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TECH NEWS

Exclusive First Look: Specialized Venge ViAS Disc

Top-end aero road bike gets disc brakes for 2017. Detailed pics!

Specialized is about to launch the Venge ViAS Disc, a disc brake version of its top-level aero road bike, and here it is. 

The world has known about the new bike for a few months because Etixx-Quick-Step rider Fernando Gaviria stuck a pic on social media back in March, and then we spotted that it had been added to the UCI’s List of Approved Models of Frames and Forks in May.

Specialized Venge ViAS Disc Etap - downtube.jpg

This is the first time we’ve had the chance to have a proper look, though. 

Check out the green Specialized Venge that Peter Sagan rode on the final stage of the Tour de France. 

Specialized Venge ViAS Disc Etap - bottom bracket.jpg

Specialized launched the rim brake version of the Venge ViAS at the beginning of the 2015 Tour de France. It was the first bike that Specialized developed in its own wind tunnel, which it calls the Win Tunnel. 

Specialized Venge ViAS Disc Etap - seatpost clamp.jpg

The rim brake Venge ViAS doesn’t have a whole lot in common with the previous Venge, with a completely new front end and a smaller rear triangle, the result of every “tube shape and trailing edge” having been scrutinised to make the new bike faster, according to Specialized.

Specialized Venge ViAS Disc Etap - downtube 2.jpg

If you want to know more about the rim brake Specialized Venge ViAS, check out our story from last year. 

Specialized Venge ViAS Disc Etap - seatstays.jpg

The disc brake version seems to follow the rim brake model in terms of geometry and frame shape, the exceptions being directly related to the brakes. 

Specialized Venge ViAS Disc Etap - rear disc.jpg

One of the key features of the rim brake Venge ViAS is that its brakes are integrated into the frame and fork. Specialized calls them Zero-Drag Brakes because, it claims, they create a “near-zero drag coefficient”. 

Specialized Venge ViAS Disc Etap - front hub.jpg

The new version features flat mount disc brakes and both the frame and the fork are thru axle. You need to use a hex key to secure the wheels because that’s a more aerodynamically efficient option than using quick releases. 

Specialized Venge ViAS Disc Etap - rear mech.jpg

The cable routing is fully internal, as it is on the rim brake option. The version we’ve seen was fitted with a SRAM Red eTap wireless groupset so there are no gear cables anyway. The routing is still there for gear cables; Specialized isn’t doing an eTap-only Venge ViAS frameset as it is with the Tarmac road bike (there will still, of course, also be versions of the Tarmac with routing for gear cables and wires).

Specialized Venge ViAS Disc Etap - front mech.jpg

The new Specialized S-Works Aerofly handlebar with tops shaped to minimise drag was fitted to many riders’ bikes in the Tour de France, although not in this riser version (not that we saw anyway).

The derailleurs in these pics are fitted with red blanks to keep them protected while the batteries have been removed for charging, by the way.

Specialized Venge ViAS Disc Etap - bars.jpg

There’s a Garmin computer mount integrated with the stem.

Specialized Venge ViAS Disc Etap - chainset.jpg

These Specialized S-Works cranks (just the cranks) will be available aftermarket at £400, though not with the Quarq power meter. 

Specialized Venge ViAS Disc Etap - saddle.jpg

Specialized’s new S-Works Power saddle is shorter and wider than most, the idea being to provide more comfort when you’re down on the drops. We have one of these in for review so we’ll be able to let you know how it performs shortly.

Specialized Venge ViAS Disc Etap - cage and tool.jpg

That’s a Specialized SWAT toolkit integrated with the bottle cage. 

We don’t yet have a price on this Specialized Venge ViAS Disc built up with SRAM Red eTap but we can tell you that the brand is offering quite a range of bikes equipped with this groupset for 2017. There’s a Tarmac priced at £4,500, for example.

Stay tuned to road.cc for more details on the range as soon as we get them.

www.specialized.com

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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14 comments

Avatar
uscric | 5 years ago
0 likes

I know it's an old article, but those humpback levers are ugly and I'm sure not the most aero.

Avatar
dreamlx10 | 7 years ago
0 likes

Why not just put a suspension fork on it as well. Road biked do not "need" disc brakes.

Avatar
barbarus replied to dreamlx10 | 7 years ago
2 likes
dreamlx10 wrote:

Why not just put a suspension fork on it as well. Road biked do not "need" disc brakes.

They don't need wireless gears either for that matter but they look bloody lovely

Avatar
japes replied to dreamlx10 | 7 years ago
7 likes

dreamlx10 wrote:

Why not just put a suspension fork on it as well. Road biked do not "need" disc brakes.

 

road bikes do not "need" gears or clipless pedals or pneumatic tyres. yawn. 

when will people stop with the same boring comments? this has been done to death.

Avatar
Thelma Viaduct replied to dreamlx10 | 7 years ago
2 likes

dreamlx10 wrote:

Why not just put a suspension fork on it as well. Road biked do not "need" disc brakes.

No, but they're better at stopping consistently in all weathers with them.

Avatar
themuffle | 7 years ago
1 like

Do those mechs look different?

Are they missing the batteries or have they shrunk from when I saw them last? 

I cant believe Shimano havent gone the wireless route, to me it makes sense in so many ways...and looks the business as well.

Avatar
David Arthur @d... replied to themuffle | 7 years ago
1 like

njmoffat wrote:

Do those mechs look different?

Are they missing the batteries or have they shrunk from when I saw them last? 

I cant believe Shimano havent gone the wireless route, to me it makes sense in so many ways...and looks the business as well.

 

They've just removed the batteries and fitted the red blanks that can be used when washing the bike etc to protect the contacts.

I asked someone at Shimano about them going wireless and he made the point that until they're confident they can provide the same shift speed as its wired groupset, they won't be going wireless - SRAM's eTap shift speed is slightly slower than Di2. I'm sure this is something that can be solved though

Avatar
Rapha Nadal | 7 years ago
0 likes

Is the etap disc system available to buy on the open market?

Avatar
Broady. | 7 years ago
0 likes

To be fair it looks better with discs than the weird aero calipers. Can't get over the stem / bar combo though, looks horrific when used with spacers.

Avatar
Broady. | 7 years ago
0 likes

Ugly as sin. Bet it's rapid though.

Avatar
japes replied to Broady. | 7 years ago
0 likes

Broady. wrote:

Ugly as sin. Bet it's rapid though.

 

I don't think it looks too bad. Apart from those bars, eek. 

Avatar
TypeVertigo replied to japes | 7 years ago
0 likes

japes wrote:

Broady. wrote:

Ugly as sin. Bet it's rapid though.

 

I don't think it looks too bad. Apart from those bars, eek. 

Indeed. Didn't the Spez Sequoia have these strange "rider drop bars" too?

Avatar
imajez replied to japes | 7 years ago
0 likes

japes wrote:

Broady. wrote:

Ugly as sin. Bet it's rapid though.

I don't think it looks too bad. Apart from those bars, eek. 

I actually don't mind them. Thought it looked a bit odd at first, but then decided they were quite interesting.

Avatar
japes | 7 years ago
1 like

can't believe you put a dent in the downtube already!  13

 

hope they don't notice when you give it back 

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