To close out the Tour de France, Bianchi introduced their new Aquila CV TT/Triathlon bike for stage 20’s time trial.
Bringing their Countervail vibration damping material and tech to the wind tunnel, the new Aquila not only lessens the wind’s effects on your efforts, it also kills the road buzz to keep your muscles fresher over the long haul. Developed by Materials Science Corp., Countervail was originally used to kill vibration in supersonic space- and aircraft. The benefit here is that it can be interwoven with carbon fibers and stiffens the frame while also canceling vibration, making a better bike that helps reduce muscle fatigue. We covered their CV tech in detail with last year’s new Infinito introduction, so we’ll focus on what’s new for this bike here.
To make the bike faster, Bianchi smoothed every edge they could -there are no frame fasteners exposed to the wind- and connected each separate piece of the bike with tight, flowing transitions. Couple that with extensive CFD wizardy and wind tunnel testing and you’ve got a bike that’s super slippery…
From the front, the bike has a virtually seamless appearance. Since that’s what the wind sees, it means less drag on the most important leading edge. From there, they used full NACA tube profiles, not truncated ones, to provide solid aerodynamics from a wide range of crosswind angles. All of it’s done in a high modulus monocoque carbon frame. The fork is hi-mod, too, and also uses the Countervail viscoelastic material.
The proprietary one-piece handlebar/stem piece also gets full NACA profile shaping and all-carbon construction. It’s offered in 90/110/130mm stem lengths.
The frame and handlebar/aero extensions are equally compatible with electronic and mechanical groups. The fork gets a custom brake cover fairing that hides both the caliper and cable.
Brakes are TRP TTV RCR alloy direct mount models and are included on both complete bikes and the frameset.
The same caliper is used out back, hidden behind the bottom bracket.
The rear end has adjustable dropouts to allow fine tuning of wheel position, letting you tuck it up as close to the seat tube’s cutout as you like. No, those aren’t axle extensions, they’re parts for the wind tunnel’s brace.
The seatpost carries along the aero tube shaping, ending in a flip-flop clamp cradle allowing for +/-18mm setback of saddle positioning.
The Bianchi Aquila CV Dura-Ace Di2 bike is built up with the namesake group, Fulcrum Red WIND XLR 80mm deep alloy/carbon wheels with Vittoria Diamante Pro 23c tires and a Fizik Tritone K:ium saddle.
The Ultegra 11V model uses a mechanical group with Fulcrum Racing Quattro wheels and the same tires. Saddle is Fizik Arione TRI2 with manganese rails.
The frameset includes the bar/stem, aero extensions, seatpost, fork and brakes. Claimed weight is 1.25kg, available in S/M/L/XL.
For now, this bike’s only available to their pro teams. Pricing and consumer availability should be available by Eurobike.
