Until 2026, the ENVE Melee was the bike of choice for the TotalEnergies Pro Cycling Team. After moving on from custom geometry frames, ENVE released the Melee in the summer of 2022 as a do-it-all, all-rounder bike.
Indeed, it shares a lot of similarities with other similarly designed frames such as the Specialized Tarmac SL8, Cannondale SuperSix, and Factor Ostro VAM. These include the now standard integrated front end set-ups, dropped seat stays, and kamm-tailed tubing for reduced weight and increase virtual aerofoils.
The ENVE Melee stands out a bit from the rest of the crop of current aero bikes in that it does not have quite as aggressive a stack height. Indeed the 2025 Van Rysel RCR-F dropped the stack height even further than the 2024 RCR, and it is a fairly substantial 15mm lower than the Melee in a size 56cm. For reference a 56cm SL8 is also 6mm lower, the same as the Colnago Y1Rs and Cervélo S5, while the SuperSix is 4mm higher. Marginal differences, but the Melee certainly sits on the higher end when it comes to race bike stack height.
However, we are seeing more and more WorldTour pros abandoning slammed front end setups in favours of more stack to enable a position where they can ride with their forearms horizontal for extended periods. That might actually help the Melee’s cause for a bike that allows better maintenance of aero position in the real world.
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Back when we reviewed the ENVE Melee, the thing that impressed us was how it felt as lively as a lightweight racer, and as fast on the flats as other aero bikes. Of course this was a few aero bike generations ago, and ‘feeling’ aero doesn’t always mean it is aero.
35mm tyre clearance remains, as does an integrated two-piece set-up to allow for changes in geometry that won’t cost upwards of £500 and has far more variety than most one-piece offerings….
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