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  • a moment for the neutral support mechanics

    From AMuzi@21:1/5 to All on Fri Jul 25 14:42:21 2025
    https://www.wsj.com/sports/tadej-pogacar-tour-de-france-crash-mechanic-2da6796d

    "Their job is to help riders with mechanical issues or
    supply spare wheels when their own team cars are too far
    away or stuck behind the peloton. If they’re on screen, then
    something has usually gone wrong. The neutral service
    mechanics know better than most that while the Tour de
    France can only be won at a few critical junctures, it can
    be lost pretty much anywhere."
    --
    Andrew Muzi
    am@yellowjersey.org
    Open every day since 1 April, 1971

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From =?UTF-8?B?Y3ljbGludG9t?=@21:1/5 to All on Fri Jul 25 21:14:15 2025
    On Fri Jul 25 14:42:21 2025 AMuzi wrote:
    https://www.wsj.com/sports/tadej-pogacar-tour-de-france-crash-mechanic-2da6796d

    "Their job is to help riders with mechanical issues or
    supply spare wheels when their own team cars are too far
    away or stuck behind the peloton. If they?re on screen, then
    something has usually gone wrong. The neutral service
    mechanics know better than most that while the Tour de
    France can only be won at a few critical junctures, it can
    be lost pretty much anywhere."




    I've been watching Neutral support for the last couple of days and they have a real handful. There must be three or four wheel standards and the through axles can be 12 or 15 mm. They should be setting real standards rather than dictrating how narrow
    your handlebars can be. Also the LENGTH of through axles needs to be standardized. It is all erll and good using a reversible electric drill eith an allen head to install or remove through axles but they have to be the same length. And that has to do
    with the thickness of the ends of the chainstay axle mounts.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From AMuzi@21:1/5 to cyclintom on Fri Jul 25 16:28:22 2025
    On 7/25/2025 4:14 PM, cyclintom wrote:
    On Fri Jul 25 14:42:21 2025 AMuzi wrote:
    https://www.wsj.com/sports/tadej-pogacar-tour-de-france-crash-mechanic-2da6796d

    "Their job is to help riders with mechanical issues or
    supply spare wheels when their own team cars are too far
    away or stuck behind the peloton. If they?re on screen, then
    something has usually gone wrong. The neutral service
    mechanics know better than most that while the Tour de
    France can only be won at a few critical junctures, it can
    be lost pretty much anywhere."




    I've been watching Neutral support for the last couple of days and they have a real handful. There must be three or four wheel standards and the through axles can be 12 or 15 mm. They should be setting real standards rather than dictrating how narrow
    your handlebars can be. Also the LENGTH of through axles needs to be standardized. It is all erll and good using a reversible electric drill eith an allen head to install or remove through axles but they have to be the same length. And that has to do
    with the thickness of the ends of the chainstay axle mounts.


    Some might say that standards are wonderful and so we ought
    to have a lot of them.

    --
    Andrew Muzi
    am@yellowjersey.org
    Open every day since 1 April, 1971

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Roger Merriman@21:1/5 to cyclintom on Fri Jul 25 22:06:37 2025
    cyclintom <cyclintom@yahoo.com> wrote:
    On Fri Jul 25 14:42:21 2025 AMuzi wrote:
    https://www.wsj.com/sports/tadej-pogacar-tour-de-france-crash-mechanic-2da6796d

    "Their job is to help riders with mechanical issues or
    supply spare wheels when their own team cars are too far
    away or stuck behind the peloton. If they?re on screen, then
    something has usually gone wrong. The neutral service
    mechanics know better than most that while the Tour de
    France can only be won at a few critical junctures, it can
    be lost pretty much anywhere."




    I've been watching Neutral support for the last couple of days and they
    have a real handful. There must be three or four wheel standards and the through axles can be 12 or 15 mm. They should be setting real standards rather than dictrating how narrow your handlebars can be. Also the LENGTH
    of through axles needs to be standardized. It is all erll and good using
    a reversible electric drill eith an allen head to install or remove
    through axles but they have to be the same length. And that has to do
    with the thickness of the ends of the chainstay axle mounts.


    For MTB yes you have 15 mm Front and 12 mm rear through axels, with Boost
    and super boost specs ie wider hubs.

    Some older road bikes and particularly Gravel bikes used MTB specs early 2010’s but certainly for TDF, the Through Axels are at least a standard 12 -100/142mm and have been for while.

    Clearly much slower than QR to swap wheels out, but on the road side it’s
    at least on one standard.

    Roger Merriman

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