Taipei Bike Show: Six of the Best inc shark fin skewers and carbon bars for Keiths everywhere

There are 1,092 exhibitors at the Taipei Cycle Show and a gazillion different products. Here are six of the best, selected by me on a largely arbitrary basis…

Token Shark Tail Skewers
Token’s Shark Tail QR skewers won a Taipei Cycle Design and Innovation Award, and they win a Road.cc award for Best Shark-related Product. The axle is made from 6061 aluminium and you choose between a stainless steel and a titanium axle. The steel version weighs 68g a set while the ti ones are 45g.

But the reason you’d buy these is obviously because they look a bit sharky (of course it’s a proper word; what’s the matter with ya?). They’re fintastic. Fin-tastic. Shark. 

Pro-Lite Monza wheels
You see how shiny Prolite’s wheels look in the picture? In real life they’re even shinier. Prolite call it a mirror finish, and they’re not kidding. They look like steel but they’re flash-welded alloy with a gleaming finish.

The Monzas come with a 27mm rim profile, high-performance EZO bearings and double-butted round steel spokes.

The sales pitch says, “Winning might be everything, but winning with style is even better.” 

3T London Edition products
The revitalized 3T are producing London Edition versions of their Ergonova handlebar, Arx stem, and Doric seatpost. They’re doing a mountain bike handlebar too.

It has come out of a link up with the US Project London track cycling team, but they’d look even better on your bike.

Brompton Toolkit
Now this is clever and, what’s more, it’s British, by Jove. West London’s Brompton have designed a new toolkit that tucks away inside the folding frame, and it's another prodct than won a design award over here in Taipei.

It’s tiny yet you get a whole lot of tools here including a little ratchet wrench that drives four tool bits. It’s brilliant! There’s a ring spanner too, a spoke key, tyre levers that are magnetic so they stick together and don’t rattle as you ride, puncture repair patches… It’ll take care of all the most common Brompton needs and it fits inside a little sleeve that you can slot until it’s needed. The toolkit will be available as an optional extra when you buy a Brompton and also as an aftermarket accessory.

The housing is Brompton-specific and they have no plans to make any other versions. But they’d be nuts not to adapt the toolkit to fit inside common seatpost sizes, wouldn’t they? That’s what I suggested to them, anyway. If they end up doing it, I’m after a cut. It was my idea. You’re a witness.

Forza F-Splitfork

You know the Noah, Ridley’s top-end road bike as ridden by the Lotto team? You know, the one Ridley have been promising to send us for review for ages now, but which has never shown up? Well, this fork is off the front end of it, now available separately for all your going-fast needs. It's branded up as Forza, alias 4ZA, because that's the name that Ridley give to their component brand as opposed to their complete bikes.

The F-splitfork’s carbon blades are each split in two, the idea being to draw turbulent air away from the spokes. Ridley claim the design reduces drag by 8.2% over a standard fork. The F-splitfork incorporates a cantilever brake – the F-brake – at the rear of the blades with just the shoes presenting any frontal area to the wind.

The steerer is full carbon and fits a bike that that takes a 1 1/8in bearing upstairs, 1 1/2in downstairs.

Keith Cycling Pro Union handlebars
Okay, it’s quite a specific one this, but if your name is Keith and you’re after an integrated bar and stem combo made from carbon with a matt finish and grey graphics… well, today’s your lucky day. If your name is Keith Shadow or, less likely, Shadow Keith, even better.

If my name was Keith, I’d definitely have a set. There’s absolutely no question about that.