A Conversation with Gerard Vroomen
Before Open Cycles and the now-famous U.P., Gerard and Josh collaborated in Europe with Test Team Cervelo. Like a lot of guests on this show, Gerard Vroomen is an engineer first. He and Phil White took a school project they started in a basement in Montreal and turned into Cervelo Bikes. Against much bigger companies, their bikes not only revolutionized how we thought about frame design but Cervelo went on to win the Tour, the Olympics and Ironman.
Nowadays, Vroomen and Andy Kessler run Open cycles. And the Open U.P. is a bike that has heavily influenced the modern gravel bike.
Enjoy this conversation with an innovative engineer who's passionate about the bikes we ride and how to make them better.
Got a question you’d like to ask? Text or leave a voicemail at the Marginal Gains Hotline: +1-317-343-4506 or just leave a comment in this post!
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Hi, can you pick out the better choice of winter wheel set please?
Cero AR24
Hunt 4 season aero
Kind regards,
Jack
Hi, question for John aka the wheel guy!
I have a set of carbon rims for my ‘18 Cannondale supersix evo hi-mod. I want to look after these wheels over the uk winter. So I want some winter wheels (I have binge listened the podcasts, can’t remember any advice on this). I have whittled down to 2 choices:
1) Hunt 4 Season £349 2) Cero AR 24 EVO £200.
So £150 difference, but I’m thinking, hey don’t I just want the cheapest wheels for winter? But durability is an issue, brass nipples, higher spoke count, alleged better bearing seals for the Hunts, costs benefit for the Cero. This will be on the bike when I’m turbo training and I get super sweaty and I’ve noticed this goes on the front wheel also. Thank you, jack
Great episode! My favorite bike (and current daily driver) is my 3T Exploro LTD, but I also still have a P3C with Zipp Vuka Aeros and Firecrest 808s. It’s fun listening to the people who put blood, sweat, and tears into designing the frames, wheels, and components that you love.
Maybe some day I’ll end up with a RaceMax or a Strada. They both look gorgeous, and since Gerard was involved i know they have to be great.
I may be showing my age (old as dirt), but I remember the P2/P2k coming out. As I recall, that was a revolutionary breakthrough in TT frame design. The way I remember it, before the P2, TT frames were concerned with positioning the rider in an aero position, but didn’t worry about the drag on the frame itself. The P2 was the first frame that took a serious, rather than aesthetic, look at the drag on the frame. So my question is why Josh thinks the P3 was such a major breakthrough?
Also, I remember the Tam O’Shanter well. Even though I was a poor graduate student when I visited Vegas in the 80’s, my friends and I thought it was too sketchy even for us. We did stay at The Castaways which was a small step better. I wonder if that’s where Josh stayed and the prostitute was stabbed. For years you could only get a glass of beer there not a bottle because a customer smashed a bottle over the head of a pit boss.
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