The Radsport

Sylvain Chavanel’s Specialized S-Work Tarmac SL4

Alex Kehr — Sat, 18 May 2013 13:49:35 +0000

Sylvain Chavanel’s Tour of California race bike is complete with Zipp 404 Firecrest wheels, Zipp Service Course SL bar and stem, aZipp SLSpeed Seatpost, and SRAM Red components.

Sylvain uses the Zipp Service Course SL Stem (120) and a Service Course SL bar (Short and Shallow).

The SRAM QuickView Mount keeps his power data in sight.

Chava” has 40 professional victories in his professional career and is known as an “attacker” and “stage hunter.”

The Omega-Pharma-Quick Step rider uses SRAM RED components. The YAW front derailleur insures precise shifting and a full range of usable gears.

Number 21 designates Chavanel as the pre-race team leader for Omega-Pharma-Quick Step Cycling Team.

The SLSpeed carbon seatpost two bolt system is highly adjustable and secure.

(Images via Specialized)

The Specialized S-Works Shiv of Michael Rogers

Alex Kehr — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:43:38 +0000

Team Saxo-Tinkoff rider Michael Rogers is riding an S-Works Specialized Shiv equipped with Zipp and SRAM components. Rogers is currently sitting in fifth place, 55 seconds behind race leader Janier Acevedo. The Saxo-Tinkoff rider will be looking to gain some time on the Columbian while piloting his Shiv.

Name.com Office Fixie by Republic Bike

Alex Kehr — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:24:44 +0000

One thing that’s easy to stumble across around in the Name.com office is a bicycle. These two wheeled machines everywhere— and hard to miss because they are bright green. The Name.com fixies, which were built by hipster gnomes at the Republic Bike factory, are pretty cool. Because there are so many Internet-addicting-bike nerds, I thought I’d throw together a gallery of one of the funky office fixies for you to drool over.

I don’t know about you, but the bike has me inspired to make a new blog… maybe I’ll get IWantToRideAFixieTo.brussels, ThisBikeIsToBrightForA.ninja, or CheckOutMyLimeGreen.bike when the nTLDs become available later this year.

Anyways, check out the bike below:

Michael Rogers Team Saxo-Tinkoff Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL4

Alex Kehr — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:01:19 +0000

Michael Rogers is at the Tour of California, a race he won back in 2010. He made the switch from Team Sky to to Team Sax0-Tinkoff this year, meaning his weapon of choice switched from Pinarello to Specialized. He’s riding a Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL4 at the Tour of California that has a combination of SRAM and Zipp components installed on it.

(Photographs via SRAM.)

Sebastian Kienle’s Scott Plasma Premium

Alex Kehr — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:48:19 +0000

Sebastian Kienle, the 2012 Ironman 70.3 World Champion, raced his brand new Scott Plasma Premium at Ironman 70.3 St. George this last weekend. The bike features a world champion stripe colorway and is complete with top-of-the-line-components. The groupo is SRAM Red, while Kienle opted for a Zipp 900 disc and Zipp 808 front wheel for this race. Kienle may not have won the race, but he did post the fastest bike split (02:09:23) aboard his Scott Plasma.

Take a closer look at his bike below:

The Pinarello Bolide of Bradley Wiggins

Alex Kehr — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:22:46 +0000

Ahead of the Giro d’Italia Pinarello have unveiled their brand new time trial bike – the Bolide.

The 2012 Tour de France was won by Sir Bradley Wiggins, in no small part due to his performances in the time trial stages. It was there that the Bolide’s predecessor, the Pinarello Graal, demonstrated its power.

The Graal debuted in the prologue of the 2010 Giro d’Italia and was immediately ridden to the top step of the podium by Wiggins, reaffirming the Pinarello supremacy that began with the time trial bikes of another Tour de France champion, Miguel Indurain.

For over a year Pinarello Lab technicians and engineers, in close collaboration with Team Sky, have worked to improve the time trial bike which swept the 2012 Tour de France, creating the Bolide.

The use of new airfoil tube sections and profiles designed to ensure the lowest aerodynamic resistance in all wind conditions, as well as in certain conditions, to generate a forward thrust.

Bolide has reduced the aerodynamic drag by 15% and the total weight by 5%, from the Graal and will debut at the 2013 Giro d’Italia where it will be ridden by Sir Bradley Wiggins.

Carsten Jeppesen, Team Sky Head of Operations said: “Team Sky have been working really closely with Pinarello on this project and now with the finished article we are very happy with the results.

“Everyone at the team is looking forward to going racing with the Bolide and we can certainly be proud of the fingerprint Team Sky has had on the design process.”

Fausto Pinarello, President of Pinarello added: We have worked very hard together with Team Sky on this project. We had a dream three years ago to work together with Team Sky and create the best products with the team. After the success of the Dogma K, which exceeded our expectations, we wanted to do something more.

Pinarello Launches the Bolide Time Trial Bike

Alex Kehr — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:20:05 +0000

Ahead of the Giro d’Italia Pinarello have unveiled their brand new time trial bike – the Bolide.

However, despite the continued successes of the Graal, including Chris Froome’s recent victory at the Tour de Romandie, Pinarello have not rested on their laurels.

For over a year Pinarello Lab technicians and engineers, in close collaboration with Team Sky, have worked to improve the time trial bike which swept the 2012 Tour de France, creating the Bolide.

Pinarello technicians went so far as to investigate the impact of air flow on every single component using intense attention to detail. This extraordinary labour of love allows the Bolide to reduce the total aerodynamic impact by 15% compared to the Graal.

Major new aerodynamic developments include:

The use of new airfoil tube sections and profiles designed to ensure the lowest aerodynamic resistance in all wind conditions, as well as in certain conditions, to generate a forward thrust.

The use of a “concave back” on the seat tube, to allow a closer position of the rear wheel, significantly improving the air flow in that area.

Complete integration of the brakes to “hide” them from the air flow, greatly reducing aerodynamic resistance.

Internal cable routing that optimizes the interaction between the airfoils and the air flow, in addition to an aesthetic impact, innovative for a racing bike.

An integrated handlebar, which gives a unique continuity with the frame and greatly reduce the resistance, compared to a traditional stem and bar.

The integration of battery and electronic controllers, completely hidden inside the frame of the Bolide.

Electronic shifter controls integrated into the handlebar, which further reduces turbulence in the frontal area of the bike.

Bolide has reduced the aerodynamic drag by 15% and the total weight by 5%, from the Graal and will debut at the 2013 Giro d’Italia where it will be ridden by Sir Bradley Wiggins.

Carsten Jeppesen, Team Sky Head of Operations said: “Team Sky have been working really closely with Pinarello on this project and now with the finished article we are very happy with the results.

“Everyone at the team is looking forward to going racing with the Bolide and we can certainly be proud of the fingerprint Team Sky has had on the design process.”

“There are many features on the bike that I am proud of. I’m very happy with the result and it’s another great step in our relationship with Team Sky and the first of many more in the future we hope.”

Specialized McLaren Venge Setup as a Time Trial Bike

Alex Kehr — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:53:33 +0000

We stumbled across this deck-out Specialized McLaren Venge that has been setup like a time trial bike. The owner of the bike, who runs Rapid Racer Products, gave us the lowdown on the components of the bike:

Specialized S-Works McLaren Venge
SRAM Quarq Powermeter cranks 172.5mm
SRAM 55t chain ring
Di2 Aero shifters
Di2 Front & Rear mech
Di2 internal battery / 5 port junction box
Zipp Vuka Aero bars
Zipp SL145 stem
Zipp 808 FC front
Zipp Super 9 Disc rear
Look Keo Blade Aero pedals
Prologo Nack Zero TT saddle
Continental TT tires
Bontrager Latex inner tubes
SRAM X-Dome 10spd 11-25t cassette
SRAM Hollowpin chain 10spd
SRAM Red Black brakes
VR Water bottle

He added, “(I’m) just waiting for a new Super 9 11spd compatible disc wheel to arrive, once it dows I will switch the chain and cassette for Shimano Durace 11spd. ”

The New Cervelo P3 versus the Cervelo P5

Alex Kehr — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:43:48 +0000

There seems to be a lot of curiosity being expressed about the differences between the new Cervelo P3 and the Cervelo P5. People are also, as you’ll see from the gallery, making the false assumption that they are practically the same bike. We had the opportunity to snap some photos of a new P3 and a P5 together so that you can better see both the similarities and differences between the two machines from the Canadian bicycle company.

The New Cervelo P3

Alex Kehr — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 02:40:46 +0000

There’s no denying that the original Cervelo P3 was a game changer in the time trial and triathlon bike world. It has an iconic design that can now be found mimicked in more than a handful of other bikes on the market at the moment. Because of how good the Cervelo P3 was, engineers were faced with the difficult task of improving on a classic triathlon and time trial bike. The new P3 can be described as a marriage between the S5 and P5. You can see how Cervelo applied what it has learned to its two top of the line aero-bikes in our massive gallery.