Rael road bike concept 2.0

Rael road bike concept by Evan SolidaYou may remember the Rael road bike concept by Evan Solida from a post earlier this year. Since that time, Evan has refined the design and set up a website for the project, which he hopes to move forward with soon.

Evan’s primary focus lately has been the development of his Cerevelum “digital bike mirror”, but he developed the Rael as a side project in order to approach the design of a road bike as “a whole rather than a frame and components”. A few of the resulting details in his design are pretty interesting and challenge the conventional (UCI approved) way of constructing a racing bike.

rael concept bike handlebarsAt first glance, the handlebars, with upside down brake levers, are probably the most noticeable difference between this concept and any other high-end road bike. Evan explains the reason for that ergonomic change; “Anyone that has descended a steep mountain knows that the most braking power comes from having hands in the drops, thus using the index finger to pull back the lever. While not the strongest digit, the index finger allows for the longest pulling distance and greatest modulation. By moving the pivot location for the brake to the bottom of the bars, the rider has increased modulation and power while riding on the top of the bars, much in the same location as the hoods are in modern-day systems.” He points out that, “with the advent of electronic shifting, no longer is the shape of the lever dictated by the actuation of the cables”, so a complete redesign of the cockpit area makes sense.

rael seatpost and stem adjustmentYou will also notice that the angle of the stem is quite different from a traditional road bike. Instead of adjusting the bars and stem up and down at an angle that is roughly parallel to the seat tube, this design allows the reach and height of the handlebars to “increase proportionally to that of the saddle height, making it easier for cyclists to find their ideal position.”

Rael concept bike carbon/titanium framesetThe carbon front triangle features an airfoil shaped downtube that “splits the air coming off the front wheel, then sends the “dirty” air back towards the convex seat-tube and fins. The arched, titanium fins located on either side of the triangular seat-tube are placed in such a way that they direct air inwards towards the seat-tube. The convex cross-section of the seat-tube then pushes the turbulant air away from the spinning rear-wheel.” It is an interesting approach to aerodynamics, and I would love to see how it works in a wind tunnel.

rael crank / bottom bracket assemblyThe oversized bottom bracket shell is another noticeable detail. A two-piece crank bolts together in the middle of the shell and rolls on 40 roller bearings for a smooth spin.

I have just pointed out a few of the interesting design details here. There are several more that you can read about on the “details” page of the Rael website.

 

While I am posting about road racing bikes, I’ll mention this Bicycling Magazine photo feature of State-of-the-Art Bikes and Tech at the Tour de France. Several new 2012 bikes like the Cervelo S5, the Ridley Noah IBS, the Specialized Tarmac SL4, and the Giant TCR Advanced SL are shown. All are very nice, but the new Ridley, with  integrated brakes and other ‘fast concept’ features is the new road bike that excites me the most. The Cervelo is the bike that seems to be getting the most media attention right now. That might have something to do with a certain Norwegian in yellow though, so expect the media focus to be on another bike soon…perhaps one from BMC.



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6 responses to “Rael road bike concept 2.0”

  1. Logan Avatar
    Logan

    Interesting ideas. I recall those brifters drew a lot of criticism with the initial post, and they seem to be unchanged. Hopefully the clamp would be more significant that current designs use, since they must transfer the full load of the rider’s upper body forces to the bar. The needle-bearing BB is novel, but seems to disregard thrust forces? As is, the crank would act like a facing tool on the BB shell – lots of grinding.

    1. station44025 Avatar
      station44025

      It think the rationale behind the normal pivot positioning of a brake lever is that you want to be able to have some fingers gripping the bar while you operate the lever with other fingers. Seems like you would potentially pinch some fingers with this set up unless they get the geometry worked out.

  2. station44025 Avatar
    station44025

    So, the head tube angle is normal, but it just has a diagonal stem? Seems like having an incremental angle adjustment on the stem would be a good idea as well. I’ve always been baffled as to why stems need to be replaced to adjust angle and reach.

    1. art Avatar
      art

      Most stems need to be replaced to adjust reach because it’s something that doesn’t get adjusted very often. Adjustable stems aren’t worth the extra weight and complication for most riders.

      This system takes things to the other extreme by not allowing reach to be adjusted independently of bar height. It assumes there’s some perfect proportion for every dimension on the bike, but if you’re say, a long armed sprinter, you’ll never get the right position on this bike.

  3. erik Avatar
    erik

    how much speed

    1. kimbo305 Avatar
      kimbo305

      Much speed.

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