CHRIS YU: Specialized set out about 2 and 1/2 years ago
to design and build what has now become
the world's first cyclone-specific wind tunnel.
It's always about speed.
How can we make the bike faster?
So when we set out to design the Venge,
we told ourselves it wouldn't be worth it unless we
hit a pretty aggressive target.
And that target was to be as fast as our own time trial
bike.
What we've learned from specifically
working on the Venge is that no detail is too small.
There have been so many times where we're working in here,
and we're like, that can't matter.
And initially, it doesn't look like it matters.
But you take that and you do three or four more things
like that, and all of a sudden you have something
that's legitimately faster.
And so that's really taught us to really invest
the time in making sure that we leave no stone unturned when
it comes to designing products.
After hours and hours and hours of continuous research
in the tunnel, we found that we actually
made a pretty big jump by doing those 100 different things.
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The new Venge is so unique because we designed it
from the ground up, taking into account
every last component designed to work together as one.
So it's just the most cohesive package that I've ever seen.
The VIAS Cockpit was born out of that desire that
will want to try to make it as efficient as possible
while still hitting the rider's fit needs.
This new Venge is the first aerobike
that we designed with that rider first engineered approach.
By optimizing for speed on every tube,
we ended up with that very aggressive look to all the tube
shapes.
The brakes are another very, very unique part of the bike.
We rethought the entire process and figured out,
hey, where do we really need the brakes to be in order to make
the entire package faster?
When it comes to designing a bike,
the tires and wheels are a lot of times ignored
but they're such a critical part of the ride experience.
So we set out from day one to really include both the tire
and the wheel in the package of the bike
so that they all go together as one system.
What we've done with the Venge is
we ended up with a package that's 120 seconds faster,
over 40K than our Tarmac.
It's 50 seconds faster over 40K than our next closest
competitor, and it's as aero as our Shiv TT time trial bike.
When you're talking about competitors and racing
and marginal gains, you're trying
to get one, two, five seconds faster than competitors.
So to be 50 seconds faster is a huge jump-- monumental.
We showed the bike to Mark Cavendish
and had him ride it for the first time,
and he was just blown away at it.
The first 10 pedal strokes-- like, guys, this thing's fast.
MARK CAVENDISH: The first and foremost thing
when you get going, it's incredible how quick it
just picks up the speed.
Everything that you can draw from it.
The brakes, the frames, the wheels-- everything
goes together.
Racing feels great in it.
I'm really, really impressed with this bike.
CHRIS YU: Built into the bike as well
is a platform that not only is that fast, but rides
as well as a class-leading bike like our Tarmac.
It's not really labeled as a climbing bike,
but the power transfer is so great
and the aero advantage is so big,
it feels like a climbing bike somehow.
It's not all about just pure straightline speed.
A lot of times, it's carving corners.
So having a bike that also provides a confidence
to really attack those corners is extremely important.
This bike is for that rider that just plain wants to go fast.
Whether it's their local race or our pro tour
riders, or for someone who just wants
to kill that Strava segment.
At the end of the day, if you want to go fast,
this bike is for you.