FOCUS Bikes: "I'd like to slice through the wind!"

Tour de France Special

"I'd like to slice through the wind!"

L.B. › 11.07.2011

Tour de France Special – Izalco Chrono

The Izalco Chrono is Team Katusha's time-trial bike. And an aero frame could hardly be more streamlined; you can almost slice through the wind with it.

This year's Tour de France offers the riders 65.5 time-trial kilometres. Given a total distance of 3,430.5 kilometres, this must seem like a mere drop in the ocean. Nonetheless, the teams and their equipment suppliers still put a huge effort into designing and building the time-trial bikes. FOCUS supplies Team Katusha with the Izalco Chrono. The frame was developed by FOCUS and Swiss time-trial guru Andreas Walser. Not only is it more aerodynamic than nearly any other frame, it has also been planned down to the very last detail. Below are a few of its highlights at a glance:

: The cables are routed internally. They disappear into the top or down tubes right behind the head tube. Besides looking great, this also guarantees minimum wind resistance.

: The gear shift cable emerges from the frame just in front of the derailleur hanger. Here, the exit hole can be seen. It is located 'on' the seat stay, allowing the cable to lie in the tube's slipstream.

: On the bottom bracket the cable emerges from the frame just in front of the derailleur mount. The threads that can be seen in the picture are used to install the cables, which are routed through the frame by means of an internal sleeve.

: The ultra-flat 'tube diameters' further enhance the aerodynamics. The down tube profile is very like that of a blade.

: The frame features only a single bottle cage mount. The design of the down tube leaves no room for refreshments. Since the 100-kilometre team time trials were abandoned, there are now hardly any time-trial stretches over 60 km, meaning one water bottle is nearly always enough.

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"I'd like to slice through the wind!"