- Down here I may well have the fastest bike
that you've never heard of.
This same bike was actually ridden by a team
that set the British 25 mile time trial team record.
It was also ridden to the third fastest
25 mile time in British history,
the fifth fastest 10 mile time in British history
and also ridden by the 2018 10 mile British champion.
Amongst many other accolades.
Now this is one very impressive bike.
(soft music)
It is the Ribble Ultra Tri of Adam Bowden
the recent Ironman 70.3 Dubai winner.
Now those in the UK may well recognize the name of Ribble,
it's a pretty well known bike shop in the UK
and the Ultra Tri is the end product
of two years worth of research,
development and a heck of a lot of testing
with aerodynamic expert Dan Bigham
who also, conveniently, happens to be
a worldclass cyclist in his own right,
racing for the Ribble Pro cycling team
that achieved those results I mentioned before
aboard a very similar bike,
the Ribble Ultra TT,
which is ever so slightly different in set up,
obviously this is the tri version
with a few additions all race ready
for the championship race here in Slovakia.
So let's take a closer look.
(upbeat music)
We're starting on the front end
and I've got to say it does look remarkably clean
and also, actually, quite simple in it's design
because it goes from this nice aerodynamic
flat base bar design and then,
actually, into the middle
it goes back to a cylindrical shape
as you'd find on most road bikes,
which would suggest that beneath this covering here
is actually just a standard roadster
meaning that you can adjust the tilt and the angle
of these base bars really easily
but also, when it comes to traveling,
you'll be able to remove these bars really quickly,
really easily,
pop it into your bike and whatnot,
which I'm sure, most of you are aware that isn't so easy
with most TT bikes out there.
This Aero covering over the stem also goes nice and flush
into this front hydration bottle here,
which has a nice straw coming out that can be angled
also it can be filled on the go,
it's got a little opening on the top,
that can also be slid off upwards there.
And then moving behind that Aero covering on the stem
we've also got this rubber Bento box for gels and whatnot
and that's just bolted onto the top tube.
Back to the bars themselves,
we got a quite high riser stack here
which is quite interesting to me.
I'm really interested to ask Adam about that
later on when he joins us.
And then on top of that we've got these
USE Carbon Ski-bend Aero bars,
which are also remarkably short, actually.
They don't come out that much further beyond the base bar
and the levers.
And then between that we've got his Garmin computer,
which is attached using one of the profile mounts,
which attaches, actually, to both aero bars
so you can get that computer really nice and central.
On the end of those he's got Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 blips
which just the single buttons on either aero bar
and also on the base bar
but I will discuss the gearing in a little bit more detail
later because quite exciting stuff on this bike here today.
Moving down from that we've got his front brake
which is somewhat hidden.
It's hidden a little bit behind
the front hydration system here
but it's also really nice and flush with the fork there
so I'd go as far as saying it's hidden.
The rear brake's also under the bottom bracket
with a nice Aero shield.
But let's talk about this front fork
because it's a really fat, really wide fork
which we're seeing more and more so on TT bikes these days.
The idea of this whole increased depth of the fork
is that it allows the airflow to smoothen out over that fork
creating less disturbance when the airflow comes off
and therefore less drag.
And the idea behind this increased distance
between the fork and the wheel
is that the wheel itself creates quite a lot
of disturbance of the air
so a lot of research is suggesting that
by increasing the distance
between the fork and the wheel
will actually reduce the drag.
But now, let's take a look at this
rather meaty chain ring.
(upbeat music)
It is a 56 tooth chain ring.
Pretty big.
Now he has actually reported
that he felt like he was spinning out
on a lot of training rides and races recently
so he's opted for a slightly larger chainring
and also, given that this course is very flat,
it's pancake flat in fact,
it's just 70 meters worth of elevation
it's a pretty good choice.
So much so, he's decided to go one-by here
to remove the small chain ring
which has meant that he's actually got rid of the front mech
and he's gone for this PCD classic one-by chainring
which has a narrow wide design
meaning it won't drop the chain
or hopefully not, at least.
He's obviously running Dura Ace cranks
which are in a 170 length
and then on the end of those he's got
Garmin Vector 3 peddles.
The chain, well, he's got a wax coating on here
I don't know exactly what coating he's using.
But then on the back to match the gear ratios at the front
he's got 11/25 cassette which is
obviously well suited to the course out here.
Beneath that, obviously, we've got the
Dura-Ace Di2 rear mech
and he's even gone to the effort of actually
taping the cable for that to the frame.
In terms of the wheels, Adam is a Parcours ambassador
so on the front he's got a Parcours Passista wheel
which is actually just a 56 mil rim depth
so a little bit shallower than I expect
for quite a flat course out here.
But I feel he makes up for that at the back
because he's got a Parcours disc,
which is a really nice looking wheel.
And then on both his wheels he's actually got the
Schwalbe Pro One clincher tires
in both 25 on front and rear
and I'll be asking him what pressure he's going to be using
for race day in a moment too.
And finally I do assume he's probably
going to be taping up this valve opening.
He's just left it open so he can make those
last race day adjustments.
And some little finishing touches
we have this nice Aero storage box on the back here
which is nice and flush with the frame
and I imagine that would just be used
for storing some of those race day spares
and whatnot in there.
And then we've got this Elite Crono Aero bottle
on the down tube.
And another storage option for hydration
that's on the back here behind the saddle
that's attached to the saddle rails
using the Tacx bottle mount.
And then we've got this saddle, the ISM PN 1.1
which Adam said he, actually, has been
struggling to find which one works for him,
so this is one that he's feeling really good on
at the moment.
But now it's probably time we actually get Adam in.
(upbeat music)
- Right Adam, thanks so much for joining us today
so this is all pretty much race ready for this weekend.
Talk us through the hydration and fueling set up
for the day.
- Yeah, I generally start with almost like a
full bike system.
I've a 750ml carbohydrate electrolyte drink in the back.
I'll probably carry, roughly, about four gels.
In the front, similar sort of
carbohydrate electrolyte content drink.
Obviously I use this as much as possible,
the Aero System integrated water system,
that massively helps you to stay in that Aero position
so I think, for me, it's having as much on the bike
to start off with as possible.
- Super, and in terms of the position,
I'm really interested in this because
I know you've done a lot of work in the past on it,
but one that that struck me was actually
how short the Aero bars are.
And also actually the hight as well.
So, talk me through what you've been up to there.
- When I was riding I just had,
it felt like my quads were being restricted
and I didn't have as much power generation
that I could have.
So then we decided to bring the front end up
bit by bit and
each 10 mil I was then producing more power quite easily.
So eventually they raised me up 40 mil.
And then I thought well
we got to make sure this is still aero.
You know what I mean?
But we went in the tunnel and
it was actually better in that position
and it was the same, it was just as aero
but I was producing more power.
- Fantastic
Okay, right, back to race day set up.
So, tires...
What pressure do you think
you're going to be running on race day?
- I think I'll run about 85, 90.
More likely on the 85 just for more comfort
and still better rolling positions
at that sort of tire pressure.
But I always find it takes the bumps better
and the unevenness of the road and stuff
and enables me to run how I run.
- Yeah
- So it's more of a comfortable ride.
- Well thanks ever so much for that Adam,
it's been fantastic running through this bike
and definitely a unique bike.
We haven't see this before.
Really cool.
If you guys like this video
please do hit that thumbs up button
and if you'd like to see more from GTN
just click on the globe and subscribe.
- If you'd like to see more of the testing done
by Dan Bigham then click here.