Ramsay's Weird TT Bike
 

I was looking at Gordon Ramsay's tweets and saw he posted a picture of his bike. I thought he was one of the weird rich guys with a superficial interest on road cycling but soon after a little investigation I saw he recently became an Ironman.

The thing that caught my attention was the super weird frame geometry. I have never seen a head tube that long even on road bikes! The guy is 6'2" so he doesn't need an extremely big frame, and when you look at the pictures, the top tube doesn't look very long. It's just a oddly high frame. The angle of the TT bars and overall fit doesn't look either.

What do you think?

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I noticed that on TV as well. I say he has back pain and flexibility issues. His TT bike position is not aero at all and appears to be set up for comfort (which is probably most important for him right now).

As non-aero as his TT bike setup is, it's still going to be better than riding on the hoods of a regular non-TT bike (doubtful he'd be able to ride drops for 112 miles.)

Seems like Ramsay's keeping up with the whole fitness thing, which is nice. His IM perfformance is expectedly submediocre, but not at all bad for someone who has no prior athletic experience and essentially came off the couch later in life.

Ramsay is 47 years old and not a professional athlete. Older guys with regular jobs usually do not have the flexibility to ride the same types of racing bikes as younger guys.

That bike may as well be a sail.

which Gordon Ramsay, the guy used to be a pro soccer player, he quit to cook. tore up his knee,

I am wondering how the run section is going to go.

the praying mantis position. favoured by freds everywhere

5:48 marathon at the end. 6:35 bike (17avg), 1:20 swim. 14hr total. needs to work on his transition times ;) T1 10:30, T2 8:30..

He might easily cook a nice dinner in those transition times.

Heat the pan...Butter in...Shoes on...Delicious!

Ironman position, not a TT position. Hence, the focus on comfort.

lacks a flexible body.....so comfy he goes

True!

(i've since learned that less competitive Ironman folks tend to do a full clothing change instead of riding in wet shorts and running in bike shorts so that slows things down by a lot)

So you say Ironman has a different fit maybe even different bikes? IMO it still doesn't explain the short top tube - high head tube combo.

I've heard that Tri tops dry fairly quick and I once saw Lance doing an entire Triathlon in Speedo! But I don't think you could fun a marathon in bibs. :D

top yes.. bottoms not as much. sprint tri's are shorter so being a bit uncomfortable for an hour is a bit different than for a full day.

I think we should give this guy a break.

Coming from where he was to completing an Ironman is no small thing. If you have not done one, it is even more difficult than you can imagine.

For a 39 year old, I race is a respectable 10:30 minute time frame....many of the guys behind me say I make it look easy. Every step on the marathon is pain beyond words....for every meter of the marathon...I have to fight with my mind to take the next step.

Full props to him regardless of his bike and position. It takes so much to complete an ironman...and even more when so many are waiting for you to fail.

Sure. First there's the difference between the positional requirements of the UCI and what triathletes are allowed. No way the fit of most the pro triathletes would pass UCI requirements. Secondly there is the difference between the requirements of TT, which rarely exceed 60km, and the 180km of Ironman. Even the UCI pros complain about how uncomfortable their positions are. Their's maybe the fastest position the UCI allows but they wouldn't want to have to hold that for 6 hours. Then there's the difference between what the pro triathletes can manage and what you would normally expect from an amateur recreational triathlete. The pros will spend significantly less time on the bike, while weighing less, supporting a greater percentage of that lower weight with their feet and would be expected to have greater flexibility than the average recreational amateur.

The only photo in that bunch that gives us much to work with is the one on the trainer. His upper arms aren't at a 90* angle and that would suggest that his arm rests could be placed further forward. But, they are close to vertical for weight support reasons AND he's reasonably far forward on the saddle.

It's a GURU, probably custom geometry. Chances are pretty good that he was custom fit for it on an X,Y fitting tool by a reasonably competant fitter. That may be the best position he could get Gordon into. The tall stack dimension is probably the consequence of his inflexibility and inability to comfortably get any lower than that. As his upper body rotates upwards the reach would have to be shortened accordingly. If you imagine Gordon rotating his pelvis and torso to a lower position you can see how it would necessitate a increased reach to his arm supports with a corresponding decrease in stack and increase in reach (top tube length or stem).

Make sense?

How many IMs have you finished and what were your times?

The guys not a pro, he can ride whatever he likes. He's probably faster than you.

its hard for me to make fun of tri-people because if i did a triathlon i would drown before the first buoy. Also running...for fun? that just seems stupid to me.

How's this about me all of a sudden? I just said it looked weird. I have the utmost respect for triathletes (of any kind) but you on the other hand think (and express) that a person you have only seen on TV is probably faster than a guy you've never met.

Guy spends all day on his feet, so it wouldn't surprise me if he had back issues which affect his flexibility.

Makes perfect sense,

Just one thing though; I know triathlons are not UCI events and most regulations do not apply, does that mean you could race a bike that is lighter than 6.8 kg in a triathlon?

The headtube is very tall is all.

USAtriathalon.org doesn't show any weight limits in their rules. Tri bikes tend to be heavier anyway due to deep wheels and aero bars etc

Not to mention deep frame, which doesn't count for much..but it's still a solid extra chunk of carbon fiber.