Hottest Specialized and probably bike in the world

I got this off Conrad Stolz website and i couldn’t stop looking at it.

I would love to get on board this beauty and rip it up, think it would be super fast and fun to ride.

What did you do with your bike today

Yesterday i was in Musina visiting a old friend and for those of you who don’t know it is the last town before the Zimbabwe border.

That is what is actually looks like the border, it was nice and warm on the weekend and i was lucky enough to ride twice, which was very cool. I found my favourite tree to relieve myself against.You see a lot of these trees and they are one of my favourites. Baobab Trees.

So what did you do with your bike today ?

New Giant Trinity TT bike

OK, so i know i have a lot about bike the last few weeks but it is Tour de France Baby, which means all new toys, its my favourite 3 weeks of the year.

The one thing i hate is seeing a prototype TT bike in all black as i always wonder if the manufacture will make it even hotter with a really HOT spray job.

Fabians Specialized Shiv did just that and i must say i am very impressed with the New Giant Trinity. Seems it is going to be the first of the new breed of super bike to be available to the public in the next few months.

I love the way the new bikes are going and cant wait to ride one soon.

Hottest TT bike ever..

Yes i know we have all seen the SHIV, but not like this…

This is super hot…Fabian rocked this baby to 1st place at the prologue of the Tour de France

New Specialized been named

A lot of us have already seen this picture of Fabian taking a picture of his new unnamed TT beast, but after a few weeks here is the official press release on it :

Cut through drag with the Shiv

The radical Specialized S-Works time trial bike that Saxo Bank’s Fabian Cancellara has been piloting over the past few months – to great success, we might add – is now officially called the Shiv and it will be available for public consumption in 2010, albeit in “incredibly limited quantities”.

Key features include the in-line level top tube and integrated stem, the enormous forward bulkhead section with the fully enclosed front brake built-in, the almost nonexistent gaps between adjacent components, carefully configured internally routed cables, special shaping around the top of the seat stays, the bottom bracket-located rear brake, and an especially slippery fully integrated aero bar setup.

In spite of the forward section’s visual mass, it is its relative bulk and width that actually helps it achieve better drag figures at more realistic yaw angles more typically seen during a real world time trial. Naturally, Specialized claims impressive aero figures for the Shiv: just 513g of drag at 0 degrees yaw relative to the current Transition’s 582g; 443g vs. 626g at 15 degrees on the non-driveside; and just 386g vs. 596g at 15 degrees on the driveside – roughly the same as what the non-UCI legal GT Superbike achieved in the ‘96 and ‘00 Olympics with its downsized front wheel, no top tube, and the limited componentry associated with its pursuit role.

In fact, Specialized is so confident in the Shiv’s aerodynamics that it is openly challenging any other bicycle company to best the bike’s performance in the wind tunnel (any takers?).

Aerodynamics is only part of the equation however and according to Specialized, the Shiv is also one of the most confident-handling machines around owing to its near-Tarmac SL2 rigidity figures: 89.1 Nm/degree for the front triangle vs. 92.5 – or roughly 30 percent better than its nearest competitor, claims Specialized.

The front end is especially stout. Though the tapered 1″-to-1 1/8″ carbon steerer tube isn’t all that solid on its own, the forward bulkhead is firmly bolted to the fork at both the top of the steerer and at the crown for a fully boxed-in structure and the larger lower bearing also allows for a broader down tube. The top tube is rather broad as well and down below, the Shiv boasts heaping amounts of carbon fiber around the bottom bracket area. Both the chain stays and seat stays are also imposingly sizeable and in fact, very little about the Shiv’s shaping even remotely suggests the idea of ’spindly’.

As if that weren’t already enough, the Shiv is light to boot: claimed frame weight is around 1,300g and a complete bike with a Zipp Sub-9 carbon tubular rear disc and 1080 deep-section front wheel, FACT integrated carbon crank and a SRAM Red group is just 7.6kg (16.8lb).

Explicit UCI approval is still in progress but Specialized adamantly insists the bike is ‘UCI-compliant’ and it has already been used in competition at both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de Suisse – cross your fingers.

Specialized will offer the Shiv in four frame sizes, all measured using the easier-to-interpret X-Y ’stack and reach’ system that is quickly gaining favor through the industry. As Shiv is intended as a pure road time trial machine, Transition will remain in the lineup as a more versatile TT/Tri rig and will even gain three sizes for a new total of six.

Shiv pricing is still to be determined but the ‘extremely expensive’ descriptor will almost assuredly apply.

My new Speed Machine

Its taken me a long time and its finally here.

Picture doesnt do it justice as its actually a green fade and not yellow as in the picture but you will get the look and feel from this.

Its all vinyl so can be taken off at anytime. I have put a new simple minimilist TT front end, Profile CSX extentions on a Zipp Bull bar with Sram levers and brakes, no tape or anything, so its naked.

Sram red on rest of bike, so its a really smooth fast ride.

Blinged Whasp Angel Bike

If you know me then you will know that i love to be bling, i love to have a bike or a shoe which nobody else has. And i love the time and effort some people put into their machines. Its a labour of love and you will know what i am talking about if you have ever done it, it takes hours of planning and then executing the job.

Here is Samantha Ferreira’s Team Specialized Transition with her own touch to it, sam is no slow poke on the bike either with a PB for 90km in half Ironman of 2.25min.

So watch for this beauty o be flying past you soon.

Good Start for Team Whasp at Energade Series

Yesterday we raced the first Energade Sprint Triathlon of the year at Midmar Dam and on the start line i could see in everybody’s eyes that they had the look of ” This is going to Hurt so bad ” in their eyes.

Although the numbers weren’t huge there was a lot of quality in both the men’s and women’s Field.

In the Women’s Race Tanielle Mandy had a excellent swim coming out the water 7th overall, followed by Samantha Ferreira in 10th place, both girls been working hard on their swims. Onto the bike and things really got broken up and a lot of solo biking was done, Samantha was making her way the field when 3km from end of the bike leg she got a puncture and wouldn’t beable to finish the race. Tanielle managed to get a 9th place in Open Women with Riana de Lange now a Whasp Athlete picking up 3rd on the day.

In the Men’s race Jeff Norton cruised out the water first followed closely by a small pack of athletes contain Wikus Weber too, so we had 2 Whasp Athletes in front pack of 6.

David Hadenham, Marc Price found themselves in the 2nd chasing pack and the game was on, PMB showing us that summer has arrived with winds and very Hot temperatures on the day.

Collin Allin, Robin Frankland having good swims making up the 3rd chase pack with Terrance Louw and Tiaan Rossouw chasing hard from behinde.

Tiaan had a super bike and rode his way up to near the front , finishing off the day in 8th place just ahead of Marc Price, also Whasp athlete.

Robin got 14th, Jeff 15th, David 17th , Collin 18th and Terrance 19th.

Wikus Weber finished 5th overall and was 1st Junior on the day too as he tries to win the Junior series for the 3rd time in a row.

The men’s winner was Claude Eksteen Followed by Erhard Wolfhaardt and Women’s was Andrea Steyn followed by Vicky van Der Merwe.

This weekend we go to the vaal to do battle again.

Energade Triathlon Series is apon us

Its that time of year again where we are reminded just how fast and hard a Sprint Triathlon is.BSG Energade Triathlon Series is the biggest in SA and been running for 14 years now. I always remember how Kak it feels when you finish your first one for the year. You left thinking that surely it couldn’t have been that hard.

The big difference for me this year is living at altitude and starting at sea level which should give me a little something extra. I also have a new ORCA Apex 2, first time i use it will be tomorrow. I also have my new Specialized Tarmac Comp with my Super fast Race wheels on, Zipp 808 front and Zipp 1080 Rear. I have only been training with this bike and haven’t had race wheels on yet, i have been very impressed with how a R20 000 race bike can ride and feel like a R60 000 race bike and i would know as i have ridden about 14 brands through out my riding days. There is something special about this bike, as well as the brand

So looking forward to having some red mist at some point in the race.

Here are the dates for the series in case you need them :

Team Whasp ALIVE and kicking ass

Its the 3rd Season now that Team Whasp will be lining up against the best in the country over all distances and in all the cities of our beautiful country to compete for Pride and Glory.

There are a few new faces in the Team for this season and a few new sponsors.

We have Specialized who have come on board for some of us offering us the best product in the world and i am proud to be an ambassador for such a great company and the best products in the world. They have been super with us and the staff continue to go out of their way to do anything they can for us, we look forward to a long relationship with them.

Triathlete Magazine who are very new into the market place but will be making sure we get our athletes exposed and will be helping getting our sponsors nice coverage too.

Then we got a new exciting company called Nu Leaf Brands involved who have started a exciting range of products hitting the market very soon, so watch this space.

Lastly Orca staying with us and making sure we have the best apparel for the days battle and the fastest wetsuits to get us into striking distance.

The athletes making up the Team Are  :

David Hadenham : Older, Wiser athlete who is also a Tech Head and loves making home made pieces for his bike

Samantha Ferreira : Has cute little feet which she is trying to get to go really fast as she moves up to longer distances. Original member of the Whasp Angels

Terrance Louw : Taking his first season seriously and showing us all how to run faster splits.

Tanielle Mandy : New and Fresh into sport, looking to learn from the older guys but has a few of her own tricks up her sleeve, newest Member of Whasp Angels.

Michelle van Zyl: Looking forward to being upfront with her Whasp Angels and seeing the other girls hurting, confuses herself with a fish sometimes as loves open water swimming

Robin Frankland : Oldest and Wisest Member of the Team and looking to teach the ” Lighties ” a thing or two, a bike machine, even though he lost the sprint to the sign on Sunday’s

Collin Allin: Still a Pornstar and looking for faster equipment to make up for his lack of training time.

Wikus Weber : Noticed Girls for the first time in his life this year and looking to win Energade series for the 3rd year running and look good while doing it.

Marius van der Nist : Left the rugby fields as he got tired of hugging men and lost 20 odd kg’s and is looking to continue his love affair with his new love.

Alexa Cunningham : Blonde and Dangerous, our sea side sister, and final member of the Whasp Angels looking to continue to get faster and longer.

We also have quite a few athletes undercover in branding too, so watch out as next time you get past , you might just be stung by one of my Whasp’s and the thing about Whasp’s is that they can keep on stinging, they NEVER DIE..

Suncoast Olmypic Distance Race

Suncoast Olympic Distance race took place in Durban Yesterday and a lot of the fast boys were out to show off there winter training fitness when we got to the beach for the start of the race. Team Whasp where also there with their new kit and even a few new faces with Michelle van Zyl and Tanielle Mandy joining the team so 3 girls in total along with Samantha Ferreira.

The boys only had Collin and David Hadenham in team colours. With almost perfect conditions the swim got off to a blistering quick start, Sean Dias was off the front, previous winner of the midmar mile and Jeff Norton giving chase, these 2 swimming just over 16min for the 1500m swim, David got out the water in 6th place and headed onto the bike with the rest of chasing left chasing hard just inside the top 20.

Onto the bike and i was feeling good and decided to push the pace, with my new Specialized TT bike and ZIpp wheel combo i was flying and was just checking my heart rate on my new Suunto T3 heart rate monitor to keep it at around 85% of my max.

It was hot out there and the women were all close, we had 2 pure life athletes out front and the then 2 past winners of the even and then the 3 whasp ladies.

Onto the run and in our new Puma Silver races and New Orca Trisuits we all settled into our running pace and tried to close down the gaps ahead of us.

David ended the day with a 9th place with Collin coming in 13th, which i was happy about considering i haven’t had the greatest winner, Samantha finishing first of the team girls in 5th place which is a good result for her followed Michelle and Tanielle.

So a good days racing was had by all and we now have good yard sticks to use for the next race in 4 weeks time.

Thanks for all your support and we looking forward to great things.