Road Bike Racing - Differences in fit and technique between Merckx era and today?

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andrello
07-15-05, 06:29 PM
In watching old Eddy Merckx races it's easy to notice all the riders bouncing their upper bodies especially during the climbs. Nowadays you don't see riders moving their torsos at all. Why?

Is it because today's riders are raised up and leaned over more? If so why weren't they optimized to this position in the past?

120372
07-18-05, 04:25 PM
I can only answer for myself, but I don't bounce around because it's basically wasted movement/energy that makes my surface area larger. Modern racers are more aware of the aerodynamic advantage of being small in the wind.

Why? They weren't hooked up to computers that calculated every change that optimized performance in wind tunnels.
filtersweep
07-18-05, 04:35 PM
Are you serious? There are all sorts of non-climbers today that have UGLY climbing form... it is a mess at the back of the stragglers...

geneman
07-18-05, 04:41 PM
I'm totally taking a flyer here ... I don't think the older riders had the range of gears that allowed them to "spin" up a hill. Go try and ride up a hill with a 39-21 and see if you can do it without leveraging your upper body and bouncing all over the place. My evidence is old footage. Certainly, TdF bikes were "fixed" before rear derailleurs came around which had to make for some fun hill climbing involving lots of upper body coersion.

Mark