SPEED, AMPLIFIED
The chase is on. Moments tick by. It’s time to amplify your speed.
The time trial is fundamental to modern road racing. It is a crucible. An arena with no placeto hide. Any weakness magnified. Strength and stamina rewarded.
When a race can be won by a handful of seconds, it becomes the task of the engineers and designers in our Reparto Corse to seek those seconds everywhere. Constant development, persistent pursuit. No gain too ‘marginal’. In Italian, Aquila means eagle. Bianchi chose this symbol for its emblem because of its power in flight, the extreme speed combined with elegance. It is the apex.
DESIGN philosophy
The ambition of the Aquila RC is to be the fastest time trial bike in the world. To reach this goal, we had to find balance. To bring into concert the movement of the rider’s body and their bicycle. This system-wide approach has come to define the design philosophy at Reparto Corse.
OPTIMISATION APPROACH
The Aquila RC took 20 months to develop. It is the product of close collaboration with Bianchi’s WorldTour riders, including time trial specialist and Tour de France stage winner, Kévin Vauquelin. This expert insight fuelled our iterative design process, a cyclical journey through sketch, CAD, simulation, prototyping and real testing.
A FRAME THAT FLIES
The more aggressive, upright seat tube angle of 77.5° reflects the preferences of elite WorldTour time triallists. We increased the reach of the bike and kept the top tube length the same as the previous generation. The effect is a fast, aggressive position that remains comfortable while also boosting power transfer.
The tube sections were chosen with an emphasis on high side force, known as the sailing effect, where bike and rider are propelled forwards. The Aquila RC is offered exclusively as a frameset, with the frame weighing 1.3kg and the fork 400g.
It is available in sizes S, M, L and can comfortably accommodate 28mm tyres.
VERIFICATION PROTOCOL
For Reparto Corse, it’s not enough to test the frame in the wind tunnel. We needed to test it with a rider pedalling, to understand the way this human movement would interact with the finely honed aerodynamics of the machine.
We had the idea to replicate the movement using a set of artificial legs, creating the consistent repeatable conditions in the wind to fully understand and optimise the machine- human interaction. The development of tools like this is a mark of the pioneering Reparto Corse mentality and enabled us to optimise the Aquila RC yet further.
CONTROL THE CONTROLLABLE
There are finite variables in the design of a bike frame and some are fixed – either by UCI
regulations or by physics. We set out to optimise the most impactful, controllable components of the Aquila RC – handlebar, seatpost and bottom bracket. By fine-tuning the shape and placement, we were able to minimise the pressure drag in strategic areas.
KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS
When tested against the previous generation, the Aquila RC saves 16.1 watts at 50 kilometres per hour. Over 40.7 kilometres, the Aquila RC went a huge 37 seconds faster – easily the difference between making the podium and not.
Consistently outperformed the previous generation Aquila and the best industry competitor in yaw angles from -20° to 20°.
FRAME KIT
Aquila RC
The Aquila RC is offered exclusively as a frameset, with the frame weighing 1.3kg and the fork 400g. It is available in sizes S, M, L.
DISCOVER NOWSize & Frame Geometry
| SIZE | A | B1 | C | D | E | F | G | G1 | H | I | X | Y | WB | J | K | L | M | N |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | 510 | 510 | 410 | 75 | 75 | 588 | 77,5° | 72,0° | 45 | 370,5 | 402 | 486 | 986 | 627 | 489 | 473 | 624 | 75 |
| M | 530 | 535 | 410 | 75 | 90 | 610 | 77,5° | 72,0° | 45 | 370,5 | 420 | 500 | 1008,5 | 645 | 500 | 491 | 639 | 75 |
| L | 560 | 556 | 410 | 75 | 115 | 638 | 77,5° | 72,0° | 45 | 370,5 | 440 | 524 | 1036 | 665 | 524 | 511 | 662 | 75 |
