Sure the Tour de France has been cracking this week, and we’ve seen plenty of interesting stuff from lightweight TT bikes to new aero devices used by the pros, but that doesn’t mean normal tech hasn’t been catching our eye!
This week we’ve got interesting bits from Pirelli, TrainingPeaks, POC, Santini and more…
Pirelli’s new inner tube claims to offer performance “nearly identical” to tubeless setups
An inner tube as the lead topic for this week’s tech round-up? Have we lost our minds? Maybe. But hear us out. The new SmarTUBE RS with it’s interesting capitalisation isn’t just any inner tube. Apparently, Pirelli says it if it’s mounted with a TLR tyre that it “delivers performance levels that are nearly identical to those of a tubeless setup with sealant.”
The 32g tube is apparently lighter and 32% thicker than any other TPU tube currently offered by Pirelli. The brand also says that used in conjunction with a Pirelli P ZERO Race RS tyre, it offers a “12% improvement in rolling efficiency” when compared to another SmarTUBE option.
It’s even been chosen as the combination used by athletes at Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck for the mountain time trial at the Tour de France. It’s available online now for a price of £28.99, and comes in one size: 26/35-622 with valve lengths 42, 60 and 80mm.
Carbon electric wheels…for any bike?
Duo Wheels, based out of New Zealand is a small company that’s about to launch a pretty cool bit of kit. Essentially it’s a carbon wheelset, and the rear wheel includes a hub motor designed to fit almost any bike. It’s aimed at roadies and gravel riders, and claims to be able to turn a bike into an e-bike in just minutes.
Duo Wheels claims the kit only adds 2.12kg of weight to the bike, although the weight of the wheelset + the motor is claimed to be 4.21kg. The kit uses a 250W rear hub motor with torque sensor, and a bottle-cage mounted battery. The brand claims a range of between 25-70km depending on terrain and rider weight.
The carbon wheels come with 50mm rims, 21mm internal width and are tubeless compatible. Initially demoed at Eurobike, the brand is now looking to start production and global release is expected early next year. Find out more on the Duowheels website.
TrainingPeaks Launches New Fueling Insights Feature
Nothing needs to be left to guesswork when it comes to cycling, training and now, fueling. TrainingPeaks has launched ‘Fueling Insights’, a new feature that allows athletes and their coaches (if you have one) to understand how fat and carbohydrates are burned in real time during power-based cycling activities.
Why would you need this tool? Well if you’re just blindly eating a banana and the occasional flapjack during your ride and wondering why you’re constantly low on energy, this tool aims to help you understand exactly how to fuel effectively whilst riding.
How does it work? The algorithm used is apparently created using over 250 tests that take into account a rider’s metabolic profile, gender and ride dynamics, which then helps to estimate carbohydrate burn. Sure, it’s not going to be as accurate as an in-lab testing experience, but it could be a handy tool to help you get your fuelling a little more focused.
To enable this new feature get your coach to go to workout settings, and drag ‘fat calories’ and ‘carb calories’ into the “in use” section. There’s more information on the TrainingPeaks website.
Santini celebrates 50 years of the Champs-Élysées with new Arrivée Paris-Champs-Élysées Collection
Italian cycling apparel brand, Santini, has launched two designs as a tribute to the Champs-Élysées and its role in the history of the Tour de France. The two designs are called Arc de Triomphe and Dash.
The collection includes jerseys, made from Polartec Power Stretch fabric, which offers a slim fit and raw-cut sleeves. They also come with three rear pockets and UPF 30+ UV protection.
There are also gloves, casquettes, socks, baselayers and bib shorts in the collection. The jerseys cost £100, bibs £170, and socks £16. More information on the collection can be found on Santini’s website.
POC’s new Cytal Lite is already in use at the Tour de France
POC has used this year’s men’s Tour de France to release a new helmet: the Cytal Lite. It’s an “ultra-lightweight” helmet apparently optimised for heat management, so as you can imagine, it’s pretty mountain-stage-at-the-tour friendly.
It sits alongside the Cytal Carbon and Cytal helmets already in the range, but apparently weighs under 200g. The airflow system has been optimised for riding at 20-30kph, which again makes it mountain friendly.
EF Pro Cycling riders have already been wearing it at the men’s Tour de France, and the women’s team will also get to sport it during the Tour de France Femmes. It’s available to buy immediately, and retails at £320.
DT Swiss issues recall on several wheels
Not quite the ‘ooh look it’s a new weird and wonderful cycling product’ we like to showcase in our Tech of the Week, but important nonetheless. DT Swiss has issued a recall on several of its wheels.
The affected wheels include the ERC with rim profiles of 35mm or 45mm, the CRC with profiles of 35mm or 45mm, and HEC with profiles of 45mm. Only wheels with a DT Swiss ID number of 2750000 and higher are impacted, and these are only on wheels manufactured or delivered from 1 September 2024 onwards.
DT Swiss has asked owners of the affected wheels to stop using them immediately, and to register using an online form on their website to begin the warranty process. The recall relates to reports of spontaneous delamination, which is also known as separation of the carbon layers, of the rims.
If you own any of the potentially affected wheels, you can check your DT Swiss ID here.
In case you missed it, here’s some of the biggest tech stories from this week:
- Could these new Scribe carbon wheels be the best value deep-sections on the market? Plus Garmin’s smartwatch with “unlimited battery life” + cool stuff from Giant, Pirelli and Q36.5
- Lightweight introduces 1,190g Meilenstein Art wheelset… priced at £6,000
- “A major and unexpected and extremely costly blow”: Swiss Side urges UCI to rethink new rim depth policy as brand’s latest race wheel would be banned under “ineffective” new equipment regulations
17 thoughts on “Pirelli claims its new 32g super lightweight road inner tube offers “near identical” performance to tubeless — plus carbon wheels to make any bike electric, POC’s new sub-200g helmet, TrainingPeaks’ new fuel calculator & more”
RE: Carbon electric wheels..
RE: Carbon electric wheels…for any bike?
Why even change the wheels? Edinburgh innovators show how to bring “electric” to any bike – you just need enough gaffer tape. Works with any wheels (indeed on same bike)
(For brooksby)
I used two of Pirelli’s first
I used two of Pirelli’s first version of smartube TPUs and they were useless – both suffered from a split valve stem whilst pumping.
TPU tubes with plastic valves and no reinforcement around the valve stem join are a complete waste of time. I’ve since found some made by Craft Cadence that are thicker than most TPU tubes and have a metal valve – job done.
I use CYCLAMI Tpu tubes from
I use CYCLAMI Tpu tubes from Amazon £25 for two with metal valves, choice of valve lengths, no issues.
Try eBay, I managed to get 4
Try eBay, I managed to get 4 for £32 and no problem with them yet – again with metal valves.
kinderje wrote:
Or AliExpress which has a lot of sellers of different Cyclami TPU tubes (EBay sells a lot of the same stuff as AliExpress but with a price increase):
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008816843233.html
I tried 6 Tubolitos. All
I tried 6 Tubolitos. All worked perfectly iñitially, but all punctured at least as fast as butyl. And the puncture repair was great. For a month. After which the patches just let go. Luckily I usually wasn’t riding, but had the bike in the living room, like any normal person, and heard a sudden load hiss.
Tubes outperforming tubeless
Tubes outperforming tubeless isn’t new, rollingresistance.com showed that a non-tubeless GP5000 + latex tube was faster and lighter than the equivalent tubeless setup.
I’m trying some RideNow TPU instead of latex at the moment. It might just be my imagination or it might just be the ~50g weight saving per wheel, but the bike certainly feels just a tiny bit faster, so I’m happy!
IanEdward wrote:
Have you got a link to that as “rollingresistance.com” doesn’t seem to exist?
He probably means https://www
He probably means https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/
Backladder wrote:
Thanks, there’s loads of tests on that site. However, I’m having difficulty finding a specific comparison between the non-tubeless GP5000 and the tubeless one.
Apologies, I’m now struggling
Apologies, I’m now struggling to find the GP5000 test!
For starters though here’s a similar test using Schwalbe tyres. I’ll keep looking for the GP5000 test…
https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/specials/schwalbe-one-tubeless-clincher
Is this the one?
Is this the one?
https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/specials/grand-prix-5000-s-tr-tubeless-vs-tubes
No, that one compares a
No, that one compares a tubeless tyre set up as tubeless vs. a tubeless tyre set up with tubes. Clearly the setup with tubes is going to be slower in that scenario.
There was a different one which compared ‘clincher’ GP5000 vs. tubeless GP5000…
Aha! It was Aerocoach
Aha! It was Aerocoach
https://www.aero-coach.co.uk/time-trial-rolling-resistance-data
The difference in rolling resistance between the GP5000 TLR and GP5000 C (Aerocoach’s nomenclature, TLR = tubeless and C = clincher) is 1.3W per tyre. The GP5000S TLR (is that the summer version?) narrows this gap to only 0.1W.
The test is clearly a bit dated as they’re still testing 25mm tyres, although that might be a Time Triallist thing (I don’t know what tyre width is still most common for TTs).
Anyway, point being, tubeless is not necessarily faster rolling if you compare to a non-tubeless tyre. Personally I run tubes for other reasons, but it’s nice to know I’m not giving speed away.
I believe the “S” officially
I believe the “S” officially stands for “Sport”.
There was a “GP5000 TL” available 2018 – 2021. The GP5000 S TR was a straight replacement for that tyre in the Conti lineup, with the GP5000 TL no longer being made.
I imagine there are a lot of time trialists out there riding bikes that don’t have clearance for anything bigger than 25mm. Modern frames are slowly moving to wider clearance, although it’s slow progress (e.g. the new-this-year Bianchi Aquila RC still only clears 28mm).
Most people run tubeless
Most people run tubeless setups for puncture resistance, not for a 1W of performance gain. TPU’s from what I gather still puncture easily.
Yeah that’s fair, I was just
Yeah that’s fair, I was just sort of addressing the point in the article referring to ‘performance levels nearly identical to tubeless’. My tyres and tubes were already outperforming tubeless, it’s nothing new.