11 super-fast time trial/triathlon bikes

Forget your aero road bikes, the fastest models from most manufacturers are the time trial/triathlon bikes. Here are some of the most interesting that we spotted at Eurobike last week.

Canyon Speedmax CF SLX

This is the Canyon Speedmax CF SLX that Germany's Jan Frodeno rode (or one made up to look like it; you can never be sure!) to set a new long distance triathlon world record at Challenge Roth earlier this summer.

If you know anything about triathlon, you’ll know that his time of 7:35:39hrs is absolutely ridiculous. If you don’t know much about tri, the event involves a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike leg, and a full 26.22-mile marathon – so you can work out for yourself that it's absolutely ridiculous. 

He did the bike leg in 4:08:07hrs, which is an average speed of 27mph. Then got off and ran a 2:38:52hrs marathon.

Nuts!

www.canyon.com

Bianchi Aquila CV

The Aquila is one of the bikes that features Bianchi’s Countervail technology, along with the Specialissima, the Oltre XR4 and the Infinito. 

Countervail – or CV – is a “patented carbon fibre architecture and viscoelastic material” embedded within the carbon lay-up. It is designed to cancel vibration and so reduce muscle fatigue and discomfort while increasing the stiffness and strength of the frame. 

This bike is fitted with 80mm-deep Fulcrum Red Wind XLR wheels.

www.bianchi.com

Basso Konos

The Konos is one of many TT bikes with the brakes positioned to minimise drag. That’s a Fouriers V-type brake behind the legs of the fork while the rear brake is hidden behind the bottom bracket.  

The fork crown is integrated into the head tube, as is the stem. That head tube is just 100mm long on the 55cm frame.

www.bassobikes.com

Kuota KT 05

The KT05 looks super clean with a fork crown and stem that are integrated into the frame, a front brake that’s integrated into the fork, and seatstays that join the seat tube very low to reduce the size of the bike’s frontal area.

This model is fitted with a SRAM Red eTap wireless groupset and the brake cables are completely hidden.

www.kuotacycle.it

Lapierre Aerostorm DRS

This is the bike that the FDJ pro team have been riding in time trials during 2016, the DRS standing for Drag Reduction System. 

The Aerostorm DRS features a new custom central-pull brake that is aligned with the frame. The brake's narrow profile means that a smaller cover can go over the top to reduce drag. The Di2 junction box is hidden away inside the frame so as not to disrupt the airflow.

www.lapierre-bikes.co.uk

Sarto Ferox

The Sarto Ferox is handmade in Italy and it’s available in custom geometries. As you can see, the front brake is integrated into the fork and the rear one is tucked away behind the bottom bracket. 

This bike is built up with Campagnolo Chorus EPS, although you can spec whatever you like.

Does that paint job do it for you? The consensus around here is that it's a pretty neat finish.

www.sartoantonio.com

Scott Plasma RC

This Scott Plasma RC is specced in long-distance triathlon clobber with hydration and nutrition storage, although the shallow section rims don’t go with the character of the rest of the bike. The usual reason for speccing wheels of this kind on an aero tri bike is that people will have their own preferences and possibly already own a pair of race wheels.
A Di2 electronic system allows you to change gear from both the aero extensions and the base bar.
www.scott-sports.com

Ridley Dean

This is the Ridley Dean as opposed to the Ridley Dean Fast, so it doesn’t have features like an integrated stem or a F-Split fork with a gap running vertically down each leg, designed to reduce drag. It still has many aero features  such as wind-cheating tube profiles, seatstays that are widely spaced away from the rear wheel and a hidden rear brake. 
www.ridley-bikes.com

Look 796

Look’s 796 is unusual in that many of the components are Look’s own. This applies to the fork, handlebar, seatpost, stem and chainset. 

Look is big on integration. The Aerobrakes are integrated into the fork crown/legs, the stem flows directly into the top tube, and the Di2 junction box is hidden inside the frame. 

The Zed 3 aero chainset is length adjustable. 

www.lookcycle.com

Dedacciai Flash 2

Dedacciai and Deda Elementi have worked hard to integrate the head tube, stem, handlebar and aerobars here in order to keep turbulence to a minimum at the front end. 

A cantilever brake is integrated into the front of the fork while the rear one is positioned behind the bottom bracket. 

That’s a Campagnolo Record EPS groupset on there, by the way, if you can’t quite make it out.

www.dedacciaistrada.com

Argon 18 E-117 Tri+

Argon 18 has a whole bunch of time trial and triathlon bikes in the range. The ‘Tri’ in the name means you get integrated storage for your hydration and nutrition, and the ‘+’ means that it’s lighter than the E-117 Tri thanks to the layup of the carbon-fibre. 

www.argon18bike.com