TT bikes n' kit

greasedscotsman

Interesting to see that in the Tour of Bejing TT stage, riders were on regular road bikes, rather than TT specific bikes.



Think this is done to reduce the amount of kit teams need to bring with them to certain races if there is a TT stage. But quite like the idea of just using a regular road bike, maybe with some different wheels. Should this be done in all TT stages in all races. Or do you think the UCI should relax rules and allow bikes like the new Tri specific Shiv?

rebs

It's a tricky subject for me.

1) I'd love to see manufacturers free reign to see how much faster TT in particular can get.
2) I dont like the idea of 1/2 manufacturers being streets ahead of everyone else which starts to give riders advantages over others. Bike racing I beleive should be less about the bike and more about the rider/team. (never owned nor have any intention of buying a spesh or Trek :P)

I'm spraised no teams bothers to put some kind of clip on bars for the roadbikes though. Were they not allowed to do this?

SLX01

I think the rules are fine there are a lot of very fast bikes out there such as the BMC TM01 that look great and are within the rules.

Ron Stuart

I found it very interesting as I am doing the Johnny Helms Gentlemen’s two up on Sunday on my road bike. The course is around 23 miles and I as a pacer do the first 22 on the front. I figured that I need only one bottle for this distance so I removed my second bottle cage.
Last night it was interesting listening to Harmon commenting on the Beijing prologue and how riding low with hands on the hoods was quicker than being on the drops but I did notice some of the bikes had two bottle cages attached and no bottles in them, this I found surprising with all the aero talk these days.
What does the panel think to this subject? And what about Millar's padded arms!

Keith1983

I agree with rebs, it would be great to see the companies let loose with designs, materials and new technologies. This would however give the likes of Trek and Spesh a massive advantage with the R&D they could throw at it.

bigmat

Keith1983 wrote:

I agree with rebs, it would be great to see the companies let loose with designs, materials and new technologies. This would however give the likes of Trek and Spesh a massive advantage with the R&D they could throw at it.

You'd just get a load of recumbents. A line has to be drawn somewhere.

greasedscotsman

Keith1983 wrote:

This would however give the likes of Trek and Spesh a massive advantage with the R&D they could throw at it.

Wouldn't Trek and Specialized just throw their money at developing road bikes instead? Also I don't think the differance would be that great. I just like the idea of the pros riding standard road bikes, like they did "back in the day". I dunno, maybe they should just ride penny farthings instead?

SLX01

BigMat wrote:

Keith1983 wrote:

I agree with rebs, it would be great to see the companies let loose with designs, materials and new technologies. This would however give the likes of Trek and Spesh a massive advantage with the R&D they could throw at it.

You'd just get a load of recumbents. A line has to be drawn somewhere.

Exactly!! The rules are there for a reason they can still be inventive just within the contraints of the rules, if you start allowing fairings etc it would be mental.

cougie

I really can't see that one tt bike is significantly quicker than another make. You never see Trek (for example) dominating TTs and taking the first ten places.

It really is down to the riders.

SLX01

cougie wrote:

I really can't see that one tt bike is significantly quicker than another make. You never see Trek (for example) dominating TTs and taking the first ten places.

It really is down to the riders.

Given freedom from sponsorsip issues and an endless pot of money most probably would ride similar machines however most top TT riders are either sponsored and tied to certain makes or not rich enough to keep buying the latest 'top' bike.

SLX01

Ron Stuart wrote:

Last night it was interesting listening to Harmon commenting on the Beijing prologue and how riding low with hands on the hoods was quicker than being on the drops but I did notice some of the bikes had two bottle cages attached and no bottles in them, this I found surprising with all the aero talk these days.

Its the end of the season, its the Tour of Bejiing, there is the posibility they just don't care?!

ride_whenever

BigMat wrote:

Keith1983 wrote:

I agree with rebs, it would be great to see the companies let loose with designs, materials and new technologies. This would however give the likes of Trek and Spesh a massive advantage with the R&D they could throw at it.

You'd just get a load of recumbents. A line has to be drawn somewhere.

Surely a motorbike would be faster...

jonbristol

They should ban the new shiv outright for being vomit inducing.

Ron Stuart

SLX01 wrote:

Ron Stuart wrote:

Last night it was interesting listening to Harmon commenting on the Beijing prologue and how riding low with hands on the hoods was quicker than being on the drops but I did notice some of the bikes had two bottle cages attached and no bottles in them, this I found surprising with all the aero talk these days.

Its the end of the season, its the Tour of Bejiing, there is the posibility they just don't care?!

This event indicates along with the Down Under stuff that the season will be year round (non-stop) for the protour boys. "Don't care" after traveling that far isn't an option especially with TV rights.
Here you have the most successful team in resent years with the World TT and World Road Race Champion in it and it can't find a sponsor :!:
There are riders in this race that are eager to impress for various reasons they consist of up and coming riders that don't normally get on the box others may have been injured during the high season and are coming back into form but have had no results recently.
A lot of the domestics as always just get round the prologue and save some energy for the main stages but regards efficiency of the bikes it's always desirable for the bike to work well.
What do you think the sponsors are going to say about a rider or riders that just don't care :?:

Lastly Australia is having a mini-boom at the moment fueled by China's demand for mining produce this has resulted in a growth in cycling in Western Australia which means in layman’s terms new sponsors and old may turn their attention somewhat away from what has been the normal circuit.

SLX01

Ron Stuart wrote:

SLX01 wrote:

Ron Stuart wrote:

What do you think the sponsors are going to say about a rider or riders that just don't care :?:

Football seems to get away with it, with profile raising tours of developing Countries hardly bringing out the best performances and teams such as Man Utd playing 'B' squads in minor competitions.
The fact that it is now a year round sport is even more reason just to go through the motions, why would a rider give 100% in a race like this and risk winning a high profile event when it matters.

SLX01

jonbristol wrote:

They should ban the new shiv outright for being vomit inducing.

At least with the Shiv you have a handy place to vomit! Building a drinks resevoir in the frame is just WRONG!

Ron Stuart

SLX01 wrote:

Ron Stuart wrote:

SLX01 wrote:

Ron Stuart wrote:

What do you think the sponsors are going to say about a rider or riders that just don't care :?:

Football seems to get away with it, with profile raising tours of developing Countries hardly bringing out the best performances and teams such as Man Utd playing 'B' squads in minor competitions.
The fact that it is now a year round sport is even more reason just to go through the motions, why would a rider give 100% in a race like this and risk winning a high profile event when it matters.

Football is for the most part is run, managed and played by complete nail heads, sponsored a lot by the very dodgy from overseas and as for using it as an analogy, well as the dragon's might say...... I'm out. :shock:

rick_chasey

Too much money involved now, but I'd love to see TTs back on normal road bikes.

Having said that, I doubt it'd make much difference to the results.

Ron Stuart

Rick Chasey wrote:

Too much money involved now, but I'd love to see TTs back on normal road bikes.

Having said that, I doubt it'd make much difference to the results.

+1

turnerjohn

world Triathlon I spotted most of the field riding standard road bikes...maybe the difference isn't that great ? All in "it not about the bike"....said a rather fine cyclist !

brettjmcc

Rick Chasey wrote:

Too much money involved now, but I'd love to see TTs back on normal road bikes.

Having said that, I doubt it'd make much difference to the results.

My club at work have just voted to make two of the events a year non-aero. It will be interested to see how/if it does affect the results.

SLX01

brettjmcc wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Too much money involved now, but I'd love to see TTs back on normal road bikes.

Having said that, I doubt it'd make much difference to the results.

My club at work have just voted to make two of the events a year non-aero. It will be interested to see how/if it does affect the results.

What is 'non aero'? A couple of TTs near me have a road bike cat. but it excludes deep rims of any description even 50mm which are fairly common these days. I for one am not going to buy a set of wheels just to enter a race so I just enter the TT cat to get a time. At the end of the day if you are fast enough to win a TT you would probably have a TT bike. If you enter a TT on a road bike you will get a time that you can try and better over the season. I doubt that 10k races will start having a category for people running in shoes rather than trainers?

greasedscotsman

turnerjohn wrote:

world Triathlon I spotted most of the field riding standard road bikes...maybe the difference isn't that great ? All in "it not about the bike"....said a rather fine cyclist !

I think that different Triathlons have different rules on what bikes can be used. In a World Tri, drafting is allowed so they use road bikes. Whereas something like an Ironman drafting isn't allowing, so a full TT bike, like the Shiv can be used.

SLX01

greasedscotsman wrote:

turnerjohn wrote:

world Triathlon I spotted most of the field riding standard road bikes...maybe the difference isn't that great ? All in "it not about the bike"....said a rather fine cyclist !

In a World Tri, drafting is allowed so they use road bikes.

The stupidest idea ever in my view!

stfc1

Rick Chasey wrote:

Too much money involved now, but I'd love to see TTs back on normal road bikes.

Having said that, I doubt it'd make much difference to the results.

As Beijing indicates: 1. Tony Martin; 2. David Millar; 3. Alex Dowsett...

brettjmcc

What is 'non aero'? A couple of TTs near me have a road bike cat. but it excludes deep rims of any description even 50mm which are fairly common these days. I for one am not going to buy a set of wheels just to enter a race so I just enter the TT cat to get a time. At the end of the day if you are fast enough to win a TT you would probably have a TT bike. If you enter a TT on a road bike you will get a time that you can try and better over the season. I doubt that 10k races will start having a category for people running in shoes rather than trainers
?

I'll have to get the rules out that they agreed in our AGM last week. From memory though, its something like no rims bigger than 30mm, no aero helmet, skinsuit etc. Aero profile frames are allowed as they are standard on a lot of road bikes. Pretty much though no TT specific gear. It was actually suggested by the guy who won this year. Obviously you can still ride on the night, but it wouldn't count towards the league points.

It was another thought to a/ spice things up a bit and b/ have a few events a year where people can try it at work and maybe not feel intimidated.

Personally, I'm a bit miffed as I used a road bike last season and have now saved to for my first TT bike.

rick_chasey

brettjmcc wrote:

What is 'non aero'? A couple of TTs near me have a road bike cat. but it excludes deep rims of any description even 50mm which are fairly common these days. I for one am not going to buy a set of wheels just to enter a race so I just enter the TT cat to get a time. At the end of the day if you are fast enough to win a TT you would probably have a TT bike. If you enter a TT on a road bike you will get a time that you can try and better over the season. I doubt that 10k races will start having a category for people running in shoes rather than trainers
?

I'll have to get the rules out that they agreed in our AGM last week. From memory though, its something like no rims bigger than 30mm, no aero helmet, skinsuit etc. Aero profile frames are allowed as they are standard on a lot of road bikes. Pretty much though no TT specific gear. It was actually suggested by the guy who won this year. Obviously you can still ride on the night, but it wouldn't count towards the league points.

It was another thought to a/ spice things up a bit and b/ have a few events a year where people can try it at work and maybe not feel intimidated.

Personally, I'm a bit miffed as I used a road bike last season and have now saved to for my first TT bike.

Should do what the pros really do. Spend their hard earned money on doctors and illegal drugs.

There's something about guys sitting on a normal road bike with normal helmets/sans helmets that is a bit better to watch. It's all less tucked away so you see a little more.