Goldilocks & the Three Gruppos

Here at Bikepedia, one of the first things about the 2009 gruppos that we discussed at the water cooler was the shape & ergonomics of the new Double Tap, Ergopower Ultra Shift, & STI shift/brake hoods. We, like every other rider out there, had our own distinct hood-shape preference, including some retrogrouchy comments about how maybe we liked the old 8spd levers the best.

"This one's too long."
"That one's too short."
"Oh, if they would do X, Y, & Z to the hood, this one would be just right."

Now, we don't want to be the only ones having fun, so get your friends together, take a look at the pictures below, and let the fun begin!







The 2009 Sram Red hood.


























The 2009 Campagnolo Super Record hood.



















For comparison: The 2008 Campagnolo Record hood (image size is much smaller!)














The 2009 Shimano Dura-Ace hood.






















For comparison: The 2008 Shimano ST-7800 Dura-Ace hood (image size is much smaller!)









So, what do you all think?

Gap Fire Photos

Courtesy of Ray Ford, here.

Goleta Gap Fire

Exciting times here in Goleta. The Gap fire, which started Tuesday night around 6pm, has now consumed around 250 acres. There are mandatory & recommended evacuations for areas that are but a few miles from us.

The fire is in the rugged, steep parts of the Los Padres National Forest and as of right now, the fire fighting is mostly aerial.

For more news, you can visit InciWeb.
The Gap fire is incident #1384.

Further Discussions Regarding EPO Testing

Cologne lab responds to EPO study.

We mentioned this study in our brief post about the Landis decision on Monday. The original International Herald Tribune article: "Study shows problems with Olympic-style tests".

The International Herald Tribune has also published what we assume to be a follow-up to their first article: "IOC says Beijing anti-doping program will be the most comprehensive in sports history".

Rasmussen

Rasmussen suspended:

"A UCI spokesman said the UCI had received notification of the ban from the Monaco federation, with whom Rasmussen has a licence, during the day Tuesday. The ban will run from the date of his exclusion of last year's Tour and hence will run till July 25 2009."

Rasmussen scores a win in Dutch court:

"Rasmussen, who lost his license for two years on Tuesday for lying about his whereabouts in the lead-up to the 2007 Tour de France, won a partial victory in a wrongful dismissal suit he filed against Rabobank for kicking him out of the race and firing him within days.

The 34-year-old Danish rider had instituted proceedings for unlawful dismissal against his former team sponsor, demanding damages of 5.5 million euros. On Wednesday, a judge in Utrecht ruled that while Rabobank had been entitled to dismiss Rasmussen from the team, it had failed to follow procedures in doing so."

Some of the 2009 Specialized Langsters

The Specialized Las Vegas Langster.













The Specialized San Francisco Langster.











The Specialized Tokyo Langster.














These images are now all over the place but we originally found them at The Bicycle Escape's blog.

Specialized S-Works Turbo Tubeless

Specialized is going to be producing a road tubeless S-Works Turbo tire and a Tubeless Roval wheelset for 2009. The Turbo Tubeless tire will be compatible with all currently produced road tubeless wheelsets (including the Campagnolo Two-Way Fit Shamal Ultra & Eurus).

Initial details are limited but the S-Works Turbo Tubeless should tip the scales at 290gms & retail around $60.

Rock starts catastrophic injury fund for cyclists

Rock starts catastrophic injury fund for cyclists: "Rock Racing owner Michael Ball is creating a professional cycling catastrophic injury fund, and the edgy, often-controversial fashion magnate and former bike racer is challenging other teams to join him in his latest pursuit.

Ball will not reveal his personal contribution, only saying it's "in the hundreds of thousands,'' and that he'd like to see the fund collect $20 million over the next two years."

Originally from VeloNews.

"Bear mauls girl during mountain bike race"

"Grizzly suspected in attack along trail during 24-hour event in Alaska."

As someone who has participated in a couple of 24-hour events, I'm glad to say that my exposure to wildlife at 24-hour races is limited to small rabbits and field mice darting through the singletrack at 3am and wandering members of Team Hamana.
All pretty tame compared to being mauled by a bear.

We hope that the rider heals up & is able to get back on the bike soon.

Landis Etc.

From Cyclingnews.com, "The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland announced today its decision regarding ex-Tour de France winner Floyd Landis vs. US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The court ruled against Landis, ending his fight to clear his name and regain his Tour victory. Landis will have to serve the full two-year suspension that is back-dated to January 30, 2007. Additionally, Landis was ordered to pay $100,000 in costs to the USADA."
The full CAS judgment, should you care to read all 58 pages of it, can be found here.


From the International Herald Tribune, "Study shows problems with Olympic-style tests", namely, "a urine test that is supposed to detect the drug [EPO], and that will be used in the Tour de France next month and in the Olympics in August, is likely to miss it, the study says."
The article describes testing procedures that will be used during the upcoming Olympic games as well as during the Tour de France and discusses the problems, both real and potential, in the testing procedures.

2009 Campy Wheels: Two-Way Fit

Two of Campagnolo's high-end aluminum wheelsets, the Shamal Ultra (preliminary gram count ~1440gm) and the Eurus (preliminary gram count ~1550gm) will be compatible with both clincher tires and with tubeless tires. Both of these wheelsets, aside from the changes in the rim section, will remain relatively unchanged from 2008 to 2009.

This does however lead to wonderings about what Shimano & Campagnolo know about road tubeless that the general public has yet to hear about. It seems logical to assume that if both Shimano & Campagnolo are now producing road tubeless wheelsets then the availability of road tubeless tires is bound to increase.

B:C:Clettes

More about 2009 Campy

So, from what we've been able to gather, 11spd Super Record has been in the works for a while. The Campagnolo engineers have been working on it & perfecting it for the past 3 years.

There will be three 11spd gruppos: Chorus, Record, & Super Record.
The initial gram counts:

• Super Record is freakishly light at ~1970gm
• 2009 Record is ~2015gm
• 2009 Chorus is ~2150gm

Super Record & Record will both have ceramic bearings throughout. All 11spd gruppos will have a 4 year warranty (instead of the current 3 year warranty).
Super Record will have limited availability beginning in the middle of September and increased availability into October.

Centaur & Veloce will remain 10spd. There are some rumors that Campagnolo may be releasing some additional new gruppos at Interbike, but as the rumors have not been confirmed, we may have to wait until Interbike.

Preview of Team Columbia Kit

From WVcycling.com.
It's interesting to compare the decidedly less retro new Team Columbia jersey to the old Highroad jersey.

It will also be interesting to see how the Garmin-Chipotle kit shapes up.

Gita Teams with Armstrong for Livestrong

"Gita Sporting Goods is teaming up with the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) and Nike to market and distribute Nike's new line of Livestrong cycling apparel.
...
These new Livestrong cycling pieces will be available through Gita's normal distribution channel of independent bicycle dealers and through LAF at www.livestrong.org. They are scheduled to be in bike shops across the country beginning July 5 to coincide with the start of the Tour de France."

Read the full article at Bicycle Retailer and Industry News.

"Trementa caduta!"

Frank Schleck's spectacular crash at the Tour de Suisse.

Still in Mexico.

More on 2009 Dura-Ace

Dual Control Levers:

• Both brake & derailleur cables will be routed underneath the bar tape
  
• Decreased (I've heard by 20%) right shift lever throw
  
• Increased cable pull so that, theoretically, the shifting will be less finicky
  
• Unidirectional or carbon weave levers? There's pictures of both out there, but I think that the production levers will be unidirectional carbon fiber, just don't hold me to it.
• Adjustable reach on the levers to accommodate more hand & bar combinations (this is especially good news for riders with smaller hands who currently struggle to reach the levers)
  
• Longer & more shapely levers will be easier for riders to reach while riding in the drops
• Wider & flatter brake hoods than those of the hook-like 7800s
  

However much the prospect of shifters with increased cable pull may excite you, please be aware that this means that the 7900 shifters & the derailleurs will not be compatible with 7800 & previous 10speed Dura-Ace shifters and derailleurs.


Crankset:

• The 7900 (53/39 with a 130bcd) will be standard gearing
  
• The 7950 will be the compact gearing crankset (34/50 with a 110bcd)
  
• The crankset will be an unbelievably light 725gm (this weight includes the bb)
  
• The Hollowtech chainrings are ooh la la! and Shimano has radically increased the ramping, pinning, and milling for quicker, cleaner shifting
• The new cranksets are said to be 20% stiffer than the 7800 cranks (which themselves were much stiffer than the previous Dura-Ace iterations)

Front Derailleur:

• Redesigned cage profile and linkage so that no trim will be required
  
• Shimano has reduced the spring tension on the front derailleur so that shifting forces needed to shift from the small ring to the big ring are decreased
  

Cassette:

• Aluminum cog carrier shaves off a little more weight
  
• Increase in available ratios (11-28, 11-27, etc.)
  
• Reshaped teeth & shift gates for better use with the new Super Narrow chain
  

Super Narrow Chain:

• Hollow pins & perforated plates is a first for Shimano
  
• The outside plates have been shaped to reduce potential chain suck
• The inside plates have been shaped and engineered to reduce drive train friction (this reduction in drive train friction is said to be "noticeable")
• A master-esque link (Whoo-hoo!)
  

Rear Derailleur:

• Carbon fiber pulley cage
• Reduction in weight by 16 gms
  
• The chain wrap capacity had to be increased to accommodate those of us who will use Shimano new compact crank with their new 11-28 cassette
• There is marked increased material at the rear derailleur pivots which should improve the stiffness (and therefore the shifting response) of the rear derailleur
  
• An added pin between the derailleur cage & the pulleys
  

Brakes:

• Radically machined brakes and modified brake arches for better braking performance
• Lower profile cable stop (for easier cable routing!)
• New brake pad materials for better overall braking performance and less wear while braking in the wet
  

Slipstream/Chipolte on Flickr

Original photo here. The team's entire photostream here.

2009 Gruppos

2009 Dura-Ace:
By now most of you have probably heard and read about the 2009 Dura-Ace and if you haven't, the Shimano Dura-Ace site has a couple of downloads to answer your lingering questions. There will be some compatibility issues between Dura-Ace 2009 and Dura-Ace 2008 and previous. You can check out the compatibility flow-chart here.


2009 Campagnolo:
Hot on the heels of SRAM's revised Rival & the new Shimano Dura-Ace 7900 comes Campy's bombshell of 11 speed Super Record. Most of the buzz that I've read out on the interweb has focused on the new Super Record, but it is clear even from the initial leaks that almost the entire Campagnolo family has been retooled and upgraded for 2009.
The Super Record has stolen the spotlight for good reason: the few photos out there show a dramatically textured brake hood, a new 11 speed cassette which necessitates the new 5.5mm wide chain, ceramic bearings throughout, & a new brake lever shape.
The new Chorus and the new Record will also move to 11 speed. Centaur will be produced in carbon or aluminum variations. Veloce will be ErgoPower and UltraShift Ergo. The exact meaning of "UltraShift Ergo" has yet to be determined, but the rumor mill has initially decided that "UltraShift Ergo" will involve a new shift lever & ratio mechanism.

2009 FSA:
It appears as if Shimano, Campagnolo, & SRAM will soon be welcoming FSA into the ranks of gruppo manufacturers. The FSA gruppo information is in even shorter supply than the information about Shimano and Campy, but the new FSA gruppo will be 11 speed and is scheduled to make its debut at Eurobike. We'll keep you updated as we learn more.