{"id":28140,"title":"Do We Need Time Trial Bikes?","description":"Does the sport of cycling really need time trial bikes? What do we gain from them apart from some extra speed. We argue for the UCI to ban time trial bikes.","content":"

What\u2019s the point of time-trial bikes in cycling? OK, riders go faster but they don\u2019t enhance the spectacle and have downsides like increased cost and reduced safety. We consider the question, \u201cDo we need time trial bikes?\u201d<\/p>

\"ImageImage: Jacek Dylag<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>

Watching the final time trial of the recent Giro d\u2019Italia was a tense affair. I was personally rooting for Geraint Thomas.<\/p>

\u201cyesterday\u2019s man\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

Less because he\u2019s British and more because he seems such an ordinary person who\u2019s been little changed by his success. He\u2019s also been written off as \u201cyesterday\u2019s man\u201d by sections of the press and even by his own team.<\/p>

Not that I was unhappy with the ultimate victory of Slovenian Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d. Both have had their fair share of bad luck and near misses and both have responded in a truly sportsmanlike manner.<\/p>

Maybe it\u2019s something to do with coming from small nations. The population of Wales is about three million. Slovenia has a population of only two million.<\/p>

Bike Change<\/h3>

What intensified the drama for me, and probably many others, was the bike change from time trial to road bike. Geraint\u2019s approach seemed especially casual. He\u2019d definitely been told not to panic and try and be relaxed.<\/p>

\u201ca club cyclist who\u2019d just arrived at his favourite cafe stop.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

My sense of frustration was exacerbated when he proceeded to remove his aero helmet and swap it for an ordinary one. He gave a wonderful impression of a club cyclist who\u2019d just arrived at his favourite caf\u00e9 stop.<\/p>

\"Image<\/a>It was as if he was removing his helmet just prior to ducking in through the doorway to order a caf\u00e9 latte with a slice of carrot cake. I don\u2019t often shout out the TV but I felt myself beseeching him \u201cFor God\u2019s sake, hurry up man.\u201d<\/p>

The whole spectacle of bike changes was bizarre. I later wondered what someone who was not a regular cycling follower would have made of it.<\/p>

Little Effort<\/h3>

It was even odder that riders who were clearly making little effort in the time trial bothered to swap bikes. The time limit had been extended to be especially generous so there was little chance of being disqualified.<\/p>

The teams must have made the calculation that the time lost in changing bikes was more than made up by the advantage of riding a time trial bike for the opening flat section. Maybe the UCI and organisers think this adds extra drama to the spectacle.<\/p>

\u201cPersonally, I was unimpressed.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

Personally, I was unimpressed. I sincerely hope that cycling isn\u2019t going to end up like Formula 1 where the overtaking occurs in the pits. Formula 1 commentators over-hype the excitement that the Red Bull team was a nano-second quicker than their rivals at changing four tyres.<\/p>

I want races to be decided on the basis of who is the fastest, has the greatest stamina or has the best tactical brain. The Giro made me ask the question again, \u201cDo we need time trial bikes?\u201d What purpose do they really serve?<\/p>

Greg Lemond<\/h3>

The most famous use of a time trial bike must be Greg Lemond\u2019s victory in the 1989 Tour de France. He pulled back fifty-eight seconds on Laurent Fignon to win by a mere eight seconds overall.<\/p>

Lemond had the advantage of tri-bars which almost certainly gave him enough of an advantage to claim the yellow jersey.<\/p>

\u201chis bike was illegal\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

It\u2019s been claimed since that his bike was illegal, but whatever the truth the UCI took no action and Lemond was declared the winner. Lemond wasn\u2019t the only rider using a time-trial bike that day. All the leading riders were using special bikes but most had what were called \u201ccow horn\u201d handlebars.<\/p>

These had been in use since the start of the 1980s at least. Very soon the Lemond-style bike took over and everyone was using variants in time trials. The rather crude initial Lemond version has evolved through wind tunnel testing to today\u2019s position.<\/p>

It\u2019s without a doubt that a rider, certainly on a flat course, will travel appreciably quicker using a well-set-up time trial bike than a road bike. But should that be the sole consideration? Surely, if every rider were restricted to a road bike, the best riders would still win?<\/p>

Levelling Down<\/h3>

Whilst UK politicians like to hark on about \u201clevelling up\u201d deprived neighbourhoods, perhaps we should level down when it comes to time trial bikes. World Tour teams with vast budgets can afford wind tunnel time to perfect the position of their riders on a time trial bike.<\/p>

\u201cless affordable\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

This is a luxury that is less affordable by teams at the UCI Continental and ProTeam budget end of the peloton. The distinction is even greater for women\u2019s teams where it\u2019s quite common for lower-end teams to ride time trials on their road bikes.<\/p>

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\"Image<\/u><\/a>\"VisualWorld Tour teams would still be able to perfect their road bike positions in the wind tunnel for time trialling but the aerodynamic gains would be more limited.<\/p>

Safety<\/h3>

In a straight line without any side winds, time trial bikes are stable. But inherently the narrowness of the gap between a rider\u2019s elbows, which is how they steer most of the time, combined with deep section wheels make them a liability in a crosswind.<\/p>

How often have we seen a \u201cguinea pig\u201d of a team rider who\u2019s low down in the general classification sent out with deep section wheels only for their team leader to start without deep section wheels?<\/p>

That\u2019s because they\u2019ve radioed back to say that it\u2019s too windy for them. Chris Froome\u2019s career almost came to an end due to a wind-induced crash on a time trial bike.<\/p>

\u201cChris Froome has called for a ban\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

It\u2019s true that he had one hand off the handlebars at the time but I feel convinced he\u2019d have had better control on a road bike. It\u2019s noticeable that Chris Froome has called for a ban on the use of time trial bikes.<\/p>

There\u2019s been a number of other riders who have suffered serious injuries or crashed riding their time trial bikes, including Egan Bernal and Alejandro Valverde. These aren\u2019t amateurs. These are top professionals with excellent bike handling skills honed over thousands of hours.<\/p>

Accessibility<\/h3>

One of the great things about cycling is that all you really need is a bike. Until you reach the top echelons of the sport where the differences between success and failure are small, there\u2019s little advantage to spending large sums of money on a road bike.<\/p>

\u201cmoney at the amateur level is not a deciding factor\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

It makes the sport more accessible because money at the amateur level is not a deciding factor. Time to train and recover is a much more valuable commodity. Allowing time trial bikes in UCI-sanctioned events gives the impression that they are a necessity to succeed.<\/p>

The net effect is younger and younger riders adopting time trial bikes which then starts to make the sport less accessible.<\/p>

Aesthetic<\/h3>

I have to admit the current time trial bikes and positions look so much better than those of the past. The \u201cpreying Mantis\u201d position was probably the worst.<\/p>

I know it\u2019s not a very strong argument but I just think road bikes and riders on them look as if they\u2019ve been designed in harmony.<\/p>

\u201cnon-cyclists think cyclists are weirdos\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

Most non-cyclists think cyclists are weirdos at the best of times, there\u2019s no good reason to make the situation worse.<\/p>

Conclusion<\/h3>

I\u2019m not expecting the UCI to ban time trial bikes anytime soon. They seem to be an accepted part of the sport now.<\/p>

But they don\u2019t make the sport any more exciting or tele-visually appealing and the market for time trial bikes must be tiny compared to road, mountain bike and now gravel bikes.<\/p>

\u201ckicking them out of the sport is a win-win\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

Frame manufacturers would very soon be marketing time-trial road bikes if pure time-trial bikes were banned, there\u2019s another potential revenue stream. As far as I can see, kicking them out of the sport is a win-win.<\/p>

7 June 2023, Tim Costello.

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