thewashingmachinepost




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so there really is a point to all this

acquaduct

if i open the door of thewashingmachinepost bike shed, sitting comfortably, shiny and clean on the minoura workstand, is that marvel of italian carbon fibre that hurls me to and fro across the major and minor corners of the principality. i don't live far enough away from my work to need to cycle there and back, and the rest of the time it's pure leisure and pleasure. and i know that i'm not alone in this (i hear heads nodding in unison all over the world). rest easy, there is absolutely nothing wrong with our leisure cycling, particularly in view of the current tirade against obesity in the northern (and southern?) hemisphere.

but wouldn't it be really, really good if the bicycle could salve all our consciences, as we check the grade of carbon on our flavour of the month? considering the way i've written this, i'm sure you've figured out that there is a happy ending to this assuaging of guilt, and you would be correct. having mentioned specialized's innovate or die competition in the latter part of last year, this admirable notion has now reached its culmination, and a winner has been announced. the contest challenged participants to create a pedal powered solution to offset climate change, and this was accomplished by a group of five california based design students, who wanted to ensure that the plight of the billion or so people who don't have access to clean drinking water could remedy this situation using a comparatively low-tech solution that doesn't impinge on the environment as it does so.

acquaduct

their acquaduct (right) looks like one of those kid's trikes you owned when you were, well, a kid, with a large 'bread bin' at the back into which the less than pure water is poured. as the bicycle is pedaled in either static fashion, or from african village to african village, the pedalling action operates a pump that runs the water through a filter and plops it into a container situated on a rack over the front wheel. it's a very clever solution since it combines the ability to travel (and without the need for fossil fuels) while purifying often dangerously contaminated water.

you can view a youtube video of the bicycle in action at innovate-or-die.com. and we can be thankful to both specialized and the acquaduct for salving our self-righteous consciences.

posted on friday 18 january

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jamie smith - roadie

jamie smith - roadie

can an american really write a book about roadies? lance and greg notwithstanding, isn't it supposed to be a european thing, steeped in a history of black and white photographs, rainbow striped casquettes and leather track mitts? well, no - the uci may be the ones professing to turn road cycling into a global sport, but some chaps such as jamie smith, are already there, and with a darned sight more humour than pat mcquaid could ever summon. his book entitled simply 'roadie' will be published by velopress in the spring of this year, but if you'd like to sample smith's irreverent brand of humour, you can either read his blog at ridersready or read thewashingmachine post interview.

read more...

posted on thursday 17 january

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jason macintyre

jason macintyre

i'm not going to dwell on the death of jason macintyre, scotland's rising time-trial star, on the afternoon of tuesday 15th january, because coverage elsewhere on the web is far more comprehensive than i could possibly manage. but it's worth pointing out that jason had just been awarded £2,000 by the braveheart fund towards his 2008 racing expenses, money which has now been put towards a memorial fund to assist his family. the target is £20,000, so i urge you all to click over to the braveheart fund and donate whatever you can.

i've lost my enthusiasm this evening, so that's it for today.

posted on wednesday 16 january

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and we all lived happily ever after

colnago_measure

even if you're the average cyclist, there's a good chance that you've spent a number of odd moments tweaking parameters - raise the seatpost a wee bit, turning the bars upward slightly, flip flop your stem, move the saddle further back. you know what i mean, because we've all been there, and possibly a number of us still are. none of this is done with any degree of precision: a tad higher here, a smidgeon closer there, but eventually all the bits seem to fit together in just such a way that allows us to say that's my bike. thankfully, unless you're an obsessive compulsive or auditioning for an eddy merckx movie, at this point (see above) it all stops and transmogrifies into the simple, but essential pleasure of just riding the bike.

but, horror of horrors, suppose after all this inveterate tinkering, somebody parts you and your bicycle from each other's company (the police refer to this as theft), or perhaps, on a happier note, the accountant rings up and says that he really feels it absolutely necessary that you avail yourself of some new carbon fibre. did you write all those measurements down? have you the faintest idea what size frame you ride? is it measured centre to centre, or centre to top? aren't you glad you started reading this when it's too dark to go out to the bikeshed and check?

i can identify with most of the above, because the only reason that i know what size frame i ride, is because you have to tell people before they send a review model, so i bought a tape measure. but colnagos are measured centre to top (that's centre of the crank bolt to the top of the top tube) while some others are measured centre to centre (of the top tube) and sloping frames are often measered centre to wherever the top tube would have been if it wasn't sloping (huh?). and at the risk of becoming too personal, what length are your cranks?

if this hasn't got you thinking, it sure as heck has me. and this massive rush of conscientiousness was brought on while i perused the rearmost pages of velopress' cyclist's training diary - the pages that would normally be too scary to look at in case they ask for proof of everything you've written at the front. two of said pages bear bicycle diagrams with arrows and letters, below which you are invited to fill in the relevant measurements of both frame and components where applicable. meaning if the bike gets nicked, or christmas arrives one more time, smugness will be yours (or mine).

if such pages are omitted from your training diary (one or two of you at the back don't seem to have such a diary), get out the tape measure, nab a suitably sized piece of paper and do it yourself. a bicycle's not just for training you know.

posted on tuesday 15 january

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a couple of snippety bits

campagnolo

what a grand day this has become for straining your eyesight on the computer screen. a couple of interesting points that my way have come, entirely unrelated other than that they are about bicycles, and i feel compelled to let you know. because you'll only blame me if you find them out somehwere else.

firstly, having asked a few weeks back which teams were being provided with those natty stiffer, and more importantly, red lettered carbon lever, campagnolo have announced their roster of sponsored teams for 2008. pro teams: quick-step, bouygues telecom, caisse d'epargne, cofidis, lampre-fondital, liquigas and silence-lotto. these are joined by nine pro-continental teams: acqua & sapone, aisan racing team, bmc usa, csf group navigare, team tinkoff, jelly belly, lpr, nippo, and topsport-vlaanderen.

and if you have long since felt that your life was bereft of meaning since missing the rouleur photo exhibition at the host gallery last october (i am sufficiently confident in my remoteness from le grande peloton to tout that i was there and bought the annual) rouleur exhibition you may be overjoyed to learn that the very same display will be at the coventry transport museum from 31st january until the last day of february (and remember it's a leap year). admission is free, and it's open between 10am - 5pm every day.

rouleur.cc

posted on monday 14 january

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right on my doorstep

endura venturi jacket

there's a certain style that goes with being a roadie, a style that goes further than which particular brand of italian carbon fibre you have sitting out in thewashingmachinepost bike shed (oops, did i say that out loud?). this sense of style is different from that enjoyed by our colleagues who hurtle down rocky slopes with boingy bits at front and rear (of the bike, that is) - not necessarily better, just different. this, however, is because we have been so conditioned by il campionissimo, jacques anquetil, bartali et al, the greats of road cycling heritage, and if the only way to emulate this, is to sit astride said carbon frame being stylish with one's apparel, then it behoves a master's degree in sartorial appreciation to ensure acquisition of same.

much of the apparel that completes the above effect, also emanates from italy as well as switzerland and, more recently, perren street, london. but almost overlooked, certainly by the road going fraternity, is a wide range of clothing from scotland's cycle clothing supremos, endura. based in livingstone, near edinburgh, they have the advantage of being inured in the same weather system as here at thewashingmachinepost - and judging by recent forecasts, a wide section of the british public are 'enjoying' the same. such is also applicable to portland, oregon i am reliably informed. scotland's east coast tends to be colder and slightly drier than the west, and there isn't quite the same preponderance of wind, but it's scottish weather and we love it. (*this may not be a true statement in all cases)

endura (endurasport in the united states) are comfortably into their second decade of design and production, and seem to be very well represented by an impressive dealer network all across the uk (and the usa, come to that). the majority of their clothing is manufactured in-house, inhabits a similar price bracket as other roadie favourites (their top of the range softshell arrives at £150), and seems to have managed to remain a mite more obscure (in a road based world) than its output would ideally demand. this is not entirely our fault, since their catalogue and recent advertising tends to veer more towards the mountain bike market.

endura halcyon merino jersey

however, our road going efforts can benefit just as soundly from endura's element protection, while maintaining that all important style factor. and to find a pudding of which proof is required, i am going to get wet - hopefully wetter than is usually the case, but only on the outside. those really friendly people at endura have sent their top of the range hardshell, breathable and waterproof venturi jacket, a pair of waterproof stealth bib-tights, rather fabulous looking lobster winter gloves, and waterproof road overshoes for our road testing delectation. at this time of year, there shouldn't be too much trouble finding a rainy day, and if all goes according to plan, i should be home and dry (so to speak) after a large number of islay kilometres (slightly longer than the average kilometre due to the wind).

however, two items in their panoply are just screaming out to be hung in the style conscious cyclist's wardrobe, and i think it may just be a major oversight by endura that they haven't mentioned either on a large scale. first is the delightfully named baabaa baselayer - endura baabaa merino baselayer a black long sleeve merino baselayer and secondly, a phenomenally brilliant halcyon (get it?) long sleeve merino jersey, which is not only black with a retro flocked black endura logo across the chest, but the trim on cuffs and collar have more than a suggestion of molteni. at £65 this is an absolute steal, and while you wait for the results of the endura road test, i'd get in touch with your nearest endura dealer, and order one immediately. absolutely essential for wearing at the local coffee shop, hanging out at the bike shop, or standing outside the bike shed, spanner in hand, impersonating someone who knows what they are doing with said spanner.

never before have i so looked forward to getting wet.

endura.co.uk | endurasport.com | endurasport.de

posted on monday 14 january

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it's not just wheels that go round

mavic softgoods

i have a horrible feeling that it may have been an open secret to which i was not party, but it certainly came as a surprise to me that mavic, for the last five years, have been the persons responsible for the design, development,, production, sales and marketing of adidas cycling softgoods. that's footwear and and clothing to you and me. and now that i have discovered this to be the case, now it isn't. in the immortal words of the spanish inquisition, 'i'll come in again'

with adidas having rescinded their sponsorship of the erstwhile t-mobile cycling team, they have effectively removed themselves from the cycling arena, so mavic will no longer have to continue with the effort on their behalf. smart cookies that they are, they have decided to re-badge their own designs with their own name, and hey presto mavic softgoods are born. if life is at all fair, this might even result in the availability of a black, mavic badged polo shirt, the like of which i have lusted after for many a long year, but to no avail.

however, even if the latter remains in reserve for mavic technical support only, mavic's softgoods should make a welcome addition to cycling's wardrobe, and spread some black and yellow clothing across whichever peloton you may find yourself a part of. now you'll be able to dress to match those r-sys wheels.

mavic

the mavic softgoods range will be available from spring/summer 2009

posted on sunday 13 january

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obsessed with obsession

rapha helmet

if the item to your left was the latest offering from perren street, admit it, you'd already have seriously considered buying one, whether you time trial or not. your second reaction would be to click through to rapha's website to see how much it cost - not that it really matters because you want one anyway. admit it, you know i'm right. unfortunately, the word if rather gives the game away - the helmet has nothing to do with rapha, other than their distinctive script logo subtly airbrushed into the hardshell, along with two words credibly associated with rapha: climb and suffer.

the helmet actually belongs to michael robertson, who had this modified shain bk500 time-trial custom painted by josh ellison of je illusions in eugene, oregon, a man more used to painting motorcycles and motorcycle helmets than those associated with human powered two wheels. initial reaction from rapha was very positive (to say the least) and michael has posted more pics on his blog at velodramatic.

but it points up an interesting paradox. it's not unusual for cycling addicts (such as all of us) to become besotted with a particular brand of bicycle (have you read the societa colnago pages lately?) and to plaster their walls with paraphernalia and memorabilia related to this obsession (who me?). but 'creating' an item of apparel (i know, i'm stretching the point slightly here to incorporate a helmet) as a tribute to other items of apparel could be considered to be taking the idiom a stage too far. or not.

cycling is addictive - i think we're probably unanimous on that one, but rather than being a harmful addiction (though i can think of one or two makes of bicycle...) it has the promotional benefit of being quite the opposite. and if all those little endorphins have been ritually excitied enough through the practice of pedalling, to force someone to have a helmet artistically inscribed with the logo of one of the world's elite cycle clothing manufacturers, then i'm all for it.

in fact, i bet you're all reacting in exactly the same way as me - why the heck didn't i think of it first?

posted on sunday 13 january

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nowhere to hide

velopress training diary

whoever they are, they apparently say that races are not won in summer, they're won in winter, which is generally taken to mean that it's no use training the week before the event, you need to set out somewhere around december or january and slog yourself and bicycle soundly in order to be smiling in the months after easter. now, i know that , as an entirely non-competitive cyclist, this shouldn't really apply to me, but since i don't want folks to laugh at me any more than absolutely necessary on the way to paris, a training regime it is then.

i've skirted around the efforts for long enough in the past few weeks, and since today dawned clear and shockingly cold this morning, it was on with the necessary and off along the low road for the first of two 50km loops. actually i had only planned on going round once, but guilt, and the fact that i was actually enjoying myself, meant that i went round again. last year, my training regime coincided with my reviewing thomas chapple's 'base training for cyclists' which urged us all to go slower to go faster, which sounds totally contradictory but worked remarkably well. if you haven't revisited the review, i shall summarise: for the initial period of training it is incumbent upon the cyclist to keep their heart rate pretty low - i have a 192bpm maximum, so i'm keeping the level lower than 130bpm. not always as easy as it probably doesn't sound anyway (if i kept that low on the hills i'd fall off). i'll continue this until around the end of march (easter's a good placemark), and then ramp the speed up. it worked well last year - i don't think i saw anyone laugh apart from graeme freestone king.

so this year i am keeping a training diary courtesy of velopress, and trying to fill it in as comprehensively as i can. we all know the idea of a training diary is to allow comparison between sessions (see, i have the lingo down pat already), so i'm trying to fill in all the blank spaces, apart from average power because the non-existent washingmachinepost budget won't quite stretch to an srm unit (though i may try to arrange something later, as training proceeds). last year i survived on a bog standard moleskine diary, but a blank page doesn't prod as much as the purpose built edifice.

the velopress offering asks for route, resting heart rate, planned workout, weather etc., etc. and it won't let you turn the page until all the blanks have been filled in (actually i just made that bit up). the only bit i shall be leaving in its pristine, ruled white, is the section after sunday - racing. like that's ever going to happen. so while i can think of little that is less interesting to read than the contents of someone's training diary, and an attempt to describe same, i shall probably inflict this upon you again in the near future, just to make you feel much better about yourselves.

now i'm away to lie down in a darkened room.

posted on saturday 12 january

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lost in translation

interbike demo day

one of the favoured extras of the interbike show in las vegas each september, although it is in danger of becoming the favourite part of said exhibition, are the demo days. granted the americans have the luxury of outdoor facilities that at the very least, can be said to be favourable, but a panoply of manufacturers are happy to be on hand with seemingly endless numbers of their principal products just awaiting bums on saddles to hare off down the highway or rumble into a cloud of dust and cactus on farm gates with boingy bits (sorry mtb fans). and lets face it, if the makers of such bicycle finery are happy to give such handouts, who are we to deny them their pleasure?

except that we aren't actually being invited to partake (actually, that's not true - i am, but you're not. however, for journalistic purposes we'll assume me to be you. comprende?). these interbike demo days are trade and press only - in fact, the whole interbike experience is only for those in the biz. punters not welcome. and this is almost entirely the opposite of the annual cycle show in london, on which the first day is trade and press only, and subsequent days are open to the general public. so wouldn't it be a brilliant wheeze if they let us loose on their shiny bits of carbon and alloy too?

well probably not. in theory, it sounds like a great idea, but believe it or not, most cycling journalists and trade persons are, in one way or another, accountable for their actions in the cycling arena (this is a metaphorical arena, you understand). let's face it, if i was prone to trashing colnagos (hypothetically, peter, hypothetically), there's a good chance that the supply of same would suddenly dry up. the average i'm interested in one of those dura-ace equipped madones civilian, is unlikely to be able to be held to account in quite the same way. and secondly, imagine the queues. (the cycle show in london did, admittedly, have limited access to demonstration bicycles, but not quite on the same scale as interbike - unfair comparison though that may be).

so the upshot of all this is that while trade and press ostensibly become better acquainted and better informed as to the features of some very nice machinery, you still only get to find out second hand. and while i am a great believer in the law of averages, there's still the possibility that something you regard as a feature, the favoured few might regard as a bug.

unfortunately it seems it hasn't the possibility to get any better just yet - at least not across the pond. due to the immense popularity of the demo days on the west coast, the interbike people have decided that the east coast of the usa should be given the same opportunity around a month later (end october). and this, even though it seems as if the entire american press and bicycle trade were attending the las vegas show anyway. rich kelly, of the interbike organisation, said that the idea of a consumer trade day was an exciting prospect, but that they felt they needed to serve the requirements of the trade first.

interbike demo day

while there are several quality cycle dealers across the usa as well as one or two in the uk who are willing to trust an expensive velocipede to those they don't know from adam, it still seems a shame that while you can have a test drive in almost any model of motor car you choose, the cycle industry still invites you to part with often considerable sums of money without ever having had the opportunity to turn a wheel. i'm not a bicycle dealer, and i can understand that maintaining a fleet of demo bicycles is just what most dealers could do without, but how come it can be possible to test drive a car for a whole weekend, and yet be scowled at for simply looking at the price tag on a bicycle?

this may be one for the cycle manufacturers to attend to - those long term car test drives are usually manufacturer advertised invitations. it's a simplistic solution based on the fact that i don't have to earn money selling bicycles - an occupation that, historically, hasn't lent itself to high profit margins. however, it doesn't obviate what could become a stumbling block if we're keen to persuade a largely car owning public to swap four wheels for two. to those of us happily enclosed in the enthralling world of mobile carbon fibre, lack of a test drive may be something of no great concern - to those used to finding out likes and dislikes at first hand...?

until that day dawns, i'm willing to sacrifice myself on your behalf - (conceited ~ adjective: excessively proud of oneself.)

posted on friday 11 january

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just like scalextric, but much, much bigger

flex track six day

after all my serious prompting around this time last week for all and sundry to switch on their computers and watch seemingly endless hours of bicyclists going round and round, i thought i'd have a wee look behind the seens (deliberate use of the word). you see the big hall/stadium in which the six days of rotterdam was held, isn't a velodrome in the sense that hamar in norway or manchester are. the track is only there for the six days (well, probably eight if you allow for setup and take down). the whole kit and caboodle fits in the back of a forty foot artic truck and a horde of minions extricate it from same and join it all together, just like a big scalextric track.

if you fancy having a look at some timelapse movies of said minions, trucks, forklifts, cranes et al making a velodrome out of nothing, click over to flextrack.info and click the 'movies' link at the top of the page. they even put the track centre together with space for bicycles and bunks for overwrought cyclists. i did e-mail to ask what sort of money was involved in having one of these assembled in bowmore village hall, but i assume by the lack of a reply, that they didn't think too much of the idea. if you're seriously considering same in your own village hall, your mileage may vary. track length can be anything from a maximum of 200 metres all the way down to a paltry 167 metres. for the 200m track, a floor area of 1,950 square metres is required. which may go some way towards explaining why there wont be a bowmore six day anytime soon.

flex track six day

if it's the numbers game that keeps you happy, the track consists of 104 steel trusses, 104 track elements and can apparently be operational from scratch in 24 hours. judging by the fact that i didn't see a single crash across all six days in rotterdam, the surface seems to have been setup remarkably well - i was kind of worried that there might be slight bumps where each panel joined together.

never was much good at woodwork.

posted on thursday 10 january

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a gottle of gear

lightweight derailleur

a few days ago i was wont to wax lyrical about the joys of cleaning the bicycle after trailing it round the principality of a sunday morning, and the fact that i deftly massage the chain with an old bit of bedroom curtain, just to see it shine in the afternoon hail shower and to ensure that it continues to glide frictionless through the blue, ceramic bearing jockey wheels for a few more kilometres. and aside from a cursory wipe over the alloy body of the derailleur, i rarely give the gears a second thought. at least when they're working.

but that sculpted dod of alloy (or alloy and carbon, if your chorus mech is more recent than my chorus mech) is the missing link between cycling and not cycling. and in much the same way as we don't pay attention to anything that does its job efficiently and uncomplainingly, this marvellous variation on the paralellogram, deserves a lot more than it ever gets. if you are particularly well heeled, or just remarkably fortunate, it may be that your gear mech is top of the range campagnolo with acres more carbon fibre than alloy, but aside from the obvious shiny (or not) factor it does much the same job as some of the bent tin that appears on what would laughingly be termed, 'entry level' machines.

index shifting has been around for so long that many of those reading may be unaware that there was ever any other way to change gear - assuming all's well in the cable and adjustment department, one click and hey presto, it's another gear. cosmetic and functional work by shimano and campag has ensured that no longer does the chain reach the next largest sprocket merely by brute force, but is now aided at predetermined points on the circumference by stylish ramps hewn from solid alloy or titanium (this is nothing if not gritty). the result is often a quick look down to check that ratios have really been swapped.

and while the forward motion of the velocipede is entirely dependent on the chain doing as described, it's the derailleur that has the savvy to get it there in the first place. excluding the current fascination for fixed or single speed gearing, the rear derailleur has become ubiquitous on practically all modern bikes, with the internal hub gear, as originally espoused by the now far eastern owned sturmey archer, never quite having caught the imagination of the mainstream. how much of this is down to cosmetic appeal, i really have no idea, but somehow the image of a sweat soaked fausto coppi on the col du galibier, reaching for his three speed sturmey bar lever, loses something in the translation. and i can think of a few mechanics who would baulk at the thought of a speedy wheel change on a 14 speed rohloff internal.

this is not to say that the latter mechanisms to not have their place in the grand panoply of wheely good ideas, but somehow the simplicity and accessibility of the derailleur has an attraction all of its own. i did, once, dismantle a sturmey three speed for repair: frightening best describes that experience.

how such a seemingly simple device such as the rear mech can shift a moving chain, which, if we are perfectly honest with ourselves, doesn't actually want to move in more than one plane at a time. either up or down rotating sprockets, accurately positioning itself underneath the flashing teeth of choice, while adjusting the tension on the same endless loop of links to avoid pedalous calamity, and usually continues to do so even when the owner is not as conscientious as i on a sunday afternoon, qualifies it as one of the wonders of the world.

so the next time, after the sunday ride, before you put the feet up and finish off those last few pages of the comic, take a little time out of your busy schedule to lovingly polish that alloy (and/or carbon) and send a little lube towards those life saving pivots. because if you don't, someone will make the whole thing electronic, with a whacking great solenoid and a rubber gaiter to destroy any notions of a romantic cycling heritage.

what d'you mean, they already have?

posted on wednesday 9 january

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dazed and confused

specialized transition

you may gather from the heading to this piece that a modicum of confusion has arisen at washingmachinepost towers, though conflict may be a more apt description. i had absorbed myself the oher evening by reading an article about the latest in speed weaponry (apologies to zipp for hijacking their slogan) from american bicycle manufacturer, specialized. this new model maintains the moniker transition which would generally point me in the direction of triathlon, as transition describes the iffy bit between disciplines, when wet people try to get their feet into a pair of sidis currently clipped onto the bicycle's pedals, before running with the bike for miles in order to start racing again.

however, according to specialized, the transition saw the light of day due to an acknowledged requirement from the specialized sponsored teams (gerolsteiner and quickstep) for a more time-trial and less triathlon orientated frame. and then they call it transition? however, were this the sole source of my confusion/conflict that would be quite acceptable, and i could happily put it down to pedantry. but i have to wonder why so much effort and technology was put into a bicycle that seeks to deny probably its principal market, and professionally at least, is likely to be ridden by a majority of riders who are exceedingly unlikely to ever see the top thirty in a major time-trial.

and much as i dislike the look of what companies such as trek and specialized are doing to the bicycle frame (and the head-tube and seat tube area of the transition are particularly hideous), it would be foolish to deny such progress, when carbon fibre no longer confines anyone to replicating the likes of a colnago master x-lite (sorry, did i drool on the keyboard there?). this transition time-trial bike has a dipped cut-out area just behind the stem/headtube with four holes to allow the cables to disappear into the frame and not trouble the airflow any more than absolutely necessary. this i could understand on an f-16 fighter aircraft - i truly wonder how much difference it makes on a bicycle that won't ever travel at much more than 65kph - however, my knowledge of cycle aerodynamics equates with my knowledge of quantum physics, so we can safely assume that the nobel prize is unlikely to be heading to islay anytime soon.

the confilct in this situation comes from the fact that i find all this application of technology, even to areas in which i find it reaches varying degrees of irrelevance in inverse proportion to how much it costs to do so, absolutely fascinating. the fact that a bunch of cycle techies can shut themselves in an aerospace style cubby hole and not come out again until they have spent the entire r&d budget on something that wouldn't embarrass nasa, is tantamount to a wonder of the modern world. i do find it comfortingly whimsical that they have reverted to a one-inch steerer to reduce frontal area drag (why is that not a consideration on an 'ordinary' racing bike?), but the narrowness of the transition means that it probably has to run around in the shower to get wet.

despite the amount of design skill that has obviously gone into this machine and the degree of technology and innovation that has been employed to achieve what will probably only amount to a few seconds gain, it sells for a price that would represent petty cash for nasa or boeing. but comically, on the few specialized dealers' websites that i looked at, it was filed under triathlon proving that you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

so while it satisfies the mechanic/lover of technology in me (and probably, if you'd only admit it, you too) i do have to take a couple of steps back and marvel at the underlying pointlessness of it all. have we really reached the upper levels of because we can so soon?

posted on tuesday 8 january

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