UCI Bans elbows on bars

[TimC]

IKR? And I'm having to do it with a background symphony of all sorts of powered toolology being used by the builders working outside my kitchen. Life's hard, I tell you!

[Hot Flatus]

Sounds like it might be time to break open that emergency packet of Hamlet

[giropaul]

Not so much. If the pros were all riding 3000 euro bikes the race would look no different to what it does now. Not sure that would be the case with F1 where technology is half the battle.

Zappi’s are riding Planet X (Holdsworth badged I think) bikes that would come in at around the price. They aren’t in any way being handicapped in Italian races.
I’ve never, ever, come across a pro who moves teams to ride a specific bike.

[Hot Flatus]

Exactly. I think saddle and shoe choice (maybe bars) are about as far as it goes, although teams are known to opt for tyres other than those from their own sponsors. There are stories of Armstrong riding a Litespeed with the joints puttied out to resemble the team issue bikes, and Ulrich using a Walser TT bike all kitted out with Bianchi decals...but this is from 20 years ago.  I've heard stories of riders disliking bikes because they were not stiff enough/too stiff, and of course we have the Aqua debacle on the 1x drivetrains, but ultimately the choice of bike isn't going to lose them a race.

Surely choice of doctor is of far greater consequence than bike manufacturer? 

[Karla]

Zappi's aren't a top level team.

If you listen to Mark Florence's TT podcast, there's a lot more off-label use of unbadged components than there used to be, with teams negotiating much more flexible kit sponsorship contracts.

[Hot Flatus]

I was just about to say that I could imagine it is far more crucial in a TT

[DuncanM]

<snip> but ultimately the choice of bike isn't going to lose them a race.

Tell that to the contenders who break bikes in the cobbled classics.
There are plenty to choose from, I guess Terpstra is one of the more recent examples (and a giant flamingo up from Quickstep):
https://cyclingtips.com/2017/04/communication-breakdown-full-story-behind-niki-terpstras-mystery-crash-paris-roubaix/

[Hot Flatus]

It wasn't down to choice of bike. Terpstra wanted something different in his fork and Spesh ballsed up a bespoke part. The 15 other riders on stock bikes were fine.

[DuncanM]

That was the choice of bike component. And Spec sent them the right part, and then Quickstep didn't fit it.
Museew managed to break a chainstay, Hincapie had his fork steerer fail - there are quite a few other top end pros who have literally been dumped on the deck by broken bikes (or bike components). Never mind AquaBlue, incidents with Sram chains unshipping at various points (remember the "fscking Sram" incident?),  Rohan Dennis quitting the TdF over substandard kit (and riding stuff his team sponsors weren't happy with at nats/worlds). There are loads of examples...
https://road-theory.com/2019/09/26/rohan-dennis-world-champion-bmc/
 

[Hot Flatus]

I can sense this is a hill you are absolutely willing to die on, Duncan 

(stuff breaks, any stuff regardless of who made it)

[Karla]

I was just about to say that I could imagine it is far more crucial in a TT

Another to add to the Dennis pile: Ryan Mullen was pretty vocal about the bikes when he swapped Cannonale Drapac for Trek Factory Racing.  He's another TTer, and the Trek Speed Concept has a much better reputation than the Cannondale Slice.

[fimm]

Watching cyclocross - Wout van Art was riding a nice Bianchi. Now he's riding a mystery bike branded "Lotto Jumbo". Couldn't be the same bike with a paint job, could it??

On the original subject of the thread, I thought the short bars that are allowed in draft-legal triathlon have to not extend beyond the handlebars so there's less risk of them injuring someone during a crash, as others have said.

[Karla]

Watching cyclocross - Wout van Art was riding a nice Bianchi. Now he's riding a mystery bike branded "Lotto Jumbo". Couldn't be the same bike with a paint job, could it??

That's because Jumbo have switched bike sponsor to Cervelo, who don't make a CX bike.  They're rushing one into production, meanwhile WVA and Marianne Vos are riding blacked out versions of their old bikes.

[fimm]

Watching cyclocross - Wout van Art was riding a nice Bianchi. Now he's riding a mystery bike branded "Lotto Jumbo". Couldn't be the same bike with a paint job, could it??

That's because Jumbo have switched bike sponsor to Cervelo, who don't make a CX bike.  They're rushing one into production, meanwhile WVA and Marianne Vos are riding blacked out versions of their old bikes.

Yes, that's what I was saying.

[fd3]

The UCI, banning innovation in cycling since 1934.

Or, keeping cycling accessible and an athletic competition, not an arms race.
Cycle racing ( and that’s all the UCI is involved in) should be about the rider, not the technology.
It’s already difficult for young people from a less affluent background to get into cycling. Much more so than when I was young.
Time trialling ( not, in the U.K. within the UCI remit) is already becoming very expensive to be competitive within. £10-15,000 bikes are being used by under 18s even, together with wind tunnel testing etc. How dispiriting is it for a youngster who cannot ( or who’s parents cannot afford) the technology to get into the results?

Sounds like the arms race is proceeding nicely and the UCI is doing nothing about it. 
I don't think there would be an issue with watching a UCI TT on ratracers, or paris-roubaix on a recumbent trike.  The question would be whether riders would group together and give the teamwork drama for the cameras.  Probably not with velomobiles.
Not a car or car-sport person, but F1 allows any car you want and I think it's the USAnian Indycar (the one that the film "cars" is based on) where everyone drives the same thing.  Car-sports is also about the driver, not just the car.  F1 manage both at the same time.  Why is it so much harder for cycling?
The issue with the UCI is that they allow some things and not others - often in an arbitrary fashion.

[Mr Larrington]

Up to a point, Lord Copper.  F1 restrictions as just as strict as anything the UCI has come up with, albeit differently.  Teams MUST design and build their own chassis, they MUST use a power unit with a 1.6 litre turbocharged V6 petril engine and cunningly-wrought hybrid-electro-Stuffs, they MUST use the same engine management software co-developed by McLaren and Microsith, they MUST use Pirelli tyres, and so on ad infinitum.  In practice the teams all use similar software for designing the things and hence they all look angularly alike under the paint job.  Except the 2020 Red Bull, on which it appeared that the tip of the nosecone had fallen off even though it hadn’t.

IndyCars all use the same Dallara chassis and Xtrac gearbox, and can use a Honda or Chevrolet (OK, Ilmor) 2.2 litre turbocharged methanol-fuelled V6.  No hybrids until 2023.

[fd3]

Up to a point, Lord Copper.  car stuff car stuff car stuff ...

... um ... okay.
(I have no idea what any of that meant)

[Beardy]

Up to a point, Lord Copper.  car stuff car stuff car stuff ...

... um ... okay.
(I have no idea what any of that meant)

It basically means that Indicar is more like UCI than F1 with restrictive rules to ‘foster completion’. However F1 are trying to emulate them both while trying to keep the manufactures happy and allowing them to develop novel and innovative technology. It is supposed to be the pinnacle of development motorsport after all.