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Ridley's aerodynamic advantage

Features

By France, Ben Atkins in Brest

Published 8 July 2008

Cadel Evans reinforced his status as an overall favourite in this year's Tour with an emphatic...

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Image 1 of 47

The down tube is very wide (Image credit: Ben Atkins)

The Dean's head tube has a beak (Image credit: Ben Atkins)

Chain stays hug the rear wheel (Image credit: Ben Atkins)

The seatpost and other forward areas (Image credit: Ben Atkins)

The aero-special Oval rear brake (Image credit: Ben Atkins)

… but the chainrings have been (Image credit: Ben Atkins)

Straight handlebar extensions (Image credit: Ben Atkins)

Cadel Evans' Ridley Dean has been developed using oil flow mapping and integrates Oval Concepts's unique JetStream technology in the fork blades and seat stays. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The Dean's seat tube closely hugs the rear wheel before heading up towards the saddle. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The bottom bracket area of the Dean is built up for stiffness and to cut through the air. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The top tube joins the seat tube in a huge, aerodynamic joint. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The Dean's head tube has a beak that covers the top of the extended fork crown to keep the lines clean. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The down tube is very wide from the side view… (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

but very narrow where it hits the wind and is as aerodynamic as UCI regulations allow. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The Dean's seat stays feature Ridley's R-Flow technology that it claims makes the wheels spin even faster. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

Chain stays hug the rear wheel as closely as possible. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

Where the rear wheel passes through the seat stays there's not much clearance for tyres wider than this one! (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The Dean's incredible looking fork looks aerodynamic enough already… (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

… but Ridley claims those slotted airfoils create a vacuum around the spokes and reduces drag and turbulence around the wheel. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The seatpost and other forward areas have an area of rough surface texture designed to create a boundary layer of air to help it flow more smoothly over the frame. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The Dean shares the same kind of seat clamp as the other integrated seatpost frames in the Ridley range. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The fat nose of Cadel's San Marco saddle keeps things as comfortable as possible when he gets in his low position. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The gear and rear brake cables diasppear into the top of the top tube and reappear at the rear where they're needed. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The aero-special Oval rear brake is hidden out of the wind behind the fork. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The rear brake sits where its shape will do the least damage to the airflow: under the bottom bracket. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

Silence-Lotto uses an entirely Camapgnolo drivetrain on all of its bikes. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

Cadel uses a standard Campagnolo Ultra Torque chainset… (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

… but the chainrings have been upped to 54/42T instead of the 53/39T of his road machine. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

An 11-21T cassette is on hand for Cadel but only nine sprockets fit on the Ghibli disc. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

A Campagnolo Record derailleur is fitted to a riveted-on bracket on the side of the aero seat tube. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

Evans' time trial bar setup allows him to get as low as possible and keeps his arms level. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

Straight handlebar extensions are clamped into Oval's A901 Laminar bars with aerodynamic clamps. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

To get his arms as close together as possible, Evans cuts the inside edges of his elbow rests. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

As a Campagnolo sponsored team Silence-Lotto uses Record bar-end levers on its time trial bikes. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The styling of the bar-end shifters looks much the same as it has for years. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

Oval's A710 Adjustable stem allows Evans to get an even lower position on an already-aggressively positioned frame. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The RBT front of the stem is partially hidden from view by the front of the Laminar bars. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

Oval A900 Carbon Upgrade brake levers have as small a frontal area as possible. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

Campagnolo's Ghibli disc wheel has a classic look. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

The deep section of Campagnolo's Bora Ultra is the fastest non-disc wheel in the Italian company's range. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

Wrapped around the wheels are a set of Vredestein Fortezza Pro tubulars. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

As on his road bike Cadel Evans uses KeO Carbon Ti pedals by Look. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

A single Tacx Tao bottle cage was bolted on when we caught up with Evans' bike but he ran without during Tuesday's relatively short time trial. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

Will this name be added to the Tour de France roll of honour this year? (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

To keep things strong and stiff Ridley has used high modulus 40- and 50-ton carbon fibre in the Dean. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

Ridley bikes may be made in Asia but they are designed in the cycling heartland of Belgium. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

Cadel checks the position of the newly assembled Dean with a Silence-Lotto mechanic. (Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com)

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Pro bikes, July 9, 2008

Cadel Evans' Silence-Lotto Ridley Dean

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