Aerodynamic socks and fingertip grip gaming mice

A few months ago someone in the Zaunkoenig Discord wrote the following:

«It sounds like a very redditor thing to say … But the top performers of any game dont use ftip»

Ever since we launched the Zaunkeonig M1K on Kickstarter, way back in 2019, we have heard this line of thinking in one form or another. The logic behind the argument can be boiled down to: when fingertip grip gaming mice really are superior to traditional palm grip and claw grip gaming mice, how come the best of the best do not use them?

To answer that question let us take a small detour into the world of professional cycling.

Aerodynamic bicycles

When Gérard Vroomen of Cervélo went to see Tour de France team CSC all the way back in 2002 he was on a mission. Cervélo had created an aerodynamic bike and they were looking for a professional bike team that would be willing to give them a chance. Cervélo was convinced that aerodynamic bicycles were better than the ultra-light bicycles that were the established default for every professional cyclist. Back then the clear mantra was: weight is king. And Cervélo needed a professional team to prove that wrong.

Team CSC decided to give the aerodynamic bikes of Cervélo a shot. And they did not regret their decision. In the year 2002 they were on spot 14 in the UCI World Ranking. In 2005, just three years after the deal with Cérvelo, they were ranked as the number one team.

You would think that the cycling world learned its lesson at that point: aerodynamics matter.

You would be wrong.

Some twenty years ago baggy traditional jerseys where the default (except for specialized races like time trials, for example). Needless to say that a baggy jersey is not aerodynamic. Josh Poertner from Silca likes saying that every wrinkle in your clothing costs you about 1 watt (or not far from it).

But then, in 2007, Castelli from Italy developed the aero jersey for the Saunier Duval team. An extremely tight, wrinkle-free jersey partially made from extra slippery fabric.

The reaction? One guy from the team loved it, the rest hated it:

We brought the Aero jersey out in 2007 with the Saunier Duval team but none of the riders wanted to wear it with the exception of David Millar. He was the guy that understood what we were trying to do. Others were complaining it would be too tight, or they’d be wet on the descents and would catch cold. Guys like [Leonardo] Piepoli knew there were other ways to get performance enhancement, so why should they wear tight fitting clothing? But David immediately got it.

The aero jersy had a tough time in the team it was developed for. As you can imagine other teams were even more skeptical. It all changed in 2009, however, when the Cervélo TestTeam (the successor team of team CSC) ascended from being a second-division (Professional Continental) squad to briefly topping the UCI World Team Ranking in May/June 2009, and ultimately finishing the season as a strong top-ten team (7th overall).

The Cervélo TestTeam did not have the deepest squad or the biggest budget, but they had aerodynamic clothing, aerodynamic bikes and aerodynamic wheels: and it added up.

By 2012–2014 the majority of Tour de Frace teams were using aerodynamic bicycles and clothing: aerodynamic tube shapes, integrated cockpits, wrinkle-free onesies; the whole nine yards.

The death of the climbing bike

Fast forward to the year 2023: not only is every team using aerodynamic bicycles on flat sections. Aerodynamic bicycles have become so prevalent they are very commonly used even when going uphill. For a few years it looked like so-called climbing bikes (light bicycles, made for going up a hill quickly) would be used as soon as there was a bit of a gradient. Ironically however, most teams used aerodynamic bicycles instead of climbing bikes, even on steep climbs. When you go up a hill at 20 kilometers per hour or more, aerodynamics trumps weight.

Four times Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar learned this the hard way: During the 16th stage of the 2023 Tour de France, an individual time trial from Passy to Combloux (22.4 kilometers). The stage had rolling/flat sections early on, a short descent, and then the final ~6 kilometers uphill drag to the finish in Combloux. Pogačar started the stage on his aerodynamic time trial bike, a Colnago TT1. So far, so good: when there barely is any gradient an aerodynamic bike obviously is the superior choice.

After the rolling/flat section was over however, Pogačar switched to a lighter climbing bike, the Colnago V4Rs. This was a poor choice on multiple levels: One, swapping a bike takes time. Two, accelerating the second bike takes time. And three: probably the aerodynamic bike would have been quicker on the climb than the climbing bike to begin with; so why swap bike in the first place? The average gradient of ~6.8 percent just was not enough to make the climbing bike superior.

Pogačars opponent by contrast, Jonas Vingegaard, stayed on his aerodynamic bike, a Cervélo P5, for all of the 16th stage and was quicker than Pogačars by a whopping 1 minute and 38 seconds.

This time trial was one of the decisive moments of the 2023 Tour de France. Vingegaard extended his lead significantly, and Pogačar was never able to close the gap, ultimately finishing second overall, more than 7 minutes behind Jonas Vingegaard.

These days Pogačar is riding his aerodynamic bike almost every opportunity he gets. Only very rarely does he use his climbing bike.

In just two decades aerodynamic bikes have almost eradicated climbing bikes. Before the end of the decade the climbing bike might have vanished from the Tour de France entirely.

The only hope of the climbing bike is this: way back in the year 2000 the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) enforced a rule that a bike cannot be lighter than 6.800 kilograms. If that rule were scratched that probably would lead to climbing bikes getting used more again (these days you could easily build a climbing bike that weighs just 5.0 kilograms). Because ironically aerodynamicall Since the UCI is known to move slower than a snail however, this is unlikely to happen any time soon. And hence the aerodynamic bike has no competition.

Aerodynamic socks

These days there are not many bike components that have not undergone an aerodynamic overhaul. Even cycling socks are aerodynamic, these days. And according to Josh Portner from Silca they are shockingly good.

Imagine going back to the year 2001, the year before Cérvelo sponsered team CSC, telling professional cyclists that they should wear aerodynamic socks. They would laugh you out of the room. And yet, in the year 2026, aerodynamic socks are a thing and most of the cyclists in the Tour de France use them.

Alex Paton, from the Global Cycling Network (GCN), summarized it the following way:

New tech appears and it makes riders faster, but then most riders refuse to use it because it’s something different and is perceived to not be cool. But then someone wears it and wins a race and then all of a sudden everyone starts to use it.

It makes sense if you look at it through the eyes of a typical seasoned professional: he has built his career on proven tech. Why should he risk it all just to gain a small advantage? The perception changes when someone uses that new tech to win a big tournament: all of a sudden the coin flips and he probably is thinking: How can I afford to not use this new tech, when it could win me a tournament? What if the competition starts using this new tech and I start loosing ground?

It all starts with a risk taker, however. Like the above mentioned Scotsman David Millar who immediately understood the benefits of aerodynamic cycling jerseys.

How long will it take until fingertip grip gaming mice have replaced traditional palm grip and claw grip gaming mice? Well. Someone needs to win a very big tournament with a fingertip grip mouse first (perferably a Zaunkoenig). And who is this someone going to be? Probably not a seasoned pro, that already has made a name for himself. Likely it will be a hungry newcomer. One who is looking for every little edge he can get and one who is not afraid to take risks.

Who knows; maybe that someone is you?