Equipment at track world championships

[Ilan Vardi]

I saw some interesting equipment choices. It seems that in the kilometer, about half of the riders
used Shimano road (clipless wide platform, pre Look type) pedals, and one toe strap. Also, I noted
that the Australians still had Corima clones, even though I thought that type of bike with a curved
top tube was illegal since 2000. Also, German riders were riding Look bikes, when they had their
own carbon bikes in previous years. One person had a Mavic disk at the rear and a Corima disk at
the front.

-ilan

 

[Andy Coggan]

"Ilan Vardi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I saw some interesting equipment choices. It seems that in the kilometer, about half of the riders
> used Shimano road (clipless wide platform, pre Look type) pedals, and one toe strap. Also, I noted
> that the Australians still had Corima clones, even though I thought that type of bike with a
> curved top tube was illegal since 2000. Also, German riders were riding Look bikes, when they had
> their own carbon bikes in previous years. One person had a Mavic disk at the rear and a Corima
> disk at the front.

What caught my eye was the use of non-aero (i.e., round) aero bars by the silver and bronze
medalists in the kilo (i.e., Kelly and Tournant). I'm sure it is hard to make something more aero
out of carbon fiber or aluminum that is stiff enough to satisfy guys this big and powerful...but
OTOH, it's hard to understand why they'd be willing to give up any slight advantage in an event
pften decided by tenth's of a second.

Andy Coggan

 

[Steve McGinty]

On Thu, 31 Jul 2003 14:39:25 GMT, "Andy Coggan" <[email protected]> wrote:

>"Ilan Vardi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> I saw some interesting equipment choices. It seems that in the kilometer, about half of the
>> riders used Shimano road (clipless wide platform, pre Look type) pedals, and one toe strap. Also,
>> I noted that the Australians still had Corima clones, even though I thought that type of bike
>> with a curved top tube was illegal since 2000. Also, German riders were riding Look bikes, when
>> they had their own carbon bikes in previous years. One person had a Mavic disk at the rear and a
>> Corima disk at the front.
>
>What caught my eye was the use of non-aero (i.e., round) aero bars by the silver and bronze
>medalists in the kilo (i.e., Kelly and Tournant). I'm sure it is hard to make something more aero
>out of carbon fiber or aluminum that is stiff enough to satisfy guys this big and powerful...but
>OTOH, it's hard to understand why they'd be willing to give up any slight advantage in an event
>pften decided by tenth's of a second.
>
>Andy Coggan
>
What was the story with Sassone in the Scratch race? In the brief highlights I saw he was initially
excluded from the results, but then they cut to the podium and he was getting the medal.

Regards! Stephen

 

[Carl Sundquist]

"Ilan Vardi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> Also, I noted that the Australians still had Corima clones, even though I thought that type of
> bike with a curved top tube was illegal since 2000.

For some reason, the Corima track frame has an exemption on the UCI standard frame rules. The Corima
road frame is illegal by UCI standards, even though the (curved) downtube is square in cross-section
vs. (straight) triangular oversized downtube for the track frame. The track frame also has a small
front 'fairing' on the head tube and the seat tube is faired all the way to the seatstay, unlike the
road frame.

 

[Ilan Vardi]

"Andy Coggan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...

> What caught my eye was the use of non-aero (i.e., round) aero bars by the silver and bronze
> medalists in the kilo (i.e., Kelly and Tournant). I'm sure it is hard to make something more aero
> out of carbon fiber or aluminum that is stiff enough to satisfy guys this big and powerful...but
> OTOH, it's hard to understand why they'd be willing to give up any slight advantage in an event
> pften decided by tenth's of a second.

Error in my other post. I checked and Tournant was tormented by a 1/1000 second loss in last year's
kilometer ITT at worlds.

-ilan

 

[Kurgan Gringion]

"Ilan Vardi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>On the other hand, I don't have too much respect for his ability to analyse correctly, he's the guy
>who said that the best thing Jeannie Longo could do for cycling was to retire.

He may be speaking from a rider's viewpoint, not a fan's.

She's not the most popular.

 

[Ilan Vardi]

"Kurgan Gringioni" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> "Ilan Vardi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>
> >On the other hand, I don't have too much respect for his ability to analyse correctly, he's the
> >guy who said that the best thing Jeannie Longo could do for cycling was to retire.
>
>
>
> He may be speaking from a rider's viewpoint, not a fan's.

No, he's speaking from the moron's viewpoint, as in, he probably thinks Armstrong doesn't deserve to
win the Tour, as opposed to like, Virenque.

> She's not the most popular.

She's a cycling icon in France, and appears in game show questions, etc. True, she's not popular
with the French cycling establishment, which, for example, tried to exclude her from the 1992
Olympics because she didn't want to ride with Look pedals. Her autobiography starts off with how the
French national pursuit championships changed their rules in order to exclude her from a chance at
winning the title, after she qualified 3rd or 4th in the preliminary round. That is, it was
originally supposed to be a semifinal and final, and after the ride, they decided it would be 1st vs
2nd for the winner, and 3rd vs. 4th for the 3-4.

-ilan

 

[Mike Zaharis]

"Carl Sundquist" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> "Ilan Vardi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > Also, I noted that the Australians still had Corima clones, even though I thought that type of
> > bike with a curved top tube was illegal since 2000.
>
> For some reason, the Corima track frame has an exemption on the UCI standard frame rules. The
> Corima road frame is illegal by UCI standards, even though the (curved) downtube is square in
> cross-section vs. (straight) triangular oversized downtube for the track frame. The track frame
> also has a small front 'fairing' on the head tube and the seat tube is faired all the way to the
> seatstay, unlike the road frame.

I could be wrong, but is the Corima track really illegal, and by the same reasoning, the BT (Aussie
"superbike")? Take a look at section
1.3.021 of the UCI cycling regulations.

http://www.uci.ch/english/about/rules/ch01_general.pdf

I could easily see how a Corima or BT frame could fit within the template shown in this section of
the rules. They have great latitude for tube position, enough to permit the tubes to curve up to 16
cm minus the tube width.