Competition Road Bike Restoration Final Design – Part 1

INTRO

For my MCEN 4279 Aesthetics in Design final project, I decided to undergo restoration of a competition road bike. With the term “restoration”, I mean that I am not starting from nothing, I do have the benefit of a starting point. That starting point being a salvaged frame of a GT GTR Series 3 road bike from 2009. I was given this bike from a friend of mine at the Environmental Center of CU Boulder. This bike was previously unlocked and left to ruin here on campus and I was given the opportunity to repair it, perfect for this project.

My vision for this project was to have a completely finished, functionally optimal road bike. As a basis I would use my race bike back home in Illinois that are “competition ready”. Those bikes are worked on by my dad, which can be considered to professional quality. If I can achieve this level of quality, or get close to it, while also realizing my chosen aesthetic, described below, I would consider this project a success.

AESTHETIC

An aesthetic which has recently devoured my instagram feed and google search history recently is modern cycling. From famous riders of the Tour to lesser known hobbyists, Their bikes and how they tailor their style towards them has peaked my every interest. I have very little background cycling, my parents both have competed in bike races along with full scale Ironmans. I’ve only taken on local triathlons, and by far biking is my weakest length. Recently though, I’ve been more interested in this hobby. More specifically the designs and aesthetic behind modern day race cycling.

Instagram, @ekudduke 

These competition bikes feature narrow builds that are impossibly thin. Their lofted, lightweight designs hold an elegance and quality that can’t really be found anywhere else. These bikes are hugely dependent on the brands that create them. Factor, Cervelo, Canyon, these companies are putting large amounts of funding into not only production but research, and the final product constructs the basis of this aesthetic.

TPC. 2023

This aesthetic doesn’t only encapsulate the bike it also touches on fashion, what the rider wears greatly depends on their aerodynamics. You will usually find riders with skin tight wardrobe pieces. And most of the time, a colorful jersey, the upper part of the outfit, and more often than not the palette and look of the outfit is greatly tied to the bike. No cyclist’s kit will ever go against their bike, if they do, they could be spotted out by the more seasoned veteran. 

STARTING COMPONENTS AND PLANS

The saving grace with this project is that with my starting components (the given frame along with other pieces already attached) is that there is a clear path forward: Seeing what I have and what I can use, fixing or replacing whats broken or missing, and cleaning and painting the final product in order to match the aesthetic.

Looking at my starting components, the frame is made from 6061 butted aluminum, which seems to be the only original piece of the bike. The head tube and the fork have been replaced with the same made of carbon fiber, iconicly stronger and lighter. However there are some components that need to be replaced or are completely missing; The back wheel is taco’d, a common phrase for a terribly out of true wheel. There is no front derailluer because upon further inspection there is no front chain ring, there is only one large sprocket. Because of this, if you were to put on new wheels, the bike would act more like a single speed, than a road bike. The handle bars are missing tape, along with every cable needed for the bike to run properly.

Another option to describe the aesthetic, is the color palette of the overall bike. An easy way of doing this is through the color of the components that still need to be replaced. However, the larger descriptor of the color is the frame and it matches the year it was made, 2009, the logo and the model pic and license could describe that modern cycling aesthetic However, spray painting it could be an option in making it fit that idea more, along with possibly adding my own logos or branding on the frame, an idea from the pod in class.

In the early stages of this project, I figured out an easily to follow guide to keep my chosen aesthetic, which ended up being the main strategy moving forward. I could just keep all the new parts that were to be added black, that way, the blue of the frame and other highlights from the seats and front handle bars would pop more, a concept commonly found in modern road bikes.

SOURCES

Duke Kwadwo [@ekudduke]. Instagram, February 21st 2025, https://www.instagram.com/p/DGWRppjuwnm/?hl=en&img_index=1.

Lin, Bruce. “The Stage-Winning Bikes from the 2023 Tour de France.” The Pro’s Closet, 28 July 2023, www.theproscloset.com/blogs/news/the-stage-winning-bikes-from-the-2023-tour-de-france.