The best tech on show at Eurobike 2022, complete with Pogacar's sunglasses, Classified's 'front derailleur killer' hubs, some weight weenie delights, bling anodised components and more
(Image credit: Will Jones)
Eurobike is the biggest bike show in Europe, as you can probably imagine from the name. It's truly enormous, spanning multiple halls and multiple floor levels, along with a sizeable outdoor testing area. Brands use it to showcase new and existing tech, bikes, clothing, accessories, and some weird and wonderful miscellaneous stuff too. We spent two days wandering the halls sorting the wheat from the chaff so you can view an easy-to-digest highlight reel.
There are some things that warranted a separate article in their own right, which allowed us to get into the nerdy tech details in a little more detail. These included the introduction of 3D printed chamois pads, the 350TPI criterium-specific tyres from Challenge, and Classified's deal with seven wheel brands. For everything else, we'll furnish you with all the key details below.
If you're not heading to Eurobike then sit back and have a scroll, you might find some surprising things, and if you are, be sure to try and find these things in person.
Brand new tech
This year you'd have been forgiven for thinking Eurobike was an eBike show. While some years there is a flurry of new releases at the show itself, this year brand new gear was a little thin on the ground. Nonetheless, we did manage to weedle a sneak preview of some new wheels from Hunt, a brand new Basso road bike, tyres, and some prototype sunglasses that are currently gracing the youthful face of Tadej Pogačar as he tries to defend his yellow jersey.
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Wheel brand Hunt didn't have a stand of their own this year, but we did spot them skulking around with some wheel bags, so we cornered them in a dark alley* and got a sneak peek of the new 48 and 60 Limitless UD Carbon Spoke wheels. These wheels don't officially exist yet, but expect more in the coming weeks. The basic premise is very similar to the current Limitless wheelsets, but this time with stiffer, unidirectional straight pull carbon spokes as opposed to steel.
In addition to these, there's a treat for the proper wheel nerds; a new, better-fitting, stickier rim tape that's been in development for 18 months.
*they asked us to have a coffee with them in the sun and talk about wheels.
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Italian purveyors of extremely lovely looking bicycles are worthy of two unofficial awards as far as we're concerned: Firstly, its stand was home to the smallest and strongest of Italian coffees, and secondly this was the only brand new road bike launch at the show, or at least the only one worth covering; the Basso Diamante.
The key points here are that it is an entirely new frame with a longer reach. at 750g in a size 56 the frameset is feathery, but not so much so that there wasn't a sneaky tool hidden in the rear axle. It's available in three colourways and builds using either Shimano or SRAM componentry.
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Italian tyre brand Challenge had not one but three new tyres to show off; an updated tread for the perennial Gravel Grinder, a wider 45mm version of the all road Strada Biancha, and a hyper-supple new crit tyre featuring a 350tpi sidewall and new rubber compound to compliment the new tread pattern.
Not only that, every tyre from its range was displayed on a series of alarmingly light Schmolke carbon rims, just to add a soupçon of totally unnecessary, but very welcome bling to proceedings.
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While not launched quite so soon as some things here, the new FSA 12 speed electronic groupset was still making its first in-the-flesh appearance. You can read more about it in our release piece, but the thing that really caught our eye was its use of quick-release hydraulic hose linkages at the brake callipers, making it possible to remove them from the frame for cleaning and servicing, or replacing, without having to bleed the system. Cleaner and easier, which is a clear win in our books.
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Lezyne treated us to a range of small nifty solutions, the most interesting one for us being a new tyre plug adapted from car tyre technology. They are installed by hand from the inside of a cleaned tyre, and glued in place like a traditional inner tube patch before being snipped off; effectively a 3D tyre boot that is claimed to last the lifetime of the tyre. There were also a couple of AirTag holders, a new pocket torque wrench, and a travel digital track pump.
Eagle-eyed followers of the Tour may have spotted Tadej Pogačar rocking a new pair of Scicon sunglasses, an as-yet-unnamed prototype. While we don't have any information or a name, we do have a picture, showing vents at the nose bridge and two enormous ones at the eyebrows, presumably to encourage airflow to avoid fogging in hot and humid conditions.
3D printed comfort
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3D printing technology and saddles are a growing category. Specialized and Fizik have led the charge for a couple of years, but a few pro riders have been using one from Cadex, and now Selle Italia is joining the charge - as per the images above.
However, what's particularly new is 3D printing in chamois pads, which is being pioneered by Elastic Interface and Endura. Endura is a forward-thinking clothing brand from Scotland, while Elastic Interface is one of the world's largest suppliers of chamois pads to the industry. Both look promising, and you can read more about it in our coverage of the 3D printed chamois pads.