This is the fastest bike in my book:

http://www.bikebrothers.co.uk/ultimatebike.htm

I really don't think the Lotus can beat that.

15 days till the test? I have sent a private message to Brady and Gerard to see if this thing is still on as discussed awhile back. No responses on this thread or any return messages.

Is anyone else interested in this testing or am I alone?

I say let's just get those two to have it out next to the big Oak tree after school at 3:30. boxing gloves will be provided. pay per view will be provided by ironmanlive.com, featuring live commentary by Huddle and Welch, and the wives from the 'best looking wife' thread will of course act as the ring girls.

and maybe the guy who is glowing in that one pic can do something of interest as well. maybe provide lighting if the brawl lasts past 6 or 7 rounds. that is to be determined.

anyone care to place bets? how about some odds?

or maybe it can take place in the wind tunnel, say with a 50 knot breeze blowing through. now that would be entertaining!

So... you think some of us slowtwtichers local to the Seattle area could bring other TT 'fruits' to the tunnel on 12/21, just to see how they stack up in the apples-to-oranges test?

Don JC

I was going to ask how anyone could pedal that huge chanring, but it seems that a more pressing question is what the hell is wrong with this guy's taste in furniture ;)

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<< a more pressing question is what the hell is wrong with this guy's taste in furniture ;) >>

Is this guy Liberace's son or something? YIIKES!

(the above of course assumes. likely incorrectly, that Liberace was ever "with" a woman for purposes of procreating.)

"I wish my brother George was here."



At least you'd never hafta worry about getting spun out on that thing going downhill....

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float , hammer , and jog

   

From the text, it's apparently Uri Geller, who has to have a carbon frame as the metal ones all bend mysteriously.

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My latest book: "Out of the Melting Pot, Into the Fire" is on sale on Amazon and at other online and local booksellers

[reply][#ff8040][b]15 days till the test? I have sent a private message to Brady and Gerard to see if this thing is still on as discussed awhile back. No responses on this thread or any return messages. [/b][/#ff8040]

I didn't see your private e-mail but at any rate, Brady was confident he could get my competitors out to join the test but in the end he didn't get anybody to do that. Without that there is little point, we'll have one fastest beam bike and one fastest UCI bike.

As I said before in this thread, I have never had anybody e-mail me saying they were choosing between a beam and a non-beam bike. They are separate markets so aero tests are useful when you cn test against similar bikes. To that end, I asked Titanflex and they are very interested to test against Softride. I don't know if Softride would be interested in that, but they should be since a direct test between two beam bikes would actually render data that is useful to people, to those who have decided on a beam bike but are wondering which one to pick.

Of course, to do any of this properly, more time than 15 days or even two months would be necessary, and it would be fairest to Titanflex if the test were not done at Softride's "home tunnel" in Washington, but instead at San Diego, Texas or MIT.

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Gerard Vroomen
3T.bike
OPEN cycle

Ugh. Uri Geller. One of the bigger assholes the world has ever known.

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"Go yell at an M&M"

Thanks for the reply Gerard. I sent the message at you and Brady to see if anything were to come of the "anyplace anytime attitude" exhibited earlier in the thread. I guess that the ball is in Brady's court to see if anything is to come of this. I had thought that since he stated a date as if concrete for the public to see that we could have some tests that we could sink our teeth into. BTW I would love to see the softride vs. Titan Flex duel.

In the context of "Bike Porn" this is kind of like foreplay followed by a cold shower.

Are you conceding that in a non-UCI event i.e. triathlon that a softride is a more aero choice? Are you also saying that Titan flex is more aero than Cervelo too?

UCI rules mean nothing to me since the tour is no where in my future.

It's nice to see this post and interest in the Comparative Aero Bike test is still alive. Since Brady is out of the country and has been for the last week I will post on his behalf. Everyone at Softride has been waiting for manufactures to step up. So far some interesting information has been exchanged between some of the companies that we were tested against at the Kirsten Wind Tunnel. The Triathlon bikes tested are choices that consumers (such as many of you are on this forum) have to choose from when shopping for a new Tri bike. It is representative of the bikes counted at Kona this year. See link for Kona bike count:

http://www.triathletemag.com/...amp;publicationID=92

I like the new Cervelo ad that keeps my attention off of the key board. It starts with a design that looks to be an aerodynamically superior frame, the Baracchi. Cervelo set out from this design to develop a UCI legal frame for a different application and outside the triathlon industry. A smart move to gain market share, but a compromise on a frame design with superior technology. Maybe I'm wrong with the aerodynamics of the Baracchi but the point still stands that in triathlon you have the choice to ride the fastest technology available. I have seen several exotic bikes resulting from interest drawn to this post. Some of these bikes exist only as pictures from various times and places around the world. Softride markets against every triathlon bike that you see at your LBS.

The test at the Kirsten Wind Tunnel or any wind tunnel for that matter should include every triathlon bike sold in the marketplace. After the wind tunnel test I will arrange for a roll down test to test for lesser rolling resistance between different triathlon bikes. If you’re not sure what the advantage of lessened rolling resistance offers then check out Dan's explanation. If you though aerodynamics was an advantage then your in for a surprise! http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/techctr/rolling.html then check http://www.softride.com/bike/rolling.asp

So let's do the test! Softride's ready.

Love to hear what others have to say.

Adam

Softride Bike

adam.greene@softride.com

I like the new Cervelo ad that keeps my attention off of the key board. It starts with a design that looks to be an aerodynamically superior frame, the Baracchi. Cervelo set out from this design to develop a UCI legal frame for a different application and outside the triathlon industry. A smart move to gain market share, but a compromise on a frame design with superior technology.

That ad got me to thinking- what portion of Cervelo's customers are roadies, and what portion are triathletes? How many Cervelo riders need to ride a UCI legal frame? How many P3s would Cervelo still sell if the design was banned by the UCI?

This is only my limited impression, but it sure seems like the vast majority of Cervelo's time trial bikes are sold to triathletes anyway. Other than the publicity they get from having their bikes in the TdF (which is, I admit, valuable), do they really gain much by insisting on UCI legal frames? If Cervelo actually sold the Baracchi, does anybody think there wouldn't be a long waiting list to buy one?

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

"You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it! I never saved anything for the swim back."

Vitus I like your tag line from gattica.

As far as future development, the USCF is adopting the UCI standards in 06? I think for Time Trial machines as well. So I don't think I would spend a lot of R&D on a bike that will be obsolete in a few years. G

USCF is adopting the UCI standards in 06? I think for Time Trial machines as well. So I don't think I would spend a lot of R&D on a bike that will be obsolete in a few years

Yeah, but that's what I don't really get. How many P3s does Cervelo sell the UCSF racers, versus how many it sells to triathletes?

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

This is an interesting thought you bring up... and is it possible that the tooling costs for putting together the molds for a Baracchi nowadays (as opposed to 1995) would actually be less that the tooling costs associated with creating the P3C?

How many of us would be interested in buying a 2006 Baracchi? (I for one wouldn't mind such a cool looking bike, but probably wouldn't have the cash for it when the time came).

Perhaps the problem would be more of a market share issue, wherein if Cervelo had two top of the line "want it at all cost" frames available (P3C and Baracchi) then they would be splitting the pool of available purchasers down the middle and would find it tougher to recoup the development costs for both lines. (Although, one of Gerard's comments earlier in this thread was something to the effect of, and/or was totally misinterpretted by me as "people who are looking for a beam bike will buy a beam bike - those looking for a UCI legal bike will buy a UCI bike" - so maybe this is just an untapped market for Cervelo? ;-) )

I think the clear winner would be the person who could get all, hell lets just say 5 different manufactures to bring themselves and their bikes to a agreed upon windtunnel test them under agreed upon specifications and walk away from the test without complainning that they were not fairly tested or saying something to the fact that yes we lost "but"!

Your company started this shit now finish it. And that doesn't mean just giving an invitation, and talking shit because no one wants to come, that means getting the other guy to agree upon the test, now quit complaining about the other shit and get on the phone suck some ass, and then let the tunnel/test do the talking.

I was just thinking about if Cervelo put the Baracchi on the market for next season or whenever what it would be like to ride one. Obviously the design shown in the ad doesn't look very adjustable and probably weighs as much or more than the Power V.

Does the curved part of the frame behind the front wheel contribute to the amount of weight on the front wheel relative to the rear wheel because it is in front half of the bottom bracket.

Overall though it looks like a killer bike and I would love to get one that would fit me. Gerard you have shown some excellent creativity on the Baracchi. I wish that it would have come to fruition. Is there any chance that we will see it or some version of it in the future?

An exciting windtunnel test would be the P3, Baracchi, Titan flex, Classic Softride, and rocket Softride. I can't speak for others on the forum but i would love to see the results of that.

I love it "Your company started this shit now finish it." I would love to see the test come to fruition. Will it? That's up to the companies who brought the test up and the other companies which replied "As for independent testing, any time any place as far as I am concerned". It's easy to talk trash but lets see the results in an independently run test. I thought that Brady had that set up from the context of the first post in this thread.

[reply]
Are you conceding that in a non-UCI event i.e. triathlon that a softride is a more aero choice? Are you also saying that Titan flex is more aero than Cervelo too? [/reply]

No, I'm not saying that, I am saying that I haven't seen too many people interested in the outcome either way. Whether the Softride or the Cervelo is a little faster, it won't make anybody change their mind as there are stronger reasons to like or dislike either.

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Gerard Vroomen
3T.bike
OPEN cycle

When I read this I started to wonder if I actually sent the message to Gerard but when I went to my message section of the profile I see that I did on Dec 5 2004 at 1:49. I do not know if Gerard's message feature is not configured properly or if he receives so many messages that this one slipped through the cracks.

Below is Brady's reply to the message for anyone who is interested:

From: Brady
Date Sent:
Dec 7, 2004, 5:02 PM
Konaby2008,

I'm currently in China, working with with some manufactures of our Bike Rack products. so I'm sorry for they delay. I also apoligize for my poor spelling and typing, this key board only has chinenese charators on it, and my chinese is very poor.

My oringinal goal for this whole deal was to validate the UW test number #1805, or what ever it was, I cannot remember. Back in october or whenever I put up this challenge, i did schedual time at teh tunnel. Decamber 21 i think. After no other Manufature responded with a clear "yes, We will be there" I had to cancle the time. We are still interested in perforing this test again.

As far as teh UCI legal, not UCI legal thing goes, as long as a customer can line up with both bikes at any race I feel it is a very valid comparison. 99% of the trimarket uses a UCI legal bike. None of them are effected by this ruling, why would they buy a product which was slower?

I will post on this when at get back to the states, it's sort a pain at the momment.



brady
Brady O'Hare
Softride Inc.
brady.ohare@softride.com