I posted the content below from QR on the original tri bike, on the thread about historic IM's but it deserves a discussion. Maybe what made "triathlon bars" famous was Greg Lemond pulling them out on the Euros and stealing the Tour de France by 8 second vs Laurent Fignon in July of 1989;
But 4 months before that, Dan and Ray Browning were changing the entire world of triathlon and TT bike riding
http://quintanarootri.blogspot.com/2014/03/1989-story-of-science-and-seat-tubes.html
MAR
11
1989: A Story of Science and Seat Tubes
If 1987 put Quintana Roo on the map, then the next two years made certain that it was there to stay. There is something of a tendency, when telling the "story" of Quintana Roo, to jump right from the wetsuit to Ray Browning riding the Superform at the 1989 Ironman New Zealand. While "technically" correct, that version does not capture the radical advancements occurring in triathlon technology.
The same year that the QR wetsuit debuted, Steve Hed was able to develop and mass produce a readily available rear disc wheel, at a price accessible to pros and age-groupers alike. 1987 also saw the introduction of the Scott DH aerobar into triathlon (whereas "real" cycling did not begin to adopt this until Greg Lemond's historic Tour de France win in 1989).
The problem with the the Scott DH aerobar, though, was that it was not very comfortable to use; the slack seat tube angle and the fixed quill-stems of the bikes of this time meant that there was very little room for adjustment. In order to achieve a good aero position, riders were bending over almost completely double, and it was not a comfortable position to be in for any extended period of time. Something needed to be done.
If we were to tell the "traditional" story of the triathlon bike, this is the part where we say "Dan noticed a common trend among triathletes- everyone was trying to move their seat forward as much as possible in order to open up their hip angle. So, he decided to build a bike 'from the bars back,' gave it to Ray Browning to ride at the 1989 IM New Zealand, and the world was changed." And this wouldn't be wrong; it just wouldn't be completely right, because there's more to the story.
In 1988, after the wetsuit but before the Superform, Dan noticed that many of the women triathletes that he was working with simply did not fit on their bikes. The 700c, slack-tube geometry did not meet their needs. So, Dan designed and built a road bike with 650c wheels specifically for women, first called the Cat 1 and then the Palomar. It was not much more than "shrinking" the geometry of a bike, but it worked. This was the start of QR bikes, again making a product to fill a specific need.
But what about the Superform? That's what QR is famous for, right? Yes, but there is more to the story. Dan wasn't the only one who noticed a universal trend of triathletes trying to get as forward as possible on their bikes. There were others who also noticed, and who were also studying the effects that a "steep" position had on the body. Others such as Ray Browning. Ray wasn't just a triathlete who happened to ride the Superform. Along with his impressive triathlon career, Ray was pursuing a post-grad degree in biomechanics at UCLA, specifically the biomechanics of cycling. He and those he was working with noticed that when their subjects were required to pedal harder and faster, the subjects would move forward on the saddle, opening up their hip angle and effectively steepening the geometry of the bike.
Studying the physiological effects of this position, Browning realized that the positive benefits of a position like this very much outweighed the negative effects in terms of biomechanical and aerobic efficiency. It now remained a matter of real-life testing. Enter Dan, with the QR Superform, offering an opportunity for Ray to test his, and Dan's, steep seat-tube hypothesis.
To say that the bike is what won Ray's race at the 1989 IM New Zealand special would be to discredit Ray as an athlete: he had won IM New Zealand in 1987, and placed 2nd in 1988. We cannot discount the months that Ray spent training on the Superform in preparing for the race. Ray was fit, he knew he was fit, and he knew that the bike certainly wouldn't hurt him. When asked to guess his time as part of a contest, he guessed 8:35, almost 20 minutes faster than the course record.
Still, it was something of a surprise when he came off the bike almost 30 minutes ahead of Scott Tinley, crushing the bike course record and the overall course record. He wasn't right about his time, though; he was off by about 30 seconds. Not too bad of a guess. Did he realize that what he had done would completely change the direction that triathlon bike design was headed? At the time, not really. As Ray saw it, the entire sport of triathlon was in a process of discovery, almost a "Wild West" of trying new technologies and training ideas. For him, the Superform was just one of the new ideas that happened to work: but, even after he stopped riding QR bikes, he made sure that whatever bike he rode had a similar steep seat-tube geometry as that original Superform.
And, the "modern" triathlon bike was born.
But 4 months before that, Dan and Ray Browning were changing the entire world of triathlon and TT bike riding
http://quintanarootri.blogspot.com/2014/03/1989-story-of-science-and-seat-tubes.html
MAR
11
1989: A Story of Science and Seat Tubes
If 1987 put Quintana Roo on the map, then the next two years made certain that it was there to stay. There is something of a tendency, when telling the "story" of Quintana Roo, to jump right from the wetsuit to Ray Browning riding the Superform at the 1989 Ironman New Zealand. While "technically" correct, that version does not capture the radical advancements occurring in triathlon technology.
The same year that the QR wetsuit debuted, Steve Hed was able to develop and mass produce a readily available rear disc wheel, at a price accessible to pros and age-groupers alike. 1987 also saw the introduction of the Scott DH aerobar into triathlon (whereas "real" cycling did not begin to adopt this until Greg Lemond's historic Tour de France win in 1989).
The problem with the the Scott DH aerobar, though, was that it was not very comfortable to use; the slack seat tube angle and the fixed quill-stems of the bikes of this time meant that there was very little room for adjustment. In order to achieve a good aero position, riders were bending over almost completely double, and it was not a comfortable position to be in for any extended period of time. Something needed to be done.
If we were to tell the "traditional" story of the triathlon bike, this is the part where we say "Dan noticed a common trend among triathletes- everyone was trying to move their seat forward as much as possible in order to open up their hip angle. So, he decided to build a bike 'from the bars back,' gave it to Ray Browning to ride at the 1989 IM New Zealand, and the world was changed." And this wouldn't be wrong; it just wouldn't be completely right, because there's more to the story.
In 1988, after the wetsuit but before the Superform, Dan noticed that many of the women triathletes that he was working with simply did not fit on their bikes. The 700c, slack-tube geometry did not meet their needs. So, Dan designed and built a road bike with 650c wheels specifically for women, first called the Cat 1 and then the Palomar. It was not much more than "shrinking" the geometry of a bike, but it worked. This was the start of QR bikes, again making a product to fill a specific need.
But what about the Superform? That's what QR is famous for, right? Yes, but there is more to the story. Dan wasn't the only one who noticed a universal trend of triathletes trying to get as forward as possible on their bikes. There were others who also noticed, and who were also studying the effects that a "steep" position had on the body. Others such as Ray Browning. Ray wasn't just a triathlete who happened to ride the Superform. Along with his impressive triathlon career, Ray was pursuing a post-grad degree in biomechanics at UCLA, specifically the biomechanics of cycling. He and those he was working with noticed that when their subjects were required to pedal harder and faster, the subjects would move forward on the saddle, opening up their hip angle and effectively steepening the geometry of the bike.
Studying the physiological effects of this position, Browning realized that the positive benefits of a position like this very much outweighed the negative effects in terms of biomechanical and aerobic efficiency. It now remained a matter of real-life testing. Enter Dan, with the QR Superform, offering an opportunity for Ray to test his, and Dan's, steep seat-tube hypothesis.
To say that the bike is what won Ray's race at the 1989 IM New Zealand special would be to discredit Ray as an athlete: he had won IM New Zealand in 1987, and placed 2nd in 1988. We cannot discount the months that Ray spent training on the Superform in preparing for the race. Ray was fit, he knew he was fit, and he knew that the bike certainly wouldn't hurt him. When asked to guess his time as part of a contest, he guessed 8:35, almost 20 minutes faster than the course record.
Still, it was something of a surprise when he came off the bike almost 30 minutes ahead of Scott Tinley, crushing the bike course record and the overall course record. He wasn't right about his time, though; he was off by about 30 seconds. Not too bad of a guess. Did he realize that what he had done would completely change the direction that triathlon bike design was headed? At the time, not really. As Ray saw it, the entire sport of triathlon was in a process of discovery, almost a "Wild West" of trying new technologies and training ideas. For him, the Superform was just one of the new ideas that happened to work: but, even after he stopped riding QR bikes, he made sure that whatever bike he rode had a similar steep seat-tube geometry as that original Superform.
And, the "modern" triathlon bike was born.
Last edited by:
devashish_paul: Jun 20, 18 12:06
