What were you talking about in 2022? A recap of the year's top stories

As another year barrels towards its endpoint I've decided to do away with Tech of the Month, mostly because the only cool tech I've received in the post in December so far has been an absolutely fantastic, but not overly technical, blue cap from Ouseburn Bike Works. It simply says "bikes" on it, so all my friends know just how one-dimensional I am. 

Instead of the usual monthly recap of content, and a slew of goodies from the postbox, I'm going to take you on a chronological journey through the top stories of the year; what you've been talking about, and what we've been talking about most in the office too. 

Buckle up, it's been a bit of a wild year. There have been crashes, exploding wheels, new tech galore, and as always, there are pro riders giving it both barrels at disc brakes. It happens every year, and we never get sick of it. 

Mohoric "destroys cycling" in March

Nothing much happened in January and February, or at least not enough to trouble our top stories list. The blockbuster stories effectively began in March when Matej Mohoric dropped like a stone off the Poggio to win Milan-San Remo on a bike equipped with a dropper post, as well as noticeably enlarged brake rotors borrowed from Shimano's XTR mountain bike groupset. 

"I've destroyed cycling... now I think everyone will start to use dropper posts" might be one of the quotes of the season from Mohoric, and certainly one of the most misplaced given that we haven't seen one since, even in races with notable final descents such as Lombardy. That is apart from when he used one again at the Tour, finishing suitably mid-pack as the breakaway took the stage. Mohoric himself even conceded that he hasn't seen much enthusiasm for droppers while at a team camp in Spain later in the year.

Chris Froome (April) showers derision on disc brakes

There are three certainties in life: Birth, Death, and taxes Chris Froome having a whinge about disc brakes. Another certainty to add to that list is 'people loving to read about Chris Froome having a whinge about disc brakes'; we love it too, don't worry. It creates discussion, sometimes arguments, but regardless of his protests, the industry seems hell-bent on killing off the rim brake.

I'm a big fan of rim brakes, I even put rim brake pads in my Gear of the year, but even I will admit that from a pure performance standpoint discs are superior. The four-time Tour de France champion's main bugbear with the system seems to be rubbing issues.

I cannot speak for Christopher, his experiences are his own, but with a properly faced mounting area (which should be well within the abilities of a WorldTour mechanic), combined with the larger pad gap seen in Shimano's groupsets from 105 to Dura-Ace, I respectfully think he's barking up the wrong tree.

The more difficult maintenance and servicing involved with discs is another thing entirely, especially with total cable and hose integration seen on high-end bikes now, but rubbing and alignment are solvable problems.

Tech teasers and tech disasters at Roubaix

Paris-Roubaix always gets people talking. Every year there is some piece of new tech, a crash, a surprise winner, a far-out forecast of rain, or some other disaster that causes the intern we use to count all of our page views individually into a frenzy. It's why we give him double coffee rations for the day. 

This year we saw team DSM claim it was to use the Scope Atmoz in-race tyre pressure 'management system', before then claiming it would hold it for the Tour instead, before then backtracking away from using it in any races at all this season. It's certainly an interesting system though, consisting of a remote control compressed air reservoir contained in the hubs, allowing riders to deflate and reinflate their tyres at will (with certain caveats). It got us talking as much as it did you. 

Not only that, but it seems we all love a bit of a disaster, and two of Jumbo-Visma's wheels folding in half over the cobbles of Roubaix provided more than enough catastrophe for April. The team have swapped to tubeless and Reserve wheels for the 2023 season, so maybe they'll have better luck when the Queen of the classics rolls around again.

When is 1x not 1x?

We've not seen 1x in the pro peloton since the ignominious demise of Aqua Blue Sport, and probably for good reason: Why would you diminish your gear range, except for a very good reason, such as a flat TT? Classified has always provided a quality talking point, with it's two speed powershift hub, but seeing one fitted in the pro peloton really got everyone going. 

Uno-X, the team spotted with some riders using it, isn't one of the big names, and the Tour de Hongrie isn't a huge race either, but the fact a team was willing to use it in a race despite the risk of not being compatible with neutral service is significant. The system has the potential to improve aerodynamics and reduce chain drops without a weight penalty, and having used it myself, it shifts very well indeed, easily as well as a front derailleur. It was even rated very highly in our Classified Powershift review. Will we see more adoption in the classics of 2023?

Jumping ahead to July, it's clear you're all dead keen to know more about Classified hubs, given that Classified striking a deal with seven major wheel brands also caught the eye of many of you. Hopefully, this means we will see the system built into more bikes that we can then test for you, such was the case with Josh's recent Ridley Grifn review. 

May also gave us the Giro d'Italia, during which Wilko Kelderman brought us another disc brake story; perhaps he and Mr Froome should get together over a mulled wine this festive season. Here are the headlines, presented without comment, all published within 48hrs:

• Kelderman blames discs after losing 10 minutes at Giro d'italia
• Specialized rejects Kelderman's Giro d'Italia disc brake complaints
• Kelderman says disc brakes did not cause broken spokes on Giro d'Italia

Epic. 

How much?!

This is usually the response at the dinner table over the festive season when a family member asks how much your lovely new bike cost. It doesn't really seem to matter how much it cost; I've had the same reaction whether it's £800 or £8,000.

Still, spare a thought for those poor Tour de France riders, they've got even more explaining to do. We dived into how much a Tour de France bike costs, and it's certainly enough to warrant handing your grandma a stiff glass of sherry before telling her the bottom line. 

Spare a thought, too, for poor Filippo Ganna's dear old Nonna - Nonna Ganna, as she'll now be known - as not only was his Pinarello Bolide TT bike the most expensive at the Tour, we also took a look in October at his full gear list for his successful Hour Record, and broke down the total cost to be somewhere in the region of €75k. 

Hypebeasts invade pro cycling yet again

Only the second Rapha X Palace collaboration has caused as much of a fuss about kit as the original collab did in the leadup to the 2020 Giro d'Italia. 

For 2022, the team-up was back, and the EF-EasyPost Kit was as weird as we expected. It really split opinion, both in the office and online generally, but regardless of which side of the fence you sat on it certainly lit up the switchboard. 

Personally, the kit is not for me, but the bikes looked sensational. Feel free to fight me in the comments. 

Two top stories from the tour

The Tour de France is the biggest race of the year, and by some measures, it's the biggest sporting event on the planet. Naturally it develops some intrigue, plenty of discussion, and a couple of popular stories. Was it a key stage win? Was it a doping scandal? No, it was the weird helmets seen at the opening time trial. 

To be fair, some of them looked very odd indeed, so we don't blame y'all for giving this precedence over, say Tom Pidcock's incredible stage win up Alpe d'Huez. What was interesting, though, following his stage win there was only one question on everyone's lips (or fingers, because typing): where can I buy Tom Pidcock's tyres? Clearly, his edge-of-the-seat descent of the Col du Galibier had many of you wondering if some fresh rubber could transform you into a descending demon.

Worlds disaster (and then triumph) for Van Vleuten 

Annemiek van Vleuten is a truly sensational cyclist, but disaster can befall even the most consummate professionals. No sooner had she rolled off the start ramp of the mixed relay time trial was she on the deck, and nobody could work out why. 

Initial reports suggested an exploded tyre, and while the tyre did definitely part company with the rim in a dramatic fashion, our sleuthing of the footage led to a different conclusion; yes the tyre burst, and the wheel in fact snapped, but all as a result of a chain that inexplicably shifted from the big ring to the small. 

We'll never know whether it was an accidental shift on her part or a mechanical mishap, but the resulting tumble led to a broken elbow. Undeterred, the Dutchwoman valiantly took to the startline of the road race just days later, went full send in the final few kilometres and took home the rainbow bands. Ongelofelijk!

We took all the wheels to the wind tunnel

August, a long hot month. There was a heatwave, I had a COVID-induced fever. What I really needed was a giant fan to cool me off. As you can imagine, I was rather jealous that our Tech Editor, Josh, took ten aero wheels to the wind tunnel for testing. 

While we were able to give an independent set of results concerning which wheels are the most aerodynamic, his testing threw up more questions than it answered, particularly around whether the aero differences between the sets of wheels are truly significant in the greater context of a bike and rider system. 

Lawsuits and UCI bans define October

While other platforms are available, Zwift is the biggest name in indoor cycling, and so for them to release a smart trainer, the new Zwift Hub, was news in itself. Nothing gets people talking about a new product quite like a lawsuit, though, and Wahoo's decision to sue Zwift over the Hub's alleged similarity to its own Kickr Core smart trainer. 

In a pleasingly symmetrical 'release followed by legal action' the new Bianchi Oltre landed in October with some radical air ducts on the headtube, only for those same air ducts to be immediately banned by the UCI, to the surprise of nobody. 

November Rain

We put a lot of time and effort into testing, and while we overhauled some of our key buyer's guides for winter, the things that were really of interest to all of you lovely people were the lessons we learned in testing, rather than the product reviews themselves. 

Six things I learned testing waterproof cycling jackets was my attempt to convey the more generic advice I could offer for staying dry and comfortable in a deluge, and likewise Josh Ross put together a similar piece with six things he learned testing winter gloves. 

Specific product recommendations are always good, but arming you with the knowledge to make better buying decisions yourselves is our primary aim. 

December, a month for sleuthing

Here we are, the end of 2022. What have you been talking about at the close of the year? The biggest story of the month, and in fact the year as a whole has been that PFC bans are set to change the face of all waterproof garments. It started with the news that the Shakedry fabric is set to be retired by Gore, but thanks to some brilliant investigative work by Josh Ross we discovered there are going to be knock-on implications for the whole outdoors industry, and anything that involves a waterproof fabric. 

In addition, two new patent stories caught your collective eyes: firstly, one that implies Shimano may be about to reinvent the rear derailleur, and the other chock full of some crazy ideas from SRAM, including new suspension forks, solar-powered mudguards, and thru-axle batteries.

On a rather sad note to close we were left with the news that Specialized is cutting ties with many of its brand ambassadors. To counterpoint the sadness we (I say we, but I mean Josh Ross again - he's had a busy month) highlighted brands and athletes creating content without a race focus, and it seemed to resonate with a lot of you. 

That's a wrap folks. Thanks for coming along for the ride, I hope you're getting some rest over the festive period, and all of us here at Cyclingnews look forward to seeing you in the New Year for more tech content! 

Oh, and I almost forgot the most important thing of all: here's my new cap.