Chris Boardman announces >B56 project

27 comments
By Jeff Jones | Monday, Dec 14, 2009 9.00am

Chris Boardman, one of Britain's leading lights in the cycling world, has announced his latest venture: Beyond Fifty-Six Special Projects Program. The number refers to his absolute hour record of 56.375km, which he set in 1996

As he launched the project, dubbed '>B56', at the London Transport Museum, Boardman was deliberately vague on details, but he said the aim was to push the boundaries of bicycle and component design in order to make bikes better for everyone.

Speaking to BikeRadar, Boardman said: "It's a version of the same thing that we did with British Cycling" – referring to the 'Secret Squirrel Project' of improvements in bike technology that helped British cyclists win dozens of medals at the 2008 Olympic Games and world championships.

"We want to explore, take ideas not from within cycling, find new ways of doing things," he said. "Some of the projects are big – as in revolutionary big ... if we get them right."

Whatever they are, you'll need a sharp eye to spot them. "The whole idea is it's secret stuff," said Boardman. "Watch for the label this year. It's not a label that you'll see on production items, but things you may see Al [top triathlete Alistair Brownlee] on, or one of the guys testing, or you may see a mountain biker on, or whatever."

No part of the bicycle is sacred, according to Boardman, who has stopped his formal involvement with British Cycling but will continue to work with composites engineer Dimitris Katsanis.

"It's whatever you can change," he said. "Let's say, for example, you could do away with a chainset for a commuting bike, then we will. So it doesn't just have to be focused on high-end. It's probably where the majority of the focus will be, but it's not the only place it's going to be."

In August, Boardman revealed designs for a concept bike that apart from looking amazingly futuristic, made use of a shaft drive, had spoke- and centre-less wheels, was battery assisted, had lights that automatically turn on and off, and used self inflating and repairing tyres.

"All the things in that are doable," he said. "You could pull it all together from different places and do it now. People said 'when are you going to do it?' Well you could do that inside of two years but you wouldn't have a market for it. It's like changing from flares to drainpipes. You can go from one to the other but people won't do it in one leap. It's too much."

Boardman is fortunate that his own bike brand has boomed since launching two-and-a-half years ago. That's helped give him the financial platform to undertake research and development that may not pay off.

"It's very high risk," he said. "It's money you're prepared to lose. And we've not been in a position to do it yet, but if you want to be different to the competition and everybody else, then you've got to do it."

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Beyond fifty-six special projects program: beyond fifty-six special projects program

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User Comments

There are 27 comments on this post

Showing 1 - 27 of 27 comments

  • google 'softride' for an idea of just how advanced that frame shape is.....

  • +1

  • Of course, the absolute hour record for a pedal powered machine isn't 56km, it's 56 MILES... so a good starting point for Boardman would be something like this: http://yzzy8.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/varna_diablo_sam_whittingham.jpg

  • This really reminds me of my old ZIPP 2001 triathlon bike, minus the fancy wheels of course!!

  • The hour record was 56KPH average. that link you wrote down are max speed machines that go over a distance of up to 4 miles and their max speed is measured at the end of the distance. Ridden on straight roads.

  • The IHPVA hour record for men is a fraction over 87kmh, maybe the B56 project should be looking at recumbents? :-)

    http://www.ihpva.org/hpvarec3.htm#nom27

  • @Stuntman

    I'm afraid you're wrong. The 56mph average for the hour was achieved earlier this year at the Ford Michigan Proving Grounds, a 5 mile track. The record you are referring to is the 200m with flying start, which stands at 82.8mph on a flat road in neutral wind conditions at Battle Mountain.

  • Why do all these new 'everyday bike of the future' concept bikes feature rediculously high standover heights?

  • Silly rear light design. A jacket, short coat or particularly a long back bicycle fit coat would obscure it.

  • ...Or indeed a large posterior.

  • also, might be a bit tricky fitting mudguards and a rack to that 'everyday' bike.....unless he's banking on global warming actually becoming a reality.....

  • It's a concept bike you morons, it is supposed to look futuristic and "outthere".

    Fitting guards or a rack to a bike with centre less wheels and an enclosed drivetrain like that would be a piece of piss. You could even fully enclose the wheel right round to the contact patch.

  • +1

  • Come on, give the guy some credit! Many of the other big bike companies are only thinking inside of the UCI-defined box. It sounds like a decent amount of money is going to be invested in truly ground-breaking ideas, which is great news.

    As for recumbent design, he should get Mike Burrows on his team and make something truly awesome in that department, then bring it to the masses through the Halfords stores.

  • Have to agree with other posts, first thing I thought of was the Softride bikes

  • Just to point out, the >B56 project is not about a particular bike, such as the concept bike pictured here. It's more about bits of design and development to make bikes (mainly road, mtb, commuters) better. It's stuff that will become apparent as it makes it into prototype and production.

    I know that all sounds very vague at the moment but Boardman is serious about doing this. And we'll be doing our best to spot it...

  • if mr boardman is making sooooo much money through his bike sales then why not invest some of it in training for the fools that sell his bikes. dont want to start another halfords bashing thread (no need we all know they are crap) insterad of focusing on the future he wants to focus on the here and now. no denying his bikes are superb and they sell them as fast as they make them but mr boardmans reputation will forever be stuck to halfords. he maintainds that boardman bikes are a separate entity but try and contact boardman bikes and you get lumbered with halfords customer service. i had a boardman but got rid when they couldnt even tell me where i could find a spare freehub for my carbon pro, they told me to contact a specialist cycle shop ????? that makes halfords the largest non specialist cycle shop in the uk. when i see his bikes in independant retailers i will then believe boardman bikes are not infact halfords.

  • Boardman is a fanny!

  • Haha agreed... can you imagine Halfords selling the bike of the future? There would be so many warranty 'gash' bikes sitting everywhere hahaha.

  • I think it's a brilliant idea. Pushing the design of performance bikes without the antiquated restraints of the UCI could lead to some genuinely exciting innovations. I think most people don't realise quite how great an influence the restrictions of the UCI have had on road-going bikes - from the demise of recumbents 75 years ago to carbon monocoques of the Lotus Superbike ilk 15 years ago. The fact is that the biggest R&D budgets are linked to UCI-sanctioned racing, and a great deal of cycling technology on the bikes we actually ride trickles down from there.

  • quote: mitchgixer6

    Posted Mon 14 Dec, 6

    Boardman is a fanny!

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    i like chris boardman and i like fannys :)

    seriously though, i think chris boardman is an embassador to the sport of cycling. its because of him and others like him that inspired many of todays top cycling athletes to take up cycling in the first place. his success on the track and on the road was very exciting often using exotic machines that was a huge crowd attraction at the time.

    we need new and fresh ideas in cycling.

    despite what many bike manufacturers (and component makers) claims, its a fact that the basic bicycle design has changed very little in the last hundred years.

  • I get how the wheels could attach, but how would you pedal them?

  • Boardman is a fanny... of course. The man has done nothing for the sport. Not used his profile to promote the sport to bring in funding for technical developments, not spent hundreds of man hours from his company redeveloping components for team GB riders to give them the best possible advantage when competing, not worked hard with others at challenging the way both British and Olympic cycling is run to ensure the sport gets out of its own stupid ass way, not sunk his own money back into the sport. etc etc.

  • they going to sell it in halfords??? i lost any respect for him the day he involved his name with those jokers!!!

  • @ whydoesitalwaysrainonme, rims are just a big bearing, as you've probably worked out.

    To transfer drive, my guess: special rim with teeth on one side ("lateral teeth"? not sure of terminology). This is enclosed under the fixed housing. Shaft drive connects toothed rim to BB, bingo.

  • So maybe he's trying to sell good bikes at good prices. By default you have to sell a lot of bikes to do that. This is OK too, anything that gets more people riding is fine by me.

    Unfortunately to do so first you need a brand (Boardman - check) AND second you need market leverage. Step up Halfords - of course the no-brainer, some would say only, option.

    Yeah so their after sales service is a joke, also allegedly their out-of-the-box build quality. Tell you what, if they do sort their act out, LOOK OUT LBS. They'll be the Tesco of bike shops.

  • kieronymous do u work for halfords??????

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