Tech News – February 2, 2005 Edited by John Stevenson Got tech? Send press releases, news, and tech questions to the Cyclingnews tech desk. Langkawi tweaks TT regs No pain, no gain, no TT bikes Photo ©: John Pierce After Monday's time trial stage of the Telekom Malaysia Tour de Langkawi, several readers have been in touch asking how come riders were using just their regular bikes and not specialist time trial machines. All the riders used their regular road racing bikes in the time trial, usually with clip-on aero bars. Why? you asked. Was it a regulation by the race organisers, or some other reason? Cyclingnews' man on the spot Anthony Tan writes, "The costs and logistics of bringing TT bikes for a 20km TT in a race such as the LTdL mean that they would be only available to teams such as Discovery, Credit Agricole and Liberty Seguros, and exclude virtually all others. So to create a level playing field, the organisers have stipulated that all riders must use their road bikes, but can add on clip-on TT bars if they wish." What does this mean for Jo Bikeracer who wants to be competitive in his or her club time trial? Probably not much if you're up against riders who are using aero bikes and - most importantly - disc and aero wheels. Putting an aero bar on a regular bike definitely improves things, but not as much as also adding all the other aero trinkets available from your local bike emporium and wallet-lightening specialist. However, the fact that Navigators' Australian TT specialist Nathan O'Neill won does tend to imply that a good time trialist is a good time trialist whatever equipment they're using. O'Neill has won time trials at home and in the US against other highly-regarded riders when everyone had all the aero goodies their sponsors could load them up with, and here he is winning again on his regular Colnago with a clip-on. maybe the answer for club riders who don't want to drop big money on a TT bike is to get their clubs to run "no aero" time trials. Speedplay - far more than Zero support in 2005 Speedplay's Zero pedal as seen on Nathan O'Neill's Navigators Colnago Photo ©: Cyclingnews In 2005 Speedplay maintains its strong presence among the top professional squads with both Team CSC and Phonak using its distinctive and lightweight pedals. The company is looking forward to a strong 2005, with CSC's Ivan Basso one of the strong early favourites for GC at the Tour de France, especially should Lance Armstrong decide to skip the 2005 edition (and before anyone writes in - this is no indication at all of his intentions). Phonak's Floyd Landis will also be lining up in France in July, of course, and for any manufacturer that is providing kit to a top pro squad, participation at le Tour is almost essential. For a high-profile, English-speaking rider to be using its components is even better. In addition, some professional cyclists who were previously on teams that used Speedplay - but have moved on to other squads - are taking their Speedplays with them, according to Sharon Worman from the San Diego-based company. Speedplay is also very active in the US domestic scene, with the top USA racing teams of Navigators Insurance and Health Net also using the pedals. As Health Net pro John Lieswyn said in his recent diary, where he discussed a lot of the equipment he'll be using in 2005, "Of course I'm totally stoked to be back with Speedplay pedals since that's what's kept me going since 1998." Speedplay is also sponsoring a team at the 'Professional Continental' level in Europe; this is what was once called 'Division 2'. Significantly, it is the French squad Agritubel, a team that includes riders such as Florent Brard and Christophe Agnolutto, which is expected to compete strongly in events such as the France Cup, as well as other high-profile UCI races. The company has also set up across the channel by sponsoring the 'Continental' (formerly 'Division 3') British squad recycling.co.uk / MG XPower, a team that includes brothers Russell and Dean Downing, as well as Athens 2004 silver medalist Rob Hayles. Worman believes the sponsorship of teams that are active at the domestic level complements its involvement with top ProTour teams, and helps promote its equipment into the respective countries' domestic racing scenes. The teams will be using the largely unchanged 'Zero' pedal, that offers a fixed position or up to 15 degrees of float. It's a long-standing Cyclingnews favourite, with a couple of the staff here confirmed Zero fans - our opinion hasn't changed since our review back in 2001. More info: www.speedplay.com Campagnolo goes Pro and Continental Campagnolo's record group Photo ©: Campagnolo Campagnolo will support seven ProTour teams and eight Continental Pro team in 2005, continuing its traditional presence in the professional peloton. All teams will be supplied with Record groups Eurus, Hyperon, Bora and Ghibli wheels, with no differentiation in the level of support between ProTour and Continental pro teams. "The support between Pro-Tour and Continental Teams will be the same," Campagnolo's Francesco Zenere told Cyclingnews. "In fact we want our riders always to ride with the best equipment so they have the best chance to succeed." Perhaps the most prominent Campagnolo user of 2005 will be Alessandro Petacchi, whose Fassa Bortolo team is one of the ProTour seven. We can expect to see some all-campagnolo sprint tussles this year between Petacchi, Davitamon-Lotto's Robbie McEwen, Liquigas' Mario Cipollini and Quick.Step's Tom Boonen. Other prominent Campagnolo users for 2005 include Italian wunderkind Damiano Cunego (Lampre) and his compatriots Gilberto Simoni (Lampre) and Stefano Garzelli (Liquigas), while Paolo Bettini (Quick.Step) seems to be the rider most likely to deliver Campagnolo-equipped victories in the one-day races. Campagnolo sponsored teams for 2005 UCI Pro Tour teams: Fassa Bortolo, Illes Baleares, Lampre-Caffita, Liquigas-Bianchi, Davitamon-Lotto, Quick-Step, Saunier-Duval UCI Continental teams: Ag2r, G.S. Panaria, G.S. Tenax, Jelly Belly, Landbouwkrediet, Relax-Fuenlabrada, Team Barloworld, Team Jacques-T. Interim Electronic shifting quietly clicks on Zenere also gave us a brief update on the progress of Campagnolo's electronic gear shifting system, which. He says, is still in development "with the collaboration of Saeco (now Lampre Caffitta) riders and we are very happy of the results we are obtaining." Saeco used the electronic shifting during the Vuelta a Espana last year and according to Zenere it worked "faultlessly" but Campagnolo is not yet ready to talk availability. Given the embarrassing disasters that litter the history electronic shifting systems (Mavic Zap and the Browning MTB transmission, anyone?) you can hardly blame Campagnolo for wanting to get its system completely right before it makes it available to people whose bikes don't get serviced every day by a pro mechanic. Nevertheless, the electronic shifting project is already spinning off benefits. "The electronic shifting is for our company an incredible research and test way to improve our products," said Zenere. "The giant steps we made in the carbon fiber technology were pushed by this prototype." More info: www.campagnolo.com Leggera against the clock Leggera's Carbon Race TT Photo ©: Leggera Australian carbon fiber specialist Leggera has introduced a time trial bike to complement its Piuma lightweight frame introduced at last year's trade shows. The Leggera Carbon Race TT is built around a monocoque frame with an extremely beefy down tube and bottom bracket area. It's available in five sizes (50cm, 53cm, 56cm, 59cm and 62cm), with seat angles in the 73-74 degree range. The 2005 model comes with a fully adjustable, integrated aero carbon seat post, and the bike is available with a choice of carbon forks including the Leggera TA bladed fork shown here. The complete bike uses Full Speed Ahead components including integrated headset, carbon crankset with lenticular TT chainrings, Platinum Pro BB and fully integrated VisionTech TT bars. The Carbon Race TT's wheels are also carbon, from another Australian company, X-Treme. "X-Treme are another renowned Australian carbon manufacturer whose wheelsets are highly regarded in North America and Europe," says Leggera's Paul Farrell. "Their production factory is only a few kilometres away from where Leggeras are custom assembled so it made sense to collaborate on our new TT bike." Like other Leggeras, each carbon TT is assembled to customer order, so the rider chooses his or her group, crank length and gear ratios and brand/style of wheels. "Ultimately it's all about giving our customers the maximum amount of choice from the widest range of quality products but still keeping our prices reasonable" says Farrell. The Race TT is available as a complete frameset for US$2010.00. The complete bike (as pictured) Retails in Australia for US$5020.00 Leggera has also announced that New Zealand bicycle importer, Adventure Brands will represent its bikes on the other side of the Tasman. Choice, bro. More info: www.leggerabikes.com First Endurance sponsors Leipheimer Supplement maker First Endurance has announced that it will support American Gerolsteiner rider Levi Leipheimer though 2005 and 1006. Or, to be precise, it will renew its existing support of Leipheimer, who has been using the company's Optygen supplement since First Endurance was founded, but wasn't allowed to say so while he was riding for Rabobank. "I have used Optygen for a couple of years and can now officially tell everyone how great it is," said Leipheimer in a statement. "I am the most skeptical and critical person when it comes to supplements and so-called performance enhancing formulas. Optygen, however, has won me over. It's completely safe, legal and most of all effective." More info: www.firstendurance.com Jittery Joe's gets the lot from Louis Garneau Canadian clothing, bikes and accessory make Louis Garneau is claiming a first with its support in 2005 of the Jittery Joe's-Kalahari cycling team: the first 'head to toe to frame' sponsorship. Louis Garneau will supply Jittery Joe's riders with custom clothing, helmets, base layer, carbon shoes and custom frames and so claims to be the first manufacturer in cycling history to have the ability to offer a complete line and outfit a team from head to toe to frame. More info: www.louisgarneau.com Oval clips on lightly Oval Concepts A910 aero bar Photo ©: Oval Concepts Component maker Oval has introduced a new, lightweight, clip-on time trial bar, the A910, claimed to weigh just 295g. Oval achieves this low gram-count by using simple forged aluminum clamps, carbon fiber extensions with one bend, and new oval-shaped carbon fiber armrest plates made of carbon. The company says its new pads provide 20 percent more surface area compared to the original rectangular pads, improving comfort. The carbon pad holders allow angular adjustment and replacement pads are available in 5mm (standard), 8mm, and 10mm thickness, with optional straight, double or S-bend extension to tailor the bar for the course or fit. The Oval 910 should be in the shops now in 26.0 clamp. A 31.8mm version is in the works. RRP: $199 More info: www.ovalconcepts.com IRD's compact derailleur Component maker IRD has announced a front derailleur specifically for use with compact chainring set-ups using Shimano cranks. According to IRD's Stan Pun, "Shimano® road double front derailleurs are designed with only a 15t capacity. That is one tooth short of being optimized for the 50-34T cranks out now (like FSA's or the IRD Mosaic C). Using a road triple front derailleur means a extra shift to get the job done. Again, that's not optimal." The solution, says Pun, is the IRD Compact Drive front derailleur which has a broader range, and chain guides that match the smaller rings used in compact systems. The IRD Compact Drive front derailleur is only available in a braze-on version, though it's compatible with Shimano's SM-AD11 and SM-AD15 adapters, which mount braze-on front derailleurs to 31.8mm and 34.9mm seat tubes repectively. (And which, incidentally, Cyclingnews just had occasion to swag one of from our friends at Shimano Australia and a very handy widget it is too if you need to mount a braze-on mech to a frame without the necessary mount.) IRD claims the derailleur weighs just 88g RRP: $49.99 More details: www.interlocracing.com Name change presages Reynolds expansion We can expect to see a lot more of one of the oldest names in cycling technology over the next few years as the result of an apparently trivial change of name at Reynolds Composites. The component company will now be known simply as Reynolds under a new licensing deal with British tube maker Reynolds Cycle Technology, and that opens the door for the newly named company to do a lot more than composite components. "We now have the opportunity to become not just a composites manufacturer but a broad technology provider to the bicycle industry," said Cort Larned, CEO of Reynolds. As Reynolds Composites, the company is well-known for its carbon fiber forks and wheels, but now plans to expand into all areas of cycling with components made from non-composite materials too. "We'll have a complete offering over the entire product spectrum and at all price points," Larned says. Reynolds has recently opened its own, wholly-owned factory in China, which will enable it to supply far Eastern bike builders with its new range of components. However, high-end composite manufacturing will remain in the U.S. The first fruits of the new-look Reynolds include 7075 aluminium road bars; the X-105 aluminium stem, made from a new alloy optimized for CNC machining and Reynolds' own steerer plug, specifically designed for carbon fiber steerers. More info: www.reynoldscomposites.com CSC gets Alpha Q forks Bjarne Riis' CSC team is known for being choosy about what equipment it uses. The squad's choice of Cervelo frames a couple of years ago - a relationship that continues this year - helped rocket the then-small Canadian company to world prominence, so the folks at fork maker Alpha Q are understandably chuffed about being CSC's fork supplier for 2005. "We have worked hard to produce the most complete line of high-performance forks," said Alpha Q product manager Bert Hull. "We feel that CSC's confidence in Alpha Q validates our hard work. To be associated with team CSC is an honor, and I expect their rider feedback will lead to new designs, further enhancing our product line." The team will use Alpha Q's Sub3 forks on its Cervelo road bikes. That's not the lightest fork Alpha Q makes, because Alpha Q has bumped into the UCI weight limit problem that plagued CSC all last season. "We considered outfitting CSC with our new ProLite Two 7 forks but the total bike weight would have been below the UCI legal limit," said Hull. More info: www.truetemper.com Shimano recalls aftermarket road brake cables Shimano has announced that it has recently become aware of a potential problem with road brake cables sold as after market product and is conducting a voluntary recall. The affected brake cables are described as "Brake Inner Cables for adult bikes with drop style handlebars (road racing bicycles) - Part #Y80098300/Z80098300, and double end brake cables #Y80098110/Z80098110 and #Y80098400/Z80098400 (10-pack)." According to Shimano, the road cable end could detach from the cable during braking, possibly causing the rider to lose control and fall. Affected cables were produced from May of 2003 until March of 2004 and were sold to North American distributors and dealers as after market parts. Shimano recommends owners of potentially affected brake cables should stop riding the bike immediately and take it to a local bike shop for verification. They may also contact Shimano American Corp. toll free at 1-800-353-4719 (Monday through Friday 8:00am-5:00pm P.T.) for assistance. For more information see Shimano's website.