A big new change is coming to the 2023 men’s and women’s Little 500 race in the form of a new bike that each rider will use for the upcoming race.
In the Little 500, all the riders use the same bike for the race. Over the last few years, riders have used a fixed gear/single speed Schwinn bike. However, for the 72nd and 35th running of the men’s and women’s race, the riders will now be using State bikes.
“I feel like I feel like it does have a little bit more kick to it, which I do enjoy the bikes. It’s a little bit thinner,” Beta Theta Pi captain Sam Bedich said. “But I think once we find the right parts, I’ll be a little bit more comfortable on the bike, but I definitely feel a little bit more power.”
Bedich is not the only rider who enjoys the new State bikes a bit more than the old Schwinn bikes. Kaleb Cooper of Phi Kappa Psi also enjoys the new State bikes. Primarily because of a riders ability to transfer power a lot smoother on the new bikes.
“The bike this year is a little bit heavier. It’s got some more robust parts to it. So, there’s some different smoothness and whatnot that you feel when you ride it,” Sigma Alpha Epsilon captain Drew Gavette said. “But overall, it’s a single speed fixed gear bike, and you’re still riding on cinder. So, you know, the variables are still there. And it certainly it certainly affects it.
But one of the unique things about the way that Little 500 riders can personalize their own bikes is through upgrades. Being that the State bikes are fixed gear and single speed, riders look to other ways to upgrade their bikes like changing the size of the rims that they use on the bike.
However, most of the teams wanted to keep their upgrades a secret.
“I guess like look at the wheels like last year like this year, you can go deeper in depth so you can kind of pick if you want a deeper rim which will be faster when you up to speed but heavier. It’s hard to get up to speed and then you can go also goes bigger dish and go wider,” Phi Kappa Psi rider Kaleb Cooper said. “So, it’s more stable in turn. You can kind of like, have to like factor and is it faster just to be in deep dish and save time which up to speed, it’d be a little slow on the turns, or be faster and up to speed and fashion turns are slower than straightaway.
It’s also one of the biggest highlights in this year’s race specifically for race director Emily Carrico. While the Little 500 mainly promotes students helping students and is a way for the entire Bloomington community to come together, the bikes are what truly connects everyone.
The women’s Little 500 race is set to start on Friday, April 21st at 4pm and the men’s race starts Saturday, April 22nd at 2pm.
