Tudicula means “small hammer”, it was the first word that popped up in Google when I was looking to distinguish my little Paris-Roubaix 2011 ride from Johan Vansummeren’s. We went with the office to Paris-Roubaix and rode the Arenberg forest and then to the finish on the Velodrome.  16 pavés, and I honestly think it may be a tougher test for the equipment than when the pros ride it, because at our slow speeds you really hit every bump instead of flying over half of them.

So my logical choice was the R5ca. It just happened that there was a show model from Eurobike sitting in our office and I it was roughly my size, so why not put it to good use. This particular frame was a size 56, with the stock fork, 3T Team arbon seatpost, carbon handlebars and alloy stem, SRAM Red groupset, Rotor cranks and Zipp 202 wheels. Most of the group rode the 303, which was really designed with surviving Roubaix in mind (yet being very aero and light as well). But I was fairly sure the 202s would be OK as well as that’s what Thor rode in 2009. Tires were of course the 27mm Vittoria Pavés, which again got our group to the finish without any flats.

The bike performed flawlessly, no problem whatsoever. I can’t say I was surprised as obviously I know all the test results of this frame, but still, to ride Roubaix on a sub-700g frame was neat. Next year maybe we get the team on them, this year that simply wasn’t possible given our limited production volume and long waiting list (luckily for me the show model I rode was one iteration removed from the final layup so not sellable).

Here’s the whole bike (note: I took the photo back at the hotel and put the wrong front wheel back in, a 303):

This entry was posted on April 18, 2011 at 11:35 and is filed under bike equipment.