S Works Venge or S Works Tarmac SL4?

matthew_77

Hi guys

just a bit of advice please if any racer or non racer has ridden both the S-WORKS TARMAC SL4 OR THE S-WORKS VENGE, i'm unsure which bike to buy, i'm leaning towards the sl4 tarmac but not sure if the venge is a better all out race bike?. i'm a 80kg cat 2 road race and crit rider, i only do sportives on occasion with my wife so don't mind riding a aggresive set up. I owned a Basso diamante as my last race bike and i loved it but had to sell her as i needed a 56. The road races i do is flat to rolling but nothing super hilly. Reason i'm leaning towards the tarmac is that i'm in the bunch most of the time, even if i manage to get away in a break i'm still in a small bunch so not sure the aero benefits of the venge would be useful? Has anyone ridden both the sl4 tarmac and the venge? does the tarmac accelerate as well as the venge and is it as stiff? any help would be appreciated

thanks in advance

Grill

Buy a Foil instead. You'll thank me later.

izza

1) I've ridden S-works SL3 tarmac and S-works Venge.

2) I am a non-racer

3) Both comfortable for sportives, Venge more fun.

4) Tarmac has sharper handling (doesn't mean better it comes down to a personal preference)

5) Have heard that SL4 suffers in cornering due to stiffness of rear triangle making it fidgety.

matthew_77

izza wrote:

1) I've ridden S-works SL3 tarmac and S-works Venge.

2) I am a non-racer

3) Both comfortable for sportives, Venge more fun.

4) Tarmac has sharper handling (doesn't mean better it comes down to a personal preference)

5) Have heard that SL4 suffers in cornering due to stiffness of rear triangle making it fidgety.

Thanks for the reply

bernithebiker

1) I have an Sworks SL4 (2.5 years now), not ridden a Venge, (but know several riders that have one), but geometry is VERY similar, identical in some cases.

2) I do the odd race, nothing too serious.

3) I find it comfortable, but setup, tyre pressure, etc. will have far more of an effect than the frame. I find the bike 'fun'!!

4) Given 1), I think they will handle very similarly, the only difference being tube profiles.

5) SL4 corners very nicely, the seat stays are actually very thin, so there will be some compliance there.

The Venge is an SL4 with some aero tube profiling. My take on this is that the designers at Spesh and Cannondale came up with the SL4 and the Supersix Evo as the best, 'complete' racing frames they could make. To make them aero, must then surely (IMO) take something away from this design apex, be it weight, stiffness, compliance, whatever.

I'm dubious about the aero gains of bikes like these; I would say that you need to be spending a chunk of your time over 40km/h to really make much difference, which not many of us do.

But they're both excellent bikes, and I would imagine most riders would be hard pressed to notice much change between them, so it may well just come down to which you prefer the look of.

Caleido

The front end of the Tarmac is stiffer, handling is more accuate, the bike is more responsive to hard accelerations.

Sl4 probably the quickest frame I've ridden out of saddle smashing up hills in big ring. It excels there. Torsional stiffness is excellent and it is planted enough to make these efforts perfectly controllable.

On downhills,corners on rough roads it can be a little skittish if you compare to a more refined frame like a parlee z5, ss evo or c59 but none of these frames are as torsionally stiff.

The venge is a little faster in a straight line, it doesn't corner as well, is much more skittish and a more tiring bike to ride. I found it to feel less responsive on hills. It doesn't have any spring in the rear of the frame so can feel like hard work or heavy in these situations compared to Tarmac. Not saying its necessarily slower but it feels it. For me the frame only really came to life at 25mph plus on the flats, below that it felt dead and uninspiring despite numbers of ride looking good.

For me on a venge you give up a lot of what is great about the Tarmac for a little gain in speed in certain situations.

Geometry is the same on both no neither is more aggressive in terms of fit.

Any spesh dealer should be able to get you a demo bike for a week. Try a venge, it's an acquired taste. Doubt you'd be disappointed in an sl4 it's a phenomenal frame.

To me they feel very different...I rode both in size 54cm and 80kg fwiw.

matthew_77

bernithebiker wrote:

1) I have an Sworks SL4 (2.5 years now), not ridden a Venge, (but know several riders that have one), but geometry is VERY similar, identical in some cases.

2) I do the odd race, nothing too serious.

3) I find it comfortable, but setup, tyre pressure, etc. will have far more of an effect than the frame. I find the bike 'fun'!!

4) Given 1), I think they will handle very similarly, the only difference being tube profiles.

5) SL4 corners very nicely, the seat stays are actually very thin, so there will be some compliance there.

The Venge is an SL4 with some aero tube profiling. My take on this is that the designers at Spesh and Cannondale came up with the SL4 and the Supersix Evo as the best, 'complete' racing frames they could make. To make them aero, must then surely (IMO) take something away from this design apex, be it weight, stiffness, compliance, whatever.

I'm dubious about the aero gains of bikes like these; I would say that you need to be spending a chunk of your time over 40km/h to really make much difference, which not many of us do.

But they're both excellent bikes, and I would imagine most riders would be hard pressed to notice much change between them, so it may well just come down to which you prefer the look of.

Thankyou

matthew_77

bernithebiker wrote:

1) I have an Sworks SL4 (2.5 years now), not ridden a Venge, (but know several riders that have one), but geometry is VERY similar, identical in some cases.

2) I do the odd race, nothing too serious.

3) I find it comfortable, but setup, tyre pressure, etc. will have far more of an effect than the frame. I find the bike 'fun'!!

4) Given 1), I think they will handle very similarly, the only difference being tube profiles.

5) SL4 corners very nicely, the seat stays are actually very thin, so there will be some compliance there.

The Venge is an SL4 with some aero tube profiling. My take on this is that the designers at Spesh and Cannondale came up with the SL4 and the Supersix Evo as the best, 'complete' racing frames they could make. To make them aero, must then surely (IMO) take something away from this design apex, be it weight, stiffness, compliance, whatever.

I'm dubious about the aero gains of bikes like these; I would say that you need to be spending a chunk of your time over 40km/h to really make much difference, which not many of us do.

But they're both excellent bikes, and I would imagine most riders would be hard pressed to notice much change between them, so it may well just come down to which you prefer the look of.

thanks dude, this makes me sway even more towards the Sl4..appreciated

matthew_77

Caleido wrote:

The front end of the Tarmac is stiffer, handling is more accuate, the bike is more responsive to hard accelerations.

Sl4 probably the quickest frame I've ridden out of saddle smashing up hills in big ring. It excels there. Torsional stiffness is excellent and it is planted enough to make these efforts perfectly controllable.

On downhills,corners on rough roads it can be a little skittish if you compare to a more refined frame like a parlee z5, ss evo or c59 but none of these frames are as torsionally stiff.

The venge is a little faster in a straight line, it doesn't corner as well, is much more skittish and a more tiring bike to ride. I found it to feel less responsive on hills. It doesn't have any spring in the rear of the frame so can feel like hard work or heavy in these situations compared to Tarmac. Not saying its necessarily slower but it feels it. For me the frame only really came to life at 25mph plus on the flats, below that it felt dead and uninspiring despite numbers of ride looking good.

For me on a venge you give up a lot of what is great about the Tarmac for a little gain in speed in certain situations.

Geometry is the same on both no neither is more aggressive in terms of fit.

Any spesh dealer should be able to get you a demo bike for a week. Try a venge, it's an acquired taste. Doubt you'd be disappointed in an sl4 it's a phenomenal frame.

To me they feel very different...I rode both in size 54cm and 80kg fwiw.

Thankyou this has pretty much made my mind up..appreciated

bernithebiker

Another SL4 vote here;

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