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RACING

Cervélo T4 track bike

An elite racer with both pursuit and
endurance chops. Cervelo's T4 is
designed for going fast with aero tube
shapes and a big BB.

SIZE REVIEWED PRICE

56 CM $10,577
BRAND

Cervélo

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While it’s now considered a niche sport in

the U.S., track cycling has been a staple of
European racing since the late 19th
century. During the 1930s, it was one of
the most popular sports in America. The
discipline has been on the program of
nearly every modern Olympiad. It’s
extremely spectator-friendly, thanks to
the confines of the velodrome.

All track events — from the Madison to the

Keirin — involve the use of fixed-gear
bicycles that lack brakes. The timed
events are about pure speed, and thereby
require the use of highly aerodynamic
equipment. Competitors in the sprints or
points races, on the other hand, muscle
their bikes around the track via narrow,
stiff drop bars designed with dramatic
bends.

While specific equipment varies by event,

riders often opt for full-disc front and rear
wheels, or three-to five-spoke bladed front
wheels, because of their aerodynamic
properties. Modern track bicycles feature
aero tube shaping and massive bottom
bracket shells to maximize efficient
power transfer.

The bikes may seem simple, lacking

brakes, gears, and derailleurs, but they are
built for a very specific purpose. Just don’t
try to coast.

One look at the massive bottom bracket

shell of the Cervélo T4 tells you everything
you need to know about what the
designers intended with the bike: stiff,
explosive power. It’s race-proven, with a
resume that includes Bridie O’Donnell’s
former UCI women’s hour record and
numerous wins by Great Britain’s track
team at the 2016 World Cup in Hong Kong.

With that pedigree, we expected rave

reviews from our tester, 2014 national
track calendar champion Liam Donoghue.
We got them, with a few caveats. Overall,
the T4 is a race-driven machine for
serious riders hoping to reach the top
echelon of velodrome racing.

Pursuit bikes are generally designed with

twitchy, responsive steering. The T4, with
its low and forward geometry, is no
different. The 60 millimeters of bottom
bracket drop is on the short side, which
would generally mean you’d need to work
a bit harder to dig into corners with
stability. But the frame’s relatively long
wheelbase (380 millimeters rear center;
626 millimeters front center) helps reduce
some of that skittishness without
sacrificing an aggressive, forward riding
position. Donoghue noted how well the
bike stuck to the pole line (the black line
at the bottom of the track) at speed. Add
some aero bars and you’ve got yourself an
hour-record machine.

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Back to that massive BB shell area. Our

test rider raved about the quick pedaling
responsiveness and explosiveness off the
line. “Straight-line acceleration during
standing starts is amazing,” Donoghue
said. But our lab numbers told a different
story. The bottom bracket stiffness score
wasn’t exceptional, at 0.61 millimeters of
deflection. By comparison, Felt’s
aluminum TK2 fared much better at 0.36
millimeters, even though its bottom
bracket isn’t nearly as stout as the
Cervélo’s.

Will that matter to you? If you’re a sprinter

who puts out massive watts throughout
the course of a race, it could. But for
endurance riders, the stiffness score is
respectable, and the bike will offer you
plenty of pedaling response once you’re
off the line.

And remember, it’s easy to get a bit

myopic about deflection numbers when
we’re talking about such small numbers.
With its exceptional handling, the T4
offers a balanced, explosive ride, which
may be more valuable to sprinters than
pure stiffness.

The T4 is sold as a frameset for $4,500,

including an FK27 fork, an FSA IS2
headset, and an Aero UCI seatpost. Our
bike, as tested, came in at $10,577, but
there are certainly places to shave
thousands of dollars from that price tag.
Be careful with your wheel choice: We ran
into some clearance issues when we rode
Mavic’s Comete lenticular disc rear wheel,
which yielded less than two millimeters of
clearance between the wheel and the
beefy, flared chain stays.

Photo: Brad Kaminski | VeloNews.com

Photo: Brad Kaminski | VeloNews.com

Photo: Brad Kaminski | VeloNews.com

Photo: Brad Kaminski | VeloNews.com

OUR TESTER
Liam Donoghue
• 2014 national track calendar champion
• Member of Team USA at 2014 Pan-
American Championships
• 1st, team pursuit, 2013 elite track
nationals
• 1st, pursuit (as pilot), 2015 para-cycling
track national championships
• 2nd, individual pursuit, 2012-’14 elite
track nationals
• 3rd, Madison, 2013 elite track nationals
• 3rd, points race, 2012 elite track
nationals

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• BIKE REVIEW • REVIEW

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