3T's design Guru, Gerard Vroomen talks about the future of the road bike

Robbie boy....

Not very nice to troll people in such a way! Since you're so special, please advise me where I should go. 

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/campagnolo-record-11-speed-braze-on-front-derail...

Not exactly 600 is it? Oh I assume SRAM Force 1 left shifter=0£?

Oh man, this guy is funny. Let me sum up:

1) One shifter vs. Two-hahahahahaha. Really? You really treat us as monkeys. Sounds like you also work for SRAM.

2) 1000 dollars story-hahahaha. Says a man who is proposing a niche 3000-4000 dollar frame.

3) 100 dollar FD-hahaha. Maybe Super Record, but I doubt those are on 1000dollar bikes.

4) CSC team and Zipp wheels-hahaha. Really? Riis' teams are well-known about their cleanliness. The gentleman himself is something as well. But ye, it's about Zipps and winning Paris Roubaix in 2003-2004.

Seriously this guy...I used to have huge respect for Cervelo and its impact on the sport. After seeing this "legwnd" of the industry...thank you but I'll stick to my 1996 retro bike with shallow wheels. Let's see who's got a bigger smile!

When are we going see a pro-team on 3T bikes!?

I like it. It seems odd they haven't included a bit more clearance but I like the concept. 

1x probably is the way forward, if you can get a specifically stepped 12 speed road cassette it seems to make sense. It will be interesting to see what their cassette will be like. 

The bigger gaps bother me when powering along the flat (I have an 11-40 cassette on my winter/adventure bike), but you get used to it and when climbing the bigger jumps are fine as they are on a MTB. A proper road cassette with smaller steps in the right places could solve this. 

And yes, narrower tyres are marginally more aero, but a hell of a lot less comfortable, so I don't really understand the comments above. I have swiss side wheels, they say 23mm is marginally more aero, but they recommend a 25mm tyre (which comes up 28mm on my 19mm internal width rims). 

Personally when I got my first 2x bike I had 0 concerns about two shifters and took me like 1 minute to get used to shifting the front mech. At no point was I confused. So I don't buy his reason for 1x v 2x based on that.

However, they are progressive in their thought process where the competitors are making very modest tweaks to their products.

He's been successful in the past and I don't see any reason why he won't this time.

I thought Swiss side and flo were recommending conti 4000s 23mm for max aero on the front wheel and also uk testers recommending. 28mm 4000s is approx 31mm wide 29mm high on a 17mm internal rim, doesn't sound very aero, comfy yes. By all means stick a 28 on the back for max comfort. 

36t cassette sounds crazy jumpy in gaps between gears, I don't like my 22t-19t step as it is on a sram 11-28 10 speed let alone any bigger gap!

1x for entry level sure, or tony Martin with a 58t front ring tt bike but not for me thanks. 

"The future is 1x" - it might be for a niche market 3T is aiming at (people who can afford multiple bikes and want to be sold the idea that 1x is somehow 'better'). Doubles, compacts, sub-compacts etc are not going away.

He's selling an aero bike with specific features so is not going to say "1x has obvious limitations" or "this bike's aero gains are much smaller than you'd get by wearing a tighter fitting jersey".

The aero benefits are miniscule. Even the most fanatical testers don't always bother to ditch the inner ring and front derailleur (which weigh naff-all). And optimised for 28mm? Hardly ground-breaking.

Rider X wrote:

Just borrow a bike from the 80's or 90's and you will get chuffed again.

Excellent point!

@ mike the bike - your new bike works just fine. Enjoy it.

28 mm tyres, disc brakes, single chain ring, but the clearances are a bit tight. not a bad first attempt at a cross bike though.

Dont worry.

You'll need to ride your upgrades just like its always been.  

Now look.  I've just bought a new bike and it's modern.  And it cost an arm and another arm and a leg.  It's got all the stuff I'm told is essential, like discs, pipes full of mineral oil, flexy this and rigid that, big tyres and everything.  And, up until an hour ago I was well chuffed with it.

And then along comes this foreign bloke, spouting his theories, and suddenly my bike is old hat.  Front derailleur, who wants a front derailleur?  Only eleven gears on my cassette, how dated is that?  Left gear lever, chuck that in the bin.

Well it's not good enough.  Progress must stop, and soon.