New Trek Speed Concept time trial bike spotted at Critérium du Dauphiné
Dropped seat stays and updated cockpit differentiate old from new
It looks as though Trek has an all-new time trial bike on the way, as during the Critérium du Dauphiné stage 4 time trial, Trek Segafredo riders were spotted aboard an all-new bike from their team's bike sponsor.
Riders such as Ryan Mullen, Julien Bernard and Michel Ries took to the start ramp aboard the new bike, which sees some easily noticeable differences compared to Trek's existing Speed Concept.
Compared to the outgoing model, the most noticeable update is that of the seat stays, which are now dropped even further than before, and eject horizontally from the seat tube, before bending diagonally toward the rear axle, and then bending again to meet the chainstay in a more vertical plane.
The cockpit has also been updated with an overhauled design, with what looks to be a shorter head tube and an all-around tidier finish, with the stem of the base bar protruding horizontally forwards from a cut-out in the head tube, rather than diagonally up. As a result of this, the top tube is also amended, with a deeper profile acting as a fairing behind the head tube.
The down tube is lower too, and wraps around the front wheel more closely, a design feature that contrasts against the recent updates made to Cannondale's new time trial bike and Factor's rumoured new bike.
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Usually in this position, we'd be forced to speculate as to the model name of the new bike. For example, just last week, Factor riders took to the final stage time trial of the Giro d'Italia aboard a completely blacked-out version of their bike, leaving onlookers with no clues. However, positioned on the right-hand fork leg, Trek has helpfully marked up the bike with 'SPEED CNCPT'. Curiously, all bikes are also designed with a 00:00:00 timestamp on the seat tube cluster too.
All images of the bike that have surfaced during the stage see the bike fitted with disc brakes, suggesting Trek is committing the new model to disc brake stopping technology. This wouldn't be a surprise, as both Trek and its component subsidiary have long been headed in that direction for its road bikes.
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It also looks as though the team have continued sporting a rear disc wheel from Zipp alongside the Aeolus RSL 75 that Bontrager launched recently. It's long been a badly kept secret that Trek Segafredo typically use a Zipp rear wheel, camouflaged with a large Trek-Segafredo sticker in the absence of anything available from Bontrager. However, with the new bike comes the absence of the camouflage, and it's possible to make out the Zipp logo circling around the cassette.
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As the Tech Editor here at Cyclingnews, Josh leads on content relating to all-things tech, including bikes, kit and components in order to cover product launches and curate our world-class buying guides, reviews and deals. Alongside this, his love for WorldTour racing and eagle eyes mean he's often breaking tech stories from the pro peloton too.
On the bike, 32-year-old Josh has been riding and racing since his early teens. He started out racing cross country when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s and has never looked back. He's always training for the next big event and is keen to get his hands on the newest tech to help. He enjoys a good long ride on road or gravel, but he's most alive when he's elbow-to-elbow in a local criterium.
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