Bikes of the Transcontinental Race: How do you set up a bike for a 4,000km unsupported event with no set route?
From lighting to luggage, aero hacks and comfort mods. When riders are free from sponsor commitments the setups can run wild
While the Tour de France has now wrapped up and attention is, for most of us, turning to the Olympic Games, the Transcontinental Race (TCR), one of the blue riband events of the ultra racing calendar, has just got underway.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Transcontinental it is an unsupported race with no set route, tackled in a single stage; the clock never stops. After setting off from Roubaix in northern France the competitors have to hit four checkpoints across Europe before finishing in Istanbul, Turkey. The distance will be around 4,000km, though this depends on the route the riders plot.
Looking through our tech gallery from the Tour de France you'll likely notice that the variation from bike to bike, and even from team to team is relatively minor. Pro bikes have become something of a monoculture similar to American corn. Similar gear is used by the whole peloton, and while we get excited about the latest hacks, there isn't much scope, thanks primarily to sponsor commitments, for any real variety.
Ultra racers, while they may have sponsor commitments, have far more of a free hand to modify their machines, and as such the bikes on the start line vary wildly. The Transcontinental Race is road-based, so road and gravel bikes dominate, but on off-road events, the setups vary even more.
In addition to speed, riders must consider reliability, lighting, luggage, and above all, comfort, as the leading riders often spend 70+ hours riding in a single stint with barely a handful of minutes of rest.
We've rounded up nine bikes from inside the famous Roubaix Velodrome so you can nerd out on the setups. Whether any of them will get to Istanbul first is something we will have to wait, and watch dots slowly move on a map, to find out. I've included the rider's cap numbers along with their bikes should you wish to find out where they've got to.
Telbert James' custom Telbert - Cap 269b
Always good to kick off with someone local (to the Cyclingnews HQ at least). Telbert James rides for Audax Club Bristol, and is racing the TCR about a Telbert frame he made himself. The frame is made from Columbus Spirit tubing with a Columbus Futura carbon fork. The drivetrain is SRAM Rival with a 43/30 chainset and a 10-36 cassette at the back. A Hunt 4Season Superdura wheelset, featuring a SON dynamo hub up front, is paired with a set of Continental GP5000 S TR tyres.
Luggage is taken care of by a Tailfin (also a Bristol company) rear rack and aeropack, complemented by a Tailfin half-frame bag and top tube bag. Aero bars are not mandatory, but everyone runs them for comfort reasons as well as aero, and in this case, they are from Profile, with a Supernova front light slung off the aero bars rather than the handlebars.
The paint is pretty spectacular, even more so when you consider that James did it himself with a pearlescent base cote, over which alcohol inks were bubbled.
Sherry Cardona's Fara F/All-Road - Cap 295b
Fara may not necessarily be a household name for you yet, but I've already tested out the brand's Fara F/Road bike and very much enjoyed it. My partner also bought an F/All-Road for herself, so I may not be in the best position to judge whether or not you've heard of the brand yet.
Sherry Cardona's F/All-Road is so far from the factory spec though it's pretty wild. The Fara frame is built up with a SRAM Red groupset, but at the rear there's a Kogel Kolossus oversize derailleur cage swapped out for the standard one.
The wheels are 5-spoke, though despite a very detailed bike setup video the specific model from Bike Ahead Composites is unknown. Mounted to them are a set of 32mm Continental GP5000 AS TR tyres, offering a little more durability and puncture resistance than the standard GP5000.
The saddle is a custom-made Joyseat from Posedla, which sits atop what appears to be an Ergon CF Allroad Pro Carbon seatpost which offers more flex than a usual one would. The additional flex at the rear is mirrored up front with a Redshift suspension stem, likely allowing Cardona to stay in the Deda Jet aerobars longer over bumpy terrain.
Luggage is taken care of with a mix of Apidura saddle and top tube bags, and a Fara frame bag that mounts directly to the frame. Neatly there's also a tiny superlight Apidura Musette clipped to the saddlebag for snack raids of various Lidl bakeries across the continent.
Laura Tovar's Scott Addict Gravel - Cap 11
Another brilliant custom paint scheme here, with a mosaic of tiles on the lower half of the frame and a beautiful, swirling pattern on the top half. The really neat thing here is that the tiles on the bottom half of the bike are reflective, drastically increasing nighttime visibility.
The Scott Addict Gravel frameset is paired with a SRAM GX Eagle drivetrain, with a Wolftooth oval chainring up front along with a Quarq spider power meter.
Zipp 303s carbon wheels are paired with Pirelli Cinturato Velo tyres, highlighting that Tovar is perhaps more concerned with puncture protection than with wattage savings - The Cinturato Velo is straight out of our list of the best road bike tyres, and is about as puncture resistant as you can get.
Apidura takes care of the luggage, with the rear seat pack given an extra bit of security thanks to a large zip tie. While these seat packs do a decent job of stopping your rear end from getting sprayed, Tovar has also fitted an Ass Saver Win Wing mudguard at the back to stay drier without adding too much weight.
Abdullah Zeinab's titanium Curve Belgie Disc - Cap 21
Given that ultra racers are out in all conditions a titanium bike makes a lot of sense. It's strong, light, and entirely resistant to corrosion. Abdullah Zeinab's Curve Belgie Disc is pretty simple as ultra setups go, devoid of anything outlandish.
A SRAM Red drivetrain spins up Curve wheels and Continental GP5000 tyres. Reflective patches on the front of the fork legs aid front-on visibility, and the luggage, what little Zeinab is carrying, is covered by Apidura bags.
A front dynamo hub powers front and rear lights, with an additional battery-powered rear clipped to the chain stay for safety.
Atop a Thomson seatpost is a short-nosed Specialized Power with Mirror saddle, which should suit hours on end in the Profile aero bars.
Tobias Fuchs' Open U.P. - Cap 132
The Open U.P. was really at the forefront of the one-bike-to-do-everything brigade when it was released. Claiming to be rapid on the road, but capable off-road too, it's no great surprise to see it being used by ultra racers, as it could conceivably be used for races on the road like the TCR, and gravel races too.
Fuchs' U.P. is definitely in a road guise here though, with a Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, and Continental GP5000 AS TR tyres mounted to unbadged deep carbon rims.
The custom paint, if paint is the right word, takes the form of paint marker words and doodles, and from what I can gather is the second iteration of a similar paint scheme that Fuchs has had on this bike.
Augustin Muller's custom Jolie Rouge - Cap 313
While I try and display impartiality I am only human and am bound to have favourites, and this is my pick of the bunch. Augustin Muller's Jolie Rouge ticks all my boxes: Custom steel, pink paint, matching bags, the custom rear rack is a complementary colour, and a cabled Campagnolo Super Record groupset. Nice!
For the steel nerds, the frame is Columbus XCR, a stainless tubeset, which allows Muller to have a paint job that fades to raw steel at the rear dropouts. Just like with titanium bikes, it's a more or less unwritten rule that if you have stainless you have to have raw metal exposed somewhere.
The custom bags are made by Pop Pin's in the Vosges region of France, a brand that is well worth a browse of if you love, like me, when bags are made to be an integral part of a bike and its colour scheme.
Josh Ibbett's Mason Definition - Cap 18
Josh Ibbett is a mainstay of the ultra scene and is regularly seen at the very pointy end of races. He's been sponsored by British brand Mason for years, so it's no surprise to see him aboard the brand's aluminium Definition all-road bike.
Ibbett is using a SRAM Force groupset and what looks to be a set of Hunt SUB50 Limitless carbon wheels, paired with Hutchinson Challenger tyres.
His luggage is all from Tailfin, with the saddlebag likely a prototype product from the Bristol brand.
Like Cardona, he also uses Deda Jet aerobars and a Redshift suspension stem to allow him to stay in the aero bars longer. Curiously his bike only has battery-powered lighting, with no dynamo that I can see, meaning he's likely relying on power banks for charging, saving a couple of watts of drag.
Sadly, Ibbett had to scratch from the race in Italy after suffering from persistent knee swelling.
Adrien Liechti's Bombtrack Audax - Cap 7
Despite the slow spread of electronic shifting, some ultra racers still opt for cables. It's one less thing to charge, and is easier to fix in a pinch if something goes very badly wrong. Adrien Liechti's aluminium Bombtrack Audax is fitted with an 11sp Shimano Ultegra cable actuated groupset, but with the crankset swapped out for some Cane Creek EE Wings titanium cranks mated to what look like AbsoluteBlack oval chainrings.
A full suite of Apidura bags takes care of the luggage, and the wheels are DTSwiss GRC1100 pared with Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass slicks, 35mm wide with the Endurance casing to help stave off punctures.
Like Ibbett, Liechti is using Exposure battery-powered lights, and I can't make out a dynamo hub or wiring. The rear of his front light does have a cable entering it, but this could be Exposure's remote control button system allowing Liechti to switch modes without having to fumble around on the rear of the light.
Pawel Pulawski's Kajac Custom - Cap 8
Last but not least we have Pawel Pulawski's Kajac Custom steel machine from Poland. Mounted to the frame, breaking the Apidura monopoly, are a set of bags from Yorkshire-based Restrap.
A Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset has had its chainrings swapped out for AbsoluteBlack ones, and Vision wheels have Pirelli PZero Race TLR tyres fitted to them. For added visibility, the front wheel has large, reflective stickers added too.
Vision Trimax clip-on TT bars add comfort and aero, and a dynamo hub powers Exposure lights, with battery-powered backups just in case.
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Will joined the Cyclingnews team as a reviews writer in 2022, having previously written for Cyclist, BikeRadar and Advntr. He’s tried his hand at most cycling disciplines, from the standard mix of road, gravel, and mountain bike, to the more unusual like bike polo and tracklocross. He’s made his own bike frames, covered tech news from the biggest races on the planet, and published countless premium galleries thanks to his excellent photographic eye. Also, given he doesn’t ever ride indoors he’s become a real expert on foul-weather riding gear. His collection of bikes is a real smorgasbord, with everything from vintage-style steel tourers through to superlight flat bar hill climb machines.
