Those long stems
Dear Lennard,
I read that several riders at this year's Tour de France have opted for a small frame and very long stem (140-150mm) combination.

I'm curious whether this is to get a lighter frame (seems unlikely since pro's don't have to take unusual steps to reach the UCI legal weight), or to get less responsive/twitchy steering for high-speed descents etc.

I have run a similar setup for a couple of years due to the safer feel of the steering but people always tell me that a 140mm stem is ridiculous.
Dan

Dear Dan,
Indeed, a longer stem can make a bike less twitchy, since a given movement at the handlebar results in less angular rotation of the fork and hence less movement of the front wheel with a long stem than the same movement of the bar with a shorter stem. However, I doubt that is the major reason you see so many long stems in the Tour.

Valverde's bar/stem combo.

Photo: Matt Pacocha

I think the major reason is that there are almost no riders anymore riding custom frames, and odd-length stems (and odd-angle stems, too) are required to make them fit. They ride stock frames because virtually all of the frames in the Tour are now made of molded carbon, and given the enormous expense of a single mold, bike sponsors do not make special bikes for riders, other than a very special rider here or there. Liquigas sprinter Daniele Bennati is one special rider with short legs and a long upper body who gets to ride a custom bike so he won’t have to have a ridiculously long stem. He got a custom Cannondale
System 6 at the Giro d’Italia (which he crashed and broke into several pieces on the descent of the Pass di Giau).

Otherwise, “custom” bikes for pros usually are stock frames with custom paint jobs. (There are, for example, probably some Scotts with Cobra paint jobs available super cheap right now.)

Custom frames were standard for all pro riders in the era of steel, titanium and aluminum frames, because any builder could make a frame that resembled that of the team’s bike sponsor. But with all of the unique, distinctive shaping of individual molded-carbon frames, a third party is now unable to duplicate the team’s frame in a one-off custom unit. And sometimes compact (sloping) frames have a longer head tube than a pro rider wants, so he will opt for a smaller frame size. Hence the need for some super-long stems.
Lennard

Gear selections?
Dear Lennard,
Watching the super human performance of the Tour riders is an incredible experience. But I was wondering what kind of gear selections do they run for the different stages?

I recall on today’s time trials they mentioned that riders were using a 57 tooth front ring. What do they run on the rear? 25-11? What do they run in the extreme hill climbs where the up hill grades are 7 percent and yet they will run nearly +65mph downhill. What gears do they run?
Steve

Dear Steve,
In a time trial without a major climb in it, cogsets would tend to be 11-23 or 11-21.

For mountain stages, you usually don’t see anything highly unusual. A 53-39 with an 11-25 is what I would expect to find on most of the bikes in tomorrow’s L’Alpe d’Huez stage. You generally won’t find a compact crank or, rarely, a triple, except on extreme climbs like the Monte Zoncolan or Plan de Corones of the Giro or the Alto de l’Anglirú in the Vuelta.
Lennard

Trimming my chain
Dear Lennard,
I noticed in the latest VeloNews that you wrote not to shorten a 10-speed chain and found that odd. What's wrong with shortening a chain? I wouldn't think it would be much different from putting a new one on, like I just did last weekend. It had three-too-many links, so I used the chain tool and took them off, then joined it with the PowerLock link.
Dave

Dear Dave,
I meant that one should never to push a link pin out of a 10-speed chain (or a 9-speed one for that matter) and push it back in. If you use a connector link, it’s not a problem. Sorry I did not make that more clear.
Lennard

Why tubular?
Dear Lennard,
Everything that I’ve read of late, including your column, suggests that—at equal pressures—clinchers have a lower rolling resistance than tubulars.

Why, then, are tubulars so popular at the track? Even equipment manufacturers seem to target the track market with only tubular products. I find it hard to believe that the extra weight of clinchers is the issue (the banked corners aren’t that much of a climb!). Is it the increased tire pressures that riders can achieve?

What would you recommend?
Ron

Answer from Schwalbe

We are also wondering for years already why the professionals are still so keen on riding tubulars and why the sales figures of tubulars are even rising again. In terms of rolling resistance or weight we can achieve at least the same result with a good folding tires. But there are some arguments for pros to use tubular.

1. Safety
When you have a sudden blow out, the tubular does not come off of the rim.

2. Weight
You can hardly save any weight on the tire. But you can save quite some weight on the wheel, because the rim does not need to have (pressure proof) hooks.

So all the extreme lightweight wheelsets are made for tubulars.

3. Suplesse
That is what the pro riders claim. The "feeling" would be better. There is more "life" inside the tire, meaning the rolling and cornering properties of the tires would be better.

And if we are talking of real handmade tubulars (in contrast to a vulcanized tubular) the complete construction is indeed more flexible and adaptive. We cannot measure the difference with our test equipment in the lab but on the more rough surface in the real world this can be an advantage.

4. Pressure
And this argument counts only for the track. You can ride tubulars with higher pressures. This makes only sense on the very smooth surface of a track. On a road it would be no good to use pressure of more than 10 bar (140 psi).

Our conclusion: Tubulars are fine if you want to ride same tire as the pros ride and if money and time do not matter for you. In the ideal case, you have a sponsor who is paying for the expensive handmade tubulars and a mechanic who is doing the nasty and time-consuming tire mounting for you.
Carsten Zahn
Schwalbe tire product manager

Bearing replacement on my Heliums
Dear Lennard,
I put your bearing replacement article to good use. I replaced all of the bearings in two pairs of Ksyrium wheels. My question is with an old set of Helium wheels. I'd like to service the rear hub but I have yet to figure out how to remove the free hub body and the axle. Aside from replacing the bearings, the free hub needs lubed. I've searched the web for a technical diagram of the Helium hub without success. Any advice?
Rhett

Dear Rhett,
The bearing change is the same for the Helium as the Ksyrium with the exception of the tools required for the axle. A 5mm hex key in either end of the axle will loosen it. If the end cap on the non-drive side unscrews, as it may on an older wheel, it should be super-glued in place and when allowed to properly set up it will release as intended.
Lennard