Many pictures of Joseba Beloki during the prologue on Cyclingnews. I have not seen this time trial frame before. Pretty cool. Is this a new carbon mold? Any info appreciated.
obviously not your consumer version TCR
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Maybe its an Isaac?? Looks similar to the website photos someone else posted.
Ok, not so much, after watching more closely on the evening coverage. Beats me.
Here’s the New Once TT bike: It looks like something completely new. Pretty sweet, I think.
MH
frames in existence and that they were made specifically and only for the ONCE team? true or false I know not but the lady said they’d talked to Beloki and Manolo and that is what they were told.
Ahhh, chalk up another one for my dream bike list.
Warn me next time you post a photo like that! They frown on pornography around here!
It looks like the Campy disc has a AL rim, it it just a Campy labeled HED to go with the HED3?
Good call - that is certainly not a current available Campy disk wheel…maybe it is something new? (Probably a Hed though)
We need some more/different pictures to see if it has HEDs lenticular shape.
What gives it away that it is not the Campy Gibli just painted gold? They have ridden that disc for years and I certainly can’t imagine they would exchange it out for a HED.
I just checked the Campy web site and it looks like the Ghibli does have an aluminum rim, my bad.
One thing is for sure. Spending the kind of $$$$$$ ONCE has on developing and equipping this bike is evidence of how serious they are about their TDF and winning the TTT. It was one thing in the days where one guy on a team would have the crazy-expensive exotic TT machine. Sainz and ONCE put the whole team on these bikes! You don’t make that kind of effort if you aren’t looking to win. I’d love to see the huge $ tallies on each team’s bike stables. I’d bet ONCE would lead the way between this and their new road bikes.
Assuming this is a new Giant bike frame, Once didn’t pay anything for them: rather, they are paid by the manufacturer to ride them - ditto the road frames.
At this level, the teams are paid -cash, money- for ANYTHING that has a logo on it.
Does this mean Once doesn’t invest in TT equipment? Heck, no. They have a long established record as being one of the few Euro teams who give thought to this aspect of the sport on a team wide, systemic basis. But anything they actually buy has either no logo on it or is re-badged with a sponsors name. Note that the H3s on the bike say Once on them, ditto for the ADAs on the climbing bikes.
What this means is that a team like Bianchi, with it’s re-badged Walsers, probably paid for their bikes, just like Once paid for the H3s. That being said, you can be sure that Bianchi is ultimately picking up the tab for the Walsers - they say Bianchi on them.
The very reason Once is attractive to a sponsor like Giant is their openness to new technology, and the benefit they reap is that they get paid to use the latest in bike tech, while some other teams have to buy it and re-badge it.
MH
Of couse I know ONCE the company or ONCE the team didn’t pay for them. I wasn’t speaking of ONCE the company or team so much as the ONCE cycling effort at large. Somebody paid for the development of those bikes and they put that time, $, and effort into ONCE. If it was all Giant in house development, the fact still remains that they put that kind of effort into that team. It adds up to a huge investment, largely orchestrated by Manolo Sainz, that screams “We’re in this to win. Period.”
interesting how the front brakes are behind the fork. I wonder what the aero benefit is
I’m curious about the “stem” on this bike. Looks like it would be useful for any bike where the head tube is too tall and you need to get the front end down a bit. Any idea who makes it?
I do not know who made that “stem” but when i was building frames and stems i made a few that dropped like this,Greg Lemond used one like it years ago,they work for the reasons you talked about.Randall
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The stem appears to be the Giant adjustable stem that they haave been making for several years. It pivots just in front of the heatube mount so that you can adjust height. Once has been using them on their TT bikes for several years.
MH