Muc-Off‘s Lightweight Oversized Precision Shifting (LOPS) is an oversized pulley wheel system. According to the company, the new bike accessory is ‘proved in scientific tests to be lighter and stiffer than its leading competitors.’
The LOPS system made its world premiere on Saturday 19 September, in the pivotal individual time-trial stage on the penultimate day of the 2020 Tour de France.
The system, which unites a titanium body with supremely coated pulley wheels and bearings, was used by Team Bahrain McLaren leader Mikel Landa on Saturday.
As with all Muc-Off products, a combination of real-world testing and lab work was a significant part of the development process for LOPS.
Managing Director Alex Trimnell said “I’m immensely proud of our efforts in creating a class-leading oversized pulley wheel system in the most challenging conditions. Anyone who’s visited our new, leading-edge laboratory and met our PhD-qualified staff will understand the value that Muc-Off places on science, but sometimes you have to trust your instinct, too. Nothing was going to disrupt ‘Project Landa’ – not even COVID-19.”
He continued, “Our people dug deep to meet a non-negotiable deadline. When you’re competing at the sharp end of events like the Tour de France, it’s essential to work with partners who share your commitment to success.
“Our partnership with Team Bahrain McLaren presents us with opportunities to work with world-class athletes and world-class engineers. Together, in the earliest days of the partnership, we identified an opportunity to develop an oversized pulley wheel system. To lead on its development and delivery during a pandemic is a testament to the people I’m proud to call colleagues.”
Despite the pandemic, 2020 has been a year of expansion and investment for Muc-Off, marked by the opening of a new laboratory, recruitment of new staff, and large-scale deliveries of anti-bacterial products to NHS staff and keyworkers.
According to Muc-Off, continuing partnerships with organisations, including INEOS Grenadiers, CANYON//SRAM as well as Team Bahrain McLaren, ‘provide evidence of the brand’s unwavering commitment to excellence.’
Project Landa
Muc-Off’s work to develop an oversized pulley wheel system, alongside its fastest ever lubricant for Team Bahrain McLaren’s Tour de France leader, was known internally as ‘Project Landa’.
LOPS is an oversized pulley wheel system developed by Muc-Off’s scientists and engineers in partnership with McLaren. The titanium body is created using a sophisticated additive manufacturing process. The pulley wheels (13t upper, 19t lower) are made from aerospace grade aluminium and finished with a ‘supremely efficient coating’ that delivers friction coefficients over three times lower than hard anodised equivalents.
‘The bearings were manufactured to aerospace level specification. The size of the bearing used was optimised for the number of rolling elements and application speed to help reduce frictional losses. Ceramic rolling elements are lubricated with a special synthetic hydrocarbon to further reduce the coefficient of friction and tighter radial and axial tolerances improve shift accuracy.
‘Optimised specifically for the individual time-trial, the final piece of the puzzle to help maximise performance, was the lower sealing requirements, which led to further bearing drag reductions and to incorporate highly compatible material expansion rates.’
