Tradeshow season is getting underway for the biking {industry}. While behemoths like Eurobike are inclined to dominate the headlines, there are tech nuggets to be noticed at smaller occasions too. This yr we took a visit to iceBike, a primarily industry-facing present placed on in each Manchester and London by Madison, seemingly the most important UK distributor within the {industry}. It takes care of a slew of manufacturers, from giants like Shimano and Vittoria to smaller outfits that concentrate on re-waterproofing for clothes, or protecting ceramic coatings for bike frames.
After wandering the Lee Valley Olympic Velodrome in London for the day, adopted by some thematic cocktails, listed here are the six most eye-catching issues, both as standalone merchandise or as one thing indicative of wider {industry} tendencies.
Narrow bars go mainstream
(Image credit score: Will Jones)
Super slender bars are nothing new, however at the moment, they have an inclination to exist on the fringes. Even in top-level racing they aren’t extensively adopted. I’ve tried out the 22cm Lambda X-Wing bars and really discovered them to be surprisingly superb for basic using, in addition to offering a noticeable pace enhance.
Now although, Profile Racing has delivered to market a 33cm set of drops within the type of the Canta Race bar. This is to my thoughts the primary set of hyper-narrow drops from a comparatively mainstream model. The Canta Race is offered in 33cm, 36cm, 39cm, and 42cm for £429.99. Unlike the Lambda bars I examined final yr, the Canta Race contains a larger ahead sweep of the tops, to keep away from one’s wrists fouling on them throughout sprinting.
Despite the extraordinarily slender stance (those you see listed here are the 36cm possibility) and the inward facet of the hoods, the Canta Race is UCI-legal. Profile Racing doesn’t sponsor any WorldTour groups as but, however given the impact that frontal space has on aerodynamic effectivity, it wouldn’t be a shock to see groups – maybe restricted to breakaway specialist riders – adopting bars like this within the close to future.
New gravel bars from Pro
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Shimano subsidiary element model, Pro, had a sequence of recent bars on present at its stand. Some have been below embargo and as such we can’t present you them, however what we may give you a peek of is the brand new Discover Aero gravel bar and the brand new PLT Carbon Ergo bar. The former is from the model’s gravel line and contains a bar-hood transition particularly designed to mesh with Shimano GRX shifters, and has exterior cable routing by way of an underside channel fairly than absolutely inside routing to assist keep away from too many complications when enjoying round with setups.
The latter is a carbon bar with ergonomics in thoughts, with a refined 4º flare, gentle again sweep and down sweep on the tops, and is available in as slender as 36cm to cater to smaller riders, or these seeking to get extra aero. Again, slender bars have gotten more and more frequent.
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Kryptonite lock that can resist 10 grinder discs
(Image credit score: Will Jones)
Bike thieves have turn into ever extra resourceful, and more and more brazen, particularly with the proliferation of high-value e-bikes. Previously locks had to withstand prying, choosing, and the occasional hacksaw, however now that battery-powered angle grinders have turn into the norm locks have needed to step up their recreation.
Kryptonite is without doubt one of the largest names in one of the best bike locks sphere and has delivered to market a brand new lock, the New York Lock Diamond, which is claimed to have the ability to destroy ten angle grinder discs earlier than it may be opened, 5 on all sides of the shackle because of it having a double deadbolt system.
It achieves this by wrapping the metal core in a diamond coating, which itself is then wrapped in one other metal coating earlier than a TPE outer covers the whole thing to guard your paint. It’s a chunky lock and weighs over 2kg, in addition to coming in at £269.99, however when you’re locking up an e-bike with a worth within the 1000’s possibly this isn’t a lot within the grand scheme of issues.
New tyres from Vittoria
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Early in 2024, we noticed Wout van Aert utilizing an unreleased 29c extensive Vittoria Corsa Pro, and on the Vittoria stand it was confirmed this can be a tyre that was coming to market, primarily to account for the transfer to wider (25mm) inside rim widths. With a 28c the sq. bead of the Corsa Pro didn’t essentially mesh effectively with rim sidewalls, whereas a 30c or wider wasn’t aerodynamically optimum; what the professionals need, the professionals get it appears.
Aside from fashions that sit inside our information to one of the best highway bike tyres, we additionally noticed a model new Vittoria Rubino, now supplied in a tanwall possibility. And a have a look at a brand new line of eco-rubber gravel tyres which function a pure brown tread constructed from recycled rice husks. And a singular development involving a cotton interior casing and a nylon outer to supply elevated sidewall safety while aiming to keep up that supple trip really feel that cotton provides.
Wallet pleasant DT Swiss wheels
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DT Swiss wheels function on a few of the bikes on the very prime stage of highway racing and are among the many finest highway bike wheels in the marketplace. A brand new wheelset possibility from the model is aiming to supply top-flight aerodynamic efficiency at a barely extra wallet-friendly value by marrying the top-level ARC1600 rim with a lower-tier 350 Spline hubset, with a price ticket set at £1,399.99 for the pair. For now, these are restricted to a handful of pairs per seller, however a wheelset that gives top-tier aero efficiency at this value for less than a average weight penalty is actually compelling.
The struggles of bigger bike computer systems
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The finest bike computer systems have gotten ever bigger, and now with the likes of the Garmin Edge 1050 and the Wahoo Elemnt Ace, the present crop of mounts have gotten too small to suit them. Aftermarket mount model, Ok-Edge, has created a nifty workaround to not less than make life simpler for Edge 1050 customers. A bit insert swaps out for the usual laptop insert, and permits the pc to be mounted a brief distance additional ahead, in addition to just a little greater up. This creates sufficient clearance to permit the pc to mount with out touching the bars or the mount, which I used to be instructed is sufficient to trigger elements to fail by means of the transmission of high-frequency vibrations.
There isn’t at the moment a workaround for the large Wahoo Elemnt Ace, and the weighty combo of such a big bike laptop together with ever-larger bike lights slung beneath is outwardly fairly the problem for the group.
