Any Articles On Lance Armstrongs 2005 Bike ?

"Ryan Cousineau" wrote in message
...
I would guess that it is quite possible to build a demonstration bike
with a steel frame that was under the UCI limit. It mostly depends on
how stupid you are willing to be with the component selection.

Behold the 10.93 pound bicycle:

http://www.light-bikes.com/bikegalle...ing.asp?id=200

That's not the lightest bike on the site. The quoted weight for the
Dedacciai U2 frame (a fancy Al frame with carbon stays) is 900g. I'm
pretty sure 2000g frames are easily possible in steel. Assuming a
straight frame swap is possible, that leaves you with a 13ish pound
steel bike, and you're all ready to be fitted for your "Legalize My
Columbus Life Tubing!" jerseys.

Of course, our example bike is pretty stupid-light: sub 1100g wheelset,
carbon fibre chainrings, brakes that weigh 90g apiece, and downtube
shifters to save a few more grams. The scary part may be that I don't
see any really exotic parts on this bike besides those. Nothing that
wasn't ridden in last year's tour, anyways.

For a slightly less insane example, here's a 12-pound Scott with Ergo
shifters and aluminum chainrings:

http://www.light-bikes.com/bikegalle...ing.asp?id=285

888g frame. Let's pretend that we swap that for our heroic 2000g steel
frame. Final weight: 6670g, just under the legal limit, and we didn't
even have to remove the 9g water bottle cage.

I don't have a problem with the present weight limit. Whether anyone
wants to admit it or not, a bike built to the weight limit these days is
still a pretty special thing. The trend in pro bikes will probably be to
hover near the weight limit, but optimize for better aerodynamics. Look
for deep-section wheels in more stages and races, for one thing, and on
days you wouldn't expect: if you can build a 6.8 kg bike with
deep-section wheels, why not use it on a mountain day?

--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.wiredcola.com
Verus de parvis; verus de magnis.

Nice post and links. Thanks!

"Bob Anderson" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 15:38:50 GMT, Darrell Criswell
wrote:

How light can you make a useable road bike now?

Not sure if these rules have changed for 2005, found using
google.

The weight of the bicycle cannot be less to 6.8 kilograms.

http://www.letour.fr/2004/docs/reglement_us.pdf
http://www.uci.ch/english/about/rules/ch01_general.pdf

And 7 kgs is too light save for a one or two season bike. A local racer has
busted about half a dozen carbon forks now by hitting hay bales. And he's
buying the best.

Ryan Cousineau wrote:


That's not the lightest bike on the site. The quoted weight for the
Dedacciai U2 frame (a fancy Al frame with carbon stays) is 900g. I'm
pretty sure 2000g frames are easily possible in steel. Assuming a
straight frame swap is possible, that leaves you with a 13ish pound
steel bike, and you're all ready to be fitted for your "Legalize My
Columbus Life Tubing!" jerseys.

a frame is only about 20% of a bikes weight.

a lugged steel frame (like SL, SLX) in a medium size is about 2000 gms.
a tigged frame of say Foco can be 1700 gms. or less. a typical alu
frame like cannondale is about 1400 gms.

"Tom Kunich" wrote in message
How light can you make a useable road bike now?

Not sure if these rules have changed for 2005, found using
google.

The weight of the bicycle cannot be less to 6.8 kilograms.

http://www.letour.fr/2004/docs/reglement_us.pdf
http://www.uci.ch/english/about/rules/ch01_general.pdf

And 7 kgs is too light save for a one or two season bike. A local racer
has
busted about half a dozen carbon forks now by hitting hay bales. And he's
buying the best.



Regarding breaking CF forks, whatever he's hitting with sufficient force to
break forks would probably bend a steel fork or frame. The energy's gotta go
somewhere.

Why doesn't he quit hitting haybales?

"Tom Kunich" wrote in message
ink.net...

And 7 kgs is too light save for a one or two season bike. A local racer
has busted about half a dozen carbon forks now by hitting hay bales. And
he's buying the best.

The manufacturer must love him, but he might be better off with slightly
less fragile forks in crits. Or just learning to corner.

Peter

"Carl Sundquist" wrote in message
news:Yv7Sd.8240$yr.7358@okepread05...

"Tom Kunich" wrote in message
How light can you make a useable road bike now?

Not sure if these rules have changed for 2005, found using
google.

The weight of the bicycle cannot be less to 6.8 kilograms.

http://www.letour.fr/2004/docs/reglement_us.pdf
http://www.uci.ch/english/about/rules/ch01_general.pdf

And 7 kgs is too light save for a one or two season bike. A local racer
has
busted about half a dozen carbon forks now by hitting hay bales. And he's
buying the best.



Regarding breaking CF forks, whatever he's hitting with sufficient force
to
break forks would probably bend a steel fork or frame. The energy's gotta
go
somewhere.

Why doesn't he quit hitting haybales?

Believe me, it HAS been suggested. But if that many forks have been sheered
off you have to worry about long term CF frames that are ultra-light.

"Tom Kunich" wrote in message

And 7 kgs is too light save for a one or two season bike. A local racer
has
busted about half a dozen carbon forks now by hitting hay bales. And
he's
buying the best.



Regarding breaking CF forks, whatever he's hitting with sufficient force
to
break forks would probably bend a steel fork or frame. The energy's
gotta
go
somewhere.

Why doesn't he quit hitting haybales?

Believe me, it HAS been suggested. But if that many forks have been
sheered
off you have to worry about long term CF frames that are ultra-light.




First, slamming into haybales is not a normal activity for a road bike,
unless your name is Justin.

AFAIK, long term resiliency is a strength (no pun intended) of CF. However,
one of CF's weak points is catastrophic failure, as illustrated by your
local racer. Whatever force is causing the CF forks to break would also
likely damage a steel frame, requiring replacement just as the CF fork does.
Does the local racer manage to stay on the bike when the forks snap, or does
he get tossed off it? If it's the latter, then safety is a moot point. He's
not snapping them in the normal operation of the bike.

Bob Anderson wrote:

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 15:38:50 GMT, Darrell Criswell
wrote:

How light can you make a useable road bike now?

Not sure if these rules have changed for 2005, found using
google.

The weight of the bicycle cannot be less to 6.8 kilograms.

http://www.letour.fr/2004/docs/reglement_us.pdf
http://www.uci.ch/english/about/rules/ch01_general.pdf

Hardly anyone in the US is a pro riding under UCI stricture. So "rules" don't
matter and don't answer the question.

Tom Kunich wrote:

"Carl Sundquist" wrote in message
news:Yv7Sd.8240$yr.7358@okepread05...

"Tom Kunich" wrote in message
How light can you make a useable road bike now?

Not sure if these rules have changed for 2005, found using
google.

The weight of the bicycle cannot be less to 6.8 kilograms.

http://www.letour.fr/2004/docs/reglement_us.pdf
http://www.uci.ch/english/about/rules/ch01_general.pdf

And 7 kgs is too light save for a one or two season bike. A local racer
has
busted about half a dozen carbon forks now by hitting hay bales. And he's
buying the best.



Regarding breaking CF forks, whatever he's hitting with sufficient force
to
break forks would probably bend a steel fork or frame. The energy's gotta
go
somewhere.

Why doesn't he quit hitting haybales?

Believe me, it HAS been suggested. But if that many forks have been sheered
off you have to worry about long term CF frames that are ultra-light.

Have you also informed him that crits have corners?

On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 05:39:53 -0500, Bugsy wrote:

Will he be using the Madone again or something new ?

I heard that bikes have to be at least a minimum weight is that correct ?

Seems a shame to force bikes to be a minimum weight ! Why not let
technology dictate the lightest bike possible, seems like a no-brainer
to me !!

Cordially

Not Armstrong's bike, but probably more or less the same. It's
Michael Barry's Madone --
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech/2005...discovery_trek






J. Spaceman