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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
Weight

11.35lbs (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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Rather than boring you with too many details of our weekend, here’s the nitty gritty from my point of view.

Camped at Fontana on Saturday night. Got way too cold, won’t do that again.

Got about 4 practice runs, on run 2 flatted at the beginning. Walked 35 mins back to base camp.

Race day, got suited up, brought snacks to the mountain. Lined up with my category, rode really well all through out except one corner. Hit a boulder, went over the bars. I was ok, and so was the bike. Wasted 5 seconds getting back on. Rode as fast as I could all the way through.

Rode the Sette Venom…AWESOME BIKE!

Tony and David Cheering me on. It feels good to hear your team rooting for you.

Took 4th that day. Not bad, but not good also.

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One of our readers, “WiLdMaN” sent in some photos of his own Sette Venom. He basically parted out his DH bike and built up the Venom. Check out the dual crown fork! Not quite sure what the build specs are, but I’m hoping he would chime in and leave a comment with it.

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This past Sunday I headed back to Santiago Oaks, one of my favorite trails in So Cal.  Meeting me were RL, Val and our friend Khoa (this would be his first time at S. Oaks).   RL was riding his recently built Sette Venom, a 7” travel bike.  The night before RL had some reservations about riding the Venom.  Built for FR/DH, he didn’t have the right gearing for the 3Bs.   At some point I was able to convince him to bring it and I’ll walk up with him, if I had to…

Onto the trail – Most of the time, the ride into the park and the climb up the 3Bs is uneventful.  Just as we reach the base of the 1^st B, I started shifting to a higher cog to be ready for the climb and SNAP! The right thumb shifter was super loose with no tension what so ever.  Looking at my chain, it was positioned at the middle of my cassette, unable to go any higher.  We stopped and tried to fix it but no luck.  The cable was not loose and it appears there was something broken internally within the right shifter pod.  So what happens next?  I did end up walking with RL. 

No biggie as the 1^st B, is really the tougher of the three.  Reaching the top of the 1^st B, we rested for a bit and tried to tinker with my rear derailleur.  Still no luck! The good thing is I can still drop down to my granny.  Val and Khoa went ahead on the climb while RL and I stopped at the top of the 2^nd B.  Here were some boulders that look like a fun spot to for the Venom to jump over .  RL took a few runs which you will see in the video below.

Dropping down into Chutes is always a blast.  RL and I went down the first section fairly fast.  However, since there were other bikers on the trail we slowed down a few times just so we can stay together as a group.  Khoa was riding fairly well for a newbie.  As we reached the bottom of Chutes, RL was behind Khoa.  Not exactly sure what happened next but as we continued to descend, the trail narrowed and all of a sudden Khoa crashes.  RL stops to his left and I continue to go forward towards Khoa.  Not wanting to run him over or go OTB I veered to the right into the shrubs.  We got up, gathered ourselves and finished the ride.  Scratches were the worst of it… a good breakfast after and we were all good.  Below is a video of our ride.

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It’s been a year since I’ve ridden at the Wellington Ranch. If you don’t recall my posting from last year, Wellington Ranch belongs to our friend’s family, the Wellingtons. They own about 20 acres of land in Temecula, Ca.

Our long time friend, Scott Finch (yes he’s Tony’s brother) along with his 14 year old son Alex built a small, but fun downhill trail on the ranch. It’s a very interesting trail because it mixes in some off camber sections, brake bumps, jumps, rock gardens, berms and a small ladder bridge.

On Saturday after dinner, Alex, Chad (our friend’s son) and I hiked up the trail with our bikes.

Small ladder bridge that needed some cleaning…Sette Venom waiting to be ridden.

Alex goes first, while I get my helmet on.

Then it was my turn. By the way, the Sette Venom is an awesome ride. It responds like a sports car that has monster tires on it. Being a 35lb rig, this was one quick and nimble bike. I never felt like I was fighting to control it. The 7″ rear suspension was great when it came to landing the jumps from the trail

Chad’s turn.

Rock garden at the end.

As night fall approached, we decided to call it a day and continue the following morning.

The next morning the boys and I got up early to beat the hot summer sun. This time we only did one run, since it was already starting to get pretty hot. After our first run, Alex told Chad to take a jump at the very end of the trail, but with Alex laying on the ground.

Here’s Alex laying on the ground as Chad was rolling down the rock.

Chad clears Alex, but if you noticed the angle of the shot, Chad was headed towards me.

On the landing, Chad eats it. I ask him if he was ok, then next thing you know we hear Alex screaming, “RUN RUN RUN! BEES! BEES!” All three of us started running as fast as we could. Apparently when Chad landed, he caved in a Wasp nest that was under ground. As we’re running, I looked back and I see Chad trying to get his bike, I scream at him, “Just leave it!!!!!” Chad and Alex are so quick on their feet that they actually passed me. At that time I get stuck on my right pointer finger. I run towards the back of the house and the two run to the front.

As I’m slowing down my steps, I get stung again on my stomach! Then I look down and there were a bunch of them, I’m guessing 20 on my shoes and socks. I frantically stomp my feet to brush them off. But I get stung for the 3rd time! Mrs. Wellington, (owner of the ranch) tells me “to take off all your clothes.” I took my shoes off while the wasps were stuck on my shoe laces. I quickly pull off my socks and head towards the deck. I do a quick look to see if they’re still on me, luckily they weren’t.

We all head back inside the house and turns out either Alex or Chad had brought some stow aways with them since there were two wasps flying around. Anyhow, a few minutes later we look outside, and the wasps were super angry because they were circling the house. This lasted for a good while because after I took a shower, they were still flying.

So all in all, the three of us, walked away from this with a few stings. By the way, I forgot to mention that Chad was stung the day before by a bee or wasp on the upper lip! Man his lip was super swollen, looked like he had some major Botox work done. Anyhow, I had 3 spots where I got stung. 1 on the finger, another on my belly, and one on my right leg near the ankle. Alex got stung on the pinky, and Chad, luckily didn’t get any.

13 hours later, my right finger is still swollen, I still can’t bend it. My leg and belly are fine. Weird thing was, Alex didn’t even have a reaction to it like I did, his pinky swelled for an hour, then it went back to normal. We were just grateful that it wasn’t as bad as it was. We easily could have gotten attacked more than we did. But being the fatter and slower runner of the 3, I felt like I took one for the team by having the wasps get to me before Chad and Alex.

Other than the wasp fiasco, we had an awesome time riding and hanging out with great friends at the Wellington Ranch. Not sure if we’ll be going back there any time soon, but I do know this, when I do, I’ll make sure to get in better shape, so the next time we have to run from the wasps, I won’t be the last one…

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