"Zeen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:I noticed in a recent Tour photo that Lance used a downtube shifter for his front chainring during
a mountain stage. I had read that it was to save weight but I can't believe it saves that much
weight even assuming he replaced his left STI shifter with a plain brake lever. Was weight savings
the real reason for this? I suppose every gram counts.
There's an interesting Subaru ad with Lance Armstrong in what might be called a brown-scale picture
opposite page 158 of the September 22 New Yorker.
His right-side brifter cable is plain to see.
So is the lack of any left-side brifter cable that started this thread.
The end of his left-side down-tube shifter is tiny but clearly visible, peeking out from below his
right forearm.
He's wearing a cap instead of a helmet, perhaps to save weight, or to feel cooler, or just to look
adventurous in keeping with the ad's silly motto.
He sports a radio ear-plug that presumably connects him to a support car full of advice and the
spares and tools that he isn't carrying in his non-existent seat and frame bags. (Otherwise his ride
would actually risk being a little adventurous.)
Half-a-dozen sponsor logos appear on his bike and clothing, though most are illegible.
So to my ill-informed eye, it looks as if he's supposed to be on a mountain stage. For all I know,
it's an authentic picture from a famous race, not something badly staged for an ad in which bikes
somehow sell cars. Or it might be actual equipment used for a training or pleasure ride.
The picture raises a few things that might interest rec.bike.tech posters. The temptation is to make
snide comments at the expense of the advertising industry (see above), but I hope that someone will
address the practical details--what do the pros really do, why do they do it, and does it make much
difference?
Do the pros really use the deep aero-rim wheels shown in the ad on mountain stages? Armstrong's aero
wheels look massive, but perhaps they're just as light as normal rims or else offer unexpected
aerodynamic advantages even when toiling uphill?
Do the pros struggling up hot, sunny mountain stages really let their shirts flap in the breeze for
the sake of cooling to the extent that they obscure the logos running down the outside of their
shorts? Or do they keep their shirt-tails tucked in to reduce wind drag and swelter? Do they switch
to shirts ventilated with thousands of tiny holes like football players? Or do such perforated
shirts play hell with wind drag?
And what about the water-bottles? Do the pros really carry two water bottles up mountain stages? Or
do they rely on bottles handed to them along the way and toss them aside when empty? I can't even
tell for sure if Armstrong has a bottle in his rear holder.
I wish that I knew enough to criticize the ad with authority, but I admit that I don't really know
the answers about aero-rims, loose or perforatedshirts, and water-bottles, so I'd be delighted to
read some better-informed comments.
