Bianchi, while perhaps not as well represented at the pointy end of the World Tour in recent years as some of the other players, is still one of the most recognisable brands in road cycling. The signature celeste colour has set hearts aflutter since the days of skinny steel tubing, but the days of skinny tubes are very much behind the brand now. Bianchi, with the new Oltre RC, is aiming to punch straight through the superbike ceiling and into the world of the hyperbike.
Visually at least it’s certainly a departure from the clean lines of old, with air ducts and a very much non-standard handlebar and stem combo up front, plus a build that has been designed to work seamlessly together. One for our list of the best aero road bikes, or do we need a ‘best hyperbikes’ category now too?
Those nostrils (sorry, air deflectors)
Look to the world of Formula One and you’ll see a motorsport that has gradually morphed from smooth, clean lines to what we have today where the cars have more scoops than an ice cream shop and more fins that an Australian beach. Given the manic obsession with aerodynamics at the pointy end of road cycling it’s no great surprise to see a brand developing such radical looking airflow sculptors. Called ‘air deflectors’, the ducts on the headtube seek to channel the air around the leading edge of the bike smoothly, before throwing it out into a low pressure zone created behind the tube, allowing it to more easily separate and thus reducing drag.
This, too, is itself complimented by the new aero cockpit. The bar-stem combo is reminiscent of that seen on the Cervelo S5, but with a more organic look that, in combination with the air deflectors does look slightly like a spaceship from Star Trek. The aim of the central hole, and the bar as a whole, is to create low pressure vortices through which the riders legs can punch more easily, again further reducing drag.
The upshot of these new features, along with the build kit that we’ll dive into shortly, is a 17 watt saving over the old Oltre XR4 at a slightly non-standard 50kmh, or, for those of you more interested in time saved over 40kmh at a power of 250 watts, you’ll finish up a full 45 seconds sooner. There is also a claim of a 30% advantage over the best aero bikes on the market in variable wind conditions, though we’d like to see some figures to back this up before betting the house on it.
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