Armstrong’s F1 prototype bike

[Jmaxwel8]

I was reading one of the many books chronicling Armstrong’s Tour de France wins. I can’t remember which year it was but it mentioned he gathered all his sponsors together to totally redesign his equipment. Per this authors account he requested a new “new bike” that would be aerodynamically superior. He called it the F1 concept??

The authors writes he road the bike a couple of time and didn’t like it. Ultimately it was never raced in a grand tour and was abandoned. Just wondering if there are any pictures of this bike?

[bikinchris]

I am almost certain that was a time trial bike. There might be photos of it.

[GregL]

There's a picture of Lance on the F1 TT bike in "Lance Armstrong's War" by Daniel Coyle. I seem to recall that after Lance rejected the bike, Viatcheslav Ekimov used it to win the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics time trial. After Tyler Hamilton was DQ'd for blood doping, Ekimov was awarded the gold medal.

Greg

[quickfeet]

The f1 project was the combination of a bunch of companies working together to make a bunch of products that worked together for the 2005 tour. Trek, Giro, Oakle, and Nike. They made a bike, the ttx, a helmet, and a skin suit. Here’s the bike. There was movie call Road to Paris that talked about it a bit. It’s on YouTube if you have free time.

[BdaGhisallo]

Originally Posted by GregL

There's a picture of Lance on the F1 TT bike in "Lance Armstrong's War" by Daniel Coyle. I seem to recall that after Lance rejected the bike, Viatcheslav Ekimov used it to win the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics time trial. After Tyler Hamilton was DQ'd for blood doping, Ekimov was awarded the gold medal.

Greg

And the main reason Armstrong ultimately rejected it was the narrower bottom bracket (ala Walser) that made it uncomfortable for Armstrong to pedal. Even though his position on it was apparently more aerodynamic, he simply didn't like the feel of having his feet so close together.

Ekimov had no issue with the narrower Q factor and rode it with success.

[Bruce K]

I thought Steve Hed (HED Wheels) was part of that design team but that the disc wheels carried the Bontrager label similar to most of Lance’s aero wheels.

BK

[GregL]

Originally Posted by quickfeet

The f1 project was the combination of a bunch of companies working together to make a bunch of products that worked together for the 2005 tour. Trek, Giro, Oakle, and Nike. They made a bike, the ttx, a helmet, and a skin suit. Here’s the bike. There was movie call Road to Paris that talked about it a bit. It’s on YouTube if you have free time.

Originally Posted by Bruce K

I thought Steve Hed (HED Wheels) was part of that design team but that the disc wheels carried the Bontrager label similar to most of Lance’s aero wheels.

Both of these statements are true. The F1 project came out of Lance's struggles in the 2003 TdF. It was implemented for the 2004 season. The narrow TT bike was one of the F1 outputs that was ultimately not used by Armstrong. All of this is well documented in "Lance Armstrong's War," one of my favorite books on the Armstrong era.

Greg

[Jmaxwel8]

Thanks everyone for all the good info

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by Bruce K

I thought Steve Hed (HED Wheels) was part of that design team but that the disc wheels carried the Bontrager label similar to most of Lance’s aero wheels.

A label on a sponsored rider's bike isn't always an indicator of the actual manufacturer. The label often just indicates who's paying the bills. Remember, Armstrong also rode a Litespeed Blade that was painted and labeled as a Trek.

[Jmaxwel8]

Off topic, but what book would others recommend that explains Armstrong view on everything? Is there a book?

[davidb]

My understanding was the bottom bracket width was narrowed by 20mm. at the shell. From 68mm. to 48mm. then the Dura Ace crankset was cust and machined the same 20mm. Resulting in a reduction of the "Q" factor by 20. As above Lance was no go. Similar Lance story when SPD-SL first generation red cleats had zero or no float. Second generation "red" cleat has 1 degree. The story goes Lance could feel the difference immediately.

[LegendRider]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

A label on a sponsored rider's bike isn't always an indicator of the actual manufacturer. The label often just indicates who's paying the bills. Remember, Armstrong also rode a Litespeed Blade that was painted and labeled as a Trek.

We are nearly 20 years on from this picture of Lance riding a ti Litespeed. I wonder how much faster a state of the art TT set-up (bike, wheels, skinsuit, helmet) is now in, say, a 40km event.

[BdaGhisallo]

Originally Posted by davidb

My understanding was the bottom bracket width was narrowed by 20mm. at the shell. From 68mm. to 48mm. then the Dura Ace crankset was cust and machined the same 20mm. Resulting in a reduction of the "Q" factor by 20. As above Lance was no go. Similar Lance story when SPD-SL first generation red cleats had zero or no float. Second generation "red" cleat has 1 degree. The story goes Lance could feel the difference immediately.

And Shimano did a run of "true zero" red cleats for him, except they were almost transparent with a blue-ish tinge to them to distinguish them. Oh the power to have large multinational companies make bespoke gear for you.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

A label on a sponsored rider's bike isn't always an indicator of the actual manufacturer. The label often just indicates who's paying the bills. Remember, Armstrong also rode a Litespeed Blade that was painted and labeled as a Trek.

Years ago a local, well-known 'cross frame builder showed me some of the frame sets that he had built...and painted with big company names on request from the pro (sponsored) racers.