“AI gone wrong?”: Specialized mocked for website image showing cassette… on the front wheel?!; London is “the wild west” for cycling (apparently); Pro cycling ticket debate rumbles on; Girmay joins NSN; Hypnotic wheels; Bike art + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Cycling can learn a lot": Wout van Aert backs calls to charge fans at biggest races, arguing a €5 ticket "doesn't mean it's no longer for the people"
Wout van Aert has backed the idea to introduce ticketed sections at cycling’s biggest races in a bid to increase the money available to teams and riders, arguing charging €5 does not go against the spirit of the sport.
In fact, calling on his cyclocross experience, the Belgian told De Tijd: “If you charge €5 entry fee, that doesn’t mean it’s no longer for the people. The cyclocross asks for entry money, and nothing is more ‘of the people’ than that.”
The ticket discussion has been a feature of this off-season, former Giro stage winner Jérôme Pineau proposing the idea for the final kilometres of Alpe d’Huez at next summer’s Tour de France… IF the money was guaranteed to go to the teams, not race organiser ASO.
Most proponents have suggested limiting ticketed areas to very short sections of the most popular climbs at the biggest races on the calendar (think the final section of Ventoux, Alpe d’Huez etc.), however the idea has still attracted the predictable disgust from some cycling fans who suggest it goes against the spirit of the sport.
Charging a small fee would, those in favour have argued, provide teams and riders a new income source at a time when many are struggling to keep the lights on from year to year. There have also been claims that it may even improve the roadside-viewing experience, making things safer for the riders too.
For what it’s worth ASO, the organiser of the Tour, has definitively shut down any talk of tickets for Alpe d’Huez next summer.
We thought that might be the end of it, but Van Aert believes there could be some merit in charging roadside spectators a few euros for access to a prime spot. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider’s main point was that the ticket system is already in place for most cyclocross events, although critics might propose a difference between often-private events and racing on public roads.
The Belgian pointed to cycling’s financial “fragility”, few teams enjoying stability from year to year and extremely reliant on sponsors. “[It] would be much less of an issue if, alongside sponsorship income, there were also revenues coming from the sport itself,” Van Aert stated, putting TV rights forward as another proposal.
“When I see how the NBA controls its playing field, while still letting teams enjoy what comes in from TV money. Cycling can learn a lot from that.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but a major race like the Ronde [van Vlaanderen] or the Tour stands or falls with us, the riders and teams who come to take part. But as a team we don’t even receive compensation that covers the cost of that participation. That should really be a minimum. The pie could be divided more fairly.”
Van Aert’s comments came at the end of a week when Mark Cavendish too had spoken about pro cycling’s financial model, and hinted that he’d like to create his own team in the future “that is more along the lines of other sports”, like Formula 1.
The former world champion also criticised cycling’s current business model, which he argues is failing to “properly” utilise a number of potential revenue streams, while implying that many current pros aren’t doing enough to make money in their own right.
Hypnotise your next TT timekeeper into giving you a faster time
"The first high-performance wooden gravel bike" + study finds city's cycle lanes "maintained or enhanced" ambulance accessibility, "I'm proud that Dave Brailsford doesn’t like me", an anti-Black Friday stance + more in the weekend round-up
Here’s what you might have missed this weekend if you were rightly off the internet and just enjoying some riding, starting with a rather eye-catching gravel bike…
> “The first high-performance wooden gravel bike”: check out the Ornus Grain
On the podcast, Ryan’s latest conversation was with British cycling legend Emma Pooley who talked the Tour de France’s weight debate, growing women’s sport, and battling cycling’s old-school “f***wits”.
Ryan also had time to bring us news of a new study from Limerick in Ireland, where the council has found that the majority of its protected cycle lane schemes do not impede ambulance drivers and have, in some cases, enhanced accessibility for emergency services in the city.
Elsewhere on the news front, retired Dutch pros Tom Dumoulin and Stef Clement made headlines this weekend with their comments about safety in racing, notably Clement arguing that prospective pros should complete a proficiency test before entering the peloton.
“You demonstrate that you’ve got the skills to perform incredibly well on an ergometer, and then you’re let loose. That’s like being allowed to drive a tractor in Formula 1 with a driving licence, and then we just see how it goes,” Clement suggested. Those bloody pro cyclists… no licence… no number plate… no road tax!
And finally, in some anti-Black Friday marketing, Bristol-based clothing brand Kostüme has released its most expensive kit ever.
What's going on here?
road.cc regular George was flicking through the kids’ pack a newly opened Co-op supermarket was handing out near them this weekend… erm…
"Biniam represents everything we love about cycling": NSN Cycling confirm Biniam Girmay signing
In possibly the worst-kept secret in cycling, NSN Cycling Team (formerly Israel-Premier Tech) have confirmed the signing of Biniam Girmay. The 25-year-old represents a star signing for the newly branded outfit, Girmay surely heading to the classics and Tour next season in search of major victories to kickstart the new post-Israel era.
“We are incredibly excited to welcome Biniam to NSN Cycling Team. Not only will 2026 mark a new chapter for the team, but it also represents one for Biniam and I couldn’t think of a better time to embark on a new chapter together,” the team’s general manager Kjell Carlström said.
“Biniam represents everything we love about cycling. His talent is obvious, but his humility and drive are what make him an extraordinary cyclist. From the first conversation, it was clear he shares our vision both on and off the bike and I have no doubt he will be a fantastic fit and will be a leader of our team, inspiring our riders and the entire cycling community.”
Girmay’s 2025 was much quieter than his history-making 2024, when three stage wins and the green jersey made headlines around the world. In fact, the 25-year-old hasn’t actually won a race since stage 12 of last year’s Tour, a second-place finish on the opening stage of this year’s Tour as close as he came in his final season with Intermarché – Wanty.
“My main objective for the future, because I’m still only 25, is simple – to win bike races,” Girmay said. “I really love to win at the classics, and, for the moment, I only won Gent-Wevelgem so I still want to achieve more together with the team. I believe one day we can win one of the biggest races in cycling together.
“I’m really happy to be here, especially with a new atmosphere and a new beginning, for me and for the team. As a rider, I always like to have a good environment, especially inside the team and I already heard a lot of positive things from my new teammates. When I look back at the last two years of the team, the team has improved so much. There is a really good team spirit.”
Bike art goes viral on Instagram
Just the 920,000 likes on this…
"You should've been here 10 or 20 years ago...": London cyclists amused by ranting rider who moved from Germany but finds it "quite insane how terrible" cycling in the city is
The London Cycling thread on Reddit is having a good laugh after hearing a fellow rider’s perspective on cycling in the city having just moved from Berlin. While the German capital apparently felt “quite safe and relaxed”, the unimpressed new Londoner said things over here are “the wild west”.
“I just need to say how shit London is to bike in compared to all other cities I’ve lived in in the past,” they wrote. “Berlin didn’t have great bike lanes before Corona, but the city made big changes and now you can get pretty much everywhere in the city on clearly marked bike paths. It feels quite safe and relaxed.
“London on the other hand is like the wild west of cycling. Bike lanes are hard to come by, often end abruptly and you have buses and cards behind you, often upset, because they can’t get around you. The roads are all full of potholes and it’s just not a very enjoyable experience. For being such a modern city, it’s quite insane how terrible it is to be a cyclist here, especially considering how expensive and time-consuming public transport is.”
We particularly enjoyed the comment from an American rider who also moved to London… but thinks it’s the best place they’ve ever cycled. All about perspective, I guess. The criticism from the former Berlin-based rider does seem a tad over the top, although they at least admit in the title of the post that it’s all “just a bit of a rant”.
As the top comment in reply said: “You should have been here 10 or 20 years ago! There is still a lot of room for improvement, but it is getting better.”
Others suggested it could depend on what part of London you do most of your riding in. Oh, and if you find London unbearable by bike… try *insert town, city, county* elsewhere in the UK that gets pennies in comparison for its cycling projects…
“As someone who lives up North and rides a bike everywhere, London feels amazing to ride compared to here,” someone else added. “The cycle paths are good and there is often a decent contingent of riders holding space. Most people I know up here just don’t feel safe to ride a bike, but I’ve got plenty of friends who live in London and ride. Still some occasional hairy moments in London but that’s often due to driver behaviour/ability rather than lack of infrastructure.”
Anyway, regardless of random internet discussion, the numbers show cycling is booming in London. Last week, Transport for London reported daily bicycle journeys are up 43 per cent on pre-Covid levels, something the transport body puts down to the impact of high-quality cycle lanes. We won’t ask our Berlin friend for their response to that…
British Cycling loses 11,000 members, but governing body insists 2024/5 still a "positive year" with first financial surplus in five years
But how are you going to get your Christmas tree home? You can't carry that by bike, can you?
It’s that time of the year…
Ho ho hauling the Xmas tree
byu/babar_the_elephant_ inCargoBike
Or the anti-close pass configuration… (no cargo bike required)…
It’s the moooost wonderful tiiime of the yeaheaaarrr
byu/FreekDeDeek incarryshitolympics
The ultimate money-no-object Christmas present: Tadej Pogačar's Colnago Y1RS from Tour de France Ventoux stage + a track bike built to Eddy Merckx's dimensions go up for auction
Tadej Pogačar’s Y1Rs, as raced on the Ventoux stage of this year’s Tour de France, is part of an auction of Colnago bikes by Sotheby’s this week. Bidding is currently at $30,000 and the lot closes on Friday afternoon at 3:34pm, the auctioneers calling it a “unique and historically significant racing machine”.
Bidding started at $15,000 and the auction has already flown past the estimated $20,000 price, quite a low estimate considering the price of the bike off the shelf, let alone with its Tour-winning association.
Elsewhere on Sotheby’s site this week, there is also going to be an auction for a Colnago C35, built in 1989 in collaboration with Enzo Ferrari. A restored Colnago track bike built to Eddy Merckx’s 1972 Hour Record dimensions is also part of the auction series, while the Colnago C68 Rossa No. 1 ridden by Joāo Almeida at this year’s Vuelta team presentation completes the set. Any of those would be great, if anyone’s struggling for what to get me for Christmas…
Brooks digs up "forgotten" leather, and turns it into limited run of £330 "exceedingly rare and unrepeatable" saddles
A Bulgarian start, a 40km time trial and a 246km mountain stage: 2026 Giro route announcement
Amore Infinito ?#GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/lXHd9bIRMy
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) December 1, 2025
Tempting enough to get Remco or Jonas over to Italy for May? Italy and Bulgaria, I should add, next year’s Giro starting with three Bulgarian stages before returning to more familiar territory. There are stage finishes in Naples, Milan and a final-day in Rome, the race returning to the summit finish at Blockhaus in week one. Oh, and that’s at the end of a 246km day…
Stage 10 is the aforementioned TT, a 40km flat effort against the clock and along the coast to Massa. As with most Giro routes, it’s all a traverse north to the third-week mountains, however that’s perhaps not quite as brutally tough as in some previous years. Stage 19’s high-altitude and ascent of Passo Giau looks like the big one.
Today also saw the route of the women’s race announced, the headline that the Colle delle Finestre is on it, the nine-stage race starting in Cesenatico, the birthplace of Marco Pantani.
"AI gone wrong?": Specialized mocked for website image showing cassette... on the front wheel?!
Hmmm….
People are quite understandably a bit baffled by this, Specialized’s website page for its Roval Rapide CLX III wheelset featuring a rather strange image of said product. Strange, because, well, just take a look at that front wheel… and its cassette. Is it AI? Has some poor photographer actually snapped an image for one of the world’s biggest bike brands like that? Is that even possible? Is it all a bizarre joke around the ‘everything you knew about wheels was wrong’ tagline?
Most people seem to be betting on AI, although we’ve contacted Spesh to see if there are any answers.
Someone else pointed out the Win Tunnel tested ‘typo’… but then got told that’s apparently just the name of Specialized’s testing facility. Nice.
On the joke theory, the copy after “everything you thought you knew about wheels was wrong” goes on to make a quite un-jokey point about “conventional wisdom” saying “aero wheels always have a deeper rear, but why when 90 per cent of aero gains come from the front?”
“The Rapide CLX III flips the script with a 51mm front and 48mm rear for max aerodynamics, acceleration, handling, resulting in the fastest all-around race wheelset we’ve ever made.” It seems likely that accounts for the headline.
Anyway, hopefully we’ll know for certain soon. What a weird start to the week.
1 December 2025, 09:08
1 December 2025, 09:08
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Latest Comments
A climate scientist taken out by a motorist is symbolic of the primary societal problem causing driver anger toward cyclists. It’s irrational, but climate emergency fear and denial is resulting in angrier motorists taking it out on those they consciously or subconsciously perceive to be the enemy. Cyclists are symbolic of the inevitable change ahead, whereby active transport is the best solution for the rampant energy consumption problem for humanity in the post Industrial Age. (AI data centres and water consumption will be next). Conversely protecting cyclists is symbolic of a self aware society preparing for a better world without fossil fuels. It’s obvious, so why isn’t it happening? RIP Francois Primeau and thank you.
@ktache thanks very much, you have a good memory, the thread was about a crowdsourced site to give details of cars that would fit road bikes without a rack outside. I’ll post the links separately as they’ll be stuck in moderation. I’ve just got back from a brilliant weekend cycling in France, in Suisse Normande.
@ktache thanks very much, you have a good memory, the thread was about a crowdsourced site to give details of cars that would fit road bikes without a rack outside. I’ll post the links separately as they’ll be stuck in moderation. I’ve just got back from a brilliant weekend cycling in France, in Suisse Normande.
That's the most convoluted logic I can imagine! Cyclists don't frequent this road because there is no cycle lane. Then a cycle lane is put in for the cyclists. Now cyclists don't use the cycle lane even though there IS a cycle lane! What's the point of putting in a cycle lane and wasting all that money!!!! ("Forgot" to mention that cars park in the cycle lane.)
@ktache isn't it mostly European standards which apply for impacts with pedestrians? notjustbikes was suggesting in on of his videos that as a result of the US tariff strong-arm tactics Europe at least might be doing a deal with "reciprocal recognition of standards". That would essentially declare the US tests as good - and apparently US car makers get to mark their *own* homework also...
Cradle Care you say? "Nobody shops for their baby clothes on a bike!" "You certainly can't carry a child on a bike!" "No way can you carry *two* kids on a bike!" "These cycle paths make it too dangerous for children which is why we all drive them and need to park right outside (to minimise the danger from ... er ... cyclists" I'm being unfair, but isn't it mostly "we can't walk / cycle because places are unpleasant / feel too dangerous *because of all the motor traffic*?" Yes, I know there's quite a steep hill there...
There was a bit in the forum a while back, someone was attempting to create a web based thing. Forum went a bit sour with the upgrade, but I do remember mark1a's fine travelling tool kit...
Clearly it's hard not to do so - indeed you seem to have separated "us that ride bicycles" from others already... Ultimately concentrations of people - that is, urban spaces - work best when there is indeed a (physical) separation between quite different modes of transport *. Trains, motor vehicles, "cycles" and pedestrians. And bigger, heavier vehicles (driven by the same indifferent drivers) just make things more dangerous / put pressure on authorities to allocate even more space for their use etc. * Or as eg. the Dutch sustainable safety principle has it - homogeneity of speed / mass. And "combine where possible, separate where necessary". Note that means it *can* be sensible to share space but only where speeds / volumes of the more dangerous mode(s) are suitably controlled. Of course - "different roads for different modes" "doesn't work" if we start from the assumption that motoring is *and will/must be* the predominant mode, so that should get the existing direct routes and everything else must then be designed around it...
Well, I can only say I hope Berk have improved their QC. I’ve had numerous (due to the fact that if you break one, Berk will simply send you a new saddle, no questions asked), and only one hasn’t broken. For info, I’m under 70 kilos, so well within the weight limit. You can’t argue with the customer service though - as I say, it’s a no questions asked replacement.
Bits of a car are made to deform too, absorbing energy and increasing impact time, ain't so for a bus...
28 thoughts on ““AI gone wrong?”: Specialized mocked for website image showing cassette… on the front wheel?!; London is “the wild west” for cycling (apparently); Pro cycling ticket debate rumbles on; Girmay joins NSN; Hypnotic wheels; Bike art + more on the live blog”
If it meant being able to
If it meant being able to control the morons that run alongside, or take down riders, I’d be ok with it
Fan cycle fee interesting
Fan cycle fee interesting idea won’t be able to stop people observing completely lol but whatever
Moving away from a financial
Moving away from a financial model which relies far too heavily on sponsors can only be a good thing. There are obviously logistical hurdles to be overcome by using ticketing, but this is a problem which has already been solved for other public events.
With my luck if I had one of
With my luck if I had one of that Pulsar disc wheel, the time keeper would round up a sub 24 minutes time to 29minutes 😉
So they’re gonna put a fence
So they’re gonna put a fence round a WHOLE MOUNTAIN ? #rediculous
The 6 seems to be upside-down
The 6 seems to be upside-down.
I spend a lot of time in
I spend a lot of time in Frankfurt, been to several other cities and Germany seems to have some of the most self entitled cyclists I’ve ever seen. Happy to ride on paths explicitly marked as no cycling, then happy to ding on bells furiously to tell pedestrians to get the eff out of the way and happy to offer a mouthful of abuse they don’t jump sharpish.
Ah, sounds like they’re on
Ah, sounds like they’re on their way to mass cycling then? Clearly got beyond a handful of cyclists desperately and vainly trying not to “give cyclists a bad name”… but perhaps not quite enough so that people walking and cycling have established conventions (and the local authorities have made comprehensive provision for cycling – else why would people want to ride on paths rather than cycle paths?)
The gap in quality of cycling
The gap in quality of cycling infrastructure between German cities (having experienced quite a few) and London might actually be smaller than that between London and most UK cities.
Netherlands
..
Germany
..
London
..
..
The average UK city
..
..
USA
I’ve heard both that quality
I’ve heard both that quality of cycling infra / friendliness towards cycling varies quite widely in Germany *. Also that in the better places its “mainstream but marginalised” – there is provision but it’s sort of grudging.
Perhaps not surprising in a major car- manufacturing nation!
* One of the stand-out things about the Netherlands is that even though not all the infra is stellar, it seems mostly “good enough” and it seems to be *everywhere*. A genuine country-wide cycle network – I don’t think that can be said of other places.
I certainly can’t see that in the UK in my lifetime, but I think it’s just possible that somewhere like London – which already has good public transport in parts -might be able to achieve a basic city-wide network.
Although perhaps London’s size and administrative division makes that harder than say a Leicester?
Hold on now, the USA is a big
Hold on now, the USA is a big country and there are some great cities for cycling. Let me think now…. Chicago? No. Seattle? No. Portland? No. Los Angeles? Hell No. Kansas City? No.
Well, I’ll get back to you if I think of one.
Oh, Oh, I know! Glenwood Springs, CO
Bentonville.
Bentonville.
Peachtree City, GA https://m
Peachtree City, GA – although it’s better if you cycle like a golf buggy. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pcVGqtmd2wM
“Bike lanes are hard to come
“Bike lanes are hard to come by, often end abruptly and you have buses and cards behind you, often upset, because they can’t get around you.” (sic)
Wow.
I didn’t know AI in vehicles had got so advanced as to be able to replicate human emotions…
English clearly isn’t the guy
English clearly isn’t the guy’s first language, so this could’ve been the one where you finally decided to let it go unremarked upon.
We all get your point. We got it way back when you made the first comment of this kind. No-one’s saying you’re wrong. It’s one thing to point it out when road.cc get it wrong, but it’s another, far more tedious thing to point it out when they quote someone else who got it wrong.
Re: London apparently being..
Re: London being… not great for cycling…
I don’t know when the layout at Elephant and Castle was changed from two give way only big roundabouts to being traffic-light controlled and then the installation of the segregated cycle lanes.
But it was definitely a “fun” part of my commute in it’s 2x roundabout configuration.
The southern roundabout was
The southern roundabout was removed in 2010 and the northern in 2015. Prior to that, it was the only place in London that I would actively detour to avoid, having experienced a wide variety of near-death experiences there.
That bike art is great fun,
That bike art is great fun, imagine someone who’s had one too many stumbling out of the pub to see a horse running down the pavement
The text that goes with the
The text that goes with the Specialized pic is delicious. Wouldn’t be surprised if they try to spin it as an intentional mistake, but I reckon they’re a bit too po-faced for it to have been deliberate. The rotors also appear to be on the opposite side of the frame to the calipers. Is that what’s called a floating caliper?
ETA – also enjoying the commenter pictured above who suggests a photographer “who knows no better” might have somehow managed to cram a rear wheel into the fork.
There is so much wrong with
There is so much wrong with the Specialized picture it’s hard to believe that it wasn’t a “How many thing can you find wrong in this picture?” game. Ok, the cassette is on the front wheel on the left side. The front brake is in the right place, but the disk is on the right. In the rear, the bolts to mount the brake are in the correct place, but the brake is on the right along with the disk and the cassette. https://assets.specialized.com/i/specialized/ROAD-8786_2025_Roval_Rapide_CLXIII_Hero_02_desktop_45-19?$scom-herobanner-landscape-lg$&fmt=webp
Ref the text “£1,299 Roval
Ref the text “£1,299 Roval Rapide CLX III wheelset”
The £1299 is just for the front wheel (minus the cassette pictured), the rear is £1699, making the total price of this wheelset £2998.
In all seriousness, I’m really surprised at this from the big S, for a company that is effectively a branding & marketing company that happens to sell bikes & accessories, how did this make it to being published?
mark1a wrote:
One word: outsourcing. Saving a few pennies here and there by delegating work to people who have no understanding of the product whatsoever. If that’s any consolation, it is even pretty common to see safety manuals(!!!) written by people who have not even seen nor touched the actual product.
But Spesh are not alone here. I promise if you were to read translations of Shimano’s catalogue to other languages, you would drop dead laughing.
I think the AI has almost hit
I think the AI has hit on a brilliant new concept there – a unified wheel design. (Although it hasn’t quite got all the details set yet).
So the front is the same as the rear. That means the wheelset is cheaper to produce!
And you don’t need to keep a spare front AND rear wheel, you always have a spare cassette with you. Plus if you notice your front tyre is looking a bit worn on a ride, simply exchange front and rear for better grip. No fiddling around with a tyre change!
Yes, AI is changing the world, no doubt.
Unlike cyclocross, road races
Unlike cyclocross, road races take place on public roads built and maintained thanks to taxpayer’s money. Why should they pay twice for sport events that generate massive and lucrative TV rights? VIP Lounges and comfortable stands might be option for races with a circuit. But they won’t generate substantial revenues.
Football stadiums, sports
Football stadiums, sports halls as well as clubs themselves are subsidized in many ways as well. Which renders your argument irrelevant.
tomlew wrote:
Well that is of course absolutely true, but football hasn’t been completely free to the public for the last 120 years. If it had been and the organisation which ran football and was turning a very nice profit from it already via advertising and TV rights suddenly announced the best matches would no longer be free I don’t think people would be terribly happy about it.
Just because a flawed model
Just because a flawed model has been used for some time does not mean it should be kept this way.
Which does not mean I am taking one side or the other, I honestly don’t really have a clear opinion. But invalid arguments deserve to be pointed out for the clarity of the final conclusion.
It depends how you define
It depends how you define flawed I suppose, it may be flawed in the sense of not raising the maximum possible funds (although more than one sport has fallen into the error of believing that they could maximise earnings only to find it came at the expense of disaffecting and ultimately alienating its core base (see cricket)); in another sense, that of being the only major professional sport that remains totally free to spectators at the point of delivery, it’s fantastic, rather than flawed.