Ollie: 2020. Come on. It's been pretty pants, but it has been an awesome year for Bike
Tech. We've had loads of new bikes launched, new clothing, new shoes, new helmets, new equipment.
Alex: About new everything, but with 2021 just around the corner,
we thought we'd take a look to see what high tech is coming out and just around the horizon.
Ollie: That's loads of good stuff. Alex: Let's go.
[music] Ollie:
Dura-Ace. Owing to Shimano's usual product cycles, we would have expected it to have come out this
year, but we can forgive them for releasing it a bit later considering everything that's
gone on in the last 12 months. The bike industry is certainly waiting for this bated breath. While
details remain sparse, we are going to take a guess this is going to be called Dura-Ace 9200.
Alex: Very impressive. But what do we know? Well, I suppose we don't know a vast amount
about it really, but with Campagnolo and SRAM already using 12-speed systems, then
we just assume that Shimano will follow suit with this. They've been using 12-speed system on
their top-of-the-tier mountain bike groupsets for a number of years now. Fingers crossed,
we are going to see the same with the road too. Ollie: Yes. I'd expect we will. One of the big
questions we don't know is whether it's going to be wired or wireless. There's been various rumors
and various supposed, well, alleged spy shots of the system but everything remains inconclusive at
this point. It's very difficult to read into a spy shot especially when you consider that when SRAM
RED eTAP was first being spied, it actually had fake wires on it to confuse us and tricked us into
thinking that it was wired and then they were just there to throw us off the scent. I guess we'll
have to wait and see what it [crosstalk] Alex: Fingers crossed there.
Ollie: Yes, but I wouldn't bet against it having some wireless functionality of some degree.
[music] Ollie: Sticking with Shimano, our next tech
prediction is something that we would like to see but is purely speculation. That would be Di2 105.
Alex: Yes and that would be pretty impressive, wouldn't it? The reliability and crisp shifting
and low maintenance of Di2 on well, the groupset of the people, 105 would be
amazing and it would transform commuter bikes and winter bikes forever. We've got so much less
to worry about. No worrying about stretch cables, misaligned gears. It would just be
fantastic to see that as a 105 range groupset. Ollie: Yes and the Di2 has been around for over 10
years now and with Shimano's model of trickle-down tech, it can't be that long until we see a more
affordable, electronic groupset available. You do feel that 105 is so good at the moment, it's
so close to Ultegra. I think the more likely thing we will see is a change to Ultegra which elevates
that again in its rightful position of above 105. Alex: Especially when the tour race is about to
take a new version. [music]
Alex: Once I took a look at the Ridley Kanzo Fast grand bike back in the summer, one item we were
particularly impressed by was the classified wireless internal hub geared system. This
does away with the traditional 2x setup and front derailleur and uses an internal
mechanism to adjust the ratio accordingly. Ollie: Yes. It can actually give you a bigger
spread of gears than the standard front derailleur setup. There's a number of other advantages too.
Say, by removing the whole front double chainring and front derailleur, you can
make the bike lighter, more aerodynamic. Also, this revolutionary system has the ability to
shift under a much higher load than a front derailleur system. There could be big advantages
in this kind of tech and we can't wait to see what the future holds for it in the coming year.
[music] Alex:
Next up is Hyper Aero. With more and more bikes being released that are aerodynamic,
we are likely to see more aggressive and aerodynamic shapes being released soon with
bikes that are getting even faster. Ollie: Yes, we could start seeing
some quite drastic, aesthetic changes to the way the bikes look. There's quite a
few rumors and whispers going around that the UCI are going to change their pesky rules pertaining
to frame design and these rules limit frame design. It's something that we've spoken about
in the GCN Tech Show. If these rules change, then we could see pretty drastic changes in things
like the minimum tube thickness, currently standing at 1 cm. That can be removed onto
frames and forks meaning that you can have, well, blades. That would be seriously cool, wouldn't it?
Alex: They're are also likely to relax their rules around geometry and compensation triangles,
which are the areas where tubes join and it affects the shape of how they're profiled.
It could make for drastically looking bikes that are considerably faster than what's available now.
Ollie: While we'd expect that we will see some wacky UCI illegal triathlon-type bikes, I'm sure
that we will still see bikes that are very UCI legal-looking and traditional-looking but just
with mental thin tubes that just look incredible. Alex: About finding that balance,
Aero versus Tradition. Ollie: I think there's
going to be some cool designs. In contrast to this though, I think we will see a move away
from total aero integration. I think bikes that we've seen this year such as the Specialized
Aethos and also the Canyon Ultimate CFR are bikes that are incredibly lightweight
which there's clearly a demand for, lower than the UCI limit, and also
very functional in that they have external cables and in the case of the Specialized, we've got
an external threaded bottom bracket as well. Alex: External cables too? They haven't really
got that. Don't worry, I don't think we're going to see aero and integration vanish completely
because well, they're going to be around for races but these bikes are designed for people
that want usability and everyday serviceability. Ollie: I think that's a key point,
the fact that bike manufacturers are cottoned on to the idea that they don't need to build bikes
just for the pros, they can build high-end bikes that are aimed primarily at, well, the likes of us
and they can be better-- what we can ride can, in theory, be better than what the pros ride.
Alex: Yes. Ollie: This goes back to
the UCI rules thing on the Hyper-aero bikes as well. Why do we need a bike that is constrained
by the UCI rules in the first place? Alex: We don't, there you go.
Ollie: Basically, bikes that aren't constrained by the UCI rules and led by the pros.
[music] Alex:
If you didn't catch the Giro d'Italia this season, you might have missed
EF Pro Cyclist kit supplier, Rapha that did a collaboration with skateboard brand,
Palace. They made this absolutely mental kit which was pretty impressive if you ask me and something
that the cycling world has never seen before. Ollie: The kit went on sale and sold out within
minutes and then it was available on resale sites and auction sites. It's an outrageous markup and
people were bidding on it and paying for it, these outrageous prices but as the saying goes, "Money
talks". I guess this is a wake-up call for a lot of fashion brands and we're now going to see more
of them try to emulate the success of that. We've already seen Adidas, just a couple of weeks ago,
launch their catchily named, Road Cycling Shoe. Alex: That is actually its name.
Ollie: Yes. Alex: Would you believe that?
Ollie: Also Rapha have done it again with the Robyn Lynch collab which I know is top of-
Alex: -top of my list. Ollie: In the meantime, let us know
in the comments what tech you think is going to be big in 2021. If you've enjoyed this video, give us
a thumbs up and we'll see you in the next one. Alex: See you later.
Ollie: Bye-bye. [00:07:55] [END OF AUDIO]