- It has become tradition almost
to do a tech video with Caley Fretz of VeloNews
here at Dubai Tour each year, and this year is no different.
This morning, we went around the various tents
and teams here at Dubai Tour to see what's new for 2017.
I've hopped over to the Movistar tent, they of course
are on their Canyon bikes, which have had Campagnolo
on them for quite some time.
But last year, they had Shimano brakes.
Why was that?
- Yeah, so they're runnin' the direct mount brakes,
which is sort of the two-mount poles as opposed
to the one of a normal brake, and for a long time,
Campagnolo didn't make one.
So they've been sort of available for a little over a year.
I'm sorry, a little under a year, and I think this is
the first time that we're seeing them
actually used in a race, the Campagnolo direct mount brakes.
- They've got quite some clearance on them.
- Yeah, a huge amount of clearance.
That's one of the major benefits of a direct mount brake,
that you can probably fit a 28, maybe even a 30 in there.
I know with the Campagnolo, sorry, the Shimano version,
you can fit at least a 30 on those frames.
- And you also got a little bit of news from Canyon.
- Yes, exciting news for the American audience out there.
Canyon Bicycles is officially coming
to America in Q3 of 2017.
That means basically, when the 2018 bikes are available,
you'll be able to buy them in the US.
That'll be August, September sometime.
- Over at BMC, nothing particularly new about the frame sets
apart from a new colour scheme for 2017.
But one thing that's notable when you walk down the pit here
is that there's also nothing new here with the group sets.
- No, actually, there's only two teams here
with the new Shimano Dura Ace that was just launched
in Calpe, Spain about a week ago, actually.
Most of the teams are running old Dura Ace,
I think they simply haven't gotten it from Shimano yet.
- Yeah, because Shimano, fully big sponsor of team BMC,
with all the wheels, et cetera.
You'd expect them to have it by now,
but presumably they're going to get it
at some point in the spring.
- Yeah, and I think that they're definitely using Dura Ace
that they had from last season.
If you look at some of these derailleurs,
they're a little scuffed up.
They've definitely maybe seen the ground a couple of times.
I would expect the BMCs on the brand new Dura Ace,
yeah, mid-classic season, September.
- Merida have, of course, gone from Lampre,
which is no longer and are now
with the Bahrain Merida Squad.
Again, nothing new really about the frame sets,
but the cranks are new.
Caley?
- Yeah, so it's actually a SRM Powermeter using
a new SRM crank arm, which looks like a collaboration
with THM, which is a German manufacturer which makes
super lightweight, very expensive stuff.
They're supposed to be really really light,
and because it's SRM, they're going to be,
obviously, a good powermeter as well.
- You got exact figure on the weight?
- 99 grammes per crank arm, which is a little bit insane.
- So we are now at Team Dimension Data's tent,
and we found this on the roof, which the mechanics
have kindly taken off for us, and it looks like
a brand new Cervelo, Caley.
- Yeah, and I did a little poking around
on the UCI's website, and there are approved frames lists,
so all frames that are raced in the World Tour
have to be approved by the UCI.
There is a new Cervelo on that list called
the R5 Rim Brake, which I think is this bike.
- So Rim Brake, implying that there might
be another option at some point as well.
- I think that's probably a safe bet,
that there is going to be a disc option at some point.
So we do know a little bit about this bike.
A, from just looking at it, and B 'cause we've been doing
a little bit of snooping on our own.
The R5 is a climbing bike, obviously.
This version clearly has some aerodynamic tubes,
so that downtube is a little bit fatter,
it uses sort of a Kamm tail kind of shape.
The cables enter behind the stem here,
just like the S5s, just like Cervelo's Aerobikes.
We do know that this is just a temporary wrap,
and we're gonna see the final 2017 colour way around the Giro.
- So, not only have Team Sky got their hands around
the brand new Dura Ace group set, they also seem
to have some rather stealth-looking Dura Ace wheels, too.
- Yeah, these were launched along with the new Dura Ace.
So basically, Shimano's gotten rid
of the C35, the C50, and the C75.
Those are rim depths, 35, 50, and 75.
Replaced it with the C40 and C60,
these wheels, a tonne of investment
in aerodynamic development, so they should
be much faster than the previous versions.
They're fatter, they have sort of a hybrid toroidal shape,
which is this U shape that's become very popular,
same as being used by Zipp or Hed or Enve,
most of the big wheel brands.
So these wheels should be way faster
than the previous Shimano wheels.
- Certainly look better in my opinion anyway.
- They do.
- I like them.
I actually did a probe bike on Sashon Modelo's Colnago,
which will be out on the channel shortly.
But, not too much that's new on there.
But I could only spot three things
on this bike that aren't Italian.
Can you see what they are?
- Garmin mount, powermeter, and pedals.
- Yeah, yeah that's it.
Took me a long time to research that.
And on to the Bardiani team using these Cipollini bikes.
We've already seen the brand new SRM cranks,
but this is a new powermeter to us,
but particularly new to the market.
- No, I feel like we've sort of spotted
an endangered species here.
The B Pro power metre, which is a pedal-based power metre
has been around for, well, at least a year and a half,
two years, but this is the first time
I've ever seen one out in the wild.
They sell one where it'll measure power
on one side, that's a cheaper version,
it's about $500 US dollars, I think.
And then they sell this version which measures power
on both sides, just like an SRM or anything like that.
That one's a little more expensive,
about twice the price, a thousand bucks.
- Caley, you are now stood with
two fairly normal looking tyres.
Why are these of interest to us?
- Well, because Aqua Blue is running clinchers,
actually tubeless clinchers,
which is somewhat unusual in pro racing.
Almost all pro teams run tubulars when they're racing.
The guys run clinchers when they're training,
but when they're in a race, it's always tubular tyres.
What's interesting about these is that they're running
the tubeless Schwalbes, which, they said they're gonna use
them for the classic season this year, which is smart,
because it's much harder to pinch a tubeless tyre.
They can run a little bit of sealant in there
that can basically fill small holes if they hit
a staple or piece of glass, something like that.
It is, like I said, unusual to run tubeless
in a race scenario, but they match up well
with the Knight Composite wheels that the team is running,
and they seem to be workin' quite well.
- Well, all that remains to say is thank you very much
to Caley Fretz for giving us his time again this year.
If you have yet to subscribe to the Global Cycling Network,
please do so by clicking on the globe.
And if you haven't yet seen Si Richardson take a look
at the new Shimano group set from Calpe recently.
You can find that video just down here.
- And if you'd like to see my special tech playlist,
you can click right down here.