I’ve been riding the Sette Venom for a few months now. It originally came to us as a frame for a build project.
You can easily order the Sette Venom from Pricepoint.com. As of this writing, the frame is for sale at the price of $499.With the frame you’re getting a Rock Shox Vivid 5.1.
I’ve been riding the Sette Venom for a few months and it has even seen some racing action. The bike debuted at Mammoth for the Golden State Finals. I was able to claim a 4th place position in my category.
So how does this bike perform? Pretty well if you ask me. After the build I weighed it, and I was able to get the Venom down to a pretty lean 35lbs. That’s not bad considering I was using this bike as my primary downhill bike. The head tube angle on the Venom is set at 68 degrees. You can actually tell right away when you sit down on it that the angle is not as slack as a bike that is comparable like the KHS Lucky 7 at 66.35 degrees.
If anything, the Venom could actually be set up as a great All Mountain bike. You could if you wanted to since it has the ability to run a front derailleur. I had thought about that set up because it would make the Venom more versatile. But I opted to run a chain guide with a 38T ring for DH racing.
The Sette Venom actually rides pretty plush. Thanks to the Rock Shox Vivid! The bike excels on the turns and berms. At the Mammoth race, on the lower section of the course, there were some deep berms that were gouged out by previous riders on their race run. So by the time my category (we were the last ones to go) lined up, the corners were pretty much chewed out. So that meant that some of these turns were deeper and faster. Turn after turn, the Venom would hook up, and launch me out of there with conviction.
Specs:
Material 7005/ 6061 Aluminum
Welding Tig Welding
Rear Suspension Travel 7″/ 177.8mm
Recommended Fork Suspension Travel 7″-8″/ 180-200mm
Headset 1-1/8″ Standard
Front Derailleur 34.9mm Bottom Pull
Bottom Bracket 73mm
Max Rear Tire Clearance 2.5″
Seatpost Size 31.6mm
Seat Clamp Size 34.9mm
Disc Mount IS Standard
Shock Length (eye-to-eye) 8.75″/ 222.3mm
Shock Stroke 50mm
Damping External ending stroke rebound, beginning stroke rebound,
and compression
Available Sizes Small (17″/43cm), Medium (18″/46cm)
Color(s) Red
Weight11.35lbs (w/ Shock, Small Size Avg.)
Warranty 5 Years
Here are some of the things that I really enjoyed about the Sette Venom:
1. Affordable
2. Light DH/FR bike
3. Unbreakable. The bike fell of my roof rack…no damage.
4. You can use standard QR wheels in the rear (135mm spacing)
5. Takes corners and berms like a real man
6. Rear end reacts to the trail conditions. No pogo stick effect from the Rock Shox Vivid
7. Adjustable travel, 6-7″
8. Pivot bearings are legit. Haven’t had any issues.
9. Front derailleur ready
10. Great DH bike for anyone on a budget.
Some of the things I didn’t like about the Sette Venom:
1. Ugly color.
-I wasn’t a fan of their version of “red.” The Venom is more of a brick red than an Angel’s Red.
There really wasn’t more to list on the negative side. All in all I was pretty impressed with the frame/bike and in the months I’ve tested it, I didn’t experience any issues with the frame.
Summary:
The Sette Venom is a legit frame. Race tested and Rider approved. This frame has been through many crashes on the trail and it even fell of my car while I was transporting it. For the price, you can’t beat it. This frame is perfect for anyone that is on a budget wanting to get into DH. It’s bombproof, reliable and its affordable. If there’s anything I could stress about the Sette Venom, it would have to be the cost of it. $499 is crazy for a frame that could do all the things that I had it do. Shoot, some XC frames cost more than the Venom. At least with the Sette, you can abuse this thing and it keeps coming back for more. The Sette Venom helped me get through 2 downhill races, both times I placed 4th, and it has been a blast to ride through some of the local trails in Socal.
Here’s some video that shows the Sette Venom in action. I’m the guy wearing white with green sleeves
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Show CommentsI actually like the red….
I think a white or black might have been better, kinda goes with the other Sette Bikes.
I like the red too.
Tks, for the review, sad you dont find more reviews out there, no too many people have this frame. any how, what set of option you will chose to make it a AM/Enduro bike?
Gus,
You’re right about that. I’ve actually only seen one other person ride/race with this frame. It’s too bad since people are missing out on this great frame, but shoot man, that’s what my review was about, to help people become familiar with the Venom.
If I do go with an AM/Enduro set up, I can easily ditch the chain guide, install a front derailleur, and a 32/22 chain rings.
RL,
I bought the bike, and I plan to race some enduro, and do some FR/DH races down here in CHILE, so all future reviews I will post them here.
Will be good that you and your fellow friends that try your venom write reviews on MTBR.
Do you know who build the Venom? I went to astro website and they did not build this one, the vexx they did (funny, i saw the vexx in chile too in a different brand, selling for 1200 dollars w/o shock…. 🙂
whats the size of your rear axle??
whats the size of the rear axle of the sette venom?tnx
“4. You can use standard QR wheels in the rear (135mm spacing)”
How does this handle drops? Any bottoming out? I just busted my Sette Flite in half on a 6 ft. drop…it seems to bottom out alot…Would this bottom on a 5.5 ft. to flat drop? Thanks…
Hucker,
How much do you weigh? I’m sure your rear shock wasn’t set up right…
As far as the Venom, I’ve yet to take it on any big drops over 3 feet. I weight 210lbs and it hasn’t bottomed out on me on anything.
I just had it running 225 psi on the rear shock, which was a Rockshox Monarch 3.1. I weight 160…so I had extra volume in it. Would a good coil over shock prevent bottoming out and thus frame stress?
I was scopping this frame out on pricepoint, seems like a great deal. I have a Mongoose Teocali elite right now, definitly a great bike, but i question if the frame has enough travel for some of the more “aggressive” All-mountain/freeride stuff i’ve been doing, do you think that the venom could be effecivley used as an All-Mountain bike?
MD86,
I think you could use the Venom as an AM bike. You can easily install a front derailleur and run 34/22 crank and a 34t rear cassette.
ok, cool. i was going to hopefully just switch all my components off the the teocali on to the venom, i believe most should swap over just fine. Most likely going with a Bomber 55 tst2 TI rc3 for a front fork, instead of the epicon that came stock on the teocali. Or do you think i should do this as a seperate build on the side? here are the specs on the teocali http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/mongoose-teocali-comp-full-suspension-mountain-bike-2008 thanks for your help
One thing you need to consider would be the fork travel. I’m not certain how much travel your 55TSt2, but the frame requires Recommended Fork Suspension Travel 7″-8″/ 180-200mm. I installed a Marz 66Light on mine.
they have 160mm, so looks like i’m comming up a bit short
are you using a standard qr on the rear or a 10mm axle?
“4. You can use standard QR wheels in the rear (135mm spacing)”
RL
What was your setup to get it to 35lbs? I’m really interested in this bike!
CC,
One of the things that made my ride lighter were the wheels and tires. I used some inexpensive XC wheels and I had one laced with a 20mmthru axle hub. I also used larger XC tires than thick DH kind.
what was the rest of the setup? bars brakes etc..?
Avid bb5
FSA MEGA EXO cranks/BB
LX rear Der
Had an MRP chain guide, but upgraded to Ethirteen chain guide
Azonic bar then switched to some no name 31.8 bars
Marz 66 light fork
and as far as frame size whats your dimensions?
I have the small.
what were the tires and tire sizes that you used?
what were the tires and tire sizes that you used?
Kenda Nevegal 2.5 front(DH casing). Rear wheel Kenda Telonix 2.2 (XC).
do you have to make any modifications to the frame to run a front derailuer?
I didn’t run a front der. but the frame is designed to have a front der, it has cable stops and guides.
I’m 5’8″ about 160lbs.. do you think the 17″ would be gonna be too much?
I’d probably go with the 18″, just run a super short stem.
well i use my bike for absolutely everything from all mountain riding to lift access dh.. its my mode of transportation too.. good choice or keep looking?
well i use my bike for absolutely everything from all mountain riding to lift access dh.. its my mode of transportation too.. good choice or keep looking?
I like my Venom, I use it for DH more than anything and I don’t use it as mode of transport. I suppose you could if you ran a double crank in the front and a 9speed cassette with tall gears.
is there anyway to fit a 1.5 steerer tube into this frame? some sort of slip or something.. i’m fairly new to mountain biking..
No. that’s a bigger steer than what the frame takes. It’s a 1 1/8 headtube.
How is the pedaling efficiency? Do you have to stiffen it up to climb?
CC,
One thing you have to understand, I used the Sette Venom primarily as a DH Race Bike. My cassette is an 11-27t with a 38t chain ring, so that mean I couldn’t climb with it. But when I had to sprint to the finish line, the bike didn’t have any noticeable bob from the rear.
Hello there, Im planning to build a All mountain and i need your opinion, should i go for sette venom or khs xct 535 (2008). Thanks
Robin,
You can’t go wrong with either frame. One thing you gotta keep in min with the Venom, it needs a 6-7″ travel fork. The XCT 535 uses 5.5″. Trade off-Venom: More travel, but heavier. XCT 535 lighter, less travel.
i bought one from price point about one year ago. iv been doing downhill on this bike and its put up with a lot of beatdown and for ther pirce i picked up frame only for 299. bang out price. set up on white boxxer team…. great nike for the price