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The Avanti Zeus

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Article 1 - from www.avanti.com

"New Kiwi-built bike to boost Ulmer's Olympic bid"
18 July 2004

World champion Sarah Ulmer will be lining up on the start line at next month’s Athens Olympics on a new all-Kiwi designed and built racing bike.

New Zealand bike manufacturer Avanti have joined forces with Dynamic Composites of Christchurch and the New Zealand Academy of Sport to produce a custom made carbon composite track bike for Ulmer’s tilt at Olympic glory in the individual pursuit.

Ulmer rode the first of the hand-made Avanti Zen bikes to victory in the recent world championships in Melbourne, and this week the ‘Olympic’ version has been completed and ready to ship to Ulmer in Europe.

Avanti believe the refinements made in the second bike will produce an even faster machine for the flying Kiwi cyclist.

The project began last year when Ulmer’s partner/coach Brendon Cameron and sponsors Avanti decided that they could make significant improvements over her existing bike, an Australian constructed BT bike that is regarded as the world standard. What’s more, the fiercely patriotic Ulmer was keen to ride a New Zealand-made machine.

``I wanted to ride a New Zealand-made bike. I’ve been using an Australian bike for that last five years and that hurts,’’ Ulmer said.

Avanti and Dynamic Composites began a joint project after Ulmer discovered the Zen bike made by the high tech composite company that won Steve Gurney’s Incredible Innovation Award at last year’s Speight’s Coast to Coast.

“We wanted a bike that was an improvement over the existing in ever area of design, material utilisation and production,’’ Avanti marketing manager Tony Smith said.

Ulmer underwent a series of live load testing on the track, using strain gauges on the frame, handlebars and pedals. The data provided an accurate basis for the engineering of the new bike and for the carbon epoxy laminate to be specifically tuned to Ulmer’s needs.

Ulmer completed wind tunnel testing under the guidance of the New Zealand Academy of Sport, (SPARC’s high performance network) during the design process to optimise her aerodynamic position and power output. The Academy and her sports science team used this opportunity to make further changes to Ulmer’s riding position and monitored biomechanical performance.

The focus of frame geometry was to minimise aerodynamic drag without adversely affecting function. The team made a number of innovations especially in the handlebar design that dramatically reduced flex and made the bike more efficient.

The resultant Avanti Zen bike weighs 30 percent less and is significantly stiffer than the Australian BT bike, resulting in substantial structural improvements for Ulmer.

The use of Dynamic Composites technology, more readily found in the Americas Cup or Formula One than previous New Zealand bike building ventures, coupled with Avanti’s wealth of cycling experience and the New Zealand Academy of Sports technology initiatives have produced a successful result.

``It was certainly rewarding to see Sarah break a world record in the first outing on the bike at the World Championships,’’ Smith said.

``The second bike is a further improvement on the first. We worked with Brendon to complete a detailed analysis after the World Championships in May. There are no major changes in set-up but we’ve included several new design changes in the Olympic bike.

``With feedback from Sarah and Brendon we have also made some aerodynamic changes. We are confident it will provide Sarah with the best possible opportunity to produce her best performance.’’

The new Avanti Pursuit bike is called Zeus, the model of Ulmer’s first racing bike that belonged to her late grandfather Ron Ulmer, who is a former national record holder in the Kilometer Time Trial.

Zeus was also the supreme ruler of Mt Olympus – just as Ulmer would like to be in the individual pursuit in Athens next month.

   

   

Various photos showing the Avanti Zeus, posed alongside another cycle called "Zeus", which had been ridden by Sarah Ulmer's father.

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Article 2 - from www.stuff.co.nz

"Optimum pedal wins medal"
24 August 2004

WINNING WHEELS: Milton Bloomfield, of Dynamic Composites who designed Sarah Ulmer's bike, celebrates her Olympic gold medal ride yesterday. (photo by DON SCOTT/The Press)
 
Olympic cyclist Sarah Ulmer's gold medal ride put a small Ferrymead business in the world's biggest shop window.

The bike which Ulmer rode in the women's 3000m individual pursuit in Athens yesterday morning was the brainchild of Christchurch designer Milton Bloomfield, who was up early to see his creation's finest hour.

"It's the sum total of all of the work," Bloomfield said.

"Without the bike Sarah wouldn't win, and without Sarah the bike wouldn't perform, plus there's so many people involved behind the scenes as well.

"The bike was better than anything her competition had – I've got no doubt about that."

The racing cycle on which Ulmer has twice shattered the world record for the distance was the creation of Bloomfield's company Dynamic Composites and New Zealand cycle firm Avanti.

Ulmer wanted to ride a New Zealand bike in Athens and, with very few people here working in the field, ended up in Bloomfield's workshop a few months ago.

With the Olympics so close, building a bike fit for the occasion was a rushed job. Resources were also scarce and Bloomfield – a yacht designer who has recently turned his skills to cycle manufacture – said in those circumstances a gold medal result was deeply satisfying.

Ulmer's old bike was "a completely terrible design" Bloomfield said.

"It was just so obvious ... and so I asked the question straight up, `why is it like this and not like any other way?"'

As a result – and after a check of cycling's rules – Bloomfield changed the position of the handlebars and made the frame considerably lighter, reducing the bike's weight from around 7.5kg to 6.8kg: the minimum weight.

The bike was refined through six months of testing at the University of Canterbury where mechanical engineers, bio-mechanics and representatives of the Academy of Sport put it through a series of wind tunnel tests.

University director of Sport Science and Research Services Paul Carpinter said many people were involved in finding the optimum set-up for Ulmer on her machine.

"We did a lot of work in terms of her posture on the bike so that she could minimise resistance but also impart the maximum amount of force on the pedals."

The university also helped develop other technology such as sensors for the pedals on Ulmer's training bike so data taken from a variety of training conditions could be downloaded and analysed.

Bloomfield's work has been closely watched, with the British team in particular having copied elements of his design for their Olympic bikes.

"It's nice that someone with so much money can reinforce my design," he said. With Bloomfield's bike a proven winner, he is now predicting a big future for the nascent cycle workshop.

"We're really excited about the potential we've got for future work, and we've got a bike in mind we're working on now for next year which will be superior to what's out there now."

That's the bike he wants Ulmer riding next year.

Bloomfield will also link up with BikeNZ and the New Zealand Academy of Sport for future projects. "The Academy has set up a technology programme to basically use New Zealand technology to help our athletes perform better across a range of sports," he said.

"We'll be involved with that quite heavily focusing on equipment sports like cycling, rowing, kayaking and yachting."

He said he was looking forward to "getting stuck in" with new sports after the debriefs had taken place from Athens.

Anyone wanting a 2004 model is welcome to contact him.

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