Re: Equipment at track world championships

[Steve McGinty]

On Thu, 31 Jul 2003 14:39:25 GMT, "Andy Coggan"
> wrote:

>"Ilan Vardi" > wrote in message
m...
>> I saw some interesting equipment choices. It seems that in the kilometer,
>> about half of the riders used Shimano road (clipless wide platform,
>> pre Look type) pedals, and one
>> toe strap. Also, I noted that the Australians still had Corima clones,
>> even though I thought that type of bike with a curved top tube was
>> illegal since 2000. Also, German riders were riding Look bikes, when
>> they had their own carbon bikes in previous years. One person had a
>> Mavic disk at the rear and a Corima disk at the front.
>
>What caught my eye was the use of non-aero (i.e., round) aero bars by the
>silver and bronze medalists in the kilo (i.e., Kelly and Tournant). I'm sure
>it is hard to make something more aero out of carbon fiber or aluminum that
>is stiff enough to satisfy guys this big and powerful...but OTOH, it's hard
>to understand why they'd be willing to give up any slight advantage in an
>event pften decided by tenth's of a second.
>
>Andy Coggan
>
What was the story with Sassone in the Scratch race? In the brief
highlights I saw he was initially excluded from the results, but then
they cut to the podium and he was getting the medal.

Regards!
Stephen

[Ilan Vardi]

"Andy Coggan" > wrote in message k.net>...

> What caught my eye was the use of non-aero (i.e., round) aero bars by the
> silver and bronze medalists in the kilo (i.e., Kelly and Tournant). I'm sure
> it is hard to make something more aero out of carbon fiber or aluminum that
> is stiff enough to satisfy guys this big and powerful...but OTOH, it's hard
> to understand why they'd be willing to give up any slight advantage in an
> event pften decided by tenth's of a second.

Actually, there was a Tournant interview in yesterday's L'Equipe,
and he made it quite clear that since losing the kilometer last
year by 8/1000 second, he has analysed every factor that lost him
time in that event. On the other hand, I don't have too much respect
for his ability to analyse correctly, he's the guy who said that
the best thing Jeannie Longo could do for cycling was to retire.

-ilan

[Carl Sundquist]

"Ilan Vardi" > wrote in message
> Also, I noted that the Australians still had Corima clones,
> even though I thought that type of bike with a curved top tube was
> illegal since 2000.

For some reason, the Corima track frame has an exemption on the UCI standard
frame rules. The Corima road frame is illegal by UCI standards, even though
the (curved) downtube is square in cross-section vs. (straight) triangular
oversized downtube for the track frame. The track frame also has a small
front 'fairing' on the head tube and the seat tube is faired all the way to
the seatstay, unlike the road frame.

[Kurgan Gringioni]

"Ilan Vardi" > wrote in message
om...


>On the other hand, I don't have too much respect
> for his ability to analyse correctly, he's the guy who said that
> the best thing Jeannie Longo could do for cycling was to retire.



He may be speaking from a rider's viewpoint, not a fan's.


She's not the most popular.

[Ilan Vardi]

"Andy Coggan" > wrote in message k.net>...

> What caught my eye was the use of non-aero (i.e., round) aero bars by the
> silver and bronze medalists in the kilo (i.e., Kelly and Tournant). I'm sure
> it is hard to make something more aero out of carbon fiber or aluminum that
> is stiff enough to satisfy guys this big and powerful...but OTOH, it's hard
> to understand why they'd be willing to give up any slight advantage in an
> event pften decided by tenth's of a second.

Error in my other post. I checked and Tournant was tormented by
a 1/1000 second loss in last year's kilometer ITT at worlds.

-ilan

[Ilan Vardi]

"Kurgan Gringioni" > wrote in message >...
> "Ilan Vardi" > wrote in message
> om...
>
>
> >On the other hand, I don't have too much respect
> > for his ability to analyse correctly, he's the guy who said that
> > the best thing Jeannie Longo could do for cycling was to retire.
>
>
>
> He may be speaking from a rider's viewpoint, not a fan's.

No, he's speaking from the moron's viewpoint, as in, he probably
thinks Armstrong doesn't deserve to win the Tour, as opposed
to like, Virenque.

> She's not the most popular.

She's a cycling icon in France, and appears in game show questions,
etc. True, she's not popular with the French cycling establishment,
which, for example, tried to exclude her from the 1992 Olympics
because she didn't want to ride with Look pedals. Her autobiography
starts off with how the French national pursuit championships changed
their rules in order to exclude her from a chance at winning the title,
after she qualified 3rd or 4th in the preliminary round.
That is, it was originally supposed
to be a semifinal and final, and after the ride, they decided it
would be 1st vs 2nd for the winner, and 3rd vs. 4th for the 3-4.

-ilan

[Mike Zaharis]

"Carl Sundquist" > wrote in message >...
> "Ilan Vardi" > wrote in message
> > Also, I noted that the Australians still had Corima clones,
> > even though I thought that type of bike with a curved top tube was
> > illegal since 2000.
>
> For some reason, the Corima track frame has an exemption on the UCI standard
> frame rules. The Corima road frame is illegal by UCI standards, even though
> the (curved) downtube is square in cross-section vs. (straight) triangular
> oversized downtube for the track frame. The track frame also has a small
> front 'fairing' on the head tube and the seat tube is faired all the way to
> the seatstay, unlike the road frame.

I could be wrong, but is the Corima track really illegal, and by the
same reasoning, the BT (Aussie "superbike")? Take a look at section
1.3.021 of the UCI cycling regulations.

http://www.uci.ch/english/about/rules/ch01_general.pdf

I could easily see how a Corima or BT frame could fit within the
template shown in this section of the rules. They have great latitude
for tube position, enough to permit the tubes to curve up to 16 cm
minus the tube width.