"""Lance Armstrong unveiled a new time trial bike this week at the Dauphiné Libéré that he hopes will catapult him to a seventh Tour de France crown."""
lance's time trial bike...wow!
Sat, 06/11/2005 - 3:45pm
Sat, 06/11/2005 - 3:50pm
#1
Incredible
"What a fantastic bike - he could practically blast off into space with that!! I think I need to update my trustee ol"" steed."
Sun, 06/12/2005 - 7:33pm
#2
whats the big deal
there is absolutely nothong revolutionary about that bike. of course trek wants everyone to believe that they come up with these amazing innovations every so they sell their new bikes right after the tour. the truth is - they mold the tubes a little diferently - big deal. and they claim to compact the carbon fibre more by ten fibres per sq inch a year. which is absolutely meaningless cause they cant make the bike lighter than uci regulation 6,8 kilogramm anyway ...
Sun, 06/12/2005 - 8:49pm
#3
"Sebastion, your post sounds very negative
Your quote: ""there is absolutely nothing revolutionary about that bike.""
Velonews quote regarding the bike:
'""We turned six months of development into five weeks,"" said Trek's Scott Daubert, adding the project didn't get the green light until right after the Tour de Georgia in April. ""We delivered them a week ago today. It was literally still warm when we put them in the box.""'
Me (and you may quote me):
The revolutionary part about this bike is the manufacturing process. They cut development time to 1/3 and are able to manufacture and deliver them very quickly. A flexible effecient manufacturing process is very revolutionary and will help Trek succeed in the next 10 years. We've entered an era where all race bikes are manufactured out of plastic (a.k.a. carbon fibre) and being quick-to-market and cheapest may be the only real competitive advantages. Especially since, as you pointed out, the bikes don't need to be any lighter than they currently are."
Mon, 06/13/2005 - 2:32am
#4
good points...
...i was impressed with it's design. time trial bikes don't exactly fly off the shelves so this one is probably going to cost a lot more than a regular oclv.
don
Mon, 06/13/2005 - 7:28pm
#5
...
"...I'm still ""WOW-ed""...it LOOKS cool - and we all know it's all about how cool we can look...(we know Lance can ride well)."
Tue, 06/14/2005 - 10:30am
#6
there you go
.. efficient manufacturing is the whole innovation. meaning nothing new about the bike just larger profit margins. and putting lance on so everyone will think its hot and pay 1000 dollars more.
Tue, 06/14/2005 - 10:41am
#7
'tis true
...too true.
Tue, 06/14/2005 - 12:47pm
#8
hmm.
Sebastian has a point, but I've never understood the vitriol directed at Lance for being a sponsored rider. The anti-Nike, anti-Trek sentiments that fly around some forums (not necessarily this one) are puzzling to me. Trek makes a bike, puts a famous cyclist on it, people buy Trek bikes. Let's see. Colnago does the same. Pinarello does the same. Orbea does the same. On down the line. Who's to be 'faulted' for the price of frames bearing the names of famous cyclists like Merckx or Lemond? The frame makers or the consumers? Sebastian implies that somehow Trek is in the wrong for making a frame and charging money for it. Shoot, we're grownups; if something's outrageously priced, don't buy it.
Tue, 06/14/2005 - 9:43pm
#9
That's my point. In the age of plastic bikes, if Trek doesn't put a world-class rider on their bike, market, and manufacture it for a few dollars cheaper than those other companies, then they have no real advantage. Did you know that you can make a carbon fibre bike in your garage? You don't even have to know how to weld.
Wed, 06/15/2005 - 4:23am
#10
Yes, but...
There's more engineering in that bike than you might think, as well as plenty of labor and $$$, at least at the outset, to get the tooling made for those shaped carbon tubes.
And while you certainly can build a carbon fiber bike in your garage, it's harder than you might think to get one to look like this:
http://www.steelmancycles.com/Carbon.html
or (tooting own horn) like this:
http://homepage.mac.com/w.rentschler/PhotoAlbum72.html
Thu, 06/16/2005 - 8:38pm
#11
Tony. Wow!
I am envious of your bike fabrication workshop in DUMBO.
You've built both steel and carbon bikes. The carbon ones are much easier to build right? After seeing your shop, i realized that I don't truly know hte answer to that question. I've just read about it on the internet. Since you've built both, you know.
Wed, 06/15/2005 - 10:15am
#12
i commend trek ...
".. for their smart marketing. i.e. coming out with a seemingly ""new"" bike every year, putting lance on it for the tour and selling it in the fall. that said, you dont have to buy into. i would never buy a bike just because lance rides it. or any other rider for the matter. i'd rather buy one that i like and that makes sense for me. and there is something boring about trek being the biggest us brand, that, with the help of lance has completely taken over the market, including buying out a lot of competitors (lemond is trek, so are gary fischer, gary klein, keith bontrager, etc. etc.) its hard to walk into a store these days and find anything else."
Thu, 06/16/2005 - 10:49am
#13
"Sebastian ([email protected])
> and there is something boring about trek being the biggest
> us brand, that, with the help of lance has completely taken
> over the market
most of the market is perfectly happy with mainstream stuff (read: trek bicycles; windows operating system; etc.). then you have some that want something more unique (notice i didn't say ""better""). there's nothing wrong with sponsering a team and getting the exposure leading to more market share. there's also nothing wrong with going out and buying a frame, components, etc., and building your own bike.
it would be nice to see discovery team switch to canondale after lance retires though...or specialized...or something else. trek got their money's worth. they can now ad six consecutive tour de france wins to their bike logo/badge. time for someone else to step in.
personally, i've never bought a bike off the shelf. been building my own bikes since i was a teenager. the lightspeed i built a few weeks ago is a good example of not going mainstream but hand picking each part...the only parts i neglected to get are the legs.
uppp...off to the park.
:)
don"
Thu, 06/16/2005 - 5:17pm
#14
after i posted this...
...i saw a discovery channel advertising in bicycling magazine showing the national team sponsored by discovery and specialised! july 2005 issue, page 25.
:)
don
