TriRig.com - triathlon equipment reviews
Home Reviews & Features News Rigs Store

The rear derailleur cable is tucked tight against the mech, eliminating the extra cable and extra drag of standard setups.
 
Previous Photo
    
Next Photo
  

Tour of California TT Gear (supersized)   Bookmark and Share
images by Nick Salazar   •   May 24, 2011   •   hits 113,346

The Amgen Tour of California is one of the only times all year we get to see pro tour teams riding their TT rigs in the states. The TT is a bit of a carnival, and spectacularly fun to watch. We'll be posting some highlight photos of the riders themselves, but first wanted to show off some of the gear we captured prior to the event itself. Enjoy the gallery.


At TriRig, we're not shy about our love for clean TT bikes. We LOVE the clean lines of the new Shiv TT by Specialized, being ridden by both HTC-Highroad and Saxobank-Sungard. HTC's Di2 version was amazing, featuring a beautiful paint scheme, and very clever internal Di2 routing.

The Shiv TT will be released later this year, available in five sizes.

HTC women, including Evelyn Stevens, got the same sick Di2-rigged bikes as the men.

Someone had manufactured these special stems for the HTC bikes (although the mechanics wouldn't tell us who). They mate perfectly with the Shimano PRO Missile EVO bar, and keep the cables routed internally, without ever exiting into air. This is a nice improvement from the cabled version of the Shiv, which requires the cables to be exposed for a bit.

The custom stem has an exit port for the front brake cable, with a built-in barrel adjuster. Sweet! Sadly, no plans to release this stem.

The custom stem also had a built-in window for the Di2 adjustment box. Somebody please manufacture this thing!

The PRO Missile Evo aerobar comes stock with some very nicely-shaped extensions, which have a very gentle ski bend rise, and come together to make the hands nearly tough. Perfect. The only problem is they don't adjust continuously, but rather through fixed bolt holes drilled into the extensions.

Here you can see the machining lines on this stem, which sugest it was a part CNC machined at high cost.

That's a whole lot of bike bling right there.

Very slick setup, methinks.

The front brake isn't quite as clean as the original Shiv, or the Speed Concept, but very svelte nonetheless, and much cleaner than conventional or side-pull brakes.

The rear derailleur cable is tucked tight against the mech, eliminating the extra cable and extra drag of standard setups.

The other thing that's so sweet about the HTC rigs is their paint scheme. Minimal logos, and a lot of gorgeous exposed carbon. Sadly, Specialized says they have no plans to release this scheme in the Shiv. They'll do it for the Tarmac though.

Since the Shiv wasn't built for Di2, battery placement is a bit of a compromise. This one has the cable tucked neatly against the frame, but it's still a bit of an eyesore.

Other riders had their batteries behind the seat.

An HTC mechanic works on a Shiv TT. You can see that the disc is actually a Carbonsports Lightweight. The spoke-looking lines are the dead giveaway.

We saw a LOT of Adamo saddles around. I guess the peleton is catching on.

Dave Zabriskie's stage-winning Cervelo P4. Nothing terribly fancy for Dave - a standard 3T cockpit, Rotor crankset, Fizik saddle, and SRAM Red components.

Zabriskie's saddle is probably right on the 5mm setback mark, and he rides it on the rivet.

Garmin-Cervelo riders warm up on the Lemond Revolution trainer. They save your rear wheel from wear, have a great feel, and look to be built like tanks. The downside? They're quite loud.

You've probably seen this guy a few times - he has been to a lot of US Postal, Discovery, and Radioshack races to run alongside the riders in his crazy horned helmets. This outfit was to inspire Chris Horner during the TT.

We saw GoPro cameras everywhere. The company is obviously trying to make a dent in the cycling scene, and to be honest, we're thrilled about it. These things are cool. Waterproof, wide-angle video cameras that are rugged and highly usable.

Team cars usually have custom-built racks on top to store large quantities of bikes.

The Radioshack team car.

Radioshack also had this sweet Nissan GTR in team Livery. Quite the Project One, wouldn't you say?

We got a closer look at the new UCI-legal Trek Speed Concept bar. How'd they get it legal and still fast? KAMMTAIL! Looks like basically identical to the tri version of the bar, but truncated much like the frame tubes. It also appears to be just a hair thicker.

This is Levi's bike, and he had his SRM computer mounted to the side of his bars rather than between them. A curious choice, but we're sure he has his reasons.

Levi's bike from the front. He could probably go with a taller stem, as he has a good 40mm of spacers there (the stem stack delta is 35mm), but again, he probably chose this for a reason (aerodynamics, aggressiveness in the drop position, etc).

Another shot of the truncated Speed Concept bar.

Overall winner Chris Horner uses the custom long-setback seatpost we first saw on Lance's bikes, but he uses an Adamo Podium saddle.

Just in case you doubt us - it's really Horner's rig.

That setback is incredible, but his position is actually pretty forward. He sits on just the last quarter of the saddle.

Horner's SRAM SRM (confusing, huh?)

Horner wasn't on the new UCI-legal SC bar, but a steerer stub plus Bontrager's team bar.

Look Keo Blade AERO pedals for the champ.

Team bikes inside the Radioshack truck ...

... along with a wheelset or two.

Horner's bike gets tuned up before the race.

Horner made a last-minute switch from the Bontrager aero bottle to a regular round bottle. We heard him say to the mechanic that he has a hard time getting the aero bottle out of the cage, and would probably lose more time fishing it out than it gains him in aero speed.

It wouldn't be Solvang without some windmills, right?

The town lights up for the TT, local shops showing their support.

SRAM, Zipp, and Specialized provided the neutral support, and did so in fashion.

Not a bad rig for a neutral support bike, I have to say.

Another shot of the neutral support bikes. Yowza.

This is female pro Rhae Shaw's Cervelo P4, rigged with Di2.

Shaw's bike is super clean from the front with the USE Tula aerobar and Di2 shifters.

Looks like Shaw has Profile Design S-bends in her Tula bars.

That arundel bottle stores the battery according to Shaw's mechanic.

Unfortunately the P4 isn't made for fully-internal Di2, but this is one of the cleaner setups we've seen.

Rhae Shaw's Cervelo P4.

A quick look at the Scott F01

It has some cool lines, but the front cable cluster looks a little messy.

I guess messy cables aren't as big a deal on road bikes, but still ...

This Bissell rider has no pads on his Pinarello Graal's arm cups ... just tape! That doesn't look super comfortable.

A rear view of the Pinarello Graal's front end. Let's be honest ... this thing isn't the cleanest setup around. And it's probably one of the ugliest.

Levi going out on his warmup for what would be a second-best TT on the day.




The Latest
  Review: Altra 3-Sum and Torin
  Skewer Shootout
  Specialized Shiv Build
  Review: FLO Cycling 30 Wheelset
  Review: Profile Design HC Bottle

Recent Most Popular (see All-Time)
  Oceanside 70.3 Race-Day Gallery
  The all-new Cervelo P3
  Cervelo P5 Build
  Oceanside 70.3 Pre-Race
  Specialized Shiv Build