Lance's new bike

[Needs Help]

I just saw "The Road to the Tour" on OLN, and in an interview Chris Carmichael said that Lance has abondoned his new time trial bike because he couldn't get comfortable on it. He mentioned something about the BB width.

[gasman]

Is his new TT bike a rebadged Litespeed Blade? At least that's what it looked like.

[jerk]

no his new tt bike is the first generation tt bike the one with the weird metal shims in lieu of a seat post...the best tt bike trek has ever made but still not wuite as nice as the best tt bike ever: www.walser-cycles.ch

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . how ticked off somebody at Trek must be after they spent God knows how much money and time developing this bike for him? Their whole market for such a bike rests DIRECTLY on his use of it in competition. If he doesn’t use it they can’t sell ANY and their whole investment is down the tubes. Yeeow!

Also, I agree about the Walser . . . DAMN! I want one in black and yellow, please!

BBDave

[gt6267a]

last year when looking at Jan U. TT bike, I noticed the Top Tube was extremely flat. the model 5 on the walser web site looks similar. was that a bianchi or a re-badged walser?

-k

[BarryG]

Oops - just saw the last 10 min of the show

Barry

[zap]

I want those Walser aero bars..........

[Climb01742]

i read that jan's TT rig is a rebadged wesler. and about lance's tt rig--how many other riders could tell a major sponsor to shove their gear so publicly? i wonder whether its the bike or the position that lance can't get comfortable with? it really is a pretty radical change. add to it the fact that lance will be riding a different frame up the alpe tt.

[Tom]

I glanced at Climb's post and at first I thought he said it was a 'rebadgered weasel.' I did a double take and this time I read the right thing. It's strange what your mind puts together when it doesn't quite have all the dots.

[jerk]

it was a walser. jan will also be riding a walser this year because he has a stipulation in his contract that allows him to rdie the best availble equipment. giant rented a wind tunnel and did some research on the track with srm cranks and the walser bike beat the crap out of the giant....you may notice zable, ullrich and all are also not riding carbon giants on the road but some custom alloy things....

[Roy E. Munson]

See the front brake placement on Jan's new TT rig? Mounted behind the front wheel - pretty neat.

[Climb01742]

were the custom alloy rigs jan & boys are riding made in italy, senor?

[jerk]

the jerk's guess would be yes. don't think dario is involved but who knows....there's not alot of guys able to work with the high-tech heat treated stuff who will build one offs for someone other than themselves so it's a possibility...there's a couple of smaller never heard from around these parts german builders too so it's tough to say. most of the big players (colnago, pinarello, merckx de rosa, even willier) wouldn't build for another builder but do make use of smaller builders for both their lowest end framesets and some of the one off special high zoot pro-issue crap. the fact of the matter is some great victories have been won on some pretty mediocre equipment so if a pro team won't ride a giant it must really really suck.
jerk

[EdK]

Yes, carbon Giants really do suck (oh no here we go again)

Jerk

Quick question if you were racing for a pro team (again), made a 7 figure income doing it, sponsored by a bike company whose best is still a POS, and your contract stated you could ride the best possible equipment. Who would build your re-badged frame? Based on previous threads I assume it would be aluminum but I gotta know who would you call to cut and weld? (BTW I think I know just want to be sure) Thanks

[Speedi Pig]

Haven't been following this story closely so I must confess I don't know the details. Someone made the point that the folks at Trek must be really upset that they put so much work and development into the new bike; however, I'd think they have to balance that with the fact that not only is LA their most famous athlete; he's also effectively the best bicycle salesman in the world (at least from Trek's perspective).

I will be very interested to see what happens to Trek's market share after LA retires. Or, even better, what would happen to Trek's market share if LA rides through the 2005 season but ends up on another brand of bike. By no means am I bashing Trek (I have a 2001 5200 with 20K miles on it...it's now my rain bike). I just see them as a company that gained a lot of ground VERY fast almost solely because of their most famous customer.

[jerk]

Yes, carbon Giants really do suck (oh no here we go again)

Jerk

Quick question if you were racing for a pro team (again), made a 7 figure income doing it, sponsored by a bike company whose best is still a POS, and your contract stated you could ride the best possible equipment. Who would build your re-badged frame? Based on previous threads I assume it would be aluminum but I gotta know who would you call to cut and weld? (BTW I think I know just want to be sure) Thanks


honestly guys- it wouldn't really matter as long as the bike was built in the correct manner with the proper geometry. the jerk doesn't think there's a a better builder in italy right now than dario pegoretti but a cyfac or merckx would be awesome as well. a dogma or a c-50 would be to obvious and those two firms probably wouldn't let you re-badge their bikes.. actually if the title sponser was willing to bump up my six figure salary the jerk would probably ride twhatever the hell they told the jerk to ride. the jerk is far too mediocre at time trials for it to really matter but a walser would be the first choice in that category.

but if the team was sponsered by huffy order up the jerk a custom fina estampa...or just to look really dated and weird and prove a point we all know is true...e-richie you got a can of krylon ready? you know how to spell giant?



jerk

[gt6267a]

i have heard from a number of sources about the giant bicycles and t-mobiles apparent displeasure with the bikes. i am wondering where the information is coming from? personal accounts? anyone have an article on-line ...?

thanks,
k

[jerk]

the jerk heard about it from andy walser.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Blatant rumor! Unproven, cruel innuendo! . . . :rolleyes:

Hey Jerk, you comin’ to Owner’s Weekend? Maybe you could wear a paper bag over your helmet and be “The Unknown Cyclist?” ;)

BBDave

[e-RICHIE]

jerk axed:
"but if the team was sponsered by huffy order up the jerk a custom fina estampa...or just to look really dated and weird and prove a point we all know is true...e-richie you got a can of krylon ready? you know how to spell giant?"


i'm here for ya'.
e-RICHIE

ps

:) :rolleyes: :cool:
:p ;) :no:
:D :confused: :butt:

[jerk]

that's it. if hell freezes over and the jerk ever finds any form jerk's racing a sachs. we all know handling geometry is everything and jerk's pal e-richie races bikes and knows racing bikes and what makes'em fast. and guess what it ain't pieces of plastic screwed and glued in stupid places.

jerk

[Climb01742]

rebadging bikes is an interesting challenging. tyler couldn't exactly rebadge a parlee liked he used to now that he's riding those BMC freaky lugs. lance's old litespeed blade always stuck out like a sore thumb regardless of how trek painted it. that flat tt on jan's TT bike was something no amount of celeste paint could hide. any bike with a sloping tt or carbon seat-stays couldn't be a rebadged pegoretti. remember when whatever pro team years ago rode GTs? the way their seat-stays crisscrossed the st and tt was something you couldn't rebadge. chris boardman's lotus TT was pretty unmistakeable.

hey, mr munson, the jerk mentioning it made me think...how's that cyfac treating you? mentioned in the same sentence as a merckx...pretty sweet.

[Dr. Doofus]

[QUOTE=Climb01742]any bike with a sloping tt or carbon seat-stays couldn't be a rebadged pegoretti. QUOTE]


Given the man's mad genius tendencies, Dario P might just take up the challenge to make a bike that looks like a Giant, yet rides like a Pegoretti....



if the Doc was ten years younger and had 50 more watts at LT, he'd ride anything he was given...because he'd just be a domestique, and after doing that suck job he'd have to leave his mark on cycling by getting caught in the hotel with four or five 18-year-old nuns and a suitcase of "performance enhancers"...go out in a blaze of failed glory, that's what I'm talking about....


Lowering the level, one post at a time,

Doofus

[Climb01742]

doc doof, the rob lowe of cycling...go for it...a favorite quote from annie hall...twins, max, twins...

[dbrk]

It used to be that sponsored bikes sold the brand rather than the bike. This was because virtually all bikes looked the same, were made of the same stuff (lugged 531), very little stock was placed in being custom (vs. off the peg), and the bike was given much less credit than it is nowadays for its contribution to victory. Add in the perceived bike-creates-techno-advantage factor and voila, you enter the current era's notions...But concealing someone else's bike under another's spray is nearly impossible now and Trek of course prides itself on the fact that Lance rides a stock 58cm that you can buy at the LBS, right? When I look at the bikes in the Tours nowadays I can't find one that I really lust or want to own given the other options in the world. I would want a Dogma over any Pegoretti? A Taiwanese-made C40/50 over a Parlee? A Trek over a Serotta? Anything they have EVER ridden in the peloton over a Sachs or Nagasawa? I'm not saying that these race bikes aren't any good as rides but I am saying that there are, to my eye, many, many better options that would lead you in very different directions. Given how little I think about (or of) what many folks nowdadays think of as a "real race bike", I find myself content to see pro road racing as a sport that has very little to do with my own bicycling needs, desires, or preferences. I suggest no disapprobation of those who enjoy "modern" race bikes but if I had the motor (and the inclination and the leverage of a BigShot racer) then I'd wish I could ride a Sachs just to show'em that it's not the aluminum or the weight or the this-or-that but the rider on a capable machine.

When you chase technology you will forever be in the chase. When you seek out craftsmanship you seek a contentment in years to come that is largely without the issues involved in gaining the technology's latest "advantages." There is nothing wrong with being in the chase nor anything "superior" in seeking out the craft you believe will endure but these are, in my mind, two very different aspirations or desires and are often (but not always?) incommensurate.

dbrk