The clean lines of Germany’s FES track machineRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Alternate view of Germany’s FES machineRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Rear view of FES bike and some very big thighs powering itRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Front view of FES bike. Note the rider is using double toe straps as well as clipless pedalsRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Interesting Australian sprint bars – narrower than shoulder width for better aerodynamicsRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Side view of sprint barsRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Ben Swift’s omnium pursuit machineRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Derny ‘Faith’Robin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Derny ‘Hope’ with rear facing cameraRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Derny ‘Hope’ with rear facing camera attachedRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Derny ‘Hope’ with Gaffer taped pole, mini tripod and cameraRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Red white and blue Dernys, Faith, Hope and CharityRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
A very vertical stem on a FeltRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Wheel deflection on this Felt, or just a shadow?Robin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
This Greek sprinter was riding a raw finished LookRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Side view of familiar Look frame but with no paintRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Sir Chris Hoy warming up on his Dogma 2Robin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
This Italian’s steerer tube could do with shorteningRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
New Zealand’s Ed Dawkins riding a stealthy looking unbranded machineRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Side view of NZ’s Dawkins’ bike with customised ‘ed’ on stemRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Alternate view of NZ’s new bikeRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Rear end of the NZ track machineRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Sarah Hammer starting her Omnium pursuit with wide set tri barsRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Phillip Njisane’s Felt has a wider crown than any other sprinterRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Overall front view of Njisane’s sprint bikeRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
Njisane starting his flying 200m qualifying rideRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
The increased crown and fork width is obvious head onRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com
With the UCI track world championships getting under way in Melbourne, Australia next week, we thought we’d give you a closer look at some of the technology that goes into modern track bikes.
The rules of track cycling dictate that you’re only allowed to ride a fixed gear bike – that means no gears and no brakes. This combined with the wind-free conditions of indoor racing breeds its own form of tech.
Frames and handlebars are designed to be as stiff and as aerodynamic as possible, with weight less of an issue given the UCI’s minimum bike weight requirement (6.8kg) still needs to be met. Front disk wheels, which are virtually impossible to control on the road when it’s windy, are commonplace on an indoor velodrome. Toe straps are used in addition to clipless pedals to secure sprinters’ feet so they don’t become unclipped when they’re putting 2000+ watts through the pedals.
Our photographer Rob Wilmott was at the track world cup in London last month, and picked out a selection of images for us which we’ve posted in a gallery here.
We’ll have an even closer look at the stars and what they’re capable of in part 2 of our track cycling tech feature.
Interesting australian sprint bars: interesting australian sprint barsRobin Wilmott/BikeRadar.com