Take a look at the Liberty Seguras TT bikes
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour04.php?id=photos/2004/tour04/prologue/JD_tdf04_prol_08
Yes I know they have a front brake but it is hidden around the back of the fork. First time I have seen this. Any thoughts on the aerodynamic advantage of this?
Cheers AndyA
I’ve seen berfore but I’m not sure where. I think the theory was that with the brake behind the fork, the fork hides it so you can use whatever ugly non-aero brake you could find and stick it back there, plus having the brake slammed into the fork by the wheel on contact it keeps it from being pulled off in an emergency situation.
Sure would be nice if Liberty Segouros would just admit that they are in fact sponsored by Giant as it appears that BH has yet to deliver a single frame! Anyone seen/have any images of the Liberty crew on anything but rebadged Giant composite frames?
This does not produce favorable airflow coming off the fork. A sharp trailing edge is almost always preferred to a erratic bulbous one.
I’d suggest that the rearward facing front brake is in fact less aero than a well designed fork/fork crown, designed to encapsulate the conventional caliper, move the air behind it back to as close to laminar flow as possible.
No way the air coming off that fork is doing anything but tumbling around.
Same goes with the headtube “wedge”. The thing to do there is round the front edge a la the USPS TTT frame.
“…if it isn’t fast, it better look fast.”
-SD
Actually if you go to BH Bikes homepage they produce a bike that looks quite similar to the Giant TCR Composite (albeit with a few differences) - http://www.bhbikes.com/noti-ver.asp?idNoticia=51
I wonder if they worked with Giant on this, since Saiz had such a long relationship with Giant when he was leading ONCE.
I’m not sure it would help. Whether that small area of wind hits the brake or the fork crown may make a difference to the bike, but what I can’t get over is that the wind still has to pass the riders flailing legs and the riders big ole body. Some of those central area items (aero bars, stem, bike computer, front brake) all have to pass the body wall and to me seem minor. I think the more extreme the item, (helmet, hands/arms, brake levers, wheels) would make the greatest difference.
I wonder if they worked with Giant on this
The image from the BH website is pretty cool but does seem to bear a striking resemblance to the latest incarnation of the TCR advanced frameset. Here is an image for comparison:
Of course all the carbon frames look similar - other than Trek the entire world production of monocoque carbon frames comes out of only a couple Asian companies and they will make private label versions of any frame they make.
Is BH Bestigui (sp?) Hermanos?
Russ