U.S. carbon element producer Enve has been very busy in the previous few years. Famend for its carbon wheels, forks and parts, the Utah-based firm entered the body manufacturing market in 2021 with its U.S.-made Customized Street bike. It has produced a brand new frameset yearly since, and the model now gives a full line-up of drop bar bikes starting from a big-tired gravel bike to racing bikes and the newly unveiled Fray all-road mannequin. With 4 bike fashions launched in simply as a few years, the corporate is evolving from aftermarket wheel and element specialists to a full-service bicycle model.
In skilled racing, too, Enve has been rising its presence. Tadej Pogačar and his UAE Group Emirates have been using Enve’s SES line of wheels and aero cockpits –the latter particularly designed to fulfill the staff’s calls for– to many race wins. Equally, Ivan Basso and Alberto Contador‘s challenge, Group Polti Kometa, additionally continues to utilize Enve wheels and parts. However when TotalEnergies misplaced Specialised as its tools sponsor on the finish of 2023, Enve stepped as much as fill the void and provide the mandatory bikes – a large endeavor for a small model that made its first bike body solely 4 brief years in the past.
The WorldTour staff makes use of the Enve Melee chassis, paired with the model’s ending package and its full assortment of U.S.-made SES wheels. Having ridden and reviewed each different inventory mannequin within the Enve line-up, we determined it was excessive time for one in all us right here at Biking Weekly to swing a leg over the Melee as properly.
The Melee at first look
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
What’s fascinating about Enve’s line-up of bikes is that every mannequin smudges the strains of its designated field. With its light-weight carbon monocoque body and glossy, aerodynamic profile, Enve describes the Melee as “a no-holds-barred fashionable race bike constructed particularly to fulfill the efficiency calls for of the self-discipline.” But professional gravel racer Alexey Vermeulen proved that the Melee can be completely able to being raced on gravel when he received the 2023 Belgian Waffle Journey California aboard the Melee specced with 35mm tires that match with ease. What’s extra, the body sports activities built-in fender mounts.
Nonetheless, Enve says the Melee’s geometry and dealing with have been “optimized” for 27-32mm tires, and aerodynamics have been a major design consideration, evident within the Kamm-tailed tube shapes and the totally built-in entrance finish.
So, let’s have a better have a look at this not-so-purebred racer.
Take a look at bike Specs:
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
Bike Design
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
Not like the Customized Street bike, the Melee is available in seven inventory sizes and is produced ‘abroad’ as an alternative of at Enve’s Utah manufacturing facility. The Melee frameset is made utilizing numerous laminates constructed from unidirectional carbon fibers following ENVE’s personal Materials Optimised Design (M.O.D.) course of. On this course of, the supplies, fiber angles, and weights are chosen and/or manipulated to attain zone-specific efficiency and traits for every half.
“Carbon is the important thing ingredient, and we use the very best we are able to get our fingers on,” says Jake Pantone, Enve’s VP of Product and Model. “However in the end, the method it is subjected to makes it an Enve product.”
The form of the Melee was developed utilizing wind tunnel testing and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The latter is a technique that entails simulating airflow round a motorcycle and its rider, analyzing elements like drag and strain distribution. CFD helps optimize aerodynamic efficiency and informs such design parts because the Melee’s Kamm-tail-shaped tubing, seatpost, and totally built-in, cable-free entrance finish. Moreover, the tube shapes have been tuned to enrich Enve’s personal SES-line of wheels and cockpits to ship a full aerodynamic bundle. The claimed weight of the body is 850 grams for a painted 56cm body with out {hardware}.
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
The geometry is in line with its WorldTour race bike rivals, with maybe solely the slightest improve in stack top and a barely longer prime tube than some.
On account of having produced carbon forks for bike builders for the previous 17 years, Enve understands how a lot a fork, and particularly the fork rake, can influence a motorcycle’s dealing with. Enve, due to this fact, gives 5 distinctive fork rakes throughout its seven inventory geometries, which is greater than most firms. This additional effort was made to make sure that the Melee will ship the similar dealing with required of a race bike for even the shortest rider (aboard a 47cm body) and tallest rider (aboard a 60cm body).
Enve’s different inventory bike fashions:
The Fray: launched in April of this yr, the Fray is Enve’s imaginative and prescient of ‘the definitive all-road machine’ – designed for these “who got here from highway racing and at the moment are on the lookout for broader two-wheeled goals however efficiency continues to be essential.” The Fray goals to fulfill the calls for of the fashionable highway rider by pairing a highway racing pedigree with all-road options like wider tyre clearance, in-frame storage and a match comfy for all-day adventures within the saddle.
The MOG: Enve’s first official foray into the gravel bike market pairs light-weight carbon building, aerodynamic tube shapes and 700c-only wheels with beefy 50mm tyre clearance, a slacker geometry and fork mounts, making it each a gravel racer and bikepacking companion.
Enve additionally gives an in-depth on-line match calculator to assist Melee prospects discover the fitting dimension. In addition to figuring out the right body dimension, the calculator can even recommend stem size, bar width and seatpost setback. This data is important as a result of Enve sells its bikes as a “chassis” somewhat than a full construct.
The chassis consists of the Melee body, fork, headset and the rider’s selection of Enve stem, handlebar and seatpost, and retails for $5,500 / £5,300. These eager about a totally constructed Melee can work straight with an Enve retailer to pick out and assemble the specs. As of this spring, Enve now gives the Melee in three colorways: Damascus gray, Aegean blue and Enve black.
One remaining design observe is that Enve opted for a threaded T47 backside bracket somewhat than a press-fit possibility. The advantages listed below are that threaded designs are usually extra immune to creaking and require much less upkeep over time.T47 backside brackets even have a bigger diameter than conventional threaded backside brackets, permitting for compatibility with bigger spindle diameters for elevated stiffness and energy switch.
The Journey
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
For the aim of this assessment, I acquired a 50cm Melee chassis in the vivid Aegean blue coloration specced with a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset, a two-piece In-Route aero cockpit, and the all-rounder SES 3.4 wheels wrapped in 29mm Enve SES highway tires. The bike got here with a 25mm offset seatpost, which I swapped out for a zero offset seatpost as an alternative. The bike weighed in at a aggressive 7.2kg.
I’ve heard folks name the bike’s aesthetics’ vanilla’. ‘All aero bikes look the identical,’ they’d declare, and the bike’s minimal branding and slate gray coloration did not appear to assist. However on this new Aegean blue colorway, the Melee can not seem to cease turning heads. With absolutely the minimal of branding and paired with tan sidewalls, I feel it is an absolute stunner, and I undergo from imposter syndrome when using it. Whereas my background is in elite competitors, I have never raced a highway race since 2018, so what the hell am I doing aboard a steed that completely screams “I am quick!”
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
However that is precisely the place the Melee differs from most different WorldTour bikes. Sure, the Melee is quick. Sure, the Melee can be raced. However the Melee is a lot greater than only a racing bike. This is maybe the one race bike dentists ought to personal. Please permit me to elaborate.
I’ve absolutely the privilege of getting to check among the most interesting bikes out there, lots of which are designed for racing. These race bikes sometimes characterize a model’s flagship product, highlighting its cutting-edge innovation, expertise and engineering prowess. Nevertheless, within the quest for velocity, compromises need to be made, usually in the best way of consolation and dealing with. Prime-end race bikes are made for the best competitors and usually demand a sure stage of proficiency of the rider. Whereas they’re depraved enjoyable for succesful riders, they’ll really feel a tad restrictive for these missing sure dealing with expertise. This is the place the Melee distinguishes itself.
Tire clearance for 35mm on a race bike!
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
The Melee is among the many most accessible race bikes I’ve had the pleasure of using. By that, I imply that it is easy to get together with. It gives a vigorous but very steady trip. You may throw it arduous right into a nook, push it back and forth in a dash, and ship it screaming downhill and right into a crosswind with out ever fearing a lack of management. The wheels keep planted. The rubber by no means leaves the asphalt. Some bikes on the market are attentive to the purpose of being overly delicate – you a lot as sneeze and you are swerving all around the highway. The Melee places you within the driver’s seat.
The flipside right here is that it is maybe not fairly as snappy as another bikes, however you do not get any twitchy-ness both. The Melee may be very well-balanced, providing well-rounded efficiency all through the trip. The aerodynamic properties shine on the flats, the body’s mild weight and stiffness provide help to climb with ease, and the regular dealing with allows you to bomb down descents. It is also surprisingly comfy for a race bike, and the wider tires definitely assist with that. I might fortunately spend all day within the saddle on the Melee, which isn’t one thing I might say about all race bikes.
And for somebody who lives and rides within the wet Pacific Northwest area of america, I’m thrilled by Enve’s determination so as to add fender mounts to the body. To me, that underscores the bike’s capabilities past racing. Enve could have designed the Melee across the calls for of racing however it stored the fanatic rider in thoughts, wanting the bike ridden – quick, far and usually.
Worth & Verdict
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Aerodynamic and lightweight, outfitted with mudguard mounts and vast tire clearance, the Melee is a race bike that blurs the strains in the very best of the way. From Paris-Roubaix fashion cobbles to lengthy arduous days of the Tour de France, the Melee is a succesful companion for people who demand essentially the most of their tools. For fans, the bike’s well-roundedness and considerate design concerns provides consolation and conveniences uncommonly present in race bikes.
Because the Melee is a top-end bike, you do pay prime greenback for the chassis. At $5,500 / £5,300, it is costly, however according to top-end race bikes from rivals. Specialised’s S-Works Tarmac SL8 additionally retails for $5,500 however for that you just get the frameset and seatpost solely; Enve features a seatpost, stem and handlebar of your selection. Plus, with some good decisions in your construct, chances are you’ll even are available underneath the price of most totally construct top-end race bikes, which simply go over the $10K mark lately.
