(funky jazz music)
- I'm here at the Challenge Championship Race
out in Slovakia.
We have got an absolutely stacked field here.
All the pro bikes have been lined up in transitions.
Earlier had a little look around,
and we found some pretty cool stuff for you.
(upbeat electronic music)
Here we have a really wild bike,
and it's a couple of really cool bits here.
We got some Bont Zero Plus shoes,
custom, with his name on there, Wild,
but the bit I love, actually, he's got
the new Cervelo P5 disc here, and he's used
the Aero bottle from the down tube, he's
got an additional one.
He's stuck it to his Aero bars, he's
cut a hole in the back of it and then
put in an Aero straw.
So it's a really nice little Aero bottle
that works with the bars.
It's ingenious.
Well this isn't something we see
all that often, this Pro has not
got their bike shoes on their bike,
so they've clearly got the bike shoes
in their transition bag, they plan on
putting them on there, running through,
um, yeah just really unusual.
Clearly not going for the flying mount
as everyone else is in this field.
Right, so here we have Ben Kanute's Trek
Speed Concept, and we featured this
before in a Pro bike, but it's something
I've just noticed now before the race starts,
is that he's actually got some tape
on the saddle.
Now this is like a rubberised texture,
which feels quite grippy, actually, so
obviously Ben wants to stay nice and firmly
in place.
Maybe he's struggled with slipping
around in the saddle, so that's really
cool just cut to size, stick on I'm sure
he can just replace it as and when as well.
One other thing I noticed, actually, some
Bontrager bike shoes on here, custom, Kanute
on one side, USA on the other, also the stars
and the blue and red and white colors on there.
Really nice.
Well everyone loves a Sebastian Kienle
bike, and he has not dissappointed this time.
Because we have got the Scott Tri shoes here,
very custom color way, with Sebastian Kienle
written on them.
It's also got the brand new SRAM AXS group set
which is completely redesigned, so it's
actually got 12 sprockets on the back, and
to account for that they've got a slightly
narrower chain which is also flat along
the top, which looks absolutely wicked.
And we've also got a one by setup, and
really exciting addition to this bike
this year is he's got the speed bars,
which we're seeing on a number of Pros now.
So these are custom molded to their arms.
David McNamee, he's got a set, we've also
got a set on Lucy Charles here, and
Reece Barclay's.
But yeah they look absolutely monstrous,
there's, they just look like a weapon
on the front of the bike.
And also something I've just noticed now
is Sebastian's actually cut a hole in the
front of his Aero bottle here on the
front of the Scott Plasma, so he's actually
repositioned the straw and then used a
magnet on the front.
Obviously just works better for his position.
(upbeat electronic music)
Right well we are a big fan of Andi Dreitz
here on the channel.
Absolute animal on the bike, but his bike also
is incredible.
He's got the Wilier turbine, it's the paint
work that just really stands out.
It's got that sort of like very slight
glittery effect to it.
But, wow, it is stunning.
(upbeat electronic music)
And here we have, in the Pro
transition, eh scrap that I'm just
struggling to get in here, but this is
Lucy Charles' S-Works bike here, but
I've actually noticed her bike shoes.
Well they're something I've not seen
before, they're some S-Works bike shoes
and they've got a BOA in the middle, actually
on the tongue, but the bit that really stood
out to me is just how thin they are.
So they almost feel like paper on the top.
Yeah, absolutely incredible, really well
ventilated, and I'm imagining extremely light.
Right we're here with Joe Skipper's bike,
an absolutely fantastic rider.
We've actually done a Pro bike with this
exact bike so we'll have a bit more detail
on this coming soon.
But here is, are the new Quintana Roo disc,
and he's also got a number of really cool
Drag 2 Zero additions.
We've got the brand new Drag 2 Zero Aero bars
which just a couple of athletes have at the
moment, and these have got a really
unusual shape but you can rest your
forearms onto these pads here.
But the really cool bit is the 3D printed
ends to them so they're almost like
little holders that you put your thumbs over
if you feel like you're in the cockpit
of a fighter jet or something.
He's also bodged a little metal bar across
there so you can put the arm rests in
a little bit closer.
He's got 62 single chain ring on there, he's
going one by.
He's also got a rotor one piece cassette, so
it's one of the lightest cassettes out there
on the market, and also a number of cool
ceramic speed additions.
It's the bike of Agnieszka Jerzyk, really
sorry if I got the pronunciation wrong
there but I tried as hard as I could.
It's an absolutely beautiful Orbea bike
here, in a beautiful custom color way,
and to match that she's got some Bont
shoes, exactly the same color way with
her name on it, which looks brilliant.
But I've also noticed on the back here
she's got some oversized pulley wheels
with a nice fade effect, again in the same
color way.
A really, really nice looking machine.
But if you're looking to learn anything from
Pro transitions, this probably isn't one of
them.
Now we are just moments away from starting the
race here at the championship, and this person
in the Pro field, Milosc, has clearly forgotten
to charge their DI2.
So they've got a power bank here going with
their charger cable.
Very last minute prep, I'm sure that was a
little bit tense last night when they
realised they hadn't done that.
(upbeat electronic music)
This is Anja Ippach's bike here, or
previously known as Anja Beranek, she's
riding the Quintana Roo PR 6 disc, which
is a fairly new bike, came out even at the
end of 2018 or beginning of 2019, I'm not
too sure, but it features something called
the Shift Plus technology, which is very
different from a lot of bikes.
You'll notice that here with a rubber over
sized rear stay as compared to the other
side, and the idea is that you're trying
to shift the wind over to the non drive
side because the drive side is quite messy
in terms of the air flow because of the chain
rings spinning around.
Whether it actually works or not I don't know,
but it's a cool concept nonetheless.
Well this is Lisa Roberts' bike, this
is the brand new P3X only recently released.
Now the P3X is actually lighter, stiffer,
and slightly cheaper.
But yeah still an incredible bike.
Ever so slightly different from the
previous P5X, which is still around.
But something I've also just noticed,
just now as I was talking about the bike,
is that she's got some SLF Jockey wheels,
which are quite similar to Ceramic speed
oversized jockey wheels.
Same idea and principal is that you're
trying to smoothen out that chain flow,
reduce the friction going around tight angles.
But it's also in nice American custom design.
There's some fantastic stuff in there.
really interesting to see those speed
bars on so many bikes, Wassily
Kiely's, Lucy Charles', Dave McNamee's, Reece
Charles Barclay, they're not cheap bars, either.
But I hope you liked today's video, please do
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If you'd like to find out a little bit more
about this event, the Championship Race,
you can find our Championship in Numbers
video by clicking just down here.
If you'd like to see some more tech videos
then just click down here.