Specialized McLaren Venge aero road bike launched

49 comments
By John Whitney in Woking, UK | Thursday, Mar 17, 2011 5.30pm

Specialized today unveiled the jewel in their road bike crown – the McLaren Venge. The bike is the result of a nine-month collaboration with Formula One racing giants McLaren. It'll be used in competition for the first time at Milan-San Remo this weekend by a select group of riders from Specialized-sponsored teams, including Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia).

BikeRadar were invited along to the top secret launch at the imposing McLaren Headquarters in Woking, UK to catch a first glimpse of the impressive machine. It'll be available in two models: the S-Works Venge will be available to buy in the UK from the end of April, but the model we were shown today – the McLaren Venge – is being held back until September.

Prices will be decribed in more detail later on, but in the UK the McLaren Venge will cost £5,000 for the frame module. US prices for the S-Works Venge are $3800 for the frame module, $8800 for a SRAM Red build and $9200 for a Shimano Dura-Ace build. US prices for the McLaren Venge are yet to be confirmed.

Over four-and-a-half years in the making, the Venge is the brainchild of Specialized's head of research and development Chris D'Aluisio. He was testing a modified Transition with drop bars in 2006 and was 'blown away' by the speed it offered. It was then he realised the potential in creating a road bike with all the properties of an aero bike. So they got to work on creating an aerodynamic frame.

McLaren had approached Specialized in March 2009 about a possible link-up between the companies. It was in July last year that Specialized took the prototype of the Venge to the carbon fibre experts of McLaren. Through their filter, the collaboration produced the model unveiled today, the McLaren Venge. D'Aluisio told BikeRadar he couldn't believe it when told of McLaren's approach, and was on the plane over to visit them the next week. "Sitting down with the McLaren team and seeing how passionate they are about racing and to hear about how much they love biking – that was pretty cool," he said.

He also revealed Specialized had approached a number of other teams before McLaren got in touch, but were put off by the idea of a simple branding exercise. "That's not McLaren," he said. "It's in their DNA to do high performance products. They do Formula One cars, they do road cars and I don't think they'd have taken on the project unless they really thought they could make a big change."

Specialized mclaren venge:

Key specifications

Claimed weight for the Venge frame is 950g, with the complete module (frame, fork, seatpost, crankset) tipping the scales at 2.07kg for the McLaren and 2.18kg for the S-Works. But of course, the focus with these bikes wasn't just on cutting weight.

Specialized have conducted track testing with the Venge against their current top-line race bike, the Tarmac SL3. Claimed watts saved by the Venge range from 3W at 20km/h to a whopping 23W at 45km/h, and presumably a lot more than this at Mark Cavendish's sprint speed of around 70km/h. Giving a professional rider that sort of advantage is incredible and should be apparent from very early on in the season.

Claimed torsional stiffness to weight ratio between the head tube and rear dropouts is high too: 80.4 (Nm/deg)/kg for the S-Works Venge and 89.7 for the McLaren Venge. To put that in context, Specialized say their 2010 S-Works Tarmac SL3 is 124.3 (Nm/deg)/kg (stiffer, but not an aero road bike) but the 2011 Felt AR1 aero bike is only 56.4 (Nm/deg)/kg. 

Video

Specialized presents the Venge to members of the 2010 Saxo Bank team, half of whom won't get to ride it!

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User Comments

There are 49 comments on this post

Showing 1 - 30 of 49 comments

  • I wonder how much it would be without the Mclaren sticker? ;)

  • OH MY OHGOD!

    If anyone disses this... then I have no words for them, only pity!

    Amowesomebbqomfg

  • gorgeous !

  • very nice...looks much like felts aero road range

  • Looks nice. I wonder why the front brake is in such an un-aero position?

  • As i expected - an overpriced monocoque frame. I doubt it will be any better than the latest Look or Time offerings and a C59 is a lot cheaper. For that money one can get a high end custom frame. i presume it's made in the same far East factory as the other Specialized bikes

  • Looks OK but not as aesthetically pleasing to me as the Canyon aero road bike. But I have to say what a load of marketing BS. They thought an aero road bike could be faster by riding a drop bar TT bike? Obviously oblivious (gulp there's a phrase for ya) to Cervello/Felt/Canyon over the last 5 years or so. And to be fair the pricing is on a par with Cervello's Project California frameset (though you do get stem/seatpost/crank and BB I think) which is at least small run production in Canada/US.

  • Looks like a Ridley Noah and a Giant TCR Advanced spent a boozy night together and nine months later this was born!

  • I really really liked this untill now! How frigging much! get serious Spec!

  • Wow, what delightful journalism.

    "He was testing a modified Transition with drop bars in 2006 and was 'blown away' by the speed it offered. It was then he realised the potential in creating a road bike with all the properties of an aero bike."

    - Oh, so they didn't just copy everyone else then?

    "Giving a professional rider that sort of advantage is incredible and should be apparent from very early on in the season."

    - Yes. Except it won't because that's marketing bollocks.

  • Not to be a pedant, but shouldn't you compare the stiffness of this bike with the AR0, rather than the AR1 (especially considering the price! I daresay the AR0, with its price tag of 9k, is rather a more appropriate object of comparison).

  • oh hello! a new level in bike pron...

  • ah yes, well, Specialized is about eight years late with the aero down tube. NEXT!

  • I'm not sure why this appears as such a good looking bike, but I like it. It's on the 'when-I-get-rich list'. I'd rather have this than a Dogma or a Project California, tbh. Is it me, or does the shape seem like a Look frame? That top tube is something the French have been doing on their bikes.

    Having a look at the website, there is a huge amount of marketing attached. Still, I reckon that's par for the course with Specialized - especially the upcoming year, if Cavendish collects some wins on this bike.

  • Just like on the McLaren F1, they put the driver's seat in the middle.

  • Fragile..looks too thin.. needs a pie.

  • Let's wait for the 2012 model,guys...I'm pretty sure it will pedal on it's own and be 238,1% better in every aspect.

    Marketing,what's not to love!

  • 4,999 of that 5,000 pound asking price is the McLaren sticker. But . . . I still want it.

  • nice commuter

  • Lucky Mr J Button, no doubt a complementary bike will be winging it's way to him :)

  • The emperor has a new bike to match his clothes.

  • Not a spesh or a mclaren fan myself, but it has clean lines which you would expect at least. Reasonably svelte .....

  • I love the way so many comments are about it being so expensive because of the McLaren label. Most cyclists are all about the labels.

    Remove the Boarman label, and they'd be all over the bikes like flies on the proverbial!

    I think this bike looks awesome. If anyone wants to buy it for me, I am more than happy to accept.

  • very nice looking bike let down by one thing - Uses old school cable shifting, I doubt F1 cars use mechanical cables to shift gears.... just sayin

  • I wonder if the internal cable routing is as slick as the new roubaix SL3's!?!?

    FAIL

    Jagwire cables as standard on a nigh on £3k bike.... and they wonder why it won't index... BIG FAIL!!!

  • Does it have eyelets for panniers?

  • Looks very nice but where the schmeg am I meant to fit my lights - I'll have to join two cable ties together to attach it to the seat post.

  • Why would you launch a bike to the press with a flat rear tyre?

  • I was just thinking the same 52Teeth. It's not going to be goin very fast with a flat tyre.

    And is everyone goin to have to use a -17 stem to get that small amount of drop?

  • OOOOooooooff That is beautiful!! Who cares it costs the earth, it's a fantastic piece of engineering, and good to see McLaren getting involved seriously with Specialized and not just putting a naff and overpriced bike out like other car manufacturers (ahem - bmw). I bet Jenson will get his mitts on a chrome and red liveried up version, the lucky swine. WANT!

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