At the 2015 Tour de France, American Tejay van Garderen looks to be the closest thing to a rival for Chris Froome, who stormed away from all the top riders on stage 10. Van Garderen is racing a 2016 BMC Teammachine SLR01, with a straightforward (if ultra high-end) build, save for one tiny brake routing detail.
Tejay van garderen's bmc teammachine slr01
Video: Tejay van Garderen's Tour de France BMC Teammachine SLR01
At 7.59 kg / 16.73lb (with the C50 wheels shown here), van Garderen's SLR01 isn't hyper-light. And the gearing seems downright pedestrian, too, with an 11-28 we are increasingly seeing on pro bikes. BMC mechanic Ian Sherburne pointed out that with 11-speed cassettes, riders can now get a wide range of gears with tight spacing between them (formerly the sticking point of wide-range cassettes), so there is no reason not to go bigger.
One sharp detail Sherburne and other BMC mechanics put on van Garderen's and other team bikes is the Nokon brake housing that feeds into the head tube.
"If you make the [standard] housing the length that you want it to be, it pushes the handlebar kind of to one side," Sherburne said. "If you make it too long to prevent kinking, it pushes the handlebar a little bit to the other side."
Nokon's segmented housing, being hyper-flexible, allows for tidy routing that doesn't add that tiny bit of steering pressure.
Check out the gallery above for a closer look, and see the full bike details below.
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Complete bike specifications
- Frame: 2016 BMC Teammachine SLR01
- Fork: 2016 BMC Teammachine SLR01Stem: 3T ARX-Team, 130mm
- Handlebar: 3T Ergonova Team, 42cm
- Brakes: Shimano Dura-Ace 9000
- Front derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9070
- Rear derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9070
- Levers: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9070
- Cassette: Shimano Dura-Ace, 11-28
- Chain: Shimano Dura-Ace
- Cranks: Shimano Dura-Ace, 172.5mm
- Power meter: SRM
- Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace
- Wheels: Shimano C50
- Tubulars: Continental Competition Pro LTD, 25mm
- Saddle: Fizik Aliante VSX
- Seatpost: 2016 BMC Teammachine SLR01
Critical measurements
- Complete bike weight: 7.59 kg / 16.73lb
- Rider's height: 185cm / 6'1"
- Rider's weight: 69kg / 151lbs
- Saddle height from BB, c-t: 78cm
- Tip of saddle to handlebar: 59cm
