Live blog: Police fire off a letter after viewing footage of horrific hit and run on cyclist; Mail presents cyclist fatalities as ‘cyclists killing more people’; Brailsford talks down scale of Ineos protests at Tour de Yorkshire + more

 

 

 

 

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No bike show is complete without some wooden bikes, never seen a fork tho with a wooden steerer - check out those alu dropouts made from recycled Audi wheels. That bike has 15K miles in it

A post shared by road.cc (@road.cc) on May 3, 2019 at 8:08am PDT

This one has even got dropouts made from old Audi wheels...

Audi driver jokes in the comments, please!

Francis Benali still hoping to restart his charity challenge tomorrow.

Full story here.

DT Swiss has released details of its new Ratchet EXP system (top pic, above) which is said to be lighter, stiffer and more precise than its existing Ratchet system (lower pic, above).

DT Swiss's freewheel system has long made use of two ratchets featuring various numbers of teeth (18, 36 and 54-tooth versions). Two springs push the ratchets against one another so that all the teeth engage when you pedal, while the teeth move apart when you're coasting.

The new Ratchet EXP system is based on a similar concept but one of the ratchets is now threaded into the hub shell. A single spring pushes the second ratchet into the first one so that the teeth engage when you pedal. 

DT Swiss says that reducing the number of components not only increases durability, it reduces the overall weight, improves reliability and stiffens up the system.

"A single cylindrical spring ensures a faster full engagement and therefore an increase in reliability," says DT Swiss. 

"The hub stiffness is significantly defined by the distance between the bearings. For optimal performance it is important to maximise this distance, which is limited by the size of the freehub system.

"In the previous system the driveside bearing had to be placed next to the threaded ring and therefore the distance couldn't be increased. The integration of the driveside bearing into the threaded ring increases the bearing distance, resulting in a 15% improvement in hub stiffness."

All DT Swiss Ratchet system hubs can be converted to Ratchet EXP.

Ratchet EXP will at first come only in DT Swiss's 180 hubs although you can expect it to make an appearance elsewhere in the range sooner or later.

They ain't cheap, though. We don't have UK prices yet but whether you go for a disc or a non-disc version, a road front hub with SINC Ceramic bearings is €261.90 while the rear is €486.90. You can have a Shimano 11-speed, SRAM XRD or Campag freehub body.

They’re off! Stage two gets underway from Barnsley, see you in Bedale... #TDY  pic.twitter.com/ZePEQCWvqw

— Tour de Yorkshire  (@letouryorkshire) May 3, 2019

Take a look at this great video showing the insanity of this part race, part sportive event known at the Magnificent 7.

So much support already for the new team!!! People have put so much effort into making banners and masks. I heard one man say “it’s fracking marvellous”. Not sure the swearing was necessary but I share the sentiment!!

— UK Cycling Expert (@ukcyclingexpert) May 2, 2019

Another fine observation from UK Cycling Expert. Chateau! 

We reported on some of the protests against fracking and Team Ineos in yesterday’s live blog, but speaking at the stage finish in Selby, Sir Dave Brailsford was keen to play down the number of activists.

"I had to hunt them down first because I couldn't find them," he told Cyclingnews.

"There was hardly anybody there, let's be honest – let's be real for once. The 15,000-mob that was to attack me this morning didn't really materialise. That's the reality. There were people there with the right to an opinion and I respect that but they've got a right to their opinion and that's it."

Many have questioned the wisdom of launching Team Ineos in Yorkshire, where the sponsor holds licences to carry out fracking, but Brailsford was comfortable with the decision.

"If we'd had any concerns about launching in Yorkshire we wouldn't have done it. We were right not to have any concerns because there are people here and they're enjoying it. Let's report that.”

Referring to the hordes of cycling fans at the finish, he said: "You might have people with flags but what about these people here? Does their opinion matter any less? No it doesn't.”

Somewhat labouring the point, he continued: "If you have a balance, I can see here now way more people than had flags. That's just true. That's facts and evidence. If you count the number of people here and the people with flags this morning… How many were there? Twenty? And how many here? There are more, aren't there?"