A few low-res phone snaps of Team Sky’s new Pinarello Graal Time Trial bike made their way on to their Facebook page. Take a look…

Pretty cool huh? Now take another look… in particular at the downtube and chainring.

Shark tooth pattern. It doesn’t just look fucking mean, it highlights the angular cuts in the downtube that are there to improve the aerodynamics of the frame.

O.Symetric chainrings. Basically egg-shaped chainrings. Shimano released and patented ‘BioPace’ in the late 80s/early 90s which were o-symmetric chain rings designed to eliminate the pushing ‘dead zone’ when the cranks are vertical. I had these on an old road bike but thought it was just a fad as they weren’t still around. Now the chainring above looks more than oval, it looks like 2 circular chainrings stuck together with a slight kink under the crank arm. I’ll try and find out some more information soon.

If you want to read more about BioPace, check out Sheldon’s page on the topic. Strangely, he recommends using BioPace for fixed gear as it will reduce saddle bounce at high cadence.When spinning, your legs are essentially moving up and down. With BioPace, your legs move faster when the cranks are horizontal (pushing down) and slower when vertical. This reduction in speed at the top of the stroke allows a gradual change in leg direction. This is easier on your knees and helps to reducing bouncing in the saddle at high cadence.

There will of course, be a change in chain tension as you ride but Sheldon seems to think it’s not enough to cause any major problems.

And yes, that’s a Hed-3 on the front.