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TECH NEWS

WorldTour 2017 Bikes: Peter Sagan’s Specialized Venge ViAS

New team but same bike for Peter Sagan this season

Peter Sagan might have transferred from the now defunct Tinkoff team to Bora-Hansgrohe this year, but he’ll still be riding a Specialized: the US company has replaced previous bike supplier Argon 18. 

Bora Sagan World Champion Venge - Social Media -20.jpg

Having successfully defended his World Champion jersey, Specialized has one again produced a custom painted bike for Sagan. There’s a similarity to his previous personalised bike with a sparkly appearance. We don’t think the photos do it justice.

Tour Tech 2016: Peter Sagan’s Specialized Venge ViAS

Bora Sagan World Champion Venge - Social Media -18.jpg

We’ll let Ron Jones, the lead road designer at Specialized, pick up the story about the paint job.

“I wanted to create a more mature looking bike to match Sagan’s growth as an athlete and double world champion. I did some research on some new prismatic paints and found a product that did exactly what I was looking for. I wanted to have a ton of depth to the paint, with obvious references to the rainbow jersey but without explicitly adding stripes or patterns.The rainbow is reflected on the whole frame in a non-static way,” he explains.

Due to apparent weight concerns, Peter Sagan raced last year’s Tour de France aboard a matte black Venge, saving some 100g over the sparkly custom painted bike he had been racing earlier in 2016 to celebrate his World Champion jersey. We're not sure how much this new paint job weighs, but that's probably the least of his concerns at this point in the season.

Bora Sagan World Champion Venge - Social Media -10.jpg

Video: Peter Sagan debuts new world champion's kit

Other than the new paint job, it’s business as normal with regard to the equipment Sagan will use, which includes full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset with Roval CLX60 wheels and Specialized Turbo tyres. He’s continuing to use the Specialized aero stem and handlebar that is a key part of the Venge’s aerodynamics. 

Bora Sagan World Champion Venge - Social Media -24.jpg

Will we see Peter Sagan riding disc brakes this season? The Venge is now available with disc brakes and it’s a bike that really impressed us in our recent review; Sagan's fellow pro cyclist Tom Boonen has been very enthusiastic about training aboard the Venge Disc bike through the winter.

Bora Sagan World Champion Venge - Social Media -4.jpg

 Photos © BrakeThrough Media

- Why your next bike should be a road race bike

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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5 comments

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beezus fufoon | 7 years ago
1 like

hm, I thought goniochromism meant your testicles had turned blue!

Avatar
Nixster | 7 years ago
0 likes

Possibly one of the very few bikes that actually look better with discs...

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Colin Peyresourde replied to Nixster | 7 years ago
0 likes

Nixster wrote:

Possibly one of the very few bikes that actually look better with discs...

only it doesn't....

Avatar
Valbrona | 7 years ago
1 like

Nice goniochromism.

Avatar
ktache | 7 years ago
3 likes

Love the iridescence.

Probably not very practical for the likes of me, and a bit too flash.

Had to check the spelling of iridescence, so now I know it's also called goniochromism, ain't internet wonderful.

 

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