The Cycle Show at the NEC kicked off yesterday, we as the media, get a pass on trade day to check out all the new and exciting bikes and tech before the doors open to the public on Friday. There’s always a plethora of new kit from brands and distributors alike and this year was no different.
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Kinesis Rise e-bike
We got wind of a new e-bike from Kinesis on the morning of the show and it didn’t disappoint. With a lightweight Fauza drive system (400w with a 250wh battery), 29″ wheels, 130mm fork and some pretty progressive geometry too, think a 485mm reach on a large with a 440mm seat tube and a 170mm dropper post to match. The e-bike has three power modes, an estimated 65km range using a mixture of modes and there’s also a blanking plate for when you don’t want e-assistance. We are going to take an in depth look at this bike later today, with a full first look containing all the specification details, information about that motor. For now, we can tell you that there will be two specifications of bikes available, one with GX Eagle for £3,500 and one with Shimano SLX for £3,200. Finally – check out that paint job, sparkles are in for 2020, goodbye paint fade……
J. Laverack Contour
Quietly launched on the far side of the show was this sleek looking titanium cross-country bike from J. Laverack. Those of you who are into your Ti road bikes will recognise the brand name but some mountain bikers this will be a new name, this is the first MTB they have produced. The 29er XC hardtail is Ti, of course, in keeping with the rest of the bikes from the brand, it’s got internal routing and some funky shaped tubes too. The frame only will cost around £2,200 then work up from there depending on your spec options for the whole bike. Given that this Rockshox SID fork is nearly £1,000, this isn’t going to be a cheap bike!
J. Laverack J.ACK
Sticking with the bikes at J. Laverack, we also spotted a neat version of internally routed dynamo powered lights, front and rear. Although this is a road frame it can fit 38c tyres and with those lights, it looks like it would make an awesome expedition/long distance gravel race bike.
Bombtrack Beyond Junior
Do you have a little shredder that wants to join you on your overnight bike packing trips? Well, Bombrack has the just the bike – this is a 24″ wheeled, kids drop-bar bike perfect for getting off the beaten track to an awesome bivvy spot. The Beyond Jnr. will retail at £1,000, gets child-friendly controls, a 1x drivetrain and also can be specced with custom Apidura bike bags exactly like the ones you see here.
Ribble HT 725
Ribble visited us two weeks ago to drop off a HT Ti hardtail, and at the time the hinted at the appearance of this, the steel version of the same bike. We had no idea that it would be so quickly ready and looks so cool!
The frame gets the same geometry as the HT Ti and keeps the same frame details too, including internal cable routing and the cool Ribble logo at the top of the seat stays.
The frame will come in grey only in the first instance and you can choose the colour of the parts that you see here in purple, choices are adonised blue, green, orange, yellow, red or purple at the moment. The frame will soon be available to fully customise in Ribble’s new Custom Colour Scheme.
Price for the frame only is £750 with full build starting at £1,299 for a SRAM SX bike and a dropper post.
Calibre Bikes
Main man Mike at Calibre had lots to talk to us about, aside from catching up about the new Calibre Bossnut Rach’s currently testing, he also showed us a load of new bikes including a new road bike and a few new hardtails.
The road bike is called Lost Lad and is a 650B road plus machine for a very reasonable £399. You’ll have to excuse the awful photos of this and the Dark Peak, the bikes were hung upright on the stand…..
The Dark Peak gets a revamp and a new price too (£499) for a Shimano Claris equipped gravel bike. These two new drop bar bikes will be available after Christmas.
The brand also launched new a Line 10, a new Line 20 and a Line 29. The Line 10 is a 650B hardtail that is designed to be a winter hardtail for those with a nice full sus at home too (although not exclusive to those riders!) The £850 gets updated geometry which given Mike talent for designing great long travel bikes (Sentry) we reckon this might be pretty good!
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The new bike in the lineup is the Line 29, same aggressive geometry as the Line 10 but with 29er wheels for £900. These bikes get 11 speed SRAM NX, Level or Guide T brakes, a KS dropper post and Recon fork.
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There’s is also a new Line 20, this is also 650B but gets slightly less aggressive geometry and a cheaper price tag of £600.
Calibre also launched their first e-bike (see everyone’s doing it!), the Kinetic. The bike gets a Denmark made Promovec hub motor (250w) and battery (317wh), Shimano 8 speed and 100mm of travel, with geometry based on the Two Cubed all for £950.
Lastly, but certainly not least, there is the new Triple B. This is basically the better specced version of the Bossnut. It used the same frame and has the same travel but gets a Boost fork, better, more tunable shock, a KS dropper post and wider tyres front and rear, plus some of the awesome Guide RE brakes. This bike comes in at £1,500, a genuinely good price for all those upgrades.
Wild Bikes
These kids bikes aren’t new from Go Outdoor but after selling out in double quick time in 2019, the shop is going hard on these and getting lots more stock. There are all sorts of wheel sizes available, plus two balance bikes in the making.
Whyte Gosford e-gravel bike
Whyte seemed to launch a new e-bike under the radar at the show, the Gosford e-gravel bike. Now they have made their appearance into the e-bike market it’s clear they aren’t stopping there with this e-gravel bike on show, plus a flat bar version.
The Gosford e-bike gets a Fauza motor with a 250wH battery, same as the Kinesis e-bike above. The gravel bike gets some seriously chunky rubber (650x47c) and a 70 degree head angle but unfortunately only comes in thress sizes 52, 54 and 56. For most of us though, there will be a size to fit and given the full SRAM Rival groupset £3,499 seems a pretty good price.
We will take a closer look at this bike next week and show you some more photos then.
There was the E-150 that we have seen before plus a long travel version, the E-180 with 27.5″ wheels.
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Sector GCi and i9 wheels
Sector wheels are new from Kinesis, the brand bringing new carbon gravel and 29er wheelsets to the table in the first instance. The carbon wheels use tech from Innegra, a fibre in the layup of their carbon which Kinesis says allows for 50% more vertical compliance than a standard carbon rim.
The details you can see on the rim are the fibres and carbon itself – pretty striking, huh?
The GCi (Gravel Carbon Innegra) wheelset is 38mm deep and has a 30mm internal width (no weight know yet. The 9i is the 29er wheelset which has a 29mm internal width and weighs 1,690g. Both will retail at £1,100 and will be available in November/December. There is a 7i (27.5″) option on the way too.
USE Exposure lights
Exposure had loads on show including Sync tech which uses a new customisable handlebar remote, updates their Reflex tech which means the change in light from dim to bright is more pronounced and also power increases for its main mountain bike lights. The Sixpack now punches out a mighty 5000 lumens and the Diablo is up 250 lumens to 1,750.
The brand also launched e-bike integrated lights, you can buy these units and wire them straight into your e-bike utilising the power from the battery of the bike.
Camelbak
Camelbak always brings something new to the hydration pack party and this year is no different. There is a redesigned MULE, new stealthy hip packs the Podium Flow Belt and the Stash Belt if you don’t need to carry a bottle on you back.
The Chase Vest line up also gets a revamp with a larger 8L one on offer to hold more kit and water in the vest style, plus one with a back protector!
The low riding Skyline also gets an update, with new look and a sturdy, stiffened belt wrapping around the pack to keep the low slung contents more stable and closer to the body.
Focus Sam 9.9
Lastly, we snuck a quick look at the new Focus Sam, aside from a nice looking frame and a reasonable price tag, there’s not much new about the geometry compared to last year. For £4,199 you get 170mm of travel, Fox 36 Rhythm fork, DPX2 Shock, SRAM X01 Eagle, SRAM Code RSC brakes, Raceface cockpit and Maxxis Assegai tyres – quite the line up for 4k.
Keep an eye out for our video of the best bikes at the show, plus first looks of the Kinesis Rise and the Whyte Gosford, have a good time if you visit the show this year!
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