Tag: UCI

  • Come on UCI…it’s time to allow innovation in the Hour Record again

    Come on UCI…it’s time to allow innovation in the Hour Record again

      I wrote a bit about my confusion with the UCI after Jens Voight set a new athlete’s (or unified, or whatever we are calling it now) hour record in September of last year. After watching Bradley Wiggins ride an impressive new distance Sunday, I am excited to see that interest in the hour record is…

  • Jens Voigt’s hour record bike and my confusion with the UCI

    Jens Voigt’s hour record bike and my confusion with the UCI

    I have been a fan of the hour record for a long time. Back in the early to mid 90s, I really loved the technological arms race that was happening as Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman swapped the hour back and forth on very different, but equally innovative bikes (not to mention the amazing hour…

  • UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships

    UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships

      The UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships took place in Greenville, SC over Labor Day weekend. As I have mentioned before, these athletes are incredibly inspiring …and the bikes, trikes, and handcycles that they use are quite interesting as well. I won’t go into detail about the equipment in this short post, but I encourage you…

  • Handcycles of the 2013 Para-cycling Open

    Handcycles of the 2013 Para-cycling Open

    Just over a month ago (yeah, I know…I am slow to post sometimes), I had the opportunity to watch the 2013 Greenville Para-cycling Open time trial. Next year, the UCI Para-cycling World Championships  (time trial and road) will take place on the same courses here in Greenville, SC, so this was a great opportunity for…

  • Are beam frames making a comeback?

    Are beam frames making a comeback?

    My post from last year about pro triathlete TJ Tollakson’s 1996 Zipp bike is still generating a fair bit of traffic here at Bicycle Design, so I assume there must be some renewed interest in beam frames.  If the reaction to Graeme Pearson’s Z1-Eleven frame design on the Slowtwitch forum is any indication, there is…

  • Is the UCI just misunderstood?

    Is the UCI just misunderstood?

    I have been critical of the UCI a few times in the past  (here, here, and most recently here), but I now know it was only because I have been woefully uninformed. In a video posted today by Carlton Reid, UCI president Pat McQuaid explains that his organization is often treated as a ‘punching bag’…

  • The Shiv, P4, and the UCI

    The Shiv, P4, and the UCI

    The UCI’s  Approval Program of Frames and Forks “sees strong demand by the industry.” At least that is what the subject line of a press release that the UCI sent out a couple months ago stated. If you have read any of my past posts about the UCI, you can probably guess that I don’t…

  • Hotta, Infinity, or Proteus?

    Some of you may remember a couple of years ago when I posted a Hotta time trial bike that was forwarded to me by a reader. In that post, I mentioned how much I love those early 90’s British time trial bikes (designed prior to the Lugano charter) from companies like Hotta and Lotus. Recently,…

  • Velomobiles and ‘bents

    Brecht Vandeputte sent me this photo of a WAW 045 velomobile racing a Dodge Viper. OK, it probably wasn’t a real race, but it is still a pretty cool image of a slick looking velomobile. For those of you not familiar with the WAW, it is a Belgian 3-wheeled velomobile with a Kevlar body. It…

  • Back to reality?

    Have I mentioned before that I am not a big fan of the UCI’s draconian restrictions on the design of racing bicycles? Yeah, I know I have mentioned it at least once, but it has been a while so allow me to rant again. According to a New York Times article published yesterday, the UCI…

  • Reinventing the UCI

    In case anyone has not picked up on it, I am not a big fan of the UCI’s restrictions on the bicycles used by professional cyclists. The evolution of road and track bicycle design was accelerated in the 90’s when Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman were trading the hour record back and forth. So what…