- This is the Factor Slick time trial bike
of Ag2r's Romain Bardet.
Factor bikes have been around for some time now
and they were born in Norfolk in the UK.
They came from a group of people who are working
with bf1systems, an engineering company
who worked with the likes of Ferrari, Aston Martin
Maserati etc and also the whole host of
Formula One teams and other motorsports too.
And they made their Factor bike.
Last year was the first time we saw it in on the pro scene
with ONE Pro Cycling but this year
is their first foray into the World Tour with Ag2r.
Now, we've seen a couple of their bikes on GCN before
on the road side of things but I think it's the first time
we've seen their new Slick time trial bike
which was released back in March of this year.
And they put a lot of time and effort
into making this lighter and more aerodynamic
and of course Romain Bardet used this
en route to third overall at the Tour de France this year.
One of the things which has been quite unique to Factor
ever since their early framesets is this split down tube
which is now called the Twin Vane Evo.
Now they claim that it does reduce drag quite significantly
about a hundred grammes of drag less
at 40 kilometres per hour.
And even more than that if you go at race speed apparently.
That is of course if your race speed
is above 40 kilometres per hour
which mine probably isn't any longer.
And what it does mean is that if you want to mount
a bottle cage on the down tube here
you see Romain Bardet only has one
on the seat tube at the moment
you have to get a special mount which crosses over
on these two bolts just here.
Another difference between this bike and its predecessor
is the much wider seat stays and also forks there.
This is mainly for aerodynamic reasons
but of course it means you can fit wider tyres
with plenty of clearance there as well.
I say you can fit up to 28mm tyres
I think that's mainly down to the fact
that the chainstays are still reasonably close
to the wheel because
looking here at the seat stays and the fork as well
you can probably almost fit cyclocross tyres in there
if you so wished.
Now one thing I know
that Factor are particularly proud about
is the cockpit there at the front
which they designed rigorously
with company called 51 Speedshop
an American company who specialise in bike fitting
and also performance analysis.
And they are extremely adjustable those bars at the front
from their height to the reach
to the angle to the width of the elbow pads et cetera
which makes it much easier
for the mechanics to get their riders
into the right positions
if they've been in the wind tunnel for example.
And something else that you don't see really
on most other time trial bikes is what I'm going to call
a mono-stack.
That's stack between the tri-bars
and the flat bars which come underneath.
And most of the time these days
if sort of riders have got a stack
there are two stacks underneath
one for each of the bar extensions
but here, there is just the one and right behind it
is the junction box for Shimano's Di2.
Let's take a look at the rest of the bike then.
Ag2r are sponsored by French wheel manufacturer Mavic
and he's running the Comete Pro Carbon SI front wheel
and here at the back he's got the carbon disc wheel.
Don't be disconcerted about this big hole here
with the valve in the side.
Once they've got the tyre to pressure on race day
they will cover that with some tape
so it's much more aerodynamic.
The Dura-Ace groupset is pretty much throughout
although I do have this hanger here at the back
the cage which is supplied by CeramicSpeed.
And I have to say, it does really stand out
with the size that low a jockey will particularly is
not too many of the pro teams are running them just yet.
The cranks are supplied by SRM, this is their latest model
which they worked on with THM
the specialist lightweight company.
Fully carbon cranks and I understand
they're only 99 grammes per crank
which really is quite unbelievable.
The Dura-Ace chainrings
are currently 56 teeth and 44 on the inside.
And here at the back a fairly narrow range cassette
11 only up to 25 which is very narrow
for an 11-speed cassette.
Behind the cranks
there's something which I never spotted before
it's a K-Edge mount which prevents of course
the chain from coming off the small chainring.
But it also extends a little bit further down
it's a special SRM version which has the magnet at the end
which trips the SRM into power basically
when you start turning the cranks.
Very neat, much better I guess than sticking the magnet
on to the frame itself.
Also, something which I haven't mentioned so far
about the frame
the front derailleur mount here is removable.
So if you want to run a one-bike system
with a single front chainring
and you want to be more aerodynamic
you can take with that off.
Up on top Romain Bardet had decided to go
for a Fizik Ares TT-specific saddle
which has got the integrated grip
as oppose to some of the sandpaper which you see
on other riders normal saddles.
The tyres are supplied by Continental
and he's using the Podium TT tubeless
in 25mm version.
Now, just been doing some measurements of the bike
and it seems as though the saddle height is roughly
77 centimetres from the centre of the bottom bracket
to roughly where he'll be perched on the saddle.
As about six centimetres from the tip of the saddle
behind the bottom bracket
so reasonably way back for a TT bike
most riders tend to be on that five centimetre point.
And in between the tip of the saddle
and the end of the extensions here
is 86 centimetres almost bang on
so he's around about 80 centimetres which is the limit
from the tip of the extensions
to the centre of the bottom bracket measured horizontally.
Before I started the video I did have a quick word
with Baden Cooke who's now working with Factor bikes
and he claims that this bike
is a kilo and a half lighter than its predecessor
which is quite remarkable.
Unfortunately I can't check what the actual weight is
because I've left the scale at the GCN office.
I do apologise for that.
Please don't be too harsh
in the comments section down below.
If you've got any thoughts on this bike
you can though leave them in that comment section
and if you haven't yet subscribed to GCN
you can do so now by clicking on the globe.
Meanwhile, if you like your time trial bikes at the Vuelta
we got a TT tech piece and you can find that
by clicking just up there.
Or in the other hand
if you haven't yet seen the latest GCN show
to find that in the other corner down there.