Gold wheels, custom SRMs, homemade shoes and more… - BikeRadar
Will Sagan line up to the start with these mirrored Roval Wheels? Only time will tell - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Sagan's Venge ViAS Disc was on display. It's pretty heavy tipping our scales at 8.46kg - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
The bike gets a pearlescent paint job and Sagan's logo on the seat tube - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
The front sees a thru-axle and a 160mm rotor - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
The rear gets a thru-axle as well and a 140mm rotor - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Peter Sagan went out for a training ride on his custom Venge ViAS Disc. He wasn't sure whether or not he would race it this week - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Recently being picked up by eyewear brand 100%, Sagan was wearing a pair of custom sunnies too, featuring the rainbow bands - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Bahrain Merida’s bikes are sporting SRM's new ultra light power meter. While the cranks are labeled SRM Power, they look an awful lot like THM carbon cranks and are claimed to weigh 99g each - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
They are also running a custom gold anodised PC8 head unit - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
For the most part, it seems all the teams at TDU are running the old Dura Ace 9000, however Yukiya Arashiro's managed to snag a new Dura Ace 9100 front brake on his Merida Reacto. The rest of the bike is running the old group - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
AG2R-La Mondiale has custom anodized SRM PC8's too, but they are baby blue to match the Factor O2 Frames - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Dimension Data was running Ultegra 11-28T cassettes on its Cervelo S5s and KMC gold chains - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
LottoNL-Jumbo appears to be riding the same Bianchi Oltre XR4s as last year and with it comes the boomerang-esk Vision Metron 5D Integrated Aero bar - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
As with most integrated bar and stem combos, they don't play nice with traditional computer mounts. The mechanics cleverly utilise the mount to wrangle EPS wires as well - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Quite a few of the Orica-Scott riders were sporting the XC MTB Centric Plus lid rather than the aero road Cadence Plus - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Caleb Ewan had a pretty Schmick pair of custom Bont Vaypor S shoes - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Esteban Chaves was wearing a Garmin Fenix 3 HR ahead of the Orica-Scott morning training ride - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
He was also one of many riders sporting Sidi's new Shot kicks - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
As usual Adam Hansen was wearing his custom homemade carbon fibre shoes - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
At one point he was moulding the cleats out of carbon but has since opted to use replaceable Look cleats, which he seems to like in a pretty far back position - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
The custom carbon kicks only use a single BOA dial mounted under the arch of his foot - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
The bare carbon is pretty tame when you look at how Hansen has painted up some of his shoes in the past - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
It seems Tyler Farrah forgot his socks - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
It looks like we'll be getting more on bike footage from Tour Down Under this Year - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Only the Bora-Hansgrohe bikes appeared to be set up with GoPro Session cameras - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
The whole Katusha-Alpecin team was wearing custom Sidi Shots - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
And baby blue Giro Synthe lids too - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
It's been pretty warm down here in Adelaide and so far we haven't seen many teams opting to wear their aero helmets. Things may change once the racing starts - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
It seems Trek-Segafredo is also feeling the heat given the mechanics had laid out the Velocis helmets for the riders instead of the Ballista - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Team Sunweb had some interesting Giant branded computers that look an awful lot like Bryton Rider 530s to us - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
The Sunweb Bikes also have this clever Fouriers Junction Box mount - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
It seems Movistar's tradition of Diadora shoe covers continues for 2017 - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Here's the real shoe and it looks like the brand's flagship Vortex Pro shoes have received a makeover for 2017 - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
This Douche Bag transported Sky's bikes to Australia - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Sky's new Pinarello F10s are causing a bit of controversy - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
The concave downtube is at the centre of the controversy - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
The Revo Via chain performance system will be keeping Orica-Scott's drivetrains well lubed - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Scott's new Syncros one-piece handlebar and stem were spotted on Simon Gerrans's bike - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
The oversized Syncros stem combined with aerodynamic handlebars should offer a race advantage - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
The 2017 Tour Down Under is about to get underway and with the teams still arriving, mechanics are frantically prepping bikes for the race. We have been wandering the pits for the past day and have spotted a few interesting bits of tech.
Sagan's Venge ViAS Disc was on display. It's pretty heavy tipping our scales at 8.46kg - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Since arriving in Australia, Peter Sagan has been spotted test riding a custom Venge ViAS Disc. We weren’t able to confirm whether or not he’ll be lining up at any stages in Adelaide aboard the disc roadie, but we did see him ride it on today’s Bora-Hansgrohe team training ride.
It’s not a lightweight at 8.46kg by our scales, but even his Venge ViAS with standard calliper brakes weighs 8.01kg.
All the cables are hidden inside the frame and the flat mount disc brakes utilise a 160mm rotor at the front and a 140mm rotor at the rear.
Will Sagan line up to the start with these mirrored Roval Wheels? Only time will tell - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
With all the hustle and bustle in the pits, everyone stopped and stared when the Bora-Hansgrohe mechanics began glueing a tire on this Gold Roval rim. With no apparent brake track and a centre lock hub, we'd guess these wheels are for Sagan's Venge ViAS Disc, but the mechanics could not confirm whether or not Sagan, or any of the other Bora-Hansgrohe riders would be racing on them.
Revo Via chain performance system
Revo Via chain performance system will be keeping Orica-Scott's drivetrains well lubed - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
A while back Orica-Scott announced its riders would be lubing as they ride with the Revo Via chain performance system.
The system is powered by two LR1 batteries and periodically sends lubricant from a frame mounted reservoir to a component that mounts to the lower jockey wheel of the drivetrain, all in an effort to keep efficiency at its max.
The system was only present on Luke Durbridge and Daryl Impey's frames, but the mechanics were still building bikes.
Bahrain Merida’s SRM power meters
Bahrain Merida’s bikes are sporting SRM's new ultra light power meter. While the cranks are labelled SRM Power, they look an awful lot like THM carbon cranks and are claimed to weigh 99g each - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
While Bahrain Merida’s Scultura and Recato frames are not new for 2017, its SRM power meters are.
The spindle mounted power meters feature carbon cranks that are claimed to weigh 99g per arm and Dura Ace 9000 chainrings. SRM says they are producing the cranks, but they look suspiciously like THM cranks — the two brands have collaborated previously.
Sky's Pinarello F10
Sky's new Pinarello's F10s are causing a bit of controversy - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Shortly after Pinarello announced its new F10, the bike was at the centre of a patent controversy. Just hours after the news of the bike went live, Taiwan's Velocite claimed the Italian brand infringed on its patents by using concave downtube on the new bike.
It all kicked off back in May of 2016 when Pinarello used a concave downtube on its Bolide TT bike and now Velocite says Pinarello has again used its patented design without permission.
The concave downtube is at the centre of the controversy - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Shimano Dura-Ace 9100
For the most part, it seems all the teams at TDU are running the old Dura Ace 9000, however, Yukiya Arashiro's managed to snag a new Dura Ace 9100 front brake on his Merida Reacto. The rest of the bike is running the old group - Colin Levitch / Immediate Media
Noticeably absent from the majority of team bikes is Shimano’s Dura-Ace 9100 groupset. So far we have only seen the new components on Sky’s Pinarello F10s as well as the front brake on Yukiya Arashiro's Merida Reacto, where he snagged a DA 9100 front brake.
And more...
Check out the gallery above for other new, interesting and amusing bits of gear we have spotted so far — and be sure to check back for more.
Originally from Denver, Colorado, Colin now resides on the Gold Coast in Australia. Holding a media degree, Colin is focused on the adventure sport media world. Coming from a ski background, his father a former European pro convinced him to try collegiate crit racing. Although his bright socks say full roadie, he can often be found exploring singletrack or grinding down a gravel road.
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