U5512

I just don't dig the modern styling of road bikes such as this Trek, but to each his own I guess...

Michael Angelo 

It's the latest craze here in South Florida.

Velognome 

Even worse is the sound they make

Michael Angelo 

The ones around here all have $$$$$ Carbon wheels. So when the wanabe "fast" racer wants to stop all you hear is a horrible scrapping sound.

sloar 

I had one back when I races triathlons. Really didn't care for the looks, but it was crazy fast.

shipwreck

Most of the guys I know who own one of those are the type who don't know how to patch a tube. Or change it. There are probably exceptions and I shouldn't generalize...

However, I did a local century ride with a lot of super competitive types, and three hours in I was enjoying a leisurely 14mph or so on a lonely stretch of road, when I heard this buzzing humming sound. A guy just blasted buy on my left like nobody's business. Don't know if it was him, but someone finished the 5600 feet of climbing 100 mile ride in the 104 F August ride in a little over three hours! They did it on a bike very much like that. That's neat and all, but I have come in from century rides will crap I bought at yard sales on the rack... There's no way I could bring home a sewing machine on one of these, so I guess I don't need one

John E

I am sure it has weight and aerodynamics advantages over anything most of us ride, but the aesthetics would indeed be an acquired taste.

mapleleafs-13 

they make you more:






1 inch tubed bikes have tons of drag right?!?!

rootboy 

The bicycle isn't dead. It just smells funny.

auchencrow

Boy oh boy, @U5512 : After seeing that I'll never look at a Trek the same way again.

Bikedued

That seatpost is WAY too low.,,,,BD

iab

Yes.

Enough to lose a race.

But by all means, let's all keep on bashing modern bikes.

auchencrow

It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it !

RobbieTunes 

Above a certain speed, something like 18.5, the effect of drag increases almost exponentially, so the rider's position, helmet, attire, and THEN the bike makes a difference, with the wheels being almost an equal factor due to turbulence.

Below 18.5, don't worry about it. Climbing, don't worry about it.

Above 18.5, to about 20, ride the drops, and you're about even.

Above 20, for distance over 20 miles, there are advantages to the position and aero, for the extra tons of money.

Weight is simply not much of a factor, even climbing, but it's a heck of a selling point, and for competitions like the TdF, where 2,300 kilometers comes down to minutes, sure.

That Trek, however, offers no advantage at all in the way it's set up.

The plastic fantastics have their koolaid, and we have ours. In 30 years of Ironman competitions, how many have been won because the bike is faster? None. How many have even been close? None. I have yet to see a guy say, "well, he had me on the swim, and he's faster on the run, but boy, my bike was so much more aero, that was the difference it took for me to win." I've never even seen a sprint triathlon come down to the wire.

Still, they're cool. A little over 3 hours for a climbing 100? I hope he got into a pro support car at the end, because that's National Crit champion speed. Tri-bikes generally are poor climbers due to geometry, and I've spent a lot of time out-climbing tri-bikes, getting passed on the flats, out-climbing them again, like a miles-long game of leapfrog. The trick there is to continually charge the hills, hope your quads outlast theirs, because if you can get the other guy to cramp, you win. If not, you'll probably get smoked. Been there. It's still fun to ride behind a guy on one of those Shiv's, his cadence rarely below 89 or above 91, watch the chain dance, watch the athlete in him simply provide power to get from point A to point B. Happened to me last weekend, and I enjoyed it. For him, just a long workout, with company. For me, it was "darn, how many miles to go?"

I'll race an Olympic distance tri next weekend, and I'll walk down a ton of riders on my road bike, but by the 3/4 mark, I'll hear the whir and thump of the tucked-in pocket rockets going by once in a while. The next day, I'll go and do a pleasant 40 on the same bike. Most of them won't. The bike, for them, is workout gear. Whole different approach to wheeling down the road. Viva la difference, and glad for those guys, and the cruizers, as well.

SJX426 

Tomorrows classic, if it can survive.

iab

Please show 1 example of an elite triathlete winning without an aero bike.

RobbieTunes 

The first time a triathlete loses, in any way, to another triathlete with a "faster" bike, the hook is set. I know a girl who had to choose between a stove and a set of Zipps. Married, 2 kids. The stove sat for months, she raced on the Zipps. Did she win more? No. Was she happy? Sure. Her husband rides a Tourmalet, Reynolds 853. I guess they don't cook much.

A metric century this weekend, very hot, very humid, with a thunderstorm the night before. Only one steel bike: a Merckx MX Leader.

I left my steel home, on purpose, and my carbon bike was filthy when we were done. I'm at the point where I just don't need to abuse what chrome stuff I have left.

modelmartin

That is over 30 miles an hour! seriously? With that much climbing?

RobbieTunes 

Well, Dave Scott, year 1, maybe. That's not my point, but we've had several triathlons here, where the same guy wins on a steel Brew; he's just wicked fast, but he's not elite. He just wins by several minutes because he's first out of the water, top 2 or 3 on the bike, and runs like a banshee. He also used to win in Norfolk, on the Brew, where there were tons of carbon aero bikes.

All the elite triathletes absolutely have to have an aero bike; they can't afford not to. They level the playing field among the elite triathletes, but my opinion is that none of them win because the bike is faster-they are all on aero bikes, aero helmets, aero shoes. I don't think any of them get off their Project One after losing by 3 minutes and say "I should have had a Shiv." Triathlon legs are simply time trials, and they don't want to waste any effort or give up any to drag, if they can help it. They may rationalize it by saying "I want this advantage," but the truth is, IMO, they really just "don't want a disadvantage."

In 1986 and 1987, a friend of mine saw aero bars in some magazine, and had a guy make him some out of aluminum stock tubing. We bolted them right to the bars, no arm rests, just bars. He won the state TT championship both of those years. In 1986, there were maybe 2 guys with aero bars, in 1987, half the field. By 1988, everyone had them, because everyone was afraid NOT to have them. He didn't win in 1988, but it wasn't because of the bike.

That's evolved into what they're racing on now. The athletes simply want to eliminate the bike as a factor in not being fast. All of them know the engine is the main thing, but none of them want to think they lost because the other person had a faster bike. That's a risk they won't take. Aero bikes, for the most part, eliminate that risk as much as the owner can afford.

It's just like wearing track spikes. You don't want to lose to a guy who chose 1/2" spikes when you wore 1/4" spikes; at least, you don't want to think you could have beaten him with 1/2" spikes and failed to wear them.

Same thing with aero tri-bikes, with the added "gadget factor" that I must admit, I find hard to resist.

rootboy 

"Aerodynamics is for people who can't build engines"

Enzo Ferrari

)with a wink(:

linnefaulk

My casual pace would look ridiculous on something like that.

RobbieTunes 

Mine does, on this, as well. I like aero bikes, but steel still bakes my cookies. I guess I just like lots of different flavors of Koolaid.

rootboy 

I have to admit, as bicycles, those two just shown don't do a thing for me. But that is neither here nor there. I'm old fashioned.
But as works of design, I think they're beautiful. 2 cents, or less.

Dave Cutter

Yep... special equipment for specialized racing! But I also see those bikes on the MUPs on the weekends under [other] fat old men... with deep pockets. For many... these bicycles have become the corvette of the bicycle world. A heck of a lot worse things could be done to feel good about yourself while pasting through mid-life.

Bicycles are a mature technology. CF frames, 11 cogs, electric shifters, Bluetooth bio sensors, cycling glasses with heads-up displays.... fractional advantages for the highly competitive cyclist. Increased earning for a competitive manufacturing industry. I am not sure much of the "race technology" filters down to benefit the bicycle user-base much.

Fortunately... rock-solid, dependable, lightweight bicycles (made of various materials) are everywhere. For anyone alive at the time of this post, bicycles are ubiquitous. Although this ancient (really old?) technology will certainly (sooner or later) be replaced with some new improved transportation that... I can't imagine. Bicycles will be everywhere as they are today.... for another generation.

daf1009

Sorry shipwreck....I do not buy the speed on that century...that is Sprint finish speed for a climbing century!