Team Sky and Pinarello made waves at the 2015 Tour of Flanders with an elastomer-suspended road bike, but a little museum just steps from the race finish contains proof that the Dogma K8-S certainly isn't the first of its kind. The Tour of Flanders Centre hosts, among hundreds of other relics, a 2005 Discovery Channel edition Trek Madone equipped with an elastomer rear suspension, a design borrowed from Trek's then-sister brand Klein.
The Tour of Flanders Centre chronicles the race, its gear and its stars from its inception in 1903 on through the 2014 edition. Numerous historic bikes add perspective to the modern day race. (Think climbing a steep, cobbled climb on a double-ring bike is tough? Try it on 13.5kg/30lb singlespeed.) And old newspaper clippings and looped race radio recordings take visitors back in time.
BikeRadar visited the museum during the 2015 Tour of Flanders, and the deep gallery above captures some of the more interesting parts, including a questionable exhibit that argues women are slower than men on bikes because menstruation causes a reduction in oxygen.
Click through the gallery above for a walk through the quirky museum.
Two demo bikes are mounted on ovalized rollers to simulate riding cobbles
