Tech News – February 11, 2005 Edited by John Stevenson Got tech? Send press releases, news, and tech questions to the Cyclingnews tech desk. Fassa Bortolo's 2005 Pinarellos By Tim Maloney, European editor Kim Kirchen's 2005 Team Pinarello Dogma FP Photo ©: Tim Maloney At the recent Fassa Bortolo team presentation, super sprinter Alessandro Petacchi was loud and clear about how much he liked his Pinarello Dogma. "As soon as I started using this bike, I knew it was special and I started winning right away," he said. From Petacchi's first win on his Dogma in May 2003, Ale-Jet has crossed the finish line first 47 times and counting. Last July, Petacchi was the first rider to receive a Pinarello Dogma FP prototype, with its unique M.O.st oversize bb & Onda FP carbon fibre chainstays & fork. After the Fassa Bortolo team presentation, we spoke to Fausto Pinarello about Fassa's new team bikes for 2005. "We're proud to have be associated with Fassa Bortolo for the last five years and Alessandro [Petacchi]," he said. "We delivered the first Dogma to Petacchi just before the Giro in 2003 and he won the first time he raced on it (winning Stage One in Lecce and taking the Maglia Rosa) and since then, it's the only bike he'll ride." The rear triangle Photo ©: Tim Maloney Pinarello explained how the Dogma has evolved since then, telling Cyclingnews, "Some Fassa riders had the Dogma prototype later that year, and based on their input, we reinforced the BB, chainstays and downtube for the Dogma team bikes we delivered to Fassa Bortolo later in 2003." The beefy M.O.st bottom bracket Photo ©: Tim Maloney Pinarello continued, "For the Tour de France last year, we gave Alessandro a prototype of our new Dogma FP with the M.O.st bottom bracket and he liked this model very much." What's different about the 2005 Fassa Bortolo Pinarello Dogma FP? Pinarello told us, "We have a new paint scheme; when Alessandro came to the Tokyo Bicycle show last year, he liked this so we decided to use it in 2005. We're working with Campagnolo for wheels in 2005; Petacchi was asking us for a high-profile carbon fibre wheel and he'll be using Campagnolo Bora wheels this season. We've also changed tire suppliers this year to DedaTre, We started working with Deda in 1993 and when they showed us their new DedaTre tires, we thought they would be right for both the Fassa Bortolo team and the Iles Balears team." Kim Kirchen's 2005 Fassa Bortolo 2005 Team Pinarello Dogma FP Frame: 2005 Pinarello Dogma FP w. AK61 Magnesium frame, M.O.st 55mm Oversize bottom bracket & Onda FP carbon fibre chainstays. Fork: Pinarello Onda FP 1 1/8" Colour: Fassa Bortolo 2005 Team Seat tube length (C-C): 520mm Top tube length (C-C): 545mm Cranks: Campagnolo Record 172.5mm, 39/53 Chain: Campagnolo Record 10 speed Front derailleur: Campagnolo Record 10 speed Rear derailleur: Campagnolo Record 10 speed Brakes: Campagnolo Record 10 speed Levers: Campagnolo Record 10 speed Rear sprockets: Campagnolo Record 10 speed, 11-23 Wheels: Campagnolo Bora G3 Carbon tubular Tyres: DedaTre , 23mm Bar/Stem: DedaElementi Neutron 31 Headset: Campagnolo Record Pedals: Look Seat post: Pinarello Full Carbon Saddle: Selle Italia Flite Bottle cage: Elite carbon Super Cyrene Bob Greene's Merlin Cyrene Photo ©: Brian Dallas One of the most fun things about this gig is emails that drop in from bike shops that have just built bikes they're especially proud of. Here's a good example, from Brian Dallas at Shoreline Cycles in Ventura California. This custom Merlin Cyrene was a special order for Bob Greene, fitness coach to talk show host Oprah Winfrey. It doesn't seem likely that Greene will be taking Oprah on any cyclo-cross outings, but the bike will get plenty of use on the Hawaiian island of Maui where, "Bob plans to use the Merlin for a trip all the way around the island of Maui as most of the roads on the north east shore are un-passable in a car," according to Dallas. As you'd expect of a bike belonging to a fitness trainer to the stars, it's specced with all the trimmings: carbon Record, FSA carbon cranks, Alpha Q carbon fork and so on. Add to that the exquisite engraving on the Cyrene and you have one very droolsome 'cross rig. Photography Bob Greene's Merlin Cyrene - titanium 'cross with all the trimmings. The engraving takes the Cyrene from 'just another bike' to something special Alpha Q fork and tidy gear adjusters ITM bars carry Record brake/shift levers. FSA SL-K Compact Megaexo cranks keep the weight down. Campagnolo Record rear derailleur - you can't have too much carbon componentry! Specification Frame: Custom Merlin Cyrene Cross Frame Fork: Alpha Q CX Bars: ITM Manits Stem: FSA Shifters: Campy Record 10 spd Derailleurs: Campy Record 10 spd Cranks: FSA SL-K Compact Megaexo with bottom bracket Wheels: Mavic Ksyrium SL Tires: Bontrager Jones CX 700x32 Seatpost: Easton EC70 carbon Seat: Fizik Alante Headset: Chris King Brakes: Avid Shorty 6 Smith Optics backs CSC US eyewear company Smith Optics will supply Bjarne Riis' notoriously picky CSC team in 2005. The move supports Smith's recent broadening of its range of cycling eyewear to include interchangeable-lens models intended for road cyclists. Smith Optics team manager, Greg Randolph, himself a two-time Olympic road and mountain bike racer, said, "[CSC] pays acute attention to technology and detail, and they were excited to switch to Smith Optics because of the fit and features of Smith's broad interchangeable sunglass line. Nothing slips by Bjarne and having him select our brand was a true affirmation of our product's performance." More info: www.smithoptics.com Ritchey in the peloton Component manufacturer Ritchey is supporting four international teams and three US domestic outfits with its bars, stems and other 'finishing' parts. In Europe, the Gerolsteiner team will use Ritchey WCS bars, stems and seatposts, as will Spain's Saunier Duval squad, while the La Francaise de Jeux team will use those components plus Ritchey's headsets and carbon forks. Rounding out the four, credit Agricole will be equipped with Ritchey WCS bars and stems. These teams will have carbon fiber versions of the components on their race bikes, and aluminium models on their training and spare machines. In the US Ritchey is supporting Health Net (with WCS carbon bars, carbon posts, and alloy stems); Subway (WCS alloy bars, stems and posts) and McGuire (WCS alloy bars, stems and posts). More info: www.ritcheylogic.com Polar software for Macs Software company OTAG Technologies has announced the iSMARTtrain version 2.0, the latest version of its Macintosh OS X application for tracking and analysing athletic training. This version adds the ability to download data from Polar heart rate monitors, solving a problem for Mac-using Polar owners as Polar's own software is PC-only. iSMARTtrain 2.0 can download training data, such as heart rate, cadence, speed and power, from Polar heart rate monitors and analyse it in graphical and tabular form. Information about training sessions, for example duration, distance and speed can also be similarly reviewed. The application was developed with input from British sports scientist, coach and writer Joe Beer (http://www.jbst.com). Windows and Linux versions are currently in development. A demo version, limited to 20 entries can be downloaded from http://www.ismarttrain.com. The full version costs $40.00. More info: www.ismarttrain.com Epic lops off a kilo Epic's Project 13 Photo ©: Epic Cycles Canadian titanium bike builder Epic is claiming the lightest production bike around with its new Project 13 which, as the name suggests, tips the scales at just 13lb (5.8kg or a full kilogram under the UCI's 6.8kg limit). "We know this is kind of silly for anyone who wants to race this bike at UCI events," says Epic's Kurt Knock, "but for those of us who would rather attend club races..." Project 13 will be available this Spring (northern hemisphere seasons) as a complete bike only. Knock says he's chosen to go that way because, "the components have been carefully selected for Project 13. These components are proven to be reliable under most any conditions and most racers' weights (under 200lbs)." By then, Knock hopes the complete bike may be even lighter - he's aiming for, "closer to 12lb when we are finished." More info: www.epicti.com Gaansari revamps Van Cleve Gaansari Van Cleve Photo ©: Gaansari Dayton, Ohio framebuilder Cycles Gaansari has revamped its retro-styled Van Cleve road bike with an option to use Richard Sachs' Newvex lugs. The Van Cleve, a tribute to the Wright Brothers Van Cleve bike of 1896, is a traditional steel road bike that uses oversized tubing and silver-brazed lugs to combine a ride the company describes as "comfortably stiff" with old-school styling. Sachs Newvex lugs recall the Paramount and Raleigh bikes of the late 1960s. A complete Van Cleve as shown here costs US$3,450. More info: www.gaansari.com Curve socks it to Liberty Boulder, Colorado sock maker Curve has announced it will be the official supplier of cycling socks to the Liberty Seguros team for 2005. The company is currently developing several new socks specifically for the team for use in all the ProTour races this season. More info: www.curveinc.com Shimano brake cable recall also in Europe Tech News on February 2, 2005 provided details of Shimano's voluntary recall of some road brake cables sold as aftermarket products in North America.Shimano is also undertaking the recall in other parts of the world in which the cables were distributed, which includes some countries in Europe. In Europe, the recall affects only Shimano inner brake cables for road racing bicycles sold as repair items, and carrying part number Y-800 98300 (stainless steel cable) or part number Y-800 98400 or Y-800 98110 (double end brake cables). Further information about this recall in Europe can be found at Shimano Europe's website.