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World Hour Record Ridley Arena TT

    Take a look at Victor Campenaerts’ Record Bike, isn’t she a beauty? Victor Campenaerts has covered 55,089 km. With that distance, he's the UCI Hour Record holder, beating Bradley Wiggins.

    The front

    The extensions are without a doubt the most remarkable part of Victor’s Flying Moustache. They are an exact copy of Victor’s arms.

    We started with this process in January of 2018, 15 months before the record attempt. Victor was fully new to Lotto Soudal, which Ridley sponsors, and eager to test out this new technology. We were able to create a mould of his left and right arm. Which we used to create a carbon version.

    The final UCI-approved extensions were for the first time used at the World Championships TT 2018 in Innsbruck where Victor took the bronze medal.

    Another remarkable component is the base bar. It has a width of only 33cm. Where regular handlebars go from 38cm to 44cm, Victor chose to use this narrow base bar because of aerodynamics. It was only used in the first 15 seconds of his Hour Record attempt. After 15 seconds he lied stable in his extensions for the next 59 minutes and 45 seconds.

    The frame

    The geometry of the Ridley Arena TT, baptised into Flying Moustache, is an exact copy of Campenaerts’ Dean FAST. It’s not the first time Ridley has created such a project. Jolien d’Hoore and Jasper De Buyst were the first who rode the Arena TT In the Rio Olympics of 2016. Each time the frame geometry was fully customized to their ideal position.

    With these bikes, it is a World Upside Down. Instead of fitting the riders onto their bikes, we fitted the bikes onto the riders.

    On the downtube, you’ll find the known Ridley F-Surface. We use it on all of our Aero bikes. It is the application of a textured surface (similar to dimples in a golf ball) in strategic locations for decreased wind drag. What's the use of the F-Surface? We make the boundary layer of the airflow turbulent. This causes the main airflow to perfectly follow the tube shape. With smooth air travel around the frame, we’ll help Victor expertly cut through the wind.

    The Gear

    Victor tried out different gears to figure out which would be the best combination. He tested out six chainrings (58 to 63) and six sprockets (13 to 18). His first choices were: 63x15 and 59x14. Both gear options are pretty similar, and each rotation of the pedals would result in 8,70m progress. Victor aimed at 105 rotations per minute.

    In the end, he opted for a 61/14, which has resulted in 9,07m per rotation. Victor rode the 55,089 km with an average cadence of 101 rpm.

    Those gears were completely focused on having the lowest friction possible. Victor used therefore a road chain instead of a track chain because that generated less friction. That's why every chainring and sprocket were specially milled.

    The tubes

    These gold looking tubes were created by Vittoria to have the lowest rolling friction possible.

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