I wish I hadn't watched that. One of the worst things i've ever laid eyes on as a marketer!

I think that you are talking about different Shiv models

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