Quite a lot of the design inspiration comes from top riders and their coaches - the level of technical knowledge they have is astonishing. We work with bikes like these, covering them with sensors and loadcells (we've had something like 20 ARM processors on a bike at a time, communicating wirelessly), and while the bike is part of the equation most of the drag comes from the rider's body. So a lot of effort also goes into comfort and fit, in order to get the rider into an aero position that they can hold for a period of time (the most aero position may not be possible to hold for very long) so it rapidly becomes an area-under-the-curve thing. We spend a lot of time in the lab, in wind tunnels and in velodromes sorting it all out (now with AI, vision systems, rider position tracking - it's getting really complicated).
Also these bikes are not generally roadworthy - every so often we hear a multi-thousand-dollar 'crack!' indicating another frame has had enough.
Also these bikes are not generally roadworthy - every so often we hear a multi-thousand-dollar 'crack!' indicating another frame has had enough.