Designed as a race bike with performance-oriented geometry, handling and stiffness, the new Bianchi Aria adds aerodynamics that consider the rider and the bike as one. Thus, that geometry was angled to put you in an aero position, and it’s designed to work particularly well with clip-on aero bars for triathlons.
While their press materials don’t dive too deep in to the wind tunnel testing they performed, the gist of it is that they’ve shaped the frame and fork to work together to move air over the frame as efficiently as possible. The seatstays and fork legs are inspired by their Aquila CV TT and tri bike. The headtube is tapered from 1-1/8″ to 1-1/4″, keeping it slimmer than going to a full 1.5″ taper.
Other little tricks include hidden seatpost binder, aero seatpost shape and tucking the rear wheel into a seat tube cutout.
It’s mechanical and electronic shifting ready. Frame weight is claimed at 1,100 g for a size 55, fork is 370g.
Bikes will come in a massive eight size range – 44, 47, 50, 53, 55, 57, 59, 61. Headtube heights are fairly normal, but top tube lengths seem to run shorter than normal, which suggests much of the rider positioning comes from making the handlebar drops more accessible and getting the rider’s back flatter.
