BMC have unveiled the machine that Thor Hushovd and his BMC Racing teammates will use to tackle the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix on Sunday (8).
The Granfondo GF01 is billed as a model with an emphasis on comfort, and BMC claim it is 40 per cent more compliant than its sister SLR-01 race model. It uses the manufacturer’s ‘Endurance’ geometry, achieved with longer chainstays (412mm from the centre of the bottom bracket to the centre of the drop out), a slack head tube angle (72 degrees on the 54cm frame), and a “generous fork rake”.
The frame is built with BMC’s Angle Compliance Technology to induce flex, a design philosophy manifest in a notable ‘kink’ just below the junction of the seat stays and the down tube, before the rear dropouts, and above the fork dropouts. The cross section of the chainstays reduces at the approach to the rear drop out, before kinking upwards, creating a sharp angle that BMC claim acts as a pivot. The seat stays and fork blades also feature reduced cross sections.
The carbon seat mast is available in three offsets: 3mm, 18mm, and 30mm. BMC claim to have worked “a lot” on the carbon lay up to induce compliance, and say the “long, thin” design of all three posts is further aid to flex.
A giant down tube leads to an equally beefy, box section bottom bracket shell, which houses a BB86 press fit bottom bracket. The oversized head tube tapers from 1-1/2” to 1-1/8”.
The claimed frame weight is 950g for a 54cm model, with a complete bike weight of 7.38kg in the same size, fitted with Shimano Ultegra Di2 and an Easton EA90 AT wheelset. Removable external cable stops allow the frame to fitted with mechanical or electronic transmission.
Two specifications are available: mechanical Ultegra, or Ultegra Di2. Both come with the aforementioned EA90 wheelset shod with 28c Continental GP 4-Season tyres, and a Fizik Aliante saddle. The cockpit is Easton EA70.
