There were others pics posted, but damn... That bike gets sweeter and sweeter.

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"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell

Did you notice the drill and the hack saw in the background? That is to adjust the saddle height.

I am totally serious.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Speaking of hacking and cutting, Tom, what is your take on these sorts of seat posts? (Time Vx, the T-Mob Giant TCR proto, the Phonak TT bike come to mind) I'm thinking specifically in terms of average consumers, not the pros. At the moment they are only found on high end or prototype bikes. But they seem to be becoming a more common approach. How far will these designs make it into the marketplace? Don't they put a bit of a premium on the bike shop? These aren't even forks, which if cut wrong aren't death to replace. We're talking about the frame, and high $$$$ ones to boot. Seems like it would be fairly easy to crap out a frame by cutting it too short. What kinds of disclaimers are the frame companies likely to put on these?

Seems like a lot of potential problems for consumers and shops if these designs become terribly popular. Even someone like me, who has my saddle height dialed in fairly accurately will still find some play between bikes. Maybe I'll ride a Time frame with the saddle a bit more rearward. That would shorten the seattube/post. But I wouldn't know that until I rode the bike and felt the handling and the best place for my center of gravity. My current saddle height is a starting place, not a destination on any particular bike. Anyway...I'm running amok at the brain...

So what's your take on these, as a potential shop carrying bikes of this design?

I love this bike just as much as the next guy, but you have to wonder about their choice of tires during the team time trial. To come across in second was great, but to only come across with 5 was a little odd seeing as they had so many crashes due to tire-failure.

David J

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david
asc-arizona state cycling
tribemultisport.com

Tom,

You may be serious, but in this instance they took the hacksaw to cut down the armrests.

Just compare the photos of the bike from before and after the TT !

Why the heck would they do that?

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adrialin

(BOMK, racing drug and supplement free since 1985)

"soooooo sweet"

i could show you some bike photos out of triathlete magazine from the 1980s that would make this bike look pedestrian. yes, it's a nice design, but the devil's in the details. we made some really, really nice, very light, bikes from time to time, but the best results always came on relatively stock, tried and true, proven bikes. me, if i was a phonak rider it would seem to me to be like riding every stage with the sword of damocles over my head. what's going to break? what's going to blow?

i say this only because there just seem to be so many mechanicals, so many flats. i feel bad for the manufacturers involved. steve and annie hed were just nervous wrecks during the TTT, wondering whether some very light all-carbon hed3s were going to hold up on the postal team bikes. of course they did, but they would've died if any of those wheels would've failed.

i know this, of course, because a wheel i gave lance on or about 1990 DID fail during a triathlon national championship, while he was riding way ahead of the field on a special, litespeed built QR. he had to drop out, all my fault (so i know whereof i speak).

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Slowman,

First, how are the shoes I sent you?

Second, I have tried to make "straight" aerobars for years. I have used so many different thing that you can pick up at a hardware store. Nothing I made was functional but they fit real nice. It seams to me that it would take about two days in a good machine shop to design and make something for the market. Why is it taking so long? So far the best stuff i have is a cut and paste job from 3 sets of bars. It just looks like such a simple design. Whats the holdup?

My ABICI Time machine has a seat mast which had to be cut before being painted. Roy Knickman was very attentive to my seat height and my seat TYPE, as well as the type of seatpost I was using, to give me as accurate a cut as possible.


My own personal view is that for a TT bike, this is fine, but maybe for a road bike, you want to be able to tune the ride comfort a bit more (1-2 cm of carbon seatpost are not going to have a lot of effect on comfort).

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Is that a completely integrated stem and aerobar, or just stem like the Look TT bike?

Looking at that thing raises my testosterone levels. I'll have to be careful.... :)

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

"First, how are the shoes I sent you?"

sweeeet.

"Why is it taking so long?"

won't take too much longer.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I like my Cervelo Dual much much more than Tyler's bike. Very adjustable, sweet ride, stiff when it needs to be yet plush on harsh roads. On a side note I bought it at B&L in Kona and Bill was awsome! But I wouldn't complain if somebody gave me his bike for free.

Rusty