0.02% aero lost, 236% cool gained
Tradition and innovation sit mostly comfortably alongside each other in Cycling. The bicycle itself is inherently a very simple machine, the basic design of which has remained the same for centuries; frame, two wheels, cranks, saddle, handlebars. It’s what has been done to these elements along the way that has shaped what the modern road bike (because mountain bikes are way out there and another realm altogether) now looks like.
To me, they look like crap.
The ‘advancements’ made through the use of carbon fibre have without doubt benefitted those who really need to benefit in incremental steps, and that is Pro riders. These guys and gals are paid to ride a bicycle as fast as they can and to get it across a line hundreds of kilometres away from where they started before hundreds of others, sometimes by the barest of margins. That’s not us. We ride because we love the freedom, the health benefits, all that bullshit that Bicycling magazine will give you 7 tips on how to do it. We don’t need aero-tubed frames and deep dish carbon wheels, but we want them. Sure, all this stuff makes our experience better, and I’m not suggesting we all ride around on K-Mart bikes, even though we’d still probably have some form of fun if we did. Even if you race, even A grade at club level, or have a crack at Nationals, the bike isn’t going to make you win. I’ll repeat; you’re not a Pro.
This whole ‘aero’ frame fad that has taken over the peloton is all well and good when the sport’s top prizes are at stake. When rolling around with your mates and having a coffee before and a beer after is the modus operandi, then why not do it with a modicum of style? Aero bikes are not stylish. Those oversized, flattened, sharp edged carbon members (I refuse to call them tubes) are just downright ugly. The curvy swooping lines and bent-six-ways stays are an abomination. And some of the stems popping up now look like tumours growing from Frankenstein’s neck. I don’t like them, in case you’re not picking up on that.
The more I look at the new crop of ’boutique’ builders working with steel, the more I realise how much of a blight these carbon race frames are. My eyes are attuned to the simplicity of round, straight tubes, with a sensible diameter, and if they’re held together with lugs, well that’s not a bad thing either. But even these simple things of beauty can be sullied by another modern invention, the sloping top tube. A lot of the bikes that appeared in my feeds from the recent NAHMBS featured quite radically sloping tt’s, and whenever a flat tt’ed bike popped up it was even more apparent that flat is where it’s at. And I’m not saying this because I own such a bike; in fact, there was a period after purchasing my Jaegher where I questioned whether I should have had some slope built in. But the more I witness the glut of ugly that is is the Pro peloton, I’m glad I listened to the denizens who lovingly handcrafted my beauty, and kept the tubes like they are meant to be: flat, round and straight.
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My Rourke visiting the Jaegher factory last summer. We even had a couple of beers with the guys in the bar round the corner!
My Rourke visiting the Jeagher
My Rourke visiting the
Without meaning to disrespect any of the owners of the many beautiful bikes posted above but I think that there is something odd about a classic steel bike with STI shifters . Just saying
@David Maver
Cerchio Ghisallo? Very cool.
All you haters suck my balls, as they say...
Matte black - check
Carbon fibre - check
Sloping TT - check
Oversized stem - check
And if you haven't already lit your pitchforks I'll confess I have a custom-built steel bike but I like this one better.
Horizontal tt's make no sense on a modern bike with a threadless headset. either the front end is too low for most people in their proper size or you go a size up to get the correct stack measurement and have no standover clearance. It worked back in the day as a threaded headset cup and quill stem adds an extra few cm to the front end without looking weird, nowadays you have to employ ugly spacer stacks, extended headtubes or a flipped stem to make it work, which looks a lot worse than any sloping top tube.
Straight tubed square geometry frames in 2016 are for racers running 140mm stems wanting to get as low and aero as possible everyone else should be on sloping with proportional stack and reach measurements, your lower back will thank you for it later.
@ChrisO
That's my kinda bike ! A beauty. One of my buds is racing a TCR this season. It is a smokin' hot bike. And looks like they modified the seat tube this season (?) Giant's making some cool bikes. There is truly some artistry and craftsmanship that goes in to engineering, laying up and prep'ing the C frames for sure. Just not something someone could do in a shop or garage outside the house. I'd note, looks like the only thing missing is a battery and little push buttons for shifting. Joking… Cheers
BTW: I can't exactly read the Giant on @ChrisO 's bike but we can tell what kinda bike that is by looking at the frame. Same would be true if it were a Dogma for sure. A Venge, Madone, whatev… That's the contemporary beauty of these C (and even some alloy) frames being built today. They're unique.
Will they stand the test of time? Of course not like a Jaegher will still have the classic look twenty, thirty or fifty years from now. But they're hot now that's for sure. And if they look different in a couple of years it's in part because the materials and engineering design technology is being further advanced.
It's the golden age of frame building right now. Steel, Ti, C and alloy... all of 'em. Cheers
@wilburrox
I'd say the TCR has its own place as a classic bike and shape. The first alloy versions marked such a paradigm shift it makes it just as deserving of a pedestal in the pantheon as any bike of another era IMHO.
And even though it now has flattened tubes and an oversize BB it's still unmistakable, as well as being a fantastic all-round ride. Add cost into the equation and I honestly don't think you can do any better.
The 2016 model is a bigger update. I know someone who's ridden the previous and current versions and says the new one is noticeably better. The only 'downside' is that the top model only comes with an integrated seatpost, which is great for stiffness but a pain if you want to travel with the bike.
I could have got a good deal on one before I left Dubai but with discs around the corner I'm thinking it's not a good time, not for high-end stuff anyway.
@Oli
Good eye. I forgot to include that in the description.
@David Maver
What are those; wooden rims? : )