Eurobike Day One: The Show Begins
Today was like opening night for the cycling and tri industries
September 2, 2010
Like opening day at the race track or that first look at their favorite team at spring training, Wednesday arrived with great anticipation in the bike industry. For it was effectively “opening night” for the cycling (and tri) industry as dealers and the media got a chance to look at 2011 products at the Eurobike Expo in Friedrichshafen, Germany.
The day had us wanting to go off in a million directions, but we stopped long enough at several locations to check out their wares. Here’s what caught our eye.
Louis Garneau Vorttice
The newest aero helmet from the Canadian brand goes well beyond the dimples at the front that has been emblematic of the brand’s previous aero offerings. And the long tail? Welcome to a new line of thinking: don’t send the wind over the helmet and onto a long tail, send it through the helmet.
“We digitalized triathletes in tri position in 3D, to improve laminar flow of the air,” said Louis Garneau International Marketing Director Pierre Perron. “What we came up with was the fact that the dimples work, but that in creating these V-shaped patterns across the top before the helmet begins to hit its widest point and taper, we found the air sticks a bit longer to the helmet before becoming unattached.”
And that’s only half of the story. “We studied frontal wind profiles and calculated the pressure points at the front,” Perron continues. “It’s difficult to reduce that pressure in any significant way, so we said, the only way to reduce that pressure is to remove it, and have it pass through, and out the back.”
To that end, a huge intake port in front takes air in, allowing it to funnel over the head through longitudinal channels. But the wind’s not stuck there. The back is open, allowing an exit port. A concave plastic plate covering the aft acts as an accelerator. Perron calls it an Evacuation Channel: “We compress the air there to create a Venturi effect, helping accelerate air out the back. Instead of allowing the wind to get trapped in the helmet, we free the air.”
If there’s any doubt that Garneau did its homework, check out this data: the Vorttice was tested at wind tunnels in Fort Collins, Colo., and Ottawa, Ontario, testing frontal pressure and drag from zero to 35 degrees, and at speeds from zero to 65 degrees. Perron said they found that the Vorttice is not only faster than its other iterations, it has a more efficient wind flow than its own helmets and many competitors. That is, it’s cooler—literally speaking. “That airflow story was very important to us,” Perron said, because for triathletes, that’s always, always their biggest concern. Now we have a faster helmet, that’s also cooler.”
The Vorttice will sell with a smoke visor (with aftermarket reflective chrome and red options available), and will retail at $225.
Perron also confirmed that Louis Garneau has been in development of its own tri bike: the Gennex T1. The company has had three engineers on the job designing and testing at wind tunnels in Ottawa and Ft. Collins and have Aussie middle-distance pro Chris Legh testing it on the road. The Gennex T1 which features a covered, integrated rear brake and, as Perron said, a hydration system that works exclusively with the bike. Stay tuned for more on this one as we get info.
Zipp 808 Firecrest
While the spring debut of the 404 Firecrest carbon clincher wheelset brought a perfect all-around, full-carbon clincher wheel depth to market, the 808 is the one (we think) will make triathletes who are looking for flat-out aero speed drop their jaw to the floor. For as good as the new 404 shape is, the new 808 is better.
Zipp lead engineer Josh Poertner said their testing found the new 808 Firecrest carbon clincher, which debuted today, to be faster in the case of mere mortals (that is, you and I) than its own 1080.
“At high yaw angles, the 808 actually has an advantage over Zipp’s own 1080 wheel. Fifteen to 20, and 25 as well,” Poertner said. “The pros will still see the 1080 used a lot, because at higher speeds, they see a different wind angle.”
How’s this new 808 so fast? It inherits the new wider stance that the 404 has (27mm of rim width), which gives the wheel a unique, stout ride, since the tire does have side-to-side flex from bead to bead, thanks to its wide bead seating stance.
But the story on this 82mm rim is aerodynamic: the blunted trailing edge allows wind to better delaminate from the wheel in a smoother, later fashion, especially at yaw. Further, at the back half of a wheel with the aero profile reversed to the wind, the blunted rim apex helps keep wind attached until it reaches the tire, where the tire’s trailing profile can release it more smoothly, with, as Zipp says, an almost Kammtail effect. “That large trailing edge means it allows the wind to ‘turn the corner,” Poertner said. The wheel drops 110 grams of drag at 15 degrees, for 12 watts of savings for the front wheel (with similar numbers for the rear wheel).
The new shape also makes the Firecrest 808 a much-better handling wheel than its predecessor. The shape moves the wheel’s center of pressure from in front of the hub (a placement that makes for a hard-to handle wheel when wind hits it) to behind and below the hub. “What we’ve done is take the leverage out of the wind, ”Poertner said. “You still have the side force of the wind, but we’ve taken away the ability for the wind to steer the bike, by balancing forces on each side of the rim.
The takeaway? Smaller riders or women who were previously worried they couldn’t handle a deep-dish wheel can now put the 808 on their radar as a wheel to consider, since it’ll be easier to handle.
And of course, being a carbon clincher means athletes can ride wheels as fast or faster than any tubular, with the comfort of a familiar standard tube change. (And Zipp engineer Michael Hall said the new design is super-easy to change flats on, even without tire levers, and even on notoriously-tight Zipp Tangente tires.
The new 808 Firecrest clincher will retail at $2,950 per pair. And yes, for those who live and die by the glue of a tubular, the 808 tubular now adopts the new shape too, with it pricing at $2,500 per pair. The 1,759-gram Firecrest wheelset is available now, with the 1,519-gram tubulars available in December.
Zipp’s new wheel debut wasn’t their only one; the VukaBull basebar takes on a whole new design change. Now there are two versions (a flat or 40mm drop), with one major design adaptation; the braking hand position is canted up five degrees, allowing for not only a more comfortable position (that is, you won’t feel like your hands are gonna slide off the end of the bars). It also has a textured leading edge and a new aero shape to best trip up airflow and move it smoothly past the aerobar. It’ll weigh 200 grams, has a greater clamping area for better fit capability, and price at $250. Zipp officials said the true debut of the new VukaBull will be with Austinite Michael Lovato, who will run them at the Hawaii Ironman next month.
Fi’zik R1 and R3 Shoe Line
A big press event heralding Fi’zi:k’s entry into the bike footwear space was, for lack of a better term, a natural fit. “It’s a natural progression,” said Fi’zi:k marketing manager Suzette Ayotte. “ We’ve been covering all the contact points with the saddle and with our handlebar tape. So the shoe was the next logical arrival. And being an Italian company, it’s in our DNA.”
You don’t need to look further than the company’s top offering, the R1. A close look will reveal not microfiber or synthetic leather, but leather. Real kangaroo leather. The last brand to do a kangaroo leather shoe was Carnac. Since then, it’s been all synthetics in the bike shoe industry, and that old world craftsmanship story went by the wayside.
“It’s hurt me to see the industry just say, ‘that’s good enough,’” said Steve Delacruz, footwear program designer and product manager. “So it pleases me to make this entry with a brand it makes perfect sense for.”
Delacruz has the credentials; a former designer with Five Ten and Oakley for each of their footwear programs, the new shoes were one of the first editors would lift to their noses to get a waft of that unmistakable scent of leather and hold out, examining that, well, old world craftsmanship. Just as the Italians are known for.
Pricing at $499, the R1 represents the no-holds-barred option; full leather upper with ventilation perforation, a HexMC unidirectional carbon fiber buckle lever. It also uses Mobius carbon fiber rail material (as used on their saddles) as an external framework for the heel cup. A carbon fiber sole and a customizable SIDAS insole finish it.
The next step along in the line is the R3, which uses a standard plastic upper buckle and utilizes microfiber along the shoe’s lateral and medial edges, maintaining a kangaroo leather instep for comfort over the toebox and instep.
Both models have an adjustable sailcloth Velcro closure, and the R3 will be available in men’s (uomo) and women’s (donna) versions. And as one would expect, all the shoes are 100 percent made in Italy.
At the booth, our eye was also drawn to a custom variation of the Vitesse Tri saddle, the Miss Tri. A cute cartoon rendering of a triathlete covers the saddle and is a tribute to the fighting spirit of women in triathlon. Quite a style statement for this limited-run $159 women’s saddle.
Hed Stinger 4, 5, 6 and 9
Why’d we call out all these wheels (as seen at top)? We’re convinced it’s one of the greatest advances in Hed wheel history. And… the Stinger 5 had literally just arrived for stickering the morning we arrived to check ‘em out. Hed was one of the first to go to the wide rim profile with a 27mm rim (and a slightly wider 28mm with the Stinger 6) and with these wheels, now with structural carbon sidewalls, a blunted apex and tons and tons of aero testing that guys like Levi Leipheimer and Bryan Rhodes swear by, it’s a big move forward for the brand.
For 2011, all aero wheels feature Stability Control Technology; with the wider stance and the aero profiles, the wheels gain a greater degree of stability, and thus by default, the rider has a better handling experience on the road, particularly on windy days.
The Stinger 4,5, and 6 will price at 2,100 per pair, while the super-deep Stinger 9 will price at $2,200.
Ridley Dean RS
A couple years ago, the debut of the Dean set the engineering designers on end; a R-Flow fork and stay split to accelerate wind through the frame and away from the tires was—and still is—revolutionary.
And they’re not stopping. Ridley is currently investing in its own wind tunnel to further develop its aero bike line, as well as its in-house 4RZA wheel and accessory line. Look for bigger things from this Belgian brand that looks after homeland favorite Rutger Beke.
In the meantime, they’re sending trickle-down technology to the masses, introducing a new model: the Dean RS. From the bottom bracket forward, it’s everything the standard Dean is; the forward-lean fork with the R-Flow carbon fork. For ease of use, the cables are run internally at the downtube instead of at the back of the toptube. But at the back is a standard
And in a move both eliciting hurrahs from traveling triathletes and those looking for resale value in their bike, Ridley went to a standard carbon fiber aero post, of which there will be two versions: with a two-position clamp at 74 or 76 degrees, or a single-position 78-degree post, and the consumer has option.
The carbon frame, with a 3T Aura Pro and 3T brake levers, has pricing at a steal: approximately $2,999. If the Dean was ever the dream bike and just out of reach, this one puts it in the financial ballpark.
Stay tuned tomorrow for more from the Eurobike show in Germany.
