Subscribe now and choose from over 30 free gifts worth up to £49 - Plus get £25 to spend in our shop
To get bike weights above UCI minimum.
[img] 
[/img]
there's an article here: [url= http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/the-weird-and-the-wonderful-gallery-21-days-of-tour-tech-41643/ ]http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/the-weird-and-the-wonderful-gallery-21-days-of-tour-tech-41643/[/url]
My questions are;
1) adding rotating weight (even if it's centred on the axle line) creates more inertia that the riders then have to overcome when accelerating etc?
2) do they have any flywheel effect?
I realise that compared with a wheel it's minimal, the method is simpler than trying to drop weights down the seat tube and also keeps any additional weight low in the frame but they could as easily bolt stuff under the BB.
So would it make any measurable difference?
[i]So would it make any measurable difference? [/i]
Yes, get them above the minimum 😉
I would imagine that if they have gone to the trouble of doing it, them there are probably some good reasons. I know in motorcycle racing they often use the same strategy to be able to distribute weight for certain handling characteristics (and are able to easily/cheaply move it around).
Maybe it also helps in 'deadening' bumps in the road?
but they could as easily bolt stuff under the BB
Most pro teams sell their bikes at the end of the season, not sure people would want to buy them with either holes in the BB shell, or weights bolted onto them...
someone like Sky will have 40 odd bikes to sell, at > 5k a pop, it's a considerable amount of money
The article says the weights go in the crank spindle not the wheel spindle.
Even on the wheel they would be close enough to the centre to have no inertia effect.
sorry, I meant crank axle spindle.
Just shows how daft the UCI regulations are, really.
I thought that from last year they weren't allowed to do this any more and all weight had to be 'structural', but I also read that article. 😕
I read that article too, apparently the UCI know the rule is outdated, but nobody wants to make the changes to the regs.