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Pro Team Tech 2004
Reviewed May 9, 2004
Cesar Grajales' Jittery Joes Pro Cycling Team Klein Q-Pro XX
The Lance-dropperJittery Joes' Cesar Grajales shot to fame at this year's Tour of Georgia after winning the race's queen stage to Brasstown Bald, a climb US Postal DS Johan Bruyneel compared to the infamous Angliru. Anthony Tan takes a look at his Lance-dropping machine.
"I was training for this day three months ago," said home-town hero Cesar Grajales after his win atop Georgia's highest point of Brasstown Bald Mountain. At 5' 11" and 145 pounds, the chocolate-skinned Colombian's stick-like frame is made for hills like Brasstown Bald. So is his bike. Founded in 1973 by Gary Klein - then an engineering student at MIT - under the auspices "Independent Activities Project", Klein was one of the pioneers of creating frames using oversized aluminium tubes, his creations altering much of the conventional wisdom surrounding the use of aluminium at the time. 30 years on and thousands of frames later, Klein is now owned by US bicycle giant Trek (since 1995), but Gary Klein is still CEO, where he continues to design bikes and test prototypes from his home in Chehalis, Washington (its manufacturing division having moved to Waterloo, Wisconsin, at the end of 2001). The Klein Q-Pro XX frames used by Grajales and the rest of "The Bean Team" employ much of the technology Gary Klein has long been renowned for, but with some modern-day tweaks. These include use of a proprietary ZR9000 aluminium alloy, carbon wishbone seat stays designed to dampen road shock, internal cable routing for clean lines, and integrated fork and steerer, adding to that pervasive minimalist look. While the weight is unknown, Klein do say that the combination of their Aeros carbon fork and ZR9000/composite frameset "delivers the potential for complete bike weights as low as international racing law allows", which is currently a meagre 6.7 kilograms. Taking a squiz at the rest of the gear on Grajales' "Lance-dropper", the potential for a sub-seven kilo race bike is certainly there. Cane Creek's Aros Team Ti hoops (that use Reynolds clincher rims instead of stock Zipp-made rims according to Jittery Joe's mechanic Brian Molloy) have a claimed weight only 1436 grams per pair, while Crank Brothers Ti Eggbeaters (again, these are custom made, featuring shortened titanium spindles) are just 115 g's apiece, and are an interesting but not surprising choice, given the Colombian's pedigree as a previous national mountain bike champion. And as the name implies, Zero Gravity's brakes are almost that, (barely) tipping the scales at 194 grams a pair. Now you may be asking with all this lightweight schwag, why the %^$# is Grajales still on nine speed? The answer: SRAM, a sponsor of cassettes and chains to Jittery Joes, are yet to make a ten-speed cassette, so until that happens, expect to see Shimano's Dura-Ace nine-speed livery adorning Cesar's flaming-hot machine. PhotographyImages by Rob Karman/Cyclingnews.com/www.roadbikephotos.com
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Full specificationEditor's note: all weights shown are manufacturers' claims Frame: Klein Q-Pro XX Cranks: Truvativ Rouleur, 599g |
Rim: Cane Creek Aros Team Ti (with Reynolds clincher rims instead
of stock Zipp-made rims); 598g (F), 838g (R) Stem: Truvativ Rouleur, 135g Pedals: Crank Brothers Eggbeaters with custom (shortened) Titanium
spindles, 230g/pair | ||||||||||||
