The revitalised Verenti range from Wiggle is now into its second year – and if anything value looks to have further improved.
- Highs: Muscular handling, impressive specification
- Lows: The firm ride might be a bit much for some
- Buy if: You want a value packed bike with impressive handling and high speed potential
The all-rounder package is based on Wiggle's Belgian manufacturing partner's frameset. Up front it's set around 10mm taller than a full on race bike, which makes for a great middle ground between comfort relaxed, and race aggressive. The head-tube is tapered, which in conjunction with the ribbed and shaped top and down-tube junction makes the front end tight, taut and free of any unwanted flex. Over rougher roads it can be somewhat unforgiving, but that’s tempered somewhat by the highly competent and cushioning Continental 25c, which take a little of the sting out of things – especially up front.
The 4ZA bar's drop isn’t as shallow as most compact drops, and we found ourselves shifting into the drops often to take advantage of the Verenti’s power-driven nature. Through the twists and turns the frame's rock-solid prowess facilitates changing direction at high speed with total confidence. As you can probably gather, we’ve enjoyed using and abusing the 0.2 immensely.
For longer jaunts the solidity can be a little fatiguing. But SRAM's faultless Force 22 drivetrain and excellent brakes mean that even at our most tired we never missed a shift, the spread of an 11-26 out back – with the eleventh sprocket adding a 16t – cutting out the awkward jump. Force 22 also uses the same Yaw front mech as the range topping Red, so you can run the chain through every combination noise and chatter free. (Being able to use a 50/26 combination is handy in emergencies, though we’d still recommend you don’t!)
The wheel package is Fulcrum's solid but unremarkable Racing 7s: they’re amongst the very best of budget wheels, and handle long service and plenty of abuse, but they’ll never be our first choice for events.
We like that Verenti hasn’t gone down the mix-and-match route for the groupset – keeping solely to Force 22 ensures flawless shift and brake performance too. Being an online, direct-to-consumer brand we’d expect the extra value that brings, and the Revelation certainly hits the bangs-per-buck mark – it’s a rare thing indeed to see a bike with a full Force 22 group at this price.
This article forms part of Cycling Plus magazine's Bike of the Year 2014 Awards. Cycling Plus is available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.
