No constructive answer from me but it's pretty cool that the guy is trying.

I don't think there is room for enough water bottles in an Ironman :)

I like the helmet visor, huge solid chain ring and what appears to be the brake levers

jaretj

I see no reason why not. They allow Y Frames.

http://www.ironman.com/...s.aspx#axzz2mbHila8l

"3. No tandems, recumbents, fairings, or any add-on device designed exclusively to reduce resistance are allowed. Any new, unusual, or prototype equipment will be subject to a determination of legality by the event organizer and/or Head Referee."

The term "fairing" is rather ambiguous, but Merriam-Webster defines it as "a member or structure whose primary function is to produce a smooth outline and to reduce drag (as on an airplane)". So it could be argued that the pieces that enclose most of the frame's tubes are fairings and thus illegal.

But I am mainly interested in what happens in practice, and whether there are examples of bikes that have resulted in a DQ.

The fairings is very questionable. Look at the Cervélo P5-Six brake covers. Not structural and could easily pass as fairings. Yet, those are legal for Ironman races.

Aero or die. His bars are narrower than my work bike. Thought of doing a similar, though more subtle thing with my P2C, wonder if it would help or hinder drag reduction?
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bikemessengersrepresent

Was this guy in the Cat 5 race?

Just kidding. Interesting adaptations on the bike, however based on the rules posted above, since they are "adaptations" to the bike it would seem that it would not be allowed.

Just my opinion, but I'd expect them to deem that as a fairing off the front of the forks, because it doesn't appear to serve any other purpose.

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Don Larkin
Reach For More
http://www.reachformore.fit/
USAT Lvl1 Coach, NSCA-CPT, NASM-CPT, BS Exercise Science

Today we salute you, Mr. Completely Gaming the System Euro Time Trial Guy.

That setup is 4 kinds of awesome.
1. No FD. All big ring, all the time. The gauntlet for humongous testicles has been thrown down. The tumescence level of that single extension is over 9000.
2. Outrageous front end setup. Some sort of fairing that looks 2x bigger than it needs to be, and appears to completely enclose the cockpit. Wafer-thin brake levers and handlebars are a sweet touch too. I would like some.
3. Natural sidewalls on the tires. Because "leave all except one stone un-turned."
4. He must have looked at all the single bottle-behind the saddle carriers and said "what is this...a bottle carrier for ants? it needs to be at least 3 times bigger than this!" 3 bottles, for a TT, all probably empty, with an obvious splitter below holding them up. Hell, the middle bottle looks to be completely inaccessible from on the bike, and since I can't see a bottle cage holding it on it is probably glued down or something. Literally only done in the name of speed.

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I tweet!

It was the National 12 hour TT championship, which he won, so on that occasion he probably really did need all that drink carrying capacity.

LOL on Photo #2... "Is the bike giving me the...."

Don't we have bikes racing with built in fairings already? I remember seeing some pics with home made fairings posted before in transition. One was done with ducttape and plastic I think and another with some kind of sheet metal looking thing.

77 tooth chainring, 165mm cranks, he pedals it at 65 rpm. it looks like it might be the same bike pre-fairings, too. Photo from 2008.

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´Get the most aero and light bike you can get. With the aero advantage you can be saving minutes and with the weight advantage you can be saving seconds. In a race against the clock both matter.´

BMANX

I just pissed myself. Well done.

So how, exactly, are disc covers legal?

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The point is, ladies and gentleman, that speed, for lack of a better word, is good. Speed is right, Speed works. Speed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.

It's only a wafer-thin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJZPzQESq_0


I'm sure those 90 degree cuts on razor thin sheet metal will go over real well in a crash.

Ahh. I suppose you're right then. I still don't see how he could get to that middle bottle while riding--the bottle would have to come straight out the rear if it were in any kind of cage. Maybe it was just sort of velcroed and wedged in there or something.

How many BTA (I always thought this should stand for "behind-the-ass") bottles is too much? It reminds me of those fishing/go-fast boats with all the outboard engines...have 2, and nobody bats an eye. 3 looks bad-ass. 4 and you're either a drug runner or a kingpin. 5 and you have a micro-pene. Let's see a 5-bottle BTA setup!!

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I tweet!

Off topic, but this reminded me of my favorite Onion article of all time: http://www.theonion.com/...g-five-blades,11056/

Timo added a big ol' fairing to his front this year in Kona and didn't get pulled (pic 1). This, despite trying exactly the same thing at WCs few years ago, and it being "either scrapped or disallowed" (see pic 2).

I like the bars in the OP, though. Kind of like the USE and the brezza nano made beautiful love and had a bar-child.

And prior to him removing several of the spokes on his front wheel, too!!

-Eric

That, Eric, is a very good spot indeed.

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´Get the most aero and light bike you can get. With the aero advantage you can be saving minutes and with the weight advantage you can be saving seconds. In a race against the clock both matter.´

BMANX

Nice! Never seen anyone try that tactic before with spoke removal. Now that is commitment.

I hope he knows where all the pot-holes are.

Interesting. But what benefit does supporting three bottles over (for example) two bottles really give you? Three bottles isn't enough for a 12-hour TT so you're going to be relying on your team handing you replacements anyway.

I've never done a 12 hour TT, but when I do 100 mile TTs I use 3 bottles and do the whole thing without support, I have everything I need on the bike at the start. I don't know what help Nik has in 12 hour TTs, but there may well be a time saving from a greater interval between stopping or slowing to resupply. His winning margin was 0.88 miles over the 12 hours, so a couple of extra stops could make the difference between winning and losing.

Absolutely, but assuming you can only really swap one bottle at once at a reasonable race (ie. not slowing or stopping as you mention) this system would only save you 1 swap over the entire race. (It would be somehow be even more impressive if that *was* worth it..)