This is probably the wrong subforum, but I couldn't think of another that fit better...

I was watching a spring classic on DVD and I got to thinking how the bike preparation for a one day classic might be different from a tour setup... Or maybe it is the same?

I was thinking the frame material/geometry, gearing, wheel choice and all sorts of other changes might be made... One of my buddies has a bike he swears has "tour geometry" which according to him makes it more comfortable and stable at the expense of razor sharp handling... (I've never heard of this but he does know a lot more than me!)

I was thinking that for a one day race you probably would be less concerned with comfort so maybe the frames are stiffer and stronger? I noticed the wheel choice seems to be different...

How can I find out for sure? I sure wish there was a site that had a breakdown of all the pros bikes based on events, kind of like a Velo News pro bike centerfold...

From what I can see watching my DVD collection, the spring classics are a lot different than the Giro/Vuelta/TdF so the bikes probably are too...

Or do the pros ride the same setup all year long?

Just curious!
Links appreciated!

but... (there's always a 'but' isn't there?)


For Paris-Roubaix teams often change up their equipment. Some teams change nothing but tire choice. Others, wheels and tires. A few actually use road bikes with suspensions (past experiments include both seatpost suspensions and a few different types of headset suspension systems). A very few riders get a whole different frame (not many). The vast majority ride fairly stock setups.

For something like Flanders, teams rarely go radical - maybe a different wheelset, often a different tire choice.

For the most part the classics get ridden on the same bikes that are day to day use at the Grand Tours.

Apart from Paris-Roubaix and perhaps Flanders, the riders are pretty well going to ride their standard set-up. The main problem with P-Rx and Flanders if its wet is mud and the need for clearances to run both fatter ryres and make sure there's still enough clearance between the wheels and the brake bridge - I rode the course last June and still had problems with mud build-up. Some teams even keep stocks of special wheels and aged tubulars just for the day - Mavic SSCs and Campag Sigma being the preferred choices. Riding pave full-on requires a slightly different riding style, staying seated and turning the biggest gear possible - riders like Bortalami used to run slightly shorter cranks with a more laid back seat position - a double wrap of bar tape also helps to take the sting off the hands. About 10 years ago, teams experiemented with Rock Shox and the like, but found that the weight penalty was too great and that they kept breaking - the rebound characteristic of most sus forks isn't responsive enough for the high speed battering of pave - Mapei's 1-2-3 victories on near standard C40's put paid to those ideas. Dario Pieri rode a headshock Cannondale for the last couple of years.

Domo FF went 1-2-3 and up until last year had won every P-R since on Scandium Merckx team SC's. for muddy P-R's they'll switch to cx forks so they can get more mud and tire clearance.
as for last year Magnus rode a custom Titanium Bianchi that has foam injected into the tubing for added strength with little additional weight. Fork was CF with Alu steerer. as a larger, aggressive rider I gotta get one of these. Maybe I can order one via the Team Shop
(reparto corsa) @ Bianchi, heck I'd take one of magnus' spares from last season.
guys have rode crossers as well.
wheel of choice is 32 spoke 3X mavic classic SCC tubs with those big Vittoria Roubaix tires (27's?) I have a set of these hoops and use them for cross. great wheels, buy them whenever I find them.

some teams and/or individual riders break out their cyclocross bikes for Paris-Roubaix. Marc Madiot of FDJeux.com counsels his riders to do so and you'll see many of his riders on their cyclocross rigs -- especially if conditions are forecast to be wet and muddy. Other teams do so as well... check out Weseman from Telekom last year cruising through the arenburg on his crosser....

A+

Philippe