Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Une Saison en Enfer

To many this sunday is Easter to me it's the Queen of the Classics, the Hell of the North, the most brutal of all pro races Paris-Roubaix . This is the race that the pro's love to hate*, and I just plain love.
The P.R. bike is a little different form the bikes used durring the rest of the road season: traditional hand built wheels, wider tyres and longer wheelbases are the norm. Some have tried cantis, cylocross style top leavers, higher handlebars or even placing elastomers in their frames. In the 90's Lemond tried out front suspension, and in 1994 Bianchi with John Museeuw even tried out a full suspension road bike (28 lbs!). The bike was a one off, and Museeuw ended up finnishing 14th due to a blown tyre. According to Robert MacNeil (http://www.campyman.com/) "The bike was only raced once because the bike cost way too much, if I remember it cost a tad over $ 20,000 to produce. Sadly, it was never raced again because GB MG disbanded and Bianchi was no longer sponsoring the team."

Anyone have any thoughts on what new features we might see this year?








*"Paris-Roubaix is bullshit" -Hinault

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