The road bike market is heavily bound by tradition. People are wary of change, and innovation develops at a glacial pace, so it’s refreshing when a bike appears that flouts the accepted norm of how a road bike should look. One such bike is the new 3T Strada.
Created by Gerard Vroomen, the co-founder of Cervélo, the Strada is sleek and aggressively aerodynamic, yet it comes with elements more usually seen on ‘all-road’ bikes: wide 28mm tyres, disc brakes and a 1x drivetrain.
It’s a peculiar combination, and Vroomen knows it. ‘I’ll admit the Strada has garnered a mixed reception,’ he says. ‘Although if I wanted a normal reception I’d have made a boring bike.’
The project was conceived when Vroomen realised he didn’t want to choose between aerodynamics or comfort in a bike.
‘The tyres have the biggest influence on comfort, so we settled on 28mm tyres and built the bike up from there, since 28mm tyres offer the best balance of volume without impacting frontal area or weight too much,’ he says.
Vroomen clearly knows a thing or two about aerodynamics, yet that didn’t stop him making use of both theoretical analysis and wind-tunnel testing on the tube shapes.
Despite not providing any numerical comparisons, Vroomen says the Strada compares very well against its rivals, which he attributes to its focus.
‘When brands offer rim and disc-brake versions of frames, they need an interchangeable design. That introduces a number of compromises, for example a less than perfect fork crown height,’ he says.
‘The fork crown is one of the worst areas aerodynamically, so if you don’t have to provide for a rim brake the crown can be sucked up towards the bottom of the head tube.’
The decision to opt for a 1x drivetrain was driven by a similar motivation. ‘Another terrible area for aerodynamics is around the bottom bracket, with the frame, crank, chainrings, front derailleur, water bottles and a rider’s legs leaving little room for the air to pass through.
‘A single-ring drivetrain eliminates the front derailleur and one chainring, reducing frontal area and creating space for unobstructed airflow. Plus it frees up the design of the seat tube to shield the rear wheel even better.’
One-ring wonder
A single chainring may improve aerodynamics but it inevitably limits gear selection. Irish ProContinental team Aqua Blue will be racing the Strada next year, and opinion is divided over whether or not the team will be at a disadvantage.
‘What people fail to understand is that there is no bike in the peloton that is the perfect choice 365 days a year,’ says Vroomen.
‘For some races a 2x drivetrain may be advantageous, but for others a 1x system is definitely better.
‘No one questions riders at Paris-Roubaix throwing away all those watts to drag from a front derailleur and inner ring that they didn’t use all day, because that’s how we’re used to bikes looking.
‘It’s just because this change is so visible that people are questioning it.’
The issue is the cassette. With only one front ring the cassette can either have balanced gaps between each gear ratio but a poor overall range, or a good range with big jumps between gears.
It’s an issue 3T has gone some way to addressing with its new Bailout and Overdrive cassettes, which both contain a range of sprockets from 9-32t but in different configurations.
‘The Bailout is for the majority of riders,’ says Vroomen. ‘It has balanced gaps from 9-26, then jumps to 32. If you’re in trouble you can “bail out” to the 32.
‘If you’re OK then you’d be in the 26 sprocket or bigger anyway. The Overdrive is for racers – it can be paired with a bigger chainring because pros don’t need a gear for when they blow up but still need to get home, as they can just get in the team car.
‘Their concern is fine-tuning their climbing gears, so they have a 28-tooth sprocket because that’s a likely gear to use for 10km up an 8% climb.
‘We’ve kept the spacing smaller on that side of the range with a big jump at the top end, from 11 to 9 teeth.’
The system may be controversial and as yet unproven, but the logic is sound. We look forward to putting it into practise with a review in a future issue.