First Look: SRAM debuts 22 and Hydraulics

2013-04-15T15:08:29Z

What a weekend! Seattle got hail and snowfall in the city, and Hugger-in-Chief Byron got down to Cali for the SRAM’s “22” launch. What’s “22”? That would be the number of speeds the new SRAM Red and Force groupsets offer. In the equivalent of tying a coconut to a pair of swallows, SRAM offers a drivetrain that allows the rider to utilize all 22 possible gear combinations, all without rub or the need to trim the front derailleur. SRAM wants you to know that they are bringing a true twenty-two speed drivetrain to the rider, but that’s not why you’re going to read this post. You’re gonna read this post because of the hydraulic brakes.

I really don’t know what I’m going to do with myself now that I won’t have the opportunity to use a really condescending voice when I explain to novice bike shoppers that the correct nomenclature for a road bike is expressed as a “ten speed triple” or an “eleven speed double” because the extreme crossover combinations are not usable. Already on most SRAM equipped bikes with the recent YAW-type front derailleur of the 2012 Red group, you can hit all the cogs cleanly from the big ring, and all the cogs save the first position cog since the chain hits the big ring on its way from the inner ring. An educated guess is that SRAM engineers increased the spacing between the rings to get the inner ring out of the shadow of the big, and then further tweaked the YAW derailleur, which uniquely translates slightly on a vertical axis as it moves laterally outward. Like 10sp Red, the new Red22 and Force 22 do away with front derailleur trim positions; you slam it up or slam it down and the system does the job with no further ado.

Of course, SRAM could have just done the same thing for the Red and Force gruppos and kept it to just 10 cogs on the back, but the bicycle industry is all about keeping up with the Joneses. So rest assured, there are now 11 cogs on the back. If you had to pinpoint the gain exactly, it would be the 16T cog, hereto absent from 11-25, 11-26, and 11-28 cassettes. The 11sp cogs are more densely spaced, but not so closely spaced that you can run the new cassettes on all the hubs that take 10sp cassettes. Like Shimano 11, SRAM uses the same spline mounting pattern (the venerable Hyperglide interface) but the body must be slightly wider. At least Shimano 11 and SRAM’s PG-1170 and XG-1190 cassettes can fit the same freehub, and many hub manufacturers have already retooled for the wider bodies (sidenote: every Mavic road wheel made in the last 14 years is already 11/22 compatible). In terms of construction, the SRAM cassettes are linear evolutions of the respective 10sp predecessors, the PG-1070 and the “Powerdome” XG-1090.

While the standard brake Red22 is largely Red 2012 with another cog and a mandate to cross-chain like a mofo, with the new Force 22, SRAM is gunning for Shimano’s Ultegra. Force 22 has leaned down in all the right places and even preempted the Japanese workhorse group by going to 11sp. The all-black Force 22 catches up to the newest Red drivetrain all at once, including the updated lever shape, YAW front derailleur, and chainrings. The YAW front derailleur now has an integrated chain catcher too, and the styling on the rear derailleur has been updated. However the brakes outwardly differ only in the new colour and a revamped barrel-adjuster. The caliper arms appear to be the same forged pieces that where originally used by the first generation Red and in later-gen 10sp Force; they are dual-pivot rather than the cam-actuated single-pivot design of the Red standard brakes introduced in 2012.

The new Force 22 crankset is perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the group. Departing from recent practice, the new crank uses a carbon arm and alloy spider in a manner last seen from a SRAM road crank with the Truvativ Rouleur crank. Knowing observers recognize that this design reduces the costs associated with providing for cranksets of compact 110mm and standard 130mm bcd in multiple lengths each as well as for GXP (ie traditional threaded BB) and BB30/PF30 bottom brackets. Indeed, SRAM also adds a 165mm arm length offering. All the same, the new crank design has a firm, faceted style that differs from the parallel, planer surfaces of Red or the seashell-shape of Ultegra. It looks exactly like what it is: a fine machinery assembly of precise, close-fitting pieces. Like newer Red, Force’s crank uses a hidden 5th chainring bolt, ostensibly to “reduce crank weight and add stiffness”, two claims undermined by the fact that the 5th bolt attaches to the portion of the alloy spider behind the crankarm rather than to the crankarm itself, like on the full carbon Red or the last several generation of Campagnolo carbon cranks. On the other hand, since this design (similar to Sugino cranks and the original Campagnolo C-Record crank) uses a more or less standard bolt/nut instead of a hard-to-replace, proprietary item. The Force crankset will be available with 53/39, 52/36, 50/34, and 46/36 chainring options.

Both Red 22 and Force 22 rear derailleurs will have a WiFLi option, SRAM’s marketing concept of using a compact, 50/34 crankset with an 11-32T cassette for gearing that matches or exceeds that of a traditional road triple, except with the lightweight and simplicity of two chainrings. The WiFLi derailleurs have longer cages to increase the derailleur’s chain slack capacity. For all derailleur’s B-knuckle (upper portion connecting the mounting bolt to the top of the parallelogram) is a little longer to provide better clearance when used with 28T cassettes. The SRAM 22 derailleurs are described as using “Exact Actuation”, which would imply that the new derailleurs share the same cable-pull ratios as all SRAM 10sp rear derailleurs, road and mountain. However, I was unable to get confirmation from SRAM representatives.

Back when SRAM first stepped into the road component market with their own 10sp shifters and derailleurs, they spec’ed a ratio that required a lot more pull at the shifter for a given lateral translation of the rear derailleur. This strategy reduced cable forces and made shifting performance less sensitive to the condition of cables/housing. Compare this to Shimano, who had used the same ratio for their derailleurs since the indexed 6speed era. The 8/9/10sp road derailleurs had the same overall cassette width but progressively finer cog-to-cog spacing. Shimano selected a more SRAM-like cable-pull ratio when they brought 10sp to their mountainbike groups, which likely improved shifting but ruined the versatility of being able to mix Shimano road and mtb components for bikes like tandems, touring, and cyclocross. Apparently Shimano chose a new ratio for their 11sp road derailleur which is maddeningly neither the old standard nor the mtb 10sp ratio. SRAM debuted “Exact Actuation” in 2006, so I had rather hoped that SRAM could stay the path on that topic. Why should you care? Because sticking to the same cable-pull ratio for the next generation of derailleur insures that in the future consumers will have ready access to compatible replacements for their 10sp systems and eases the cost of converting from 10sp to 11sp. It’s not surprising that SRAM representatives were coy about backwards compatibility for drivetrain components; official party line is that the SRAM 22 rear derailleurs/shifters are not intercompatible with the 10sp items. With alleged chainring spacing changes and the uniqueness of SRAM’s YAW front derailleurs, I would frankly be surprised if there any thing resembling compatibility of SRAM 22 front shifting. Shimano has also been randomly changing cable-pull ratios for front derailleurs, introducing a new ratio with each of the last two Dura Ace iterations.

So, that’s about all you’d want to know about the SRAM launch…….unless of course you have NOT been living under a f***ing rock for the last year. The real story from the launch, and indeed the entire road bike market, is the imminent arrival of hydraulic disc brake systems with integrated brake/shift levers, which SRAM calls “Hydro R”. Every man, woman, and Fred in the industry knew it had to come first from either SRAM or Shimano, and the other shoe just dropped. What is superficially perplexing is SRAM’s two-prong attack, introducing both the eagerly waited disc brake (HRD) as well as a rim brake (HRR) that is essentially a hydraulically actuated single-pivot road caliper.

In the coming days, every journalist who actually got to ride the test bikes is going to relate their post-coital revelations about SRAM’s HRD: word has it that the brakes work very well. For road use, hydraulic disc brakes have the potential to for increased safety from braking power unaffected by water on the rims and increased power and control in all conditions. Also, the hub mounted rotor transmits no heat to the rim and tyre. For cyclocross, hydraulic disc brakes offer all-weather power and modulation but add increased clearance for mud. And while cable-actuated disc brakes offer some of these benefits, hydraulic disc calipers promise to do it better and have self-adjusting pads. The HRD caliper is unique to the road group, though it certainly has a family resemblance to the XX unit from SRAM’s high-end, offroad XX group. As expected, it is a dual piston design, in this case using 19mm pistons up front and 18mm in back, optimizing power and modulation for their respective positions. Though there has been rumours that OEM manufactures were calling for a road-specific mounting standard, SRAM made the rational decision of using the currently most common standard, 74mm post-type mount. The two rotor size choices are 140mm and 160mm, to be offered in standard 6-bolt ISO hub mounts as well as CenterLock splined mount. Both mount a stainless steel rotor fixed to an alloy carrier.

In case you hadn’t heard that heat management was one of the biggest engineering obstacles to a lightweight road disc brake, you might have assumed that the 140mm rotor was for road use while 160mm was for offroad/cyclocross applications. In fact it is just the opposite, with SRAM suggesting the 140mm rotor specifically as an option for offroad. The larger rotor has more surface area to better shed heat, important for long descents. Meanwhile the 140mm rotor is ideal for cyclocross which rarely sees such high speeds or sustained braking. SRAM engineers are adamant that their system will not experience the loss of braking that occurs when excess heat buildup causes the fluid behind the piston to boil.

Whereas the Red disc caliper is suitably svelte looking, the aesthetics of the Hydro R lever have already ignited controversy. In the standard SRAM “DoubleTap” integrated lever, all the space in the hood behind the levers is already occupied by the shifter mechanicals, so SRAM engineers dramatically extended the upper knob of the body into a distinct horn to house the system’s master cylinder. Bleeding is readily accessible by peeling back a portion of the rubber hood. Oddly reminiscent of the coneheads from the old Saturday Night Live skit, these levers certainly stand out, but the primary hand positions still feel the same as the standard Red levers. If anything, these Conehead levers might possibly offer an alternate position to grasp while stretched out and cruising. The brake and shifter lever blades are both carbon. As a system of rotors/hoses/calipers/11sp levers, the Red HRD will retail for $1122 (plus $144 for HSX rotors) and weighs 898gr per bike, which equates into a 200-300gr weight gain versus standard Red.

The other hydraulic brake system is the Red HRR rim brake, which brings the power and smooth modulation of hydraulics to bikes with regular rim brake mounts. Mated to the same Hydro R lever as the disc brake caliper, HRR brings more power and more control with a lighter lever effort than is possible with standard cable calipers. The HRR caliper has regular cartridge pads, reach dimension, a quick release, and no-tools contact point adjustment. The HRR caliper also fits fat aero rims such as the (SRAM sub-brand) ZIpp’s Firecrest wheels (27.5mm at the brake track). At about 760gr for levers/hoses/calipers ($898), the HRR is only about a 150-200gr penalty from the standard Red brake system. Keep in mind that the regular Red cable calipers weigh a little more than a whimsy at 240gr per pair while the first generation of Dura Ace dual pivot calipers weighed almost 450gr per pair, but the hydraulic HRR beats ‘em both in performance.

After all that, SRAM pulls one more trick from their sleeve: they’ve got Hydro R for 10sp too. The S-700 hydraulic levers are more or less identical to the Red 22 units, save for aluminium lever blades and different graphics, and work with current generation SRAM 10sp drivetrain components. Who says that the bike industry is hellbent on planned obsolescence? Actually, this is possibly a very savvy move on SRAM’s part, as there are already 2 or 3 model years of disc-compatible cyclocross bikes (with wheels that are not 11sp compatible) in the consumer realm that are ripe for upgrades. The S-700 disc brake system weighs 986gr all up and costs $796 (plus $99 for HS1 rotors); the main differences in caliper being stainless steel hardware instead of titanium and a steel-back pad. The S-700 rim brake costs $572 as a system and weighs 844gr; the caliper also uses stainless steel hardware.

Beyond all the marketing speak, glut of acronyms, and additional cogs, SRAM just took a very aggressive step towards shaping the future of road cycling. The new Force 22 groupset will certainly bite into Ultegra’s market share, but the Hydro R brake system, particularly the disc brake, might very well signal a new paradigm in road bike design. The last innovation that truly changed the way we ride bicycles was the Dura Ace STi, the first integrated shift/brake lever, but the changes it prompted to bike design were subtle at most. The fully integrated hydraulic brake system could potentially increase safety and performance for both the racer and civilian enthusiast, and the possibilities that it allows in frame/fork design are still emerging.

Note: Byron’s post on the ride will run later today in time for lunch.

SRAM’s Inevitable 11

2013-04-02T00:49:50Z

It’s two and half weeks until the Sea Otter Classic, which has become something of a pre-season trade show for the cycling industry. But apparently even that is not soon enough. There have been sneak previews as early as December and January for companies like TRP. And just today, this little tidbit hit the interwebs:

In case you don’t watch the clip for fear of sparking an epileptic seizure due to editing pace that makes any Jerry Bruckheimer seem as staid as a Jane Austen film, then let me just save you the eye strain: SRAM will imminently introduce 11-speed to their road groups. Um….(ehem)……uh, hurray? I’d like to chalk it up to April Fool’s, but I’d already heard about it through other bike company insiders.

I’m sorry, but I just don’t see another cog being that important. But what could SRAM do? What with Campagnolo and Shimano already with 11sp, it must suck to be that last kid on the block to have what no one really needed. I was far more keen on SRAM announcing something of that would be a little more cyclocross oriented, something which everyone is talking about anyways and also would without a doubt have a vastly larger effect on the road bikes should it prove to be a successful development. I just hope that SRAM hasn’t been delaying that introduction just to synch it up with their 11sp introduction.

Now I recognize that by expressing disdain for an additional cog in the cluster, I am repeating a pattern that has been well established by legions of mechanics that have come before me. So I will not be so presumptuous to think that my voice will matter to the industry. But there is such as thing as the concept of diminishing returns. Six cogs is undoubtably better than five, and I firmly believe nine is better than eight. I feel pretty good about saying that some riders will appreciate ten cogs versus nine in certain conditions with certain range cassettes. I can see SRAM’s XX1’s use of 11sp as having an advantage because it makes a single chainring a viable idea in a wider variety of riding conditions. But for road conditions, I just don’t care much….ok, if you push me then I think it marginally improves the use of 11-32 wide range cassettes for road use. That would be an performance advantage primarily to non-racers, but a liability for service life due to the thinner cogs and/or chain. And those drivetrain components are certain to be more expensive.

So for you nerds out there who think that having an 18T cog in your 11-28 cassette will enable you to set a new Strava record, rejoice!

A Retro-Visionary Merckx for Paris-Roubaix: Rock Shox & 650B

2013-03-29T22:21:52Z

Here’s a titanium Eddy Merckx (built by Litespeed) converted to 650B tires and mounting up a Rock Shox Paris-Roubaix fork. Owning such a Rock Shox fork myself, I strongly suspect that the 650Bx38mm tyres would be more of a benefit than 25mm of suspension if taking over the whole P-R route, but over the worst of the pave the tyres and fork together would probably both be welcome. This is bike was assembled as a homage of the suspension road bikes used by professional teams at Paris-Roubaix. In fact, the race was won by a Merckx frame with a Rock Shox fork in 1994, but the frame was steel and none of the bikes in the modern era have used 650B tyres.

Suspension forks, seatposts, and even full-suspension road frames were a flash in the pan at Paris-Roubaix during the early 1990s. Heavily influenced by the nascent mountain bike industry, road suspension had three straight victories in the spring classic but also several spectacular failures. Later on a Belgian team, whose frame supplier forbid suspension, had the race in a stranglehold for years. Other than an elastomer bumper/pivotless suspension seatstay (not to be confused with elastomeric vibration dampers such as Specialized’s “Zerts”) a few years ago, suspension designs utterly disappeared from Paris-Roubaix in the early 00s.

For a history of suspension bikes at Paris-Roubaix and the professional riders using them, check out this post from last year.

From the Bike Shop: Devo & the Smart Patrol

2013-03-21T22:55:30Z

Now that Seattle Bike Expo is over, I can get back to being the audio dictator at the shop. Everyday I bring in my battered 2nd-gen iPod and set it on a greasy iPod dock. In this building that was a livery stable a hundred years ago, the tuner/amplifier drives the two speaker towers I’ve hoisted into the rafters, and a powered subwoofer sits directly atop the restroom hutch. A snippet of electrical tape next to the volume knob serves two purposes: it eliminates the possibility of blowing out another speaker tower from a burst of static at plug in and defines the business hours volume limit. Louder than that, the music interferes with phone conversations on the far side of the building, and the subwoofer shakes the restroom like Boeing 707 flying low over a tin-roof shack.

image from Pacific Pedaling

Bell Hat with Mark V modification

2013-03-20T22:48:33Z

I got a new hat from Bell but it seemed to be missing a certain something. So I added some style like I do to all my bikes.

Market trends in 650B, cyclocross, & gravel grinder bikes

2013-03-18T19:05:59Z

Not exactly trending like “fatbikes”, touring bikes with tyre clearance in the 2”-2.4” range have been popping up recently. Some are designed mainly as on-road touring bikes, such as the Surly Long Haul Trucker, of which the smaller sizes can accommodate 26x2.1” tyres. I recently saw that Co-Motion is making a 26”-wheeled touring bike equipped with disc brakes. For heavy duty or expedition-style touring, 26” wheels make a lot of sense. In case of breakages, 26” tubes/tyres/rims are more accessible than 700C in most areas, and a smaller diameter rim is always stronger for a given rim extrusion (ie, cross section).

With the wide variety of 29er tyres now available, there are a number of big-wheeled bikes hitting the market such as the Salsa Fargo or Co-Motion’s Divide. The bigger tyre diameter rolls easier compared to 26” as the riding surface grows rougher, but the huge wheels and frames built for them can be cumbersome for smaller riders. Even for taller riders, it’s hard to extract agility from a tall bike with massive wheels and a 110cm wheelbase.

An actual trend coming out of the midwest is the grassroots races and rides known as “gravel grinders”. Also occasionally called “adventure rides”, these are endurance rides that take place on long stretches of rural roads, which are often rutted pavement or packed gravel, perhaps poorly maintained. In spirit, gravel grinders harken back to an earlier era of cycling decades before Eisenhower and interstate highways. Equipment wise, bikes being marketed for this use vary from dropbar 29ers to cyclocross bikes, and disc brakes are a very popular option. To me, the bikes marketed for gravel grinders look like cyclocross bikes with eyelets, tall head tubes, and cable routing unsuitable for carrying on your shoulder. Clement, today a re-boot of the venerable tyre brand, offers a couple of treads 700C (35 & 40mm) targeting face-paced dirt road riding.

It’s interesting to me that gravel grinder bikes are taking recent market trends in equipment and using them to participate in a genre of riding that is close to what road riding/racing was in its earliest days. Meanwhile a segment of the randonneur crowd clings to very traditional steel bikes and archaic centre-pull brakes for very similar riding, albeit typically on smoother roads. I’ll agree with Bicycle Quarterly’s Jan Heine that the optimal tyre size for speed and comfort on gravel roads is smaller than 2”/51mm, more like in the 35-45mm range. Jan’s ideal of bike is one that takes a 650Bx42mm tyre (with fenders, of course), a low trail steering geometry, and a sizable bag supported my a front rack. Though certainly not a universal perspective within the rando crowd, it is closest to the French cyclo-touriste traditions that were the genesis of randonnee.

The 650B tyre/rim standard might have faded into history if it had not been for influence of Japanese bike company Grand Bois commissioning Panaracer to make suitable, high quality tyre offerings. The primary benefit that 650B offers to randonneurs is that it offers a large volume tyre (35-43mm wide) that is practically the same outer diameter as a road racing 700Cx23mm, thereby allowing fender clearance within conventional frame geometry. The wide tyre with supple casing offers and exceptionally smooth ride over long 1200km epics while still having low rolling resistance; indeed, Heine strongly argues that 650Bx43 has decidedly lower rolling resistance than 700Cx23. However, in a move that could not have been predicted, there has been a veritable explosion of 650B development driven by the mountain bike segment. As the “tweener” size between twenty-six and 29er, 650B (blasphemously referred to as 27.5” by marketing douchebags) offers a portion of the superior traction, ride, and low rolling resistance of 29er in a smaller package more suited to long travel suspension and smaller frame sizes. As a result, 650B rims currently on the market are largely disc brake-specific, and tyre choices fall exclusively into two genres: a handful of 32-43mm rando-style road treads and rapidly expanding selection of 2.2-2.4” (56-60mm) knobbies.

Cyclocross bikes are meanwhile becoming more competition focused. With the UCI’s recently reduced maximum tyre size of 33mm, there is no impetus for the big manufacturers to make bikes that have really generous tyre clearances. If anything, the rush to disc brakes might accentuate this in the short term until manufacturers decide if they can access consumer demand for more versatile bikes. Shorter chainstays and lower bottom brackets are trending on today’s cyclocross bikes, optimizing the bikes for less technical courses (meaning more like packed gravel or grassy fields than singletrack), faster speeds, and powerful bursts of speed.

Disc brakes are a super hot topic at the moment, as SRAM and Shimano are very close to officially announcing hydraulic brake levers with fully integrated shifters for dropbars. In the future we can assuredly expect disc brakes to have a profound impact on road bikes, but as professional sport is hugely important as a tool for both marketing and technical development, look for products to come from cyclocross, a discipline wherein the UCI allows disc brakes, unlike road cycling.

from Co-Motion

TRP’s hybrid hydro-cable disc caliper

2013-03-18T07:27:05Z

A few weeks from now I expect that TRP will officially debut their Spyre dual-piston mechanical disc brake for road bikes at either the Taipei Bike Show or Sea Otter in California. The Spyre seemingly has the potential of stealing the road disc championship from the venerable BB7 from Avid (SRAM). The TRP product differs from almost every other cable-actuated disc because both pads move rather than having one pad push the rotor into the opposing (static) pad. This is significant because it increases rotor clearance, so that effects of rotor warp and pad wear are minimized. It doesn’t hurt that early pre-production samples are lighter than the BB7 as well.

from bikerumor.com

from cyclingtime.com

Personally, I’m a little keener on the other road offering from TRP, what is being called “HY/RD”. It is a hybrid cable-hydraulic caliper with dual pistons. A standard brake cable enters the caliper and pulls a small lever arm that actuates the master cylinder. Contrast this to TRP’s current hybrid design, the Parabox, which puts the masters cylinders for both front and rear caliper in a box that attaches to the steerer tube, sitting below the stem. The HY/RD’s advantages over the Parabox include easier installation (presumably no bleeding is necessary and there is no hydraulic hose to speak of) and no issues with stack height interfering with handlebar height. On the other hand, the HY/RD is a rather bulky caliper, and I am somewhat cautious of how well it can deal with heat build up.

The main reason I’m interested in the HY/RD is that I can use my current levers. Without a doubt, full hydraulic brakes with integrated shift levers are on the way from SRAM and Shimano, but they’re bound to be a heavy investment for most consumers. And why should I have to pay for what might very well end up being a beta-test of product that has yet to fully mature? Full systems integration is certainly a double-edged sword if any aspect is problematic. And since cyclocross use is my primary interest and breaking levers during racing is a talent I’ve already demonstrated, I’m not too keen to put such cutting edge technology on the front of my bike just to meet blunt force trauma. If I go with the HY/RD, maybe I’ll get all the power and the self-adjusting pad feature of hydraulics with the penalty of a little cable drag. And that can be minimized with high-quality, sealed brake cable/housing kit.

Still, I’ll hold off recommending the HY/RD system for road riders, particularly touring cyclists, until I can get my hands on a set. Heat management is going to be the biggest design issue for hydraulic road discs, and the heavier loads imposed by touring bikes puts them more at risk. I get the feeling that many riders are going to be installing hydraulic road discs and using them without proper respect for their design parameters and operational limits. Cyclocross is actually more forgiving in the sense that the speeds are lower and there are no long descents.

The idea of combining cable-actuation and a hydraulic master cylinder into a cable is not new. AMP Research (and I think maybe Hayes too?) marketed one in the early 1990s that was a decent performer. Of course, perhaps twenty years from now the HY/RD will another piece of forgotten trivia, a stopgap technology quickly discarded once full hydraulic system came of age.

AMP Research brake

Italian Hip-hop star Jovanotti at SXSW

2013-03-18T06:45:54Z

image by Dave Lictherman

Italian music superstar Jovanotti played a set at Mellow Johnny’s bicycle shop in Austin during SXSW. Seattle’s world famous independent radio station KEXP hosted a live broadcast from the middle of the showroom floor. During a musical career spanning 25 years, he has blended influences from hip-hop, funk, and world music, but perhaps one of his greatest talents is his charisma as an entertainer. Performing songs in both Italian and English, Jovanotti effortlessly won over the crowd. In between songs, he revealed his great love for cycling, which apparently is no bullshit. Actually, his personal list of cycling accomplishments is real and rather enviable. He described cycling as his third greatest love…..after women and music.

Stayer Bikes

2013-03-12T05:51:15Z

At the Seattle Bike Expo this past weekend, there is a classic bicycle show in which the local vintage bicycle collectors bring out some choice items from their personal collections. To be perfectly honest, I’m much more of a modern technology fan. However, I am fascinated by inter-war track bikes, especially machines associated with six-day racing and stayer racing.

What is stayer racing? It is motor-paced racing on a velodrome. Before automobiles and motorcycles, bicycles were about as fast as any vehicle. In the later 1800s, there were paced races on the velodrome, but the pacers were multi-rider tandems providing drafting for single rider bikes. Sometimes the tandems had as many as six riders. But just like the industrial revolution, machines proved more cost effective than human labour…and faster. By the turn of the century, velodromes long evolved from glorified horsetracks to indoor arenas, and the velodromes banking had become steep to match the tighter radius of the turns. This made stayer racing among the most exciting and dangerous of all sports.

(image from letterlust’s flickr)

By the 1900s, bicycles for stayer racing had been refined to meet the unique requirements of the discipline. First and foremost is a small (typically 24”) front wheel and a reverse rake fork. This is for aerodynamics, but not in the way that time trial and pursuit bikes in the 1980s-1990s used small front wheels and cowhorn bars to lower the height of the bike. Rather, the stayer’s short front-center and small wheel allowed the rider to draft a little closer to the moto, but the handlebar sat high to facilitate maximal breathing and leverage. Saddles might overlap the bottom bracket so that the rider’s body leaned a little further forward, and the handlebars were positioned far forward as well. To eliminate flex and above all else possibility of failure, both the saddle and stem required support struts.

The motos used for stayer racing were specialized as well. These were not bicycles with a tiny engine mounted (what is called “derny”), but rather real motorcycles (750cc to 2500cc engine displacement) built to allow the motorcyclist to create a draft for the bike rider behind him. Moto drivers, or pacers, sit bolt upright or even stand during the race, with long, swept handlebars to make it possible to sit all the way back on the moto. This allowed the pacer to create a pocket of draft as big and as close to the rider as possible. Off the back of the moto, a small roller bar is positioned a regulation distance; as a safety feature the roller spins freely should the drafting rider bump into it. The races are typically middle to long distance (compared to other track events). The pacer more or less determines the race, with the rider trying with all his might to stick tight in the draft. A rider who loses the shelter behind his pacer will be swallowed by wind resistance and quickly fall of the pace. The pacer will need to slow way down for his rider to catch back on and then slowly accelerate without losing his rider again. Race speeds frequently average 60-70 kph for 100km, with bursts of over 100 kph (60mph) possible. One can easily imagine how dangerous this can become on small track with multiple teams of riders and pacers, and true to expectations there have been numerous deaths of both riders and pacers as well as 9 spectators in Germany 1909, when a moto careened off track into the bleachers.

What about stayer racing today? Paced events more typically use dernies today and outside of Europe, and the last UCI-sanctioned world championship for stayer racing was almost 20 years ago. But high-level stayer racing still occurs in Europe, much like six-day racing. In fact, stayer racing is frequently held as an event within the schedule of the modern six-day. The bikes still look much like the 1930s Belgian-made Boogmans stayer that I saw this weekend, but that chromed frame and wood rims are really sexy.

Below is a video from a Steherrennen during the Berlin 6-Day last year. Watch for the rider to lose the draft at 2:15. He’s shouting and gesticulating to get his pacer to slow down, but they’ve already lost several places.

(images below from Christian P’s flickr)

Update 2013.03.12

I found this description of the motorcycles and stayer racing on a messageboard:

Basically, the rear subframe (of the motorcycle) is modified, rearsets (after a fashion) attached, the seat is angled at about a 30 degree downward angle (essentially to support in an aft as much as lower aspect), and handlebar extensions to allow the driver to stand upright while operating the motor. The roller extension is to limit how closely the rider can draft the motor for safety reasons. The roller is extended farther from the motor on smaller tracks to limit the speed the riders can achieve/maintain.

I’ve never found motorpaced racing to be especially interesting, but then again, the only motorpacing I’ve witnessed are the hour long races during the Worlds. Passing occurs on a significantly decreased basis, and there is no peloton to speak of (usually less than 10 rider/motor combos on the track at a time, all spread out over the track). The interesting parts come when one rider makes an attack and the rider ahead of him lifts his speed to prevent it. Because the speeds are higher than unpaced riding, the passes are more gradual. Occasionally you will see one driver twist his body in order to angle the wind and direct it onto the other rider in an effort to blow him off his motor. Usually one or two riders will go so hard that they blow up and lose contact with their motor. The consequences of that are dire, because it takes at least several laps for the rider/motor combo to get together again. The motor driver often doesn’t realize immediately when the rider pops, and the rider, who is blown for the moment, cannot possibly push the huge gear in order to keep up with the motor.

The nastiest motorpace crash I ever saw was during the ‘93 worlds when the driver for Antonio Fanelli went high to pass another team and hit the balustrade with the roller extension on the backstretch. He fishtailed and lowsided the motor and Fanelli slammed into the back of them. There were wood chips flying everywhere from the gouges on the track; it looked like a lumberjack chainsaw championship on OLN. Amazingly, Fanelli only suffered from abrasions (and probably enough splinters to start a campfire) and was back on his bike an hour later when they did a restart.

Katarina Šoškić‘s Wonderful Bike Partner

2013-03-11T16:00:19Z

Katarina Šoškić is a Serbian-born photographer living Vienna. Here is a “photo story” that she posted online.

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