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By the point you are studying this, the Tour of Flanders can have been raced and conquered by somebody on a contemporary, absolutely cable built-in bike with disc brakes, and tyres seemingly wider than 28mm. 20 years in the past, the basic monument was gained on a motorbike with slimmer tyres, much less aero happening and far much less cable-tidiness, but nonetheless had arguably the largest affect on the design of many road bikes at this time. We’re, in fact, speaking in regards to the Big TCR, which had a full carbon fibre body by 2004.
The Big TCR was raced to Flanders Victory by German Steffen Wesemann forward of Belgians Leif Hoste and Dave Bruylandt that 12 months. The bike, in its third technology on the time, was the usual race bike deployed by Wesemann’s T-Cell Crew. It was raced on the Tour de France in addition to the spring classics, and in all its magenta, white and black class, this may also be one of the well-known professional bicycle liveries ever. Not essentially solely due to its colourway…
Within the following twenty years, the TCR has been changed within the professional peloton by the extra aero (and now lighter) Giant Propel, however as a testomony to its significance, Giant has just recently released the 10th generation TCR, which first entered the market in 1997 as an aluminium street bike.
By ’04, the TCR Superior SL featured a carbon composite body and fork, all of which had been designed to be light-weight, stiff, and aerodynamic – all phrases firmly current in modern-day race bikes, too. The model had made the swap from aluminium to carbon solely a few years earlier. 2004 was additionally the 12 months the model launched an built-in seatpost to the design.
And already twenty years in the past, it featured a barely sloping prime tube and shorter rear triangle, geared toward making the bike stiffer and extra reactive. These are the options that revolutionised bike design 25 years in the past, and so they proceed to be the idea of many bikes at this time.
> Check out the Specialized S-Works Tarmac that Peter Sagan rode to Tour of Flanders victory in 2016
Initially, the reasonably radical design of the TCR designed by the late, legendary Mike Burrows was even frowned upon by biking’s governing physique, the UCI, which banned the bike in order that riders wouldn’t achieve an unfair benefit merely due to the gear they had been utilizing (some issues by no means change, huh.) Whether or not it was the gear that was giving that unfair benefit to the reserved few on the time… nicely, that is most likely not a rabbit gap to dive down in our Bike At Bedtime function…
Finally, Big was capable of persuade the UCI to suppose in any other case and the ban was lifted. The identical cannot be stated for the poor outdated Big MCR, which had a agency ban hammer utilized resulting from its radical slice of carbon monocoque and lack of seatstays.
> Remembering the Giant MCR, one of the first truly aero road bikes
The 2004 TCR was usually outfitted with high-end elements from Shimano or Campagnolo. This principally meant both a Shimano Dura-Ace (10-speed) or Campagnolo Document drivetrain, and accompanying wheels. The Shimano Dura-Ace WH-7800s had been a preferred selection, and although they had been dubbed as light-weight again then, the 1,716g heft wouldn’t enchantment to many elite street cyclists at this time.
When it comes to tyres, 23mm was just about commonplace, and rim brakes had been the go-to system – although later in 2016 the TCR turned one of many first race bikes obtainable with disc brakes.
If you wish to dive into the ambiance of the 2004 Tour of Flanders, there is a fairly good video on it here on YouTube.
What do you consider the TCR? Ought to it nonetheless be the bike of selection for Flanders? Tell us within the feedback and ensure to additionally try our different Bike at Bedtime features.
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