Paris-Roubaix is a race unlike any other. Yes, there are other cobbled classics, but none are as tough on bikes and riders as the “Hell of the North.” Race competitors have long turned to unique equipment choices to gain an advantage. This led to lace's long history of innovation.
Some, like Specialized's Roubaix and Trek's Domane, both brought victories with their use. However, not all of Roubaix technology has proven to be advantageous. This race is full of examples of the race chewing up promising technological developments and spitting them out.
Here we look at seven of the cobblestone monument's most notable technical failures.
RockShox Paris Roubaix SL Suspension Fork
Starting with a flop list was nothing more than a flop back then. The RockShox Roubaix SL fork was first used in his 1991, but he won his first race the following year, followed by further wins in 1993 and his 1994. At this point, suspension forks seemed to change the game. But at Paris-Roubaix, riders quickly turned their backs on forks in the years that followed, and the Roubaix SL fork was left gathering dust.
Pinarello K8-S rear suspension
In 2015, Pinarello worked on adding suspension to their road bikes, and this time they added suspension to the rear of the bike. The K8-S uses a small elastomeric damper unit between the seatstays and seat tube to provide up to 10mm of rear wheel travel. There was no lower pivot to move the rear triangle, and the brand instead relied on the vertical flex of the carbon. Unlike the RockShox Roubaix SL, the K8-S never achieved the top step of the podium and was subsequently replaced by the usual Dogma used by Team Sky and later Ineos Grenadiers.
Lampre Merida switches to disc brakes
It's hard to imagine a time when disc brakes didn't dominate the peloton, but you only have to go back eight years to 2016 to find a completely different landscape. Disc brakes were in a trial period and many riders were unhappy with their introduction.
At Paris-Roubaix that year, the Lampre-Merida team caused outrage by announcing that they would be racing with the newly released Merida Skultura disc. However, it didn't help when a crash midway through the Pavé section left Movistar's Francisco Ventoso with deep lacerations, which he blamed on his disc brakes.
After the race, Ventoso wrote an open letter to the UCI asking for a ban on disc brakes, but although this did not go his way, approval of the technology was delayed. The story is finally brought to a close when the World Sporting Goods Federation commissioned a forensic investigation into the incident, which revealed that the tear was actually caused by the chainring, rather than the disc brake as thought. Reached.
George Hincapie aluminum steering tube
It took a while for carbon fiber to be accepted as a suitable material for Paris-Roubaix, as many teams and riders were reluctant to move away from the tried-and-true aluminum products they were used to. In 2006, George Hincapie discovered that aluminum was not immune to problems after his steering tube snapped while driving on a section of Pavé and he fell to the floor. The bike he was using was made of carbon fiber, but the fork steerer was made of aluminum. After the race, Trek claimed the failure was caused by damage sustained in a crash earlier in the race.
self inflating tires
Tire pressure and bike setup are a technical headache at Paris-Roubaix. The race is often decided by his 29 sectors of Pavé, but the less important issue is that he travels more than 200 kilometers of tarmac between the start and finish at the Roubaix velodrome. This means riders are forced to make compromises to balance rotational efficiency with grip and control.
In recent years, some teams have considered the idea of using adjustable tire pressure systems that can increase or decrease tire pressure on the fly. The technology seemed to offer a solution to a very real problem, but teams turned away from it on race day and never achieved the breakthrough that had been hoped for. .
Specialized Future Shock
Since its launch, the Specialized Roubaix has won more races in its namesake than any other bike. In 2017, the brand introduced a new generation of Roubaix that uses a steerer-based suspension unit to offer riders 20mm of travel. The problem with this system was that many pro riders were not fans of the Future shock system. This led pre-race favorite Nikki Terpstra to use a modified Roubaix that replaced the Future Shock with a solid aluminum block.
Unfortunately, this modification failed in the race, resulting in him crashing. After the race, Specialized claimed this was due to pre-production modifications to the prototype. The fact that no professional rider wanted to use a Future His shock solidified the Future His shock's place in Roubaix's Tech His flop.
automatic chain lubrication
Regardless of the weather, the Paris-Roubaix pavés always test the limits of your bike. This is especially true of drivetrains. Chains that are 260 kilometers long are difficult to keep lubricated at all times, but dust and mud can quickly dry them out.
To solve this problem, Scottoiler released the S1 automatic chain lubricator. This was intended to prevent this by continuously applying lubrication to the chain. This unit was powered by two AAA batteries and could hold enough lubricant for up to 52 hours of driving.
Caleb Ewan tried the system, but the team deemed the weight penalty and potential gains not large enough to justify its use, and it never made it to the start line at Roubaix. Since most teams now use wax lubricants rather than oil-based lubricants, the problem that S1 was trying to solve is solved more elegantly due to the wax's natural properties in repelling dirt and contamination. I did.
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