BMC’s all-new Speedmachine time-trial and triathlon bike has been an open secret since the Swiss bike maker unveiled their development partnership with Red Bull’s F1 racing team last year. Five years of R&D culminate in what BMC are calling “the fastest time-trial and triathlon bike in the world”.
BMC X Red Bull Speedmachine time-trial & triathlon bike
Now that “World’s Fastest Race Bike” Red Bull prototype Speedmachine we spied last year is ready for the big time!
BMC worked with Red Bull Advanced Technologies to combine their 30 years of expertise in bike building with the aerodynamics & wind tunnel experts that create Red Bull racing’s F1 cars. Their air flow experience, specifically helped drive the reshaping of the front end with its wide-set fork legs and the unique Shark Fin under the fork crown to divert & control airflow off the spinning front wheel.
So, what’s actually new?
Lighter weight
Much lighter weight is a big one. BMC says it comes down to design simplification, integration, and classic optimized carbon construction. The result then, this new Speedmachine is a full 500g lighter than the old Timemachine 01 Disc.
More Integration
That integration is also no huge surprise. Getting cables out of the way is a minimum requirement for any modern bike. And for racing against the clock, a more integrated fork-to-frame and a fully integrated cockpit that retains fit & position adjustability is also key. The new bike gets flat or low base bars, plus a wider fit range via adjustable extensions and stack solutions.
For triathlon, add on integrated storage solutions that can also improve aerodynamics by smoothing airflow, and you get free speed. Make those storage solutions removable, and then the bike can double as a UCI-legal TT bike, too.
The core of storage integration is a big integrated hydration box that sits low, just above the bottom bracket, where a couple of standard water bottles would be. A semi-internal, semi-external hydration hose routes water up to the rider in an aero tuck, but is still easy to keep clean. The big reservoir holds 1.2L of water, plus a smaller UCI-legal 400ml bottle/water tank that can be kept in place for time trials.
Triathletes also get an extra aero storage box behind the seattube, with an integrated taillight. But it snaps off for TT racing, too.
Upgraded Packability
At first, it might seem strange that a premium race bike needs to be packable. But triathlons are one of the few styles of racing that mean most triathletes are going to have to pack up their bike and fly somewhere to compete. How many of the 2000 triathletes that race Ironman Worlds live in Kona, after all?
And all this modern integration and hydraulic disc brakes mean you can’t just pop the stem off and stuff it in a box to fly with your bike. Now you need a carefully thought-out cockpit solution like on this new BMC Speedmachine. You can remove the bar+stem combo without the fork falling out of the frame, and with enough cabling flexibility to fit it in a bike bag. Plus, no need to mess with your perfectly dialed-in aerobars positioning.
Radical New Geometry, too!
BMC stresses “supremely confident handling” for the new Red Bull developed Speedmachine. Again adding on the rider-centric fit, the improved stability of the new Speedmachine platform was refined to increase rider confidence, allowing them to hold their best aero tuck longer, race with deeper aero wheels, and earn more speed as a reward.
To get that, BMC gave the all-new Speedmachine some “radical head tube angle, rake, and trail dimensions”. So radical in fact, they don’t advertise what they are! Guessing from the studio shots, it could be a headtube as steep as 75.5° and fork rake around 50mm to get around 35mm of stable Trail.
(Note: All three of these figures are our approximations since BMC is not sharing them publicly.)
2024 BMC Speedmachine – Pricing, options & availability
The “World’s Fastest TT & Tri Bike” isn’t going to come cheap. However, BMC does have a few options available to speed up your races against the clock.
The new BMC Speedmachine 01 is available as a $7000 / 7000€ frameset module. That then includes the frame, fork, headset, cockpit, seatpost, and integrated storage. You just have to come up with a drivetrain, saddle & wheels.
Or get the complete bike for $11,000€ for the BMC Speedmachine 01 TWO with a SRAM Force eTap AXS 2x drivetrain and mid-tier DT Swiss ARC carbon wheels thrown in. (Prices are the same in US dollars, Euros, or Swiss francs.)
Is that not fancy enough? You could also pick the $17,000€ BMC Speedmachine 01 LTD with Red 2x & Zipp 858 NSW wheels.
Or somehow there’s an even more expensive option. For $23,000€, only 50 buyers can get the top all-black BMC Speedmachine 00 LTD. That includes the same 01 LTD bike & build, but adds on an ultra-premium experience.
You also get a BMC Aero Motion device built-in. Made by Vorn, that gives you real-time aerodynamics data as you ride to optimize your position. Additionally, you get “Elite Access” to BMC pro training camps, early bike launches, and a custom travel case made for your bike.
All bikes are officially available from this coming November 2023.
