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Spotted: Peter Sagan rolls the Gold wheels at the Tour Down Under

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Timing is everything in life, and I was fortunate to catch Peter and his Bora Hansgrohe squad rolling out for a Monday morning training ride from the Tour Down Under village. The 2017 Tour Down Under begins tomorrow, and the lads are heading into the Adelaide Hills to scout a few key sections of one of the upcoming stages. The team has been teasing media and fans alike with his Specialized Venge disc brake bike, but today, he rolled the gold package – painted gold Roval CLX 64 tubular wheels…

You can read more about Peter’s bike here, the only difference being the gold wheels for today’s training ride. During my close examination of the wheels, they are no different from the standard CLX 64 tubular center lock disc brake model, barring of course the paint finish on the rim.

Above, Peter and the team mechanic discuss brake feel. Incidentally, I did get hands on with this bike, and the Di2 hydro lever travel is the same as with every other Di2 hydro brake bike I’ve examined.

Above, Peter shifts through the cassette.

In the leading photo of this article, keen eyed readers will notice Peter is not alone with disc brake experimentation. One of the other team riders has been sporting a disc brake bike in subdued dark blue with Specialized logos. I believe it is a Tarmac, but I’ve been unable to get close enough to photograph the bike just yet. Generally, the two disc brake bikes have been tucked away from prying eyes.

It is doubtful Peter will race the disc brake Venge, but he has been known to surprise people…

Specialized Bikes


Article and photos by Gravel Cyclist. Jayson O’Mahoney is the Gravel Cyclist: A website about the Gravel Cycling Experience.

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sad
sad
7 years ago

Bling bling!

E
E
7 years ago

Somewhere, GVA is shaking his head at those wheels.

JD
JD
7 years ago

Rainbow stripes = World champ
Gold = Olympic champ

Sagan is not the olympic champ so he should not be on anything gold.

fredescambia
fredescambia
7 years ago
Reply to  JD
Roborbob
Roborbob
7 years ago
Reply to  JD

Except for that gold medal placed over his neck after he put the stripes on.

Christian Kämmerer
7 years ago

I’m actually more interested in the other disc bike you mention, the Tarmac! Is that a new Tarmac disc with 12 mm through axles? Because the current Tarmac has QR disc wheels, where everybody else now uses 12 mm TA!

neologisticzand
neologisticzand
7 years ago

I would like to think that specialized is going this direction, especially as the new Roubaix uses thru-axles

mudrock
mudrock
7 years ago

I think the pros are still skeptical that TA wheel changes can be as quick as QR. Earlier BR featured a disc-equipped Focus with QRs.

Marin
Marin
7 years ago

How else are you going to justify high price on gear unless you paint it gold? There’s so much Chinese carbon gear that’s the same for fifth of the price, so plain black won’t cut it.
Gold on the other hand symbolizes luxury, just look at SRAM Eagle stuff. It’s gold so it must be worth it.

Matt
Matt
7 years ago
Reply to  Marin

While I am not a carbon engineer I can tell you from going to seminars and working at the LBS for over a decade that all carbon is not created equal. There is an infinite amount of variables that play into a piece and how the carbon is layered, the direction, type of resin, and everything else is as closely a guarded secret as big brewery recipes.

Robin
Robin
7 years ago
Reply to  Marin

I don’t think the word “same” means what you think it means.

Ol Shel
Ol Shel
7 years ago

I love ‘Wait, Wait Don’t Tell me’!

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