Bicycle Design

Tyler’s US Pro winning Fuji SL1

It was a great weekend of racing in Greenville and I was extremely happy to hear the announcement yesterday that the US Pro Championships will stay here for another three years. By now, you have probably already read about how Tyler Hamilton outsprinted Blake Caldwell to win yesterday’s US Pro Championship road race in an extremely close photo finish. You can read more about the details of the race elsewhere, but I want to point out the bike (pictured here) that Tyler won on. Unlike his Rock Racing team mates who rode the standard team DeRosas with Stella Azzurra Calibro wheels, Tyler was riding a black carbon Fuji SL1 with Campy Record and what appeared to be Zipp 1080s with the stickers removed. While I was watching the race, I was curious about Tyler’s wheel choice for a road race course with a lot of hills and one very steep climb. Obviously Tyler’s results show that the extra deep rims were a good choice, but they certainly stood out among all the lower profile rims on all the other pro bikes.

I have many photos from the time trial and road race to share and I will get those up on Flickr as soon as I have a chance to sort through them. I wanted to sort though my photos and post a few by now, but it was a very full weekend of riding and watching the races. Saturday after the time trial, we had a bike blogger meetup. It was great to meet Frank from the Tour de France blog and DL Byron and his wife Pam from Bike Hugger. I also briefly meet a few other people during the course of the weekend, Trish from Southeastern Cycling and Neil from Road Magazine to name just a few (sorry if I am leaving anyone out). It was also good to see Olivier from the Brand Builder blog, who was out photographing the race for Hincapie Sportswear. He already has some great time trial shots posted and I am looking forward to seeing his road race shots soon. All in all, it was great to see people I already know who were involved with the race and it was really cool to meet some new people, whose blogs and sites that I read on a regular basis. Yep, overall it was a great weekend. I’ll let you know when my race pictures are up.

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James

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Comments

13 responses to “Tyler’s US Pro winning Fuji SL1”

  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Why would he be allowed by the team to race a Fuji when they are sponsored by De Rosa? Great win.

    Reply
  2. James Avatar
    James

    I don’t know what the relationship is between Rock Racing and Fuji, but they have raced them in the recent past with the Fuji logos clearly visible. Does anyone know if they are switching to Fuji as a bike sponsor next season?

    I need to correct one thing I said in the post- actually Freddie Rodriguez was riding a Fuji at US Pro too (without the deep rims). All the other Rock Racing riders were on DeRosas.

    Reply
  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I saw Cesar Grajales riding a Fuji at Tour of Utah. The word is that the entire team will be decked out in custom Fuji’s for the Tour of Britan. I am sure that a deal for 09 will be announced come interbike, if not before.

    Reply
  4. bikesgonewild Avatar
    bikesgonewild

    …sounded like a great race & i caught the last hour or so on the v-news live printout…

    …initially i was hoping to see danny pate or freddy rodriguez prevail, but when i realized tyler hamilton was in the mix, i hadda cheer for the man…he may never have admitted to anything, but i certainly think he paid a large price, so i'm glad to see him in the stars & stripes, for a year…& i'm glad micheal ball's faith in his guys has been repaid w/ a nat's victory…

    …ball seems to have settled down a little & although i'm sure he'll "put his foot in his mouth" more than a few more times, i think at this point, he's a good shot in the arm for the sport…

    …props to hamilton & ball…

    Reply
  5. spokejunky Avatar
    spokejunky

    Didn’t spot you at the amateur races on Saturday. I rode the Master/30+ in the morning. Glad I didn’t get into the 11:00 races as the heat at the end of our race was bordering on brutal.
    I asked the mechanic for Rock what the deal was on the Fuji bikes. He said they were coming on in ’09 as a sponsor. Got some pit pics HERE. Check out the last Rock bike, number 123. Look closely and tell me what you see. Hint: look at the stem.

    Reply
  6. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Before congratulating Tyler, I’d recommend waiting for the drug and blood doping test results to come back. This ride was out of character for him since his suspension.

    Reply
  7. bikesgonewild Avatar
    bikesgonewild

    …anon 10:34am…although i’m sure the tour of qinghai lake in china was not up to your anonymous standards, mr hamilton did pick up a recent win there in a 10 stage race which averaged 10,000 ft in altitude…

    …& as a rider in the pro peloton, if you were one of the few who paid the price for the actions of so many, when given the chance to at least partially redeem yourself on the road, you might find the strength for that final bike throw across the line for your own respectability & as a thanks to your boss, who showed his faith in you when others simply pointed fingers…

    …i don't try to justify what may or may not be the former actions of a lotta guys in bike racing, but sunday was a brilliant win for hamilton & rock racing…

    Reply
  8. -p Avatar
    -p

    Spokejunky – I see a custom frame (either Aluminum or hand made carbon) wrapped in DeRosa decals. Tell us – who makes that giant carbon tree trunk of a stem?

    Reply
  9. jimmythefly Avatar
    jimmythefly

    Why ride those wheels? Because they look eeevil! Not sure why else, but that bike does look bad-ass, and I usually try to not judge a bike by looks alone.

    Reply
  10. spokejunky Avatar
    spokejunky

    It’s a Super Six…check out the stays and the downtube.

    Reply
  11. -p Avatar
    -p

    It looks like Rock Racing bike 125 is also a fake DeRosa.

    Reply
  12. James Avatar
    James

    Interesting. Thanks for pointing us to those pics Spokejunky.

    Reply
  13. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Cool, I have an SL-1 and despite Hamilton’s past, I sure don’t regret buying one. Although I run Sram with Shimano Pedals, not Campy with Shimano pedals like Hamilton and some other Campy guys I know.

    Rock Racing may be testing out new bikes for next year and that’s why some are not DeRosa’s. Then again the Fuji wasn’t disguised, but the C-dale’s were. So who knows, maybe they went over budget on all the different uniforms.

    Reply

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