Dear Lennard,
What was Ivan Basso using for a bike in today’s time trial up l’Alpe d’Huez?
William

Dear William,
Funny you should ask, since I was just putting a few finishing touches on a piece John Wilcockson sent in last night.
Lennard

Readying Basso’s ride
Ivan Basso rode the new bike he will race on Wednesday in the Alpe d’Huez time trial for a few hours on the rest day on Monday. He was planning to ride it in the stage from Valréas to Villard-de-Lans on Tuesday, and his race number 61 was already affixed to the rear end of the carbon-fiber Cervélo. But when weighed on the UCI scales before the start, it was 300 grams under the legal limit. That could be taken care of by fitting aero bars for the mountain time trial.

“He doesn’t yet have the aero’ bars on, the clip-ons, but I’m not sure that Ivan wants to run those. Not yet. That’s a decision we’ll make later,” said Cervélo co-owner Phil White. “He liked it when he rode it yesterday, but now we’ve got to make sure it’s legal. We’ll make some slight changes to it, but it won’t affect how he feels on the bike.”

“Ivan is riding the new R2.5 Bayonne frame, a lighter version of the standard R2.5,” says White’s business partner, Gerard Vroomen. “His bike built up with his standard wheels (Zipp 202) was around 6kg, so to get to the legal limit and improve the aerodynamics he is riding with Zipp 404s and aerobars. The Bayonne frameset will be available in September and retail for $3999.

“It’s a nice problem to have, where we have to add weight back rather than take it off,” says White. “And it’s all standard parts from the sponsors, so there’s nothing special on it.”

So why is it so light? Is it just the frame? “I’d love to claim it was only the frame,” he replied. “When Richard leaves we can tell you the real story,” he adds, referring to Speedplay’s Richard Bryne who is at the Tour.

“No it’s a combination of all the sponsors, who just make good, strong lightweight equipment. So for us at Cervélo, we wanted to bring the new frame for 2005 here so we had the option of running a deeper wheel and still meet the weight limit. So from our standpoint, this frame is optimized for weight, and now that it’s under we’ve got to add weight.

“But also we’ve got the really aerodynamic wheels on it. So from our standpoint there’s no weight penalty, there’s no aerodynamic penalty. It’s optimal from both standpoints.”
--John Wilcockson

Tour de Tech: Some Questions, Some Answers

Dear Lennard,
I am very interested to know what kind of saddle Lance rides in theTour. I have a nice pic that a friend sent me from Saturday's stagethat shows Lance out of the saddle with a very contoured saddle, even moreextreme than the original Concor from the 80's?

That was a favorite saddle of mine, and it seems that some pros likethe scalloped saddles as well, but I haven’t seen them, especially notthat model that he seems to be riding, maybe only in the mountains.
Bill

Dear Bill,
Lance rides a Selle San Marco Concor Lite, which is a little less contouredthan the original Concor. Here is a photo of his TT bike saddle.
Lennard

Dear Lennard,
What's up with Lance's bike that he is riding in the mountains? Thereain't no derailleur cable for his front derailleur! Does he have a downtube shifter? What's going on?!? I'm so confused! If you do know what heis doing, could you explain it for me, please.
Rob

Dear Rob,
It’s just a down tube shift lever for his front derailleur – aboutas low-tech of an item as there is. He has used low-end down tube shiftersin the past as well as Dura-Ace ones, because there is hardly any differencebetween them in workings or weight. The shift lever weighs about as muchas the missing cable and housing it eliminates the need for from the STIlever. And then the standard brake lever weighs 80 grams less than the210 gram Dura-Ace 10-speed STI lever it replaces. You don’t shift oftenon a mountain stage with the front derailleur, so why not save the weight?
Lennard

Regarding the 4-spoke wheels used by T-Mobile in the TTT and Prologue,I have received a lot of feedback, and here are some examples:

Dear Lennard,
They are made by Xentisin Austria and imported by Storck USA into North America.
Mark

Dear Lennard,
On Walser-Cycles.ch:about half-way down the Walser "Preisliste / Pricelist" page, you willsee "Scheibenrad oder 4-Spoke hinten: Disc Wheel or 4-spoke Back WheelsFr. 2000.--/ Eur 1330.--"
...cheap at half the price.

If skinsuits are so good, why don't birds use them?
Larry

From Stella Azzurra:
Yes, they (the T-Mobile team in the team time trial) are using theSTELLA AZZURRA 4 spokes wheels (named STELLA MARIS). We gave them somesets of wheels to test them and to have a feedback. Everything is goingwell and we are satisfied with these wheels. Now we are planning to havegood sales for next year and we are making also two sets of wheels in carbonfiber with steel spokes in order to have a less expensive product in highand low profile.
They are made by Xentis – Austria, our supplier for carbon wheels.
Stefano Alberti
Stella*Azzurra

On another subject I get a lot of mail about:
Dear Lennard,
I’ve noticed that over the last two years the position of the brakelevers on the riders bars has crept higher and higher…to the point where,as one example, Lance almost has the break grips in a vertical position.Obviously this is a personal preference but what if any sacrifices in aerodynamicsare being made and why don’t bar manufacturers start modifying the shapeof the bar to accommodate this new trend so as to make positioning easierand reaching for the brake levers from the drops less of a reach?
John

Phonak is using Easton's Equipe bar

Answer from Easton’s John Harrington:

A sharp-eyed reader noticed that brake lever positions haveevolved over the last couple of years. Riders are now positioningthe brake levers higher on the bars than ever before. The reasons for thisdictated a change in handle bar geometry.

Easton's newest composite road bar the Equipe was developed expresslyto meet this requirement. The Pro's that Easton support and workwith told us what they wanted and helped us hone the design.

What has changed and why is a bar of a different geometry necessary?

The new bar geometry is a result of the latest style of frames we callCompact or Semi-Compact. What's difference? Compact frames differfrom standard geometry frames in a number of ways. Compact frames are availablein limited number of sizes. The idea is to get the tallest rideron the smallest frame possible. The benefits include a lighter andstiffer frame.

However the limitations include more of a challenge in fitting therider to the bike. The shorter head tubes found on a Compact framemake managing the relationship between the height of the saddle and theheight and the bars difficult. Therefore the necessity of a new bargeometry was born.

Riders using Compact frames need less reach, less drop and a straightergeometry in the transition between the drop of the bar and the upper sectionof the bar in order to get the brake levers high enough on the bars.

Old style traditional bars have too much drop and too much reach andwhen you try and bring the brake lever towards the rider the brake leverruns into the bend radius and twists side ways on the bar.Easton believes that given the relationship between the height of thesaddle relative to the height of the bars it is necessary for the riderscomfort and position. As to why more manufactures have not designeda bar that addresses this need, I cannot comment. All I can say is Eastonlistened to the riders and developed a new bar. As a matter of factit is the Equipe bar that is being ridden by the Phonak team in the 2004Tour De France.
John

Until tomorrow.
Ciao.
Lennard