bullet speed
With the weight war still raging, Team Lampre-Merida’s weapon of choice for 2014, the Reacto Evo, strengthens the hand of the aero revolution. Will Marcel Wüst pick a side?
These days, the drive towards improving the aerodynamics of bike frames has more momentum than the drive for lower weight. Designers continue to pursue weight savings – see the plethora of sub-700g frames as evidence – but given that the UCI ’s weight limit still stands at 6.8kg, there seems ever less need to further lighten frames. In fact, many pro bikes now have to carry ballast, which makes a mockery of the rule’s original intentions to preserve frame strength by preventing them from becoming too light. The latest frames are plenty strong enough; it’s the rule that’s now outdated.
However, there remain significant gains to be found through aerodynamic improvements and ever more brands and teams are realising how valuable it can be. Just look at the transformation that the peloton has undergone in recent years: only three years ago, at the 2011 World Championships, the Great Britain team raised plenty of eyebrows when they became the first to wear skinsuits for a road race and Mark Cavendish used a clear aero cover on his helmet. Now almost every pro wears a skintight jersey and about half use aero road helmets. It’s obvious that aero is here to stay.
In regards to frame design, almost all the major bike manufacturers now have an aero road frame in their range, with tube shapes designed to slice through the air more effectively than those designed for minimum weight and lightning accelerations in the mountains. The Reacto Evo is one such bike and its packed with aero features: its truncated aerofoil tube profiles are borrowed from Merida’s Warp TT frame; the fork blades are spaced wide to prevent turbulent air coming off the wheel from hindering the
the first problem for some one with any de gree of cycling sa rtorial sa vvy is how to coordinate your riding gea r
air passing through; the rear brake is mounted behind the bottom bracket.
Having ridden Merida’s super-light Scultura – now their traditional or ‘climbing’ race bike – at this time last year, I was delighted when they shipped me this updated version of the Reacto from their European HQ in Germany in time to take it to a Majorcan camp in January. The Lampre- Merida team have adopted the Reacto Evo as their default bike for this season, rather than one to bring out for particular days, and I was keen to judge this decision myself.
As is always the case when riding one of Merida’s team-issue bikes, the first problem for someone with any degree of cycling sartorial savvy is how to coordinate your riding gear with the ‘distinctive’ black/white/ pink/ green colour scheme. My wardrobe couldn’t come close to that and my red, white and black kit was something of an admission of defeat. No matter, though, as I was more keen to get out and test the bike than I was on matching it.
With pleasant temperatures hovering around 18°C I rolled into the small hills that characterise the south- east of the island and was really pleased with the first couple of pedal strokes. It’s hard to feel a tangible difference in speed over a non- aero bike but Merida say this bike requires 22 fewer watts than the 2013 Scultura to travel at 50kph and that, despite being 200g heavier, it’s faster uphill on gradients of up to nine per cent.
The Reacto Evo has extremely efficient and direct power transfer, as well as great seat- tube stiffness. The latter is often the primary victim when engineers try to
beat the wind. With this bike, though, I felt like I was on a super- stiff bike with traditional round tubes, not the second most aerodynamic road bike in the world ( behind the Cervélo S5) – that’s what Merida claim after putting the bike through wind tunnel testing in Germany.
Ride comfort is another area in which aero bikes have always tended to suffer as a result of their focused tube profiles. Merida, however, have taken a close look and developed a comfortable rear end that doesn’t sacrifice overall stiffness. This is backed up by a flexible seatpost that uses an elastomer insert to smooth out much of the roughness of the road surface without totally negating overall road feedback.
This team- spec Reacto Evo came fitted with Rotor Q- Rings, the non-round chainrings that decrease the effect of the dead spot during the pedal stroke. They’re not a component I run on my own bike but when I’ve used them in ProRides in the past they’ve intrigued me. Especially when riding bigger gears, there’s an extra smoothness to your pedalling. Personally, I don’t find them necessary. I believe their benefits are most useful for the competitive cyclist, rather than the leisure rider, and I fall into the latter camp these days.
Fans of traditional bikes may not approve but the aerodynamic features combine to make a striking looking bike; the flared seatstays mounted low on the sculpted- out airfoil seat- tube, the hidden seatpost clamp and the flat toptube all create visual drama as well as speed.
Wind tunnel tests have proven that the direct mount rear brakes also help make the bike more slippery through the air but, of course, you can’t feel that when you’re riding. What you can feel is brake power and with such an unconventional set- up it was vital I put its performance to the test on the descents.
It’s perhaps my favourite part of any bike test. I was never the most talented
Fa ns of trad itional bikes ma y not app rove but the aerodynam ic featu res comb ine to ma ke a st riking looking bike