by We’re back with another edition of Tech of the Week, breaking up your weekend with the best new bikes, gear and accessories we’ve seen over the last seven days. From a ‘beast’ of an aero bike that raced in the Tour de France and has just been made available to the public at £4,000 a piece, to new releases from Rapha and Cinelli, oddly shaped wheels, a Kickstarter bar bag and… a very expensive skinsuit – this week it’s a varied bunch.
We’ll start with a quick shout-out to the big tech news of the week: the currently unreleased Wahoo bike computer, which has been leaked and appears to have a built-in wind sensor and a 3.8-inch touchscreen that’s rumored to have more than 30 hours of battery life and an audio speaker. Very interesting, unless the leak was some kind of big hoax…
Anyway, you’ve probably heard about this, and moving on to why you’re here…
Dare is releasing a “Beast of Pure Speed” aero bike that was seen at the Tour de France. The frameset costs £4,000
One of the most fascinating bikes in the professional peloton this year is the Dare, ridden by Uno-X Mobility. No, they’re not driving it for a dare, it’s a dare, a VA-AFO to give it its real name.
It all stands for Velocity Ace-AFO, so it’s no surprise that the staff and riders are pretty happy with their aero machine. In fact, team manager Thor Hushovd, the former world champion who is well versed in fast riding, said the bike was of “top quality” and they were “very happy” with it.
Alexander Kristoff also calculates that “driving with VA-AFO is 1.5 times faster with the same wattage.” Well, the previously unreleased aero bike has been launched by Dare to bring it to a wider cycling audience, and at £4,000 for the frameset it’s caused a stir this week.
Dare says it is “a beast of pure speed” and the “modern” design has been optimized in the wind tunnel to ensure it is 11.4 watts faster than the previous generation VSRu and “on par with the aero performance of the best Brands is”. the market”. Of course, according to Dare, these savings are at 45 km/h, five watts at 35 km/h and 21 W at 55 km/h.
The VA-AFO in “Swift Black” costs $5,200 (£4,000) for the frameset, which includes the V:C1 aero cockpit, V:P1 aero seatpost, an “aero bottle cage” and the SLT headset bearing from CeramicSpeed. No full bike option has been announced. However, if you want one of 50 limited edition VA AFOs in the Silver Lightning color, that will cost $5,580 (£4,290). A medium size weighs 1,073g.
Check it out on Dare’s website.
Rapha’s new print
Here’s something more encouraging from Rapha at the end of a week when we broke the news that the premium cycling clothing company was in the red for the seventh year in a row, with its losses almost doubling to £22.7m, while UK sales fell by £20 percent decreased.
The Pro Team Print Pack adds a colorful touch to the popular Pro Team range, which Rapha says was inspired by data. We’ll leave it up to you to explain… “Data allows us to understand our boundaries and push them beyond them. They quantify the sensations we feel when we push the limits. They illustrate what our bodies could achieve. This pressure has taken over the data. We have associated it with our best performances and translated it into a visual representation of our efforts that shows what is possible when we go beyond.”
Okay, we just thought it looked pretty cool.
A very quick skinsuit for £600 and triple figure aero socks
Aero clothing specialist Rule 28 is launching two new collections. The Neo range is, according to founder Sam Calder, the “result of years of research and development” and “the fastest equipment we have ever brought to market”. That’s what you’d hope if you were planning on spending £600 on the Neo TT Suit or £550 on the Neo Road Race Suit.
However, you will be faster if you do this, Rule 28 is pretty sure of that, telling us that the new suit is a 10 watt improvement at 40-50 km/h over the existing wet suit 1.1 and base layer combination (“previously worn by”) features both men’s and women’s Tour de France champions,” the brand adds.
Calder continued: “Neo is the result of years of research and development – we are finally able to reveal the pinnacle of our offering and the data to support it. This is the fastest kit we have ever brought to market. It’s a logical evolution of our top-end suit and base layer outfit – combining these items into a sophisticated garment and applying this concept across the entire range. The fabrics we now use in the Neo range test faster than anything currently commercially available and we’ve made it our mission ahead of next season to introduce World Tour level technology to the public .”
The range also includes Aero socks for £100, because who doesn’t love expensive socks? A bargain compared to the four-figure price of the Nopinz “Project 35” aero socks worn by Mark Cavendish.
A LARGE bar bag
On Kickstarter, Route Werks has received almost £110,000 in pledges from 727 backers for its double-sized handlebar bag, more than three times its original goal of £31,000.
Twice the size of the brand’s original bag, it offers six liters of space, three technology holders and two storage inserts. Phone, GPS, Camera, you can do all three.
Oh, and to prove it’s BIG, there’s a picture of it holding two burritos and a four-pack. Pretty.
Cinelli releases winter racewear collection
Winter Kit Klaxon. Cinelli has its Supercorsa winter collection “at the top of the collection” with high quality fabrics and a racing fit. The Tempo collection, according to the brand, “focuses on endurance and bold design.” Either way, as you’ve probably guessed, considering this is winter gear, comfort and warmth are the top priority here. Bib shorts, long sleeve jerseys, vests, bib shorts, jackets and accessories, there’s a little bit of everything. Check it out on Cinelli’s website.
An oddly shaped front wheel from Ron Wheels
Here’s something different…
That’s 105mm with what Ron Wheels calls: “An innovative wave shape.” Not just because of the aerodynamics, the brand says the design offers excellent stability even in crosswinds and is the “perfect balance of aerodynamics and stability.”
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