Specialized S-Works Venge Di2

This is the brand new Specialized S-Works Venge, the company's third-generation aero road bike, and it's faster, lighter, stiffer, better handling, easier to adjust and better looking than the old Venge ViAS. If you crave speed, this is the bike for you. There's just the small matter of the massive price tag, but this is the pinnacle of aerodynamic road race bike design.

• Pros: Speed, handling, brakes, spec, fit adjustment, looks
• Cons: The price

Ride and handling

Wow, this bike is seriously quick! That's my overwhelming and lasting impression of riding the S-Works Venge, without doubt one of the fastest, if not the fastest, road bikes I have ever ridden.

Obviously how fast you go on a bicycle comes down to what you have in the legs, but what impresses about the Venge is the way it translates all the power you've got into speed in a way that few bikes I've ridden can match.

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It builds speed quickly and the speed keeps on coming, seemingly effortlessly. Measuring power and heart rate and riding familiar test loops, I was frequently faster at all power levels. I set a raft of new PBs, often without really even trying. If I was still racing, this is the bike I would want to be on.

There's more to the new Venge than raw speed. What also impresses is how Specialized has eradicated the compromises that have plagued previous aero bikes. It's impressively smooth and tolerant of rough roads, the handling is superb and the fit is easy to adjust.

In some ways, it feels like a sharper and edgier version of Specialized's Tarmac SL6, a little firmer on the road with a smidgen more feedback through the contact points perhaps, but there's a similarity in how well the bike turns and handles. This is good because the latest Tarmac is one of my standout bikes this year.

Comfort isn't usually a word that crops up when talking about aero bikes, other than to comment on its absence. Aero bikes are designed for speed and nothing else, and those deep profiled tube shapes aren't the best for helping a bike deal with bumps and cracks. Not so with the new Venge, it utterly impressed with its ability to remain composed on the roughest of my local roads.

Granted, it's nowhere near as smooth as the Cannondale Synapse or Trek Domane, but the gap has narrowed significantly. I've ridden aero bikes that are so harsh they are tiring to ride, leaving you feeling exhausted. The Venge provides enough comfort that I could finish every ride, even the longest all-dayers, with no aches or pains. Well, none more so than usual anyway!

The composure it displays over poorly surfaced roads is incredible for an aero bike. There's no overwhelming feedback from the handlebar or saddle, it doesn't bounce and skip over jagged edges of broken tarmac or freak out when you show it a scarred road surface. It's like a firmer version of the Tarmac SL6. I reckon a switch to shallow wheels would free up a bit more compliance, and with the capacity for up to 32mm tyres, more comfort could be squeezed out here too if you really wanted it.

The weight that Specialized has chopped out of the frame – a whopping 240g, with a size 56cm frame weighing a claimed 960g – gives the bike a more all-round appeal so it is just as good on a long, hilly route as it is flying around a flat criterium circuit. With the bike's all-in weight of 7.1kg, you're not exactly facing a massive handicap riding in the hills and mountains. Out-of-the-saddle climbing reveals the stiffness improvements in the new handlebar and stem, and the frame doesn't waste any of your watts at all.

Frame and equipment

There's nothing in common with the old Venge ViAS, this new third-generation Venge is a brand new bike, designed from the ground up using Specialized's own computer software to model the tube shapes and extensively tested in its very own wind tunnel. This level of investment shows in the vast improvement, both visual and claimed, of the bike.

It looks fast, and it is fast, Specialized claiming it's 8 seconds faster than the old Venge over 40km at 0-degree yaw. Doesn't sound like much, but where the previous Venge was aerodynamic at all costs, the new bike is a much more considered design with a focus on weight, handling and adjustment, and given how small a part the bike plays in your overall drag as rider and bike, the improvement is pretty impressive.

Specialized actually started designing the new Venge by first developing its own Free Shape Optimisation software that could generate millions of tube shapes and analyse them based on aerodynamics, surface area and stiffness. Specialized didn't just take a tube profile off the shelf, it wanted to develop tube shapes that met its particular requirements. Chris Yu, director of Integrated Technologies at the company, describes this as the company's trump card.

To my eyes, it's a much better looking bike, too. Yes, looks are subjective, but I reckon you'll agree with me. The curvy down tube has been replaced by an arrow-straight one, there's a new semi-integrated handlebar and stem, and all-new seat stays that are dropped just like they are on the Tarmac, topped off with an aero seatpost.

As well as being more aero, the big news is that the new Venge is designed entirely around disc brakes and only compatible with electronic gears. The latter makes perfect sense, considering this is a bike designed for racers and all the pros use electronic gears (mostly Shimano Dura-Ace Di2) and has allowed Specialized to avoid any concessions to mechanical cable routing.

The decision to only support disc brakes reflects the way the market is going, with Specialized telling us more of its customers are choosing disc brakes, and the benefits of disc brakes far outweigh any negatives. You might think there's a negative impact on the aerodynamic performance but Specialized says that's not the case, with gains made from the removal of the rim brakes offsetting any drag the discs might cause.

Massively changed on the new Venge is the all-new aero handlebar and stem. It's a two-piece design and the good news is you can swap out both for any other piece of standard equipment if you like, you're not tied into a proprietary system. That's good news for adjusting the bike for your fit and making changes without buying a whole new handlebar and stem.

The new Aerofly II handlebar is not only better looking than the bendy bar on the previous Venge, it's also lighter, stiffer and more aero. It contributes hugely to the improved ride feel of the bike, with much more positive steering and direct handling noticeable. My only gripe is that you can't ride comfortably on the tops for extended periods, but then this isn't a bike for cruising along and admiring the countryside, it's a bike for blatting along as fast as possible down in the drops.

Specialized claims the new stem is stiffer than any it has tested on the market, including Peter Sagan's favourite, the Zipp SL Sprint (which he has previously fitted to his race bikes with the logos taped over), and boy can you detect this improvement when sprinting out of the saddle compared with the old Venge, which felt like a wet flannel in comparison to this new bike. You can adjust the stack height by adding or removing the aero spacers – if I was buying this bike I'd probably remove a couple and trim the steerer tube.

The new stem and handlebar also feature very neat internal routing for the brake hoses and gear wires, which pass through the handlebar, underneath the stem and into the frame. It's very tidily packaged, and relatively easy to disassemble for packing the bike for flying. I took the Venge to Nice for a weekend of cycling and had no problems fitting it all into a hard bike case.

The new stem and bar come in a wide variety of sizes. The 6-degree stem comes in 80, 90, 100, 110, 120 and 130mm lengths, and the 12-degree version comes in 110, 120, 130 and 140mm. The Aerofly II handlebars come in four widths from 380 to 440mm. There are computer mounts for floating a Garmin or Wahoo computer out front as well.

The new Venge also uses the Rider-First Engineered approach found across the rest of the Specialized range, and through feedback from the pros and amateurs and lots of data collection, and tuning the carbon layup, each frame size offers the perfect ride, no compromises.

The focus is on delivering the same fit as the Tarmac SL6. Compare geometry charts and you'll notice the reach and stack are subtly different, but the same fit is achieved through different height headset cones and spacers. Ideal if you're swapping from one bike to another.

Disc brake standards have thankfully settled down and the Venge uses the flat mount interface with a 142x12mm rear axle and 100x12mm front. By default, the Venge comes with bolt-on axles requiring a 6mm Allen key, which at a claimed 67g/pair are half the weight of standard quick release axles. DT RWS ratcheting handles are available if you prefer tool-free wheel removal.

Equipment

The S-Works Venge costs £9,750.

Sunk in yet? Probably not, it's a big pile of cash. You do, however, get a very good specification with a power meter included and a frame, fork and handlebar that is as state-of-the-art as it's possible to get right now. There's nothing you'd need to change.

A Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9170 groupset forms the basis of the build and it's flawless. With sharp and quick shifting, and powerful brakes with great lever feel and fantastic ergonomics, it sets the standard by which all other groupsets are measured.

The Di2 junction box has been relocated to the back of the seatpost saddle clamp, after feedback from the pros. The main benefit is that it allows team mechanics to access it more easily when leaning out of a car window than if it were located in the down tube or handlebar.

Specialized's own S-Works carbon crankset with Praxis aluminium chainrings is the only departure from the Shimano theme, but it feels as stiff as Dura-Ace and the shifting performance is first class. It's also packing an integrated dual-sided power meter, the first for the company but based on tried-and-tested 4iiii technology. It worked seamlessly with Garmin and Wahoo computers and proved to be accurate and consistent during a month of use and tested against PowerTap P1 pedals. No complaints.

Roval's CLX64 wheels enhance the speed of the bike and sound fantastic when you're sprinting. They are susceptible to gusty crosswinds so might cause concern if you live somewhere hilly and windy. I found some fast descents in Nice accompanied by strong winds to be a bit of a handful on occasions, but it's manageable. The rims are tubeless-ready and the aluminium hub shells are packing high-quality DT Swiss 240 internals with CeramicSpeed bearings.

The 26mm wide Turbo Cotton tyres offer splendid performance, too. I do really like these tyres. They are fast with low rolling resistance and good levels of grip in the dry and rain, and the suppleness from the 320 TPI casing gives a silky smooth ride. The only downside is that they do wear quickly, a trade-off for a fast and light race tyre. And those tan/gum sidewalls absolutely rock!

Conclusion

I love this bike. It's not often that I say that about a test bike. But the speed, the handling, comfort, the ease of fit adjustment, the integration of the handlebar and internal cabling, the high-quality spec, not to mention the jaw-dropping looks, all create a stunning display of design and engineering.

If you're a fan of going fast and have deep pockets, you'll adore the S-Works Venge. If it was my money, well I'd buy the slightly more affordable Ultegra Di2 model because it wouldn't take me as long to save up for it (though it would still take bloody ages) because it basically gets the same frame and handlebar with slightly different wheels, and enjoy the performance and the savings.

> Buyer's Guide: The hottest aero road bikes of 2019

The aero road bike category has been an exciting one to watch this year, and there are a few contenders that I'd very much like to ride. There's the brand new Cannondale SystemSix (£3,499.99-£8,499.99), the disc-equipped Trek Madone (£5,500-£10,550), and the stunning new Cervelo S5 Disc (£4,899-£9,699). For now, though, the S-Works Venge is the aero bike to beat.

Verdict

Incredible performance – if you can afford it