Well duh how is anyone going to ride it if they can't spend 5 grand and then put spacers on it....

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Grant
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I lament loss of the slope.

Shiv?

As in the ad-hoc, low-tech knife-like weapon commonly used in prisons?

Or as in the Hindu God more commonly known as Shiva, The Destroyer of Worlds.

Neither one fits really well. A weapon analogy is fine, but you'd think for a hi-tech, supposedly well-engineered bike you'd want a name of a well-engineered weapon. Not a blade crafted out of an old toothbrush, etc.

The Hindu God thing is over the top on the grandiose side. The destroyer of worlds? Seriously? Is that like sort of an analogy to "dream crushing"?

Either the name doesn't take the bike seriously enough, or it takes it way too seriously.

Seems kinda stupid to limit the quantities, since a lot of the cost is in the initial R&D and the mold tooling. From a marketing perspective this is also a bad call, since they also make everyone buying a Transition feel like they have a slower frame. IMO what would make sense is to take the Felt/Argon approach and offer this in a base model with a standard fork (also a good idea if the UCI starts to have issues) and a top-end with the bayonet fork (integrated aerodrink?).

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

It might be that they never intended this to be released publicly, but are doing so to make it comply with the new UCI requirements. So they make it commercially available, but in reeeeaaaly small numbers.

That's probably just you... ;-)

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

They are actually running low on the old frames so I assume that production has been ramped up on these to start stocking LBS in August-ish. And that's what the shops are expecting.

1) Agreed on "Shiv". It's Vihs backwards.

2) Woah. Look at the width of the seat tube as it meets the bottom bracket. I'm surprised Fabian hasn't ripped it in two.

3) Still better looking than a P4.

BB and torsional stiffness is where this bike shines. It's hard to explain until you get on one but it's impossible to compare to another TT bike. The stiffness and aero is off the charts. <500 gF of drag at 10 degrees of yaw and torsional frame stiffess just a few % under the Tarmac SL2.

Mark
MITaerobike

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Mark Cote
MITAerobike
Specialized Bicycle Components

^^^ Yeah, what he said.

Mark...those are some pretty impressive sounding numbers...

Given the latest...ahem, "clarification" from the UCI, what's your take on the question of if the fork/headtube/brake configuration is going to ultimately be allowed or not?

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

Oh yeah...what wheelset/tires were used for that <500gF @ 10 deg. run? Just curious :-)

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

http://www.velonews.com/...-trial-bike-for-2010

Quotes:
"Specialized claims drag results for the Shiv at zero degrees of 513 grams, and at 12.5 degrees of around 420 grams."

"Another goal was to have no drag increase with a higher handlebar position."

Shiv?

As in the ad-hoc, low-tech knife-like weapon commonly used in prisons?

Well, they didn't think they were going to sell many if they called it "Bar of Soap".

-Jot

Anyone else think it's kind of dumb to show a bike on the road without pedals? Isn't the point of an outdoor shot like this to give the impression that the bike was actually ridden to that point, or is about to be ridden from there?

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"Go yell at an M&M"

We've been working with and have been in constant communication with the UCI. The bike is legal today and we can prove that it fits within the stated guidelines (as do many of the other new bikes out in ProTour racing). As the rules have been called out more specifically this year, we've made large investments to be sure we're within the guidlines. The aerobars have been re-tooled to be 3:1, etc, etc.

It's being raced now and the Tour is right around the corner. Can't wait for that prologue ;)

Mark

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Mark Cote
MITAerobike
Specialized Bicycle Components

Hey, the bike's a real weapon...

"You can make your own, or you can use ours..."

MC

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Mark Cote
MITAerobike
Specialized Bicycle Components

i bet demerly is already creating a diagram pointing out why this bike is so un-aero

Spelling errors are a no-no when being a smart ass but you've got a lot of potential. Well played.

I was about to call BS on this, but then I saw this picture:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/...0-road-preview/77156

Apparently, they took the P4 a step further. No water bottle - just a structural carbon fairing reinforcing the BB. Nicely played - I hate flexy TT bikes.

why would he do that? I believe he's already selling them??

These results were from our first full bike aero test after the R1 samples came out of the molds (January or so) at the A2 Wind Tunnel. The bike was the one pictured below setup with a fair amount of stack and a high seat height, but with a Toupe saddle (so low saddle drag for a bike alone test). The wheels were a Sub-9 tubular rear and a Roval Rapide Star front wheel (~45mm deep, 21mm tubular tire). These have been our "control" wheels for much of the last year. So looking at wheels, rider position setup (pretty "big" setup), and some miscellaneous stuff (no clear coat), we could be more aero than we are in this first validation test.

A lot of people have been wondering about the width of the front end as well, but that super low drag at yaw has a lot to do with the width of the DT behind the front brake and stem. The cross sections there offer such a gentle taper to the trailing edge that we keep airflow attached much much longer than a super thin profile. Using a tuft wand, we were seeing flow attachment into the 15 deg range (on the downwind side!) and you can see that huge drag drop at 10 and 15 degrees. Note this data is with tares out, using CdA data, rho=1.20, v=30 mph (13.4 m/s, 48.3 kph).





Jay Prashun's got some great stuff up on Triathletemag.com as well.

Mark

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Mark Cote
MITAerobike
Specialized Bicycle Components

not much to say except 'wow!'.

I do wonder WRT the wider front end, does it have a different rider/frame interaction than a bike with a narrower front end? Basically I'm wondering if you'd been able to see a reduction of bike/rider drag over and above the bike-only drag reduction?

Tapered HT and carbon steerer -- 1 1/8" lower up to 1" top, uses a lot of the SL3 internal carbon forming techniques. The DT and HT on this bike are massive for a TT bike. The stiffness is no joke. Call any journalist that rode it this weekend. As the aero guy, I've been blown away by how much the stiffness helps the confidence of this bike on big descents and whipping corners. For most riders though the benefits won't be felt on the flats -- the torsional stiffness increase is of course great for mere mortals but it's imperative for the Saxo guys throwing down 600W on the flats. Fabian's a beast on this bike - watch how he threw it around at the Tour de Suisse and you'll see why we focused so much on stiffness and riding confidence.

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Mark Cote
MITAerobike
Specialized Bicycle Components