At first, the knee-jerk reaction was predictable and swift. "Stupid UCI! Why don't they worry about something really important!" Well, actually, as it turns out, that's exactly what they were doing - worrying about something really important. Like rider safety. That's what.
In the linked article from Cyclingnews.com you can read in more detail about the stress cracks discovered when they did research into this phenomenon over the course of 2023. Handlebars are being compromised, and this could lead to serious injury or death. The rule for 2024, banning the canted in brake levers, is supported by the rider's association, which is called the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés, or CPA. Their president, Adam Hansen, offers up a curious and novel solution for riders still wanting that aero advantage but needing to be safe and within the rule book's regulations. Flared drop bars.
Hansen seems to indicate in the article I linked to that since the flare of a drop bar gives the rider a wider platform in the drops that there would be no disadvantage while sprinting or accelerating in the drops, but since any significant flare would naturally cant the brake levers inward, that the aero advantages sought by some riders still could be there.
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| Could Pro road riders soon be on flared drop bars so that they could have canted in levers like this soon? |
Comments: This is sort of ironic in that these bars originated from MTB, and generally speaking, most MTB related tech is seen as not very desirable on the road side. Look how long it took Pro roadies to accept disc brakes, as an example.
But I think since gravel riders sort of made the flared drop bar their drop bar of choice, it may make the leap to Pro road a bit more palatable and easier to understand from a Pro road rider's viewpoint. It also should be noted that many of the youngest Pro road riders have always known there were gravel events, and that this discipline of cycling is not new and very much akin to pavement road racing.
However; if flared drops do come to Pro road cycling, my opinion is that the bars will be much narrower than what we see for gravel racing. That flare inward needs to be pretty tight to the stem, and that makes anything much more than a 40cm bar probably too wide for this idea, unless the rider is of a larger stature. (Assuming the bars would be sized as gravel bars are- from the centerline of where the controls attach)
At any rate, I thought the mention of flared drop bars in the same article as Pro road racing was notable from a gravel riding perspective.
4 comments:
When making any rule, it is important to explain and document the reason for the rule. The UCI is terrible about explaining things. But even in engineering, it’s rare for a engineering standard (such as ISO) to explain the reasoning and assumptions built into the rule. This can lead to misinterpretation and issues of either applying double safety factors (safe, but overkill and more expensive or worse performing) or misapplying a test, which can lead to products not being properly validated and potentially being unsafe.
In this case, I think the handlebar manufacturers validated their designs per ISO specs with loads being applied to straight hoods. Now that people are turning those hoods inwards the loads are in a different direction and the resulting stress is higher. Combine that with super light, carbon, aero-shaped bars we get failures.
The correct thing for ISO and manufacturers to do is fix the tests to represent what real people do with the products, including using them this way. In the meantime, the UCI did the right thing and banned it for now until the correct engineering can happen to get products designed and validated for this use.
Good job UCI, but a bit short-sighted by the engineers to miss this in the first place. I’m in automotive engineering and we have to account for all the varied use cases of customers as well as predictable abuse (poor maintenance, aftermarket mods, etc). It’s not new, but it is newly popular, to angle your hoods a bit. This should never have been an issue, but I think people trust the ISO specs too much. Just because a test exists, doesn’t mean that it’s sufficient.
@Nooge - Interesting. Thank you for your perspective and the information in your comment. It is interesting how the bicycle industry tests products because traditionally they don't test for every possible use scenario but to specific ones.
For instance, it is common now to see a specification for use where a description of riding style is given and that the product or bicycle is to only be used in the prescribed manner. That is a bit weird, especially when it is not a directive that is typically spoken to in marketing, retail, or by users.
And of course, department store bikes get a free pass on all of that. Which is baffling to me.
So, your comment on how the auto industry does the testing is completely different from what I've seen and read about.
The auto industry is one of the most sued and regulated industries there are. Almost everyone uses one (and is at risk of being injured by one) and they have deep pockets so lawyers are eager to go after them. And the media gives automakers’ failures plenty of attention too, encouraging suits in holes of a quick settlement.
There’s not as much money to be made by suing the cycling industry, the ability to pay is low except for the few top players. The media hardly cares about cycling, so no free publicity there either, at least nothing that will move the needle on sales.
Safety is always important. But the consequences of a design flaw are much greater in automotive. Design a bad bicycle fork and less than 10k units are sold, even for the most popular models. Design a bad part for a vehicle and usually at least 50,000 and potentially 1,000,000 units per year of production are affected. Look at the Takata airbag recalls. Even if nobody gets hurt, the financial impact is huge. So the auto industry has to be conservative to survive.
@Nooge - Point well taken. So the crux of the matter is really based on money, not safety, in reality. I'm not criticizing your comment, just making an observation. It tracks with a lot of what goes on in our society.
Safety should be a priority in manufacturing no matter how deep the pockets are or what sort of ratings a story will bring. That's my take. YMMV.
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