No sooner have I penned a bit about how Tom Pidcock’s built-in stress sensor wheels may truly catch on than I’m pulled inexorably down into one other tech rabbit gap like Alice, however right into a world that’s far nerdier than Wonderland. Our Opening Weekend tech gallery has all the tech highlights, however trawling the pictures from the in-race photographers I believe I’ve noticed one thing actually curious: I believe a number of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe riders have been intentionally operating a ‘street mullet’ wheelset, with a deeper entrance wheel than rear.
What’s extra, to massively blow my very own trumpet, I predicted this could occur. Sure, I had it in my 2024 Tour de France predictions piece (if you wish to examine my homework), however I’m only some months out.
What is a street mullet wheelset?
‘Mullet’ has grow to be a little bit of a effectively used descriptor in biking tech. It can be utilized, after all, to explain Shane Archbold’s haircut, however additionally it is used to explain mountain bike wheelsets that blended a 27.5 rear wheel with a 29er up entrance. Latterly it’s been co-opted by the gravel group for a part setup that mixes street shifter hoods with a mountain bike rear cassette and derailleur for extra gear vary, just like what we noticed the riders of Lidl-Trek utilizing at Opening Weekend. Now I believe it’s going to catch on with street wheelsets to explain any setup with a deeper entrance wheel than rear. I’ll get into why groups may go for this shortly.
From what I can see the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe riders have been mixing a brand new Roval entrance wheel that was first seen in use on the Paris Olympics on the entrance of Remco Evenepoel’s time trial bike with a Roval Rapide CLX II Team rear wheel. The present Roval Rapide CLX II Team rear wheel is 60mm deep, with the entrance wheel from that set measuring solely 51mm. This means the entrance wheel in use right here is probably round 70mm in depth.
Some fervent dialogue inside the tech group right here was undertaken to emphasize take a look at this idea. Was it possibly a hasty entrance wheel swap after a puncture? Seems unlikely, because it seems at the very least three riders have been on this setup. Was it maybe one thing to do with the newest, unreleased S-Works Turbo tyres that have been additionally in use by the group? This additionally appears to be unlikely, because the setup was utilized by riders on the unreleased tyres, and likewise these showing to make use of the older S-Works Mondo tyres. Why, then, would a group choose to suit a deeper entrance wheel than the rear, towards the usual apply of numerous years?
Aero up entrance, weight on the rear
If the development in aero bike design of latest years needed to be summed up in a single sentence it could be ‘make the entrance extra aero and make the rear finish lighter’.
In brief, the main edges of the bike (and the rider too) have extra of an impression on the general aerodynamic image than the rear, the place the air is turbulent, chaotic, and soiled. Brands have focussed on making head tubes deeper (see the newest Noah Fast 3.0 bike from Ridley for an excessive instance), and concurrently now we have seen seat stays particularly get thinner in an effort to enhance aerodynamics whereas permitting the bikes to hit the 6.8kg UCI minimal weight restrict, or at the very least get as near it as potential.
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Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe race completely on the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8, and whereas in our personal wind tunnel checks it carried out extraordinarily effectively, it’s additionally comparatively light-weight. Occasionally, race bikes must have weights added so that they make the load restrict (flying within the face of the particular level of the load restrict itself, however that’s irrelevant), and it’s fully potential that, as a substitute of merely including weights to the underside bracket shell, the group has as a substitute opted so as to add weight on the entrance wheel in a means that ought to make the bike as a complete extra aerodynamic. Given the lumpy parcours of Omloop, low weight is clearly a precedence, however as this seems to be a time trial entrance wheel it’s not like there’s a deeper rear to go along with it (in need of a disc wheel, which might be a really unlawful setup).
In discussions with Colnago final yr I ran some calculations based mostly on mixed wheelset weights, hypothesising that on a mountain stage, a pair of Enve SES 4.5 wheels may very well be swapped out for an Enve 6.7 entrance and a couple of.3 rear. This could be a internet distinction of 210g/7.4oz in favour of the ‘mullet’ setup. Without truly testing the aerodynamics of every setup it’s inconceivable to know for certain, but it surely may very well be that, in addition to a internet weight enchancment, additionally it is related and even higher aerodynamically.
Are there any drawbacks?
All else being equal, a deeper entrance is tougher to regulate in windy circumstances, in addition to usually being stiffer, however that is unlikely to bother the professionals. Aesthetically it’s fairly difficult, and the game is usually a slave to aesthetics and custom, however provided that execs are fairly completely satisfied to run extraordinarily deep entrance wheels along side a good deeper rear at instances I believe, for racing functions at the very least, there are only a few drawbacks.
Whether it catches on commercially will in the end rely upon whether or not it catches on within the professional peloton. Even simply 5 years in the past I’d have stated there wasn’t an opportunity, however now, with each single stone being turned over within the hunt for the final fraction of a watt we’re seeing time trial helmets in use in street races, visors have made a comeback, and entrance derailleurs have been roundly jettisoned in time trials towards the run of custom in pursuit of velocity. In that context, a barely deeper entrance wheel than rear doesn’t sound so outlandish if there are beneficial properties on the desk.
Cyclingnews has reached out to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for remark.