I'm pleased to be able to say that we're joined here today for a special tech extra
by Caley Fretz
of Velo News.
Caley is normally based in Boulder, Colorado, but spends most of the summer in Europe
with his ear to the ground, going to the races and finding out the latest tech news.
Caley, how's it going here at the Giro, there's not too many new products, but you have found some
interesting stuff.
It's a little early for most of the new stuff, we're going to see a whole lot
rolled out shortly before the Tour, usually the Dauphine, Tour de Suisse.
But we have seen a couple of new things, we've seen
brand new wheels from Mavic, Cadel Evans on a new frame, we've seen Bradley Wiggins
training on a new TT bike. Let's start with Bradley's TT bike, shall we?
What were your first reactions to it? I'm sure they're pushing the
boundaries of the 3:1 ratio
it honestly looks like maybe a collaborative project with some of the
team GB
engineers because a lot of the features, particularly on the front end
and aero-bar region
look a lot like Bradley's TT bike from the Olympics last year.
Other than that - integrated brakes, they say it's about 15% stiffer,
and significantly faster
against the wind, so
it should be
a good improvement for him if he chooses to ride it or can ride it
in the upcoming time trial.
Interestingly the only size that is UCI approved so far is
Wiggins' size. It's a 55, so obviously he will be the only one
riding it at the next time trial I think.
That is quite a special advantage for him potentially. You mentioned as well about Cadel Evans' new
BMC.
It's interesting that it's clearly designed for light weight
and nothing to do with aerodynamics.
No, definitely not.
BMC has their TMR-01, their aero machine
which couple of their riders are on, generally the guys that are either going to be sprinting
on a flat stage or are going to be pulling all day,
but Cadel is stuck with
their light
climbing bike. The new one is even wider at the bottom bracket,
it's really quite big and chunky, apparently it's lighter than the last version.
There's not a whole lot of changes from the old model, it looks
a little bit lighter, probably a little bit stiffer,
probably the next version of the team machine SL-01 which they've
had for couple of years now.
Let's talk a little bit about rider preference with these bikes, because
unlike a few years ago where teams had one stock frame for each rider,
theres a selection now - they've got their classics bikes,
they've got their light, climbing bikes and they've got their aero bikes.
But it's very interesting to see who chooses what, because there's a real disparity, even within individual teams.
Absolutely. I think most of the teams now have some sort of option.
Most of the bike manufacturers have some sort of aero
bike at this point,
most riders, particularly most GC riders are still sticking with the lightweight bikes.
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you look at the math,
but it's it's perhaps what they're used to, and they
don't spend a whole lot of time
alone in the wind until the very end of the races anyway, so
perhaps they
go for ride quality and light weight over the
aerodynamic benefits. These guys have a different set of considerations than
your average
rider, I would say. They also have
quite a bit of history with whatever bike that they've chosen
to ride.
A lot of the aero bikes have
funky brake designs that they maybe don't trust as much as they would trust
a traditional break.
For your average rider who's going to go out and just wants to
hammer the
hour at lunch or the hour before work in the morning and wants to do it a little
bit faster, aero bikes are a great option. Let's go to wheels now.
You mentioned that there are riders here on a new Mavic wheel
and also Zipp testing out a new hub, I believe, under Mark Cavendish.
Both of these are the wider aerodynamic rims that's reflecting a
trend everywhere now. Absolutely. Cavendish is on...
they won't really say...but it looks to me like it's similar to their new disc
hub, which tells me it's probably from their latest group
with some extra spokes for extra stiffness. The rim is the same, it's
a traditional 808 or a 404.
Mavic has brought out a shallower version of their CXR-80
which they debuted
mid-summer last year
and that's a a wider rim at the brake track than they've done in the past
it doesn't have the same toroidal shape as a Zipp or a HED or an Envy.
These wider rims are also giving us this
new trend of wider tyres as well, now you picked up on this last summer I believe?
Sure, I'd say that probably 95% of the field are now on 25cc,
25mm tyres.
It was
started a couple of years ago
with the wider rims,
the wide tyre interfaces a little bit better. It's not necessarily more aerodynamic
than a 23 but
it's less of a disadvantage than it used to be. A 25 with a narrow rim
was a significant aero disadvantage but a 25 with a
wide rim is is less so.
With the increase in traction and comfort
and decreases in rolling resistance
it's become a much better option.
On top of that,
companies like Shimano which have really gotten into the wheel business in the
last couple of years,
pushing their wheels really hard at the pro tour level, I think
there are 4 or 5 teams here all riding Shimano, they actually told mechanics
not to run anything lower than a 25 last year, and so all those teams
have been on a 25 for about a year now. Great stuff,
thanks for joining us Caley. And obviously if you want any more super in-depth tech news
then head over to Velo News.