I have been looking around for the same. This popped into my searches a few weeks back. Tarmac with a Venge headtube. Might not be anything, but was all I could find so far.
I think maybe a couple of things at work here deceived you a little, including the angle, the colors of bike and background, the spacer cone being left off for full slamming effect on this one, and lastly, perhaps the fact that is has the little-known team or pro geometry that specialized teams often chose to go with. Shorter head tubes are a key feature of that, and it seems likely the molds for it are a little different around the top of the head tube.
My Venge is cut down deeper than this to fit the little plastic fairing that turns with the bars. My sl4 has a tad of head tube protruding above the top tube that this one doesn't have. but it seems clear that nothing else much is different.
Here's another photo of either the same bike or one very similar to it, from a better angle.
We will not see a new model until late this year....I don't think. Specialized has formed a joint venture with McLaren and is currently using the McLaren lab in the UK for development of new models. There was a recent article attesting to this but, I can't remember the link to the article.
I think thats reasonable logic. I saw the story on the ongoing nature of the partnership. They are something like two years slow, though, on rolling out these new models and their marketing people are surely starting to sweat.
You'd think they would at least put out some early ones for the TDF.
I'm guessing that we will see much more radical aero design for Venge with front wheel inset into down tube....and a nod, at least, to aero for the Tarmac, probably going no further than the kamm-sectioned Madone approach.
In the McLaren article they poo-poohed the idea of rolling all that and the Roubaix into a single super bike that does it all well.
In part, no doubt because that would be hard even with McLaren's help, and in part because Specialized's marketing savvy is on a part with its R&D and they can sell more bikes by have a spread of models like that.
I'm sitting right next to my SL4 Sworks and the bike in the above pictures looks identical in every way.
I'm waiting on a disc brake Tarmac. I wouldn't mind an SL5 with Ultegra electronic hydraulic. Hopefully the frame gets a little aero put into it as well.
No pictures, but most definitely something in the pipeline. Wurf talks about running into Nibali on a training camp in Teneriffe and he was on a new bike.
Interesting. Couldn't find it on my ipad, but did a search on my computer. Here it is for those on mobile devices.
One day particularly we had a very interesting chat about the bike and the technology more specifically on his bike. He was actually training on a bike that the public won't see for a few months so was interesting to here what his bike manufacturer had install for it's new model. Obviously now having a bike on the minimum weight is not a problem, the opposite is more the issue insuring that the bike is heavy enough os more of a challenge for the manufacturers and our team mechanics. Therefore technology these days goes into the type of carbon used and off course where it's a little heavier and a little lighter to maximize ride ability and performance.
Sorry, was being a bit lazy. Should have cut that part out for others...but yes, at least there will be something. As someone about to build up an olympic sl4 I'll be interested to see what the changes are.
Seems with each release there are staunch advocates for the previous generation.
Surely someone snapped a photo... I'm actually more interested in the new Venge. I cant imagine a climbing and pack bike significantly better than the SL4 tarmac, and I have one of those.... but I think they will push the venge farther... the tarmac has had several iterations of refinement of course.
Yup, that's it. I'd call it a subtle but elegant update. The main things are:
1) the top tube is flatter in section and is nearly straight now fore to aft.
2) The downtube has a flattened out and somewhat inset area at the cage mounts to clean up the air flow around the water bottle, which was the next big aero frontier for most manufacturers and given the massive section of the Tarmac tube was probably easy to do.
3) the hidden seat post binder setup....
Essentially it looks like they also cleaned up several tiny things for air flow too...things just look slicker pretty much everywhere.
I'm guessing a 7-8 watt improvement total, which is not huge but not a bad thing when you're dealing with a bike that has this market niche.
It's a nice-looking frame, about the amount of improvement you'd expect.
No doubt they got a few grams out of it, too. Maybe 50?
I'm still saying for the new venge they will inset the front wheel in the down tube, probably some solution like this for the water bottle too and oh, just for a walk on the wild side I will speculate that they will clean up the cables a bit.
Agreed, but let's be honest, who here really believes it won't ride well? The fifth refinement of the design, and this one developed with McLaren's ride- and handling-quality test setup, which no doubt had the characteristics of the previous versions plugged into the data?
I guess it's possible, but doesn't seem faintly likely.
I think it is a pretty good looking bike without being over the top in any way. It will be interesting to see if they change the look of the Venge at all since so many people love the current looks or the Roubaix since it gets so many mixed reviews.
I feel like for Specialized, it kind of has to be that way. All of their major road bikes, have been based off of the Tarmac (Roubaix, Crux, Venge, & Allez). So if the Tarmac is getting a redesign, they kind of have to put that out there first and then let everything else follow.
I think it is a great look, very classic, but with a modern twist. Me likey. I wonder what impact the new design will have one stack, reach and handling, which many people loved about the SL4 and previous versions.
That's an interesting view. One of the defining features of the Tarmac and Venge have been their arcing top tube, and this one takes it almost completely away.
I must say though, I'm constantly surprised at how well my SL4 rides. So smooth on super rough roads. The difference in vibrations at the bars and seat are pretty amazing.
Hope to Dog they didnt mess with the bottom bracket design ... or if they did, it remains compatible w/ BB30 cranks without needing troublesome adapters.
The guy I talked to at the shop the other day said they don't really know much yet, but it's probably a little lighter and bit more comfortable due to the changes in the seat stays.
According to the rumor, mentioned above, the Tarmac will get an official launch soon. Since no marketing department in their right mind wants to lose a chance to boast a new product, this would make me believe the Venge has a chance of being the big news at the Specialized dealer event. Also, there is some new news thing (very vague) for later this week on the spec front page. Maybe the new SL5?
SL5 this year and SL5 with disk brakes for 2016. 2016 will also see internal cable routing for brakes for non disk brakes. Wonder if it's really worth it to buy the 2015 SL5.
Do you mean aero brake calipers like on certain Trek Madones? The picture of the SL5 above shows the rear brake cable is already routed internally. I'm not aware of any way to route the front brake cable internally
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