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TECH NEWS

Sneak peek: Vielo V+1 Road Plus bike

New British brand's first model is designed for everything from tarmac to gravel and off-road tracks

This is the new V+1 Road Plus bike from Vielo, a UK brand that says it is “on a mission to create a small range of high performance bikes in an honest way, for British customers, to cope with British riding conditions”. The V+1 is designed for everything from tarmac to gravel and off-road tracks.

Vielo is the brainchild of Ian and Trevor Hughes, a father and son team that also distributes Lightweight wheels in the UK. We know Ian and Trevor pretty well here at road.cc but we’ve yet to see the V+1 for ourselves so all of this info comes from them.

Vielo V+1 - 9.jpg

The V+1 centres on a unidirectional carbon frame with a claimed weight of just 890g, and a 400g carbon fork. The frame features a tapered head tube (1 1/8in upper bearing, 1 1/2in lower bearing) and is designed exclusively for a 1x groupset (with a single chainring matched to a wide-ranging cassette) and disc brakes. Those disc brakes are post mount rather than flat mount in order to allow the use of larger rotors. Vielo uses a 140mm disc at the rear but a 170mm disc up front for the extra stopping power required if you're riding the bike fully laden. 

Both the frame and fork use Token's A2T thru axle system that requires just two turns to secure a wheel.

Vielo V+1 - 7.jpg

The flat and wide chainstays and seatstays are designed to promote give at the rear of the frame for comfort over rough roads.

Vielo V+1 - 4.jpg

The V+1 can take tyres up to 42mm wide on 700c wheels, or up to 2.1in if you go for smaller diameter 650b wheels. You also get UK-specific internal cable routing (most of the rest of the world operates the front brake with the left hand lever), discreet mudguard mounts and rack mounts. 

Vielo V+1 - 3.jpg

Vielo reports that optional upgrades include Lightweight Wegweiser wheels and a RockShox Reverb dropper seatpost that’s operated by the left hand shift paddle rather than via a separate remote lever (with no front derailleur there’s no need for left hand shifter).

Vielo V+1 - 6.jpg

The V+1 frameset is priced at £2,999 with complete bikes – fitted with Vielo’s own carbon seatpost and handlebars and assembled in the UK – starting at £5,299.

The V+1 will be available from February in a small number of independent bike dealers where you’ll also be able to organise a test ride.

Vielo V+1 - 8.jpg

Those are all the details we have right now although Vielo says that a range of road bikes, also 1x specific and designed for UK customers and conditions, are currently in development with the aim of July delivery.

www.vielo.cc

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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15 comments

Avatar
emil | 6 years ago
0 likes

Curiously small BB-drop for an unnecissarily tall bike and unstable(?) ride, old brake mount standard and a creaky press fit bottom bracket on top of that?

Pretty blue paint, but I think I'll pass.

 

Avatar
mike the bike | 6 years ago
1 like

 

I think they are very brave to try selling new bikes in today's overcrowded marketplace, perhaps even foolhardy at these prices.  But all the best to them.

The colour matches almost exactly my lady's leccy bike, which draws admiring glances everywhere we go.  We are suckers for a machine that somehow just looks right, so maybe they are in with a chance after all.

Avatar
Rapha Nadal | 6 years ago
0 likes

Are these UK made frames?

Avatar
themuffle replied to Rapha Nadal | 6 years ago
1 like

Rapha Nadal wrote:

Are these UK made frames?

 

You would have thought so given the price.

Avatar
Carlton Reid replied to Rapha Nadal | 6 years ago
0 likes

Rapha Nadal wrote:

Are these UK made frames?

 

Styled in Italy, designed in Germany, made in Asia, assembled in Gateshead.

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to Carlton Reid | 6 years ago
1 like

Carlton Reid wrote:

Rapha Nadal wrote:

Are these UK made frames?

 

Styled in Italy, designed in Germany, made in Asia, assembled in Gateshead.

perfect British bike. Until after Brexit, when anything that wasn't already here during the lifetime of the Venerable Bede must leave immediately.

Avatar
schlepcycling | 6 years ago
3 likes

How about a similiarly specced Mason Bokeh https://masoncycles.cc/products/bokeh-force-1x and keep £2k+ in your pocket.

Avatar
aegisdesign | 6 years ago
0 likes

Ian Hughes as in ex-Scott UK?

Pretty looking bike even if pricey. Always nice to see bikes that aren't black/grey.

 

Avatar
Mat Brett replied to aegisdesign | 6 years ago
0 likes

aegisdesign wrote:

Ian Hughes as in ex-Scott UK?

Pretty looking bike even if pricey. Always nice to see bikes that aren't black/grey.

 

Yes. Ian is bringing the bike in to see us at road.cc next Friday, so we should have some more details then.

Avatar
Carlton Reid replied to aegisdesign | 6 years ago
0 likes

aegisdesign wrote:

Ian Hughes as in ex-Scott UK?

 

 

Marin rep before starting Scott UK. Then went on to build the Storck name in the UK.

This history and the details on the Vielo launch are in this 45-minute podcast interview with Ian and Trevor: "How to launch a high-end road bike brand".

 

 

Avatar
belabatnom | 6 years ago
2 likes

I used to be mental about post mount vs flat mount, but somewhere along the line I read a very well thought out response from one of the ex genesis Dominics (the Mason or Fairlight) talking about why it's actually quite difficult to make a small batch flat mount bike. 

It is annoying when the rest of the drop bar world seems to have moved on to flat mount though. 

Avatar
Alb replied to belabatnom | 6 years ago
2 likes

belabatnom wrote:

I used to be mental about post mount vs flat mount, but somewhere along the line I read a very well thought out response from one of the ex genesis Dominics (the Mason or Fairlight) talking about why it's actually quite difficult to make a small batch flat mount bike. 

It is annoying when the rest of the drop bar world seems to have moved on to flat mount though. 

In the context of steel maybe. Flat mount is optimized for carbon - no excuses here.

Avatar
themuffle | 6 years ago
5 likes

I really want to buy British but it’s hard when this costs so much. I mean you can buy a nice new motorcycle for not much more than the frame alone. Plus no flat mount? We all know this is standard now... Also, what’s with the product photography? These images are so dark it’s impossible to see any detail. Nice colour though, much better than awful garish decals...

Avatar
Christopher TR1 | 6 years ago
8 likes

It was looking really good (despite the post mount brakes) until I got to the pricing.

Avatar
alexn | 6 years ago
0 likes

Ignoring that I know nothing about the quality of the product, but from Spec wise and even better having rack and mudguard  mounts, this looks fantastic.

 

Most bikes that have these option look like dog sh-t.  So Kudos on them making a winterbike or All Season bike actually like something one wants to own!

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