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TECH NEWS
marcel kittel specialized.pngMarcel Kittel takes his first ride on a Specialized bike ahead of switch to Etixx-Quick Step in 2016
We reported last month on the news that top sprinter Marcel Kittel had signed a two-year deal with Etixx-Quick Step for the 2016 season. This means a change of bike and equipment for the German, swapping from Giant to Specialized.
- Marcel Kittel signs for Etixx-Quick Step
And it looks like he has been getting familiar with a Specialized bike ahead of the 1st January when his contract properly starts. He posted a photo of a very brightly painted Crux cyclocross bike, with hydraulic disc brakes, on Instagram yesterday.
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It’s not uncommon for professional road racing cyclists to take to cyclocross and mountain bikes through the winter. It provides a change from grinding out the miles on the road and is good for bike handling skills and a good all round workout.
The pink paint job doesn’t appear to belong to a current 2016 Crux, so we’ll presume it’s a custom painted bike specially prepared for Kittel. It looks well appointed, with Roval carbon fibre wheels, Dura-Ace Di2 and an FSA carbon fibre chainset.
- Review: Specialized Crux Elite X1
The choice of disc brakes over traditional cantilever brakes has been taken out of his hands though, Specialized only offers the Crux with disc brakes in 2016, deciding that is clearly the way the cyclocross market, and demand, is going.
We spotted Team Sky’s Ben Swift also taking to disc brakes earlier this week, using Pinarello’s new Dogma F8 Disc on his first training ride of the off-season.
- Ben Swift gets back to training, on a disc-equipped Pinarello
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
the police barely do anything with close pass data, like just analyse the clear geographic hot spots and setup camera vehicles themselves....
Yep - said the same on the YT comments...
I bet those ambulances have never paid tax in their lives! They should get out of the way of hard working, tax paying, otherwise law abiding cars
Have a like for using the word "profligate" 👍😁.
What are you getting him?
Just like folding helmets. Every couple of years someone thinks, that's a brilliant idea, I'll sell millions, I'll make a fortune. Erm, no.
He understands it: his social media site is called Truth Social or somesuch.
Because they can....
If the employee's of Komoot are mostly German employees on standard German contracts the new Italian owners are in for a bit of a shock....
Raising the maximum price limit a few years ago may be providing an avenue for abuse but I now see more and more parents delivering their children...