In April's Tech Of The Month, Cycling Weekly's Sam Gupta and Joe Baker take a look at the brand new Campagnolo powermeter, the new range of affordable carbon wheels from Hunt and they also take a deep dive on the new 2024 Giant TCR and discuss it's future in the world of cycling. All of that plus some brilliant April Fools gags.
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00:00April has not only brought some longer evening, but there have also been some new tech launches from the likes of Campagnolo and
00:07Hunt. We also saw some hilarious April Fool's content
00:11And I want to start with one that Trek put out there because they did something quite cool. They launched a pseudo
00:19denim Madone and they said
00:22Introducing carpe denim an all-new finish available exclusively to project one and I think it looks quite cool
00:28I mean, obviously it's not possible
00:30You could never put that much epoxy into some denim, but I think when you look at the pictures, it does look pretty sick
00:35It's pretty cool. Isn't it? I think as much as this is obviously an April Fool's joke
00:39I think potentially maybe it's trick putting out a little bit of a feeler. Could this be a future project one paint job?
00:44I'd love to see that person. It's really cool
00:46Well exactly do that as a paint job and then do the saddle because you could do the saddle in denim
00:50How cool would you look that'd be amazing. I also like that in the caption as well
00:53They put some care instructions hand wash in the tears of the less fashionable riders tumble dry low
01:00But that wasn't everything that we saw because there was another one. There was another good one
01:03There was indeed so precision fuel and hydration who sponsor lotto destiny also jumped on the bandwagon
01:09They said that they came up with the collaboration with Victor Campenaerts for a more aerodynamic way to dispense
01:16Electrolyte tablets. Yes, that's right
01:18It was a sort of PEZ dispenser if you've seen those sweets back in the day that clips onto the frame
01:23Also said to double as an aerodynamic fairing. Yeah, it's quite good that one. Yeah good
01:27I think a little bit easier to see through than the project one paint job, you know, that's true
01:31I mean for a second that Trek paint job
01:35I was like really but then I'm a simpleton so that was also why but I mean away from April Fool's content
01:42I did also see a video on Instagram from I think potentially the Dubai police because they have now got this range of they've got
01:49a fleet of new bikes
01:52Custom-painted Colnago v3 RS is very cool
01:55and it's nice as well because they match the paint schemes of like all their police cars obviously as they would because
02:00They're also quite famous for having a load of supercars within their police fleet as well
02:04It makes me wonder though like what they're gonna be using these bikes for like who are they chasing down?
02:09And also surprised that they're just v3 RS is you think from the Dubai police?
02:14Why not go for the v4 a little bit outdated?
02:16Also, I want to know what kit they're riding because you can have a v3 RS
02:20But you're not going to catch someone on a specialized LA if you haven't got a skin suit on so Dubai Police Department
02:26Do you have custom skin suits for your patrolling duties? Indeed?
02:30It's a very good question
02:31but something a little bit more serious because we did see one more thing which looks pretty cool was off the back of
02:37The tour of Flanders last weekend. We saw from escape collective on their Instagram that Ronan McLaughlin made an incredible spots
02:45of some Goodyear tires, which
02:48supposedly cost
02:50$50 with a 30-day lead time now we can kind of deduce that that is because
02:55Due to UCI rules those tires need to be commercially available
02:59But when you look at the tread pattern, they've got quite an interesting one because the shoulders of the tires have got quite a fine
03:05Tread pattern kind of lots of very packed together ridges
03:09And then the center of the tread is a lot more kind of similar to other Goodyear tires
03:13I mean, that's all the information that we have is just what we've seen
03:16so I think it's gonna be interesting to see like what the casings like what the TPI is like like
03:20What the compounds like why why are they so special for sure?
03:24I think we can probably deduce that they're a classic special tire
03:27Yeah, you know lightly designed with that extra grip so many of the crashes we see in the cobbled classics
03:33It's somebody washing out on a bend
03:34So maybe just to have a touch more grip on the sort of off camber corners make sense
03:38But as you say in terms of casing, for example
03:41If they've got any added puncture protection for the likes of Paris-Roubaix remains to be seen but
03:46$650 quite the price tag, isn't it? Well exactly. I mean, you don't know whether or not again
03:50it's just a prototype and if maybe these tires could potentially be a lot more affordable later down the line, but
03:58Moving away moving on. There was big news as mentioned from Campagnolo. They have finally
04:06released
04:07Their power meter been a long time coming this one, isn't it? Well exactly
04:11So when super record was launched last year now
04:14I was on the launch for that product and they kind of teased it a little bit
04:19But they were still pretty tight-lipped
04:20What was interesting is that when you looked at the non drive side crank arm, there was kind of a little cover
04:26And you kind of wondered well, is that going to be for a future power meter?
04:30Turns out it wasn't because the power meter itself sits on the drive side and kind of looks like a quark power meter of
04:37Yesteryear, but now that we've actually seen some numbers. It does sound kind of interesting
04:42So Campagnolo are claiming a plus minus 1% accuracy. It's available in lengths
04:47170 to 172.5 to 175
04:50The construction is a hollow carbon crankset with a titanium axle. We've got a claimed weight of
04:57656 grams and that is for a
05:00172.5 crank arm length with
05:022945 chainrings when I saw that way
05:05I did have to double-check to see how that compared to red and Dura-Ace because obviously those are the closest competitors
05:11Dura-Ace ranges between
05:13685 grams and
05:15696 grams so a little bit heavier red comes in at around
05:19570 grams, but that's for a 175 mil crank arm and 4835 chainrings
05:24So clearly SRAM is leading the way here
05:27And I think it's also worth mentioning that comparative weights are actually quite hard
05:31To do with chainsets because everyone has their own ethos on gearing and then obviously different size chainrings
05:37Play into that but that being said back to the Campag power meter
05:41It's got a rechargeable and serviceable battery, which is nice again
05:45That just makes it a little bit more user-friendly and then it's got a magnetic cable
05:49Which looks to attach at the outside face of the outer chainring and it uses the same charger as the super record wireless
05:56Groupset as well. So it's just nice that there's actually been a bit of integration
05:59There a bit of nice bit of forethought there
06:01Runtime on that battery is said to be five weeks on a single charge and that assumes a 500 kilometer
06:07Riding week at 20 degrees C. I mean, it looks pretty cool. It looks nice. It's good that it's finally landed
06:14I guess the sad thing is that this will be an extra cost to the already existing super record wireless groupset
06:21Which is already very expensive not cheap. Is it I couldn't see a price
06:26But if we can get hold of one we'll flash it up on screen for you now
06:33On the surface, it looks good. The numbers do look good
06:36It's a shame that there's not more crank lengths available say a 165
06:39But I think until we can get our hands on a unit and test it
06:43I think we'll reserve judgment
06:44But I think the key things that we'll be looking for are one how accurate really is it and then also how well does it?
06:51Actually integrate with the my campy app because that's something that
06:56Campagnolo put a lot of time into creating was this new interface to control your groupset and kind of other periphery
07:03So yeah, it looks good. But I think let's wait and see how it actually performs in the real world
07:102024
07:12Seemingly has been the year of wheel releases
07:14We've covered countless in the last sort of few months and there's another one, but this one is really quite interesting
07:20So it's from hunt, isn't it? So they brought out their sub 50 limitless aero wheels a few weeks ago
07:26That was their real top of the range cutting-edge technology. These are much more at the budget end. What can you tell us about them?
07:32Well, I think there's a lot to go through here and we will get onto the price in a second
07:37But just to run through again some of those headline specs the range is called the carbon disc range
07:41Which was formerly known as the carbon aero disc range
07:44So this is a refresh on kind of a bit of a fan favorite actually specs on those
07:49You've got a 22 mil internal width, which is compatible for tires from 25 mil all the way up to 50 mil
07:55So really versatile there. You've got a 30 millimeter wide external width
07:59You do have a fairly basic 36 to 10 degree engagement free hub. But again at this level
08:06I think that's actually perfectly fine and it will work. Absolutely
08:10Perfectly. Well, you've got triple butted spokes. They come in three different depths 30 40 and 50 millimeters and the weights go from
08:181,408 grams to
08:211,433 grams to
08:241,464 grams now
08:25I don't think those are bad jumps when you consider that that is going 10 mil deeper every single time
08:31So I think for a nice entry-level wheel upgrade. I think these stand to be a really solid and functional
08:38Purchase and just to get onto those prices for the 30 mils in pounds. You'd be paying
08:44779 pounds or
08:47$979 or euros that's kind of in that territory of I want to upgrade my wheels from what stock on the bike and
08:54I think these would perform really well for a pretty decent price for sure
08:59I think the other thing there to remember is that so many wheels now are really in that price bracket well above
09:063,000 pounds $3,000 and
09:08The reality is obviously we don't know till we test these but the reality is
09:12For you know someone that wants to go and do their chain gang go and do some club rides
09:16This is probably a high percentage of that performance for a low percentage of that cost
09:21So what are we actually missing? Well carbon spokes for one thing
09:24Yeah
09:25The internal rim width is ever so slightly narrower than their sort of top end wheels and also it's worth mentioning
09:31They're hooked rims as well. Not hookless. Yeah
09:34Well, but I think a lot of people would actually see that as a huge benefit over hookless
09:39So definitely for some after they've been in the spotlight for so long these last few weeks
09:42Maybe just some more stress-free riding the other thing there as well the engagement of that free hub. Yes, it's slightly less again
09:49Will you particularly notice it? Probably not will it perform just fine? Almost certainly so yeah, absolutely
09:55And I think actually when considering how much more you'd have to spend to get a lot of those features
10:00You're gonna be at two three times the cost but the performance isn't gonna be that much greater in the real world
10:06So if you're running some stock wheels and you want to be a bit quicker
10:09Enjoy the benefits that some kind of deep section wheels can bring you. I think these are a really good option
10:18Now for something a little bit more innovative from body rocket
10:21So they're a company that is creating the world's first and only real-time aerodynamic drag force measurement system
10:29That's quite a mouthful. What is it?
10:31Essentially, they've got four sensors on all the contact points on the bike
10:35so one on the stem one on the saddle that is coupled with an out front airspeed sensor and
10:40By knowing the parameters of the airspeed along with the force in which that is applied to the rider by the resistance of the air
10:48They can work out a CDA number from that now the bike you're seeing on screen is of course a road bike
10:54Though this was developed initially for that sort of time trial setting
10:58The athlete that body rocket is now working with Christian Blumenfeld is an Olympic triathlete and of course they use
11:04Road bikes in their competitions. So that is why the new system is on his giant propel so he can enjoy many hours of aero
11:12Training which to me seems like a tricky
11:15Sentence to say with a straight face, but yeah, I mean, it sounds like it'd be pretty painful
11:19Well, I mean it have a rock-solid core. Yes. Absolutely. I'm sure we can hold that position
11:24I mean, what are the benefits of this really over over and above other ways of testing your aero drag?
11:30So there's two main factors here cost and time first of all aero testing particularly in a wind tunnel setting is stupidly expensive still
11:38You know
11:39You can be talking a thousand pounds thousand dollars an hour for once by the time you hide an engineer
11:44Hide the facilities and the other thing is time
11:46We did some aero testing in a video which will be coming up pretty soon in the next few weeks
11:51We were only in there for two hours and if you're really trying to train a position
11:55It's hard to get a feel for that position in just a two-hour slot when really even if you just move
12:01You know any tiny movement of your head or shoulders is going to cause a massive difference
12:05So being able to train with those numbers in front of you is a real big benefit
12:09Yeah, absolutely
12:10And I think this is also really interesting when it comes to just the sheer amount of data that you could collect
12:16It's that constant feedback loop essentially and it's it's essentially if something's telling you
12:20You know keep your elbows and keep your shoulders in all the time and you can see yourself get get faster
12:25I think that probably just trains your mind to always be so aware of every single position that you should or should not be
12:31In for sure, and I think it gives you the ability crucially to fail fast
12:35Does yes, you know, you can really as Sam said you can just collect loads of data and you can work
12:40specifically on a position
12:41So it might be that take Thomas again
12:43For example, if he has one of these and he can train his breakaway efforts in a position that as we found out
12:49Depending on optimization can be a lot of what's faster at the speeds of racing, you know
12:54That could be a really worthwhile investment for someone to be actually able to train a specific position for a specific part of a race
13:01Absolutely. I think there's one more thing just worth touching upon which is when you look at this bike
13:05It's not something that is going to be adoptable for the masses
13:09But I think the most exciting thing from our point of view potentially is over the next five ten years
13:15How does this technology get smaller and start to integrate on road bikes in a more commercial way where you could say go and buy
13:23A kit fit. It's your bike and then get that feedback loop directly from your head unit that I think be really cool
13:32Now a couple of tech of the month episodes ago you might have seen that we highlighted a
13:39Amulet that was created by
13:41Bastion and it seems as though we've got something else of a very similar ilk because Joe I believe you have taken delivery of
13:49A watch indeed
13:51I have taken delivery of one of the new watches that comes as part of the Bravo team heritage collection
13:58Now, why are we talking about watches on cycling weekly?
14:01You might ask well
14:02The Swedish watch brand has actually taken inspiration for the new faces of the watches from cycling
14:08so there's a total of three new watches as part of the team heritage collection the
14:13MER the REN which is the one on my wrist currently and the PEU now
14:19Keen-eyed viewers amongst you if you like your sort of 50s to 80s cycling may have noticed that those are actually
14:26representative of old iconic team kits
14:28So probably the most recognizable of all is the MER that throws it back to the mercy team
14:35Which Raymond Pouliadour used to ride for that's Mathieu van der Poel's grandfather the REN as I say
14:40This is the one I've got on my wrist lovely sort of black and yellow face accents quite nice as well
14:45That it's sort of two levels to the face as well
14:47It's pretty cool and the Peugeot one which is probably the most classic of them all a more sort of monochrome color palette
14:53All of these have little nods to cycling culture
14:56So we've got like an upside-down 13 on the clock face for example
15:01There's a team heritage logo on the back of the watch face as well
15:04They will come with a Swiss automatic movement and quite cool as well
15:08Last little nod here is that they come in a team heritage handlebar bag now. This is real leather first of all
15:15It's the packaging for the watch the watch comes in this when you take delivery
15:18But it actually can be used as a handlebar bag as well
15:20Which I think is quite cool for that vintage aesthetic not particularly waterproof as you can see
15:26It's a leather clamshell design, but for the right day for the right cafe ride
15:30I think it's pretty cool perfect for you know a baguette on a summer's day perhaps a very small baguette perhaps or
15:36Maybe a gazette and I was must stress the right day and the right bike as well
15:41Please let's not go putting this on modern bikes steel frames only
15:49For this month's bike of the month we have the pretty newly released
15:52Giant TCR now to give you the rundown on the headlines of this bike
15:57This is the 10th generation of the TCR and that's it's been around for a bit of time now
16:03I think we can all agree though. It looks pretty similar to the previous one
16:06I'd say this is more of a facelift, but there are some quite good differences to be able to spot
16:12You might not be able to spot them, but that's because there's a lot going on underneath the skin
16:15So I'll run you through some numbers as quickly as I can like I say this is the 10th generation frame set
16:21It's claimed to be 10% lighter
16:235 watts faster and a little bit stiffer than the 9th generation. The claimed frame set weight is
16:30690 grams without paints which is 75 grams less than the previous
16:36TCR there's a key stat though
16:37The giant would actually rather you hear about which is that this is claimed to be 12 watts faster than the previous
16:45But that is a total system efficiency. So that isn't just the frame
16:50That's all of the bits that are attached to it as well
16:53So 12 watts faster important to note though
16:55As you say you might not be able to see loads of the changes but small things like for example
16:59The cables or hoses have gone integrated at the front that will make you know
17:03Probably a fair portion of that 12 watt improvement, but still it looks really smart, doesn't it?
17:08And I think they've definitely taken and if it ain't broke don't fix it approach to the bike the release of this bike
17:13definitely raises a couple of questions as to how much longer the TCR is
17:17Actually going to be around for because I think if we all cast our minds back to when they launched the new propel that bike
17:24Slimmed down a lot. It dropped a lot of weight
17:27And actually the TCR and the propel now actually sit a lot more closer together
17:32so for example
17:33The TCR is now only a hundred and fifty five grams lighter and five watts slower than the propel
17:39And actually when our colleague Stefan was out at the global launch of this bike
17:43He was speaking to one of the global marketing managers
17:45And he said the question that we are looking for in the next three to five year plan for both of these products is
17:52when do the two combine so clearly at some point a
17:57Propel and a TCR will come together have a baby and there'll be a new bike which in
18:02Theory will just be the best of both worlds
18:05But if we focus on the bike that has just been launched
18:07Obviously the TCR has always been about you know
18:10Being lightweight and being stiff now to put some kind of comparative numbers on that
18:15One of the key bikes that you can compare against the TCR would maybe be an S works a Thos
18:19so if we look at a full build a S works a Thos with Dura-Ace will weigh
18:256.23 kilos and the TCR comes in at 6.4
18:29So still incredibly like UCI illegal, but there is still just a little bit of a difference there
18:34Yeah
18:35I think there's a lot to be said here more than anything for carbon fiber technology
18:39The material science has just improved so much that now a bike manufacturer can create a bike that is 6.4 kilos
18:46Stiffer than the previous bike they can shave all that weight off the frame set and incorporate some aero features as well
18:51There's definitely sort of a culmination of knowledge coming together here
18:54That is why we're seeing a lot of very similar bikes in the in the last sort of 12 months
18:58And I think it's probably a trend that will continue isn't it? Yeah true
19:01I think the one special thing about giant though is that they do own their own factories in Taiwan
19:06And they actually changed up how they process carbon fiber
19:09So they used to laser cut all of the pieces, but now they do this cold blade cutting technology
19:14Which means that essentially the carbon fiber isn't exposed to kind of excess heat
19:18But because giant own those factories they have a lot of control over the manufacturing process
19:23And that then does allow them to kind of really push the boundaries in terms of what they are capable of doing and as we all
19:29Know Giants do tend to be quite good value for money in comparison
19:33And actually let's touch on price the bike that we've got behind us is
19:37The most expensive and will cost you either twelve and a half thousand dollars or just shy of
19:4312,000 pounds, but since it is giant there are some good value options out there and prices start from either
19:51$3,200 or
19:532,699 pounds and that's for a mechanical 105 12 speed build so I think there's a really nice range there for sure
20:01There's a range there for everyone isn't there also some UK Dex wheels. Yeah, exactly
20:05So this bike here is fitted with the KDX max 40s now not a cheap
20:09We'll set I mean if you're gonna buy them after market they would cost you about three and a half thousand pounds
20:14So quite a lot of money. They do look very cool, though
20:17But we also then have to think about how they're constructed because the hub flange is also integral to the spokes as well
20:25So they are very light. They're in that 1200 gram region
20:29So super light super stiff and I imagine that they're gonna feel amazing
20:32But you really not want to going to snap a spoke. Yeah for sure
20:36It definitely wouldn't be cheap
20:38But yeah as we spoke to Stefan who has already ridden the bike and he said that the wheels really make the bike
20:45He said the the frame feels great. Obviously, it's really light
20:48But yeah, the pièce de résistance if you like was really that wheel set. But yeah as we mentioned there, I'm sure they are strong but
20:56I'd be careful. Yeah, absolutely. Let us know though. What do you think of this new TCR?
21:01Is it something that you would like to ride?