Alex Paton: The current rollers, our world record stands at 57.18 kilometers. That was set in 2019
in Italy by Leonardo Sapanaro. Here on GCN Tech, though, we can't just take the approach of trying
harder and hoping for the best. No, no, no, no, no. What we need to do is use the best
tech available to try and make life as easy as possible and help me ride as fast as possible.
[music] To break this world record
of riding on the bike rollers, I'm going to have to ride at a speed of 57.18 kilometers per hour.
Normally, riding at that speed, aerodynamics would be everything,
but for this record, the only part of me and my bike that's going to be riding really fast
is the wheels. They'll be going fast. For those, aerodynamics is still going to be
everything. For the other components we need to focus on reducing friction and the drag.
To help me out on beating this record, I've picked four key areas to optimize. I've got the wheels
and tires, which I'm going to be changing out. I'm going to optimize the drivetrain,
the gearing, and the bike rollers themselves, because look at these. They're out of my garage
and they're a little bit tired and rusty, but they're still perfectly up for the job.
As I already mentioned, the wheels are the only part of the bike that
are going to be moving super fast, so they do need to be optimized for aerodynamics.
Sure, they're not going to be moving forwards through the air like they would be when you're out
riding on the road, but they are still going to be traveling very fast. Aerodynamics does come into
it. Vision have helped me out here and supplied me with a Metron 80-millimeter front wheel and a rear
disc wheel for the bike. These are Vision's most aerodynamically optimized wheelset,
designed for time trials. These are going to serve me perfectly well.
Paired with these, I'm using Pirelli tubular tires.
Normally, I would opt for tubeless tires but for this record attempt, I need to use incredibly
high pressures in the tires to reduce the friction as much as possible. Unfortunately, a tubeless
system just isn't designed for those super high pressures. I'm going to be pumping these
tubular tires right up to their maximum working limit. It can be quite an annoying and fiddly
job gluing tubular tires onto the wheels, but some kind person here at GCN Megabase has already done
the job for me. [music]
Optimizing your drivetrain is something everyone that racers should consider doing because when
you're racing, every last one counts. Sure, it's not crucial for your weekend rides,
but when you're racing and competing, it's well worth considering. To help me out,
the guys at Muc-Off have sent out their nano chain, which is hands treated with their unique
blend of waxes and oils and is possibly the world's fastest chain available commercially.
It offers potential savings of up to 10 watts. [music]
To help reduce friction in the drivetrain even further,
I've got myself some Kogel ceramic bearings for the bottom bracket and ceramic bearings in this
oversized pulley wheel system. These are going to help optimize the drivetrain even further and
crucially help save me watts, which is going to result in me riding even faster. I know ceramic
bearings is a subject that gets people fired up in the comments section, but in independent tests,
they have been proven to be that little bit more efficient than standard bearings.
That's a saving I'm going to make use of. [music]
To stand any chance of breaking this world record, I'm going to need to ride very fast. With
the usual gearing that's on my bike, even just to match the world record pace, I would need to have
an average cadence of over 100 RPM for the hour. That is just about achievable but that's going to
be very tough. I don't really want to just match the record, I want to knock it out of the park
and make it incredibly tough for the next person to try and beat.
To help me do that, I'm going to be using this ginormous 62-tooth drag-to-zero aero chainring
to help me do that. This 62-tooth chainring combined with an 11-tooth sprocket on the back,
an average cadence of 100 RPM, theoretically, I could ride at 71 kilometers an hour. Now,
I say theoretically because I have got to have the power to be able to turn that gear and that's
yet to be tested. Leaving myself open to a bit of failure here, but hopefully, it will all work out.
[music] What about the rollers themselves?
Whilst they already spin nice and freely, I'm going to take them apart, remove the additional
band that's fitted to the rollers. Then, for the bearings, I'm going to take the seal off,
clean out any old grease, refit some ceramic chain lube in there to make them spin even faster.
I'm going to need to make a start on getting all of these parts fitted and getting the rollers
stripped apart and cleaned out ready for some fresh oil, which I guess you should probably say,
what, 30 seconds or so? [music]
Well, that was pretty easy to get all those parts fit, and the bike looks absolutely incredible.
Those parts have really transformed it. To record my efforts, I'm not only going to be using one
Wahoo head unit, but I'm going to use two. These are going to be paired up to two-speed sensors.
They're going to be fitted to my front wheel to record my efforts. I'm also going to calibrate
those sensors in the Wahoo companion app to make sure everything is as accurate as possible.
[music] That rounds off
my rollers Guinness world record tech video. I hope you enjoyed this video,
and why not head over to the GCN channel to check out the actual attempt and see how I got on.
Please let us know in the comments section down below what kind of setup you choose for taking on
the World record hour yourself. See you later. [00:06:12] [END OF AUDIO]