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Tour De France Showcases Multitude Of Tech
whoda writes "When you think of a bicycle, you most likely think of 2 tires, a chain, some gearing of some sort, and other assorted mechanical bits. However, when Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich, and over 180 other riders get together to compete at the Tour de France every year, there is a lot of technology that comes along for the ride too. From Lance's Sunglass'/MP3 Player to the advanced use of composites seen on Tyler Hamilton's
time trial bike, there are many examples of
high technology making the racers faster through better training, materials and
aerodynamics."
The HPV world speed championships!
http://www.recumbents.com/whpsc2004.htm
Too bad there's not enough interest to really get some money into the development of these things.
Check out my website...
Of course, with a bike that old, they would have had to replace, well, just about everything in order to put in a new derailer. In fact it would be only slightly more to simply buy a new bycycle!
So I started looking at bikes. I could get a nice road bike for $800 (US) that was far superior to my existing bike. Then I started looking at the carbon composite bikes, like the Roubaix series. I really didn't think I'd feel the difference until I test-rode one.
Holy S*it! If the $800 bike was an order of magnitude better then my existing one, the Roubaix Comp (at $2600) was an order of magnitude better then the $800 bike. All carbon-composite construction, vibration dampening... the works. Unbelievably light, I could lift the whole bike with my pinky pretty much! Smooth ride, ultra smooth shifting, huge gearing range. The technology is really amazing.
-Matt
Interestingly enough as well is the fact that there is a limit in the rules as to the minimum allowable weight of a bicycle. There are lighter bikes that have been proven to be faster that cannot be ridden in this race.
Haven't been able to decide how I feel about this yet...actually I wish it was one way or the other:
a) riders can use _any_ man powered 2 wheeled vehicle of whatever design they want...
OR
b) ALL riders ride the exact same bike.
Either technology is a factor, or it isn't. I think it's the middle ground stance that annoys me.
No Comment.
I totally agree.
;)
I've got a 3 year old $400(CDN) Peugeot mountain bike I bought just for casual riding at the time. This year I've gotten quite a bit more serious and have taken part in a number of cross-country relay races. Up until about a month ago, I was constantly looking at the 'other guys' $4000+ machines and trying to plan how and when I would upgrade.
I finally realized how stupid that would be.
a) most of the guys I ride with have expensive bikes.
b) i never get smoked by them.
c) their stuff breaks as much as mine does, but their parts are _way_ more expensive.
d) haven't had _my_ bike stolen.
e) I do it for FUN.
f) I will NEVER be taking it to the top level and thus will NEVER be able to actually reap the minute benefits one can get from really expensive bikes.
And unlike cars, where it's easy to argue that a bmw or mercedes is worth the money over a ford as they are more fun to drive, comfortable...blah blah whatever, I have NO problems with my bike and the expensive bikes I've ridden certainly don't feel special, and DEFFINATELY don't feel like they're worth more than 10x the price.
Now maybe if I broke the bank on a new bike I wouldn't be the only one with money to buy the beer after a good ride
Actually, if you wan't to get into a good useless waste of money tech discussion with a hardcore mountain-biker, pull out the v-brake vs disc-brake topic. Oh, I used to fall fully on the 'can't wait to have the cash to buy a nice set of disc-brakes' crowd...but a good slap with common sense brought me around.
Me: Gonna buy me a set of those real soon! (Disc Brakes)
Bike Shop Owner: Really? Why?
Me: Um, they're better...
Bike Shop Owner: Really? Why?
Me: Um, because they work better right?
Bike Shop Owner: Let me ask you this then, what problems are, or have you, had with your v-brake system?
Me: Um...
Bike Shop Owner: And of those problems, which will be solved by a higher price tag, more weight, more parts and generally more complexity?
Me: Since you put it like that, I guess I'm unsold thank you!
And as an interesting aside, the shop owner's success in _not_ selling me something has resulted in some darned solid customer loyalty.
No Comment.
I'm actually most impressed by the technology involved in the television coverage. First, you've got about about 20 cameras on bicycles, showing images at race level (almost what the cyclists see themselves). They send the pictures to helicopters overhead, which in turn send the images to satellites. Let's also not forget the cameras on the helicopters themselves, and the beautiful display of flying and camera ability that brings gorgeous and rock-steady shots of 170 bicyclists zipping through fields of sunflowers.
Add to that GPS transmitters on every bike, which brings instant results at the end of the race to the 100th of a second, and (this year on OLN) up-to-the-second time gaps among the groups on the road (this'll really shine when they hit the mountains).
All this, plus entertaining commentary, live worldwide.