At the Races: Lance Armstrong's Tour de France Bike
By WENDY BOOHER


The last time I wrote about Lance Armstrong's bike, it was for Popular Mechanics in 2004, when Armstrong was aiming for an unprecedented sixth Tour de France victory. If this piece were for a gossip column, I'd need more space but luckily, since bikes have changed little in more than a century, you'd think I could tweak that previous article and finish work early. Not so. The persistent evolution of materials plus the ushering in of new sponsors, who must align themselves to one, solitary goal: win the Tour, keep grand tour bikes in the headlines.

Due to the high stakes and premium exposure brought on by the Tour de France, Tour bikes - especially one with such a high profile as Armstrong's - tend to remain top-secret until just before the race's start. One of the hallmarks of Armstrong's Tour bikes is that they will eventually become production models, which is to say anyone can own Lance's bike. First though, will be a test run during this year's TdF of the new, finely-tuned model, which will stay a secret until July 3, when more information will become available. (the image above is Armstrong's bike from the Giro d'Italia). The bike's specs, however, are no secret and you can have them now:

Cranks - SRAM Red 130 BCD standard cranks 53/39
175cm length
Chainring - 53/39 standard rings
Shift levers - standard SRAM RED - utilizes SRAM reach adjust at approx two degrees
Bottom Bracket - special SRAM BB co-developed with Trek call BB90 - particularly for the Madone
Rear Derailleur - SRAM RED - features ceramic bearings in the pulleys
Front Derailleur - SRAM RED front derailleur with steel cage option
Chain - Lance has been issued a SRAM 1090R chain
Brakes - standard SRAM RED with Bontrager carbon pads
Cables and housing - SRAM Professional System by Gore
Cassette - SRAM OG-1090 11-26 or 11-23

All the same for his TT bike except:

Aero shifters - uses a BlackBox version of the SRAM R2C (return to center) shift levers
Bontrager brake levers
Chainring - SRAM Red 55/42
Bottom Bracket - BlackBox ceramic

BlackBox is SRAM's elite technology race development platform.

Headset - Cane Creek 110 headset
Saddle - San Marco Concor saddle
Bars - RXXL VR bar size 44cm
Stem- RXXL Stem 120 x 7degree
Wheels - Aeolus 5.0 wheels and RXXXL wheels depending on the stage
Tires - RXXXL Tubular tires
Cages - RXL Carbon Cages

If I am not mistaken, the ability to spin at 100rpm's with 175cm crank arms would point directly at PED useage. I mean it is obvious when everyone else in the peleton has cranks 10 times shorter that something is up.

Nice catch Sammy. Now we may know why he clipped his pedal on the curb.
 
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