Felt is the only one with the left crank setup on their bikes. They found it is faster although Cervelo disagrees with their finding. I don't think it matters unless your able to ride in the sub 4:30s for your 4k time or 3:30s in your 3k time if you're women.

I'm not sure what you mean by the pad width looks wider because as far as I can tell, they are similar in width. Track cyclist typically run their pads wider because the banking on 200m tracks are actually really steep and the wider pads help with stability.

Also, what do you mean by workout shoes? Are you talking about gym shoes that are more for lifting such as metcon or lifting platform shoes?
If this is what your talking about, yes most track cyclist are using these kinds of shoes. You generate alot of torque and power on the start and in order to get up there you need to do alot of strength work off the bike.

If your talking about cycling shoes, then track cyclist tend to use the stiffest shoes the market has to offer because your most likely going to start feeling the carbon plate on mid range shoes bend when your producing that peak power during your starting lap.

Posting pics on the phone I have is a bit harder than the laptop but look at the ladies TP for USA then men’s HUUB team. It just happened both came up side by side in an unrelated picture search and I thought I noticed the hands.

The pad width and track banking is a good point. That’s why I asked, I didn’t know.

Just seems lots of guys hands are touching center and the ladies have a solid space.

I like learning new things, so appreciate the response.

Most guys actually have space between their arm. Huub-Wattbike specializes in team pursuit and only that so their position is more optimized than most people including pros. They probably spend more time than any other national team riding circles around the track.

Possibly an aero advantage, but I believe the primary intent is moving the center of mass inwards. So the center of mass travels a shorter distance around the track. On the aero side, I think it might be because the forward linear velocity is lower (during turns).

There is definitely a wide variety of widths in track (relative to road TT), but I haven't noticed gender trends.

Huub-Wattbike isn't a national team. They have guys who compete on other national teams, like Tanfield and Archibald for Britain and Ashton Lambie for the U.S.

Which makes me sad that we won't see Ashton Lambie at the Olympics, despite his being the most talented male track rider we have (in my opinion). I can't believe we could get 3 other guys who could hang with him well enough to qualify for the Olympics.

Sidebar based on the men’s olympic comments.

I emailed Rock Hill velo about pursuit rules on the bike. Like, if you did the training classes and did a session on your bike after. Curious in case I ever got interest to try.

I looked up the track records while cruising the site. 250m track. Men’s hour, 25mi. I know the gravity of the banking sucks.....but pretty sure I know several guys local who could TT a hill 40k faster on tarmac. I’m still a novice TT guy after two years and do that on chipseal. That to say, the tracks are hours from the riders. In other places more tracks.

Not sure where I was going with that. Just thought it would be like 28 or 29 or 30 mi in an hour. Given that, I can only assume track isn’t big in the US. I think the history is that prohibition era laws on liquor and sports betting killed the US track racing scene.

Sucks, as if I had a track local I would be there all the time.

HUUB is super specialized, but folks talk. People pay attention.

Back to it. I wonder sometimes if I have modeled the wrong fit since I am a lot slower rider. I thought some HUUB style fit concepts depend on speed. Sooooo, that’s the root of why I asked about the hands on guys versus ladies. I am flexible, but not blistering.

 



Eddy Merckx did 30.715 mi for the hour, just fwiw.

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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.
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Still mine at Rock Hill, although it's purely because nobody has deemed it important enough to come take it away :D I promise you for mortals, riding lap after lap in 90°+ southern heat for an hour will take it's toll.
There have been a few guys that have done 40 minutes a lot faster than I did as well... but I still have the record ;)

A lot of team pursuit squads find it easier to stay close together with a bit wider arms. Of females specifically for IP, Sarah Hammer is the only one that comes to mind with an "obviously wide" setup. I suppose in theory breasts might make a wider setup faster for women than men but that might be just me thinking.

The Left hand drive has been a thing for a long time (albeit obscure then...and still) and for the most part, it was to make the new Felt "special."

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