The Specialized Venge ViAS Disc has become more and more prominent as the season has progressed. First, Tom Boonen grabbed a maiden race win for a disc-equipped bike at the Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina right at the beginning of the year, and since then we’ve seen other top sprinters like Marcel Kittel compete on it. And who could forget Peter Sagan’s stunning gold number from the Tour Down Under?
Of course, not all the response has been favourable, with plenty of anti-disc scepticism out there as well. Owain Doull of Team Sky even going so far as to call the technology ‘lethal’ after a touching of wheels with Kittel in the Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, away from racing, the ViAS Disc is winning admirers all over the place. We’ve been sending out review bikes to a few of the top publications in the last few months and we’re delighted to see some reviews finally rolling in. On the whole, we think the bike is being received really well by both experts and regular riders alike.
Bike Radar described the ViAS Disc as a “tech-laden speed machine”, going on to heap praise upon its aero qualities above all else.
The Venge family is of course built around being aero and fast, so it’s no surprise that this is the standout feature Bike Radar picked up on. They also loved the power efficiency of the bike – not only can it go quick, but it’ll retain that momentum too:
“Get into the sweet spot of 20mph-plus and it comes alive, holding speed with the tenacity of a pit bull.”
The version Bike Radar tested was our top-of-the-line S-Works model, which means it comes with a Quarq power meter crank as standard. If you’ve trained with power before then you’ll know the massive benefits it can have.
Typically one has to sacrifice some comfort for a bike that is properly streamlined, with an aggressive position trumping more relaxed geometries in the pursuit of pure speed gains. While nobody is saying for a second that the ViAS Disc can give you the same ride quality as a dedicated sportive bike, Bike Radar did praise the surprisingly forgiving characteristics:
“The ViAS is smooth and capable, if not quite up there with the IsoSpeed-equipped Madone at the back end. But the front, with its Hover bar, is every bit as good, with stiffer handling.”
Cycling Weekly also got their hands on one of the test bikes, and they too found much to enjoy about it when riding at speed:
“To get the best out of the bike you need to really push it. It wasn’t until I got it past 25mph that I started to feel the bike truly come alive.”
James Spender of Cyclist, meanwhile, was on over by the surprising utility of the Venge ViAS Disc:
“I’m more of a bicycle traditionalist, so there’s always a part of me that wonders if any of that’s relevant to normal workaday riders. The Venge changed all that. In fact, and I don’t use these words lightly, I think it has actually convinced me that I want an aero bike. Strike that. I need an aero bike. So long as it’s this good.”
In his review Spender went on to say, “The initial acceleration, and every acceleration thereafter, was staggeringly quick.” So it’s fair to assume he enjoyed riding it!
The full range of Venge ViAS bikes are available, both with discs and without, through Specialized Concept Stores. We even have a small number of limited edition Bora-Hansgrohe
