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SRAM’s first complete overhaul to their premier Red groupset greatly improves upon the three weaknesses of the original kit. Although they haven’t created new triathlon shifters or followed the trend to electronic shifting, 2012 SRAM Red brakes stronger, front shifts faster (much faster) and makes less noise than its predecessor. Front Shifting The improvement in front shift performance from the original Red kit to the 2012 version is simply astonishing. SRAM engineers transformed this critical aspect of component performance from the group’s biggest weakness to one of its greatest strengths. A light flick of the new slightly larger shift lever catapults the chain from the small ring to the big without any grinding, skipping or mechanical feedback. The chain just goes. SRAM dramatically changed the front derailleur and the chainrings to achieve this outstanding shift performance. The original Red front derailleur cage was made of titanium and flexed when shifting. Some professional road cyclists and triathletes sponsored by SRAM use the lower level Force front derailleur because it has a stiffer steel cage and shifts faster. The new Red derailleur is feather light, but doesn’t sacrifice stiffness. Instead of using a single material to construct the cage, SRAM used steel, aluminum and even a little carbon to build a cage that is light, stiff and pretty. The wall of the derailleur cage closest to the frame is steel. Although it’s heavier, building this critical section of the derailleur with steel helps the cage keep its shape when pressed against the chain rather than giving way slightly, which can slow shifting. The front of the cage is forged aluminum. This material lightens the component and allows SRAM to shape the piece to a very specific subtle curve and give it a beautiful finish. The black inside portion of the derailleur’s tail is carbon composite press fitted and glued on to the steel segment. SRAM Design Engineer Mark Santurbane says this bond is plenty strong because the chain doesn’t pull directly against the carbon segment so there is very little stress on the bond. In addition to the changes to the cage itself, SRAM fundamentally changed the way the derailleur moves when shifting. Most derailleur cages move straight to the side when shifted from the small ring position to the big. If you marked the position of the walls before and after shifting, they would be parallel to themselves. Although this simplistic movement can execute an accurate shift, existing systems using this derailleur movement require an intermediate front derailleur position to prevent the chain from rubbing against the chain in all gear combinations. SRAM added a twist in the front derailleur’s shift movement that allows the system to rapidly jump gears and eliminate the middle position entirely. The tail of the derailleur is pointed toward the center of the cassette whether in the big ring or the small. When the derailleur drops to the small ring position, the tail of the cage—the rearmost part—doesn’t move in toward the bike as far as the front of the cage. As a result, the cage ends up pointing slightly outward from the bike. This unique movement prevents the chain from rubbing in almost any gear combination. We were able to get a tiny amount of chain rub when in the 39-11 combination, but there wasn’t a whisper in any other combination, even while cross-chaining in the big-big 53-23 gear combination. Although the ability to cross chain with impunity is a major bonus, the biggest improvement is simply the speed, ease and accuracy with which the kit up-shifts. Upshifting to the big ring using the 2011 Red kit required a bit of cajoling, but the 2012 shifts with amazing speed and precision. Since the middle trim position has been eliminated, a light flick on the shifter is all it takes. Front shifting felt amazing compared to any mechanical component kit, and shockingly close to the performance of Shimano Di2 electronic groups. The chain would shift from any gear combination and even under a lot of load. The chainrings are the other redesigned components that make this superior shifting performance possible. After much trial and error while working around the existing patents held by Shimano and Campagnolo, SRAM found a combination of ramps and pins that accelerate front shifting. The front derailleur comes with a chain catcher that can be adjusted independent of the derailleur to prevent the chain from falling off the chainrings onto the frame.
Photo: Nils Nilsen Don’t get stuck on the trainer all winter. With the right clothing you can comfortably ride outside, even in frigid temps. Giro Pivot gloves, $70, Giro.com Thin, insulated and shielded with a weather-resistant layer, the Pivot gloves offer protection from the elements without the impediment typical of lobster-style semi-mittens that squeeze fingers together. Gore Oxygen GT AS jacket, $250, Gorebikewear.com In addition to the popular breathable and waterproof Gore-Tex material, the cycling-specific cut (men’s style pictured) is the Oxygen Jacket’s other defining trait. It fits tightly through the chest and shoulders and is cut in a way that pulls the arms slightly forward toward the bars. The jacket’s chest fits tightly when standing still, but once you drop into the aerobars, every section rests free of strain. It creates a reliable seal around the neck, wrists and waist, but lacks storage pockets. Use it as an outer layer on windy, rainy or snowy days. Specialized Tech Layer short-sleeve, $50, Specialized.com This highly breathable base layer with a snug, cycling-specific fit helps keep your temperature stable by wicking sweat away from your torso. A must-have for places with unpredictable weather, or for sweat-then-stop interval workouts. Castelli Leggerezza 2 bibtight, $170, Castelli-cycling.com The men’s Leggerezza 2 is the bibtight for days that keep most riders indoors. It’s lined with warm, soft fleece from the ankles to the ribs. The front of the legs are covered with a moderately wind- and water-resistant soft-shell material, and the back is more breathable. The chamois and tight create a little bulk between the rider and the saddle. Pearl IzumiPRO Barrier WXB shoe cover, $50, Pearlizumi.com Thin soft-shell outer material with a fleece lining stretches from the toe up over the ankle, but doesn’t cover the sole. This opening prevents the cover from wearing through while walking. The rear of the bootie opens to create a gaping hole for the foot that allows the cover to slip on and off with ease. RELATED: Does Winter Running Burn More Calories?
The Seconds Pro interval timer is a fantastic app for triathletes available for purchase from the iTunes App Store. It is a great way to keep track of your favorite cycling and running interval workouts using your iPhone. If you’re like many athletes, you already depend on your smart phone to keep track of your busy life. Everything from scheduling workouts around business meetings to sending emails to your coach on the fly, your phone is never more than an arm’s reach away. So why not take it a step further and actually use your phone as a training partner and motivator? Think of the Seconds Pro interval timer as a coach who comes along with you, guiding you through your workouts, and alerting you when intervals and rest periods begin and end. This app works by allowing users to program interval workouts into it and then running as a countdown-style timer during a workout. The menus are intuitive and easy to navigate, and athletes can customize the experience, down to what color the screen will be during certain intervals, and what sound will indicate the beginning of an upcoming interval. The app can even announce the name of an interval when it begins using a text-to-voice feature. Users can program their music to match their workouts, with the ability to play a specific playlist during a specific interval. Think fast, upbeat music for a more intense interval versus more ambient and relaxing music during recovery time. The app allows users to share favorite workouts with their friends or training partners via an easy, built-in interface. This is the perfect time of year to begin integrating the Seconds Pro app into your training program. While the days are short and the temperatures are cold, training time is limited, and much of it is done indoors. The benefits of winter interval training are two-fold: for one, doing intervals is a great way to get a lot of bang for your training buck when you have a limited amount of time. And doing creative interval workouts can also help you to keep things interesting while stuck inside. One of the easiest ways to use the Seconds Pro app indoors is to place the phone on a hard surface that is easily seen and reached from your position on the bike or treadmill. This way you can not only stop and start the timer while working out, but seeing the timer can help you along during a workout by keeping you abreast of the time remaining in each interval. The Seconds Pro app can be useful outdoors as well as inside. With the previously mentioned text to talk feature, it will read the name of an interval as it starts, alerting you to the specifics of your workout even if your phone is still tucked safely away in a jersey pocket. If you regularly run or ride with music, the app will run concurrently with your iPod, with the app’s alerts playing over your music letting you know when your next interval is beginning. The app does have functionality that allows users to share their workouts automatically via Facebook and Twitter. This can easily be turned off if an athlete doesn’t want to alert their whole social network to the latest endeavor. RELATED: iPhone Apps For Triathletes There are a couple of additions we think would be useful in terms of how Seconds Pro allows users to share workouts. It would be great if, in addition to sharing via email or social network, users could post their favorite workouts to a website for others to download and use. And while the majority of the Seconds app’s functionality is very sleek, the process required to share a workout is not. It requires a user to copy a large amount of text directly from an email and then paste this text into the app. While not actually difficult, it simply doesn’t match the rest of the well thought out menus and functions. The only other improvement we’d like to see is a minor one. Occasionally when running the app and playing music, either through Apple’s AirPlay or through headphones, the tones of the app can be off by a few seconds. All this means is that the audio tones signaling the start of an interval don’t sync up with the timer on the display. It is never more than a couple of seconds off, and only happens intermittently. The developer of the Seconds Pro app seems to actively update and improve the software, so this small bug will almost certainly be worked out in a future version. At only $2.99, we find the Seconds Pro Interval Timer is very affordable for the benefits it provides.
Photo: Nils Nilsen Many athletes assume that the lower the aerobar, the faster the rider. This supposed dogma is wrong. Here’s why. You still have to generate power Lowering the aerobars shrinks the angle between the rider’s torso and thigh. Closing this angle too much creates biomechanical and metabolic limitations that can compromise both power and aerodynamics. One of these problems is hip flexor impingement. The hip flexor muscles pull the femur up toward the pelvis, and when the hip angle gets too small, these muscles can no longer pull effectively.
Cervélo teamed up with Magura to create a hydraulic rim brake specifically for the P5 , and the brakes are also compatible with any tri bike. Scroll through the photos at the top left of the page for more on the Magura RT 8TT. The hydraulic stopping system designed by Magura, a premier MTB brake manufacturer, is compatible with all road wheels. The lever mounts to any standard triathlon basebar and the caliper can be installed on any standard fork or frame brake mount. Although standard brake cables and housing both feel solid in-hand, the pressure applied through the cable and housing stretches the brake cable and compresses the housing, resulting in a mushy feeling and greater lever travel under hard braking. As the cable slides within the housing it creates friction that further hampers brake performance, a problem that has become more common thanks to the proliferation of hidden and integrated brakes. Anyone who has ridden a triathlon bike with extremely tight or circuitous brake cable routing is all too aware that a brake with twisted housing lacks stopping power and lags before reopening after braking. Once a few drops of sports drink leak into the housing, braking performance become even worse. Hydraulic brakes solve all of those problems. Although bikes with straight and simplistic brake routing certainly reduce the problems with cable-actuated brakes, a single ride aboard a mountain bike with hydraulic disc brakes makes the potential of hydraulic brakes immediately obvious, even though these are rim brakes, not disc. The Cervélo P4’s rear brake, one of the first truly integrated calipers, suffers from those issues and the Canadian company wanted a better solution for the P5. Rather than starting from scratch to design a hydraulic brake themselves, they approached Magura and suggested the two companies work together to create a hydraulic brake for the P5. Magura handled the hydraulic mechanism and Cervélo integrated the brake into the bike. PHOTOS: Cervélo P5 Cable braking systems use pulling force to squeeze the rim but hydraulic systems only push, they can’t pull. Hydraulic systems functions like this: A plunger is pushed into the hydraulic line running through the basebar when the rider squeezes the brake lever and forces fluid (the RT 8TT uses mineral oil) through the line. This fluid doesn’t compress and a twisted line doesn’t impair its movement, so the hydraulic line transmits all the pressure to the far end of the system, which actuates the brake. This fundamental change from pulling to pushing forced Magura to design a unique road caliper that functions with a hydraulic system. The Magura RT 8TT brake caliper has a piston that sits beneath two brake arms that actuate about pivot points above the piston. The piston drives upward and forces the upper segment of the arms outward to the sides, which rotates the brake arms and forces the lower portion to squeeze inward toward the rim. Magura claims the RT 8TT can create 44% more force than the nearest competitor listed in their presentation. On the road, it feels substantially more powerful and responsive than a cable-actuated brake. Perhaps the biggest difference in braking feel is the way stopping power ramps up with only a small increase in the pressure on the lever. Instead of putting a death grip on the brake lever to max out the brake caliper’s stopping force, the RT 8TT requires only a subtly tighter squeeze on the lever. Although it would certainly be easier to flip ass-over-teakettle with these brakes than with cable brakes, stopping power isn’t excessive or jerky. With just a little experience, we were able to quickly adjust our internal gauge for the pressure needed to slow the bike. These brakes are not, however, as powerful as hydraulic disc brakes on mountain bikes and they have a little more give when squeezing the rim as well. Although they don’t offer the same stopping performance of a hydraulic disc brake, they are strong and offer a supremely consistent, reliable connection with the brake caliper. They are a fantastic improvement over any other hidden or integrated brake. Don’t be surprised if every high-end triathlon bike comes with hydraulic calipers within a few years.
