Venge to Tarmac sl8 , upgrade or not?

[Peepooper]

Venge is much better looking than SL8. If I had a venge, I won't trade it for SL8.
I understand if you own a bike for too long, you get bored and want a new bike. My recommendation is: get a custom paint for a Venge, new color equal new bike

[chorus88]

Definitely upgrade.
Presently, Tarmac SL8 is "THE BEST" Specialized road frame (not the prettiest).
Sorry, the Venge looks "old" & heavy.

SL8: One bike to rule them all!

[Stueys]

The Venge is the better looking bike, just an awesome piece of kit. I can't believe the Sl8 is any more aero.

But the Sl8 probably isn't giving anything away in the aero stakes and it's a fair chunk lighter. So it's going to feel faster and probably be the more comfortable, slightly nicer handling bike. Did I say the Venge looks a lot nicer though..

[BigBoyND]

The Venge is already comfortable for an aero bike.

I can't believe anyone is convinced by Specialized that the SL8 is just as aero with the same kit...

[ome rodriguez]

Yes not convinced, but for sure the SL8 is an all rounder and not just aero bike.

[ichobi]

It's probably equally aero on tight yaw angle, which seems to be what some of this new breeds allrounder are going for. On wide yaw or crosswind, SL8 probably loses out to the Venge in terms of aeroness.

[BalticSea]

Venge is the better bike IMO - doesn't have the butt ugly ButtSniffer™, SL8 won't be more aero, weight difference of few hundred grams is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things and I'm not even sure if SL8 is more comfortable if what PeakTorque said about carbon layup is true

[req110]

I as an SL8 and former SL7 and SL6 owner, have admit that SL8 as frameset might be a bit slower, (2-5W) than SL7.

It is because SL8 was tested with Rapide cockpit and Dura ace hoods, while SL7 with 2piece cockpit and REd AXs hoods.

Beaty of SL8 is about having one package, ultra light, decent fast, very comfortable. With the existence of SL8, there is no space for aethos imo.

Moving from Venge to SL8 does not bring ANY racional reasoning, same like from Venge to SL7 or from SL7 to SL8. This is all about pation and your (my) need / addiction to be up to date with the latest tech, and being prone to surrender to specialized BS marketing, which is a psychological mastermind... And i admit, i lost the battle.

The criticised speed sniffer was turning me away intially, but i kind of like it, or even prefer it. I was mentioning the in some older post:

"When i owned SL7, i was chasing every single reason NOT TO BUY SL8, i was lying myself about SL7 being already top bike with better design, stiffness, bla bla.
And i admit that it is possible that SL7 would be 3W faster than SL8 if both were equipped with the same cockpit!

As soon as i purchased and built my SL8, i absolutely love it. And i also prefer it's design over SL7."

[eucalyptus]

Venge is like the pinnacle of modern frames.. If I had one I would not buy anything else. But I did not have a Venge in 2020 so therefore I bought something else last year...

The Venge is light for what it is, probably similar/same type of carbon the newest bikes and it looks absolutely fantastic. Just change the cockpit, because that Venge/SL7 alloy stem is terribly heavy

[patchandscruff]

Do you want a bland looking but undeniably lightweight frame with suspect aero claims, bought by people that just have to have the latest thing so they have bragging rights? Buy the SL8.

Do you want a bona fide areo frame that still looks like something a superhero would ride and can be up-gunned with new wheels, cockpit and groupset well into the future and still look sh*t hot? Keep the Venge.

[alanyu]

The Venge is already comfortable for an aero bike.

Are you joking? Venge was the least comfort aero bike I have tried at the time, worse than propel and reacto, nowhere close to the comfort aero bike such as foil and madone.

[BBres]

I would never ever trade the Venge for the SL8. IMO Venge is the best looking bike ever. The SL8 is ugly as *f##k*, I would rather buy Propel SL.

Generally choose the bike that looks more pleasing to you, so you love the bike and feel you want to ride it. The looks is the only and the most important factor.

And if you don't race, then noone cares about your 15 seconds saved in a climb or 15 seconds saved in a flat course. And the aero gains - they are measured at 45 kph kept for like 20 or 40 minutes. I bet 95% of the guys in this forum cannot sustan that speed for more than 5 minutes when not pushed by some heavy wind. BTW, the SL8 tested worse than the SL7 and Venge.

[CasualRider]

I had 2 latest gen Venge bikes (20k+ miles), SL7 (25k+ miles) and now SL8 (3k+ miles). There is no world the Venge is a better bike than SL7/SL8. It's a huge difference in comfort. Tarmac handling and weight is better. There is very little difference between SL7 and SL8. If I were to upgrade today and wanted to save money I would go with SL7.

[ichobi]

Do you want a bland looking but undeniably lightweight frame with suspect aero claims, bought by people that just have to have the latest thing so they have bragging rights? Buy the SL8.

Do you want a bona fide areo frame that still looks like something a superhero would ride and can be up-gunned with new wheels, cockpit and groupset well into the future and still look sh*t hot? Keep the Venge.

i fondly remembered the venge got when jt was the latest and greatest thing. Whats with all the aeroiseverything shenanigan, not to mention everybody automatically hates you when you buy the latest specialized bike. It was no different then, its no different now.

Venge was a good bike but i would never trade my Tarmac (sl6/sl7) for it.


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[Sander7721]

I swapped my Venge for an SL7 when released.
The Venge was not a forgiving ride to harsh for me and the SL7 was far more comfortable.
I simply swapped the SL7 for the 8 as I wanted the new bike plus I wanted to get some money out of the 7 before the market was flooded with 7s and well inevitably your lucky to get 50% of the value.
I got the 8 frame on release and the 7 was sold a couple of days later.


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