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Are Specialized about to launch a new super light road bike? Peter Sagan shares images of previously unseen model

The pics were first posted by Sagan's teammate Daniel Oss, with the Italian shown holding the bike above his head with minimal effort... are Specialized about to throw out the UCI rule book?

A series of photos quietly shared by Daniel Oss and Peter Sagan have fired up the new bike rumour mill big time, showing off a skinny Specialized model that is yet to be released. 

Review: Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7 Dura-Ace Di2

The launch of the Tarmac SL7 has seen Specialized discontinue their Venge aero road model, as it turns out you can have both fast and light... well, as light as the UCI's 6.8kg limit will allow anyway.

Posing with his mysterious new bike, Daniel Oss of Bora-Hansgrohe says: "Man, the TDF is good, but, I can’t wait to break the rules a bit and #JustRide on my new machine after all the racing is done"... words that don't appear in any way contrived or sent to him for copying and pasting by a marketing department. 

Judging by the language used, the #breaktherules hashtag and the photo of Oss easily holding the bike above his head, we're betting on this bike being super light and not intended to be used in competitions under UCI rules. The frameset is more traditional-looking with skinny tubes and less integration than the completely cable-tidy pro bikes we're used to seeing now, but hydraulic Shimano Dura-Ace disc brakes are still chosen ahead of rim brakes.

There also doesn't appear to be any branding other than a big gold 'S' on the head tube, with the lack of paint also suggesting Specialized have endeavoured to save every gram possible. 

If this is indeed a tactical 'leak' of a new model then Specialized have been here before with the Tarmac SL7, dropping a mystery preview on their Ride App before the bike's official launch in July. 

What do you reckon? Does it look any good, or is this all just a big old misunderstanding? Let us know in the comments as always...

Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.  

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17 comments

Avatar
Cycloid | 3 years ago
0 likes

Looks Nice, but.....

The 6.8 lilo UCI wieght limit is totally out of date.

My summer bike is less than 5.5 kilos including pedals, It's a mixture of ten year old Campag record 10 speed and unbranded Chinese frame and wheels. It is now in it's third year and it cost less than £2000

Brands work to the UCI wieght limit by adding disc brakes, electronic shifting, etc, which are not really needed, but add "value" and weght to the bike. A bike should be simple and elegant, and capable of being seviced by a cyclist.

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Nick T | 3 years ago
0 likes

In a world where frames already weigh 800g as standard, will losing 200g off a frame make it that much easier to lift a whole bike over your head?

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NoOneSpecial | 3 years ago
1 like

Just what the world needs. Yet another over-priced and over-marketed bloody Merida!

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Joe Totale | 3 years ago
1 like

After spending the last few years trying to flog us aero bikes it appears that Specialized will now move back to trying to sell us lightweight bikes. 

Expect to see lots of graphs about how weight matters again now after the consumer had been told for the past few years that aero trumps weight. 

Everything is cyclical, the Venge wil probably make a reapperance in a few years time to great fanfare. 

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Joe Totale | 3 years ago
0 likes

I suspect they are just doing what Canyon do for the Ultimate where they release  5,8KG one just for publicity. I doubt they will market it as much as they do the road legal ones though. 

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quiff replied to Joe Totale | 3 years ago
4 likes
Joe Totale wrote:

Everything is cyclical, the Venge wil probably make a reapperance in a few years time to great fanfare. 

The (ahem) "Re-Venge"

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Blackthorne replied to quiff | 3 years ago
0 likes
quiff wrote:
Joe Totale wrote:

Everything is cyclical, the Venge wil probably make a reapperance in a few years time to great fanfare. 

The (ahem) "Re-Venge"

 

you win the internet today!

Avatar
Nick T replied to Joe Totale | 3 years ago
1 like

Rim brakes will come back again as the lightweight option as soon as everyone's been sold a disc frame 

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RobD | 3 years ago
0 likes

I get if you're going everesting etc then a really light bike helps, but do many people actually obsess over the weight of their bike anymore? 

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Blackthorne replied to RobD | 3 years ago
3 likes

Yes

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antares | 3 years ago
0 likes

> are Specialized about to throw out the UCI rule book?

Oh, this modern journalism, there is a UCI logo on the seat tube, just saying...

> words that don't appear in any way contrived or sent to him for copying and pasting by a marketing department. 

Lol, sure, no NDA signed, nothing, just a sponsored person with 150k followers writes how much he loves his new Specialized, and posts world's first professional pictures of a non-released bike.

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dave atkinson replied to antares | 3 years ago
0 likes

antares wrote:

Oh, this modern journalism, there is a UCI logo on the seat tube, just saying...

https://www.uci.org/docs/default-source/equipment/liste-des-modeles-de-c...

you want page 41. SL7 is the latest approved frame. no sign of this one, and bikes always show up on the list before they're launched, because that's how the testing works

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antares replied to dave atkinson | 3 years ago
0 likes

Thanks for the link, yes, I know. But that's no doubt a UCI logo on the bike, or am I wrong? So how can that be explained? I think I read interview with Specialized representative that there is a few months flexibility with UCI on when they publish the model approval.

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Toffee | 3 years ago
1 like

I understand breaking the weight limit, but in real terms, isn't this just continuing Specialized's lightweight or aero thing?

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Glov Zaroff | 3 years ago
0 likes

"The launch of the Tarmac SL7 has seen Specialized discontinue their Venge aero road model" - no they haven't. 

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Jack Sexty replied to Glov Zaroff | 3 years ago
2 likes

There will be no 2021 model of the Venge, so it is discontinued. This from Cam Piper at Specialized: "This (the Tarmac SL7) is one bike to rule them all, putting an end to the idea of a climbing bike and an aero bike. That idea is simply old fashioned. We have the technical ability to create a bike that's as aero as rules allow and as light as rules allow in a single package. Anything else would be forcing riders to make a compromise on race day, and we just weren't okay with that anymore. Asking riders to pick between two different bikes is so 2019." 

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Glov Zaroff replied to Jack Sexty | 3 years ago
0 likes

From the same people who mugged you off about the SL7 being super aero, when in fact it was the new wheels that were the dominant aero feature. Take away the Rapides and it's just a slightly more aero SL6.

Spec are still producing the Venge as a frame only option (I would hazard a guess until the new Venge and the wording of the accompanying spin has been drafted) so it's not discontinued. 
 

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