(upbeat music)
- Welcome to the GCN TECH show.
Coming up this week that's talk about tires,
upgrades, and all the usual features,
including don't ride upgrades, and the Bike Vault.
- Right,sorry I can't be with you, this week, lads.
But well in case you couldn't noticed I'm
here at Giro D'Italia.
Just check out the crowd waiting for Vincenzo Nibali.
But don't worry, there is some great content,
coming up on the channel this week,
including some Pro Bikes that I've filmed,
not limited to the bikes of Simon Yates
as well as Primož Roglič and a load more tech too,
so stayed tuned.
(upbeat music)
- First up then we have some hot new tire tech.
A couple of weeks ago, Oli and John gave a sneak peak
at some new, Continental gravel tires,
we now have the full details and the tires themselves.
Differing from Continental's previous off-road
cycle cross tires, these are in fact
tubeless and they come in 35ml,
or as these are 40mm wide.
They are the Continental Terra Trial,
and Continental Terra Speed and it's quite
obvious, in fact, when you look at the nobbles
which is going to be a faster tire.
Apparently, they're available in any color you like,
as long as it's black.
They're a premium tire and they feature the same
BlackChili compound as the Continental
Four Seasons road tire.
Oli tells me he is very much looking forward
to getting a set of these on his own gravel bike.
So look out for a post coming from him
on Instagram, I would imagine.
Some new Oakley's have emerged as well.
An update of the popular Radar EV,
the Radar Ev Advancer, featuring an adjustable
nose piece, to life the lens off the face
to prevent fogging.
There's also been an update of the EV 0 blades.
They now weight, an acclaimed, 21 grams which I
think is, frankly, phenomenal.
You'll probably never even know
you're wearing a pair of glasses.
More tech later.
This week's hot topic is all about the death
of the upgrade.
If we take a look at the car industry, years ago,
modern cars used to be big business but nowadays,
manufacturers seem to have a more higher performance,
sportier version of almost all of the cars
in their range.
Bigger body kits, bigger wheels, higher performance engines,
meaning that people don't put these after-market
mods onto the cars and if we look at the bike industry,
the same thing seems to be true as well.
Years ago, if you wanted a high performance race machine,
you'd buy your frame and then you'd spec your wheels,
and you're finishing kit afterwards.
Whereas, these days, that just doesn't seem to happen.
In fact, you could almost say, it's actually pretty
difficult to go out and buy a bike and build
it in that way.
If we take a look at Trek Madone or the Specialized
Venge, for example, the amount of integration
in these bikes means that it's almost impossible
to use your own after-market kit.
You need the correct seatpost for a start,
and the bar and stem and in some bikes,
you even need the correct cranks which makes it
really difficult to create your own
bespoke racing machine.
As in the seemingly endless amount of bottom-bracket
standards that appear to be around these days and
it just becomes far simpler to buy your own complete bike,
in the first place.
Most brands now even spec their own wheels
that have been aerodynamically optimized for certain bikes.
If we take a look at the Cannondale SystemSix,
with the KNOT wheelset that Si used earlier in the year,
they're saying that, that bike is faster with those wheels
than any other wheels, meaning that if you did want
to upgrade them in the future, you're only going
to be making your bike slower and no-one does
an upgrade to make something slower.
Why is that the case?
Well, two main reasons.
Firstly, new tech innovation and heavy integration means
that there are no longer that many widely agreed
industry standards and then secondly, it's a way
for companies to be more competitive
and to make more profit.
I mean you can't view that cynically,
a company needs to make money and by putting more
of their components and selling more of their bikes,
they'll effectively be selling more product.
I think it's good for the consumer though,
in that you could end up with an overall package
that is not only lighter or more aero or perhaps
just works better but it's potentially also
more cost-effective than it would have been.
All of this said though, I actually don't think that
modifying and customizing is quite on the way out.
So, upgrading is still a thing.
I think that is really evident from the Bike Vault feature,
every single week and from the upgrades that you submit.
Let me know what your thoughts are on everything
that I've just said though, in the comments down below.
Last week, John and I discussed just how iconic
the Gabba Jacket has become and Castelli must've
been listening because they've now launched this
limited edition pink Gabba jacket.
All of the usual features available in pink.
Continental are not the only hot tire tech that
we have for your this week, no.
Deceuninck - Quick-Step have been using some
new, Specialized Project Black tubeless tires
and quite successfully too, over at the Tour of California.
Specialized has a long history of developing pre-production
models with their professional athletes as part of their
Project Black scheme that they use.
Fabio Jakobsen, their star sprinter, seemed absolutely
over the moon, especially with
the tubeless technology that they feature.
- Yes, you know, I am really in love with them
because it takes the bumps better and the corners
and I feel more confident, for sure.
Especially, when you're going quite sideways
and on high speed and yes, when breaking, I feel
I have more connection to the road.
From now on, if the team allows me,
I race with them all the time, I think.
(drilling sound)
- It's now time for one of my favorite parts of the show,
Screw Riding Upgrades, Buy Upgrades.
Last week's victory was a whopping 86% of the vote
and that went to Ben's KG361, his LOOK.
Don't forget though, if you want to get your hands
on one of these, you need to first submit
you bike via the uploader tool
in the description down below.
This week's contestants are,
we have Jussi from eastern Finland.
After killing a few old bikes through the winter,
Jussi was forced to buy a new bike.
Jussi did go with a cheap hybrid-style bike
with enough tire clearance, Biltema it was.
Around the second winter with his bike,
as it was just beginning, Jussi started to consider
having some bar ends to allow
a longer, lower riding position.
Speed is important in the snow and ice,
don't you know?
Fortunately, Jussi came to his senses
and went for deep drop bars instead.
Because the bike is built with V brakes,
it meant that Jussi had to seek suitable
brake levers but to keep the gear lever as it
is to keep the build simple.
He kept the wheels, the frame and the fork and
rear derailleur and the seatposts, gear cabling and
most of the gear level, that's pretty clever
but he did upgrade the bottom bracket, the chainset
for something more suitable, gearing, better V brakes,
cables, new brake levers from TEKTRO
and Quill A-Head stem adaptor.
Genius.
He rebuilt the gear lever mounting
with a hat chain catcher.
Ah look at the picture.
There's the before and that's quite the
transformation into a snow machine.
From hybrid into what looks like just a perfectly,
versatile road bike.
I like it.
Especially, with the V brakes.
I imagine those brakes are actually pretty powerful
for a cross-style bike.
Right then, next up we have Sean and
I've actually gone for a weird submission this week.
Instead of choosing another bike,
Sean has submitted his workshop.
You can still choose which is the better
upgrade, of course.
Over the last couple of years, Sean has built
up a collection of tools to fix and service his bikes.
After getting fed up of having to rummage around
through several boxes and drawers to find a load of tools,
plus not having enough work space, Sean decided
to build his own home, bike workshop.
After clearing out an unloved corner of Sean's garage,
he resprayed the garage door and built a bespoke
workbench from plywood, with bench repair stand
along with a new strip light fitting.
He wasn't finished there though, Sean then
racked out the back panels with Bott Perfo tool panels
to display all of his tools.
Sean built a tower holder and used an old pair of
handle bars to store his foot pump.
That's a clever idea.
Sean loves the show and would love to see a
GCN workshop tour.
We'd love to see a GCN workshop tour as well.
In fact, I'd love to see John Cannings' workshop
and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.
But look at these pictures though.
So there you go, from an unloved corner of the garage
to a bespoke workbench and tool stand.
I think that looks absolutely amazing.
But it's not up to me, I don't get to vote and
I don't get to decide the winner.
If you do want to vote, make sure you click
on the poll on the top right-hand corner
of your screen and to be in with a chance of winning
a CamelBak Eddy bottle yourself, submit your
upload via the uploader tool
in the description below.
Bike of the Week announcement now
and last week it was the Androni Giocattoli Bottecchia
versus the De Rosa from Israel Cycling Academy,
and with 61% of the vote,
it was Conor Dunne's De Rose.
No new Bike of the Week, this week.
We're saving that for special occasions, going forward.
It's that time of the week, we've all been waiting for.
It's the Bike Vault.
Don't forget if you do want to see your bike
featured in the Bike Vault, you need to upload it
via the uploader tool which is
down in the description below.
There's only one thing missing though
and that's the bell.
Whey, there it is!
Right then, first up, this week, we have
Joe's Poseidon X, from Cornwall, Ontario in Canada.
And that is one of the most functional looking
bikes I have seen for a while.
Finished, he says sports utility bike, which I
think is a pretty cool way of naming a bike.
It's a Poseidon X frame built up
with an Alex Boondocks 650 wheelset,
Panaracer Gravel King 47ml tires and Avid BB7 brakes,
Shimano Tiagra 105 cranks, Ritchey's seed stem as a cell,
so they're more than 30ml stem and I just,
I think that looks amazing.
I'm the only one making the decision.
So, for me, it's going to be a super nice.
(bell ringing)
I've also learnt that actually not ringing the bell
that hard works better.
Next up, we have a Lynskey, titanium bike.
This comes in from Timothy in Lee's Summit, Missouri.
Getting us a nice rail to trail miles during the dirty
Kanza Training Ride.
Hoping to find my ride a super nice.
I do actually, to be really honest,
it's really simple.
It's a super nice from me.
I just love everything about it.
I'm not a fan of these gravel bars
but then I've never ridden on a gravel bike.
So, I wouldn't know what I'm talking about really.
But I do think that bike looks like a good day out.
I think it looks fun, I reckon it will handle
pretty well, it looks neat, it looks clean,
it looks tidy, it looks like they've put
a lot of thought into there and it's
going to be a long ride because you've got lights
front and back.
For me, that is a super nice.
(bell ringing)
Next up then is Brain with a Cervelo P3 Aero
with drop bar conversion and these bikes, I love these.
Just the angles of these bikes looks so good.
Location: the Mighty Muddy Fraser River,
just outside Williams Lake, BC.
I was looking for a sturdy bike to put
a lot of training miles on, when I found
this classic go-fast aero bike
further down the province.
Seems the age and 650C wheels have made
it a hard sell.
I didn't even notice the wheels, they look
like they're the right size.
In fact, I never knew that Spinergy
made their wheels in a 650 size.
He went to see if for himself, the owner's old
race bike and bought it for triathlons.
This looks absolutely amazing.
He's been going to tri's in Brazil and New Zealand
and even Connagh in 2003 before sticking it
in the storage, the previous owner.
Wow.
I think that is cool that, that bike lives on.
I love Spinergy four spoke wheels.
So, for me, it's pretty easy.
It's going to be another super nice.
John, Oli or anyone else are not here
to argue with me so.
(bell ringing)
There we go.
David is up next with his 1998 Klein Quantum Pro,
and if you remember a few weeks ago,
we had a Klein on the show and
I fell in love with that straightaway
and it's the same story here.
Klein's, they've got the most amazing paintwork
in pictures, I'm a big fan of them.
This picture was taken before a mixed terrain
race, Tour of the Battenkill,
in Northern New York, USA.
He started cycling for weight loss in 2012
and was looking to get into road cycling.
He'd a very good friend that raced road bikes.
He had a Canyon and this Klein.
He decided that he couldn't race two bikes,
so he graciously launched him into race cycling
with a beast that is the Klein.
He'll admit, for the first three years,
he didn't know what he had or
how to properly put together a bike.
That's now changed and this is his baby.
It's got aluminium frame, Aerus Carbon Fork sunburst orange,
Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon wheels, Quarq power meter,
SRAM force, Ritchey carbon seatpost,
Fizik Antares R3 saddle.
It's absolutely, it's brilliant.
I'm a big fan, I'm sure you've heard me say
it before on the show, of a flat top tube.
Just like the Cevelo, from a second ago, and this one.
They look like a bike should look in my mind.
David, it's so easy.
I've got no competition.
I'm, in fact, convinced that John or Oli
would agree with this.
That looks absolutely stunning.
(bell ringing)
Oh blimey, he's also lost 80 pounds in weight
and he's still going.
Cycling has changed his life in so many ways
and our channel's helped out.
Aww, that's fantastic news, David.
I'm really pleased to hear that.
Next up is Jenna with a Cervelo T4.
Wow.
Donut is Cervelo T4.
Donut?
What? Do you call your bike The Donut?
This is Christchurch New Zealand.
A track bike, fully kitted out for road racing.
I don't think there's anything better than
a track bike with a disc, a five spoke wheel
in the front and just all the colors are right.
That looks, I bet that's insanely fast to ride.
We all know John is a big fan of track racing
and we all know that we want to do a little
bit more track racing on the channel.
If we're going to do it, that's the sort of bike
you want to have, isn't it?
Jenna, it's really, really easy.
That is another super nice.
I've just noticed your traditional Juro's cranks there.
They were some of the coolest cranks.
One of the smoothest bottom brackets at the time as well.
(bell ringing)
Oh, that's it!
That is Bike Vault for this week.
Don't forget if you do want to have your bike
featured in the Bike Vault, use the uploader tool
which is in the description down below.
It's very nearly the end of the show
but before you go, I'd like to tell about
what's coming up on the channel this week.
Oli and John have been over at the Giro
creating some amazing content.
Notably, Oli's quest on a
1920s vintage- inspired replica bike.
Oli wore period-correct clothing as well
and it rained, so that means a wet, woolen jersey.
That's going to be an amazing video, coming out soon.
John is over at the Giro, at the moment,
sending back amazing content, every single day.
So, keep your eyes peeled on the channel for that.
Don't forget if you did enjoy the video,
give us a big thumbs up and if you do like
our Italian inspired t-shirt,
check out shop.globalcyclingnetwork.com.