A whole load of new products have just arrived at road.cc and are now out with our testers. Here are some of the most interesting of them that will be reviewed over the next few weeks.
Specialized Roval CLX 50 Disc wheelset
£770 (front) £1100 (rear)
The new Roval CLX 50 Disc wheels (main pic as well as below) follow in the footsteps – or tyre tracks – of the existing CLX 64 and CLX 32 wheels. Although the rims are 50mm deep, the complete wheelset comes in at just 1,360g, according to the road.cc scales.
Specialized says that it devised various rim geometries before testing three different designs in its in-house Win Tunnel and coming up with the final version. The brand claims that the CLX 50 has a “noticeably better aero performance than other wheels in its class” – naturally enough! Without the need for a brake track, the disc brake rim is 20g lighter than the rim brake option.
The CLX 50 wheels are tubeless compatible and they spin on CeramicSpeed bearings.
Bont Vaypor+ shoes
£349.99
I’m a big fan of Bont shoes, largely because all the ones I’ve used in the past have been super-stiff and very comfortable.
The Vaypor+ has a unidirectional carbon monocoque sole (Bont calls it a chassis) that’s heat mouldable, with an upper made from a material called Durolite which, as the name suggests, is designed to be durable and lightweight. Two Boa dials take care of closure.
It’ll be interesting to see how these compare with the Vaypor S shoes that we reviewed here on road.cc recently.
www.bontcycling.com
Lezyne Digital Pressure Over Drive Pump
£139.99
Dave Arthur, road.cc’s official tubeless tyre correspondent, is trying out Lezyne’s Pressure Over Drive floor pump that’s designed especially to seat tubeless tyres.
Getting tubeless tyres inflated from flat can sometimes be a right royal pain in the arse. This pump is designed to avoid the frustration. It features a secondary chamber that you pressurise by pumping air into it. You then use a foot lever to release that air in a strong blast to get the tubeless tyre to seat.
The Digital Pressure Over Drive Pump features Lezyne’s existing ABS2 chuck that allows instant disengagement from a Presta valve – no twisting involved!
www.lezyne.com
Santini Photon 3.0 3/4 jersey
£119.93
You can get plenty of three-quarter shorts/tights, and lots of three-quarter sleeve mountain bike jerseys, but road jerseys? Not so much.
What’s the point? Greater UV protection and an aerodynamic advantage, according to Santini. This is a performance-orientated jersey, then.
The Photon was developed in collaboration with the Lotto NL - Jumbo pro team, apparently, and is made from a polyester fabric called Artico that’s designed to be breathable and fast drying. I've been using this myself and will let you know how I've got on with it very soon.
www.santinisms.it
Gaerne Carbon G.Stilo
£319.99
George Hill is currently out on the roads in the new version of Gaerne’s Carbon G.Stilo shoes having reviewed the previous version on road.cc a couple of years ago. They’re lightweight at 590g for the pair in size 43.
They come with a new full-carbon sole with a very low stack height. George was impressed by the stiffness of the sole on the previous version so it’ll be interesting to see how this one compares.
The upper is made from microfibre with diamonds of laser-cut holes that are designed to improve the climate inside while new BOA IP-1 reels take care of closure.
The largest size you can get is a not exactly massive 46.
www.gaerne.com
Mat has in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now pushing 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.