Interesting?

"In collaboration with VORN, BMC presents Aero Motion: an exceptional device enabling precise, real-time analyzes of a rider's aerodynamic position and efficiency outside the confines of a laboratory. Especially for Speedmachine 00 users, the aerodynamics have been adjusted for the real world."

Just picking this up, since it´s been more than a year now, and (from my POV) I haven´t seen any new super bike launches and have not even heard any relevant rumours on same - maybe except lot´s of people speculating in the new Canyon Speedmax to be launched in Kona in October.

Has anybody any relevant rumours or news they wanna share?

My 2016 Argon 18 E119 is falling apart soon, so any info would be greatly appreciated :)

Not heard the speculation re: top end Speedmax, but they have just added a new front end to the lower end models. WAY cleaner, with added hydration. Closes the gap to the top end frame, which is likely why the cheaper spec top end ones appear to have gone from the range.

I think the recent rule changes will spur on some changes. More bikes with a very high headtube/nutrition storage like the Ku in an attempt to fill the gap that could previosly be filled with jersey bottles. It's hard to do with a stock bike and stock parts though, so many variables in size and position

Good catch, I've only spotted it now.

My take is, being Canyon fanboy, that the 2nd tier (3rd, if you count CFR version) Canyon Speedmax is now at the level of some other brands' top triathlon bikes. The only downside I see now is, that you no longer would have an option to lower down the basebar. This was possible with the stem design (and the spacer under it), but won't be available anymore.

Yeah and still stuck with the Canyon fit aka. lack of reach. Although having looked at the geo charts I think the pad reach has increased a bit with this new front end. I can see this selling really well now (prices down a bit as well). My impression of the outgoing model was that it didn't do as well as expected compared to the rim brake predecessor which was everywhere.

You're talking about two different ways of handling airflow. I've done minimal testing with a Ku, about 5 tests on two athletes. For both, the raised bento increased drag minimally, around 1% - 1.5%. I think there's some potential there, but it would take a re-design.

People understandably, but mistakenly, assume the bottle down the kit re-directed airflow around the chest. It did not, at least not directly. What our testing showed, and what CFD modelling confirmed, was that, when coupled with the right kit (people forget it was very kit dependent), an appropriately sized bottle reduced air flow to the lower trunk, or pelvic region. A raised bottle would not have that effect as air would collapse behind it long before reaching the lower trunk.

We plan on conducting some extensive testing on this in the next month or so and then releasing a video of the findings on the Fast or Fiction channel. Different sized bottles, different heights, different fore/aft positions, etc.

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

Very interesting stuff. Would it make sense that a bottle placement further back would have a similar effect? Possibly so far back that it's mounted above the frame instead of above the handlebars. Or even two bottles mounted in tandem, on in a traditional BTA and another behind it.

I guess the more fundamental question is if the bottle size/shape itself provided a benefit, or if the real benefit comes from the jersey shape surrounding it.

The directing air around the pelvis makes a lot of sense, the body shape at the hips in a TT position is literally shaped like a parachute. Getting any flow directed around there seems like a route worth trying.

That's definitely what I'd like to find out. What sized bottles? How far back? All of it.

One of the things I found interesting about the Ku was that, for one athlete, it allowed her to actually rest on the bento and BTA. It's a slippery slope, I realize, but a properly shaped and sized storage device that partially supports the athlete's weight is very compelling.

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

That would be incredible, especially for longer distances. It may be a bit tougher for males to lean their sternum onto a hard plastic bottle, but there's certainly a way.

It would certainly need to be large enough to spread out the weight and have the desired aero effect. Add a little padding and bob's your uncle. I'm not sure if that would run afoul of any rules though.

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

Some really interesting ideas, looking forward to your testing results.

It seems the inevitable outcome of the current rules is a (heavy quotes)"hydration system" that effectively fills most of the area from the back of the arms to the front of the hips.

Starts off with Skipper-esque bottles behind the upper arms. Add in another bottle or two in between. Eventually someone will just make a bespoke liquid carrier that's all one piece. Not very far off from a complete upper body cover.

Yeah, that's the slippery slope and, at some point, it gets banned.

Hopefully we'll have that testing done somewhat soon. We just finished the TT5 helmet testing, the Rudy Project and Giro are in line next, we have a 12m and 20m drafting video to produce, and then we'll get to the bottle stuff.

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

For what it’s worth, I stumbled on to a similar concept as this 4 years ago when I designed a prosthetic limb for a track cyclist at the last Paralympic Games. When we got them in the tunnel the gain was massive (and this was only when I did this for one arm (as they were a single upper arm amputee). The UCI initially approved my design from the drawings but then banned me a fortnight out from the games when they saw the prototype in the flesh.

to clarify - the new ones, correct?

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DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!

I guess its starting already, at oceanside quite a few athletes have the BTA bottle very high and back

My wife has been asking for this for years. As soon as she heard what RAAM was in ~2020, it started coming up.

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
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No offence to anyone on this, but no no no no no.

1st, that's what tri-bars initially were there to do. Your body was supported by the fixed point of your saddle at one end and then the upper arms were the other end that was supported by the elbow at 90 degrees. That and a strong core to resist the rotational reaction to your thighs rotating meant you were able to sustain the position for the duration of the ride.

My take is that at present there is a balance between the non-restrictive positional rules of triathlon to get a comfortable position and one that is all out aero. Start adding in supports and we rapidly acclerate to a full prone 'missile' position where the only limit is the shape of your forehead/eye sockets for visibility.

(and this is the bit I don't want to be taken as an attack on any individual) As it stands, then if someone is feeling that they need upper body support in a position the solution isn't a structural add on to the bike, but either changing position to bring the elbows back or spending more time doing pilates/strength work.

For me what I think would be awesome but won't happen for the next gen superbikes (we saw it briefly in early current gen) was improved packability. Had a discussion yesterday AM and I mentioned flying with my old titanium frame in a soft case without a lot of worry. This against someone's SC that got smashed in a SCION case.

I worry that proprietary integration of 'garmin' data into displays in the bars/frame with powermeter/DI2/CDa to get away from external mounts. I also suspect we'll see more work on vibration damping/suspension. Got that with Trek and the IsoMount, but see that beign expanded. And of course the ability to run 60mm wide tyres on rimless wheels at 15psi ;-)

Maybe you missed the RAAM part? You know, the event where a lot of the riders wind up wearing homemade halo devices because they can't hold their head up any longer due to the fatigue of riding across the entire darn country?

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

Ok, didn't miss the bit about RAAM, but didn't see that this was specific and limited to that. Even then I think it's not a great idea and indeed potentially dangerous. But I can't see too many bike manufacturers coming out with a TT style frame built around the needs of the 100 sales they'll get from RAAM riders.