
Now I don't have really any specs on the bikes, but I have seen a lot of pics after seeing them in the Giro and the 1st stage of the Tour. So I thought I would try and get more pics and try to solve the mystery of this new gem.
Watching Lance's ride on the 4th of July in the Tour, I think I was watching his bike more than I was watching him, or the race. The Tour is where you see "what will be" in the future. From helmets, shoes, wheels, etc. So it's a bit of a debut of new stuff. Love the new stuff.

I also noticed on Lance's ride on the 4th that he was using Zipp Vuka aero extensions for his aero bar. Probalby even the Zipp Shift that integrates the shift lever into the aeo bar. Kind of funny since Bontrager and Trek are pretty much married and did not produce a bar that would work for Lance.


Internally routed has a whole new meaning. Cables around the stem, which would eventually be routed into the frame, have totally disappeared on the new frame...gone...non existent! Love that.
One of the privileges, or gifts, of riding for the TIMEX Multisport Team is that once a year we get to meet with all the sponsors of the team. Typically not "sales" people, rather the owners, designers, and engineers. It's pretty neat. Last year the engineers of the Trek TTX and the Madone came and met with us. As they were now looking to design a new TT bike they were wondering how they could make the best bike better. They were thinking of nutrition options, how they could do an internal hydration system, etc. Just ideas, things they thought we would have an interest in. As I was talking with them, I told them that I thought the bike is so aero right now it's incredible. But as you look at it form the front, the ONLY thing that sticks out is the front brake cable. Is there a way to "hide" that. Windtunnel tests show that "hiding" the brake behind the fork actually creates drag. Although some bike mfg do it because it looks like it would be more aero. But I suggested hiding the brake inside the fork and have the cable come down through the fork tube. It would be a mechanics nightmare, but would get the cable and the brake out of the wind. I believe Kyle Marcotte (TIMEX athlete as well) was a part of this conversation too. So, when I see this being implemented into the the new bikes, I smile. Not that we came up with this, but obviously other people in the engineering world thought the same, and made it happen.


The hidden front brake in the fork is amazing! This is a HUGE advancement and I would suspect that it cost a lot to design. But the bar has been raised, and we will now watch the other companies follow suit. Personally, I think this is one of the coolest improvements, that all the others improvements in the frame will be lost unfortunately. There have been a lot of changes to the, dare I say, 'old' TTX. But this one is as big as they come.

Look at the above shot of Contador in the TT. Where did the front brake caliper go? This bike looks like a track bike other than the brake levers (I think I just came up with the next design improvement :)) However, you can see that Contador's bike is not using the SRAM R2C shift levers.





I am excited to see what they release to the public. Pretty exciting and definitely a bike that will truly raise the bar.
4 comments:
Fascinating. I'm headed out to the garage right now with black electrical tape. Seriously though, I wouldn't have noticed some of those details that you caught. I'd be curious how long after the Tour it has taken in the past for these technologies to make it to your local bike shop...
On the yellow bike look about 2" behind the bottom bracket. Some sort of mounting bracket. Maybe on that bike the brakes mounted there.
As for the black tape on Contador's bike, there is a similar spot on Lance's Black bike. Electronics cover maybe ,with the black nipple thing on the yellow bike being an antenna for wireless transmission????
I think the black nipple thing is for attaching a playing card, when horsing around with the other guys at home, and wanting to make motorcycle noises.
Thanks for teaching about the bike technology, Rog!
Tim
The black spots on the non drive chainstay is for Treks Duotrap system, a variation of Speedtrap, that mouns sensors for speed and cadence pickup directly into the frame. By using wireless ANT2+ tech they can put the sensor directly into the frame.
Post a Comment