BH GLOBAL CONCEPT AERO

Sponsoring a ProTour team like AG2R La Mondiale typically means one thing for the frame manufacturer – new bike development. The world’s best riders demand, and deserve, the best equipment. So it’s a relationship that drives progression, both for the sponsors and for the riders. In a perfect world, the team is successful, and the bikes are a big part of it. The BH Global Concept Aero has been developed for this very reason. BH sponsored athletes demanded the best.

But fast bikes aren’t for the elite athlete only. Anyone can benefit from the aerodynamic advantage of a carefully designed time trial bike like the GC Aero. The reason is that wind resistance plays an enormous role in tempering your average speed over the course of a time trial or triathlon bike leg. Sure, we know that the majority of the drag is due to your body, something like 70 to 80%. But we consider that remaining 20 to 30% to be prime hunting ground for more speed. And generally, fast bikes like the Global Concept Aero will allow you to find a faster, more comfortable position for your arms and upper body, allowing you to shed serious grams of drag. Less drag equals faster times for a given power output.

BH named the bike the Global Concept Aero because of the efforts made to ensure that you can achieve a perfect fit. The global part of the concept includes your body and the bike. After all, what good is wind tunnel testing a bare frame and fork when, in reality, it will bear a panting, thrashing cyclist. So when BH designed the frame, they used modeling techniques that represented the complete bike with a rider and spinning wheels. And this is how they tested the prototypes in the wind tunnel as well. The effect of your torso, legs, and arms can greatly alter the airflow over certain portions of the bike.

Like the G5 and the Ultralight, the GC Aero is molded in one piece from pre-preg unidirectional carbon fiber. This monocoque construction process results in a frame with a perfectly homogenous structure. Each tube and intersection utilizes a carefully engineered number of plys and orientation to optimize strength, stiffness, and weight. And it’s this process that allows the designers the freedom to create the complex, aero tube shapes. The fork is made in the same fashion with a carbon steerer tube. Its shapes flow seamlessly into the curved down tube, where the aero optimization is obvious. The bottom of the tube has a short section that mirrors the arc of the front tire, allowing oncoming air to flow from the tire onto the frame with less chance for disturbance. The bladed seat tube is built to do the same thing, albeit in concert with the rear wheel.

The BH Global Concept carries over into all of the smallest details, often forgotten on lesser bikes. With the exception of the front brake, all the cables run internally to avoid spoiling the aero properties of the frame. We recall an article about aerodynamics in an old issue of Cycling Science. The fact that stuck with us to this day was the statement that a pencil, hanging out in smooth, clean air at 25 miles per hour generated about 20 grams of aerodynamic drag. We liken that pencil to a section of exposed cable housing. And if saving 20 grams on your race wheels is important, then so are the grams saved against the wind.

You can perfect your fit thanks to the GC Aero’s three position seat clamp assembly on the aero seatpost. It can be set to affect a 74°, 76°,or 78° seat angle to suit your preferred or most efficient position.

The BH Global Concept Aero is available in Blue or White and comes in four sizes from 52 to 58cm. It has an English threaded bottom bracket and requires a braze-on style bottom pull front derailleur. The fork has a straight 1-1/8” carbon steerer to minimize frontal area, and it comes with an FSA integrated headset.

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2012 BH Global Concept Aero Pricing