3T Strada 'the future of the performance road bike' lands in the pro peloton for 2018 with Aqua Blue Sport

The whole thing is a punt. Every rider knows this as well as the team.
This isn't really about competition. More like $$ and fat chancers.

I'm a bit confused. So less weight (marginally) but then there is an UCI minimum weight anyway so what benefit there ?

More aero - ok I see that but in the real world - that's not going to be measurable.

Such tight clearance on the wheels - that's going to be a problem on any muddy rides. And didn't the GB Olympic bikes have HUGE clearances on the wheels ? So which way is right ? Bigger clearances are more practical.

"The benefits of 1x

It’s lighter - only one ring at the front"

By the time you factor in the huge sprockets (and possibly more of them to close the gaps) at the back end exactly how much weight do you save with 1x?

Mark.

Can't read the article because of the damn autoplay ads!  Can only read the bottom of the comments or the top of the article.  Any fixes?

Ballsy step by both parties. 

Knowing racing cyclists there will be some moaning going on behind closed doors. I wouldn't be surprised if a 2x 11 set up is in place by May.

1x11 works for off-road because the gaps between gears are barely different to what MTBers have ever been used to... 9x 11-32 cassettes really aren't very different to 11x 10-42. what you do is add range either end at the cost of literally 3 teeth across the block. That extra range negates the need for extra chainrings.

Also, due to the nature of MTB sport you are never really pedalling any one gear, or travelling at any one speed for any real length of time. Therefore, if you are a little over-geared or under, it won't be very long until the situation changes and you are back in range... i.e. it doesn't matter.

Its a similar situation in cross racing; you don't spend any time at any given speed so its OK not to have the range. Also, Cross involves a lot of accelerating, and sometimes that is easier if you can get up the range of gears quicker. Finally, because cross laps are short, you don't tend to ride any long steep hills or descents, so you don't require a huge range of gears... therefore even more than MTB the 1x11 set up is the right one. 

On the road its different. You spend extended periods racing in excess of 30mph, and rather than it being an extreme speed, you need to be able to accelerate, be conservative with effort etc etc... you need gears down there. What this means is that you can't drop the size of the chainring below the 53/54t commonly used. 

Ok you could use 10 and 9t sprockets, however these are very inefficient gears (as is 11 to be honest), so come at a cost. 

So chain rings will be staying at 53/54t.

Which means you have a problem on the hills which can only be addressed by upping the cogs at the other end of the cassette. This will make riders moan as unlike us mortals, racers are very sensitive to riding at the wrong cadence for periods of time.

While I get the idea of a bike like this on certain terrain, particularly something with a few hills but no major mountains, but I don't see how something like this can be competitive at a race like milan san remo where you need to be able to get over mountains comfortably/conserve energy, and then bury it on the downhill and sprint at the end.

If they think they can do it (or are testing 12/13 speed sram setups next season) then fair enough. for a lot of races in the UK or belgium this could work, but I'm not so sure about stage races in europe which seems to be what they're pushing to be involved in.

“We at Aqua Blue Sport are very much attracted to innovation and people who are moving cycling forward​ dependent on sponsorship money from bike manufacturers. What Gerard Vroomen and 3T have designed is truly a step forward bicycle design​ done is forced us to ride this bike that tries to solve a problem that doesn't exist . We are delighted to bring this bike to the professional ranks and ride it in the world’s biggest events​ be able to keep our jobs within the team and if that means we have to ride a bike not adapted to the job, we'll do it as it beats being unemployed.”

I bet they come last

Must be desperate for exposure / sponsorship to hamstring your team. 

If the frameset wasn’t so expensive I would buy one...

This is an awesome development - can't wait! Innovate or die.

More ‘re-invent the wheel’ tosh.

FUGLY

Also, only 28mm tyre, really? Given that teams like FDj have used 32mm tyres with shimano long drop caliper brakes at places like paris-Roubaix, using disc brakes to fit a 'wider' tyre which actually isn't compared to previous caliper brake frames make most of the point of discs pointless and going by this actually retrograde. You certainly cant get a 32mm tyre into that frame, no fucking way!

If you're strong enough and the terrain dictates 1x can be okay, so maybe a crit with a 50/49/48 for instance and 11-25 (48x11 is 36mph at 105rpm) , maybe even a flat stage with a 52, anything else is going to make you less efficient in finding that sweet spot for your cadence not to mention running out of gears. Not everyone is comfortable  with higher or much lower revs so i can't see this being popular except for very specific courses and very specific riders.

Also the wider the spread the more difficult transitioning between the gears becomes, especially in competitive racing, not just going down to the lower gears but also the jumps at the high end, sure you'll preserve the 11/12/13 but if you require a 34 because you've only one chainring what are you going to do inbetween that?

Okay, flat stage, as I said, not so much of a problem, however introduce some inclines and can you big ring it on a 53/28  on a 7/10/12/15% incline for say a few km? You could end up needing a very odd cassette like 11/12/13/15/17/19/21/23/27/30/34, sure 12 or 13 speed will negate the jumps a bit more and offer a more feasible/useful range for going up and down the steep stuff but then by the time you get to 14 speed you're in Rohloff territory. Might as well go back to hub gears

Didn't Tony Martin use a 1x on his time trial bike at the TdF?

This is flipping brilliant. A pro team riding on a Sram 1x set up. In your face, Shimano!

I'm hoping we'll see the rear cassette go to 12 cogs and an eTap version.

Fingers crossed.