We get a close look at Alexander Kristof’s new bike
Team Uno-X is riding a radical, unreleased aero road bike at the 2024 Tour de France.
Produced by Taiwanese brand (and Uno-X team sponsor) Dare, the bike bucks the prevailing trend for all-rounder bikes, instead taking a hyper-aero approach with little apparent consideration for weight.
Prior to the race start in Florence, Italy, we got a close look at the new bike at the Uno-X team hotel.
Could this be the bike to help the Uno-X team take its first victory at the sport’s biggest race?
Return of the aero bike
In recent years, we’ve seen a number of prominent brands ditch dedicated aero road bikes in favour of models that balance aerodynamic performance with low weight.
Specialized, for example, famously put its S-Works Venge out to pasture when it released the S-Works Tarmac SL7 in 2020, while Trek’s recently announced eighth-generation Madone SLR spelled the end of its Émonda.
Likewise, the release of a lightweight Giant Propel Advanced SL in 2022 has seen the brand’s iconic TCR relegated to only limited use in the WorldTour.
Dare looks to be taking the opposite approach, with a design more akin to other all-out aero road bikes such as the Cervélo S5, Ribble Ultra SLR and Cannondale SystemSix Hi-Mod.
As far as we can tell, Dare’s new aero road bike appears to be called the ‘Velocity Ace’, as this is printed on the down tube.
It’s most likely an update to the brand’s existing aero bike, the VSRu. The new bike doubles down on the aerodynamic optimisations, though, with deeper aerofoil tube shapes all over and a build focused entirely on speed.
Deep-section tubes all-round
The head tube is one of the most striking parts of the Velocity Ace.
It uses a deep, truncated aerofoil profile and rises from the top tube to meet the rear of the bike’s new integrated handlebar (more on this later).
At the lower end, the head tube is sculpted to control the airflow off the fork crown.
Viewed head on, the head tube is hourglass-shaped – narrowing between the upper and lower headset bearings to further reduce drag.
While the fork on the VSRu tapered slightly towards the bottom, the narrow bladed legs of the new fork stay deep all the way down.
Where the down tube on the VSRu had a small cut-out for the front wheel, the Velocity Ace has a straight down tube with a deeper, wider truncated aerofoil profile.
Unlike the new Trek Madone SLR, the Velocity Ace uses standard, non-integrated bottle cages with round cycling water bottles.
It may be that the redesigned down tube provides greater airflow management around this area than before, however.
At the rear of the bike, the aerofoil profiles of the seat tube, seatstays and seatpost have also been deepened significantly.
Whether this has any impact on compliance remains to be seen. Dropped seatstays aside, though, it doesn’t appear that Dare has made many concessions to comfort.
Like some time trial bikes, the seatpost appears to have multiple saddle clamp locations, enabling a rider to adjust the effective seat tube angle – an important consideration for fit purposes.
One of the deepest handlebars we’ve seen
Beyond the head tube, the bike’s new aero handlebar is also remarkable, thanks to its use of an exceptionally deep and thin aerofoil profile on the tops.
Expectedly, the handlebar uses an integrated design, with the hydraulic brake hoses fully concealed within the bar and running into the frame unseen.
The top tube rises to meet the rear of the stem, while the headset top cap has been cleverly profiled to smooth out the junction between the two.
Overall, Dare’s new bar appears to take the opposite approach to Ribble’s ground-breaking Ultra handlebar (which features on the Ultra SLR). The Ribble bar uses a similarly deep aerofoil profile, but is much more bulbous, as it’s designed to manipulate the airflow hitting the rider behind it.
Notably, Trek says the updated handlebar on its recently launched, eighth-generation Madone SLR does something similar (albeit on a smaller scale).
The Dare handlebar, in contrast, looks to be designed simply to reduce its impact on the airflow as much as possible.
As with rear-end comfort, there doesn’t seem to have been much consideration for a rider being able to hold the tops of the handlebar. As with the rest of the bike, it looks to be all about maximising aerodynamic efficiency.
On this bike, which belongs to four-time Tour de France stage winner, Alexander Kristof, the cockpit combines a 120mm-long stem with a 380mm-wide handlebar (measured centre to centre at the brake hoods).
The frame also has a logo noting the headset contains CeramicSpeed’s SLT (Solid Lubrication Technology) bearings – which are claimed to provide exceptionally long lifespans, reducing the frequency with which the front end requires servicing.
A speed-focused build with personal upgrades
The rest of the build sees an uncompromising focus on speed.
Like last year, Kristof’s wheelset of choice is the DT Swiss ARC 1100 Dicut DB, with 62mm-deep rims.
These are wrapped with Schwalbe Pro One TLE tyres, in a 700 x 28c size that measures up at 27.9mm-wide on the DT Swiss rims.
As with last year, the tyres have conspicuous blue accents that don’t come on the versions of the Pro One TLE available in shops.
Having spotted these last year, we asked Schwalbe if this was a new, updated version of the German brand’s highly-rated tubeless tyre. Unfortunately, the brand declined to shed any light on the subject.
According to our well-informed YouTube audience, though, these could be special-edition, race day-only versions of the tyre – something faster, lighter but potentially less durable than the standard tyres, for example.
Schwalbe has apparently created similarly-branded tyres for its sponsored mountain bike athletes previously, so that could be what’s going on here.
As for the drivetrain, Kristof and his Uno-X team are still running Shimano’s flagship Dura-Ace Di2 R9200 groupset.
This year, though, the team has switched from using Shimano’s Dura-Ace FC-R9200-P power meter crankset to FSA’s Powerbox Team.
This consists of an FSA power meter spider (which we believe is made by Power2Max) paired with the brand’s carbon cranks and aluminium chainrings.
When we saw Kristof’s bike, a couple of days out from the race start, it was equipped with some huge 56/40t chainrings.
Even though these were paired with a wide-ranging 11-34t cassette out back, we wonder whether Kristof might have swapped to something smaller for the race’s mountainous opening stage.
Perhaps due to a change in team sponsor, Kristof has switched saddles from the Pro Stealth Curved Team he used at last year’s Tour to a Prologo Scratch M5 with carbon rails.
Finishing things off, Kristof’s bike was also decked out with CeramicSpeed’s latest OSPW (Oversized Pulley Wheel System) RS Alpha and a waxed chain.
The ‘Alpha Disc’ solid pulley wheels are claimed to prevent dirt or debris entering the system and contaminating the bearings.
A new bike that’s heavier than the old one
It’s rare to see a new road bike released that’s significantly heavier than the outgoing version, but that’s exactly what we have here.
According to Dare, the VSRu had a claimed frame weight of 1,190g in a size small (although Kristof rides a 56cm frame). While we don’t yet have a claimed weight for Velocity Ace frame, we think its deeper tubes and aggressive aerodynamic optimisations have likely added weight.
That appears to be confirmed by the overall weight of Kristof’s Dare Velocity Ace, too, which came in at spot-on 8kg, according to our scales.
That’s 255g more than the 7.745kg weight we took for his Dare VSRu at last year’s Tour.
As things stand, that’s all we know about Dare’s radical new aero road bike.
Given a number of Uno-X riders are using the bike at this year’s Tour, it appears the bike is production ready and could launch imminently.
- Frameset: Dare Velocity Ace (size 56cm)
- Groupset: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9200 with FSA PowerBox Team power meter (56/40t chainrings, 11-34t cassette), FSA carbon cranks, CeramicSpeed OSPW RS Alpha and UFO waxed chain
- Wheelset: DT Swiss ARC 1100 Dicut 62 DB
- Tyres: Schwalbe Pro One TLE 29c (measured width 27.9mm)
- Bar/stem: Dare, 38cm handlebar width, 12cm stem length
- Seatpost: Dare
- Saddle: Prologo Scratch M5 Nack
- Bottle cages: Elite Vico Carbon
- Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace