Can I ask why the Dimond engineers chose to leave a gap between the frame and the stock fork? It sticks out visually, and it looks as if it's begging for something like an FK26 to mate better with the frame...

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ZONE3 - We Last Longer

My point for pointing out the bike was that we may soon know what the aero benefit of no seat stays is with this bike...Yes the picture is of the disk brake variety, but as stated it CAN be fitted with rim brakes.

Unfortunately my internet skillzzzzz did not find a culprit picture with rim brakes.

I think the Culprit style design may offer the middle ground between beam and current superbikes (in rim brake configurations)...This is a guess but Im interested to hear what the ST aero experts think a seat stay-less design would do

Wouldn't the only way to see the difference between a frame with and without seat stays be to use the same frame? I would wager that current superbikes are more aero pretty much everywhere so how would you be able to tell if an gains were due to the lack of stays?

Also, will this just follow the beam bike trend of testing faster until you put a rider on the bike?

Well, thats not an apples to apples comparison...

If you took a current superbike, and cut the seat stays off, the bike would have inferior stiffness/handling characteristics (assuming the current designs are at the reasonable limit WITH seat stays)

I think what the culprit style design (not necessarily the culprit) does is trades beefier chainstays that have less aero impact and forgo the seatstays.

It is all speculation on my part, and Ive never ridden a beam bike, but I think the culprit style design is very intriguing.

I will need a day or 2 to find the data. When Culprit Launched the Legend we did wind tunnel testing of the same bike built with Rim brakes to run against the version of the bike for the other brand I shared the molds with originally before moving on, Theirs had seatstays, mine didn't. I will post the drag differences of that frame with and without stays to show the improvement of no stays. Again, that bike had some areas we have further improved on and you will see them on the new version set to release sometime next year. Glad to see Culprit getting some chatter.

I believe in the future the disc will be better integrated into the bike, etc, but until it is mainstream, opening a caliper, design, etc gets expensive for a young innovative brand. Ashima was working on hydraulic levers and calipers with me until some changes in the company occurred and their main engineer/manager pushing the project moved to another company, thus stopping the project in its tracks. But they were beautiful and well designed together. It takes someone to make that leap, as said before for more to follow. When we launched the Croz blade rim/disc frame in 2012, we were among the first in the road disc movement. one of the first race geometry road disc. Many told us we were nuts, but look where that technology has gone since then and continues to improve.

Give tri disc some time, it will eventually get there. til then, brands like Culprit and Ceepo are pushing and pulling to at the forefront. When the big brands follow, it was because the small brands created a small demand and the big brands justified it for shimano , sram, campy, magura to jump in. etc

The biggest benefit I've noticed is handling in cross winds. Kona was very windy this year, and I felt super stable on the Dimond, compared to a few sketchy moments I had on a different bike in 2013 (easier year, less windy). This allowed me to ride with a lot more confidence and therefore faster, especially in the fast sections. As for aero/watts savings, I know it's not very scientific to use race time/effort as a benchmark, but this year I was only 5 mins slower, on lower watts, in tougher conditions.

2013: 4:55 on 236w NP 222 AP (fast year)
2014: 4:59 on 226w NP 204 AP (slow year)

Of course there are other variables (such as body position on new bike) but everything else (clothing etc) was the same. I know you can't read too much into this, but to me, this data is validation that cleaner, more aero bike + better position = better performance for less effort

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Don't know about crosswinds as I only ever feel their impact on my front wheel (and I always run a disc). I would think that the higher position I'd be in due to increased stack would play a bigger role in stability in crosswinds. There's also no way I can get as good a position on a beam bike which is the main reason I wouldn't buy one (the second being aesthetics).

wut?

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

I figured that last time I looked. Upon looking again, I could replicate my position but I'd be limited in my choice of bars and would sit a bit higher on the bike (not ideal). I still don't really see the point of beam bikes as the aero credentials don't really seem to be there and I don't suffer from any comfort issues. Different strokes I guess.

Oh, you can't get in a good position on some particular beam bike. That makes more sense.

The Dimond appears to have pretty good aero credentials.

But I agree about comfort, I've never had any issues with that either.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

I think the Dimond has very similar stack/reach to a P5

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Perhaps, but not a Plasma 3 TT. My position is good and I'm fairly certain my Crr is pretty low (find out for certain when the weather is good enough for an aero test). Basically if it ain't broke. If it were I'd probably go for a Plasma 5 as the price is competitive and I know I can get the same position without a lot of faffing.

Still not convinced about any aero gains: http://www.rustersports.com/...eport-11.14.2013.pdf

Worth noting the rider position in their test is absolute pants. Seriously, who rides like that?

The goal was to create a position that could be reliably replicated. It is possible that there is some interaction between that unusual head position and frames that could differ a bit between frames but probably not much.

A mannequin would be better but that is not a bad choice when testing with a human.

The P5 is being hurt a bit by the upturned aduro levers though, at least a gigaton of drag! ;)

still I think the Dimond is doing well there, and they have a better fork coming

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

You can get the same position on the Plasma 5 that you have on the Plasma 3 TT? Looking at the stack and reach numbers of the Plasma 5, the frame looks to be pretty short and tall.

Yeah with the zero rise stem (published figures are with the 45mm rise).

Published numbers are WITH 45mm riser stem?

That's my understanding although I could be wrong (in medium the 3 Premium is 545 w/riser stem and 505 with flat stem whereas the 5 shows 540mm). Looking at Svein Tuft's fit from the 3 TT to the 5 there's barely any difference, so it seems easily achievable.

Do you have a photo of Svein on the 5?

He's on the new 5 in the first photo but he's got the flat stem not the riser stem. I wish it weren't the case but I think the published stack/reach numbers do not include the riser stem.

Take a look at the 3rd (Plamsa 5) and 4th photo (Plasma 3). Certainly doesn't look like a 35mm difference in stack...

Maybe you're right. I certainly hope so.

also, disk brakes require crossed spoke patterns; I'd think 3x minimum - yikes! A radial spoked wheel with disks - ouch!

As a triathlete I've never needed more brakes than I have. Disks on my Motorcycle? I'll take 3 Brembos to go please.

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I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
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Here is perhaps a better comparison of fit on the 5 vs. 3, both with TT stems.