‘Tis the season for major new triathlon bikes. We’ve already seen the wildly shaped Diamondback Andean and Cervelo P5X, which makes the new BMC look tame by comparison. What makes it different is that it can be made UCI legal if you want, but mostly that there’s a specific focus on rider comfort specifically for triathlon, rather than being an uncompromisingly aero bike that leaves you possibly a little beat up by the time you transition to the run.
That’s not to say it isn’t aero. A three year partnership with F1 racing firm Sauber Engineering helped them refine their tube shapes and SubA aerodynamic designs. They also spent two years designing the new bike’s rider positioning system and component integration, all of which leads to the new BMC Timemachine 01…
Two models are offered. The Timemachine 01 is the top level and gets the most integration of brakes and cockpit. Shown above, the effect is strikingly slim, with a very narrow frontal profile but plenty of clearance around the wheels to reduce turbulent air between the spokes and fork legs. The frame’s tubes are all truncated foils with 3:1 shaping, which lets it meet UCI regulations for TT if you set up the cockpit in a certain way. But it’s really designed around a more aggressive triathlon position.
Much of the innovation is at the front end, using their existing hinged fork design to keep it extremely narrow. The 01’s front brake is integrated into the fork and uses a swappable brake pad carrier. That allows you to keep the brake and cable fixed, making for easier packing without having to readjust when changing from training wheels to racing wheels. Instead, you can simply have your training brake pads and racing pads setup in the proper position on separately carrier hardware, then just swap them in and out with the wheels. Each remains set up in the perfect position, no fuss, no muss. It also integrates a brake booster design, which increases effective cable pull so the pads can retract farther to eliminate rub during wheel flex (you know, for all that hard cornering…).
The V-cockpit optimizes the aerodynamics for taller pad stacks. If you’re a taller rider or just like a more upright position, they found that the traditional elbow rest supports and aero extensions didn’t do a good job of blocking air from hitting your legs, which led to a lot of turbulence and unpredictable aerodynamics. This new V-shape improves the overall rider-on-bike aerodynamics. It also creates an “out front” position that offers a bit more vertical compliance, so you’re more comfortable. It ships with all of the 01 bikes…
…but a two-position Flat Cockpit is available separately (and is UCI compliant). The base bar can be flipped to create an 80mm taller hand position at the outside edge.
On the back of the bike are hollow carbon sliding dropouts, letting you tuck the rear tire up into the curved seat tube regardless of tire size…it fits up to a 27mm wide tire (28mm wide rim). The rear brake calipers use the same swappable system as the front.
The proprietary seatpost gives you 62mm of fore/aft adjustment. Its trick is that it can also be mounted behind the standard position for UCI-regulated TT events. Total range created by both positions is 120mm of saddle adjustment and effective seat angles from 71.5º to 80.8º.
The BMC Timemachine 02 loses the integrated brakes, V-cockpit and Flat cockpit compatibility, and hinged fork, but the remainder of the bike is very similar.
It’s still very slim, and still has a two-position downtube water bottle mount, single seat tube bottle mount and top tube Bento Box mount. And it uses the dual position seatpost mounts.
The rear storage box not only gives you more room for snacks (like bananas), it actually improves the overall rider-on-bike aerodynamics.
The top-level Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 build will include the new Shimano power meter cranks, price TBD, coming later this year. Select other models are available now, including:
- Timemachine 01 SRAM eTap – $10,999
- Timemachine 01 Ultegra Di2 – $8,499
- Timemachine 01 frameset – $6,999
- Timemachine 02 Ultegra Di2 – $5,999
- Timemachine 02 105 – $2,799
- Timemachine 02 frameset – $2,299
