Remco’s TT bike
It was none apart from Remco Evenepoel who first struck gold on two wheels on the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games. The Belgian rider triumphed in biblical situations, and did so on reasonably a particular bike.
As an alternative of driving his regular Specialised S-Works Shiv, the Belgian used a special-edition paint scheme which is alleged to ‘have a good time 50 years of progressive design,’ and ‘look in direction of the subsequent 50’. The design is essentially the most difficult paint work the model has ever launched into, with hours of human time going into every bike.
Remco’s time trial bike featured a silver metallic base coat, full with textured inlay, all suplemented by flashes of pink which Specialised says harks again to the model’s “irreverent, rebellious spirit”.
As you may anticipate, the bike itself was additionally full to the brim with optimisations. Remco reportedly used a mammoth 64t chainring up entrance, as a way to maximize chain line effectivity for speeds in extra of 50kph. After all, this was saved in verify with a Okay-edge chain catcher, in a bid to save lots of a valuable handful of watts. Fascinating too was Remco’s customized cockpit. On high of his molded aero extensions, the Belgian additionally appeared to make use of a 3D-printed laptop mount that sat flush, as a way to give him the information he wanted with none drag.
Van Aert’s TT bike
(Picture credit score: SWPix)
Wout van Aert, who pipped younger Brit Josh Tarling to the bronze medal, did so with a never-before-seen TT set-up – within the fashionable period a minimum of.
The Belgian rider used a double disc wheel set-up, which was met with questions over UCI legality and likewise security.
Apparently, the Reserve Infinity Disc Turbulent Aero wheelset in use is UCI authorised, nevertheless would it not not be authorized in Biking Time Trial or Triathlon occasions. On the Reserve web site, the wheels are cited as being developed particularly for Staff Visma-Lease a Bike.
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Wout van Aert instructed Biking Weekly that the wheels have been “17 watts quicker” within the wind tunnel, although might solely be utilized in gentle wind situations.
Anna Henderson’s street bike
Anna Henderon’s street bike is specifically painted
(Picture credit score: SWPix)
Riders comparable to Anna Henderson, who journey Cervélo bikes with their commerce groups, have been additionally utilizing specifically painted bikes.
Cervélo has included the floral sample of Claude Monet’s well-known Water Lillies portray – displayed in a panoramic room on the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris – into its creation for the Olympics. In case you prefer it, hurry; Cervélo has made simply 100 framesets accessible.
Tom Pidcock’s Pinarello Dogma XC
Pinarello developed Pidcock’s bike specifically for him
(Picture credit score: SWPix)
Maintain on a second – knobbly tyes and a flat handlebar? I do know, it pushes the boundaries of what we cowl right here at CW, however there’s reasonably loads occurring with Tom Pidock’s cross-country mountain bike, and after such a tantalising struggle for the gold medal, I deemed it essential to cowl the small print.
Pidcock is the one rider underneath the Ineos umbrella to make use of the complete complement of race bikes on provide to the Grenadiers, nevertheless till March this yr, he didn’t formally have a motorcycle to compete in XC. The multi-disciplinarian’s success led to Pinarello growing a mountain bike for him, by which he performed a big half within the growth.
The Brit opted for the full-suspension model of the Dogma XC, after criticising the course for being “bland”, and “probably not mountain bike”.
It was the selection of wheels that was most fascinating, although. Pidcock used the world’s lightest spokes, which come from US firm Berd, and are manufactured from Dyneema, a kind of polyethylene. Costing £392 per wheelset for a 28-spoke wheel set-up, they’re actually costly, however they could have helped him take gold too. The versatile nature of the spokes can improve wheel forgiveness – not what you need within the last of a street race, however the place bike dealing with and controlling traction are paramount, these spokes can lend a serving to hand.
Japanese monitor bike
Japan’s monitor bike was developed in collaboration with Toray
(Picture credit score: SWPix)
The Japanese monitor bike shares numerous options with the Staff GB machine however goes even additional within the pursuit of aerodynamics in a few areas. Most notably, the bike, which was developed in collaboration with Toray, incorporates a left-hand drive system.
As a result of nature of monitor racing, and at all times turning left, the drivetrain is sheltered extra of the time when ‘hidden’ on the left-hand facet of the bike.
Kristen Faulkner’s Supersix Evo
Faulkner turned the primary male or feminine rider from the US to win an Olympic street race for over 40 years.
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
“I virtually didn’t race,” mentioned Kristen Faulkner within the post-race press convention. Effectively, thank goodness she did. The American rider not solely ignited the Girls’s Olympic street race, however turned the primary male or feminine rider from the US to win an Olympic street race for over 40 years.
She arrived on the end line beneath the Eiffel Tower some 58 seconds away from the remainder of the sphere aboard a particular version model of her commerce staff bike, a Cannondale Supersix Evo. The Olympic frameset featured a white base coat with geometric pink inexperienced and yellow accents dotted across the bike. Except for the paint, the bike was pretty just like her regular EF Schooling-EasyPost staff bike, with Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, Imaginative and prescient wheels, and Vittoria Corsa tubeless tyres current to assist deal with the cobblestones of the Parisian course.
Staff France’s Look P24
The French model claims the brand new machine is a whopping 91 watts quicker than its predecessor
(Picture credit score: Andy Jones for Future)
The place the street may see a reasonably fixed stream of latest know-how by way of the years, track-focused tech is with out fail centered across the Olympic cycle. That, in fact, means there are extra strange-looking bikes than ever within the Paris Velodrome, and the Look P24 is a first-rate instance.
Developed for Staff France, the Look P24 follows the rising pattern of ultra-wide fork legs and reasonably alien-looking seatpost designs. The philosophy behind that is to create more room between the wheels which trigger a turbulent airflow, and the fork blades, with the purpose of decreasing excessive strain build-up in these areas. The fork blades are so spaced out that they sit nearer in keeping with the legs of the rider, which is alleged to enhance effectivity.
In comparison with Look’s outgoing monitor bike, the French model claims the brand new machine is a whopping 91 watts quicker at 70kph, which equates to a seven- metre benefit per lap at these speeds. It will likely be in motion with drop handlebars in dash and bunch races, with aero extensions in pursuit occasions.
Staff GB bike
Staff GB’s new bike is an iteration of what they used within the Tokyo 2020 Video games
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
Staff GB have been a number one drive on the planet of monitor biking tech developments for many years now, and the Paris 2024 Video games is yet one more instance of collaborative engineering experience. They’ve been driving a cutting-edge monitor bike, developed in partnership with Lotus Engineering, Renishaw, and Hope Expertise.
The brand new bike is an iteration of what Staff GB used within the Tokyo 2020 Video games, the place the ultra-wide fork legs and seatstays have been first debuted. The ethos hasn’t modified, and the objective, like with the Look P24, remains to be to scale back excessive strain build-up across the entrance wheel, and align the body sections with the legs of the riders.
In contrast to the Look P24, nevertheless, the fork resembles a double-crowned fork generally seen in downhill mountain biking. That is one thing that Staff GB has patented, and we predict that is most probably for improved stiffness on the entrance finish – paramount when your riders are placing out over 2,500 watts.
Apparently too, the entire staff pursuit squad is now driving the identical Olympic set-up. Beforehand, aero wizard Dan Bigham was nonetheless utilizing his personal Pinarello set-up which he used to interrupt the British Hour document again in 2022. Having spent a lot time optimising his place on this bike, we speculate that maybe not sufficient time had but been put into the brand new bike to make it quicker than his pre-existing set-up when he final raced pursuit races final yr. For the Olympics, nevertheless, this appears to have been modified.
Gold brompton
Brompton has partnered with Staff GB to create a fleet of particular version bikes
(Picture credit score: Brompton)
Alongside the space-age monitor bike, Staff GB athletes have additionally been driving across the Olympic village on this Brompton P Line – although maybe not throughout competitors…
Brompton has partnered with Staff GB to create a fleet of particular version bikes for athletes and coaches to make use of to maneuver round Paris. The bikes are additionally being showcased by British excessive jumper Morgan Lake, and BMX rider Kieran Reilly – be careful for any audacious manoeuvres across the Paris metropolis centre!
Alongside the GB paint job, Brompton has additionally produced the ‘first ever gold plated folding bike’. Brompton has collaborated with Mappin & Webb Gold to provide two gold-plated machines, every made with the equal of 1 ounce of 24-carat yellow gold. The bikes can be auctioned off sooner or later with all proceeds going to the Olympic Basis.
