 If you've just landed on this channel, this is where I do cycling videos, both inspirational and entertaining. And I do absolutely throb over a deep dive road bike review, notably a versus battle. So if that sounds up your alley and you enjoy this video today, please consider supporting the channel by subscribing below. So there has been a big buildup to this review. I did a build video on the Chapter 2 rarete at Omara Cycles in Melbourne. It's been seen by over 120,000 people now. And I followed up that video with a first impressions on the Chapter 2 rarete seen by over 30,000 people. So I know there are some people out there that are like, okay, Cam Nichols, what's your motivation behind promoting this brand? Now, if you want the full detail, I'll put that in the below video description area. But just know this, I get paid sweet FA to do all my road bike reviews on this channel. They're purely driven out of a passion for road cycling and a desire to help people make the right purchasing decision. Because if they do that, they'll ride their bikes more. But as a result of publishing that build video and the first impressions video, there's been a lot of eyes on the Chapter 2 rarete. And I've had a ton of people reach out to me saying, Cam, what is the bike like to ride? And when is your full review coming out? So here we go. This is the Chapter 2 rarete, an aerodynamic road bike that is a first generation aero road machine from Chapter 2. An emerging road brand out of New Zealand. And when I say road, that is all they do. One of the things I love about them, they just focus on road and they just do frames. Really supporting a growing desire of people that are looking to build up their own bikes. Now, understand there's some skeptical people out there. I get it. You may not have heard of Chapter 2 before or you may be like some others and you think you can buy the same frame from AliExpress for a couple of hundred dollars. And I think it's natural to have caution when something new enters into a mature market. So I've got two things for you. We're gonna go head to head with one of the most renowned road bikes in the entire world, the Specialized S-Works Venge. And number two, if you're still not satisfied with this video, I had an hour long conversation with the founder of Chapter 2, Michael Pryde, and their head of marketing, Chris Young, podcast discussion linked to in the below video description area. We go for an hour, we talk about the brand, we talk about how they developed the rare ray. I asked them a whole bunch of questions I've had from the YouTube audience. We touch on everything. So now we've got that out of the way. I'm gonna focus this review on five core pieces. And as per normal, I'm gonna focus predominantly on the frame because that's what makes bike brands unique. Now the first thing we're gonna talk about are numbers. Okay, what's the weight? What's the price? What's the tire clearance, et cetera? Number two, we're gonna talk about airfoil versus cam tail. Now some of you may be thinking what the hell are you talking about? Bear with me. Number three, we're gonna talk about geometry. And number four, we're gonna talk about riding experiences. Now I need to talk about the other things before we get to riding experiences. So please bear with me, we're reviewing two seriously good bikes here. And fifth, in my conclusion, I'm gonna tell you what bike I would prefer to take home and why. So number one, let's talk numbers. Now quickly on tire clearance, you can get 28 mil tires into this bike right here. And we're gonna be talking about the disc versions. On the Specialized S-Works Venge, you can get up to 32 mil tires. Not sure why you'd want that on an aero road bike, but you can. The price point of this frame right here, I'm gonna talk in AUD and splash in a little bit of USD. We're $3,600 just over for this frame, the Specialized Venge S-Works is 5,600. So we're talking about a $2,000 AUD difference or 1,500 USD. In terms of weight, now there's a lot of variables here, so I'm just gonna put them up on the screen here. We've got the Chapter 2 and we've got the Specialized S-Works Venge and then we've got the totals. And then the complete bikes. I rode and tested the 54 centimeter S-Works Venge, which is a similar size to this. This is a medium, the top tube is a little bit longer. Weight of the Venge was 7.47 kilograms. Complete bike with pedals, mount and cages because that's the way we ride bikes and it's the way I like to weigh them. And the Chapter 2 Rare A. Now with the Zip 808, which is what this bike originally came with, but I had to hand them back to SRAM because I only got them for the summer period. Now the boys at O'Mara Cycles did have a little bit of trouble with the strain on their trapeze, but Tommy finally got it right and that weighed in at 8.12 kilograms. And the Chapter 2 Rare A with these wheels right here, which I'm gonna review later, they're the Zip Course 30s, that came in at 7.9 kilograms. Now you may be wondering why there's such a discrepancy when the frame package sort of comes in in a similar way. You gotta think about we've got different tires, we've got different group sets, et cetera. Now lastly, the carbon fiber that's utilized on this bike is Toray carbon, highly regarded carbon fiber out of Japan and specialized on the S-Works Venge use FACT and they use a material they call 11R. So number two is Airfoil versus Cam Tail. Now I've had to re-script this because you can go down a massive rabbit hole and if you want further detail, I'll put it in the below description area, but essentially, Airfoil design, the tube shapes, this is more airfoil, okay? More of a traditional tube shape which has come from the aerospace industry. Now the specialized S-Works Venge isn't Cam Tail, say like the Scott Foil or the Trek Madone, but they used a blend of Cam Tail and Airfoil and created their own tube shapes with a special terminology, of course being specialized and riding that bike and looking at it up close and personal, I would say it's more Cam Tail than it is Airfoil and this is gonna help us sort of delineate both bikes here. So there's strong arguments on all the points that I'm going to reference here, but riding both bikes and researching this topic for quite a significant period, these five points I'm gonna talk to you in my opinion. So number one, the Airfoil, this design here is faster in a straight line, notably in pleasant wind conditions. Some brands may argue with that for fair chances, those brands use the Airfoil design for their time trial bikes and I think that's the clincher right there. Number two is the Cam Tail creates a better platform to create a stiffer and more aggressive performing road bike. Number three on, say, erratic environmental conditions, so swirling winds, you know, cross-tail, cross-head, those type of things. There's a big debate on is the Cam Tail or is the Airfoil better? So I'm just gonna call this one even. Number four is handling and comfort. Now the actual frame geometry and the KPIs the brands put into bikes, I think has probably a bigger impact. So once again, it's hard to call this one, so I'm gonna call this even. And the last one is aesthetics. Once again, some people prefer the Cam Tail look over the Airfoil, but it's purely down to personal preference. Now if you have a strong opinion on this topic and I'm sure some of you will, I'd love to hear your thoughts below in the comment section but please don't just call me a dickhead and do a smoke bomb. We're all about good conversations on this channel. Number three is geometry and design. Now we've talked about, you know, the different tube shapes of both bikes. Something that's really interesting on this bike is the sloping top tube, another can of worms I opened and we're gonna talk more about that in the riding experience and also the dropped and kinked seat stays on the chapter two rare rate. But essentially when comparing this medium versus a 54 centimeter specialized S-Works Venge, they're pretty much the same in terms of their size. The geometries are very like for like a few millimeters here, a few millimeters there with the exception of two that I like to call out right now. One is the wheel base. So the Venge has a wheel base of 978 millimeters versus a medium rare rate at 970 millimeters. That almost 10 mil difference will make the bike slightly more responsive. That's the rare rate ducking and weaving through a bunch or pedaling around a technical bit of road. Whereas the longer wheel base on say the specialized Venge will provide more stability. Let's just say you're in a criteria and you're on a bunch ride and you're getting bumped and knocked, you're gonna have a little bit more stability on the Venge than the chapter two rare rate. Now the second part is the stock which I quite often talk about on this channel from here to here, up to here. So it really enables the rider, very important for these aero machines to either set up a little bit higher. So take the pressure off the neck and the shoulders or get more aerodynamic. Now you've actually got 16 mil more on the rare rate versus the S-Works Venge which is pretty significant. But if you consider the manner handlebar system here which I know it's a little bit grubby. Got greasy hands up here in the sunshine coast from all the humidity, but it's quite dropped. So if you're in the hoods, you're probably gonna get into the same position as you would be able to on the specialized S-Works Venge. So number four is riding experience. Now with the specialized S-Works Venge, I got pretty much what I expected and a little bit more when I rode that road bike. It was beautifully engineered. It was fast, it was aerodynamic, it was stiff, it was aggressive, super responsive out of the saddle. Really what you would expect. The aesthetics of that bike, I've never had so many people come up to me and compliment me, it wasn't my bike, they thought it was saying what a magnificent road bike that was. And when you get up close and personal with a specialized S-Works Venge, the way it's engineered, it really is a beautiful machine. Now the two things that sort of surprised me a little bit was comfort. Now, it's not a comfortable road bike but they have improved the comfort from the predecessor device and the original Venge which I rode which was super uncomfortable. You can now take it on a 100 or 120 kilometer ride without feeling a fair amount of pressure in your neck and shoulders and your lower back. So I've done a reasonable job there. And the second one was just riding that bike with a bit of a tailwind at 30 to 33 kilometers, you'd really notice you'd get a bit of a push like the bike was working on your behalf. So with the Railroad, it's been quite an interesting experience. Most of you will know I built the Railroad with criteriums in mind. So it's an aero road bike, obviously. We've got SRAM 1B, which is a 1B system really good for criteria racing and I had Zip 808 wheels on it. Now while I think I've still got a lot to learn with riding the Zip 808s and utilizing them to my advantage in a race because they're actually quite phenomenal for day to day riding 30 to 33 kilometers an hour, particularly on a blustery Melbourne day, they just weren't practical. It wasn't until I put on these Zip wheels that the Railroad started to talk to me in a different language. So for the past couple of months, I've really been getting to know some unique characteristics of the Chapter 2 Railroad and also reflecting on some of the other characteristics that I built this bike for. So there are four things I'd like to walk you through right now. Number one, is it speed? Is it faster than the Specialized S-Works Venge? Well, maybe in a straight line because of its design, in tough, erratic, environmental conditions, maybe the Venge wins. It's really hard to test these things unless you put these things in a wind tunnel or Specialized call it a wind tunnel. They've both been tested in wind tunnels and to me, they both feel like really fast bikes. Okay, number two is stiffness. Now, this is a stiff bike, stiff enough for me and you can certainly sprint out of a corner and you feel the bike respond the way a stiff road bike should. Is it as stiff as a Specialized S-Works Venge? No. If you're Peter Sagan coming out of a corner despite the fact that Specialized pay him, he would probably prefer to be on a Venge over this bike. Now, the third one is comfort. Now, this one really caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting a comfortable road bike and this is probably the most comfortable aerodynamic road bike I have ever ridden. And also, if you listen to the podcast below and hear Michael Pryde talk about, okay, what were the key KPIs for this bike? Comfort was definitely in mind. Now, we've got a dropped seat stay which is king called here and we've also got more head tube here which sort of takes away some of that frontal vibration. So looking at the frame design and geometry and hearing what Mike Pryde had to say, it's no wonder that this is a comfortable aero road bike. Number four is its downhill credentials. Was I expecting it to be incredible on the downhill? Didn't really think about it, but it is. I'm normally a wimp, anything over 60, 70 kilometers I start to freak out. I've been going 80 to 90 on this and feeling like I could go even faster. Now, what I wanna do here is show you this bike right here. Now, what's that downhill mountain bike got to do with this? Well, let's hear what Mike Pryde had to say. Yes, with my downhilling experience and the fact that I love to ride quickly downhill. You know, I've always developed bikes that do handle well descending. And, you know, last weekend when I was racing towards Rangers, you know, we were in a pretty quick bunch and it was pretty quick to see that, you know, once I got into my tuck position, I pretty much left everybody behind. So as you can see another KPI to make this bike a super downhill proposition. Now, when you think about the sloping down tube, this triangle creates, you know, a lot stiff frame that tears down the mountains with incredible stability. It also gives a chapter two, rare as a modality with standover height for different rider height requirements. But what do the naysayers say about a sloping down tube? Well, they say it's actually a cost cutting measure because you don't have to put in as much seat tube. And they also say it's not aesthetically pleasing to the traditional eye. But I kind of like it and I kind of think that it has a lot to do with this bike's ability to be comfortable and also tear down the mountains. So in conclusion, which bike would I prefer to take home in white? Now, this is always a challenging one because everyone has unique riding requirements and it's never black and white. So I'm going to put a caveat. Let's just say you've got an all round road bike or you've got an endurance road bike and you want to add another one to your collection, you want something that's fast, aggressive, stiff, then I wouldn't be taking this one. I'll be taking the Specialized S-Works Venge because you've got the all round road bike. Or if you're a criterium junkie and you love sprinting out of corners, you want something stiff and aggressive, go the Specialized S-Works Venge. Now, this bike is still stiff, still aggressive and it's obviously very fast, but it's key characteristic in my mind is its ability to be a bit more all round. It's got comfort in mind. So if you're looking maybe for the first time to buy an aero road bike or if you've owned an aero road bike before and you've been a little bit disappointed with, you know, the comfort levels, you've been a little bit stiff and sore after some of those longer rides, but you're still attracted to the aero road bike. That's what you want. Then this is the bike that you should be taking home. And my needs right now, where I'm going with my cycling, this would be best suited to my needs and thus would be the bike that I would want to take home. But having said that, they're both incredible bikes and if you had either of them, you'd be a very happy bike.