The bottom bracket uses press-fit cups.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
BBB provides the team with its BCP-32W wireless computers.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Quick Step recently logged some team training time in Calpe, Spain.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Hey, what's this do?(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Clearance is fairly tight between the tire and fat seat tube.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Tom Boonen (Quick Step) is hoping this season goes better than last year.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Tom Boonen (Quick Step) walks over to his bike before the day's ride.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Quick Step team mechanics use these little rubber grommets to both protect the paint from scuffs as well as keep the housing from migrating in the frame.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
The top tube lines flow smoothly into the seat stays.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Campagnolo has fitted the latest Record 11 front derailleurs with stiffer mechanisms for faster shifts under power.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Campagnolo's second-tier Record 11 rear derailleur uses aluminum knuckles instead of Super Record's carbon fiber ones.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
The newly tapered head tube is massive in profile.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Quick Step will stay on Eddy Merckx bikes for another season but will upgrade to the company's all-new EMX-7 carbon flagship and the heavily revamped EMX-5, both with all the bells and whistles of other modern race machines.
Key features include the usual must-haves: a tapered 1 1/8"-to-1 1/2" head tube, an integrated bottom bracket with press-fit bearing cups, and internal cable routing. As a side benefit of the stiffer and more precise handling front end and lighter crank bearing assembly, the upsized head tube and bottom bracket also allow for a broader down tube and wider spacing on the asymmetrical chain stays, both of which help increase drivetrain and torsional rigidity.
The EMX-7 – the choice of classics and sprint specialist Tom Boonen – also adds nominally aero-shaped tubes, an upgraded composite blend with strategically placed patches of pitch carbon fiber for additional stiffness, and an integrated seatmast while the EMX-5 carries on with a standard, round, telescoping post. Both models retain Eddy Merckx's stable stage race-type geometry with relatively slack head tube angles and low bottom brackets.
Quick Step mechanics fit the team bikes with Campagnolo Record 11 groups across the board, including the company's latest Ergopower lever internals for a more positive shift action, smoother hoods, and revised chainring tooth profiles. Campagnolo also provides the full catalog of wheelsets including both carbon and alloy tubulars depending on the task at hand (Boonen's bike is pictured here with training clinchers fitted).
Finishing kit is provided by FSA (bars, stems, headsets, and seatmast heads or seatposts depending on bike model), Vittoria (tires), Prologo (saddles and bar tape), Look (pedals), Tacx (bottles and cages), and BBB (computers).
Frame: Eddy Merckx EMX-7, 58cm Fork: Eddy Merckx Aerofork Headset: FSA integrated Stem: FSA SL-K, 140mm x -6° Handlebars: FSA compact, 44cm (c-c) Tape/grips: Prologo Front brake: Campagnolo Record 11 D-Skeleton dual-pivot Rear brake: Campagnolo Record 11 D-Skeleton single-pivot Brake levers: Campagnolo Record Ergopower Ultra-Shift 11s Front derailleur: Campagnolo Record 11s Rear derailleur: Campagnolo Record 11s Shift levers: Campagnolo Record Ergopower Ultra-Shift 11s Cassette: Campagnolo Record 11s Chain: Campagnolo Record 11s Crankset: Campagnolo Record Ultra-Torque ST 11s, 177.5mm, 53/39T Bottom bracket: Campagnolo Record Ultra-Torque press-fit Pedals: Look KéO Blade Wheelset: Campagnolo Zonda Front tire: Vittoria Rear tire: Vittoria Saddle: Prologo Scratch Pro TR Seat post: FSA integrated head
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