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Tech News – June 8, 2004, part 1Edited by John Stevenson Got tech? Send press releases, news, and tech questions to the Cyclingnews tech-heads.
Giro's Rev Six revs up at DauphineBy Tim Maloney, European editor With less than a month to go before the start of the Tour De France, Giro Sport Design debuted its new ultra-aerodynamic time trial helmet at the Dauphine, as Lance Armstrong and Viatcheslav Ekimov wore in the 5.4km prologue. Toshi Corbett, Giro's Sport Marketing Manager told Cyclingnews, "Last year when the UCI announced that all time trial helmets needed to meet current safety standards, we couldn't just make a time trial helmet that was a fairing like our Rev Five model. Those fairings were just an injection molded plastic shell that wrapped around your head, with no safety characteristics." Corbett said, "Going forward, the UCI said that riders needed to race in TT helmets that met the European standard. This initiative to create the Rev Six was part of the project called the Formula One team, where Lance Armstrong asked key sponsors Giro, Oakley, Nike, Trek and Shimano together to make sure he would have the fastest time trial equipment in the world. So the Rev Six is Giro's contribution to this effort.
"We spent 25 hours developing this in the wind tunnel; we had already set the benchmark for aero helmets with our Rev Five, which was what Lance was using. The challenge was to integrate the safety characteristics. We realized that this would increase the surface area and the weight. We wanted to design a product that would have the same drag as our Giro Rev Four, but at the end of the process was that our new Rev Six has less drag that the previous Rev Five but has safety characteristics integrated." Corbett says that Giro has no immediate plans to commercialize the Rev Six TT helmet, but there exists a possibility in the future as it does meet most current helmet safety standards. More info: www.giro.com
Rebellin conquers on Wilier carbon protoIt's always interesting scoping out what Gerolsteiner's Davide Rebellin is riding. In the past he's been aboard "prototype" bikes that had the stickers of Gerolsteiner's bike sponsor at the time, but didn't resemble anything the company has manufactured before or since. For his storming Classics victory trio of Amstel Gold, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Rebellin rode this Wilier Triestina, which we're assured by Wilier's Gastaldello brothers really is a carbon fiber proto - though the configuration is expected to change before anything based on this bike hits the shops. SpecificationFrame: Team Gerolsteiner Wilier Triestina carbon fibre prototype
More info: www.wilier.it |
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As you may have read, Cyclingnews diarist and Shimano Multi-Service wrencher Chris Davidson is currently filling a different role in the guise of a T-Mobile mechanic for the number one women's team in the US. Before he embarked on his voyage for the Montréal round of the World Cup, the Grand Tour du Montréal and the USPRO Liberty Classic, Chris made a stop at the T-Mobile Service Course in Denver, Colorado, where he stumbled across two slightly more unusual Giant frames.
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As Chris notes, "The T-Mobile women ride stock size carbon frames, but for those riders that don't fit the off-the-rack size perfectly, Giant can handcraft custom sizes out of aluminum." Two examples of the latter are a custom XS aluminium time trial frame made for Lara Kroepsch and Mari Holden's aluminium pursuit frame, most likely built for Mari in her quest for a berth on the US teams pursuit squad at the Athens Olympics.
More info: www.giantbicycles.com
June 8 tech news part 2 - New from Specialized, Cervelo & CSC fine-tune at MIT, New forks from Alpha Q, Paint job of the year?
Recent techTour tech: Zipp's slippery
new wheel revealed |
