- This stunning bike right here is Chris Froome's Pinarello.
Pinarello Lab Bolide, a time trial bike,
and it is possibly one of the fastest bikes that
is going to be used at this year's Tour de France.
I'm going to get to the frame in a second,
but I'm going to start at the very top of the bike
where he's using Fizik's time trial specific saddle.
That is the Ares that has metal rails,
Fizik call their metal rails K:ium,
and it also has a bit of grip tape on top just
to help Chris Froome when he's sliding forward
on the saddle in his aerodynamic tucked position.
Moving forward from that,
we get to one of the signature touches
of Team Sky's time trial bikes,
that is the 3D printed titanium handle bars.
Apparently, there are only select riders that have them,
but these come in around £10,000
so what's that, about $15,000 a go.
So, the 3D printed titanium extends to,
well extends funnily enough,
right the way to the end of the extensions.
The brake lever's are also 3D printed titanium.
One of the coolest things,
actually an update since I last looked at Team Sky bike,
is the 3D printed Garmin mount.
That's been reshaped.
It's got a pointed end now,
just to make it a little bit more aerodynamic.
Each set of 3D printed titanium handlebars
is heavily customised to suite each of the riders.
Your frontal aero is one of the most important
aerodynamic aspects when you're time trialling,
so to get as aerodynamic as possible,
they make bars that allow the riders to get
into their absolute perfect position,
a position that perhaps they may not be able
to get into using stock components.
If we go right to the end of the extensions,
Froome has Dura-Ace Di2 shifters.
He's actually turned them inwards.
Usually, those buttons would be facing upwards,
instead has them inwards.
The mechanics have added a lot of grip tape
to stop his hands sliding.
Froome's a rider who often prefers
to time travel with no gloves,
so that extra bit of grip is really important.
Had my hands on the shifters earlier, and it's actually,
although it is not perhaps the way in
that Shimano intended the shifters to be used,
it's quite an intuitive way to shift
when your hands are on the extensions.
Moving back from there, like I said the other day,
the brake lever's are 3D printed titanium.
There are two custom carbon fibre Dura-Ace Di2 shift buttons
on each of the time trial brakes.
The brake lever's are connected
to Pinarello Bolide TT brakes,
so the brakes are part of the overall frameset here,
as is the aerodynamic seat post.
The shifters are connected to Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 mechs.
So, there's an old style Dura-Ace Di2 front mech
and a newer Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 rear mech.
That's purely coincidental.
It's because Sky have taken a little while
to upgrade their TT bikes to the newest version of Dura-Ace,
and they're doing it piece by piece.
The chain-set, that's the brand new Dura-Ace.
That includes Stages powermeter,
so it's got a dual sided Stages powermeter to give Froome
real depth of data to analyse after his races.
The chain rings, they're all symmetric,
a personal preference of Chris Froome's,
and they are an incredible,
ahead of a very flat Tour de France time-trial.
46 inner, 58 outer.
The chain is Shimano and the cassette is also Shimano,
that's Dura-Ace, and that's an 11 through to 28.
In terms of wheels,
wheel choice is probably quite a difficult decision
for many time trial specialists to make.
You got to get it exactly right, improve aerodynamics,
and go as fast as possible.
Up front right now, Froome has got a Shimano C60,
and on that is a Continental Competition Pro Limited ALX,
25 millimetre wide tubular tyre.
That's likely to change.
Ahead of the time trial,
he might go for a tri-spoke front wheel,
he may go for a deeper front wheel.
Who knows?
On he back, he's got a Pro.
Pro is Shimano's in-house componentry brand.
Textreme Disc rear wheel,
and that's a really interesting shape.
So, the drive side is dead flat
and the non-drive side is lenticular,
and the tyre on that disc wheel
is a Continental Podium TT tubular tyre.
That's also 25 millimetres wide.
Pedals are Shimano Dura-Ace, they're the latest version,
and the bottle cage is a very, very subtle,
very light-weight Elite Leggero carbon fibre bottle cage.
So what about the finishing touches then?
Finishing touches are something I always talk about
as ways to, pro-cyclists and pro- team mechanics,
elevate the bikes and make them truly pro.
But, where do you go with finishing touches
on a bike that is as cool as this?
You've got 3D printed titanium handle bars,
one of the classiest of all finishing touches.
You have skateboard grip tap cut out
and perfectly placed by the mechanics
on every concept point on those handle bars,
so that Froome's hands don't slip.
You've got grip tap on the saddle.
You have got foam custom cut to perfectly fit
where Froome has his elbows on the bike.
I don't really think you can go anywhere
with the finishing touches, but possibly you can
because Sky have added a few more.
They've added a couple bits of resin here
just to make sure that the chain can't possibly
come off along side the K-Edge chain catcher.
They have perfected the shape of the Garmin mount out front,
which I think is just super cool.
They got the name sticker, of course.
You gotta have that as a pro-cyclist,
and they've even got grip tape on the shifters.
This is probably the most next level pro bike,
and the most next level TT bike, I've ever looked at.
So this TT bike is yet to be perfectly dulled in for Froome,
so we're gonna give the measurements a pass.
Broadly speaking, bike weight for a really flat time trial
is perhaps less relevant than it might be for a road bike
in a really hilly mountain state, for example,
so we're gonna pass on that as well.
We are, however, going to do the free hub sound test.
(clicking)
It's quite loud and I feel less at risk
of having my nose sliced off by getting close.
I have absolutely loved looking at this bike.
It's a stunner.
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