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Kelly Benefit representing on new Gary Fisher carbon road bikes

by Zack Vestal

• June 09, 2009
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By Zack Vestal

KBS Fisher bikes: The team got to ride the new bikes this weekend.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Hard on the heels of the news in April 2008 that Trek would stop producing road bikes using the LeMond brand name, was the news that the Gary Fisher line would pick up the slack in the road product line. On the surface, it would seem to be as simple as creating a new downtube decal, and swapping out the “LeMond” for a “Gary Fisher.” However, the company made a commitment to completely redeveloping a line of road bikes to do justice to the new nameplate, and the evidence was on display this past weekend in the streets of Philidelphia.

The Kelly Benefit Strategies road team, sponsored by Gary Fisher Bicycles, debuted new Cronus models at the Philadelphia International Cycling Championship. The team started the ’09 season on relatively run-of-the-mill aluminum rigs, but in just the last week, new frames arrived.

“The plan was always to transition them to new carbon bikes,” said Gary Fisher brand manager Travis Ott. He added that the Cronus represents the first of the 2010 Fisher road line, which completely overhauls the very basic line of just seven aluminum models the brand offered in 2009.

Team mechanic Eric Jellum gave a few comments to VeloNews’ John Wilcockson, who was in town covering the race.

KBS Fisher bikes: Fisher’s Wide Stance fork and a large 25mm hub axle end cap keep the front wheel tracking true in sprints.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

“We got the bikes a week and a half ago (May 28),” he said. “We have 24 of them, and I think only 24 have been made. We got them on the Thursday, put them together on the Friday and raced them on the weekend.” He added that the riders are happy with the new frames, as they are very stiff and very light.

And while team rider Alex Candelario narrowly missed the top 10 in Philly, rolling through in 11th, it’s doubtful the new bike held him back.

Frame detail

Ott said the goals for the new frame platform included higher stiffness and less weight. Hardly surprising, but what is surprising is that the Cronus frame clocks in at a claimed 900 grams. Furthermore, he said that Trek and Fisher designers leveraged their in-house prototyping and test facilities to dial up the front-end stiffness 27 percent over their previous internal benchmark for frame rigidity.

KBS Fisher bikes: You know your team is important when your new Gary Fisher frames have graphics to match your kit.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Photos reveal some of the more visible features on the new frame. Most notable are the massive head and down tubes. The head tube mimics that found on Trek Madone road bikes, in “E2” form that tapers from 1-1/8 inches at the upper headset bearing to 1.5-inches at the lower bearing.

Also on the front end is a “Wide Stance” fork, with wider fork blades for rigidity, and a retooled Bontrager hub with high flanges and axle end caps that measure 25mm (rather than the typical 19mm) for another boost in front end tracking.

Obviously the big head tube and fork add stiffness, but so does the massive down tube. Ott said that it’s the largest carbon down tube ever manufactured by Trek or Fisher, for any bicycle. “Initial reports from the team are that the sprinters are really happy,” due to the impressive stiffness, he said.

Incorporated into the frame is another feature from the Trek Madone: unthreaded, press-in bottom bracket bearings. Like the Madone, the new Cronus has an oversized carbon bottom bracket lug with precisely molded bearing seats for the bottom bracket.

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