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First look: Trek Speed Concept time trial bike

Time trial bikes are all about stiffness and aerodynamics so the Speed Concept is fitted with giant chain stays to help put the power down.

  • Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer will tear around the streets of Monaco on Trek's new Speed Concept time trial bike.
  • From this angle the deep-section tubes don't look all the special but there's definitely something unique in their radical shaping.
  • This is likely to be little more than a white, yellow and black blur come Saturday's time trial.
  • The Speed Concept's unique Kamm tail shaping uses an abruptly chopped tail for the back of the fork blades, down tube, seat tube and seat stays.
  • According to Trek, the Kamm tail truncated airfoil (second from right) behaves identically to a full 8:1 cross-section (far right) and markedly better than a 3:1 section (second from left), especially at higher yaw angles. And in spite of appearances, there is no additional stub mounted to the end of the Kamm section; the airflow just makes it look like there is.
  • The small access port on the back of the down tube presumably facilitates installation of the internally routed cables.
  • The front end integrates a lot of hardware and functionality into a relatively confined space.
  • Trek claims the Speed Concept's widely spaced fork blades are faster than ones that are set close together.
  • The smooth fork crown leaves a lot of room around the wheel and tire for air to pass through.
  • Rather than run the integrated stem inline with the top tube as does Scott and Giant, Trek opts to keep the top tube low and tight.
  • The entire top surface of the stem doubles as the bar clamp.
  • Clean lines are a recurring theme on the Trek Speed Concept.
  • Cables run inside the handlebar and down through the stem directly into the frame.
  • The relatively broad top tube helps keep the front triangle from twisting under load.
  • We're used to seeing slender profiles on time trial bikes but this one looks particularly slippery.
  • The articulating front brake is nearly seamlessly integrated into the fork crown. Rubber plugs mark the pivot points and the tops of arms are just barely peeking out out of the frame surface.
  • The rear brake is built right into the chain stays and the guts are tucked cleanly away behind an access plate.
  • Integrating the rear brake into the chain stays makes for a much cleaner seat stay and seat tube junction.
  • The compact rear triangle stiffens things up and also presents less frontal area.
  • The carbon seatpost doesn't use the Kamm tail shaping but it's reversible for a wider range of positioning.
  • The seatpost clamp mechanism is virtually invisible.
  • The bottom bracket area is particularly bulbous-looking from the front and features Trek's BB90 integrated bearing system.
  • Time trial bikes are all about stiffness and aerodynamics so the Speed Concept is fitted with giant chain stays to help put the power down.
  • The integrated DuoTrap wireless transmitter picks up speed and cadence information with only a minimal effect on airflow.
  • The stout front derailleur braze-on has a large surface area for bonding and is also reinforced at the top and bottom edge to resist bending during shifts.
  • Cables exit only right where they're needed.
  • The aluminium fork tips already include safety tabs. Hmm…
  • Think the Speed Concept is just a one-off? Think again. Yes, it's a team-only item at the moment but Trek definitely has plans to bring this market no later than the 2011 model year.

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Time trial bikes are all about stiffness and aerodynamics so the Speed Concept is fitted with giant chain stays to help put the power down.

© James Huang/BikeRadar.com