(tribal drums and metal slashing)
- Welcome to the GCN Tech Show.
And a happy New Year.
This week we've got a new track bike,
a new gravel bike and some
super lightweight tech too.
- Plus, our predictions
of what's going to happen
in the world of bike tech in 2020.
- Oh, yes.
(tribal drums and metal slashing)
- That's 2019 done.
(slashing sound)
2020.
(punch)
Firstly, there can't be anymore
gravel bikes launched this year.
I'm surely, there were
every single gravel bike
was launched last year.
- Wait and see.
(laughing)
- One thing though,
is could 2020 be a year for
a new Shimano Dual Racer?
Because, like, history repeats itself.
History tells us that
all the other dual racers
tend to have a four-year
development cycle,
meaning that we see one every four years.
And 2020 happens to be four
years since the last one,
so we've not seen or heard anything yet.
But, we'll keep our eyes peeled.
- Yeah that's right
Pop around, you know,
mechanics trucks at races
and see what we can find.
Ah, something else I think
is going to be big in 2020
is got to be tubeless tires.
Now, we have already seen
riders using them a little bit
in races in 2019 and also before.
Tony Martin, he won,
actually that was with the
clincher type won with tubers.
But anyway, tubeless tires
have been used to victory
last year, old news, Fabio Jakobsen
won a stage in tour in California.
Alexander Kristoff at Bevelheim as well.
So, tubeless tires, I reckon,
are going to make a bit
of an impact in 2020.
- Yeah, and we've seen them
last season using them a lot
in front wheels on time
trials, not on rear wheels.
The main reason for that as
far as we can ascertain is
because there aren't many
wheel sponsors that have
a tubeless compatible rear
time trial disk at the moment.
That's going to change, you think.
- Yeah, definitely.
And I know it will because I
saw a prototype at the Euro.
Someone was using one.
- Who was it?
- Can say.
- Oh.
- Ace, he made me swear
and do an alliance and an oath
and all this sorts of bits and pieces
and I can't tell you, I'm afraid,
but one will come out in 2020.
- Meanwhile, tubeless tires
are definitely going
to become more popular.
We will see them in time trials
and I think amongst people
like us riding around.
We're going to use tubeless more and more.
I still don't see the
pros fully embracing them
especially in normal stage races
and that's because having
spoken to the teams
they're aware that there is
a rolling resistance benefit
with tubeless and you can seal
punctures with the sealant.
But, there's a couple of drawbacks
which stop them using them.
So, one of them is, they feel
there's a safety element.
So, in a pro race when you're on a descent
if you get a puncture the
tubular tire is deemed to be
safer by the pros in terms
that it stays on the rim
and it is less likely to
rub all off when it's flat.
And the other thing is,
when you do get a flat on a tubular
you can actually, kind of,
ride it and continue
to ride it a little bit
and this is deemed to be
better in terms of saving time.
So, you can continue to roll along
and not lose as much ground
on the rest of the peloton
when you do get a puncture
while your team car comes up
and gives you a spare wheel.
So, you can't really ride a
flat clincher or tubeless tire.
- Yeah, the pros are probably
the hardest people out
there to convince to change
because, well, they do
it day in and day out.
Something else for 2020, indoor training.
I've seen nothing to suggest
that the growth of that
will not continue it's rise.
I think last year it was so popular,
and, in fact, Strava, the
online ride-sharing portal
if you like, they show
that so far 16% of rides
were actually done on indoor trainers
compared to 2018 it was 5 1/2%.
Impressive stats.
- [Ollie] That's a massive,
massive leap, isn't it?
- Right, okay,
something else which is going
to gain traction is e-bikes
in 2020
- Yeah.
- Yeah, both in terms of
popularity as well as acceptance.
Yeah, I might get one, yeah.
I think they're actually great
because they allow people who
may not feel confident enough
to go on group rides on a normal bike
to be able to go along now.
And, they were given a hard
time in the past, let's face it.
People thought, oh, you're on
an e-bike, you're cheating.
No, there are a few people who do that
but the majority of
people are not doing that
so I just think they're
a great, great idea.
- Yeah, I think we should try
and build one on the channel.
See if we can do like a backyard one.
- I'm pretty good, pretty good
with the old soldering iron.
(chuckles)
So I'll give it a go.
(morse code signal)
- I've got one big final prediction.
- Go on.
- for 2020.
All bikes in 2020 are finally
going to conform to one single
universal bottom bracket standard.
- No, it will not happen.
- Why not?
- No.
- Oh.
- Yeah.
Yeah, well you're going to say that.
- That's a dream, Jon.
- If you're going to say
that then I'm going to say
they're all going to have one
universal derailleur hanger too.
- That's the dream.
- Bike manufacturers,
that is what we really,
really want in 2020.
(deep breath)
- You heard it here first.
(tribal drums with metal slashing)
All right, hot tech now
and LOOK have released a new
track bike that's going to be used
by the French Cycling Federation
at the Tokyo Olympics.
- Yes, the Olympics arms race
clotting up now that we predicted.
Well, this is the new T20 from LOOK
and it's set to
- T20?
- Yeah, like Cricket, yeah.
- Nice.
- Well, it's said to
replace the R96 which was
LOOk's previous track bike
which you may recognize from
previous Olympics having been ridden to,
well, loads of victories.
- Nice work, indeed.
And according to LOOK
the T20 is a whopping
800 grams lighter than the R96 bike.
I mean, that is an awful lot.
It's got 11% reduction in drag
and also it is 27% stiffer
or better power transfer
which is good news when you
got a wattage bazooka monsters
like Gregory Borgs kicking
out some serious power
on the boards of the Velodrome.
- Nice.
- Nice, indeed.
- Yeah, he's cool.
It's entirely made in LOOK's
HQ in Nevers in France as well,
which is pretty cool cause
I've been to that factory.
Pretty interesting to see that.
Anyway, one little thing is
said to help contribute to that
improved stiffness on the bike
is the special new integrated
dropout within the frame
designed to work in conjunction
with the new wheels which come from Corima
so that's, sort of, a
two-part collaboration.
It's great the whole system of the wheels
where they probably slide into the frame.
Which is interesting
because that's also a gain
that we've seen employed
with the new Lotus Hope bike
- Yeah.
- and the wheels
and the dropouts on that as well.
So, clearly the engineers
have spotted that there's
a stiffness gain to be made there.
And, when these guys, they're so powerful,
- Yeah.
- like they notice.
I mean like, I spoke to guys
from the BG sprint teams before
like Philip Hines and stuff
and one of the funny things is
they actually keep a sort of
bragging tally of how many parts and bikes
and stuff that they're
actually able to break
due to their extreme high power.
So, for these guys this kind
of gain of making the bike
as stiff as possible is really important.
- Hines, actually, he reckons
he's got as much torque
from a standing start as a super car.
(Ollie laughing)
Seriously, he told me that.
Absolutely incredible.
Now, that bike as well is going
to be available in a drop bar
version like we've already
mentioned for the sprinters
but also importantly,
one which is suitable for the pursuit too.
Lovely they can make it.
Right then, Portuguese company Gelu,
I'm sure I've said that
completely incorrectly.
I've sent in this, the K3 saddle.
Have a look at that Ollie.
- This is bonkers.
- Yeah.
That is probably the
world's lightest saddle.
I can't think of anything which, I mean,
yeah, all right, Ollie, you
can do that with any saddle.
It weighs, though, just 38 grams which,
I mean, if you could feel it
through the screen right now
you would be amazed.
- It is insane.
- Yeah, it doesn't feel
rideable but it is.
I've seen videos of people riding on them.
As you can see, it's nicely
cut away here in the middle
to relieve any pressure.
And, we've also got some
drilled out holes there too
and the rail is there integrated nicely.
It does cost a fair bit, though.
- How much?
- 495 euros, but,
but, if you're obsessed with
making your bike super light
that is the lengths people
go to, let's face it.
Right, one of the worst things
about descending has to be
the chill you get on your
chest especially after you get
a bit of a sweat on during the ascent.
And, well, sometimes a jacket
can be just a little bit
too cumbersome can't it?
- Yeah, also flaps around a bit
as well that slows you down.
- Yep, so the folks at
Albion have produced this,
a chest protector.
- Wow.
- How cool is that?
- It looks like, actually, mom's duvet.
- Yeah, and it's probably, well,
is almost actually man's size as well.
It's absolutely minuscule.
- Well, that goes down your, down there.
- Yeah, so pros, you know, traditionally,
you still see it happen
to them in grand tours,
spectators at the side of the road
hand out sheets of newspaper,
they stuff it down their jersey
and then they head on down the descent.
We don't have that pleasure,
do we, on our rides, really?
- No, plus it's not very
eco-friendly is it unless you
recycle the newspaper after you use it.
- I don't reckon it.
Or maybe they read it at the bottom.
But, either way, I had
one of these given to me,
not the one from Albion,
it was from Mellini years ago.
It was made from chamois.
Now, that thing was pretty cool,
you just shoved it down there, it worked.
But this is so, so neat
because, see what Ollie's doing?
He's folding it.
You don't have to fold up this bad boy
instead you can just scrumple it
back into its own pocket
inside, that's super cool.
And while it weighs nothing, as well.
Just like that saddle,
it's really minimalistic.
- It can't weigh nothing.
- Well, all right.
- I mean that's a lie.
I mean matter has a weight.
I mean like hydrogen atoms
even they don't weigh nothing.
(Jon sighs)
- All right, (Ollie
laughing) it costs 35 pounds
but a great bit of kit
that ideal stuffs in
look how small.
- It goes to nothing.
- Ollie, that can't just be nothing.
(laughing) 35 pounds, lovely.
- Evil has just launched this.
It's called the Chamois
Hagar or is it Hagar.
- Yeah, we don't know, it's H-A-G-A-R.
- Hagar, yeah.
- They call it that Hagar.
Shall we Hagar?
- Well, either way, it looks
like a rigid mountain bike.
It just kind of looks like it.
That geometry would be
ideally suited to riding
proper, proper off road.
- Yeah, it looks so relaxed.
The sort of thing you go
on and you just are like,
wow, this is easy.
- Yeah.
Well, I wouldn't but.
- Maybe we'll get in Vadalti and you know,
send him off to a world cup,
downhill, see if he could ride it.
- Yeah.
- Rather than stitching you up.
- Yeah.
(screw gun whirling)
- [High-Pitch] Cha-ching.
- It's now time for screw
riding up grades buy upgrades
where you submit evidence of
the upgrades that you've made
to your bikes or equipment
for a chance to win the
ultimate prize, the GCN cap.
- And, we have got a winner to announce.
Cause a couple of weeks
ago we had to very hotly
hot contenders, really,
and the votes were very, very close.
Just a quick recap then.
It was between Jack and
his Marin old Manson bike
into a gravel bike conversion
and Daniel with his TT bike
into drop bar conversion.
Well, the winner was Jack.
- [Ollie] (whispering) 56% of the votes.
- Probably the closest we've
had in quite some time.
- So, gravel beat TT.
- Gravel beat, well, basically,
a drop bar gravel bike.
Yeah.
(Ollie deeply exhales)
It beat the TT bike into a road bike
but, yeah, anyway, get in
touch with us on Facebook
to arrange delivery of that cap.
Both of them were very worthy contenders.
- They were.
- This week, going to battle, then,
we've got Doppler from location unknown.
Doppler had a project
that took three months.
A Cinelli Sentiero.
- Look at that.
- Cinelli, of course, known
for their drop handlebar fame
more than flat bar.
The frame is kicking about
and Doppler did his business.
Apparently, Doppler had this
bike rebuilt with what they
call a mullet-ish drive train.
- That means it's short in
the front, long in the back.
- So, yeah, mullet-ish drive train.
A SRAM eagle rear mech and cassette
and Sugino mighty cranks
with a wolf-tooth chain ring.
Shifting is taken care of
by the Gevenalle levers,
a very interesting bit of kit to be said.
Those massive bars are from Crust bikes
and it's the towel-rack model
with a yellow orange stem
DT swiss rims, Shimano hubs
and a Busch & Muller lighting rig.
This is a big upgrade all
around and well, big, big bars.
- What do you know?
I have to say, I love that finish.
That kind of satin gray finish.
- Yeah, won't stay like that for long.
- Looks dead smart, though.
- Yeah, it does.
But, that's the first contender, Doppler.
- Yes, Doppler he's got
a battle on his hands
because he's up from, well,
he's up against Robert Mayes.
Robert Mayes has this FasTop
copy frame from the 70's
or 80's, he's not sure.
Do we know?
- No.
- Maybe you know, let
us know your comments.
- Robert doesn't know.
- And, he's restored it
to this beautiful bike
which he's put Shimano 105 on.
He's also put some hollow
ground wheels on there.
Robert says that this restoration,
now this is the big thing with this one,
it cost just 600 euros.
- Okay, well, let's have a look.
There's the old, bit blurry
that photo, isn't it?
- Yes, not very Doppler's photo.
- No, no, a lot to be said for that.
Look at the original drillium, though.
Chain rings.
- Yeah, chain rings.
- [Jon] Is that a--
no, for a minute though,
I thought it was an original
Dura-Ace Mac on that one.
Dura-Ace Mac from the early 90's.
It's definitely not.
It looks all right.
- Yeah, he has transformed that hasn't he?
- Yeah, I saw a lot of the chrome lugs.
Just wish we had some more before,
interesting bar angle too.
Saddled very far forward on the rails.
- The, eh, something is
annoying me a little bit.
- Yep.
- Miss-matched tires.
- Are they?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, they are.
- You have a Toya on the
front, Conti on the back.
- Yeah, that is, Robert.
- Yeah, that's--
- We're not angry were just disappointed.
- Yeah, yeah, I'll say.
- But, it's a
Do you know, I really
something I really like.
- It's not for us, though.
- No, you can vote both here
interactively on the screen
or also on the app.
- Yes.
- Robert or Doppler.
- You decide.
(tribal drums with metal slashing)
- All right, now time for the bike vote
and you know the drill by now.
We haven't changed it, oh, no, no, no, no.
So if you've got a bike
which you want to submit
you can use the uploader
or better still use the app
because that comes through to
us in super fast digital time.
- Yeah,
- And that's a fact.
- It's more likely to be featured
if it comes through the app.
- Yeah, that's right.
And, if you get rated nice,
well, you just get thumbs up
from us, I think?
- All right, yeah, okay.
- And, if you get super nice
(clanging cow bell) some of that.
Right, okay, Ollie, who's
the first one this week?
- First up this week we have Len Yang
who's from a location unknown.
- [Jon] That's a nice place, though.
- [Ollie] Maybe they're a secret agent.
Well, that's the era that
David Kirk, Kirk frameworks.
- That's nice, isn't it?
- His with Campagnolo
course 11-speed on this.
Nice DT Swiss wheels as well
and Vittoria tires finishing off.
- What looks great about
that is the shallow sectioned
wheels.
- Yes.
- That's not a retro bike or anything.
This is a brand new modern bike
and it looks, I think, fantastic.
Therefore, it's going to get super nice.
The first super nice of 2020.
- Isn't it?
- Official.
(loud cow bell clanging)
All right, next up we got J. Harvey 86,
again, location unknown.
It's very important, viewers,
to actually include your
location because we love to know
what corner of the globe you're from.
This is J. Harvey's Canyon Road light.
Look at that.
Well, someone's discovered
the old HDR button on the--
- Yeah.
- photo shop, I think.
- I mean, HDR, high-dynamic
range, can look great
but like anything, I'm a big fan of it,
but like anything too much of
anything can be a bad thing.
And I think this is a classic example
of just HDR pushed too far.
- Happy New Year, J. Harvey.
- Starting to look like a cartoon.
- You're really bright, you
need to just take it off
and put a new piece on
that just where it joins
the caliber and leaves the
actual bust on the frame
because it's very short there
and you could be getting core breaking--
- Compromises breaking.
- So we just want to give
you that little bit of tip.
- Biggie big man.
- Yeah, biggie big.
- I mean, not much in bottles.
This could have been an
absolutely stellar photo.
- I mean, he picked a nice location.
- Yeah, it's a nice bike.
- Yeah.
- Yep, right.
What have we got next then?
- We've got Aduei.
I hope I've pronounced that correctly.
- [Jon] Adeuee, Arduie.
- [Ollie] Anyway, Marina Bay.
It's the cruise center in Singapore.
Look at that massive ship behind him.
- [Jon] Aw, look at that.
- [Ollie] Sort of specialized SL6
with Shimano Ultegra R8000
eeBrakes, like those, fancy.
- [Jon] Aduei knows his stuff.
- [Ollie] There's company
Bora 150's as well.
That's a cool bike.
- [Jon] That is, isn't it?
- An oversized pulley
resistance of some sort.
- [Ollie] Yeah, it
looks cool, gold chains.
- [Jon] I always really liked
those specialized paint work.
- [Ollie] It's like,
sort of, digital camo.
But it's like saying,
I'm camouflaged , I'm digital camo.
But then, I'm not camouflaged
cause I got a bright pink S Works logo.
(puff)
- [Jon] Take that.
And I think there Speedplay
Pave' pedals as well, isn't it?
- [Ollie] Yeah.
- [Jon] Michelin power tires.
I never seen Michelin
tires that much anymore.
It looks like a really
nice bike, isn't it?
- [Ollie] (muffled speaking)
- [Jon] Yeah, I really like those.
- [Ollie] These ones?
- [Jon] Yeah, do you
want to ring it, then?
This is your super nice.
- [Ollie] Eh, I'll do it next time.
- Okay. (loud cow bell clanging)
Next time, right.
Now we got Hannah Ledenbacker.
Unknown location, again.
Or maybe Ledenbacker is
the location, who knows.
Rosa SL--
- I'm going to google it.
- Okay, Pro Lady 2019
Shimano Ultegra R8000, right.
First up, we got a tiki
bit of Cheles on this bike.
You know I love a bit of Cheles.
There on the bar tape
because that matches, of course,
the inside of the forks
as well as the rear stays.
I think that's a really nice bike
and it's, is it gray or white?
- So I don't think Ledenbach is a place.
- Okay, so it's obviously
Hannah Ledenbach.
Is it gray or is it white frame?
- I think it's like an off, off-whitey.
- [Jon] I think it could
be like, moon dust.
- [Ollie] I think it's an
off-whitey kind of color.
And the gray from the
bottle cages might be there
but, I mean, it's nicely cleaned,
the valves have been lined up.
This is the biggie smalls.
- [Jon] It's a really
nice looking bike there.
- [Ollie] Yes, I think--
- [Jon] Yeah, I'm saying it.
- [Ollie] Yeah.
- [Jon] I reckon that is somewhere
about the Canary Islands.
- [Ollie] Yeah, yeah.
- [Jon] Or something like that.
I just recognize the tiling.
- [Ollie] Like maybe
Tenerife or something.
- [Jon] Something like grand Canary.
Right, super nice,
Hannah. (cow bell clangs)
Happy New Year.
Right, who you've got now.
- Now we've got Kichi who's in London
and that is an amazing bike.
So Kichi has got a Cervelo RCA.
- [Jon] There was only like a
couple hundred of those made.
- [Ollie] Yes, not many of them
so, they're not made anymore, are they?
- [Jon] No, a 2015?
- [Ollie] Yes, so this
was a project by Cervelo
to make like the ultimate
light weight bike
using all the best carbon
fiber techniques available
and they found that
this could only be done
in very small numbers in Canada.
- [Jon] Yep, (laughs) of all places.
- [Ollie] Well, that's where they're based
but like they couldn't do it in Taiwan
or where most of the bikes are made.
And so, they could only
make it at very high cost
in small numbers and
the result is the RCA.
Ridiculously light frame, beautiful frame,
not many of them as Jon says.
This build said to be 5.2 kilograms
probably helped by those
outrageous Karma 47 MC wheels.
- [Jon] Yeah, I love those.
They're in one piece aren't they?
Bit like light weight?
- [Ollie] Yeah, well they have those
really thick carbon spokes.
Obviously, it's like a sort of,
five-bladed design but
with doubled up spokes.
- [Jon] And not used in our
league are they, though?
- [Ollie] No, its like ten-spoke wheels.
- [Jon] Yes, two, four, six,
eight, ten, yeah twelve.
Yeah, so you got 16, I think,
minimum, maybe 20, don't know.
Ah, we got THM cranks, red of them,
the old 10-speed stuff,
super light that was.
- [Ollie] That's just
to make it really light.
- [Jon] This is just showing off really.
- [Ollie] THM.
- as well.
- [Jon] Those are light weight
bottle cages it looks like.
A couple of cheeky Cervelo
sort of testing balls there.
- [Ollie] Well, they look
like the bottle cages that we
found at Euro bike that
weighed like four grams.
- [Jon] From Carven Works.
- [Ollie] It was really ridiculous ones.
Sort of THM vehicular brakes.
Do you know what?
That's someone--
- Those Karma wheels were so rad.
- That's someone who's gone
I've got the nicest bike
available to humanity.
So, I don't need,
- I don't know if it is.
- No, this is what they're thinking.
- [Jon] Oh, okay.
- I don't need to play by the rules.
I'm bigger than the rules
because my bike's so amazing.
- No one's bigger than the rules.
- No one's bigger than the rules.
That's a nice.
- That's a nice bike.
More bike vault next week.
Kichi's coming for you.
- Bring it on.
- Bring it on.
- There we go.
Another tech show in the bag.
Another one done and dusty.
- Yeah, first one of 2020.
Hope you've enjoyed and
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