Dominique’s oversized sports bike
When Dominique reached out to us, he was experiencing terrible pain in his back, and was never able to solve this issue, despite replacing his bike multiple times over the past few years. Dominique is a seasoned cyclist, who has been riding for 23 years, three times 100 km per week. He was so in pain that he was worried he might have to quit cycling. So we searched for ways to transform his riding position and build him a bike that would erase his pains.
Dominique is tall (1.92m) and has especially long legs. From the start of his bike fitting session, we noted that his riding position was the main cause of his pain, but also there were the frequent steering corrections, due to the poor weight distribution between the two wheels. The road bikes used by Dominique were fitted with short steerer tubes, which caused too much saddle-to-handlebar drop.
The fitting session carried out in our workshops resulted in radical changes for Dominique’s riding position, particularly the saddle-to-handlebar drop going from 130mm to 63mm.
Per our findings during the fitting session, we looked for a fork with the longest pivot possible. We opted for an Enve with a 350mm steerer(forcomparison, most carbon forks come with a 300m steerer).
The Enve fork allowed us to lengthen the head tube, but we faced a new problem: Dominique wanted a stainless steel frame, and the longest head tube in the Columbus XCR series measured 250mm, which was too short. So we opted for a Columbus HSS steerer tube, a 600mm steel tube that can be cut to any length.
The rest of the frame was also tailored to Dominique’s build. The 42mm downtube allows a stronger connection with the bottom bracket. The oversized seat tube is designed for a 31.6mm seatpost, and the T47 bottom bracket shell contributes to the general strengthening of the structure.
Despite its unusual geometry, Dominique's bike remains a classic road bike which allows him to go on the hilly rides he loves, multiple times per week. Dominique chose a Sram Etap groupset, combined with the proven Campagnolo Shamal wheels.
A bespoke Victoire stem and a Chris King headset provide the finishing touch. The special stem makes it possible to raise the rider’s position, by taking advantage of the entire steerer length of the Enve fork, while getting rid of the spacers above the headset.
I am experiencing a much more comfortable riding position, and more importantly, my back pain is gone!
