The time trial bikes that Bjarne Riis and Jan Ulrich used in the 1997 Tour de France were prototypes that were never named or produced. The bikes received the nickname Frisbee after Bjarne had his famous meltdown during the final time trial and threw his rumored $20,000 prototype into a ditch along the side of the road. Unlike the Espada or Lotus, the 1997 Pinarello’s featured a downtube and no toptube. The idea was to create a shape that smoothed the airflow coming off the front wheel and speed airflow across the rest of the frame. The back half of the frame consisted of a large seat mast that doubled as a fairing for the rear wheel and oversized chainstays that appeared to be straight off the Espada.
No comments:
Post a Comment