Tech

Italian brand Northwave is 20 years old this year so we paid them a visit last week to wish them a happy birthday, check out next year’s range and take a look around their place in Onigo, near Treviso.

Northwave started out in 1993 making mountain bike shoes, but soon expanded into the road market. Since then, their shoes have been worn by the likes of Mario Cipollini, Tom Boonen, and Philippe Gilbert, along with Team Leopard Trek and then Radioshack Nissan Trek.

The future is aero. Look at many of the bikes and products released in the last couple of years and it's easy to see the industry is focusing on aerodynamics. More and more manufacturers now stepping up to offer aero road bikes, arguably the biggest trend in road cycling right now, so we've rounded up 12 of the fastest for you.

Tektro have over 160 CNC machines working 24/7. They produce 20,000 road caliper brakes a month – nearly quarter of a million per year. And that’s nothing compared to the number of hydraulic disc brakes they make: 2.2 million per year. In short, they know a thing or two about brakes, so when the Marketing Director of TRP, Tektro’s high-end division, says that disc brakes are going to take over in every sector of cycling in the next few years, you have to take it seriously.

In the first Six Affordable Pro Race Bikes feature we gathered together six bikes that are cheaper versions of the bikes raced by the professionals, and here are another six. In most cases, the frames are based very closely on those ridden by the likes of Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish, but with a few changes so they're not quite as eye-wateringly expensive. No, these bikes aren't cheap, but they're more affordable than a 100% pro-level race bike. 

Disc brakes are probably the hottest topic of debate in the world of road bike technology right now, SRAM and TRP having recently revealed new designs with other major manufacturers being rumoured to be about to join them. Another big development in the road bike market over the past few years has been an increased concentration on aerodynamics.