Am somewhat smitten by the Venta in Sea Blue, ticks all my boxes in terms of features, geometry etc.
I just can't tell how 'good' it is likely to be, £1200 doesn't seem much for a carbon frame which is apparently still manufactured in Italy. Is it likely to be heavy or dull compared to my relatively high end triple butted 7005 aluminium frame? (I'm hoping that's a silly question, but my aluminium Rose really is very nice to ride).
Any experience out there?
Ta
I have a Diamante SV, its by far the best descending climbing all day bike Ive had, and Ive had a few! Geometry is sweet. Ive also ordered a Basso Palta gravel to replace my Datum.
Nice one! Although I suspect the Diamante is a step up from the Venta.
Found a frame weight of 910g for a Vento in 55cm so rounding up a bit and adding ~450g for the fork still makes it a good bit lighter than my Rose.
Arguably the money might be better spent on a set of lighter and more aero wheels though but I'd still be left with a frame which was slightly on the small side and several years old...
I used to sell them, the 105 Venta was the most popular, same frame iirc. It's no lightweight but they ride ok
I'd be surprised if the Basso didn't feel better than the Rose. I've never ridden a carbon frame that felt worse than alu, and I've ridden cheap carbon and expensive alu frames (and vice versa).
Yeah, was mostly compliance I was thinking about, the Rose reviewed really well back in the day thanks to skinny kinked seatstays and no brake bridge, whereas the Venta review I found (for the disc frame) suggested it wasn't especially compliant.
But depends what the reviewer was comparing to, plus apparently the Venta can take slightly bigger tyres, so if I could squeeze a 28mm instead of a 25mm then that would probably eclipse any difference.
You going for the rim or disc? Disc has room for 28mm tyres definitely
Rim. Basso says space for 28mm but I've been stung by that before, depends if they mean advertised width or measured width.
Specialized advertise clearance for 28mm but my 28mm GP4000s were a fag paper away from the fork bridge 🙄
Isn't necessarily a red line for me, for summer use 25mm tyres have been fine to date.
Any idea about the proprietary seatpost? Reputed to be a bit of an aluminium lump..
Mate of mine bought the 105 disc Vento (in gray) a couple of months back.
I did a bike fit for him and changed some parts over for comfort. Seems nice enough, frame is well finished, nothing obviously done in terms of money saving.
Was a complete 105 group set including cassette and chain, with Shimano cables which is a bonus in my eyes. Only obvious failings were the wheels which are a bit ‘boat anchory’ and the other finishing kit, bars, stem etc. we’re all pretty weighty. 28mm tyres fit fine on the disc version.
#EDIT : seatpost seemed fine but was a wee bit hefty along with other finishing kit, no idea if other makes of d shaped post might fit, seatpost clamping mechanism was also one of the less aggregious ones I have seen recently.
I had heard seatclamp was a bit dodge, I had a wee run of stripping threads on the proprietary seatclamp on my Rose.
Saw a review which mentioned the existence of a carbon post to fit, but he never actually said if had received it, only that the shop was ordering it for him...
I had heard seatclamp was a bit dodge, I had a wee run of stripping threads on the proprietary seatclamp on my Rose.
seatclamp to the saddle or seatpost into frame.?
carbon paste and torque wrench were used for the seatpost into frame only 5nm required if I remember and could have left it lower than that with the carbon paste. Can’t remember the seatclamp being anymore annoying than any other, if I remember rightly it’s one of those with a single bolt to tighten and the front one has a thumb wheel to adjust angle.? Very easy to get carried away and over torque those. Anyway, it didn’t impinge on my fettling enough for me to remember anything special about it.
all in all I’d say the Vento is a nice place to start with maybe some upgrades in mind down the line.. (handlebars for example were unusually thin(diameter) and weighed easily twice as much as the Ritchey ones we replaced them with which only cost £40)
all in all I’d say the Vento is a nice place to start with maybe some upgrades in mind down the line..
Great, this was sort of my plan, I would pinch the nicer parts from my Rose, hopefully procure a carbon post, and stick the lumpier OEM kit back on to the Rose and turn it into a dedicated turbo bike.
Maybe in a years time replace my Fulcrum Racing 3s with something 38mm carbon hoops 😎
