I believe the flat bars are mostly aesthetic. Lots of new beach race specific bikes are coming with drop bars, however the older rigid mtbs converted still use very narrow flat bars (relative to 700mm wide xc bars) with very long and negative stems to make up for the loss in reach to hoods and such. You also have some single tracks in NL where in it is nice to take these kinds of bikes.
13:13 is Jasper Ockeloen. He's a really good rider too. Has his cycling socks company with some cool prints on them. He's friends with Ivar and Laurens ten Dam a former pro cyclist that still wins big gravel races. Fun people to follow. I've seen video's of them beachracing at 50 to 60kph. They use mtb's, but they swap the fork for a wide gravel ish fork. The tires have no profile also. About the same size as mtb tires. They also use the bikes for gravel riding.
there are some areas of the course where the sand is softer and the sand will literally 'grab' your wheel and will want to throw you into a certain direction. A wider posture using flat bars allows you to be more firm on the steering as opposed to a narrower arm posture using drop bars. As an extreme example, can you imagine descending a technical rock-boulder-section of an mtb cross with drop bars ? that would be very difficult.
Jesse check out Battle on the Beach in Pembrey in Wales. We have a series of beach races on Crossers dating back to the 80’s. A thousand motocross bikes horsing it down the beach is a different animal to CX/mtb bikes though 😉👍🍀
Florian Vermeesch who came second in Roubaix and his friend Brent Van Moer raced it also. Looks really fun. If I was in Nederlands of België I would definitely do it as well no in off season would be very fun.
The majority of the elites are just riding standard hardtail mountain bikes with rigid forks (sometimes with drop bars). The S-Works is just a regular Epic Hardtail frame.
Take a MTB, fit a rigid fork and fat slicks and you have a beach bike. Putting drop bars on means different groupsets and brakes too. Costly for a bike most wont use very often
A lot of pros, former pros and UCI Conti riders doing it. There are some brands now who make 'beach race' specific frames but most frames are old MTB frames as the BB is lower which is something you want for the flat beach. The forks are simply rigid MTB forks.
In terms of the rim brakes you point out I think that actually makes a lot of sense - if the race is all flat and you need to keep on the power constantly to keep the inertia with the sand being so sapping, then you're not likely to be on the brakes a lot so not needing to get on the brakes much - and disk brakes seem far more likely to suffer from grinding/interference/clogging up with sand given the narrow tolerances between disk and pad. Interesting to see how a specific niche bike has "evolved" for the unique demands of this event type, it doesn't get more niche than this! I think its a wonderful variation of event and presumably great training overcoming that resistance to pedal on sand. I'm guessing the tyre pressures must be like 10psi given that its on sand for what looks like 95% or more of the course. Fascinating!
They have tidal waves there, so the sand grains aren't loose, but firmly bound together. The surface is hard almost like concrete. Watch how the tyres don't even leave tracks behind.
Went down the dropbar beachracing bike rabbit hole a year back. Mainly thinking of mixed gravel and low tide beach stretches running a 29x2.2-2.4. Great fun. The older rim-brake frames would make for a cheaper-end build. Wikkit does some nice alu framesets.
Hi Jesse, great video as always, thanks! Some (hopefully useful! feedback for you - I don't know how these videos compare to your training videos in terms of views etc, but personally I really enjoy seeing them as part of a mixed content approach on your channel, especially where they show unusual events with a local flavour from around the world - I don't think you need to try too hard on the "reaction" part (that's the least interesting bit for me), its just interesting seeing some of the more obscure and local flavours of cycling from around the world - not "novelty", just unusual or not widely covered. Hopefully with the number of subscribers you are building now people can suggest other events you can highlight - couple of quick suggestions from me if you think any of these would be interesting might be (1) RedBull Timelaps, (2) UK Hill climbing championships, (3) Brompton World Championship (or the similar "Goni Pony", (4) the Dutch headwind competition, (5) the Simpson Desert Bike Challenge in Australia, (6) Japanese keirin racing, (7) British road time trials, and (8) the Six Day series
8:40 that looks like a fat bike fork to me also those MTB-looking bikes have brakes with lots of different names. They're not proper rim brakes, some people call them V-Brakes.
Come to Cape Town and ride the Cape Town Cycle Tour, its the biggest mass participation cycle event in the world, plus it is such a vibe!!! 13/03/2022 be there
Most of our riders are on Fat Bikes because when the sand gets soft you either have fat tires or you get stuck in the sand! I beat a few of the college boys and I just turned .... 60 years of energy!
Was thinking to participate in one or more races (with amateurs ofcourse), but couldn't bother to buy new, beach specific tyres... But, I thought I read in de rules it was only allowed to use flat bars, so weird to see drop bars.
I believe the flat bars are mostly aesthetic. Lots of new beach race specific bikes are coming with drop bars, however the older rigid mtbs converted still use very narrow flat bars (relative to 700mm wide xc bars) with very long and negative stems to make up for the loss in reach to hoods and such. You also have some single tracks in NL where in it is nice to take these kinds of bikes.
13:13 is Jasper Ockeloen. He's a really good rider too. Has his cycling socks company with some cool prints on them. He's friends with Ivar and Laurens ten Dam a former pro cyclist that still wins big gravel races. Fun people to follow.
I've seen video's of them beachracing at 50 to 60kph.
They use mtb's, but they swap the fork for a wide gravel ish fork. The tires have no profile also. About the same size as mtb tires.
They also use the bikes for gravel riding.
Drop handlebars were just made legal this year in Belgian beachraces, that’s why most Belgian riders still use flat handlebars.
there are some areas of the course where the sand is softer and the sand will literally 'grab' your wheel and will want to throw you into a certain direction. A wider posture using flat bars allows you to be more firm on the steering as opposed to a narrower arm posture using drop bars. As an extreme example, can you imagine descending a technical rock-boulder-section of an mtb cross with drop bars ? that would be very difficult.
Thanks for posting this, I’d never seen this beach racing ever before so I really enjoyed watching the video, particularly the epic start was amazing!
Jesse check out Battle on the Beach in Pembrey in Wales. We have a series of beach races on Crossers dating back to the 80’s. A thousand motocross bikes horsing it down the beach is a different animal to CX/mtb bikes though 😉👍🍀
Speeds can be 60 kmh with the wind in the back and full tilt in a pack. Then turn around and you"ll be happy to go 20 kmh going full gas.
With no climbing it looks like good stuff for heavier high watt riders where pushing 700w for 5 minutes is going to break the smaller blokes
Different. I use to ride the mtb on the beach (Kapiti coast,N.Z) but sand and salt ruins the drive train. Firm sand is nice to ride on though.
They’re just rigid forks which aren’t used for most mountain biking
Florian Vermeesch who came second in Roubaix and his friend Brent Van Moer raced it also. Looks really fun. If I was in Nederlands of België I would definitely do it as well no in off season would be very fun.
Yep. Specializes Epic Hardtail with rigid forks.
The majority of the elites are just riding standard hardtail mountain bikes with rigid forks (sometimes with drop bars). The S-Works is just a regular Epic Hardtail frame.
i just signed up for my first ever beach race, Perfect timing!
Take a MTB, fit a rigid fork and fat slicks and you have a beach bike. Putting drop bars on means different groupsets and brakes too. Costly for a bike most wont use very often
A lot of pros, former pros and UCI Conti riders doing it. There are some brands now who make 'beach race' specific frames but most frames are old MTB frames as the BB is lower which is something you want for the flat beach. The forks are simply rigid MTB forks.
In terms of the rim brakes you point out I think that actually makes a lot of sense - if the race is all flat and you need to keep on the power constantly to keep the inertia with the sand being so sapping, then you're not likely to be on the brakes a lot so not needing to get on the brakes much - and disk brakes seem far more likely to suffer from grinding/interference/clogging up with sand given the narrow tolerances between disk and pad. Interesting to see how a specific niche bike has "evolved" for the unique demands of this event type, it doesn't get more niche than this! I think its a wonderful variation of event and presumably great training overcoming that resistance to pedal on sand. I'm guessing the tyre pressures must be like 10psi given that its on sand for what looks like 95% or more of the course. Fascinating!
They have tidal waves there, so the sand grains aren't loose, but firmly bound together. The surface is hard almost like concrete. Watch how the tyres don't even leave tracks behind.
@@adriankivlehan7192 if it was that hard they wouldn’t all be running fat bike tyres Adrian. I’m sure it’s compacted in places and loose in others.
Went down the dropbar beachracing bike rabbit hole a year back. Mainly thinking of mixed gravel and low tide beach stretches running a 29x2.2-2.4. Great fun.
The older rim-brake frames would make for a cheaper-end build.
Wikkit does some nice alu framesets.
Cool!! THat looked like so much fun!! Thanks Jesse!
Hi Jesse, great video as always, thanks! Some (hopefully useful! feedback for you - I don't know how these videos compare to your training videos in terms of views etc, but personally I really enjoy seeing them as part of a mixed content approach on your channel, especially where they show unusual events with a local flavour from around the world - I don't think you need to try too hard on the "reaction" part (that's the least interesting bit for me), its just interesting seeing some of the more obscure and local flavours of cycling from around the world - not "novelty", just unusual or not widely covered. Hopefully with the number of subscribers you are building now people can suggest other events you can highlight - couple of quick suggestions from me if you think any of these would be interesting might be (1) RedBull Timelaps, (2) UK Hill climbing championships, (3) Brompton World Championship (or the similar "Goni Pony", (4) the Dutch headwind competition, (5) the Simpson Desert Bike Challenge in Australia, (6) Japanese keirin racing, (7) British road time trials, and (8) the Six Day series
the cross winds must be insane
That’s why the average speed is only +30 in the end - flying with a tailwind, struggle with a headwind.
Mass Starts are Fun!!!
That looks fantastic! A sport made for Australia, too.
Samuel Leroux 2021 French national champion & European champion , currently riding for Pro conti team Go Sport Roubaix Lille Metropole.
Tims on 2018 Sworks epic with an aftermarket fixed fork.
Anyone else from Belgium here 🙌
Haha... great to see you love this. Welcome to The Low Lands!
8:40 that looks like a fat bike fork to me
also those MTB-looking bikes have brakes with lots of different names. They're not proper rim brakes, some people call them V-Brakes.
I've just discovered this discipline, looks pretty cool.
Come to Cape Town and ride the Cape Town Cycle Tour, its the biggest mass participation cycle event in the world, plus it is such a vibe!!! 13/03/2022 be there
Hi Jesse,
What's your thoughts on strength training in the gym?
flat bars are for the control in softer sand
Beachracing is quite populair in the Netherlands in the provence of NH. (Alkmaar/Castricum/Egmond)
All along the coast from Zeeland to Den Helder actually. The longest race being Hoek van Holland Den Helder.
gotta be strong to do this
Most of our riders are on Fat Bikes because when the sand gets soft you either have fat tires or you get stuck in the sand! I beat a few of the college boys and I just turned .... 60 years of energy!
Beachrace is sow cool!
I imagine there's not too much need for actual braking with the sand damping so much. Probably why some guys are fine with rim brakes.
Was thinking to participate in one or more races (with amateurs ofcourse), but couldn't bother to buy new, beach specific tyres... But, I thought I read in de rules it was only allowed to use flat bars, so weird to see drop bars.
The guy with the fluo at the start too much zwift racing ! Also Jesse I am too picky with my bike always clean and shinny ! I wont race sand !
Looks fun as