Tech gallery: Weird and wonderful gear at Paris-Roubaix
Tech gallery: Weird and wonderful gear at Paris-Roubaix
Teams employ all manner of solutions to reduce the pain of the pavé
At the start of the 2015 Paris-Roubaix, two riders checked out Sylvain Chavanel's air pressure on his tubeless Schwalbes. Note that Chavanel is on a cyclocross bike
At the start of the 2015 Paris-Roubaix, two riders checked out Sylvain Chavanel's air pressure on his tubeless Schwalbes. Note that Chavanel is on a cyclocross bike - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Former Paris-Roubaix winner Johan Vansummeren feels the double tape wrap on Kenneth Van Bilsen's handlebars - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
IAM Cycling's Matthias Brandle said he put 5bar/72psi in his 30mm tubeless Schwalbes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Brandle and Chavanel choose tubeless, while their teammates went with 30mm tubulars - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Schwalbe G-One 'Tubeless Easy' is a new option from the German company - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Air pressure is perhaps the most hotly debated topic right before Paris-Roubaix - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Tinkoff-Saxo Bank's Matti Breschel had his front 28mm Specialized tubular set to 4.4bar/64psi - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Despite the careful measuring with multiple gauges, seemingly every rider checked pressure with their hands - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Cofidis won the extra bar tape competition, hands down. You're looking at three rolls of tape here - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Three rolls of bar tape expands the bars to nearly 15m in circumference - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
About half of the Cofidis riders choose bar-top brake levers for their race bikes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Cofidis rider Jonas Ahlstrand didn't have the tidiest tape job around his Di2 sprint shifter - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Ahlstrand's perch for Paris-Roubaix. Ouch - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
On-fire rider Alexander Kristoff choose to race his aero bike, the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX, with the only concession to the harsh terrain being 28mm tubulars - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Clearance with Shimano Direct-Mount calipers is better than standard Dura-Ace calipers. Here, though, the number-plate mount is what comes closest to the tread - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
All aero, all the time for Kristoff, with 60mm Mavic Cosmic CXR wheels - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Katusha mechanics use a jig to ensure each of a rider's multiple bikes are identical in terms of fit - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
All measurements key off the bottom bracket - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Saddle height, angle and fore/aft measurements are controlled for - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Luca Paolini's saddle setback? 5.5cm from the BB center - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Andre Greipel's massive 53/44T rings combine with the wide, four-arm Campagnolo/SRM spider for a lot of negative space at the cranks — and a good view of the K-Edge chain catcher that doubles as an SRM magnet holder - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Lotto-Soudol's Marcel Sieberg has evidently taken a liking to Specialized's new Power saddle - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Sieberg has a big chunk of griptape on the platform of his Look pedal - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Jürgen Roelandts' self-advertising Selle San Marco Concor - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Precision width measurement on the San Marco Concor - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Team Sky's new Pinarello Dogma K8-S was the one bike in Paris-Roubaix with elastomer suspension this year, but it wasn't the first. Trek had a similar design 10 years ago - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
As with with the length of each PRO stem, Team Sky labels the compression rating of each elastomer - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins had a few modifications on his Dogma K8-S - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
In the trend of 'sprint shifters in unusual places', Wiggins had one on each underside of the handlebar tops - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Wiggins Elite bottle cages had grip tape to help pursuade his bottles to remain in place over the cobbles - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Cannondale-Garmin's sea of green Synapse endurance bikes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Most teams have some sort of stem or top tube list of cobbles sectors. Some, like Trek, are custom-made stickers. Most are handmade like this. The first number is where in the race the sectors come, the second is the difficulty rating, with a higher number meaning harder - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Each Cannondale-Garmin rider has a slightly different cockpit setup. This one had a layer of gel underneath the tape - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
IAM Cycling's Heinrich Haussler doesn't need a name sticker on his bike - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Boxing gloves might be a performance advantage on the cobbles - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Most IAM riders had 30mm Schwalbe One tubulars for Paris-Roubaix - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
AG2R had a couple of cyclocross bikes at the ready for the team. This is the back-up bike of former Paris-Roubaix winner Johan Vansummeren - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Vansummeren and his teammates opted to start on their standard road bikes, however - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The one SRAM-sponsored WorldTour team this year, AG2R uses the company's Quarq power meters - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Tinkoff-Saxo Bank's Peter Sagan switched from his camo Specialized Tarmac to this Roubaix - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Tinkoff riders had 28 and 30mm tubulars on hand, which feature Specialized treads on cotton casings made by FMB - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Double tape for Sagan - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Sagan's camo Tarmac stayed atop the car Sunday - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Bar-top levers were a common sight this year - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Sebastian Chavanel started on this Scott Addict CX cyclocross bike with tubeless Schwalbe G-Ones - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Shimano-Alpecin's John Degenkolb went with Giant's Defy Advanced SL over the aero Propel for Paris-Roubaix - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Pioneer has made quick strides into the pro power meter ranks, offering left/right measurement incorproated into Dura-Ace cranks. Note the covered magnet on the frame just left of the bottom bracket - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Shimano-Alpecin zip-tied the Di2 wire down, just in case - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Better knock on wood! MyKnoaky is a good-luck charm product made by former pro Andreas Klier. This one is glued to Degenkolb's bike - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Shimano-Alpecin had 30mm tubulars for Paris-Roubaix - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Clincher treads (with clincher-specific pressure ratings) were glued to the hefty 30mm tubular casings. Actual pressure was more like 5-5.5bar - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Degenkolb ran a single bar-top brake lever to feather speed on the cobbles without having to leave the tops. Ditto for changing gears with the Di2 switch - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Along with Katusha's Kristoff, the entire Movistar squad went with the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
28mm rubber for Movistar across the board - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
In stark contrast to Cofidis triple-wrapping bars, Movistar had a few bare carbon bar tops, like here on John Gadret's bike - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
As with every other team in the race, Astana had deep carbon race wheels (with 28mm Specialized tubulars) - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
But Astana's back-up wheels were the trusty old Ambrosio Nemesis box-section aluminum rims dressed up with Corima decals - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Bora-Argon 18 switched to the mud-shedding Pavé version of the Speedplay Zero pedal - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Argon 18 rolled out a Classics Edition of its Gallium endurance frameset for Paris-Roubaix - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The Gallium Classics Edition has a new lay-up for vibration absorption and increased clearance - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The increased clearance is readily apparent, even over the top of 28mm tubulars - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Orica-GreenEdge's Luke Durbridge had a Shimano Action Camera mounted under his stem - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Bretagne-Seche rode Look 675 Light frames with 58mm American Classic wheels and 27mm Challenge Paris-Roubaix tubulars - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Some teams have cleaner solutions than others for mounting Di2 junction boxes. The excess tape to the left of the stem is to mount a Polar watch, which is used in place of a standard cycling computer - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Trek's Jasper Stuyven had a unique Di2 configuration: all three buttons on the right (sprint, both standard shifters) shifted the rear derailleur up. All three left buttons on the left shifted down. And the front-ring shifts were handled entirely by the climb switch next to the stem - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Although Paris-Roubaix's 'Hell of the North' moniker originally referred to the bombed-out state of post-war Northern France, many riders today consider the description perfectly apt for the bone-shaking cobblestone race. With more than 57km of pavé during the 253km event from Compiegne to Roubaix, team mechanics broke out fat tubulars, handlebar gel and extra bar tape, and bar-top brake and shift levers of various configurations. IAM Cycling star Sylvain Chavanel took the start on a cyclocross bike with new 30mm Schwalbe G-One tubeless tyres.
At first glance, 2015 Paris-Roubaix champion John Degenkolb of Giant-Alpecin had a fairly straightforward machine with a Giant Defy Advanced SL frameset, Shimano C35 wheels, Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 group and Pioneer power meter. But a closer look revealed a few tricks, like 30mm Vittoria-branded tubulars with clincher treads glued on, a single bar-top brake lever, a Di2 climb switch mounted next to the stem and a little good luck, 'knock on wood' token glued to the frame. MyKnoaky is a good luck charm product created by former pro Andreas Klier.
While Cofidis won the award for most ridiculously fat handlebar tape job — their triple wrap brought bar circumference to nearly 15cm and dwarfed the hoods — perhaps more surprising was the appearance of aero bikes at Paris-Roubaix. Both Tour of Flanders champion Alexander Kristoff and the entire Movistar team rode the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX, with wide tubulars the only concession to the stones. Movistar rider John Gadret rode the Canyon integrated aero handlebar with most of the tops bereft of any tape at all.
With an eye to the chance of wet, muddy cobblestones, weather is always the number one topic at Paris-Roubaix (it was dry this year). But a close second is tyre pressure. While every rider is different — based on their weight, plus weather, tyre size and personal preference — all riders run much lower tyre pressure than at any other road race of the year. Most riders were in the 4.5-6bar/64-86psi range.
As with his teammate Chavanel, IAM Cycling rider Matthias Brändle told BikeRadar that he had mechanics put 5bar/72psi in his 30mm tubeless Schwalbes.
Click through the massive gallery above for a look at the unique bikes of The Hell of the North.
Better knock on wood! myknoaky is a good-luck charm product made by former pro andreas klier. this one is glued to degengolb's bike: better knock on wood! myknoaky is a good-luck charm product made by former pro andreas klier. this one is glued to degengolb's bike
Paris-Roubaix champion John Degenkolb's good luck charm
Ben Delaney is a journalist with more than two decades of experience writing for and editing some of the biggest publications in cycling. Having studied journalism at the University of New Mexico, Ben has worked for Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, VeloNews and BikeRadar. He has also previously worked as Global Brand Communications Manager for Specialized. Ben covers all things road and gravel, and can be found logging big miles in the Rocky Mountains that nestle alongside his home in Boulder, Colorado. He has covered the most important bike races in the sport, from the Tour de France and Tour of Flanders, to the Unbound gravel race, and specialises in tech content, showcasing what the pros are riding and putting everyday equipment through its paces.
This website is owned and published by Our Media Ltd. www.ourmedia.co.uk
