Eurobike 2017 Day 2 starring Garmin, Storck, Litespeed, 3T, Pearl Izumi, Shimano and more…

Eurobike day 02 and I'm taking a break from pounding the pulsating halls of the Messe Friedrichshafen to bring you news of the latest hot shiz (technical journalistic term) that the road.cc team have turned up so far. There are bikes, there are wheels, there are power measuring devices and, of course, there are shoes and other stuff too, plus a load more pics in the gallery above – something for everyone, so let's crack on!

Storck Aernario 2

Storck is making the Aernario 2 in a limited edition of 53 pieces, the number chosen because company CEO, product designer and dictator for life (probably) Markus Storck is 53 years old.

The headline news is that the frameset weighs below 1,000g. Yes, the frameset, not the frame. That includes the frame, fork and headset. The frame itself comes in at just 680g. The complete bike as built up here, with a SRAM Red eTap groupset and other components from THM, is 5.4kg. 

The Aernario 2 uses seatstays from the Fascenario 3 with an adapted Aernario mainframe and its own fork that has been designed for stiffness. The seatpost is from the Fascenario 3 too, with a D-shaped profile for aerodynamics and to encourage some flex. Storck is big on what it calls ‘directional depending stiffness’ – engineering components to be rigid while providing some give in a certain direction in order to provide comfort.

Litespeed Cherohala SE

Litespeed has been making titanium bikes in the USA for donkey’s years and will be adding a new disc brake model shortly in the shape of the Cherohala SE. It’s made to an endurance geometry from 3AL-2.5V titanium and will take tyres up to 30mm wide. 

The Cherohala SE will both take mudguards front and rear and, like the vast majority of disc brake road bike these days, it’s flat mount.

Pearl Izumi Pro Leader IV shoes

Pearl Izumi has updated its Pro Leader shoes, one of the key changes being a shift of the closure, offsetting it towards the outside. Pearl Izumi says this produces a more anatomically accurate fit. The Boa-operated closure system is designed to pull the two sides of the shoe together rather than simply dragging one side in. 

There’s only one seam in the upper and that’s right at the back.

We reckon, though, that one of the main reasons that people will buy these shoes is for the liquid metal finish on the underside, created by an electroplating process. It’s far from the most visible of features but it is very cool!

No UK price has yet been set but you’re probably looking at £250-£300.

Shimano shoes

Shimano has added a Boa closure system to replace the ratchet on its RP9 shoe and the women’s RP7 has had a similar update.

We like the look of the women’s XC5 lace-up shoe that’s designed for mountain biking.

Pricing on 2018 Shimano shoes has yet to be set.

Garmin Vector pedals

We’ve already told you that Garmin has updated its Vector power meter pedals, losing the pods that used to be required so that each pedal is a self-contained unit. They look much, much neater as a result.  

http://road.cc/content/tech-news/228453-new-garmin-edge-1030-gps-compute...

Garmin also claims a greater degree of accuracy than previously, now down to +/-1%.

The dual-sided Garmin Vector 3 pedals are priced at £849.99.

3T’s Bailout and Overdrive cassettes

3T has developed two new 9-32-tooth cassettes called the Bailout and the Overdrive, designed specifically for 1x11 road bikes, in particular its own Strada (this is clearly not the real thing in the photo; imagine this, but neater!). Not a mighty surprise because they were dropping massive hints about making their own 1x cassettes at the European launch of the Strada at Eurobike Live a couple of months back.   

Video: 3T Strada first ride… is this the future of the performance road bike?

Ditching the front mech has benefits, reduced weight and improved airflow among them, but one of the objections some people have to wide-ranging 1x cassettes is that the jumps in sprocket sizes can disrupt the rhythm of pedalling, so 3T has decided to confront that by having small jumps in certain areas. 

The Bailout has 9-10-11-12-13-15-17-19-22-26-32 tooth sprockets. You’ll notice that the sprockets increase in size just one tooth at a time at the business end of the cassette with an “oh shit this is a steep hill” bailout sprocket at the other end. 

3T Design guru Gerard Vroomen talks about the future of the road bike 

The Overdrive has a 9-11-12-13-15-17-19-22-25-28-32 configuration aimed at providing evenly spaced gears across the middle of the cassette with that 9-tooth sprocket for keeping the power on during big descents.

New Prologo saddles

Italy’s Prologo is introducing a new Dimension saddle that’s 35mm shorter than its normal saddles, a response, it says, to the fact that people have tended to move forward on the bike over recent years, rather than sticking in a traditional low and stretched riding position.

It has quite deep and soft padding with a cutaway channel down the centre to reduce pressure in that area. 

The Dimension saddle is wide – 143mm across at its widest point – and is designed for both men and women, and for multiple types of riding: road. mountain bike and triathlon.

The Nack version (with carbon rails) weighs a claimed 139g and is priced at €220 (we don’t have UK prices yet). The version with Tirox rails is 179g and €135.

Prologo is also introducing Dea women’s specific saddles in Scratch (round), Nago (semi-round) and Zero (flat) versions.

The saddles feature three different densities of padding and vary in width from 141mm to 143mm (depending on the shape).

Models with Tirox rails are €135 while versions with cromo rails are cheaper at €115.

These saddles will start to become available from the end of September.

DT Swiss Cross Road wheels

DT Swiss has revealed two new Cross Road disc brake wheelsets that are said to have been influenced by cyclocross but have a broader application for gravel and adventure bikes.

The first wheelset is the CR 1600 Spline 23 with a total weight of 1,728g and a price of €578.

The CR1800 Spline 23 wheels are a little heavier at 1,745g, and cheaper at €408. 

DT Swiss says that both of these have more of a focus on durability than on light weight.

DT Swiss also has a couple of new track wheelsets. The TRC 1400 Dicut 65 is a genuine track wheelset that weighs 1,530g. The price is €2,028.

The T1800 Classic 32 is designed to be more of a bombproof street wheelset at 1,896g. The price is €478.