What would have been a bigger story doing the rounds during the Giro d’Italia was rather spoiled by the Landis doping accusations but nevertheless the issue of "bike doping" had us scratching our heads wondering if the whole thing was an elaborate if belated April Fool or just maybe the biggest scandal to hit cycling ever. Indeed, Lance Armstrong tweeted in exasperation words to the effect, "huh? bike doping – that’s all we need!"
Today the mashup video below has hit the interwebs partly featuring Davide Cassani, an Italian former top professional turned cycling commentator, ripped off Italian TV. Partly showing the design and installation of an electric motor in a standard bicycle. And finally the really scandalous part where video from this year’s Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders races are superimposed with ‘evidence’ that a World Champion cyclist was using just such a ‘doped’ bike.
Essentially, what we have is a little electric motor that fits down the seat tube and engages its little pinion with a corresponding gear on the bottom bracket axle – or pedal hub as it’s described in the shaky on-screen translation.
A battery is concealed somewhere unspecifically out of sight around the bottom bracket area and discrete on-off buttons attached beneath the brake levers. Et voila, a potential Classic Road Race winning machine.
Of course, we’re hoping that the whole thing is viral mischief whipped up over a beer by the marketing geniuses behind Gruber Assist an Austrian product from the Tyrolean mountains where taking the sting out of leisure and exercise cycling is a high priority. If it is, we’re happy to assist in the spirit it’s intended not least because it shows how things are progressing with electric-assist bikes.
Quite how happy a certain Swiss champion will be about all this, remains to be seen.
16 thoughts on ““This video explains how mechanic doping may be done””
well my money’s on the “world
well my money’s on the “world time trial champion”
side of things rather than little electric motors – I
hope I’m not wrong !!
Not that the Belgian’s are
Not that the Belgian’s are bitter about not winning either Roubaix or Flanders
was cancellara’s bike running
was cancellara’s bike running di2?
Jon Burrage wrote:was
No, Saxo’s bikes use SRAM. Mmmm
What we’re intrigued to know is whether the Gruber Assist causes drag when it’s ‘off’ assuming the little pinion is permanently engaged with the bb axle. We’re trying for more info.
Makes you wonder about mounting a dynamo generator ‘down there’……
Interesting, particularly the
Interesting, particularly the bit about “A battery is concealed somewhere unspecifically out of sight around the bottom bracket area”.
If Cancellara was using a concealed motor, I’d like to know how he concealed the battery. It’d have to be bigger than a mobile phone one to be any use. 😕
“A battery is concealed
“A battery is concealed somewhere unspecifically out of sight around the bottom bracket area…”
It’s obvious, he’s got a uranium rod in his down tube.
shhhhh…..
looking at the battery life
looking at the battery life on the gruber website I do not see how this could have been used for any length of time.
Publicity stunt I think.
has anyone contacted Gruber
has anyone contacted Gruber Assist to see if you can get one in for a road test, would like to know just how fast you can go with one of there contraptions..?
Long ago it occurred to me
Long ago it occurred to me what an untapped accessory my bike’s hollow frame was, so I converted it to carry gin in the down tube, tonic in the seat tube, and chicken noodle soup in the top tube. Two small taps under the bottom bracket allow for the perfectly mixed g&t at the top of a climb, and I can suck my soup through a straw whilst keeping my head down in an Ironman. Never thought of fitting a motor though! That just sounds ridiculous.
We’ve asked for one in the
We’ve asked for one in the past, but they do have a dealer in the UK now so it’s one we were looking at.
to be honest i’m doubtful whether that particular system is a good bet here. okay it’s well concealed but it’s pretty noisy, it’s not like your fellow pros aren’t going to notice. also it’s designed as a fully fledged electric bike system for leisure. a pro looking for an advantage doesn’t need 100w of power at their disposal, a half or even a quarter of that will be advantage enough, and you can run a less powerful motor much more quietly.
this from the very mouth of
this from the very mouth of the Gruber horse:
“our manager Mrs. Monika Schweitzer, send a reply of this this week (in German and Italian). We didn’t sell a bicycle or the GRUBER Assist to Mr. Fabian Cancellara, or the team. Although this statement was a super promotion for us! In the meantime we get inquiries from the whole world, the access to our homepage rose rapidly (from 500 a day to 10,000).
“But we never sold the GRUBER Assist to these sportsmen. We can’t be sure, if one of our dealers did this, but we don’t think so.
“Please also note, that the GRUBER Assist can be stored from 30 up to 90 rpm/minute, but there are professionals who pedal faster than 90! You can also see the saddle bag, in which the battery is stored”
so if it is a Gruber system then 1) it didn’t come from Gruber and 2) it’s been heavily modified. and if it’s a viral it’s a very successful one 🙂
dave_atkinson wrote:this from
No good for me either. I pedal at 95 rpm.
The reason I don’t buy this
The reason I don’t buy this is not the technicalities of noise and battery storage, rather the lack of plausible deniability. An athlete caught doping can be kicked out by his “shocked” team. Even if a number of teammates are caught participating in a systematic doping programme, a doctor or soigneur can be cast in the role of scapegoat. But if a UCI official or journalist were to stumble upon a working example of this sort of mechanical cheating in the pro peloton, nobody would buy that it was installed by a lone mechanic without the knowledge of the DS. Nobody could claim they’d misread the label on some supplement bottle, or slowly been tempted into it over many years by unnamed older riders. It would be clear-cut fraud that would probably lead to actual criminal convictions, would destroy the entire team, and seriously hurt the bike supplier. And today there is too much money involved to risk the sort of Wacky Races style cheating that went on a century ago. In short, I doubt even Mr. 60% has the balls to try such a thing.
It might explain this
It might explain this headline, although I’d hate to think what kind of freakish performance improvement programme it implies Quickstep is using…
I agree with handlebarcam-
I agree with handlebarcam- assuming for a moment the technology was up to it (which seems to be a stretch) then I don’t doubt that somebody would give it a go if they thought they could get away with it, but the risks would surely be far too great? There’d be countless opportunities for something to go wrong or somebody to see something, far too many people involved, and the merest sniff of suspicion and you’d be busted. I just can’t see it.
I wonder if Cancellara can
I wonder if Cancellara can sue for defamation of character because he’s getting dragged through the mud with no proof whatsoever.