Cycling Weekly's April Tech Of The Month
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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00:00 April has not only brought some longer evening, but there have also been some new tech launches from the likes of Campagnolo and
00:07 Hunt. We also saw some hilarious April Fool's content
00:11 And I want to start with one that Trek put out there because they did something quite cool. They launched a pseudo
00:18 denim Madone and they said
00:21 Introducing carpe denim an all-new finish available exclusively to project one and I think it looks quite cool
00:28 I mean, obviously it's not possible
00:30 You could never put that much epoxy into some denim, but I think when you look at the pictures, it does look pretty sick
00:35 It's pretty cool, isn't it? I think as much as this is obviously an April Fool's joke
00:39 I think potentially maybe it's trick putting out a little bit of a feeler. Could this be a future project one paint job?
00:44 I'd love to see that personally. It's really cool
00:46 Well exactly do that as a paint job and then do the saddle because you could do the saddle in denim
00:50 How cool would you look that'd be amazing? I also like that in the caption as well
00:53 They put some care instructions hand wash in the tears of the less fashionable riders tumble dry low
01:00 But that wasn't everything that we saw because there was another one. There was another good one
01:03 There was indeed so precision fuel and hydration who sponsor lotto destiny also jumped on the bandwagon
01:09 They said that they came up with a collaboration with Victor Campenaerts for a more aerodynamic way to dispense
01:15 Electrolyte tablets. Yes, that's right
01:18 It was a sort of PEZ dispenser if you've seen those sweets back in the day that clips onto the frame
01:23 Also said to double as an aerodynamic fairing. Yeah, it's quite good that one. Yeah good
01:27 I think a little bit easier to see through than the project one paint job, you know, that's true
01:31 I mean I for a second that track paint job. I was like really but then I'm a simpleton
01:37 So that was also why but I mean away from April Fool's content
01:42 I did also see a video on Instagram from I think potentially the Dubai police
01:46 Because they have now got this range of they've got a fleet of new bikes
01:51 custom painted
01:53 Colnago v3 RS is very cool and it's nice as well because they match the paint schemes of like all their police cars
01:59 Obviously as they would because they're also quite famous for having a load of supercars within their police fleet as well
02:04 It makes me wonder though like what they're gonna be using these bikes for like who are they chasing down?
02:08 And also surprised that they're just v3 RS is you think for the Dubai police?
02:14 Why not go for the v4 a little bit outdated?
02:16 Also, I want to know what kit they're riding because you can have a v3 RS
02:20 But you're not going to catch someone on a specialized alley if you haven't got a skin suit on so Dubai Police Department
02:26 Do you have custom skin suits for your patrolling duties? Indeed? It's a very good question
02:31 But something a little bit more serious because we did see one more thing which looks pretty cool was off the back of
02:37 The tour of Flanders last weekend. We saw from escape collective on their Instagram that Ronan McLaughlin made an incredible spot
02:44 of some Goodyear tires, which
02:47 supposedly cost
02:50 $15 with a 30-day lead time now we can kind of deduce that that is because due to UCI rules
02:57 Those tires need to be commercially available
02:59 But 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
03:04 Tread pattern kind of lots of very packed together ridges
03:08 And then the center of the tread is a lot more kind of similar to other Goodyear tires
03:13 I mean, that's all the information that we have is just what we've seen
03:16 So I think it's gonna be interesting to see like what the casings like what the TPI is like like what the compounds like why?
03:21 Why are they so special for sure? I think we can probably deduce that they're a classic special tire
03:26 Yeah, you know lightly designed with that extra grip so many of the crashes we see in the cobbled classics
03:33 It's somebody washing out on a bend
03:34 So maybe just to have a touch more grip on the sort of off camber corners make sense
03:38 But as you say in terms of casing for example
03:41 If they've got any added puncture protection for the likes of Paris-Roubaix remains to be seen but
03:46 $250 quite the price tag isn't it? Well exactly. I mean you don't know whether or not again
03:50 it's just a prototype and if maybe these tires could potentially be a lot more affordable later down the line, but
03:57 Moving away moving on there was big news as mentioned from Campagnolo. They have finally
04:05 released
04:07 Their power meter in a long time coming this one isn't it? Well exactly
04:11 So when Super Record was launched last year now
04:14 I was on the launch for that product and they kind of teased it a little bit
04:19 But they were still pretty tight-lipped
04:20 What was interesting is that when you looked at the non drive side crank arm, there was kind of a little cover
04:25 And you kind of wondered well, is that going to be for a future power meter?
04:30 turns out it wasn't because the power meter itself sits on the drive side and
04:34 Kind of looks like a quark power meter of yesteryear
04:37 But now that we've actually seen some numbers, it does sound kind of interesting
04:42 So Campagnolo are claiming a plus minus 1% accuracy. It's available in lengths
04:47 170 to 172.5 to 175
04:50 The construction is a hollow carbon crankset with a titanium axle. We've got a claimed weight of
04:56 656 grams and that is for a
04:59 172.5 crank arm length with
05:02 2945 chainrings when I saw that way
05:05 I did have to double check to see how that compared to red and Dura-Ace because obviously those are the closest competitors
05:11 Dura-Ace ranges between
05:13 685 grams and
05:15 696 grams so a little bit heavier red comes in at around
05:18 570 grams, but that's for a 175 mil crank arm and 4835 chainrings
05:24 So clearly SRAM is leading the way here
05:27 And I think it's also worth mentioning that comparative weights are actually quite hard
05:31 To do with chain sets because everyone has their own ethos on gearing and then obviously different size chainrings
05:37 Play into that but that being said back to the Campag power meter
05:41 It's got a rechargeable and serviceable battery, which is nice again
05:45 That just makes it a little bit more user-friendly and then it's got a magnetic cable
05:49 Which looks to attach at the outside face of the outer chainring and it uses the same charger as the super record wireless
05:56 Groupset as well. So it's just nice that there's actually been a bit of integration
05:59 There a bit of nice bit of forethought there
06:01 Runtime on that battery is said to be five weeks on a single charge and that assumes a 500 kilometer
06:07 Riding week at 20 degrees C. I mean it looks pretty cool. It looks nice. It's good that it's finally landed
06:14 I guess the sad thing is that this will be an extra cost to the already existing super record wireless groupset
06:21 Which is already very expensive not cheap is it? I couldn't see a price
06:26 But if we can get hold of one, we'll flash it up on screen for you now
06:29 On the surface it looks good. The numbers do look good
06:36 It's a shame that there's not more crank lengths available say a 165
06:39 But I think until we can get our hands on a unit and test it
06:43 I think we'll reserve judgment
06:44 But 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 actually?
06:52 Integrate with the my campy app because that's something that Campagnolo put a lot of time into
06:57 Creating was this new interface to control your groupset and kind of other periphery. So yeah, it looks good
07:04 But I think let's wait and see how it actually performs in the real world
07:08 2024
07:11 Seemingly has been the year of wheel releases
07:14 We've covered countless in the last sort of few months and there's another one, but this one is really quite interesting
07:20 So it's from hunt isn't it? So they brought out their sub 50 limitless aero wheels a few weeks ago
07:26 That 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?
07:32 Well, I think there's a lot to go through here and we will get on to the price in a second
07:37 But just to run through again some of those headline specs the range is called the carbon disc range
07:41 Which was formerly known as the carbon aero disc range
07:44 So this is a refresh on kind of a bit of a fan favorite actually specs on those
07:49 You've got a 22 mil internal width, which is compatible for tires from 25 mil all the way up to 50 mil
07:55 So really versatile there. You've got a 30 millimeter wide external width
07:59 You do have a fairly basic 36 to 10 degree engagement free hub. But again at this level
08:06 I think that's actually perfectly fine and it will work. Absolutely
08:09 Perfectly. Well, you've got triple butted spokes. They come in three different depths 30 40 and 50 millimeters and the weights go from
08:18 108 grams to
08:20 1433 grams to
08:23 1464 grams now
08:25 I don't think those are bad jumps when you consider that that is going 10 mil deeper every single time
08:31 So I think for a nice entry-level wheel upgrade. I think these stand to be a really solid and functional
08:38 Purchase and just to get on to those prices for the 30 mils in pounds. You'd be paying
08:44 779 pounds or
08:47 79 dollars or euros that's kind of in that territory of I want to upgrade my wheels from what stock on the bike and
08:54 I think these would perform really well for a pretty decent price for sure
08:59 I think the other thing there to remember is that so many wheels now are really in that price bracket well above
09:05 3,000 pounds three thousand dollars and
09:08 The reality is obviously we don't know till we test these but the reality is
09:12 For you know someone that wants to go and do their chain gang go and do some club rides
09:16 This is probably a high percentage of that performance for a low percentage of that cost. So what are we actually missing?
09:22 Well carbon spokes for one thing
09:24 Yeah
09:25 The internal rim width is ever so slightly narrower than their sort of top end wheels and also it's worth mentioning
09:31 They're hooked rims as well. Not hookless
09:34 Yeah
09:34 Well, but I think a lot of people would actually see that as a huge benefit over hookless
09:39 So definitely for some after they've been in the spotlight for so long these last few weeks
09:42 Maybe just some more stress-free riding the other thing there as well the engagement of that free hub. Yes, it's slightly less again
09:49 Will you particularly notice it? Probably not will it perform just fine almost certainly so yeah, absolutely
09:55 And I think actually when considering how much more you'd have to spend to get a lot of those features
09:59 You're gonna be at two three times the cost but the performance isn't gonna be that much greater in the real world
10:06 So if you're running some stock wheels and you want to be a bit quicker
10:09 Enjoy the benefits that some kind of deep section wheels can bring you. I think these are a really good option
10:15 Now for something a little bit more innovative from body rocket
10:21 So they're a company that is creating the world's first and only real-time
10:25 Aerodynamic drag force measurement system. That's quite a mouthful. What is it?
10:31 Essentially, they've got four sensors on all the contact points on the bike
10:35 so one on the stem one on the saddle that is coupled with an out front airspeed sensor and
10:40 By knowing the parameters of the airspeed along with the force in which that is applied to the rider by the resistance of the air
10:48 They can work out a CDA number from that now the bike you're seeing on screen is of course a road bike
10:54 Though this was developed initially for that sort of time trial setting
10:57 The athlete that body rocket is now working with Christian Blumenfeld is an Olympic triathlete
11:03 And of course they use road bikes in their competitions
11:06 So that is why the new system is on his giant propel so he can enjoy many hours of aero
11:11 Training which to me seems like a tricky sentence to say with a straight face
11:16 But yeah, I mean, it sounds like it'd be pretty painful. Well, I mean it have a rock-solid core
11:22 Yes, absolutely. I'm sure we can hold that position
11:24 I mean, what are the benefits of this really over over and above other ways of testing your aero drag?
11:30 So there's two main factors here cost and time first of all aero testing particularly in a wind tunnel setting is stupidly expensive still
11:38 You know
11:39 You can be talking a thousand pounds thousand dollars an hour for once by the time you've hired an engineer
11:43 Hired the facilities and the other thing is time
11:46 We did some aero testing in a video which will be coming up pretty soon in the next few weeks
11:51 We were only in there for two hours
11:52 And if you're really trying to train a position
11:55 It's hard to get a feel for that position in just a two-hour slot when really even if you just move
12:01 You know any tiny movement of your head or shoulders is going to cause a massive difference
12:04 So being able to train with those numbers in front of you is a real big benefit
12:09 Yeah, absolutely
12:10 And I think this is also really interesting when it comes to just the sheer amount of data that you could collect
12:16 It's that constant feedback loop essentially and it's it's essentially if something's telling you, you know
12:21 Keep your elbows and keep your shoulders in all the time and you can see yourself get get faster
12:25 I think that probably just trains your mind to always be so aware of
12:29 Every single position that you should or should not be in for sure
12:32 And I think it gives you the ability crucially to fail fast
12:35 Does yes, you know you can really as Sam said you can just collect loads of data and you can work
12:39 specifically on a position
12:41 So it might be that take Thomas DeGendt
12:43 For example if he has one of these and he can train his breakaway efforts in a position that as we found out
12:49 Depending on optimization can be a lot of what's faster at the speeds of racing
12:53 You know that could be a really worthwhile investment for someone to be actually able to train a specific position for a specific part of a race
13:00 Absolutely. I think there's one more thing just worth touching upon which is when you look at this bike
13:05 It's not something that is going to be adoptable for the masses
13:09 But I think the most exciting thing from our point of view potentially is over the next five ten years
13:14 How does this technology get smaller and start to integrate on road bikes in a more commercial way?
13:21 Where you could say go and buy a kit?
13:24 Fit it to your bike and then get that feedback loop directly from your head unit that I think be really cool
13:30 Now a couple of tech of the month episodes ago you might have seen that we highlighted a
13:38 Amulet that was created by Bastion
13:42 And it seems as though we've got something else of a very similar ilk because Joe I believe you have taken delivery of a watch
13:50 Indeed I have taken delivery of one of the new watches that comes as part of the Bravo team heritage collection
13:58 Now why are we talking about watches on cycling weekly you might ask well the Swedish watch brand has actually taken
14:04 inspiration for the new faces of the watches
14:07 from cycling so there's a total of three new watches as part of the team heritage collection the
14:13 MER the REN which is the one on my wrist currently and the PEU now
14:19 keen-eyed viewers amongst you if you like your sort of 50s to 80s cycling may have noticed that those are actually
14:26 representative of old iconic team kits so probably the most recognizable of all is the
14:32 MER that throws it back to the Mercy team which Raymond Pouliadour used to ride for that's Mathieu van der Poel's
14:38 Grandfather the REN as I say this is the one I've got on my wrist lovely sort of black and yellow face
14:43 Accents quite nice as well that it's sort of two levels to the face as well
14:47 It's pretty cool and the Peugeot one which is probably the most classic of them all a more sort of monochrome color palette all of these
14:53 Have little nods to cycling culture, so we've got like an upside down 13 on the clock face for example
15:00 There's a team heritage logo on the back of the watch face as well
15:04 They will come with a Swiss automatic movement and quite cool as well
15:07 Last little nod here is that they come in a team heritage handlebar bag now
15:13 This is real leather first of all it's the packaging for the watch the watch comes in this
15:17 When you take delivery, but it actually can be used as a handlebar bag as well
15:20 Which I think is quite cool for that vintage aesthetic not particularly waterproof as you can see it's a leather clamshell design
15:27 But for the right day for the right cafe ride
15:30 I think it's pretty cool perfect for you know a baguette on a summer's day perhaps a very small baguette perhaps or
15:36 Maybe a gazette and I was must stress the right day and the right bike as well
15:41 Please let's not go putting this on modern bikes steel frames only
15:44 *music*
15:46 For this month's bike of the month we have the pretty newly released
15:52 Giant TCR now to give you the rundown on the headlines of this bike
15:57 This is the 10th generation of the TCR and that's it's been around for a bit of time now
16:03 I think we can all agree though. It looks pretty similar to the previous one
16:06 I'd say this is more of a facelift
16:08 But there are some quite good differences to be able to spot you might not be able to spot them
16:13 But that's because there's a lot going on underneath the skin
16:15 So I'll run you through some numbers as quickly as I can. Like I say, this is the 10th generation frame set
16:21 It's claimed to be 10% lighter
16:23 5 watts faster and a little bit stiffer than the 9th generation. The claimed frame set weight is
16:29 690 grams without paints which is 75 grams less than the previous
16:35 TCR there's a key stat though that giant would actually rather you hear about which is that this is claimed to be
16:43 12 watts faster than the previous but that is a total system efficiency. So that isn't just the frame
16:50 That's all of the bits that are attached to it as well
16:53 So 12 watts faster important to note though
16:55 As you say you might not be able to see loads of the changes but small things like for example
16:59 The cables or hoses have gone integrated at the front that will make you know
17:03 Probably a fair portion of that 12 watt improvement, but still it looks really smart, doesn't it?
17:07 And I think they've definitely taken and if it ain't broke don't fix it approach to the bike
17:12 the release of this bike definitely raises a couple of questions as to how much longer the TCR is
17:17 Actually going to be around for because I think if we all cast our minds back to when they launched the new Propel
17:23 That bike slimmed down a lot
17:25 It dropped a lot of weight and actually the TCR and the Propel now actually sit a lot more closer together
17:32 so for example
17:33 The TCR is now only a hundred and fifty five grams lighter and five watts slower than the Propel and actually when our colleague
17:41 Stefan was out of the global launch of this bike
17:43 He was speaking to one of the global marketing managers
17:45 and he said the question that we are looking for in the next three to five year plan for both of these products is
17:52 when do the two combine so clearly at some point a
17:57 Propel and a TCR will come together have a baby and there'll be a new bike which in
18:02 Theory will just be the best of both worlds
18:04 But if we focus on the bike that has just been launched obviously the TCR has always been about you know
18:10 Being lightweight and being stiff now to put some kind of comparative numbers on that
18:15 One of the key bikes that you can compare against the TCR would maybe be an S-Works Aethos
18:19 So if we look at a full build a S-Works Aethos with Dura-Ace will weigh six point two three kilos
18:26 And the TCR comes in at six point four so still incredibly light UCI
18:31 Illegal, but there is still just a little bit of a difference there
18:34 Yeah
18:35 I think there's a lot to be said here more than anything for carbon fiber technology
18:39 The material science has just improved so much that now a bike manufacturer can create a bike that is six point four kilos
18:45 Stiffer than the previous bike they can shave all that weight off the frame set and incorporate some aero features as well
18:51 There's definitely sort of a culmination of knowledge coming together here
18:54 That is why we're seeing a lot of very similar bikes in the in the last sort of 12 months
18:58 And I think it's probably a trend that will continue isn't it? Yeah true
19:01 I think the one special thing about giant though is that they do own their own factories in Taiwan
19:06 And they actually changed up how they process carbon fiber
19:09 So they used to laser cut all of the pieces, but now they do this cold blade cutting technology
19:14 Which means that essentially the carbon fiber isn't exposed to kind of excess heat
19:18 But because giant own those factories they have a lot of control over the manufacturing process
19:23 And 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
19:29 Know giants do tend to be quite good value for money in comparison and actually let's touch on price
19:35 The bike that we've got behind us is the most expensive and will cost you either twelve and a half thousand dollars or just shy
19:43 of twelve thousand pounds
19:44 But since it is giant there are some good value options out there and prices start from either three thousand two hundred dollars or
19:52 two thousand six hundred ninety nine pounds and that's for a mechanical 105 12 speed build so
19:58 I think there's a really nice range there for sure there's a range there for everyone isn't there also some new kdx wheels
20:04 Yeah, exactly. So this bike here is fitted with the kdx max 40s now not a cheap wheel set
20:09 I mean if you're gonna buy them after market, they would cost you about three and a half thousand pounds
20:14 So quite a lot of money. They do look very cool though, but
20:18 we also then have to think about how they're constructed because the hub flange is also integral to the spokes as well, so
20:25 They are very light. They're in that 1200 gram region
20:29 So super light super stiff and I imagine that they're gonna feel amazing
20:32 But you really not want to going to snap a spoke. Yeah for sure. It definitely wouldn't be cheap
20:38 But yeah as we spoke to Stefan who has already ridden the bike and he said that the wheels really make the bike
20:45 He said the the frame feels great. Obviously, it's really light
20:48 But 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
20:55 I'd be careful. Yeah, absolutely
20:58 Let us know though. What do you think of this new TCR? Is it something that you would like to ride?
21:03 mind.