As the team buses rolled into a large car park in the French commune of Domérat for the opening stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné this morning, staff at Israel–Premier Tech appeared to be taking particular care of a mysterious new bike as they unloaded the fleet. The blacked out aero bike with a UCI ‘prototype’ sticker on it, being ridden by British rider Jake Stewart, looks like no road bike we’ve seen before, with super wide fork legs and seat stays plus an all new V-shaped cockpit.
Though there is no Factor logo on the frameset, the fact that the bike is shod with wheels from its components arm Black Inc tells us it’s undoubtedly the work of the high-end British brand, which claims to make the fastest bikes in the world. We’re guessing that this new bike is supposed to be a whole load faster still, with numerous features that appear to borrow heavily from Factor’s track bike, the HANZŌ Track, and taking full advantage of the UCI’s relaxation of its rules regulating bike design.
> Why the aero road bike is making a comeback
The party piece – and something we’ve never really seen on a road bike before – are those super wide fork legs. A design that could arguably be traced back to the radical Hope/Lotus track bike that first appeared in 2019, Factor utilised this in the redesign of the HANZŌ Track last year to “fine tune the interaction of the air flow between the bike and athlete”. We’re presuming the same logic is applied to this road-going prototype and it’s all about aero; but if Jake Stewart did want to take it gravelling, it also happens to provide a huge amount of tyre clearance…
The bike also gets a new V-shaped cockpit. We’ve seen variations of this on aero bikes such as the latest Colnago Y1RS and Bianchi Oltre, and the reason those brands give for the design is drag reduction.
The seatstays are also wide, and referring again to the reasons Factor gave for this on the HANZŌ Track, it says wide seatstays “capture air off the legs and maintain the flow conditions in open channel”. The seat tube is partially cut out around the rear tyre, a feature of many time trial bikes and aero road models, and there’s nothing too crazy going on with the chainstays.
The bike has been kitted out for Stewart with Shimano Dura-Ace shifting and an FSA chainset with a beefy outer ring to compete for a stage victory at the Dauphiné, a goal which aged beautifuly come stage five. He’s also running a Selle Italia SLR Boost saddle, Black Inc Sixty Two wheels shod with Continental GP 5000 TT TR tyres, and Shimano Dura-Ace pedals.
Of course, we asked Israel–Premier Tech representatives and Stewart himself if they were able to tell us more about the new bike, to which the answer was a firm ‘no’ from the former and a cheery ‘morning’ from the latter, followed by some head-down riding away to the stage start.
We’ll be keen to find out more about this curious new beast in the coming weeks, and if Jake Stewart can pilot it to victory on one of the eight stages of the Critérium du Dauphiné. He’s just finished fifth on an opening stage that was won by Tadej Pogacar with Jonas Vingegaard and Mathieu van der Poel just behind, not a bad result at all up against the very best in the world.
UPDATE: It’s all gone rather well for Jake and his blacked-out aero machine, the Brit sprinting to a first WorldTour victory on stage five. It turns out the bike’s quite quick…




















16 thoughts on “Wild unreleased Factor aero bike spotted at Critérium du Dauphiné: mysterious track-inspired bike features huge fork legs and seatstays plus V-shaped stem”
Smart thinking, getting ahead
Smart thinking, getting ahead of the game with room for 3″ knobbly tyres for when ASO add downhill mountain biking to a Tour stage.
*Max Stöckl sweating
*Max Stöckl sweating nervously*
I don’t doubt that it’s fast,
I don’t doubt that it’s fast, but I’m not sure I could ever bring myself to buy something that ugly.
AidanR wrote:
Was out riding today so just finished watching the coverage “as live” and seeing it on the road, briefly, I thought it looked pretty cool and menacing. Now I see the stills I entirely agree with you, it’s a pig.
AidanR wrote:
have a few beers first.
Reminds me a bit of the
Reminds me a bit of the gorilla/crow from the front….
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/48755005
Horrifying. Looking forward
Horrifying. Looking forward to 2027’s summer blockbuster predator vs Godzilla vs gorilla crow
geeze- what a horrible,
geeze- what a horrible, absolutely horrible looking bike….. I love a frame that inspires, but this inspires dread: looks heavy upfront; and the cf isnt recyclable, pity.
This is the exact sort of
This is the exact sort of bike tech that’s been missing from the pro tour for a decade. Bikes need to differentiate, take risks. Love it.
I can’t imagine the uci would
I can’t imagine the uci would be happy with this. The wider forks and stays are one thing but that strip connecting the fork to the stem is particularly interesting. Is it just an aerofoil with the steerer and bearings hidden behind it? Or is there a completely new mechanism used like a hinge to attach the one-piece fork/steerer/handlebars to the frame.
It’s a work around to support
It’s a work around to support the steeper fork angle but still maintain an effective HTA that handles safely.
Whether the steeper fork angle is purely for aero or a structural compromise because of the wider fork legs, IDK.
Someone will be along shortly
Someone will be along shortly to lament the lack of a rim brake option.
(No subject)
/Froome has entered the chat
Old people laughing
Old people laughing
a pity that the chainstays
a pity that the chainstays are so narrow or is could be a do-it-all with 27.5×3.0 tyres for the gravel-is-not-XC_mtb crowd