Cyclingnews Tech Probikes

Pro bike: Klaas Vantornout's Ridley X-Night

Peter Hymas — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:52:55 GMT

Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Napolean Games) arrived at the world cyclo-cross championships in Louisville, Kentucky fresh off his victory at the Belgian national championships with hopes of a world title. A last-lap bobble put him off the wheel of race winner Sven Nys, but Vantornout's silver-medal performance still made for an impressive debut for Ridley's new X-Night carbon cyclo-cross flagship bike. Vantornout's new X-Night bears several key differences from the old version. For one, it's lighter ...

Pro bike: Sven Nys' Colnago Prestige

Daniel Benson — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:14:42 GMT

This article first appeared on BikeRadar . Sven Nys ( Crelen-Euphony ), long a legend in international cyclo-cross, cemented his status with his second UCI cyclo-cross world championship title Saturday in brutally cold and muddy conditions in Louisville, Kentucky. We took a look at his Colnago Prestige. The Colnago Prestige frame is several years old now but the fact that it's currently in use by Nys as well as current world champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) stands as a strong testament to ...

Pro bike: Ryan Trebon’s Cannondale SuperX Hi-Mod Disc

Peter Hymas — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 16:32:55 GMT

Ryan Trebon's bikes are always easy to spot in the pits, as is the 6ft 5in rider. Trebon's custom cyclo-cross bike is a bit larger than the stock SuperX Hi-Mod Disc we recently tested, though even with disc brakes it still weighs a very respectable 7.8kg (17.2lb). The 31-year-old Trebon has a long history of running made-to-measure frames. Prior to joining the Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com team in early 2012, Trebon raced for Felt on a super-sized version of the company's flagship F1X . Before ...

Pro bike: Georgia Gould’s Orbea Terra

Peter Hymas — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:19:02 GMT

Georgia Gould has already had a very full season on her mountain bike, becoming the 2012 US National Champion and taking home a bronze medal at the London Olympics. But when it comes to cyclo-cross, the longtime Luna Pro Team member is racing aboard Orbea’s Terra, a full carbon rig with some interesting features not found on other CX bikes. The Terra is Orbea’s first full carbon cyclo-cross bike, replacing the aluminum Lobular from last season. It features a 1.125in to 1.5in tapered ...

Pro bike: Ben Berden's Raleigh RXC Pro Disc

Peter Hymas — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:07:33 GMT

Last year, veteran Belgian cyclo-cross racer Ben Berden crossed the pond for his first full season of racing in the United States. He's returned for the 2012/2013 season with the support of Raleigh Bicycles and Clement tires. BikeRadar caught up with him in Fort Collins, Colorado, at the second stop on this year's US Gran Prix of Cyclocross . He finished third and fifth, respectively, in Saturday and Sunday's elite men's races, aboard his Raleigh RXC Pro Disc. New brakes, old numbers As a Raleigh-sponsored ...

Pro bike: Logan Owen's Redline Carbon Conquest Team

Peter Hymas — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:09:47 GMT

Like his senior American compatriot Jeremy Powers , 17-year-old Logan Owen wants a front-row start for the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships that will be held in Louisville, Kentucky. The seven-time junior national champion is now in 5th place on UCI points after the first UCI World Cup on October 21 in Tabor, Czech Republic. The World Cup rounds are critical for juniors' Worlds start grid as the top 16 overall in the World Cup standings will earn the first 16 start positions in Louisville. Owen ...

Pro bike: Todd Wells' Specialized S-Works CruX Carbon

Peter Hymas — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:29:00 GMT

After two seasons on an aluminum Specialized CruX , three-time US national cyclo-cross champion Todd Wells has made the move to an all-new carbon fiber chassis for the 2012-2013 season. While his new ride is lighter than last year's bike, Wells says it's the added stiffness he notices most. "I feel like the carbon in the rear makes the bike accelerate better," he told BikeRadar . "It's stiffer so I feel like when I stand up coming out of corners it has a bit more snap. With the aluminum ...

Pro bike: Jeremy Powers’ prototype Focus Mares Disc

Peter Hymas — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:05:13 GMT

Reigning US cyclo-cross champion Jeremy Powers has been on a tear this season, winning US event CrossVegas , racking up numerous USGP (US Gran Prix of Cyclocross) wins and finishing seventh at the first stop on this season’s UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Tábor, Czech Republic. That's the best World Cup finish for an American men's elite cyclo-cross racer to date. Powers is one of a growing number of elite riders making the switch to disc brakes this season. The 29-year-old, from Niantic, ...

Pro bike: Katie Compton's Trek Ion CX

Peter Hymas — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 22:07:22 GMT

In place of a full name, three letters adorn the top tube of Katie Compton's Trek Ion CX: KfC. For anyone who has spoken to the gracious Compton but not seen her race, the emphatic 'f' may be befuddling. But for anyone who has watched Compton absolutely demolish the front of a ’cross race, as she did twice this weekend in Fort Collins, "Katie f—ing Compton" makes perfect sense. For the pair of Trek US Gran Prix of Cyclocross-Smartwool Cup races in Colorado, Compton raced her ...

Pro bike: Specialized CruX for Zdeněk Štybar

Daniel Benson — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:43:53 GMT

This appeared on Bikeradar This weekend Zdeněk Štybar ( Omega Pharma-Quick-Step ) is hoping to complete a hat trick, going for three world championship cyclo-cross titles in as many years, and he'll be doing so on a bike that he's only been racing for a month. The Czech racer already owns six world championship medals – he took two world titles as a U23 rider, plus bronze (2008), silver (2009) and two golds (2010, 2011) in the elite category – and has spent the past four seasons ...

Pro bike: Katie Compton’s Rabobank Giant TCX Advanced SL

Peter Hymas — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:08:33 GMT

Katie Compton made the jump from her small private program last year to Giant's massive, Rabobank-sponsored Dutch off-road team. The switch hasn't been without challenge, but it hasn't slowed America's queen of 'cross, who notched up her eighth consecutive national championship title this past weekend at Badger Prairie Park near Madison, Wisconsin. The American racer rode to a solo victory in the opening round of the 2011/12 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup season, and she's followed that performance with ...

ProBike: Jonathan Page’s Planet Bike Blue Norcross SL

Daniel Benson — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:55:43 GMT

This article first appeared on Bikeradar . Jonathan Page is America’s European cyclo-cross stalwart . In Belgium, where he lives with his wife and three kids, the sport is all business, the courses are extreme and the racing is cut throat. His Blue Competition Cycles Norcross SL race bikes reflect the environment they’re used in—they’re built practically and to excel in the worst conditions. Page brought three Norcross SL bikes, from Belgium, to Wisconsin for the 2012 US ...

Pro bike: Todd Wells' Specialized CruX E5 OSBB

Peter Hymas — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:27:42 GMT

Todd Wells told Cyclingnews earlier this year that he wasn't at all upset about not getting a custom stars-and-stripes bike to celebrate his status as US national cross-country champion. He arrived at late October's back -to- back UCI cyclo-cross races in Boulder, Colorado with his Specialized CruX bikes sporting stock livery – only they were far from stock beneath the paint. For starters, Wells' alloy CruX has custom geometry to suit his lanky 1.88m (6ft 2in) build. The rear end is essentially ...

Pro bike: Geoff Kabush's Rocky Mountain Solo Carbon prototype

Peter Hymas — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 11:39:09 GMT

Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) arrived at last Saturday and Sunday's UCI races in Boulder, Colorado with a new carbon fiber 'cross chassis currently unlisted in the Rocky Mountain catalog. According to team head mechanic Gary Wolff, Rocky Mountain supplied a few of these frames just for Kabush and might turn them into a production item but for now, they're team-issue only. Kabush's frame features most of the features common to modern 'cross chassis these days: a tapered front end, internal ...

Pro bike: Jeremy Powers' Focus Mares

Peter Hymas — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:11:52 GMT

Dressed in matte black (with hints of gloss), cream logos and pink accents, the Rapha-Focus Mares is the most dapper bike on the US cyclo-cross circuit. But it isn't just here to look good, it's also winning races under new team leader Jeremy Powers, who says its low, stout stance suits him. As his Behind The Barriers mini-series has shown us, J-Pow is a little bit different, and we know he likes to get down – Owwwooooo! Cyclingnews headed to the Rapha-Focus team service course in Loveland, ...

Pro bike: Ben Berden's Stoemper Ronny

Peter Hymas — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:29:29 GMT

Ben Berden is a traditionally schooled Belgian cyclo-crosser. Businesses from his home country, including brewers Ops Ale and Chaos Bike Shop, have joined forces with Oregon-based custom bike builders Stoemper and other US brands including the resurrected Clement Tires to bring him to the US to race a full domestic season. The idea was brewed with the help of David Alvarez, former marketing manager for Ridley Bikes, who now owns half of Stoemper. He's an American, an ex-pat of sorts who lives in ...

Pro bike: Lars Boom's Rabobank Giant TCX Advanced SL

Peter Hymas — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:17:01 GMT

The modified Giant TCR Advanced SL machines that Rabobank typically uses at Paris-Roubaix can already accommodate big 27mm-wide tubular tires for extra cushioning on the pavé. But for former cyclo-cross world champion Lars Boom , bigger is better. Boom instead decided to use his familiar Giant TCX Advanced SL carbon 'cross bike, which had more than enough room for the even more voluminous 30mm-wide tubulars he wanted to use to help him float across the cobbles. Team officials wouldn't comment ...

Pro bike: Georgia Gould's Luna Orbea Lobular Cross

Les Clarke — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:22:32 GMT

Bicycle company marketing folk love to push the latest and greatest technologies on the consuming public but when it comes to racing, it's still the rider that does the work and few examples demonstrate that old adage better than Luna's Georgia Gould. Gould's Orbea Lobular Cross does without most of the current buzzwords with its straight 1 1/8" head tube, threaded bottom bracket, and normal-sized tubing throughout - not to mention the full alloy construction - and yet the US mountain bike ...

Pro bike: Todd Wells' Specialized CruX alloy custom

Greg Johnson — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 04:50:39 GMT

With most of the top competitors now running full-carbon machines, Todd Wells' (Specialized) aluminum CruX seems like somewhat of an outlier – particularly since he rode a carbon Specialized last season and that design is still available. Digging a bit deeper, though, it quickly comes to light that the brand-new, all-alloy chassis is not only now the most race-specific platform in the company's 'cross lineup but Wells' particular machine turns out to a precursor for a next-generation carbon ...

Pro bike: Adam Craig's Rabobank Giant TCX Advanced SL

Les Clarke — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 05:10:23 GMT

American racer Adam Craig (Rabobank-Giant) is best known for his exploits on the domestic cross-country and Super D circuits but he's no slouch on a 'cross bike, either. After years of slogging through the mud on an all-aluminum machine, he's now on Giant's latest TCX Advanced SL carbon superbike and isn't looking back. In addition to being appreciably lighter than Craig's previous bike, more modern features like the tapered front end, press-fit bottom bracket shell, and the larger and stiffer down ...

Pro Bike: Ryan Trebon’s carbon Kona CX Major Jake

Greg Johnson — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:31:12 GMT

Ryan Trebon and fellow Kona Cyclocross Team rider Barry Wicks have always ridden custom bikes. It’s not that Kona’s stock bikes don’t perform, but rather that both racers are just too tall for them. However, that's all changed with the new CX Major Jake. In the past, Kona simply sized up their alloy bikes for the Twin Towers – “They made a stock 62cm frame,” said Trebon of his previous scandium Major Jake. “And they just enlarged ours by a centimeter in ...

Pro bike: Joachim Parbo's KCH-Leopard Cycles JPX Prototype

Greg Johnson — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 05:30:56 GMT

Danish national cyclo-cross champion Joachim Parbo (KCH-Leopard Cycles) has been sponsored for the past few years by Leopard Cycles and the cooperation has now yielded a prototype signature model for the 2010-11 season called the JPX. Parbo says one of the biggest differences from his old CX-1 is the beefed-up front end. Though the steerer is still 1 1/8" in diameter from top to bottom instead of the increasingly popular tapered format, the legs and crown are much bigger for more precise handling ...

Pro bike: Chris Jones' Rapha-Focus Mares

Greg Johnson — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 00:31:03 GMT

If looking good is half the battle, Rapha-Focus rider Chris Jones wins half of every race he enters just by showing up with the hottest kit, including his custom Rapha themed Focus Mares cyclo-cross bike. Jones’s bike is based on an off-the-shelf carbon frame that’s been painted in the black, pink, red, blue and cream colors of the Rapha-Focus team by Cycle Art in Vista, California – and it's a one-off. By the time the Rapha-Focus partnership came together, the team frames had ...

Pro bike: Tim Johnson's Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld SuperX

Greg Johnson — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 01:57:31 GMT

Current US national cyclo-cross champion Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld) has a new carbon fiber race machine this year that's not only substantially lighter than the aluminum models he's used in the past but according to him, also notably sharper and just flat-out faster than before, too. Cannondale's claimed 1,400g frame and fork weight for the new SuperX indeed undercuts the old CAAD9 aluminum model by a whopping 450g (nearly a full pound). Naturally, the total bike weight has dropped ...

Pro bike: Tim Johnson's Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld SuperX

Greg Johnson — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 01:57:31 GMT