Tech

Campagnolo 13-speed gets first official WorldTour outing (but only if you’re good enough)… plus an unreleased Trek full-sus gravel bike, super extreme front ends + more

There's lots to catch up on this week, with new products from Giant and Restrap, a groundbreaking upgrade to the Pro Cycling Manager computer game and some bits we've spotted ahead of the Critérium du Dauphiné

5

100+Nm is the new norm: Mahle’s first mid-drive motor gets 105Nm of torque and 850W of peak power

Spanish brand Mahle has (finally) entered the mid-drive market, but is it worth the wait?

o

Fairlight gets another perfect 10 and Halfords impresses with its super secure £50 lock: road.cc Recommends updated with 11 great products

A magnificent 11 have been awarded Recommends badges for May, with a familiar name achieving cycling perfection once more

3

Is Shimano about to make shifting your bike’s gears a thing of the past? Q’Auto Di2 automatic shifting launches for mechanical gravel, urban and trekking bikes

Component giant introduces fully automatic, battery-free shifting for urban, trekking, and gravel bikes. A taste of things to come?

34

Campagnolo launches overhauled Super Record, the world’s first 2×13-speed, wireless road cycling groupset… and the iconic thumb shifter is back

Campagnolo says that Super Record 13 is the lightest 2x groupset on the market, and the fastest too

14

Canyon’s value drops 43% as bike brand makes £32m loss

Situation in the bike industry remains "strained" and Canyon predicts another "challenging" year in 2025

17

Can Jespr’s new bike computer really take on Garmin and Wahoo? Plus new gear from Unit 1, Wahoo, Grundig and Inflata

Smart bike lights, a hidden bike tracker, electric mini pump, and more cycling tech currently on test

o

Lauf Cycles latest bike brand to add Trump surcharge due to “extraordinary tariffs” on imported components

Despite moving assembly factory to US several years ago, tariffs on imported components mean Lauf to add eight per cent to prices from this week

o

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’?

Some very big claims about a new wheelset, plus loads more in Tech of the Week

8

New Specialized Diverge leaked ahead of Unbound Gravel: more mounts, more aero and UDH look imminent for Specialized’s flagship adventure bike

Casually shared on Annika Langvad's Instagram stories was what appears to be an updated Diverge, with some subtle yet obvious changes vs the current iteration

o

Cube launches three new road cycling shoes, including “everyday” model that’s apparently as light and stiff as £150 version

Cube also adds new flagship "pure performance" RD C:68X made from "same high-grade carbon used in top-tier frames" for £300

o

dhb cycling kit is quietly revived by Evans Cycles… and it’s already ‘half price’

dhb returns with what appears to be new kit, a 'Don’t Hold Back' rebrand, and discounts already in place

29

Is this bare essentials BMC concept the best way to build your dream custom bike? Plus new shoes from Fizik and Quoc x MAAP, special Giro edition Pinarello Dogma, Pirelli x Santini retro kit + more

We strip down to the bare necessities and delve into BMC's VAR0 concept, and recap on the rest of the week's top tech news

6

Zipp’s new wheels offer integrated tyre pressure monitoring

Zipp AXS Wheel Sensor in the rim allows you to monitor tyre pressure in real-time without an external device mounted to the valve stem

12

How wide? Pirelli introduces new ‘road enduro’ category with slick tyres up to 55mm wide

Cinturato Evo TLR is designed for both road and gravel, and uses “more than 50% bio-based and recycled materials”

5

Will these cut-price power meter pedals make pricier rivals obsolete? Magene launches P715 dual-sided pedals with +/-1% claimed accuracy

Priced at £399 and available for Look Keo or SPD-SL cleats out the box, rechargeable and weighing as little as 157g per pedal, the specs look strong for the price on the Chinese brand's first entry into the power pedal market

9

A sub-200g cycling shoe that’ll set you back as much as a cheap(ish) bike; plus a tasty Capri-Sun-inspired Eddy Merckx, new Garmin Forerunner watches, Rapha’s latest kit collab + more

All the hottest new tech we've spotted this week, including stuff from Rapha, Eddy Merckx, Suplest, Lavelle, Tredz, Trek, Patta, Garmin and even Capri-Sun

2

All-out aero and a lot of Mars Bars: the bike, tech and nutrition used by Sarah Ruggins to smash the John o’ Groats to Land’s End-and back cycling record

Not many people can claim to have achieved so much on their first ever road bike — here's how Sarah Ruggins broke the 2,700km JOGLEJOG record in a little over five days, with the help of aero overshoes, 100g of carbs an hour and a fair few Mars Bars

11

A belt drive, gearbox and e-mountain bike motor in one — Haibike’s AllMtn Trn/iq gets Pinion’s auto-shifting MGU motor that promises 10,000km of maintenance-free riding

Is this what every e-MTBer has been looking for? Up to 12 gears, next to no maintenance, bags of gearing range and super precise shifting under load, according to Pinion and Haibike

o

Cowboy e-bikes recalled after reports of cracking between the headtube and downtube, posing “a serious risk of injuries”

Belgian brand Cowboy has recalled its C4 ST (Edition MR) e-bike after reports of frame cracks at the headtube-downtube weld, posing a "serious risk of injuries"

1

Will Garmin’s new front light/4k camera combo set the new benchmark for recording bad drivers? Plus new gear from Litelok, Dynamic, Quad Lock + Carradice

​From ceramic coatings to camera-equipped lights, here's some of the latest cycling accessories we have in for review

4

Would you trust Aldi’s £24.99 bike rack? Plus check out Trek’s root beer-coloured Madone, Rapha’s latest EF switch-out kit + more

All the hottest new tech from the middle of Aldi, Specialized, Rapha, Trek, Tailfin, Scott and more

17

A double Castelli Espresso, a trio of top road bikes and Tern does it again — road.cc Recommends updated with 11 outstanding products

We've got plenty of recommendations for you this month, including jerseys, shorts, pedals, shoes and bikes. Pretty much full riding kit if you bought the lot...

o

Doctor left paralysed after Planet X carbon fork failure secures £4.5m payout, as lawyers argue case highlights “the testing and manufacture of gravel bikes warrants closer attention”

NHS doctor sustained life-changing spinal cord injury when Planet X Tempest's carbon fork sheared in two on a grass slope, with lawyers now raising concerns about lack of uniformity to gravel bike testing and advertising

20

“If we had a WorldTour team, it would be a Tour de France bike”: Ribble’s flagship Ultra-Race “bridges the gap between pure aero and ultra-lightweight”

British brand uses new MT65 carbon to offer a 775g frame and complete bike weights below the UCI’s minimum limit

9

Updated Cannondale Synapse endurance bike offers “desirability and performance”… and space for 42mm tyres

Updated Synapse “blends WorldTour-level aerodynamics and stiffness-to-weight with top-tier tyre clearance, compliance, and smart features”, according to Cannondale

7

Would you buy a £350 inflatable bike helmet? Latest air-filled lid hopes to tempt commuters

We visited HEAD Lab at Imperial College London to watch Ventete's inflatable aH-1 helmet put through testing

15

What’s going on with this hub we spotted in Mallorca? Plus Trek’s snakeskin finish, more 3D-printed saddle shenanigans and a kids’ bike that grows with your child

All the hottest new tech from Trek, Lavelle, Wahoo, Pas Normal Studios, Kickstarter and Posedla

6

Hunt revamps Aerodynamicist wheel range to offer “class-leading aerodynamic performance-to-weight metrics with wide road tyres”

British wheel brand releases three new wheelsets with weights starting at 1,175g and prices from £1,149

14

New version of Ado Air 20 gets Bafang’s automatic 3-speed motor

Don’t suppose we can really call it a single-speed at this point

o