Check out highlights from Rouleur Live: Canyon, Van Rysel, Colnago, Factor, Cervelo, Bianchi, Fizik…

If you didn’t make it to the Rouleur Live show that ran in London from Thursday until Saturday – or even if you did and you fancy a reminder – here’s a quick look at some of the most interesting bikes and bits we spotted…

> 10 cool bikes from Rouleur Live: Trek, Cannondale, Pinarello/Zwift & more 

Van Rysel RCR Pro Replica Dura Ace Di2 Decathlon AG2R Team

This has to be one of the most discussed models of the year, the £9,000 WorldTour road bike that sold out almost immediately when it was made available to pre-order back in April before being restocked later in the year.

Yes, £9,000 is a lot of cash, but it’s less than you have to pay for bikes of a similar standard from other brands. AG2R’s Ben O’Connor won silver at the Vuelta a Espana and the World Championships on this model.

It was available from Decathlon’s UK site in sizes M and L when we just checked.

> Can the Van Rysel RCR Pro become one of the most successful bikes on cycling’s WorldTour? 

Colnago V4Rs:Tadej Pogacar Limited Edition

We all know that Tadej Pogacar has enjoyed a ridiculous amount of success, not just this year but throughout his career, and this was the finish that was given to his Colnago V4Rs ahead of the Road World Championships in Zurich. Naturally, he won that too. That was the one where he attacked with 100km to go.

The colours and graphics are references to Pogacar’s countless successes: yellow for the Tour de France wins, pink for the Giro, and so on. We won't go into them all or we'll be here all day.

The bike was made available in this limited edition for £16,999.

Enve’s Pogacar Tour de France-victory wheels

Speaking of Tadej Pogacar, Enve is offering a limited edition of its SES 4.5 wheels with decals that celebrate the third Tour de France victory of Tadej Pogacar. You might have heard of him.

Enve had only just made some with pink graphics to mark Pogacar's Giro d’Italia win.

Cervelo double disc TT bike

Wout van Aert rode a Cervelo P5 TT bike with two disc wheels to a place on the Olympic podium in Paris a few months back, the disc wheels being intended to reduce drag on the flat course.

Van Aert was beaten by Remco Evenepoel and Filippo Ganna, but if they gave prizes for the most badass setup…

We have no experience of how this setup would behave in a strong crosswind, and we’d be more than happy to keep it that way.

And the prize for the loudest paint job goes to…

…the Parlee Taos.

This isn’t a standard finish, of course, but if you can’t decide which colour to choose, you could always take inspiration from this custom-painted beast and go for all of them.

The Taos is a carbon monocoque gravel bike that’s intended to provide a shed-load of comfort. Parlee reckons it’s a bike that’s capable of winning gravel races as well as handling all-day epic rides.

Bianchi Reparto Corse Pista: Fauso Coppi

Fausto Coppi is one of the giants of cycling history, having won the Giro d’Italia five times, the Tour de France twice, the World Championship, Lombardia (five times), Milan-San Remo (three times), Paris-Roubaix, and set the hour record. Wow! All of that was in the 1940s and 50s.

This is the bike – not a replica – that Coppi brought over and raced at Herne Hill, London, in 1958.

Storck Aerfast.5 50th Signature Edition

Storck Bike’s founder and head honcho Markus Storck turned 60 this year, and to mark the occasion the German brand has launched special editions of several models, including the Aerfast.5, in Satin Dragon Dark Silver paint schemes with sparkling silver stripes.

Each bike is built with a limited edition Campagnolo Super Record groupset in matt black with Markus' signature on the crank arm. You also get a special edition wheelset from Scope with silver hubs, black decals, and a dragon graphic.

The price is €16,064 (plus shipping, handling, and duties), which works out at about £13,429. UK customers can buy directly from Storck's Germany-based website while the company is in the process of re-establishing a presence here.

On the plus side, you do get a bunch of extras, including a Storck Bike Box, a jersey, and a 60th Storck-Campagnolo titanium corkscrew.

Passoni prototype

Italy’s Passoni makes some beautiful bikes from titanium (occasionally with some carbon tubing), in both made-to-measure and ready-to-ride options.

This model, marked ‘Prototipo’ (which is just the Italian word for ‘prototype’), comes with a sculpted head tube and an enclosed dropout on the driveside.

Factor Ostro VAM David Millar Limited Edition

Factor’s Ostro VAM is one of the new breed of bikes that aims to be both lightweight and aerodynamically efficient.

We’ve not reviewed this version but you can read our review of the 2022 Factor Ostro VAM frameset. 

This example is a David Millar Edition (hence the signature on the fork), built up with the Campagnolo Super Record Wireless groupset which put in a stunning performance when we reviewed it a few months ago, and the equally impressive Campag Bora Ultra WTO wheels.

> Read our review of Campagnolo Super Record Wireless 

Enigma Esker 2 Signature gravel bike

Enigma’s Esker 2 Signature is made in England – Hailsham, Sussex, to be more precise. It uses a double-butted Reynolds 3AL/2.5V (Grade 9) titanium main triangle with a 44mm 6AL/4V titanium head tube, and you get space for tyres up to 50mm wide.

A frame-only is £3,799 while the complete bike shown here is £9,995.

> Read our review of the Enigma Eikon Frame 

Canyon Grail: Valtteri Bottas

Finnish F1 driver Valtteri Bottas has a well-known association with bike brand Canyon, and this is his Grail gravel bike – or, at least, a replica of it – with a SRAM Red groupset and mud splatters on the Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheels and Schwalbe G-One RS tyres.

> Are budgie smugglers the new gravel craze? No, but that's what F1 star Valtteri Bottas was rocking at Australia's newest gravel race

The Grail range starts at £2,499.

Canyon Aeroad: Tekkerz livery

Canyon released the new version of its Aeroad road bike in July with the claim that it is “the fastest bike in the WorldTour peloton”.

> Is the new Canyon Aeroad truly aero? Canyon unveils all new Aeroad CFR, an all-rounder yet "the fastest bike in the WorldTour peloton”

Our man Stu Kerton reviewed the Aeroad CFR AXS and confirmed a stunning performance. 

Here it is in the colours of the Tekkerz cycling team

Sarto Tri-Composite tubing

Italy’s Sarto uses Tri-Composite tubing in some of its frames which, it claims, offers excellent impact resistance and high vibration damping, alongside an unusual look.

What’s the story here, then? You get carbon fibre, as you’d expect on a high-end race bike, but with metallic filaments embedded in there, too. The idea is that the filaments allow greater flexibility which, in turn, means more comfort. The Tri-Composite material is also intended to minimise vibration and localise mechanical stresses. 

We’ve not ridden this bike but check out our review of the non-Tri-Composite version of Sarto’s Raso frameset. 

Fizik’s mystery shoes

These look like the Fizik Vento Powerstrap Aeroweave shoes that we reviewed back in August, don’t they? 

Well, here's the thing: they’re not. The uppers are very similar, possibly identical, but the soles look to be off-road orientated. You want a picture? Oops! We didn’t get one, but believe us, something is afoot (thank you, you’re too kind) here. Squint and you can just make out the tread under the toe.

We reckon that Fizik is poised for a launch into the gravel market at some stage before next summer.