PEAK HOUR

It’s 25 years since Chris Boardman rode 56.375 kilometres in an hour – a distance that has never been surpassed. Paul Greasley charts the rise and fall of the technical innovations that produced cycling’s most spectacular record

- Paul Greasley

The year 1984, like its Orwellian namesake, ushered in what became a dystopian future for bicycle design. It started with Francesco Moser’s Hour record on 19 January in the wafer thin air of Mexico City. Here he would use every conceivable aerodynamic aid including aero bullhorn handlebars, shoe covers, a rubberised cycling cap, a weighted rear wheel to produce a flywheel effect and even had the track of the Agustín Melgar Olympic Velodrome specially varnished, to beat Eddy Merckx’s previously unassailable 1972 mark.

Then during the summer, the United States cycling team would end a 72-year drought to win nine medals at the Los Angeles Olympics. This transformation in fortunes was achieved largely through the ‘Racing System’ concept developed by US Cycling’s technical director Ed Burke and aerodynamicist Chester Kyle. Central to the success of this concept was the pooling of various aerodynamic specialists to build a series of bikes. One of the more noteworthy was the Raleigh-badged 100km team time trial bike which, if research and development costs were factored in, was calculated to have cost $40,000 per bike.

For the UCI, cycling was now making a far too radical departure from the performances of the individual, and placing too much emphasis on technology. It would respond in 1986 with meddlesome zeal and implement Article 49. This dictated that a bicycle frame must be composed of three main tubes with a maximum diameter of 35mm, or three main ovalised elements with a maximum of 75mm. The effects of this regressive rule would stifle development by banning the monocoque bikes that were on the cusp of making a breakthrough.