Originally Posted by
nslckevin
Slightly off topic, but I feel like I need to point out that Larry Nolan does his pursuit and team pursuits (and for a number of years also his mass start races) on a stock Specialized Shiv. He has also never been to the wind tunnel and doesn't wear $400 skin suits when he races.
You don't need to spend a gazillion dollars to go fast. It certainly doesn't hurt and will make you go marginally faster, but at the masters level you can win national and world championships on pretty normal stuff.
I set my hour record on a stripped down BMC TT bike and later used an aluminum Langster to win the scratch race and a Shiv to win the Team Pursuit and Worlds.
When my kid was going to do the pursuit I was going to convert his FELT TT bike. I got some grief for that in the track forum. It was just a cheaper way to start. I bought the good wheel.
That plan never happened, but I saw photos of LN's bike and figured it would do fine. Because of locations and timing building for ITT, then track was just too difficult. I would have just bought a track bike had he continued.