A number of bike manufactures have started to develop aero road bike frames, these are claimed to save a number of watts (energy) of the rider.. in other words. go faster for longer. In theory, in a race, a rider with conventional tubing on a bike will have less energy to the rider with the aero road bike..
Specialized McLaren venge
Claimed weight for the Venge frame is 950g, with the complete module (frame, fork, seatpost, crankset) tipping the scales at 2.07kg for the McLaren and 2.18kg for the S-Works. Claimed watts saved by the Venge range from 3W at 20km/h to a whopping 23W at 45km/h, and presumably a lot more than this at Mark Cavendish's sprint speed of around 70km/h. Giving a professional rider that sort of advantage is incredible and should be apparent from very early on in the season.
Specialized say their 2010 S-Works Tarmac SL3 is 124.3 (Nm/deg)/kg (stiffer, but not an aero road bike) but the 2011 Felt AR1 aero bike is only 56.4 (Nm/deg)/kg.
http://www.specialized.com/gb/gb/bc/SBCProduct.jsp?spid=60973&scid=1101&scname=Road
Felt AR1 ROAD BIKE..
Every part of the AR1′s frame has been carefully designed to be aerodynamic as possible, while the incredible stiffness of the frame guarantees efficient energy transfer; these features ensure that the rider can reach competitive speeds in record time.
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