Velo Digest: Monster 68-Tooth Chainrings, Dodging Gators, The Curse of Watts per Kilo, & More

 normal size in 1993

 @brajal: ...if your name is Jimmy Deaton and you're racing the Mammoth Kamikaze.

 @brajal: I sitll have my 54t chainring in a parts bin from when I raced the Kamikaze in the mid 90's (yes, I am old)

 There's a lot of tight ends in the TdF peloton already.

 I'd allow that only conditionally. For example your team has bad luck and you loose a lot of riders. You can then replace them so you still have 4 or 5 riders in your team when full team would be 8. On the other hand it's not something I'd actively push. I think it's fine the way it is. Makes the racing more consequential. If you allow replacements when your team still has 7 or 8 riders it will create a new dynamic with teams swapping out domestiques, which is probably not something we want. I mean the replacements could make the racing more interesting but it would definitely need to be regulated in a way. Anyway it would change cycling a lot, so I don't think it's something UCI would allow given their controlling of the image of cycling which would rapidly change allowing this.

 I am in favor of riders not being able to change wheels and bikes[1] so you already know what I think about swapping riders. Anyway it doesn't make sense, the whole point of a grandtour is that fatigue over 3 weeks need to be managed.

[1] they would have to use more reliable stuff to be 100% sure to finish races which means there would be more development for reliable and efficient stuff which is more important for us mere mortals.

 @opignonlibre: or at least make them fix their own mechanicals. I think they should get rid of team cars altogether.