Over the last few days, we have been pouring over our pictures that are still coming in from the Cyclocross World Championships in Tabor. One item that struck us was the changing nature of bike tech on podiums in comparison to years past.
We have looked at the technology behind the riders that have what it takes to compete for the podium, and analyzed the top four bikes in each category, from the Junior, U23, Women's Elite, and Men's Elite Races. In the slides below, we'll present some of the most common parts that helped the riders find the podium (or barely miss it), and we'll also point out some of the noticeable outliers.
Although we didn't incorporate the riders who placed out of the top four of each race into our statistics, we'll show you a few unique products that we found. Don't miss our full bike profile on Mathieu van der Poel's Stevens Super Prestige Disc cyclocross bikes of the BKCP Powerplus cyclocross team.
While we included many categories, we opted to save tire selection for a separate post for multiple reasons. In many cases, riders were changing their tire selection mid-ride: Eli Iserbyt and Logan Owen, for example, both reported their mistake of start-line tread selection after their race. As such, a breakdown of tire usage is not only unwieldy, but the reported statistics would be misleading. Stay tuned for our look at some notable tire choices at the 2015 Cyclocross World Championship.
The Outlier?
Gage Hecht was the only outlier in two regards: His SRAM Red 22 drivetrain was not electronic and sported a front derailleur. Secondly, he was also the only rider of the 16 who used chainrings that were not from a company that manufactured full drivetrains. Just as in Austin for the 2015 National Cyclocross Championship, he rode with WickWerks chainrings.
We’ll save you the suspense and tell you ahead of time that Gage Hecht is an outlier in nearly every category, the most obvious being his titanium Moots against a vast sea of carbon bikes. Don’t miss our Pro Bike Profile of Gage Hecht’s Moots we released just after Nationals.
Although not in the top four in the Men’s Elite Race, Ian Fields has one of the more unique cranksets at the world’s stage. He uses an older, five-bolt Shimano Dura-Ace crankset and pairs them with Specialties TA Alize chainrings, manufactured in France.
Hecht uses an old Compton favorite: WickWerks double chainrings, which he has installed on his SRAM Red 22 crankset. © Cyclocross Magazine
