carleton

Good eye!

Add LOOK and Felt. Both have big budgets and are actively selling track bikes.

Remove FES and Dolan. FES is elusively German, right? No one has ridden a Dolan at a world level event since Hoy got started.

ruudlaff

Fair enough. Look was a fairly obvious omission actually. I only mention Dolan due to the DF4 being fairly common at every decent level except the elite really.

Minion1

Avanti has recently been bought by Scott, and the brand seems to be on a development hiatus at the moment - they haven't released a new bike since last year, only carried over existing models. I have a hunch the Avantis are designed by a couple of guys in NZ, and made by a custom carbon manufacturer also in NZ. That worked well while the national team was on the brand's bikes, but now it's been bought by a Swiss company with no real history in track racing, and probably no interest in building cutting edge bikes for the NZ track team, it's hard to see how Scott Avanti would tender for the job.
Would it be worth adding Koga to the list? They have a new model coming out, and didn't they use badged BT bikes for a while as well?

Morelock

I assume Cervelo is "exclusive" (besides the massive number of T4's) with GB for a good while. Likewise Felt and the USA.

carleton

I'm sure that Jim Felt would gladly sell them to the Australians.

Recall that Njsane Phillip rode several TK1s (presumably as a sponsored rider) before riding his LOOK even though his national team is sponsored by Koga now (I think).

Also, a few top Mexican riders also ride Felts.

The TA FRD might be a Team USA exclusive...but I doubt it. It's not like Team USA is paying Felt. It's probably the other way around.

carleton

YES. I forgot about the new Koga coming out.

If Koga got the contract, that would be interesting to say the least in light of the history between the two companies: The World Today - Sounds of Summer: Intrigue and heartbreak in cycling 10/01/2011

Minion1

I hope it is Avanti, because that means they are going to keep investing in the sport with their new owners, (or before Scott figure out how little return their is!) and it would also keep the NZ team on their bikes. (I'm a kiwi, so there is lots of parochialism involved)

southernfox

I think it's a very high chance of Avanti. A tonne of the UCI Aussies are on them here at TTown.

Minion1

I had a chat to the Avanti rep about the bikes, they are 7k AUD, with a bit of a wait (sorry can't recall, I think it was a month or 2) and come in one size, 60cm tt. It looks to be filling the role that the Dolans were filling a few years ago, I really just hope Avanti keep their commitment up to the bikes and the designs.

Morelock

I mean... yeah. I'm sure they could all ride T5's as well if Australia bought them for them.

My only point is that the FRD was made specifically for the USA women's pursuit team, just like the T5 was made for GB. They aren't looking to sponsor another country IMO.

carleton

Well, to put that into perspective, the LOOK 496 has a max size of 56cm and has at least a 6 month wait...even for those at the highest levels of the sport.

...and they cost at least $10,000 USD when last I checked. Probably more now.

EDIT:

Having owned one, I can say that it's a very capable bike. But, not worth $10,000. What's more is that LOOK customer service isn't great and parts of the track frame can be hard to obtain. I literally could not buy a seatpost that was in current production.

LOOKs are sexy as hell. But, if I were a coach, I'd steer my athletes away from them for practical reasons.

We saw what the Dutch sprinters did last season riding normal stems and 27.2mm seatposts. They dominated.

carleton

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bjmr4SmA...effreyhoogland

Looks like something designed to measure force at the pedals or shoes as well as *maybe* the handlebars. I've slowed the video down a lot and there seems to be some devices near the pedals and a cable running to the bars, but there is no head unit to be seen. My guess is that maybe the bars have strain gauges in them.

The cord that looks to be attached to the SRM head unit actually isn't. It's just taped to the seapost and happens to sit near the SRM head unit on the way to the handlebars.

Keyword tags by Hoogland:
Whatever is going on can't be too secret if Hoogland is allowed to post to social media.

Poppit

carleton

Why is that?

Poppit

Poppit

Morelock

Woah. That new Argon is a sick bike.

jfiveeight

Going by looks, it is really close to a BMC TR01 just with a regular stem set up.

topflightpro

Looks like USAC has finally decided to focus on developing track racers: https://www.usacycling.org/article/u...-track-program

carleton

I have $1 that says that this will not end well.

jsk

I could have sworn they announced something like that last winter.

carleton

..And when they have Jamie Staff.

...and when they hired the new CEO that used to be a pro trackie.

...and when they offered that Track Talent ID Camp program (where they charged participants to be evaluated.).

They announce something like this every year or two.

Nothing will take hold until they pay a living wage to those on the national team. Adults can't train twice a day for cycling and maintain a full time job at the same time.

gycho77

Poppit

topflightpro

The article mentioned a private donation to support this effort, so maybe that donor will stay on top of things to make sure it is happening.

Also, they're targeting 15-21 year olds, which is where they need to be looking.