- I've had a good look around in the Pros Bikes
already here at the Santos Tour Down Under
But I think I should go back inside the
mechanics' tent, see if they unearth anything
else which so far I haven't been able to see.
So come on, join me for this!
(Upbeat techno music)
(GCN logo chime)
I'm here with the bike of Jon Dibben
of Lotto Soudal, a rider who's pretty tall.
He's about one meter eighty eight to one meter ninety.
This is a large frame, but before he decided to
actually use the large; he was riding a medium
just to see how it felt. Sadly, it
wasn't long enough but the head tube on it
was absolutely spot on because he likes
to have a nice slant position, as you can see.
So he went back to a size large and then
he's got a stem on there now that has a slight
negative rise on it, well it's a full so
it's not a rise, to enable him
to try and get as low as he can.
And the mechanic then has also taken off
the standard top cap cover of the bearing
cause the bearing on these frames does actually
slightly poke out of the frame like they do
on most integrated headsets. So there's
a different type of cap on the top,
I'm not exactly sure what that is.
I'll have to ask Stephen, the mechanic,
to show me at some point. I don't want
to disturb him too much but it's really
great to see how riders have to fit
onto bikes or try to make a bike fit them
in different scenarios because "slamming the stem"
isn't necessarily that popular but for a rider
like Dibben from a track background, he's used to
riding in a pretty aggressive position.
And his track background and pedigree
has also probably led to his decision-making
when it comes to crank lengths so he's gone for a
170 and I honestly thought he'd gone for a 175,
at least a 172.5 just purely because of the
length of his legs and probably his femurs too.
Pretty sure they are quite long on him.
So I will ask him later on when I see him
at dinner, to ask him why he's gone for 170.
And also, his release tension on these peddles
a look, KEO Carbon Blades is 20 Newton Metres.
So again, slightly higher from the
standard of a 16 Newton Metre.
Can you guess what's in here?
No, you can't, can you? Well maybe someone has.
A very lucky person right there because in
here is the secret to less waste in this world.
Because no one likes to waste things do they?
So I'm going to reveal (magical chime)
the ginormous roll of Celeste Handlebar Tape.
of the Jumbo-Visma squad, now this is provided by
FSA and essentially when teams are using
various different handlebars of different widths,
different shapes, riders wanting handlebars
taped up to certain points; this minimizes waste
because they can simply run it off of one big roll
so they don't have to use a standard roll
which sometimes you're not going to get through.
Great idea that and well, in my favorite color.
(upbeat techno music)
The squad of BORA-hansgrohe have actually had
some special derailleur hangers manufactured for them.
And I had a quick word earlier on to the mechanic
and he said it was actually at the request of Peter Sagan.
So traditionally the derailleur hanger would come
down then you would attach it with one of these
Shimano direct rear derailleurs but normally they
have two links but this is a direct-mount fit
so this derailleur hanger is essentially
a little bit more backwards, so look right further
to the back of the bike and attaches and has
less pivots in the shifting systems.
So it's going to give you snapper shifting and
also more accurately placed opposition beneath
the sprockets. Apparently they had loads and loads
of different ones to try and each one varied
by millimeter or two until they got the optimal one.
I really like that, it's mechanics like this who
I love to actually sit down and chat with because
they let me into all these little secrets.
When it comes to pros wanting certain
tech on their bike, well, what they want
they don't necessarily always get.
So on the bike here of Jonas Rutsch of EF Pro Cycling,
well he obviously wants to have himself an aero pair
of handlebars, and possible a one-piece integrated
unit but judging by their length of this FSA stem
on his bike there, it's an absolute whooper,
probably say it's about 160 maybe even 170 long.
FSA probably don't actually make an integrated
bar in that set-up so he's got that stem, he's
put a pair of normal aerobars on there so
you know an aero four-shaped design
and then he's got the brake hoses along with the
Di2 Cables just popping out the back, which
doesn't look ideal in my mind because if he had
an integrated set-up of course it's going to be
a lot smoother, a lot cleaner but the mechanic
has still done a great job with this heat shrink
bit of tubing. Another thing as well is that
the riders, or some of them at least,
are training on clôture tires here, which
when you're joining a new team, we have a new bike,
new equipment for you; may not be totally ideal
because obviously you want to get used to how
the bike handles when you're out and about.
But the good news is: there is a criterium ahead
of the actual race which takes place on the
Sunday previous to the race, which means the
riders at least can test that equipment in, well,
kind of, good testing conditions
if you like because there's nothing like
testing equipment during a criterium.
(upbeat techno music)
I absolutely love a number mount on a bike.
Always have a look around to see exactly what
the teams are doing differently from one another.
And well the team at BORA-hansgrohe, they've got
a 3D-printed one on here but it doesn't look
like it's actually been made for this specific
seat post because there's quite a bit of gap
around the sides there really and it's almost
designed that the seat post should be not quite
as deep and it should just sit in there a little
bit differently. I'll have a word to the mechanic,
I'll also have a look at their other bikes too.
I should have done that really, before filming
this little segment but I was desperate to get this bike
out into the sunshine, to be perfectly honest.
But yeah, I think this sort of thing,
that would do my OCD right in.
There's just one team using Michelin tires
in the World Tour this year, and that's the squad
of Cofidis and the tires themselves,
I really like the look of them.
They remind me of the old Vittoria Corsa's CXs,
if you can remember those anyone.
They've got a nice smooth center tread and then
the outside is just a file-light pattern.
If you look at it out at the right angle
it almost looks like a herringbone style
but no it is a file pattern.
Inside of the carcass of these Michelin tires there is a
latex inter tube which is to try to keep the weight down
try and lower rolling resistance and the weight
of these in a 25 millimeters is just 290 grams.
And if all of that is not enough to make you
like them, well there's little Bibendum on there
too and he's the Michelin logo.
A lovely looking chap.
Right, five of the seven riders of the Movistar
team have gone pretty futuristic, if you like,
because they're using these saddles from fi'zi:k
in combination with a brand called Carbon
from California to use these 3D-printed saddles.
So it takes a standard base so the shell
of the saddle is a standard fi'zi:k one
and then on the top, we've got this kind of
hexagonal structure which has been made and
I'm not sure if they can actually produce them
to be sort of higher density in certain areas
and everything to try and relieve pressure but
certainly when you look at it, you think to yourself
that is going to be really hard to the touch
but have a little look at this, I'm going to
do it to my friend, Gab Cullaigh's bike because
I know he watches the channel so he can tell me
off for touching his saddle. But here we go,
It's actually, really soft to the touch,
surprisingly and it's, it's, you almost feel like
there's some gel in there of something when
there's not, it's just spongy there on your
axle of your bum cheeks, your buttocks and
then here it's actually a little bit firmer.
So it's a really great bit of kit, I'll have to
try and get myself one of those.
Can I borrow your island key? All right. Awkward.
Fitted down here on the fork leg of this Reacto Bike
from MERIDA is a cooling fin. Now, if ever you've
taken apart an electrical component at home, or
maybe you're not like me. Sometimes you actually
see these inside and it's just to try and get the
heat away from certain components and
in the case here, it's trying to get the heat
away from the disk brake pads, as well as,
the rotor to try and well give you better
braking really so you don't get overheating rotors.
Now its said to actually reduce the heat by about
35 percent. It's interesting though, they haven't
put it on the Scultura Bike, it's just on the
Reacto, the aero road race machine. It's the
first one I've actually seen this being used
and it's an interesting bit of kit.
There we are, more hot tech from the bikes
of the pros in the World Tour. Let me know
down there in the comments section what the
favorite bit of tech is for you.
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