(relaxing music)
- I'm here at the Vuelta a Espana,
and I want to check out some of the custom bike tech
on the pro's bikes.
So I'm gonna go around, get my grubby little hands on
their bikes and see what they've got
and then what is custom more importantly on their bikes,
come on.
Looking at the custom bits of tech
isn't necessarily that easy believe it or not
a lot of the pros they do in fact
ride a standard bike and equipment.
So, what have I spotted?
This, this custom 3D printed GPS mount
on the handle bars of Fabio Aru.
So most of the mounts they actually come out straight,
where as this one has a rise then straight.
So it's just a little bit higher,
presumably his not gonna have to crook his neck
quite as much when looking down at the screen.
Dimension Data, as far as I'm aware,
are the only team in the World Tour Peloton
who have customized hubs, or as close as you can get anyway.
Check out these from Chris King,
they're in this anodized green color to match the team kit.
I love that.
Have you got customized hubs?
Let me know in the comments.
Now here's a really odd little bit of custom tech
that I've just spotted on the TT bikes,
or at least some of them of the Trek Segafrego team.
Because I've not seen anyone use this for quite a while,
cork brake pads.
So probably 15 years ago, something like that,
lots of people were using those with carbon fiber wheels,
but these days people tend to use
a rubber compound pad instead,
specifically designed for carbon fiber,
but presumably these riders in question have chosen
to use cork because they prefer
the braking qualities using cork.
So, yeah, there we are.
I do know a few of my friends who have real
weight weenie bikes at home,
they replaced their rubber compound carbon pads
for these cork ones because they are significantly lighter.
As for the differences in braking quality,
well that ultimately does lie on the braking track
of the wheel in question then.
Check out this for a bit of custom tech,
a 58 tooth chain ring.
I'm pretty sure that Shimano don't actually offer this
as a standard part for aftermarket sales.
I've certainly never seen one for sale,
if you have, let me know down there in the description,
because I'll be keen to find out where you can buy them from
and get this, on the back it says proto,
so I reckon it's probably a team issue only kind of product.
It's cool isn't it?
I do love a bit of custom tech like this.
One of the most popular custom hacks of mechanics here
in the world tour is in fact using this.
No, it's not honey it's actually tubular glue,
but in order to get it onto the tires a little bit easier,
putting into one of these squeezy bottles
is way, way easier to apply it neatly onto the base tape
as you can see.
I love things like that.
However, I'm not gonna go near it with my slice of bread
because I could be in a sticky situation, quite literally.
What about this then for a lovely bit of custom tech.
This is the bike of Thibaut Pinot who I think
is one of the most exciting bike racers there is.
On his top tube he's got a list of victories
that he has taken in various races
along the way of his career.
I think that is absolutely brilliant.
Let's just hope,
no actually I do hope he gets some more victories
during this year's Vuelta a Espana,
but I wonder what they'll do if they get the old stencils
out and try and add a few more to the top tube.
But with paint work like this,
I'm a huge, huge, huge fan of it.
Brilliant, nice one Thibaut.
What about this then for a bit of custom tech?
A little rubber bumper guard here
down here on the chain stay,
to stop the chain from that annoying rattle
that sometimes can happen over rough ground
if you're probably most likely in the small ring
and then the little sprocket here on the rear,
although it could happen as well on the big ring
over particularly rough road.
But I think things like that are really nice
just to protect the paint work,
and also stop that annoying rattle.
And what about this then?
Down here on the right hand chain stay,
just here on the outside,
behind the chain set tucked away is a little threaded port,
what could that be for?
Well my sources tell me that is in fact for a cadence magnet
so you could screw a very small one inside of there.
I have seen some of the teams here actually putting
magnets inside of the chain stay itself
and holding it in there with some epoxy resin.
I didn't want to get my grubby little hands dirty though,
so I haven't been able to actually tell this team,
or at least help them fit one in there themselves.
Carrying speed through a time trial is obviously
ultra important and vital as it is whilst riding
a standard road stage,
however for time trial stages,
it's pretty common practice for mechanics to fit
a larger inner ring then you would find in commonplace
on most bikes.
So normally you'd have a 39 or lower
there on the inner chain ring,
however this one's been fitted with a 44 tooth chain ring.
Why?
Well I imagine for the unfortunate incident
if your chain was to dislodge and move inwards,
you are then gonna be having a lower impact
on your cadence from those changes in chain ring size.
This chain catcher from K-Edge is really cool
and certainly has a good functional too
to help out a rider.
Firstly it's gonna prevent the chain from coming
off and jamming in between the chain set and the frame,
which in turn is gonna damage your paint work
and possibly damage the frame too.
And then check out this for a little bit of Billy bonus,
it's got a magnet built onto the bottom of it.
What's that for then?
Well that is for the power meter.
So it acts as a trigger if you like for the cadence sensor.
So this Shimano power meter does require a separate
magnet to be fitted onto the chain stay traditionally.
But with this, you don't need to.
You got a bonus one fitted onto that chain catcher.
What about this then for a bit of custom tech
on the front of this time trial bike
belonging to Ben King of Team Dimension Data?
At first I thought this was some sections of old
Michelin air bead latex inner tubes.
But they're not, they're far too thick for that.
Instead it could well be some heat shrink
which has been put onto the time trial extensions
instead of using the Joystick handlebar tape
who sponsor the team.
Presumably he likes to have almost minimal feel
or minimal bulk rather but maximum feel there
and a little bit of extra grip.
I don't know, if I see Ben I'll try and find out
and let you know at some point.
And what about this?
It's a bridge for his GPS mount just held on,
wait for this, using electrical tape.
MacGyver style building.
Now you don't get much more custom than you've
got a bike here at the Vuelta a Espana
that is fitted with components that only two other
riders here at the race have got on their bikes too.
This I've just spotted is the prototype of
the Campagnolo Super Record EPS 12 speed group set.
How cool is that?
Doesn't have any logos on it either.
And the lucky rider who's got this group set on his bike
for the Vuelta a Espana is Maxime Monfort
of the Lotto Soudal squad.
And now if you have a look at the rear derailleur,
it's taken a complete redesign of the carbon fiber
11 speed model this one is made out of aluminum,
no don't worry, I have been told,
or I'm lead to believe anyway,
that it will be made out of carbon fiber
for the super record version,
it's super record after all.
Now part of that redesign also incorporates
larger sized pulley wheels, or jockey wheels.
Now they are not to the extremes obviously of
Ceramic Speed and their oversized pulley wheel system,
but there are more teeth on here that are going
to allow you to essentially have a freer running
chain at the rear of the bike.
Front derailleur, that's taken a redesign too as you can see
totally unbranded but yet it is a Campagnolo one,
'cause it's not gonna work if it wasn't.
And the levers, they've got no branding on there either.
But again, they are a pair of prototype shifters.
Something I've just spotted on the bike here
of Thomas De Gendt,
it's this secondary seat clamp.
Now while as this one doesn't traditionally clamp
onto the frame of the bike,
it actually goes onto the seat post.
How does this work?
Well, you put this clamp onto the seat post
before you insert the seat post into the frame.
And when your saddle is at the desired height,
you put this little clamp up to it's torque
and then you know the exact setting of your saddle height.
So if you are going to be removing it,
if your bike's being packed away somewhere,
or it could even work if your original seat clamp
was to fail this one is kind of like a backup plan for it.
I love things like that.
Now a true way of customizing your bike is basically
to have one painted so that nobody else can copy you.
So in this instance, the bike of Victor Campenaerts
of Lotto Soudal he's not only got it in the Belgian
color way because he is a two time Belgian TT champ,
but he's also got the Belgian blue color,
which I always think looks great,
and that can also represent the European TT championships
that he's won back to back within 2017 and 2018.
However, the 2018 victory was so recent
they haven't in fact updated this decor here
with the 2018 one.
But don't worry, we all know you did it.
How has Victor Campenaerts decided to customize
the front of his bike then?
Well he's got some of the classic grip tape
which we see used on nearly all the time trial bikes,
especially here in the Vuelta a Espana.
Other than the actual forearm rests here,
you don't really want to be putting any grip tape
on there do you?
But he's put it on the inside and outside of the
EPS controls, he's put it here on the end of the skis,
and also down there on the base bar.
Not on the brake levers though,
couple of riders I've spotted without though.
And underneath the bottom bracket on this bike,
you can see there's actually jaw race caliper
which has been sawn off to allow the crank
to just pass through.
Now a little bit of customized tech I've found
in the back of the Lotto Soudal team bus is this.
A football with their logo on it.
Now if you're a cycling team that doesn't have
their own logo'd up football,
then you're nobody in the World Tour quite frankly.
And I'm a little bit sweaty,
I've just been having a kick around with them.
The results are England one, Belgium nil.
Professional cyclist, they don't necessarily have
all the means to be able to customize their bike
truly because generally it depends if you're
a champion of some sort.
Then you can really go to town.
In the case though of Loic Chetout of Cofidis,
he's actually customized his stem top cap.
So he's got some jaws on there
or some aggressive looking teeth,
so as long as it gives him some strength along the way,
who cares?
Go on Loic.
Now I hope you've enjoyed that look at custom tech.
Let me know though, what's your favorite bit of tech?
So remember to fill it in down there in the comment section.
And for more great content,
head on over to the GCN Tech channel
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