Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Freewheeling => Racing => Topic started by: quixoticgeek on 09 February, 2021, 11:53:52 am
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The UCI is going to ban riding with elbows on the handlebars (except in TT's), from this season onwards.
https://www.en24news.com/e/2021/02/the-uci-will-also-ban-running-with-the-elbows-on-the-handlebars.html
My thought is: Thank fuck for that.
It's all well and good for the pros to do it, but I see amateur roadies doing it when it's really inappropriate to do so. I remember seeing a line of cyclists in Austria, about a dozen of them line astern, holding each others wheels, with the guy at the back sitting with his elbows on the bars. Slightest brake squeeze near the front of the line and the idiot at the back would have taken half of the group out.
Yeah the pros have the skill and judgement to do it safely. But they also need to set a good example for everyone else. They are also banning riding with your crotch on the top tube.
Flame away
J
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Can an exception be made for the crotch rule for kids who's parents insist on buying a bike they'll grow into so much so they can just about sit on the cross bar
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Riding with forearms on the bars should be banned in TTs/pursuits as well.
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Riding with forearms on the bars should be banned in TTs/pursuits as well.
Don't all aerobars require it?
J
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The UCI should apply its own rules consistently:
The rider should normally assume a sitting position on the bike and the only points of support should be the feet on the pedals, the hands on the handlebars and the rear on the saddle.
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The UCI should apply its own rules consistently:
The rider should normally assume a sitting position on the bike and the only points of support should be the feet on the pedals, the hands on the handlebars and the rear on the saddle.
There's enough wiggle room in "normally" to allow pretty much anything.
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Typical - sneak legislation through when all the bars are shut anyway!
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All they’ve really done is clarified the rules. There are Commissaires who regularly dq riders for riding “ puppy paws” at amateur level. The rules are that the rider must be in full control of the bike at all times. The pros have pushed it a bit, but the UCI has given the certainty to the commissaires.
That said, I’m hoping that a similar review is made of parcourse regulations. There have been some examples of very poor parcourse safety this year already.
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The only people I've seen use the elbows on bars position in real life are audaxers. They're possibly contravening some road traffic law anyway by not being able to reach the brakes, but I guess that would have to be argued in court. On the occasions I've seen it, I wouldn't say it was dangerous; on quiet roads and not following other riders. In fact, I thought this was standard Dutch transport rider position into a headwind?
As an aside, that article is really badly translated!
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That scuppers TV's Nice C Boardman's get-rich-quick plan he devised during the Tour last year. Contoured computer mounts with finger grips.
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Huh, they'll be banning recumbents next. Oh, wait a minute .....
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Hmmm I'm guilty of this during races. I had no idea it wasn't kosher.
My job, generally in the team is to break away and tire out the opposing sprinters.
Once off the front on the straights and tucked in behind the police motorbike I generally put the elbows on the bars and start mashing until a chase is organised and the gap is closed.
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I do it all the time, but I think it's right to ban it in UCI races.
Mainly, because it's pointless to ban aero extensions of all sorts, but then allow riders to simulate the same position in a less safe way. If you allow that position, then you should allow extensions.
It's a matter of consistency and of course safety
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My first reaction is that the UCI banning it won't stop it happening in situations where it would be dangerous, just not in UCI races while the commissaires are watching!
As an aside didn't riders do it before brake cables were put under the tape by hanging onto the exposed cables (before Spinacci, which probably made the position a whole lot safer).
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Our local club's facebook page has this image:
(https://i.ibb.co/yYvCvC7/UCI-banned.jpg)
With the caption: "The UCI have announced more banned positions" ;D
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No 6 is known as "the Brummie unicycle"
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Number 3 I used to do as a kid. Once raced a mate, him running. I ran him over.
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No 6 is known as "the Brummie unicycle"
I had visions of Sagan doing a wheelie like that while his team mechanic leans out of the team car trying to swap the front wheel. It made me giggle.
J
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I suppose there'll be fewer beer-soaked elbows.
IGMC
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No 6 is known as "the Brummie unicycle"
I had visions of Sagan doing a wheelie like that while his team mechanic leans out of the team car trying to swap the front wheel. It made me giggle.
J
That made me giggle too!
No. 2 is a recumbentist trying to get to grips with a UCI approved bicycle.
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No 6 is known as "the Brummie unicycle"
I had visions of Sagan doing a wheelie like that while his team mechanic leans out of the team car trying to swap the front wheel. It made me giggle.
J
Most of them are, in fact, Crazy P finding new ways to annoy the Blazers.
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Offs. Has this caused crashes in races? Do other things cause more crashes in races? Will we stop riders from eating on their bikes, or riding with a musette? Will UCI rules make any difference to how pobs ride?
Sounds like UCI making rules because they can.
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Offs. Has this caused crashes in races? Do other things cause more crashes in races? Will we stop riders from eating on their bikes, or riding with a musette? Will UCI rules make any difference to how pobs ride?
Sounds like UCI making rules because they can.
There is a rule that prevents the use of aero bars of all sorts... hence to be consistent, you need to have a rule that prevents riders adopting the same position in the absence of aero bars.
It's just a matter of consistency... if you allow that position, then you should also allow aero bars, that achieve the same goal in a safer manner.
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Highway Code rule 66: “keep both hands on the handlebars except when signalling or changing gear”
Gesticulating to motorists and taking your rain jacket on or off is fine. Holding on to imaginary aero bars isn’t.
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I'll ask my yoga teacher what's the Sanskrit for pose #7
Does anyone know why UCI bans the use of aero bars? (I was mighty glad they were allowed for PBP 2019)
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Highway Code rule 66: “keep both hands on the handlebars except when signalling or changing gear”
Gesticulating to motorists and taking your rain jacket on or off is fine. Holding on to imaginary aero bars isn’t.
The same section of the Highway Code also forbids the wearing of black shoes on a bike (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/559c35a740f0b61567000025/the-highway-code-rule-59.jpg), so :shrug:
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FCVO "forbid".
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I'll ask my yoga teacher what's the Sanskrit for pose #7
Does anyone know why UCI bans the use of aero bars? (I was mighty glad they were allowed for PBP 2019)
Cos in a group of riders they are a bloody hazard.
Aero bars are great, cycling in .NL without them is hellish. But they do slow how fast you can apply the brakes, which in a big bunch is a problem. I use aerobars, am proficient enough to go round round abouts while my arms on on them. But in a group I don't use them because it's just Not Safe™.
It's worth noting that for your ride to the seaside, the rules re what you could have for aerobars were more strict than what the UCI allows for a TT. They took the rules from Draft Legal Triathlon.
"What about Team Time Trials?"
Someone is no doubt wanting to ask. Well that's on a closed road, in a controlled environment. The team are working together, as a SINGLE team, and they are communicating. The peloton is not a single team, and while there is communication and a certain element of working together, it's a long way from the poetry in motion that is a TTT.
J
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I'll ask my yoga teacher what's the Sanskrit for pose #7
Does anyone know why UCI bans the use of aero bars? (I was mighty glad they were allowed for PBP 2019)
Because the continentals understand about chocolate: Aero bars are mostly air and made by Cadbury's - which is not the same as being made of chocolate.
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There is a distinction between "aero bars are a hazard in a group" and "using aero bars in a group is a hazard". But yeah, it would make for complicated rules when you can't rely on common sense of when to use them or not.
@Peter you're right, we know about chocolate: Bros bars (http://new.tastingmenu.com/archive/2005/06-june/20050611.htm) for the win!
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Surely it's simpler than that? The UCI bans things because that's what the UCI is for, being cycling's official body of no-sense-of-fun.
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There is a distinction between "aero bars are a hazard in a group" and "using aero bars in a group is a hazard". But yeah, it would make for complicated rules when you can't rely on common sense of when to use them or not.
Note that the aerobars for draft legal triathlon, and for PBP were shorter. They had to be behind the brake hoods. The theory being so they don't hit someone first when you fall off. We're ok if you're hit in the kidney by a brake hood. But not if it's by a long aero bar...
J
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I'll ask my yoga teacher what's the Sanskrit for pose #7
Does anyone know why UCI bans the use of aero bars? (I was mighty glad they were allowed for PBP 2019)
Because the continentals understand about chocolate: Aero bars are mostly air and made by Cadbury's - which is not the same as being made of chocolate.
Point of order - Aero bars are made by Nestle. The Cadbury equivalent is a Wispa.
As you were.
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There is a distinction between "aero bars are a hazard in a group" and "using aero bars in a group is a hazard". But yeah, it would make for complicated rules when you can't rely on common sense of when to use them or not.
Note that the aerobars for draft legal triathlon, and for PBP were shorter. They had to be behind the brake hoods. The theory being so they don't hit someone first when you fall off. We're ok if you're hit in the kidney by a brake hood. But not if it's by a long aero bar...
J
The stubby aero bar thing has always confused me (not least with the triathlon rules varying with age). The mandatory factory fitted bridge to make them into one I get but not the stubby aspect. People are still far from their brakes and arms are semi floating in the air.
Regarding team time trials, if everyone is on their aero bars sudden braking is off the cards which eliminates most group riding shunts.
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The stubby aero bar thing has always confused me (not least with the triathlon rules varying with age). The mandatory factory fitted bridge to make them into one I get but not the stubby aspect. People are still far from their brakes and arms are semi floating in the air.
I never quite got the logic of it personally either...
Regarding team time trials, if everyone is on their aero bars sudden braking is off the cards which eliminates most group riding shunts.
That too...
J
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I'll ask my yoga teacher what's the Sanskrit for pose #7
Does anyone know why UCI bans the use of aero bars? (I was mighty glad they were allowed for PBP 2019)
Because the continentals understand about chocolate: Aero bars are mostly air and made by Cadbury's - which is not the same as being made of chocolate.
Point of order - Aero bars are made by Nestle. The Cadbury equivalent is a Wispa. As you were.
Oops. Sorry!
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Highway Code rule 66: “keep both hands on the handlebars except when signalling or changing gear”
Gesticulating to motorists and taking your rain jacket on or off is fine. Holding on to imaginary aero bars isn’t.
The same section of the Highway Code also forbids the wearing of black shoes on a bike (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/559c35a740f0b61567000025/the-highway-code-rule-59.jpg), so :shrug:
Interesting photos from Highway code. The second is a fake.
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Not sure it's a fake. His trousers are at a slightly different angle, if you look at the thigh pocket and the cuff. The seat post is showing and a different part of the buttress in the wall is showing. But let's say it is a 'fake': does it matter?
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Highway Code rule 66: “keep both hands on the handlebars except when signalling or changing gear”
Gesticulating to motorists and taking your rain jacket on or off is fine. Holding on to imaginary aero bars isn’t.
I wonder if setting an example to regular cyclists was the thinking behind these bans?
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The UCI has been under attack from pro riders for putting riders in danger by not taking action to prevent dangerous racing conditions.
This action should probably be assessed in the light of this.
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Not sure it's a fake. His trousers are at a slightly different angle, if you look at the thigh pocket and the cuff. The seat post is showing and a different part of the buttress in the wall is showing. But let's say it is a 'fake': does it matter?
Does not matter one bit. I just happened to notice. You are indeed correct that the second photo appears slightly further down the road, by about a foot I would say, apart that is from the front wheel which is exactly where it was in the first. I reckon they spotted a turd or used condom in the gutter and did a bit of copy and paste.
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Highway Code rule 66: “keep both hands on the handlebars except when signalling or changing gear”
Gesticulating to motorists and taking your rain jacket on or off is fine. Holding on to imaginary aero bars isn’t.
I wonder if setting an example to regular cyclists was the thinking behind these bans?
They always were banned in reality ( rule about hands being on handlebars, feet on pedals etc), but you’re right, many coaches were concerned about youngsters imitating the puppy paw position etc.
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Not sure it's a fake. His trousers are at a slightly different angle, if you look at the thigh pocket and the cuff. The seat post is showing and a different part of the buttress in the wall is showing. But let's say it is a 'fake': does it matter?
Does not matter one bit. I just happened to notice. You are indeed correct that the second photo appears slightly further down the road, by about a foot I would say, apart that is from the front wheel which is exactly where it was in the first. I reckon they spotted a turd or used condom in the gutter and did a bit of copy and paste.
Something really odd is happening there. some bits of road, kerb and pavement have been copied from the previous with the front wheel, yet the tyre has moved around the rim...
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I think this is because it's not a fake, but a DIFFERENT picture which they have done very well - and very easily. It would be far quicker to put on the gear and change the shoes than to photoshop it. They've managed to get the marmite behind the rider in each case, too.
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I think this is because it's not a fake, but a DIFFERENT picture which they have done very well - and very easily. It would be far quicker to put on the gear and change the shoes than to photoshop it. They've managed to get the marmite behind the rider in each case, too.
At last someone pays attention to the important things!
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I think this is because it's not a fake, but a DIFFERENT picture which they have done very well - and very easily. It would be far quicker to put on the gear and change the shoes than to photoshop it. They've managed to get the marmite behind the rider in each case, too.
It is a different photo apart from the front wheel.
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Marmite?
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I think this is because it's not a fake, but a DIFFERENT picture which they have done very well - and very easily. It would be far quicker to put on the gear and change the shoes than to photoshop it. They've managed to get the marmite behind the rider in each case, too.
It is a different photo apart from the front wheel.
?
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I think this is because it's not a fake, but a DIFFERENT picture which they have done very well - and very easily. It would be far quicker to put on the gear and change the shoes than to photoshop it. They've managed to get the marmite behind the rider in each case, too.
It is a different photo apart from the front wheel.
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This bit below the yellow line is pasted from the first image to the second. Why I don’t know.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210215/a7e2983789af23a7a019c7c8ba175533.jpg)
Then the wheel reflector has been drawn in
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Dave, it gets curiouser and curiouser: you are right about front wheel being pasted (the kerb gives it away) but, as has been mentioned, how does the red flash on the tyre end up where it does?!
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Dave, it gets curiouser and curiouser: you are right about front wheel being pasted (the kerb gives it away) but, as has been mentioned, how does the red flash on the tyre end up where it does?!
That is why I have shown the down then up at the right hand edge of the yellow line. That part of the tyre is from the second photo.
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I think it's a second set of wheels or more likely a whole second bike. They've matched up the position of bike and rider as near as possible but it's inevitably a little bit different. You can see what looks like a chalk mark on the road by the front wheel in each photo but the camera angle is slightly different. It's an illustration (of a 'should' not a 'must) in
a mistake agent's window the Highway Code, not high art.
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Look at the blobs of chewing gum inside the front wheel in each pic. They're exactly the same. Ditto the alignment of the one spoke between the forks.
The Artist has chosen to hide the seam in the brake track.
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The UCI, banning innovation in cycling since 1934.
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I think it's a second set of wheels or more likely a whole second bike. They've matched up the position of bike and rider as near as possible but it's inevitably a little bit different. You can see what looks like a chalk mark on the road by the front wheel in each photo but the camera angle is slightly different. It's an illustration (of a 'should' not a 'must) in a mistake agent's window the Highway Code, not high art.
It is just of passing interest and I agree irrelevant but if it were just a different camera angle rather than a bit of photoshopping, then you wouldn’t get the same bit of kerb appearing twice in the second photo(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210216/d41d6a57c46ef6bfc9dfcf5a74a2c963.jpg)
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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?
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The TT bikes the Pros use are massively expensive, inside UCI rules, and faster than the cheaper ones. Same with track bikes. Wind tunnels are within the UCI rules. Being Graham Obree and brazing your own bikes - not inside UCI rules. The UK TT scene is weird - the amount of money people will throw at going a little bit faster (at a non-elite level) astonishes me.
In tech terms, the UCI has a really difficult job - it needs to define a bicycle in a way that allows a rough level playing field, while not restricting manufacturers too much so they go away. They created the "athletes hour" to try to square the circle, and no-one would do it because their sponsors weren't interested and wouldn't pay for it. Since they changed that we've had a bunch of different pros spend significant time and cash attempting it.
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"complete bicycle excluding pedals and saddle must be for sale to the general public for less than 3000 euro" would make a nice rule :D
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"complete bicycle excluding pedals and saddle must be for sale to the general public for less than 3000 euro" would make a nice rule :D
Ooh. I like that idea.
J
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"complete bicycle excluding pedals and saddle must be for sale to the general public for less than 3000 euro" would make a nice rule :D
So no more prototype parts in the pro ranks?
Cycling is symbiotic. Why would any bike brand sponsor a team where they have to give them less than top end equipment? It just makes them look bad.
I understand that if you are an amateur racer who can barely afford any bike, having people show up to your race with a £10k bike has to feel unfair. That's unlikely to be a UCI sanctioned race though. And if you don't race, what does it matter how much what the racers are riding costs?
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"complete bicycle excluding pedals and saddle must be for sale to the general public for less than 3000 euro" would make a nice rule :D
Yeah. And let's have Formula One racing Dacia Sanderos. Cos that'll make it fairer on people who can't afford Ford Fiestas. Daft? Well, that's kind of what you're proposing.
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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.
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"complete bicycle excluding pedals and saddle must be for sale to the general public for less than 3000 euro" would make a nice rule :D
But what happens when components are replaced, either because of wear or upgrading?
Will people be riding 'Trigger's broom' bikes to get round the ruling?
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Remember folks, it's not about the bike.
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Part of it is volume related in the TT market. You make money by selling at high profit margin or high volume but competition tends to prevent them simultaneously.
Nobody is going to make their money by trying to sell high volumes of disk wheels or TT frames.
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Here's the actual press release:
https://www.uci.ch/inside-uci/press-releases/the-uci-reinforces-rider-safety-and-its-commitment-to-sustainable-development
Loads of stuff on barriers, safety changes, race convoys, road furniture, event safety and organiser responsibility, data collection for future safety improvements, concussion, Covid etc.
Naturally, everyone focusses on:
The UCI Management Committee also decided to reinforce the regulation concerning potentially dangerous conduct of riders, including throwing a bottle onto the road or within the peloton (which may pose a danger for following riders), and taking up dangerous positions on the bike (especially sitting on the top tube).
Edit - note the "reinforce" part - it's always been illegal:
https://inrng.com/2021/02/new-safety-measures-supertuck/#more-38485
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Sounds sensible to ban bottle-throwing (I guess into the crowd for souvos is okay).
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Sounds sensible to ban bottle-throwing (I guess into the crowd for souvos is okay).
I've always wondered what pro riders do with their bidons when they're on their long 5 -6 hour
training rides. I suppose there's no-one to police their littering. :hand:
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Sounds sensible to ban bottle-throwing (I guess into the crowd for souvos is okay).
I've always wondered what pro riders do with their bidons when they're on their long 5 -6 hour
training rides. I suppose there's no-one to police their littering. :hand:
If they’re out with the team they get handed back to the car. On their own, they can only take 2 usually, so just re- filled, or meet up with coach/ partner.
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Sounds sensible to ban bottle-throwing (I guess into the crowd for souvos is okay).
I've always wondered what pro riders do with their bidons when they're on their long 5 -6 hour
training rides. I suppose there's no-one to police their littering. :hand:
If they’re out with the team they get handed back to the car. On their own, they can only take 2 usually, so just re- filled, or meet up with coach/ partner.
I've seen a couple of riders do that in races on telly. I'd like to think it happens more regularly.
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"complete bicycle excluding pedals and saddle must be for sale to the general public for less than 3000 euro" would make a nice rule :D
Yeah. And let's have Formula One racing Dacia Sanderos. Cos that'll make it fairer on people who can't afford Ford Fiestas. Daft? Well, that's kind of what you're proposing.
Let's have the America's Cup guys sailing Lasers :thumbsup:
Of course, even in a one design class like the Laser, you can spot the guys who can spend money: they're the ones who can afford a brand new suit of sails ever year rather than having to use old saggy ones, and who can afford to shop around until they find a good boat (because Laser production values are famously slack).
It's rather like a comment I remember from Chris Boardman, after the UCI had banned something or other a few years ago, to the effect that this was good for UK/Sky, because while anyone could have spent a few hundred quid buying whatever component it was, only UK/Sky/Boardman could afford to take the UCI-legal 'basic' design and spend endless resources optimising it in a wind tunnel. Building a fast bike is much cheaper than building a fast bike that looks slow.
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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.
God you're boring when you take me literally ;D
The point is not so much the quality of the racing, but the quality of the component trickle-down to the general market. If professional teams were forced to use cheap bikes, there would be little incentive (or money) for the manufacturers to put much effort into R&D, and there would be far fewer aspirational bikes for people to buy or to lust after. I can see that there might be some appeal to that for some people, but imagine if this had been the case since cycling started - we'd still be on hobby horses or ordinaries.
The bike market is self-fulfilling to a degree - make expensive stuff for pro teams and lots of ordinary folk will buy it. We don't need Di2 or AXS, or hi-mod carbon gravel bikes, but we like to have them. Making pro teams ride clunkers wouldn't make that go away, but it would make it a lot more expensive for that stuff to be developed and to buy, and thus would end up costing the industry in lost sales.
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Does your car look like this?
(https://www.formula1.com/content/dam/fom-website/manual/Misc/2020/Car-launches/Mercedes/M226201.jpg)
No? Then I don't see where your analogy is going.
Sorry to bore you btw. Although your response to my posts never really comes across as motivated by boredom :)
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Well, I respond because I've got nothing better to do just now. My car is rather prettier than that Mercedes (or indeed any Mercedes).
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If you really have nothing better to do in life than respond to my posts then I offer you every sympathy ;D
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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!
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Sounds like it might be time to break open that emergency packet of Hamlet
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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.
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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? :demon:
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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.
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I was just about to say that I could imagine it is far more crucial in a TT
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<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/
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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.
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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/
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I can sense this is a hill you are absolutely willing to die on, Duncan ;D
(stuff breaks, any stuff regardless of who made it)
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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 (https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/ryan-mullen-the-next-fabian-cancellara-375475) 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Up to a point, Lord Copper. car stuff car stuff car stuff ...
... um ... okay.
(I have no idea what any of that meant)
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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.