Specialized S-Works Venge ViAS Di2 - Wind Tunnel Tested

BikeRadar's US Editor-in-Chief Ben Delaney headed out to California to see, with the help of science, just how fast the new Specialized S-Works Venge ViAS Di2 bike really is.

[anthonygarvey]

A great piece. I am glad McLaren's partnership with Specialized has been more successful than its partnership with Honda!

[BaconBaconBaconable]

Surely if you're testing how more aero a BIKE is then the only alteration should of been between the venge and tarmac not also the clothing and helmets which have been shown to make a massive impact on aerodynamics. Also why didnt they test between old and new venge? Is the difference between the two bikes really that minimal that they didnt want show those numbers

[CrankCyclingChannel]

Lets defunk this for a moment with Specialized's own data, from The Win Tunnel Videos show the following saved over a 40km time trial for the upgrades listed:

Aero Wheels 34sec
Aero Road Helmet 42sec
Skinsuit 45sec

Which is 121 seconds, they said the new Venge Vias was on average over a 120secs faster for the riders in this video with the above kit changed aswell, so the frame has added 0secs improvement to there own tests? I may be wrong?

[PhilWaud]

I wonder how much of that difference was the skin suite vs normal clothing?

[LFCJUNA]

I can't understand what you achieved in this video. You didn't compare the data against any rivals, or the previous venge etc. You even changed your clothing for the one bike (non-aero) you did compare with... Why not compare it with the Roubaix, would have made it look even better...

[MrRetroRhythm]

Still waiting on that 2016 To 2015 Venge Comparison, whilst maintaining the same bike kit. How much more Aero is it really?

[FooFahFoeFum]

I always laugh when so called testers try to impress us with comparisons . For testing everything should be the same .... I repeat everything ...  wheels  .. clothing  ... rider ... bars ... shoes ...  the frame should be the only variable and nothing else.   And they call these fluid mechanic gurus PHD's ... Piled Higher

[indiebikes]

Surely this test should have been vs the current Venge - being that we all know it is more aero than the Tarmac (but less comfortable so over a longer distance the Venge slows you down due to fatigue).  What us Venge owners want to know is will the ViAS model be faster than our current bikes, and if so, by how much? Specialized have not made it pretty though!

[TacticalDannyBoy]

It looks like Batman's road bike. I love it.

[icebreakertech]

Do they ever measure air hitting you from the side?

[PeterdeMos]

How is this quantifiable if the helmet and apparel are changed. If you really wanted to compare you would have kept the same helmet and clothing and compared the bike with it's current competitor or previous model but that wouldn't have given you the marketing you desire, correct?

[stevebroglio]

I pulled time estimates for the clothes, helm and wheels from the other Specialized videos which are savings over 40km, so everything here is cut in half since the ViAS test was over 20km

The Maths:
120s claimed savings over 20km for the ViAS
22 to 45s for the clothing (couple videos have differing results)
21s for the helmet
10s for the wheels (Wind Tunnel video says 34s over 40km, but that's box section to something like a 404, and the ViAS video is more like a 303 to 404)


     120-22-21-10 = 67s over 20km
or
     120-45-21-10 = 44s over 20km

In reality though, we rarely put our nose in the wind for 20km so a lot of time savings is negated by drafting in the break or with the group.  But over the final 200m we get this...

     67s over 20km = 3.35s per km = 0.335s per 100m = 8.4m over the final 200m at 45kph
or
     44s over 20km = 2.2s per km = 0.22s per 100m = 5.5m over the final 200m at 45kph

There is also an issue with the journalist doing 2 laps: 1)  if you ride a course you don't know you will be faster the second time because you know the course (turns, hills, etc).  If I was Specialized setting up a demo, I would have them ride the Tarmac first 2) If I'm on a new super aero bike, I'm going to ride harder than a standard bike.  I don't think they reported power was the same each lap, so no way to verify equal effort.

[neozeonsolid]

Now only if I could only afford this road bike.

[Cmoredebris]

I enjoy cycling, so I like a slow, heavy bike, so I can be on it longer.

[robferguson]

Shame you didn't keep the same setup for both bikes, how do.you know the improvement was not down to the skin suit? Surely most of the improvement would have been down to that.

[allesiofondressi]

Good luck in a cross wind.  All the "aero" usually does not work to your advantage in cross winds but, I don't have all the tech to back me up.  I only have twenty years of racing and riding.

[JosieLondonMashups]

The frame looks awesome but the riser bar is kind of a dealbreaker for me.

[ITsupportian]

I am not convince let the slowtwitch decide if this is Aero enough... I can see the Yaw angle on the side hitting which may slow you down.

[onilovni]

Why changing gear when testing the tarmac, that's basic science. Chance 1 variable at a time. Very disappointing Bikeradar.

[gamingwithmolt]

Is this a good bike messenger bike for nuclear lol