In this week’s Five Cool Things, we’ve got e-mountain bikes, gravel bikes, electric pumps, and stuff primed for winter riding. That’s Cilo’s Kyano e-MTB, Open’s U.P 2.0 gravel bike, Prestacycle’s Prestaflator GO Lite, and some sealant from Peaty’s. But before getting into the cool things, let’s take a look back over the mostly drop bar mountain bike-themed news that popped up throughout the week.
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The biggest story in the news this week was Life Time’s ban on drop bar mountain bikes in its Big Sugar and Leadville 100 races. Our Matt reckons that the ban doesn’t actually solve anything, as the organiser cited safety and course compatibility behind the move, while elite riders Payson McElveen and Keegan Swenson stated that the move was also to promote fairness between financially supported and unsupported riders. That all comes at excellent timing, too, with Pinarello unveiling its suspension-equipped Grevil MX only a few days before the announcement.
The controversial news didn’t stop there, however, as Schwalbe has weighed in on the 32in wheel/tyre subject, claiming that they offer “real tangible advantages”, and not just for mountain bikes. That’s come off the back of the brand showing off a 32in-wheeled gravel bike at Velofollies 2026.
As for new things, Canadian brand Nobl has jumped on the aero gravel hype train with its new FAR Series collection. Made up of two wheelsets, one gets a 50mm rim depth for maximum aero gains, whereas the other gets a 40mm depth, to balance aero efficiency and lightweight. Oh, and in its lightest build, it can weigh as little as 1135g.
Wrapping up this week’s news section, we’ve teamed up with the folks at Granite to give away five prize bundles, one each to five lucky readers. The bundles include the brand’s new Crust tyre covers, the Diverse 20 multi-tool, the Talon tyre levers, the Pita pedal covers and the Suture tyre plug kit. So the five winners will be well covered for all kinds of trailside mishaps, and clean bike transport or storage. Be quick as entries close on the 2nd of February.
Cilo Kyano HC1
£8,500
It’s been a little while since we’ve seen a Shimano EP8 motor on a new e-bike, but Cilo has bucked the Bosch and Avinox flavoured trends for that very motor system. I’m told the move has been made to open up the opportunities and features that a full Shimano motor system can offer, namely Free Shift and Auto Shift.
This is an enduro e-MTB that boasts 170mm of suspension at the front and 160mm at the rear. It’s a mullet bike, too, with a 29in wheel up front, and a 650b hoop at the back. That’s all bolted onto a carbon frame that’s been built to combine lightweight, stability and comfort while balancing a chunk of stiffness with weight savings where possible.
Cilo has then aimed to combine agility, stability and efficiency through the bike’s geometry, with this medium frame receiving a 455mm reach, a 440mm chainstay, a 64-degree head tube angle and a 1,246mm wheelbase.
Other neat features include a geometry-adjusting flip-chip, headset routed internal cable routing, a Fidlock bottle mount as standard and a suspension platform built with 100% anti-squat and 50% anti-rise.
Open U.P 2.0 frameset
£4,000
Although perhaps not the biggest name in gravel, Open is a high-end brand that doesn’t do things by halves. Built for speed, the U.P 2.0 combines an aero, low drag front end with a compliant rear with space for up to 46mm tyres. The frameset is then complete with an aero fork, shaped to cut through air like a hot knife through butter. That said, the bike can be picked up with a luggage-ready fork loaded with mounts.
A really cool feature on the U.P frameset is its handlebar. It’s a one-piece bar and stem, but it has a neat trick up its sleeve – built-in stem length adjustment. Under a neat cover is a small collection of spacers that allow for a total of 15mm of stem length adjustment, without affecting the reset of the bike’s geometry.
Elsewhere, the bike is nothing short of modern. There’s a UDH interface, a T47 threaded bottom bracket shell and full internal cable routing.
Prestacycle Prestaflator GO Lite
£75
Prestacycle’s well-received Prestaflator GO has received a bit of the ‘Honey, I Shrunk My Kids’ treatment. The Prestaflator GO Lite is smaller, but apparently still powerful and, importantly, more affordable.
Equipped with a quick switch, it can inflate tyres hands-free, and I’m told that the pump on a single charge can provide the equivalent of five Co2 canisters’ worth of inflation. That’s thanks to its efficient brushless motor and lightweight lithium polymer battery. Apparently, this bit of kit can recharge in just 40 minutes, too, via USB-C.
Additionally, Prestacycle claims that this pump can inflate more than five 40c gravel tyres to 35 PSI in 52 seconds. That’s all built into an aluminium casing, and it’s compatible with Schrader and Presta valves.
Fox Racing Ranger 2.5-Layer Water Jacket
£115
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Fox Racing is a brand that’s constantly tweaking and fettling with its products behind the scenes, all with the aim of making them that bit better. The Ranger 2.5-Layer Water Jacket has received that very same treatment. Now, the jacket uses an all-new 2.5-layer fabric that promises to be water-resistant and breathable, with a 10k/5k water-resistant breathability rating.
If that’s not enough, the jacket is finished off with a DWR coating, an over-helmet hood, hood and hip adjusters and zipped hand pockets.
- foxracing.co.uk
Peaty’s Holeshot Biofibre tubeless sealant
£30
Alright, so we’ve already tested Peaty’s Holeshot Biofibre tubeless sealant, but the brand sent us a pack to support our constant tyre changes, so I thought it was only right to pay back the love.
As far as sealants go, this one’s a little interesting as, along with the liquid itself, it’s full of sealing fibres and platelets… or BioGlitter (it’s biodegradable, don’t worry). With that blue glitter, Peaty’s claims that the sealant can seal holes up to 6mm in size in temperatures from -20 degrees centigrade to more than 50 degrees centigrade. It also works in a wide range of pressures from 15 to 120 PSI.
