Bike Review : BMC Team Machine SLR01 (Part 2) - "The Hills are Alive .."

As mentioned in Part 1 of the bike review, I was not able to test the hill climbing characteristics of this bike during my first ride due to extreme temperature. So I decided to try this bike another time, and it was also 90+ today :). The test-route was the usual loop around Lake Sammamish, with an additional hill of Lakemont Boulevard to test the stiffness of SLR01. The climb is about 1 mile to the first traffic light, with the prospect of a nice cuppa java on top courtesy Starbucks!

Figure 1. The Test Route. The Lakemont Blvd hill is a good lung-buster, and the reward on top is worth it!

The ride started from Elements Cycles in Redmond and proceeded to the West Lake Sammamish Parkway (going south). This is a very popular route with bikers in the Eastside and there were many smiling faces rolling away on the shaded lane. The Lakemont Blvd hill is a slight detour to the south of I-90 freeway that takes you to the "base camp" of Cougar Mountain, one of the more difficult climbs in this region. I have never been to the very top of the mountain, and am planning to ascend it once the STP training is out of the way.

My previous PR on this climb was on my Reliable Roubaix, a total ascent time of 11:41 at an average speed of 5.5 mph. The climb is not very steep (steady at about 12-13% and never exceeds 15%), but is steep enough to bust your lungs on the way up. My 11:41 was a steady grind to the top with the goal of not stopping on the way and reaching the top without getting into the red-zone. The effort ranked in the lowest 10% of the ascents on Strava. Note that the entire segment was done on a 34x30 gear with a steady cadence until the last one-third, at which point I revved up to the top.

Figure 2a. My previous PR on this hill - a slow but steady grind after 32 miles (one loop of the lake) 

For the test ride, I wanted to specifically test the stiffness of this bike, especially as BMC ranks this bike in its "Altitude" series of bikes that aim at the climber crowd. To this end, I split up the segment into three parts corresponding to the three turns (and three of my favorite riders :) ) and set a mental goal to do the following 

1. Voeckler mode - In the saddle in 34x21-24 - A steady grind with hands on the bars
2. Contador mode - Out of the saddle climbing with gear not greater than 34x21
3. Froome mode - Back in the saddle with 34x28 (lowest gear) and revving it up towards the top of the climb

Segment 1 was relatively easier than I thought, and my first impression was "Oh, I may actually pull this one off!" I was in for a BIG surprise at the first turn (14%) which marked the beginning of the second segment. The second segment was the toughest, but all the spin workouts out of the saddle (Thanks a TON, Peter and Janelle!) helped in maintaining the cadence and heart-rate to a manageable order. The last segment was the quickest, flattening out in 4-5% range for me to work up a good acceleration in the lowest gear. The Beast blew my previous best out of the water (or more appropriately, off-the-cliff) by a whopping 2 minutes! My total time to reach the U-turn point clawed away some of this deficit due to the benefit of a traffic light that I had missed during my previous best climb. It also pushed me to a more-respectable 411/526, about 10 percentile positions up!

Figure 2b. The Beast eclipsed the previous PR by about 90 seconds (total), and a whopping 2 minutes in actual moving time!

Coming down the hill, I also eclipsed my PR of 3:01 by about 15 seconds (a huge bonus for me as I am a very cautious descender), maxing out at 29.8 mph. Overall, the bike held up to my expectations of stiffness improvement over an endurance bike.

Looking at the relative geometries of both the bikes, the difference in the aerodynamic position is more apparent. I am using an older version of the bike comparator worksheet (v1.1) to compare the specific geometries. 

Figure 3. Comparing the Roubaix (Red) with the SLR01 (Green). Notice that the Roubaix has a more upright position with a higher head tube and more forgiving top tube angle. The SLR01 is designed for a more aggressive position.

In conclusion, my impressions of the Beast were very exciting, and the two rides went a long way in illuminating the extent of engineering and design behind a seemingly plain-looking yet very very efficient riding machine. Typically Swiss!