New Irish pro Conti team (aka The Aquablue thread)

Raam

Lumen wrote: »

It's not only the 1x. Using a team car as a front derailleur is bad enough, but it's the fact that the axles required by the disc brakes require so much faffing.

My inner retrogrouch would be ROFLing if it knew what acronyms were.

Love that!

gmacww

niceonetom wrote: »

so I can imagine they'd be tempted to blame it on some other non-specified "issue".

This goes on all the time. Teams regularly hide bikes from camera (astana last year) that have had big issues and often just say "issue" rather than say anything about a sponsored part that could cause friction. Would a team come out and say this part by brand x is causing us issues? No. They gloss over it in public and deal with it privately or risk losing a sponsor in a sport struggling for financial backing.

One high profile example of this is Sky's switch in bottom brackets.

Eamonnator

Lumen wrote: »

It's not only the 1x. Using a team car as a front derailleur is bad enough, but it's the fact that the axles required by the disc brakes require so much faffing.

My inner retrogrouch would be ROFLing if it knew what acronyms were.

Your inner retrogrouch and I have something in common, I had to google ROFL

Keeks

I see the "mechanical" issues the tem has has so far have been with Sprinters bikes....Blythe had on in the lead up to a sprint in teh Dubai tour.
Then this issue and the Mullet also had a mechanical in the spint in this stage also.

Could it be a chain issue with the 1x setup......

1bryan

Keeks wrote: »

I see the "mechanical" issues the tem has has so far have been with Sprinters bikes....Blythe had on in the lead up to a sprint in teh Dubai tour.
Then this issue and the Mullet also had a mechanical in the spint in this stage also.

Could it be a chain issue with the 1x setup......

probably partly the whole point of 3T getting involved with a pro team. They'll address these little kinks as they arise, no doubt.

Piece on sticky bottle on some of the riders thoughts on the bikes

http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/aqua-blue-sport-3t-strada-bike/

DominoDub

Looks like the riders and their bikes will be well tested if racing in Europe in the coming 2 weeks with extreme cold and snow. not so "Spring Classics"

godtabh

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Piece on sticky bottle on some of the riders thoughts on the bikes

http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/aqua-blue-sport-3t-strada-bike/

They aren’t going to come out and say it’s ****

Lumen

Arguably, half the point of supplying a team with bikes is to get pro feedback on them to drive improvements. If you can do that without the feedback leaking to the public, all the better. :pac:

I dimly remember Katusha riders moaning about the Canyons being crap for the first season or so.

And Cannondale had to beef up those superlight evo things because they were too noodly.

I do wonder though whether optimising a bike for a pro putting out 400+ watts makes it worse for a Fred like me, in the same way that motor manufacturers optimising cars for the 'ring makes them crap for driving to the shops.

Lumen

Oh, and as far as the stupid drivetrain goes, I have read that small sprockets are less efficient, though a quick search didn't turn up any definitive numbers. I imagine this is particularly the case with 9t.

Chips Lovell

Could you compensate with dinner plate sized jockey wheels?

niceonetom

Lumen wrote: »

Arguably, half the point of supplying a team with bikes is to get pro feedback on them to drive improvements. If you can do that without the feedback leaking to the public, all the better. :pac:

I think that's why most novel stuff is tested by lower level pros. Manufacturers want the data without the risk of very public failure. That's why ROTOR and FSA are testing their groupsets (hydraulic and leccy) on women's teams or conti men. FSA can barely manage to make a stem FFS, so putting their attempt at Di2 on Astana's bikes would be very silly indeed.

Lumen wrote: »

Oh, and as far as the stupid drivetrain goes, I have read that small sprockets are less efficient, though a quick search didn't turn up any definitive numbers. I imagine this is particularly the case with 9t.

I'm really hoping we see the 9t combined with those enormous 19t ceramicspeed jockey-wheel thingies at some point.

gmacww

Lumen wrote: »

Arguably, half the point of supplying a team with bikes is to get pro feedback on them to drive improvements. If you can do that without the feedback leaking to the public, all the better. :pac:

This is exactly what happens. Take the previous generation of the Cervelo S5. All the riders removed headset top bearing covers to get the stems lower. Bad design with too hight a front end annoyed most pros. The reason it was designed like that was extra stiffness in the front end. Pro feedback meant a re-design.

Mark Cavendish famously slated the Pinarello as the worst bike he's ever ridden then had to come out a week later saying it was the best bike he's ever ridden. Pinarello completely redesigned it off the back of Sky feedback.

niceonetom

gmacww wrote: »

The reason it was designed like that was extra stiffness in the front end.

Stiffness me arse. That front end was designed to make portly dentists need fewer spacers under the stem.

Raam

What is the claimed advantage of 1x?

CantGetNoSleep

Raam wrote: »

What is the claimed advantage of 1x?

Aerodynamics, simpler shifting, maybe a bit of weight?

Lumen

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Aerodynamics, simpler shifting, maybe a bit of weight?

SRAM claims it saves 200g.

The 3T strada weighs around 8.3kg according to Cycling Weekly, although that was on 1632–1652g clinchers.

Raam

UCI really needs an aesthetics committee with powers of veto.

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

UCI really needs an aesthetics committee with powers of veto.

I'd vote for you.

Raam

Lumen wrote: »

I'd vote for you.

I'd vote for me too.

Chips Lovell

Aside from needing a crazy-ass spread at in the rear cassette, the other downside of 1x is that a front derailleur serves as a chain catcher. Most of the time if you drop your chain, you should be able to get it back on using the front mech.

Raam wrote: »

UCI really needs an aesthetics committee with powers of veto.

UCI really needs to impose Kerin-style rule on bikes. Everyone rides virtually identical bicycles. But that'll never happen while equipment makers continue to be some of the biggest sponsors in the sport.

cython

Lumen wrote: »

SRAM claims it saves 200g.

The 3T strada weighs around 8.3kg according to Cycling Weekly, although that was on 1632–1652g clinchers.

Adam Blythe's comes in around 7.7KG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=872TfTFMCPA#t=3m54s

Raam

I guess the 200g saving will make it easier for the mechanic with all the bike swaps he will need to make.

Melodeon

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

...the other downside of 1x is that a front derailleur serves as a chain catcher. Most of the time if you drop your chain, you should be able to get it back on using the front mech.

One of the points they're talking up about the system is that as there's no shifting between big and small front rings going on, dropping the chain at the front is far less likely to happen in the first place.

Andy Fenn states in the above linked article:

He added simply having one chainring rather than two took some getting used to in itself.

“It kind of seems weird and annoying to change the front mech now. I was out with a few guys training in Spain and they were dropping their chains and I was like ‘OK.’”

Chips Lovell

Andy Fenn is sponsored by 3T though. Part of his job is to say the bike is great.

niceonetom

How much of this can be traced back to some head-of-sales in SRAM throwing an absolute sh1tfit at the front derailleur department after Andy Schlecked his chain?

Keeks

Tomorrows race may prove a better tester for the setup

CramCycle

niceonetom wrote: »

Stiffness me arse. That front end was designed to make portly dentists need fewer spacers under the stem.

A1 cycling got to you too

Raam wrote: »

I'd vote for me too.

Here is a third pledge

Melodeon wrote: »

One of the points they're talking up about the system is that as there's no shifting between big and small front rings going on, dropping the chain at the front is far less likely to happen in the first place.

Andy Fenn states in the above linked article:

It is a weird statement though, I have dropped chains before but other than Andy Schlecks famous dropped chain, does it really happen that often to be an issue. As in, out on a spin with mates, who are all into bikes. Was it really a noticeable thing to the point it needed to be said, I am very doubtful, sounds more like a sponsor saying, turn that negative into a positive to insure continued sponsorship.

niceonetom

CramCycle wrote: »

A1 cycling got to you too.

I've been moaning about vroomen-driven headtube growth since long before A1 was a thing. If anything, I got to them.

Eddie Dunbar had a 5th place finish today at Volta Limburg Classic.

Final 15km

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU1mflYlPpw