In talking with a team rep, he said there aren’t a lot of prototype or fancy parts on the bikes because it’s helpful to the mechanics to have everything as similar as possible. And, as he put it, “special parts have special problems.”
That said, the bikes had mostly stock spec save for one very interesting custom handlebar/stem combo for Tejay Van Garderen. Made by joining standard 3T bullhorn bars and aero extensions into a single piece and then molding them directly to the steerer tube and fork, the entire front end of the bike becomes one giant carbon fiber piece. Here’s why…
Compared to a standard setup on the right, the custom one-piece bit is much cleaner looking. It’s also much stiffer, and there’s no way it can come loose or slip under hard efforts or over a big bump. The rep said when the rider’s weight is over the front, particularly if putting weight on the ends of the extensions or bars, there’s a lot of leverage there and if they hit a big bump, the bars can rotate down a bit. Considering how much the team invests in getting the fit and aerodynamics of rider + bike dialed, this ensures they’ll stay that way throughout the course.
Unfortunately for you and I, this customization is said to cost around CHF 20,000 (Swiss Francs). That’d put the total bike cost north of CHF 30,000 (or upwards from $32,000 as of the date of this posting). Still interested?
And they had to make two of them for Tejay, an “A” bike and a “B” bike. Each has a few subtle differences…
…mainly with the positioning of the junction box and the types of fibers used.
He put an Issimo cycling computer mount on the extensions.
Tejay is one of the few that uses a setback seatpost on his TT bike.
That front wheel was unlabeled, described only as “that front wheel that we’re using” when asked. Any guesses?
