Alexey Vermeulen was on a mission at Belgian Waffle Ride California, pushing the pace and attacking until he was alone off the front to take the win. The other top riders on the day acknowledged that he was on another level. He was also on another bike than what Enve currently offers. What exactly that bike was, neither he nor Enve representatives would say.
“The Custom Road that we released a year ago wasn’t the end of our bike aspirations, and what Alexey won BWR on shows we’re committed to a greater future in bikes,” said Enve marketing manager Neil Shirley, a two-time BWR CA winner himself.
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“We use our athletes for product testing, which is why Alexey was racing it. What better place to truly put a chassis and wheels to the test than the BWR course?” Shirley said. “We look forward to hearing his feedback, but the result is a great testimony already. We’re not ready to share specific details or launch dates yet.”
A quick glance at the bike however reveals a few new details. Check out the bike, his 40mm slick Kenda tires, his easy-grab bacon-strip setup, and more below.
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Vermeulen raced an unreleased Enve bike that, unlike the Custom models, has a seatpost instead of the built-t0-measure seatmast. Does this mean stock, non-custom bikes are coming from Enve? Or is this a gravel option? Enve isn’t talking.
The most obvious difference in the new bike is the seatpost — an Enve model, of course. The current Enve Custom bike has official clearance for 35mm tires; Vermeulen has 40mm tubeless on here.
While many racers went for a tire in the 32-35mm range, Vermeulen raced these unreleased 40mm Kenda 4titude Pro tubeless tires. Currently the closest thing Kenda is selling is the 4titude road tire, which is a clincher and comes in sizes 25-32mm.
“We partner very closely with our athletes to get feedback on products and make the right decisions for events,” Kenda aftermarket sales and marketing manager Aaron Stevenson told VeloNews. “In this case, the 40mm choice was not one taken lightly. From the rolling resistance data we collected at our Tech Center in Ohio, this tire is the fastest from our control group. For puncture resistance, we maintained the same GCT casing used on our other gravel tires. We look forward to launching this tire formally in the very near future.”
Griffin Easter raced a 35mm version of this tire to third place.
The front end of the new Enve bike looks similar to the Custom Road.
Vermeulen raced 11-speed Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 with 50/34 rings.
On the Custom Road, Enve offers an integrated cockpit or a more traditional two-piece option like this, which allows riders to choose any bar.
The Enve stem has a built-in computer mount option.
The Enve Aero road bar in profile.
For quick access in case he needed to plug a hole or multiple holes, Vermeulen had Genuine Innovation’s tubeless repair kit taped to his computer mount. “In my opinion it’s the smallest and easiest to use,” Vermeulen said. “Lightly electrical taped on so I can pull out quickly.”
The PRO Stealth is Vermeulen’s perch of choice.