It’s a jam-packed edition of Tech of the Week, from bold claims about a new wheelset, to limited-edition Bromptons, eye-catching paint jobs, free bike insurance, and all the best tech from Unbound Gravel. Let’s not waste any time and dive straight in…
Scribe’s new wheels are “the fastest on the planet”… according to them
Scribe has some new TT wheels out and wasted no time making gigantic claims about their performance. Now, we’re no stranger to ‘the lightest’, ‘the fastest’, ‘the stiffest we’ve ever made’ claims, barely any product in the bike industry gets launched without at least one of them, but Scribe has taken things one step further.
“The fastest bike wheels on the planet,” Scribe says of its Tempus carbon TT wheels.
The brand says: “Born from countless CFD simulations and validated against the world’s ‘fastest’ wheels in the wind-tunnel. Our Tempus TT / Triathlon Range redefines high-performance cycling, with data to back every claim. Hand-built with T1000 carbon fibre, Ceramic (Grade 3) Bearings & Sapim CX-Ray spokes with concealed nipples for a clean aerodynamic profile – each Tempus Wheelset is optimized around 28mm tyres to maximise aero efficiency & minimise drag. Delivering significant improvements in rolling resistance, speed & stability without sacrificing comfort or control. Why would you choose to go slower?”
The wheelset, with a rear disc costs £1,998, or £1,749 without, the disc wheel available for £1,199 on its own and the front wheel priced at £799 on its own. Those prices might be the answer to the “why would you choose to go slower?” question for many although, admittedly, the entire wheelset (with rear disc wheel) costs pretty much the same as just the rear wheel of Zipp’s 353 NSW wheels with that integrated tyre pressure monitoring that we brought news of last week.
Continuing the aero claims, Scribe posted this on its social media channels, which is apparently the results of testing versus the AeroCoach AEOX TITAN.
AeroCoach opted not to comment when approached this week. Anyway, back to what Scribe’s claimed. These wheels haven’t just been designed, but “matured over five years”, the brand says.
What exactly does maturing look like in bike tech? Presumably we’re not talking about dry-aged disc wheels or sticking a bike in a barrel to pick up hints of vanilla over 30 years? Facetiousness over, Scribe tells us “extensive” CFD simulations, functional prototypes, tyre fitment scans, and wind-tunnel tests were all part of the process.
“Our all-new Tempus TT wheelsets redefine high-performance cycling,” the brand concludes. We told you there was no shortage of confidence… check out all the details on Scribe’s website…
Unbound tech: Tricky tyre choices and all-out aero… is gravel racing the new triathlon?
It’s Unbound this weekend, formerly known as the Dirty Kanza, one of the biggest (if not the biggest) gravel races on the calendar. The Kansas event is famous for its peanut butter mud that will test the riders’ bike choices (and tyre clearance) to the max.
Earlier in the week we spotted Specialized’s riders aboard what looks like the new Diverge, now Canyon has sent us some snaps of what its sponsored riders are using this weekend. Tyre choice is going to be a big one, the muddy conditions likely to cause nightmares for many, with plenty of Canyon’s riders seen with some chunkier rubber.
There’s plenty of 1x with giant 13-speed cassettes on show too, presumably in the search of a similar spread of gears without a front derailleur to go wrong, or get jammed full of mud. Good to see Peter Stetina keeping things traditional here though…
One thing that isn’t up for discussion is aero, plenty of the bikes’ front ends looking much like Carolin Schiff’s. Skinsuits and aero helmets at the ready.
How many pairs of aero socks are going to get absolutely trashed this weekend never to be worn again? It could be in the hundreds. With all this endless tech fiddling and aero searching it kind of feels like gravel racing is the new triathlon… just with socks at the other end of the length scale. Thoughts?
Trek’s latest paint job is out of this world
A few weeks ago it was the snakeskin, now it’s the ‘Terrestrial’ paint job that Trek has added to its Project One customisation scheme. It’s all in celebration of Project One turning 25, the bike brand keen to pay tribute to all the “premium, one-of-a-kind bikes created by its expert in-house designers” during that time.
The Terrestrial is one of the most eye-catching yet, although it is giving us flashbacks to every rock/metal music video of the 2000s.
“Allez Everyday”: Limited-edition Tour de France Bromtpons
It may be the Giro coming to a climax this weekend, but iconic folding bike brand Brompton already has its eyes on the Tour. Two limited-edition Bromptons are being released to celebrate the race, a ‘Leaders Yellow’ and ‘Sprinters Light Green’ available on its C Line and P Line models.
It’s all about the Tour details and colours, the frames featuring subtle (and not so subtle) nods to the race. They’ve also added snaps from two of the best pro cycling photographers in the business, Pauline Ballet and Charly Lopez, thanks to an “innovative sublimation print technique”.
“We might be from different ends of the cycling spectrum, but we’re united in our belief that bikes have the power to change everyone and anyone’s world. Racing Alpe d’Huez or pedalling through the city, the sense of joy and possibility is shared. Once you know it, it never leaves you,” Brompton’s marketing director Chris Willingham said of the designs.
Maybe a certain Tadej Pogačar should be made to ride one this July to keep things interesting?
Fizik’s new limited-edition look for its helmets
The new Arche-Type collection from Fizik takes the helmets back to the production stage, before all the finishing touches are added. In marketing speak, that means helmets presented in their “purest form: essential, engineered, uncompromised”.
It essentially means this stripped-back look to the lids’ underlying EPS core, only accompanied by outlined Fizik logos and some technical text highlighting key features. Fizik’s Kudo, Kudo Aero, Kunee and Kassis models are all available in the style.
And how much money do you save by going for a stripped back Arche-Type helmet? Oh, well, actually you have to pay £9 more than the normal version. It’s probably not entirely fair to assume there’s less work/cost involved just because they look ‘less done’.
There is a translucent PC shell that covers the EPS core and Fizik says they also “combine a dark grey colourway with contrasting matte and glossy finishes”, the helmets otherwise the same “high-performance” lids they would be in their normal design.
The Kudo and Kudo Aero cost £278.99 in the Arche-Type limited-edition style (up from £269.99 regularly), while the Kunee is £368.99 (up from £359.99), and the Kassis is £198.99 versus £189.99. Check out the full range on Fizik’s website.
Cube adds 90 days of free insurance with every bike purchase*
Cube has partnered with cycle insurance provider VeloLife to offer buyers 90 days of free insurance when buying a new bike from a Cube dealer in the UK. The little asterisk in our headline is because it isn’t quite as simple as: buy a bike, get 90 days free insurance.
The offer requires buyers to register their new bike with VeloLife, where you’ll get 30 days of free insurance, no strings attached. To get the extra 60 free days promised you’ll need to sign up for a one-year policy, onto which your 60 days will get added.
Earlier this week, Cube launched three new road shoes, including an “everyday” model that the brand says is apparently as light and stiff as its £150 version. Cube also added a new flagship “pure performance” RD C:68X shoe made from the “same high-grade carbon” used in the brand’s “top-tier frames”. That one’s priced at £299.95.
Café du Cycliste gets back in the saddle, but not the one you might expect
It’s been a couple of days since we shared this on the live blog. To be honest, we’re still just as confused as we were then.
8 thoughts on “Scribe’s new wheels are “the fastest on the planet” (according to them); plus Unbound Gravel tech round-up and… is gravel ‘the new triathlon’?”
Bet it wouldn’t take long to
Bet it wouldn’t take long to find those scribe wheels on the Shenzhen manufacturers site for significantly less.
https://youtu.be/-bb7eCgLbLI?si=L5sD5ALkYOCh1nfu as true now as ever.
Hey 👋🏼 Couldn’t be further
Hey 👋🏼 Couldn’t be further from the truth. We are a relatively small independent brand of riders, engineers and expert wheel technicians. All our Wheelsets, including the new Tempus range featured are designed from the ground up, developed, trialled, and tested before putting under the consumer.
Between us there’s been thousands of hours put into the launch of this new range and should you want to get an insight into the process and the people behind the brand, please drop us an email and we’d be happy to arrange a call to chat 🙂
Can’t argue with an offer
Can’t argue with an offer like that!
Happy to accept if I’m wrong
Well if I’m wrong I’m wrong. For me, sourcing rims directly from light bicycle then building them onto decent hubs has always made more sense than paying for marketing, but to each their own.
Were I paying someone to do it for me then I like JRA for his transparent business model without the ‘patented hub design’ of a Novatec/Bitex hub.
I can’t argue with the warranty and customer service people pay the extra money for but personally I’d rather spend that money elsewhere.
Those Scribe wheels are
Those Scribe wheels are ‘optimized for 28mm’. I’d say that automatically means they are not yhe fastest, seeing that on many surfaces, wider tires are faster.
It’s about striking a balance
It’s about striking a balance between Aerodynamics & rolling resistance. Yes, in some cases a larger Tyre my offer up a rolling resistance advantage, but this may be offset by the aerodynamic drag caused by the larger frontal area and the power required to overcome drag. Please drop us an email should you want to discuss this in anymore detail, we’d be happy to help optimize your application 🙂
Oh, no, it is purely
Oh, no, it is purely theoretical for me.
I exclusively ride 90s mounatin bikes, in a gravel-ish setup. But I don’t think you offer any 26″ rimbrake aero wheelsets, lol. I’m fine riding my old stuff 😀
It’s about striking a balance
It’s about striking a balance between Aerodynamics & rolling resistance. Yes, in some cases a larger Tyre my offer up a rolling resistance advantage, but this may be offset by the aerodynamic drag caused by the larger frontal area and the power required to overcome drag. Please drop us an email should you want to discuss this in anymore detail, we’d be happy to help optimize your application 🙂