Trek's White Paper 2.0 - The Speed Concept

(Courtesy of slowtwitch.com and Trekbikes)

On Oct 23, 2007, Trek released their first white paper to the public after some debate concerning their Equinox TTX and its performance in the wind tunnel were called into question. At the time, our publisher, Dan Empfield, wrote that, "Trek Bicycle Corporation has granted Slowtwitch.com's readers transparency atypical in the bike industry. Trek's Damon Rinard has penned a white paper describing the protocol and results of a recent wind tunnel test that, among other things, compares its bikes to two others in its competitive set." In the past two plus years, the level of transparency regarding wind tunnel testing has changed dramatically. Consumers - at least our readers - now expect to know how the bike they are considering buying stacks up - with hard numbers - against the competition. Employees from Blue, Cervelo, Felt, Kestrel, LOOK, Specialized, Trek (listed alphabetically) and others all participate on the Slowtwitch.com forum. And the expectation is now that these individuals will make themselves available to answer questions about their products. At the risk of throwing him to the dogs, I will say that forum user "Carl" is the Carl Matson of Trek Bicycles whose name appears on this white paper. It was he who arranged for Slowtwitch to host this white paper. While neither he nor we can guarantee he will answer every question posed on our user forum, he has said that he'll do his best to avoid having any "chirping crickets" in threads about the SpeedConcept and this white paper.

The white paper can be downloaded by clicking here.

Simon says: -

I WANT I WANT I WANT.

Of course I'm bias but some interesting points I'd like to make. First of all, I think most would agree that the most popular tri bike around is the Cervelo. Some would say the P4C is the pinnacle others would say they already perfected it with the P3C. Either way they are fabulous bikes, attractive and aero and a great company behind them. However, in Trek's white paper for the TTX (Click here for my previous article on that white paper) the PC3 was in a clear second place to the TTX. Now you'll see in the graph attached that both the P3 and P4 are a distant way behind the Speed Concept.

Interestingly you'll note that the P4 actually has MORE drag at 15% yaw than the P3! (15% yaw is considered to be the benchmark of aerodynamic testing).

(Click on chart to enlarge)




Even more interestingly you'll note below from Cervelo's own testing that they had TWO MAJOR OMISSIONS: -

1)They only included P4 data up to 12.5% yaw!!!! What happened there, did they run out of wind tunnel time?

2) They included all the major brands EXCEPT TREK.

That says it all for me! I'm convinced - Give me a Trek Speed Concept over a P3 or P4 any day.

(Click on chart to enlarge)



Another interesting chart for you is the actual percentage and related time that you'd gain over a P4 using the new Speed Concept in an Ironman. It's a massive 10 minutes for a small rider and between 7 to 8 minutes for a medium rider like me. It may not seem like a lot of time but it's all "FREE" time and to think that I missed out on Kona qualification by 7 to 8 minutes!!!!! (I'm not blaming the bike though I was on a TTX so it was still quicker than the Cervelo).

(Click on chart to enlarge)















So in conclusion I've realised that I'm an average rider but my equipment makes me fast...hahahaha...actually my bike times speak for themselves and I average 400+k per week in training for 6 months leading to an Ironman, I work very hard at it BUT there is only so much that I can achieve physically so if I can make use of some "FREE" time I'll take it thank you very much!

And don't forget a disc wheel will make a difference but the best aero bang for your buck is an aero helmet - certainly cheaper than a new bike or a new disc and will knock minutes off your time.

Finally, sorry to all you Cervelo owners, I know there are lots of you and many that I ride with. This wasn't meant to be a Cervelo bashing article, I truly love the P3 and P4.

And look on the bright side, you have the third and fourth fastest tri bikes on the planet behind the TTX and now the Speed Concept, that's not bad is it?.