The Sigma Sports Warehouse Clearance landed in my inbox this week, which highlighted some of the best cycling deals they had to offer.

The list was huge and, to be fair, is packed with some real banging discounts.

Shop the Sigma Sports Warehouse Sale.

As Cyclingnews' deal-hunting guru, I've spent several hours sifting through it (so you don't have to), but it quickly became overwhelming, with a ton of items down to the last remnants of stock, and some of it, to be frank, is total garbage.

However, saying the one man's trash is another man's treasure, and who am I to judge if you've been on the hunt for an Oakley Face Mask? Well, the hunt is no longer, because you can relive the COVID-19 days with 97% off and grab it for just 50p. That's a huge £14.50 off the staggering £15 RRP.

After you've picked up one of the best face masks on the market, a new bike might be on your wish list. There are deals across some of the best road bikes and gravel bikes from the likes of Cervelo, Specialized, Trek and more. Including a huge £5,001 off the Cervelo R5 Red XPLR AXS, which is a bike we branded as road bike royalty and awarded a 4.5-star rating.

So the choice is yours, and below you'll find 22 of the best deals, but there are plenty more to be had; you just need to be willing to do some serious sifting.

With it being a clearance, it's the last of the stock, so sizing is limited. We'd say if you see something you're after, then grab it while you can, even if it's that Oakley Face Mask.

The UCI Road World Championships always brings a host of announcements from the governing body, whether they be locations of coming championships, calendar announcements or new technical regulations.

This year’s Montreal championships are no different, the governing body announcing changes in its approach to technical regulations and a review of the Lugano Charter, the 30-year-old document governing the fundamentals of bikes and kit used in racing.

There have long been complaints that the Charter has failed to keep pace with technical advances and, though no details are yet known, changes to the Lugano Charter could open the way for major changes to the bikes ridden in UCI sanctioned races.

Established in 1996, the Charter was intended to standardise equipment and to ensure the rider remained the most important component, not the machine. Some of the regulations stemming from the charter include the double triangle shape of a racing bike and the 6.8kg minimum weight limit for road bikes, so controversially breached by Lorena Wiebes during the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia Women this year.

"Thirty years after its adoption, given the evolution of practices, societal issues and safety requirements, it had become necessary to undertake a review of its content," the UCI said of the Charter review.

The UCI has promised the process will be managed to "Avoid any excesses which would compromise safety, fairness, universality or sustainability," and is to consult with industry stakeholders on equipment regulation.

Xavier Disley, the founder of components brand AeroCoach, sits on the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry and has welcomed the proposals.

"The fact they’re willing to revisit the Lugano charter (and the rules that have stemmed from that) is very welcome news," Disley told Cyclingnews. "Technology is ever changing in unpredictable ways and it’s perfectly natural for regulations to change and be updated accordingly.

"Even a small change, like the seat stay dimension box or top tube box, would result in the ability to design very different looking, and different performing frames, for example. There is the other side of it, however, the recent trend of wider forks, seat stays - is this something that a new charter would look to limit further? As that’s what we’ve seen with updates to internal dimensions in those areas, so it would be odd to then relax them back again.

"We could also have a scenario where track is split out from road and TT, creating more room for manoeuvre in terms of design rather than having to fall under the same restrictions for the frame."

As part of its wider approach to equipment regulation, the UCI will establish a "new framework for consultation with cycling industry stakeholders on equipment regulation." This framework will include a number of Technical Committees, each of which will be dedicated to specific areas, including clothing, protective equipment, wheels and tyres, and frames.

These consultative groups are potentially a major step forward given that some manufacturers have accused the governing body of a lack of consultation. Last year wheel brand Swiss Side called for a science-based approach to regulations after the introduction of limits on wheel rim depth came into force at the start of 2026.

And consultation might have prevented the legal battle between the UCI and SRAM following the proposed introduction of regulations governing gear ratios. That regulation was designed to reduce racing speeds and improve safety by setting an upper limit on the size of gear that racers can use, but by proxy, it effectively banned the American company’s drivetrain due to its use of a smaller 10-tooth cog at the rear cassette.

The UCI says a draft of the updated Lugano Charter will will be made available early next year ahead of consultation with interested parties, including manufacturers, and the finalised Charter will be published later in 2027.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for comprehensive race coverage of both the UCI Road and Gravel World Championships, alongside the final monument of the season, Il Lombardia. Subscribers get unlimited access to exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

If you're preparing for indoor season, then the Zwift Big Weekend Sale has landed. Running until September 28, these limited-time savings are on the updated Zwift Ride V2 bundle and offer huge savings of $300/£200/€200.

Shop the Zwift Big Weekend Sale – Ends September 28.

We are already huge fans of the Zwift Ride and rate it as one of the best smart bikes on the market. Building on the original, the Zwift Ride V2 adds multi-length cranks, expanded saddle adjustability, and a wider-diameter handlebar, making it easy to dial in your perfect fit so you can get riding faster.

These Zwift Ride V2 deals include the Kickr Core 2 and the Cog and Click virtual shifting and gearing system. It now makes what, in our opinion, is the ultimate Zwift experience even more affordable than ever. So whether you're starting indoor riding for the first time or upgrading your current setup, the always-ready Ride is the smart bike setup of choice, designed specifically for Zwift.

Below you'll find the region-specific deals. At this price, they are sure to be popular. Like all the best cycling deals, they are only available while stocks last or until the Zwift Big Weekend Sale ends on September 28.

Zwift Big Weekend Sale deals

In our original Zwift Ride Smart Frame review, we awarded it an impressive 4.5-star rating and considered it a significant step forward for indoor cycling. Highlights include a real ride feel, quiet and customizable virtual gear shifting, and full control of Zwift from your handlebars.

However, as Josh Croxton, Cyclingnews' Associate Editor, noted, it wasn't without its flaws. Questions at the time around the software, handlebar fit, and the fixed cranks meant it missed out on that perfect score.

As if by magic, Zwift has dropped the new V2 and addressed these shortcomings. The V2 model now has multi-length crank arms as standard, so riders can choose between 160, 165, 170, 172.5, and 175mm crank arms. That means the new compact frame will now also accommodate riders from 4'10 to 6'6.

Elsewhere, new additions include an updated seatpost design for more fore-aft adjustability and an overall minor cosmetic update, including a new head tube badge at the front of the bike featuring the Zwift squirrel logo.

The handlebars now have a larger diameter and an oversized, flatter top section designed to give you a wider, more ergonomic surface to rest your hands on.

This October, the Zwift Companion app will also get a fresh new look. Major updates to the home screen will simplify the experience, bringing ride stats front and centre.

Zwift is also set to further expand Watopia, the most popular destination in indoor cycling. Inspired by the West Coast of California and Catalina Island, this expansion adds roughly 18 kilometres of new roads and two crit-style circuits designed specifically for racing.

Mathieu van der Poel rode the Montreal Road World Championships circuit yesterday using the new Dura-Ace R9300 groupset, or at least elements of it.

After months of rumours, a new Dura-Ace groupset finally surfaced at the Vuelta a España last month. More than one of the Alpecin-Premier Tech team's Canyon Aeroad CFR bikes were fitted with the new equipment.

Not much else has been seen of the new groupset since the Vuelta, but Van der Poel himself seems to be testing it publicly now. The Dutchman used it to take two stage wins at the recent Tour de Luxembourg, including his incredible 174-kilometre solo breakaway.

Riders took to the Montreal Worlds circuit yesterday to complete training laps, and photos from the recon time showed Van der Poel riding his Canyon Aeroad with at least the new unreleased shifters fitted to his bike.

We wouldn't be completely surprised if more than one rider's bike is fitted with the new equipment for the weekend's races. Dura-Ace is a groupset designed for racing, and testing it in anger will likely be useful during what we can only assume are its final phases of development before a launch next year.

If you are watching online, the easiest way to tell the shifters apart currently is the lack of any Dura-Ace logos and the more prominent inside shifter buttons.

Van der Poel also reportedly played a key role in developing the new Dura-Ace wheels, which launched in July. Shimano followed these up with a new pedal, shoe and cleat launch last week, which included the new R9300 Dura-Ace pedals that were first spotted way back in April at Paris-Roubaix.

Whilst we don't have any official information, Van der Poel's testing likely creates useful feedback to help refine the groupset, which seems to still be in a testing phase. Don't be surprised if one or two things change before its official launch.

But importantly, Van der Poel used only elements of the groupset at his last race appearance, which perhaps indicates that a complete groupset, which we know will be 13-speed, isn't ready to roll out just yet.

Notably, the Dutchman wasn't using the chainset; the component that drew the most criticism online from Shimano fans.

At the Tour de Luxembourg, he raced on a bike fitted with the new Dura-Ace shifters, which have the new 'bonus button' shifters on the inside of each brake hood, and the new Dura-Ace rear mech, which looks like it's going to remain a wired electronic unit.

But he didn't use the prototype crankset we saw at the Vuelta. The new unit seemed to leave fans underwhelmed online due to its aesthetics; the hollow forged chainrings weren't in use, and the connection between the crank arm and the rings seemed unfinished.

As we speculated in that first story, this adds weight to the theory that the new chainset could still be in development, with further revisions coming.

Unsurprisingly, when asked, Shimano declined to divulge any specific information on Van der Poel's recent usage, saying "Shimano is constantly developing new products, but does not comment on rumours, speculation, or unannounced products."

Van der Poel has played down his chances of taking a second World Road Race title on Sunday, but he's a rider who will always give 100%. A win on Sunday won't tell us much about Shimano's new equipment, but his decision to use it at all suggests we're edging ever closer to its launch.

As far as helmet manufacturers go, Smith is a relative newcomer to the bike market, having launched its inaugural Forefront MTB lid in 2013. Having made his name making ski goggles, founder Bob Smith patented anti-fog lenses 60 years ago and the company has been innovating ever since.

The Dispatch MIPS is the brand's premium commuter helmet and Smith's snowsports heritage comes through in the design. There are even special vents to help stop your glasses steaming up. Classic Smith.

With a £155 RRP, the Dispatch sits at the higher end of the e-bike-specific helmet range, but there’s a lot to like. The integrated light, NTA 8776 certification and magnetic Fidlock buckle are just a few of the standout features.

I’ve been using the Dispatch MIPS on my e-bike school run and during battery-free commutes into the office. Admittedly, I’ve not had much snow to deal with, but I get the impression the Dispatch would be more than equipped to cope.

Design and aesthetics 

The Dispatch is a stylish, durable commuter helmet with a subtle urban aesthetic. Leaning into its snowsport heritage, Smith has created a lid that wouldn’t look completely out of place on a ski lift, with a minimal domed shell, small vents and an inbuilt Microbrim visor.

The Microbrim is essentially an enlarged section with a very subtle lip at the front of the helmet that both shields your eyes and also facilitates the additional AirEvac vents. These inlets integrate with Smith eyewear and generally help prevent misty specs. The rear vents also allow for the attachment of an integrated light, which comes included with the helmet.

There are plenty of other smart additions to the design, including a Fidlock magnetic buckle and Smith’s own Koroyd protective material used alongside EPS in the liner.

Despite the abundance of features, Smith has kept the shell nice and sleek and the helmet isn’t overly bulky. There aren’t many contours or gaps, which only adds to a solid overall feel. The brand logo is subtle and even with the light attached, the helmet has a stripped-back silhouette which looks high-end.

If stripped-back is your thing, you’ll be pleased to know that Smith has kept things simple when it comes to colour options, too. The latest iteration of the Dispatch comes in two options: black or white.

Components and build 

The first thing you notice about the Dispatch is how solid it feels. There are no creaks or flexes and nothing feels remotely in danger of snapping off should it get dropped. It’s a military-grade piece of kit. So much so I wouldn’t be surprised if Smith launched a matching flak jacket.

The helmet uses MIPS, a system which protects the head from rotational forces during a crash, and uses Smith’s own Koroyd technology in combination with a traditional EPS liner. Koroyd is used “zonally” within the Dispatch, rather than all over, which effectively creates crumple zones that will absorb impact in targeted areas where it’s most likely to be needed.

To back this up, the Dispatch comes with the e-bike-specific NTA 8776 certificate, which means it's been tested at higher speeds and provides increased head coverage compared to regular helmets. It doesn’t, however, currently come with a Virginia Tech rating, although similar Smith helmets do boast all five stars from the reputable testing lab.

Smith’s Vaporfit cradle claims to offer 270-degree adjustment, which should mean less chance of particular pressure points. The system also provides three settings at the rear so you can tune the fit.

Smith haven’t gone overboard with the padding, with none at the rear, but what’s there does come with Ionic+ antimicrobial lining. The fabric contains silver, which actively reduces bacteria and therefore helps keep odours and stains to a minimum.

The straps come complete with a magnetic Fidlock buckle, which means you can unclip with one hand. This might not seem like a huge advantage, but for anyone used to carrying a bag or a child, then actually having one hand free can be a game-changer.

To keep your head cool on warmer days or longer rides, the Dispatch comes with eight vents. At first glance, these don’t seem like much, as the shell is mainly one smooth dome, with vents feeling very much secondary to the overall design. The whole thing weighed in at 394g on my scales, which is pretty impressive given the aforementioned rock-solid feel.

The most unique feature on the Dispatch is the Microbrim visor, which uses Smith’s custom AirEvac vents to channel additional airflow down through the lip of the helmet. With Smith’s ski and snowboard helmets, the vents are specifically aligned to match their own eyewear but, assuming you’re not commuting in ski goggles, as long as the browline of your glasses is quite flat, it should work well whether you’re in Smith specs or not.

Included with your helmet, you’ll find Smith’s integrated LED light, which attaches to the vents at the back. The light takes a Micro USB, rather than the modern USB-C, so you’ll need to keep that charger in the drawer for a few more years yet. You can set it to either a solid red light, a fast flash or a slow flash. The light adds another 28g grams to the total.

Alongside the light, you’ll also find a helmet bag with a drawstring that doubles as shoulder straps. Probably not something that will convince you to splash the cash, but a nice addition nonetheless.

Performance

Overall, the Dispatch was a pleasure to test. The biggest compliment you can give a helmet is that you completely forget you’re wearing it, and that was the case here. It was very comfortable and due to its relatively low weight, it remained pretty inconspicuous to me, even on my 40-minute pedal-powered commute.

Smith claim that the VaporFit dial gives you 270 degrees of adjustment, mitigating any particular pressure points in the cradle. These claims stood up to the test and I didn’t suffer the same pressure I’ve had testing other similar products. My head is large from front to back, meaning I often end up with a pressure point at the front of the cradle and a red mark on my forehead. I didn’t get that with the Dispatch. Of course helmet comfort is quite subjective, so I would always recommend trying for size or double-checking a store’s returns policy.

The height adjustment makes getting the fit right even easier. I found the lowest setting helped make the fit feel more secure. The higher setting will probably help when it comes to ponytails, although it does make the dial a bit harder to adjust.

In terms of aesthetics, the Dispatch isn’t nearly as bulky as some of its peers in the e-bike helmet subgenre, which contains some absolute whoppers. Despite looking quite bulbous in the pictures, when in position it’s much more streamlined. The look definitely borrows from some of Smith’s snowsports cousins, but has clearly been tweaked for the streets.

The shell looks and feels like something that is built to last. It withstood a few little bumps and scuffs during testing and just seems like a solid piece of kit.

The vents are pretty minimal and I was worried they wouldn’t be sufficient enough to keep my head cool on warmer rides. Despite not looking like much, especially compared to more traditional road helmets, these little inlets worked well on my commute. The vents being on the smaller side also helps keep your hair from getting soaked if the heavens open.

I’m also a big fan of the Fidlock buckle. It might seem like a nice-to-have feature rather than something genuinely game-changing, but try telling that to someone trying to remove a helmet whilst also wrestling a clingy one-year-old on the way into nursery.

The light, which Smith describes as “integrated”, clips on to the upper rear vents of the helmet. I’d say integrated is overselling it a bit, as the light is definitely a separate entity, but the clip-on process is very smooth. While in situ, the light works well and is easy to activate while riding. The button protrudes enough making it easy to locate, so you can feel confident you’ve hit the switch if you decide you need some extra visibility mid-ride.

From a performance point of view, it’s difficult to find too many faults. The fit will be something you’ll ultimately need to test yourself, but in terms of design and functionality, this is one of my personal favourite commuter options.

Value

The Dispatch is undoubtedly a premium helmet and comes with a hefty price tag, but after putting it to the test, the performance definitely justifies the expense. The engineering behind both the helmet and its components means you’re getting something that works well, will last you a considerable amount of time and gives will keep you safe in the unfortunate event of a collision.

However, if you’re looking for a similar style of product but want to keep the cost down, there are some options out there. The POC Crane has a similar urban look but comes in a little cheaper at £110 RRP. The POC also has the benefit in having a fluorescent orange option, as well as the black and white available with the Dispatch.

Also in the same bracket aesthetically is the Bern Hudson, which comes with a detachable fabric visor. This one officially comes in at around £137 but is currently reduced to £102 via the brand’s website.

At £99 RRP, the Lazer Verde also has a few more colourways to choose from and is both made from recycled materials and designed to be recycled. The POC, Bern and Lazer all come with the NTA 8776 seal of approval.

Verdict

Overall, this is one of the best e-bike helmets on the market. It ticks all the boxes you’d want and expect, with the addition of some really nice additional features.

It’s a good-looking lid as well. The Matte White colour I tested gave me additional Stormtrooper energy at the lights on my commute. The only other available colour option on this latest model is black, which is a bit disappointing given the previous model comes in the slightly more interesting Slate and Sunrise colourways.

The Dispatch feels extremely durable and offers excellent protection, with the necessary certification to prove it, but it isn’t overly heavy or bulky. The ventilation isn’t excessive, so shouldn’t let too much rain in, but together with Smith’s breathable Koroyd technology it should keep you cool enough on the commute.

The visor venting is a nice touch, as is the Fidlock buckle. While there isn’t an abundance of padding, the Dispatch feels secure and the VaporFit dial helps you dial-in the fit without creating pressure points.

Where you might feel the pinch is when you come to payment, as this is at the top end of the commuter price bracket. However, the overall performance here justifies the price tag.

When I first spotted the new Factor Elara at The Traka this year, it left me quite taken aback. Road bike design in recent years has gone rather wild, with the likes of the now relatively conservative Ridley Noah giving way to the likes of the Colnago Y1Rs and Factor’s own ONE, but gravel bikes, even gravel race bikes, until very recently had remained ‘normal’, for want of a better word.

Enter the Elara, then, with that whopping fork clearly derived from the design principles of the Factor ONE. Our own wind tunnel testing concludes that it is the fastest gravel bike out there, at least of those that we've managed to lay our hands on, and having given it a thorough run out on everything from fast, flat, well graded gravel to what can be best described as ‘adventurous terrain’, I’m happy to report that chimes with my own experiences.

It is, like the ONE, an unapologetically race-oriented machine, with no concessions to non-race utility, but unlike the ONE it’s actually a lot easier to see it in use as a training machine if speed and performance on the rough stuff is your goal. It’s not necessarily the right bike for me, but I have very much enjoyed riding it.

Design and aesthetics

I have a feeling that if the ONE hadn’t paved the way already then the Elara would have received a much more frosty reception in the visual department. The front end is certainly arresting, but hold your thumb over that front end for a second and tell me it doesn’t look like a pretty standard gravel bike everywhere else.

I have actually really warmed to the aesthetics of it, in a way I haven’t with the ONE. I think the fact that gravel is free for the most part from the clutches of the UCI (not to suggest that this bike is illegal in any way - it isn’t) I’m happier to see machines that are very much non-traditional. The fork, with its gaping maw, looks evil in this raw carbon finish, and while it’s slightly at odds with the svelte build of the rest of the frame I think it balances out well once you slot in the massive Black Inc. Sixty Four Gravel wheels and some 50+mm rubber.

I do need to address the tyre clearance claims early on though. Factor claims a 57mm clearance, something which I decided to put to the test early on by fitting a set of 2.25” Maxxis Aspens. The rear swallowed this fine, and the stiffness is sufficient that it wouldn’t have caused me any worry, but the fork, while wide enough, wasn’t tall enough to cope with a tyre that measured 57.6mm on my calipers.

Factor says it’s all based around the Continental Dubnital (or Race King, as it was during development), and while a 57mm Dubnital might fit (I don’t have one to hand so cannot check), the fact a 57mm Maxxis doesn’t leads me to conclude that 57mm isn’t a true clearance for the bike. You'll get a 55 in, but you’ll have so little room for mud buildup I suggest you just run 50s as it comes and leave it at that, unless you swap to something very low profile like a Schwalbe G-One RS Pro.

I’ll delve into the geometry a little more in depth later, but as well as being the most aero gravel bike we’ve tested it’s also the most aggressive in terms of geometry. The designers wanted to keep that back end as short as possible, which they have achieved to their credit with a 423mm chainstay; quite something with the ability to cram a 57mm tyre in at the back. This, combined with a 72.3º head angle and a correspondingly steep 74.5º seat tube angle make it the most aggressively angled gravel machine I’ve personally come across. This, as you might expect, lends it quite a sporty handling.

Rather unusually, it retains the ability to run 2x, something very much against the grain. Factor says this is because it doesn’t want to limit its riders to one or other system, but I cannot remember the last time I saw anyone racing gravel on a 2x and I can’t help but feel this is something of a redundant feature. If you want to use it as a road bike, or an all-road bike perhaps, then I will admit I prefer 2x gearing, but it will limit your tyre capacity, which will then hamstring you on the proper gravel for which this bike was designed.

Given we know already that it is more aero than any other gravel bike I shan’t over egg the pudding. It’s clearly designed with aerodynamics in mind, with the fork being the most obvious example, and it’s worked. The fork, interestingly, was a late addition, added after full carbon prototypes had already been produced for wind tunnel validation and we saw these in testing in the real world, too. During testing with a more normal fork the designers crammed a fork from the ONE into the frame to see how it would affect the aero, found it was measurably faster, and had to redesign the front end to accommodate. It is, I am told, a different fork entirely to the ONE, despite looking the same. The latter has a bayonet fastening for one thing, but the lowers are different, designed to be optimal at the slightly slower gravel speeds.

Despite a fork that a child could easily play Hot Wheels on, the whole bike weighs not very much. My size 56 with SRAM Force tipped the scales at 8.76kg, with a single bottle cage, but no pedals; which was exactly the same as the Fara GR4 I tested just before it, which had the same tyres, too. In terms of spec you can have Force like me, Red if you’re feeling particularly flush, or the new Campagnolo Record. Sorry, Shimano, nothing here for you.

As is often a gold star in the Factor copy book, you can spec the Elara pretty well at point of sale. Two seatpost setback options (0mm or 20mm) are outdone by three crank lengths, and these both pale in comparison to the 21 cockpit options, spanning 36cmx80mm up to 40cmx140mm. 36 x 140 is about as aggressive as you’d probably want to go unless you’re going very much outside the norm, but the steerer is round so you're not completely restricted and aftermarket options may work.

Geometry

The Elara is about as aggressive as gravel bikes get from a geometry point of view. It’s not miles more so than the likes of the new Specialized Crux, but overlaying the two on Bikeinsights.com (a great site for sure) we can see that the Elara is steeper in the head tube and seat tube by 0.8º and 0.5º respectively. It’s 2mm shorter in the chainstays, 2mm lower in the bottom bracket, has a 4mm shorter wheelbase and a 7mm longer reach. It has a 3.6mm lower trail figure in the fork, too. These are all modest numbers in comparative terms but I back the Cyclingnews audience to understand the impact the aggregation of modest changes can make.

Now, I haven’t ridden the latest Crux, so for a little more context I also ran the numbers versus the Fara GR4, which I sent back a couple of days before the Factor arrived at the office. I very much enjoyed the GR4, but compared to the Elara the numbers are very different. The Elara is 1.1º steeper in the head tube, 0.8º in the seat tube, 10mm lower in stack, 2mm longer in reach, and a 19mm longer wheelbase that is primarily derived from a 4mm greater fork rake and the slacker head tube. Happily, to confirm the numbers do actually mean something, I can say they feel like very different bikes.

My colleague, Josh, is a vocal proponent of the fact the Crux would make a great do-everything machine with a set of road wheels. In theory I don’t doubt it, and in theory the Elara would be an even better candidate, with geometry a hair closer to road bikes and a superior aero package. I object to this on geometry grounds more than anything else; gravel bikes may be able to hack it on the road with the right tyres in terms of just going fast enough, but they don’t feel like a road bike. Looking at the difference, just visually, between the Elara and Factor’s Ostro VAM road bike it’s clear to see they’ll feel noticeably different on the tarmac. However, later on I’ll slap some road wheels in the Elara and report back as to whether my preconceptions have been shattered, as everyone loves a bit of low level tension in a bike review.

Performance

If you want the full deep dive into the aero numbers then I implore you to read Josh’s run down of our wind tunnel testing. The short version is that The Elara is the fastest gravel bike we tested as a bike only, and with the margins of error it could lay claim to being the fastest with a rider, too. It’s rapid, but with a rider it’s basically indistinguishable from the Crux and the Wilier Rave. Taking into account the fact it has much larger tyres, the fact that it’s only 10.45 watts more draggy as a bike only than the old Look Blade, a WorldTour level road race bike, is really quite impressive.

This is also borne out on the road; it’s wicked fast. Part of this is, I’m sure, down to the superior aerodynamics, but on that front it’s not necessarily faster than the Crux or Rave. It feels fast though, and I think that comes down to a combination of stiffness and geometry. That really tight, snappy rear end and steep front make it feel like a road bike when you’re off-road, and while the rear end is actually pretty comfy in relative terms, the front end is very stiff indeed, meaning you get plenty of feedback that makes you feel like you’re hammering along. On flat sections it’s sensational, and the systemic stiffness from the frame, wheels and cockpit means it gobbles up sprints with only the tyres protesting every now and then.

One thing I did notice was that the very short back end had a tendency to leave the ground when really going hard over dried out shallow puddle craters. Not to the point I’d have to back off, but enough to pick slightly different lines sometimes or lean into it and get a little airtime for the whole bike (a very little, this isn’t Red Bull Rampage). It’s something I notice sometimes when doing hill sprints on very tight road bikes, but not something I've ever come across in a gravel bike.

Josh criticised the ONE for being too stiff in the front end, something I also knocked the Incolor SSR for, and while it’s hard to compare those to the Elara the front end stiffness here is moderated to a great degree by the 50mm tyre in the fork. I needed to dial the tyre pressures in more than usual here, and I estimate I was 5-7psi less than I’d normally run, but once it was all on-song it wasn’t an uncomfortable place to ride. It’s less comfy than the Fara GR4, and if I was personally doing a 7hr gravel event I think I’d be erring on the side of comfort, but if you want something that feels razor sharp and don’t mind a bit of fatigue at the end of the day you’ll be alright. In an ideal world I think I would run the tyre pressures lower still, but in order to do that comfortably where I live I’d need tyre inserts.

That tight geometry pays dividends in twisty sections, and it actually puts me more in mind of an old school cyclocross bike in many ways, except without the unstable high bottom bracket. It’s beautifully nimble, with a bottom bracket that’s low enough to not make it feel unbalanced. Like a cx bike it’s also a little twitchy when the going gets slippy, something gravel bikes with longer, more stable geometry don’t suffer with. If you’re happy playing fast and loose sometimes when things get slick then you’ll be absolutely fine, and it’s actually quite a lot of fun if you know what to expect, but it’s a different experience to many other gravel bikes in this regard.

Descending is exhilarating, again as a result of the geometry. It’s not necessarily what I’d call confidence inspiring, but if you’re already confident it’s very rewarding. The cockpit is a lovely place to lock into in the drops to slam down a gulley, and while it is a little twitchy it’s stable enough until you get to steep MTB-lite trails. For gravel racing courses it’ll be absolutely golden, which is what it was designed for after all.

In much the same way as I found the Ridley Noah to be a surprisingly good climber, I had the same experience here, though to say ‘surprisingly’ good is perhaps doing it a disservice. The steeper seat tube and position that’s more over the front of the bike mean rear end traction on steeper stuff is great as you can stay seated for longer. It also means there’s more traction on the front tyre in cornering, and if you get your tyres pressures right it’s really very good here, too.

While it’s a very good performer, I was actually struck by how un-extreme it felt in many situations. It looks wild, but I think I’d rather have this as a general use gravel bike than the Factor Aluto; it’s more capable on rough ground and so in my view is better as a gravel bike, it’s faster, and it feels less of an impediment on road, meaning it makes a better surrogate road bike if you must do that, but more importantly for me it makes the transition phases of a gravel ride that must be spent on tarmac feel engaging still, which is a huge bonus.

While I haven't had the opportunity to test the wheels independently they're certainly on-trend and bang up to date. Having smashed them about on some extremely rocky descents I can attest that they're pretty sure-footed, and considering the giant size of the forks in which they sit I didn't find them too blustery in crosswinds either. They're also the fastest wheels as per our latest wind tunnel test of gravel wheels, so it's very hard to fault them from a performance standpoint. We did use the Elara as the test rig, so there is the caveat that they may will have been designed in tandem with the frame, but still... fast wheels.

The Factor Elara as a road bike

Can you use an aero gravel bike as a road bike, freeing you from the burden of owning a beautiful racy road bike and allowing you the pleasure of constantly swapping wheels? You can, obviously. But should you?

Well, I slapped on a set of the Only SRAM wheels I had at my disposal, a pair of Zipp 202NSW climbing wheels (sub-optimal in terms of vibes I think it's fair to say) making the poor Elara look like it's skipped leg day in the gym. In an ideal world I'd have fit a set of 42mm road tyres to them from the latest crop, something I'm told Romain Bardet does with his Elara, but time is of the essence so 30mm GP5000s will have to do.

Does it work? Well, as with all good results the answer is a bit of yes and no. It feels fine, though perhaps a little low slung on such comparatively skinny tyres. It handles absolutely fine and you really do feel in many respects (especially along the flat and non-technical riding) that you could just be on an aero road bike, especially looking down at that fork crown. Sprints, too, are a delight. It's so stiff for a gravel bike that it just eats up high wattage efforts with ease, but isn't so stiff that its hugely uncomfortable on tarmac either.

The main drawbacks come in terms of handling. Having hopped back onto the Elara after a wonderful road ride aboard the new Look 795 Blade RS, a bike with a gorgeously sharp front end, riding the Elara on the road still feels really quite slack. The rear end helps keep things snappy but it still feels in many respects like being on a (admittedly very fast) endurance bike with quite leisurely geometry. This will afflict all gravel bikes used as road bikes in my view, and in fairness the Factor is the best of the bunch on the tarmac, but don't kid yourself that you'll be getting a proper road bike experience just by swapping the wheels.

Forget the 2x, but with 42mm slicks on it would be a pretty sensational all-road machine, able to stay fast and still get up to mischief.

Value

With SRAM Red the Elara is a full £1,400 (or $2,000) cheaper than an S-Works Crux, but £1,850 (or $1,500) dearer than a similarly equipped non-S-Works machine. In the guise I tested, with SRAM Force, it’s not really comparing like with like. The Elara with Force is basically the same as with Red, just with a different groupset, whereas the Force tier Crux has worse wheels to drop the price further still.

Comparing framesets the Factor is more expensive by £650 (or $800), but you get a cockpit here, so they’re roughly equivalent. My feeling is that the S-Works Crux is a little overpriced, but the standard Crux, in Red tier at least, is a slightly more compelling offering than the Elara, but there isn’t a great deal in it, and considering the options you can spec on the Elara vs the Crux it might actually tip the balance in favour of the Elara.

In this tier, with a Force groupset, it's a a slightly harder value proposition. You do get the superior aerodynamics, and you do get the fastest wheels, but is it $1,500 better than the Fara GR4, which weighs the same though has (presumably) worse aerodynamics, or $1k better than the Argon18 Anti Matter, that comes with a dedicated frame bag and a similar weight? I think if you're actually entering a series of gravel events and trying to do well in them then it might be, I'm less convinced, and I think most of that price differential is all in the wheels.

Verdict

If you want a gravel race bike then this absolutely has to be up for consideration. It is certainly not as fit for fast adventuring as the likes of the Fara GR4 in my view, but as a single minded machine it fulfils the brief exceptionally well without being so specialised in its purpose that it alienates a great proportion of the user base, as I suspect is the case with the ONE. It's actually a hell of a lot of fun to ride on the proviso you like your handling extremely sharp, and if ever there was a case for a gravel bike to be used also as a road bike it's probably this one, though I remain unconvinced on geometry grounds.

I do think if you aren't actually racing gravel, and are just after a gravel bike to smash about on very fast, then the Crux or GR4 might be a better generalist, depending on your choice of geometry. Comfort is a factor here, and over rough ground fatigue sets in earlier than with other machines, and if you're targeting particularly rough courses and you really want to max that tyre capacity out then you may want to look to something like the new Canyon Grail that can actually take a 57mm tyre in the front.

Marlen Reusser and Zoe Backstedt raced to 1st and 2nd place in the Women’s Elite Individual Time Trial World Championship on Sunday, both aboard unreleased Canyon time trial bikes - the all-new Canyon Speedmax CFR - which set tongues wagging online.

Reusser (Switzerland) beat Backstedt (Great Britain) by 40 seconds, while third-place Franziska Koch (Germany) finished 6 seconds behind Backstedt.

This new bike has some very eye-catching design features. The front end is the most distinctive, as Canyon has adopted a wide-legged double crown fork design that draws visual comparisons to Hope's HB.T track bike.

The fork 'legs' extend up past the bike's headtube to create a radical-looking front end that we assume is designed to control airflow around the rider and their legs.

The bike's engineer, Lukas Schuchnigg, the same man responsible for Canyon's Speedmax CFR track machine, spoke exclusively to Cyclingnews to explain more about the decision to go with that radical front-end design, as well as how much faster this new Speedmax is compared to the existing one.

Canyon launched a new Speedmax CFR triathlon bike earlier in the year, but this bike is a new standalone UCI-compliant TT version that has been designed with pro riders in mind. Canyon told me its development timeline runs to around two and a half years.

Different Speedmax models were used during the world's time trial events, which makes comparisons even easier.

From the above pictures, it's easy to see that the new bike has a totally new fork profile as well as a blind dropout. Canyon explained that two new patents had been registered that pertain to the new fork leg design; UCI ruling changes also allowed them to navigate existing Hope track frame patents for similar fork leg profiles.

The fork legs, which also feature an integrated timing chip mount, are clear for all to see and represent the biggest difference. But there's also a deeper headtube, as well as a narrower toptube.

An aero bottle goes with the frame and looks similar to the design of the Colnago TT1 with its squared-off, integrated design.

The chainstays and dropout shape on the new bike are also different, and the upper seatpost also shows a small change. A lot has been altered on this new model.

The new bikes feature 'CFR' logos on the top tube, Canyon's top-flight bike category, and a 'Prototype' UCI seat tube frame sticker can also be seen.

The aero water bottle is marked 'Aerofuel TT' whilst Canyon currently offers a magnetic 'Fuel' aero bottle; this one is a brand-new component.

Developing a new Speedmax

On the development of the new bike, Canyon explained that there wasn't much room for progression when it came to the new Speedmax. It explained that the bike was essentially maxed out and very similar performance-wise to its competitors.

The answer for Canyon and Schuchnigg was what they call the double crown front forks to direct airflow around a rider's legs, for improved aerodynamic performance.

The brand started seeing gains by widening the fork legs, but changing UCI rules put a limit on just how much they could do. The bike, across many dimensions, butts right up against several UCI rules now.

"We increased the fork legs, made them higher, made them wider, and we found out that by putting the fork legs and the spacer set up in the same line, there was a lot to improve there.

"This was almost two years ago from now, and then by the beginning of this year, a new UCI rule was implemented. There was a limit on the inner width of the fork legs. Before that, actually, our concept was to go even wider because we saw a wider setup actually was faster." Schuchnigg explained.

Part of the aero gains come from the wide fork legs, which deflect air around the outside of a rider's legs. The leg profiles change at the rear trailing edge; they are a lot wider at the top section, and this helps control that airflow around the legs.

How much faster is it?

Canyon claim at worst this Speedmax is five watts better than the previous bike, rising to around eight watts depending on the rider. It sounds like the wide fork leg design will benefit every rider and won't make certain body shapes slower.

The brand told me it's optimised for 50km/h, and that they tested with a full-body mannequin as well as with real riders. Marlen Reusser is said to have logged some highly impressive 12-hour shifts in the wind tunnel during development.

The aero bottle is also new; it's a push-fit unit and must only mount to one frame tube to fall within the UCI rules. It's designed to be used with the bike at all times, and the frame is faster with it.

Stability has also been a key consideration, and the new Canyon tri bars are said to play a part in this. The new extensions will be offered in two lengths, and Schuchnigg told me riders are choosing shorter extensions now to unlock more aero, tucked-in positions.

The more integrated handlebar arrangement apparantly provides a handling boost and promotes front-end stability, according to the pros.

The bike is slated to officially launch in Spring 2027, so we can expect to see it being ridden in even more pro races from early next year.

I spend much of my time thinking about riding in the rain. I’ve spent the last few years curating our guide to the best waterproof cycling jackets, and in general they’ve become worse over the last couple of years as the use of PFAS gets phased out. It’s a sad fact, but it is for the greater good (any fans of the film Hot Fuzz; feel free to whisper the greater good under your breath now in a thick West Country accent).

There have been some shining lights in the waterproof landscape however, as companies stop focussing on trying to maintain a near-impossible levels of dryness, and reprioritise temperature regulation in the face of impending dampness. One such glimmer of hope was the Castelli Gabba R, and in a similar vein I’ve absolutely adored testing Assos’ Equipe RS Shell Jersey S11.

It’s called a jersey, but in my eyes it’s more like a gilet (or vest, for y’all across the pond), but with sleeves. In fact, it’s the first thing to come along that’s actually managed to supplant my Castelli Perfetto vest when summer turns to autumn, or when winter finally gives way to spring. It’s been stowed in my pockets more times than I can count, it’s come with me up mountains, and it should absolutely be on your list if you like to ride hard in the wet.

Design and aesthetics

I’ll admit, it does look like a jersey, and while you could wear it over a base layer you’d probably struggle as it has no pockets. The Equipe RS Shell Jersey S11 (a typically wordy Assos product name, with Equipe RS denoting it’s from the brand’s most racy line, and S11 designating that this is the highest evolution of this product) takes the form of an aero jersey, but mates a VERY stretchy 2-layer softshell membrane on the front, shoulder, and down the sides of your back with the sleeves from a standard aero jersey, and a wide mesh panel running the length of the spine up to the top of the shoulder blades.

The polyurethane membrane itself boasts a hydrostatic head figure of “>25m”, which is certainly respectable, and a breathability of 40,000g/m2/24hrs, which again, on paper, is certainly impressive. This is more than the hydrostatic head of the Gabba R (5,000mm), though Castelli doesn’t offer a breathability figure for its garment. You do need to remember that breathability will be improved by having a mesh back, something that will also allow water ingress to a far greater degree than the membrane will, and the Assos doesn’t have any taped seams anywhere.

The fit is just like an aero jersey, albeit with a high collar, allowing it to fit like a second skin over whatever you’re already riding hard in, with a little more room engineered into the lower back to account for pockets stuffed full of gels.

There’s a double zip to allow access to the aforementioned pockets, and aid in temperature regulation top and bottom, and a very cropped front to reduce bunching when in a position conducive to going fast. There’s no gripper on the hem, or cinch functionality, but as I’ll get into, it isn’t really necessary. It comes in six sizes, and you should buy it in your usual jersey size. For reference, I have been testing it in a small size, tipping the scales at 137.4g (versus the 155g for my Perfetto vest, admittedly in a medium).

The branding is typically minimal for an Assos shell. You can have any colour you want as long as it's black, save for the Assos logo high on the left shoulder and the rubberised wordmark on the collar. It looks good, it’ll match basically any kit you have, and it doesn’t suffer from what the Castelli Gabba R suffers from, in that it makes you look a little like you have a latex fetish, rather than a cycling one.

Performance

What a joy it is to have some weather protection without that incessant flapping. It’s hard to overstate how omnipresent some flapping is in almost all waterproof (or at least water-resistant) gear, but this is just like wearing an aero jersey over your aero jersey.

The fit is, as is almost always the case with Assos, absolutely perfect. It’s the right length, the right cut, with the right stretch to allow full freedom of movement and access to the pockets without ever stressing that the wind is grabbing at you. It’s tight enough that it doesn’t ride up, meaning a hem gripper is basically obsolete. You do need to be already wearing a close-fitting jersey, however, or you’ll suffer unsightly creases; this is very much a layer for the aero crowd.

The sleeves could be a half-inch longer, to avoid certain jersey sleeves poking out underneath, but that’s my only real gripe with the fit. Even the collar, so often too tight for me (and I’ve not had any Viagra pills stuck in my throat to give me a big neck as yet), is just right.

The weather protection isn’t going to compete with dedicated hardshells like the Pas Normal Mechanism Shell Jacket, or even the lightweight Maap Atmos, but that’s not what it’s for. If you’re riding hard in drizzle and light rain in anything from warm to cool conditions (basically summer, spring, and autumn, outside of downpours and storms), you’ll be golden. It occupies much the same space as the Gabba R in this respect, but works far better as a transient layer as it goes on and off far more easily, with no tacky grabbing of the flesh from the outer fabric, and stuffs into a jersey pocket far more easily.

On drizzly rides where you wouldn’t necessarily bother with anything at all, it’s perfect to throw on for a descent, and basically does whatever a light cycling vest would do, too.

If you’ve never ridden with any of Assos’ mesh-backed garments then you’re missing a trick. I’m surprised other brands haven’t picked it up yet, but in any case it’s marvellous. Much like with the Assos Equipe R Spring Fall LS Jersey S11 that I reviewed last winter, having next to nothing on your spine really helps keep you cool. The leading edges at the front and on the shoulders deal with the worst of the wetness, and this lovely central stripe, relatively devoid of airflow, can steam away quite happily.

If you still find yourself too hot, then the double zip is more than sufficient to adjust accordingly, maximising the time you leave it on before deciding, once again, to stuff it back in a jersey pocket.

It’s so good, in fact, that it has replaced my gilets entirely for road riding.

If you stop, however, you may get chilly. You cannot layer up as well underneath, so will need to be switched on regarding your base layer and arm warmer strategies, but it will cover the same basic conditions as any vest, in my opinion, while also keeping some water out.

Value

At £215, or $315, it isn’t a cheap bit of kit. It is, however, cheaper than a Castelli Gabba R and I would argue a more versatile bit of kit, while also being nominally also aerodynamically optimised and significantly more stylish. It is more expensive than a Perfetto vest, for so long my go-to, but if you are wanting to go fast in a greater range of conditions then the Assos is going to be the better bet.

It’s expensive, but given how good it is at what it does, I actually think it’s decent value. You needn’t trudge through the truly desolate midwinter riding if you don’t want to, and you definitely shouldn’t do it in this, but it’ll certainly make shoulder season more enjoyable, and faster too, I’d wager.

Verdict

I really like the Assos Equipe RS Shell Jersey. It has, for the most part, replaced my gilets in my usual riding wardrobe. It’s packable, protective enough to shrug off a respectable amount of water if you’re going hard, breathable and adjustable enough to avoid getting sweaty, fits like a dream, and looks good. It’s expensive, but it’s barely more expensive than an expensive gilet, and more versatile for shoulder season and summer in my view. A very good bit of kit, and one that will remain in my regular rotation for a long time to come.

Since the PFAS chemical ban and the subsequent mass extinction of Shakedry waterproof technology, the cycling rain jacket landscape has looked a little bleaker.

Generally speaking, the accepted wisdom now is that the best waterproof jackets just aren't as good as they used to be.

A press release from British brand Madison this week alerted us to its new HydroShift Waterproof technology. Madison has launched a new two-layer, PFAS-free waterproof jacket, and while the brand does not promise a return to Shakedry levels of performance, it uses a design that shares some of the features that Shakedry did; could it be a new, viable wet weather option?

The new product set off a healthy debate in the CN Tech Slack channel: was this the return of a PFAS-free Shakedry-type product - surely the ultimate goal for 'green' waterproofs- or merely another 'bin bag'?

We will be testing a sample of the Hydroshift in the coming months and will report back to you on its performance in the UK autumn and winter. The retail price for the jacket will be £199.99

Jackets using Gore-Tex Shakedry material worked incredibly well thanks to certain, now banned, 'forever chemicals' used in production. In a nutshell, these chemicals facilitated both amazing breathability and waterproofing.

Shakedry jackets were superlight because they eschewed any outer textile layer. They were also very breathable, and water just rolled off them; you could also, let's not forget, as the name suggests, literally shake them dry.

Many rain jackets, with exceptions, tend to use a DWR-coated (durable water repellent) outer textile layer, which just isn't as effective as the Shakedry of old. Over time and use, DWR coatings become less effective, and jackets need more maintenance.

The Hydroshift tech

So what creates a link between the immortal Shakedry of old and this new HydroShift jacket? It certainly isn't forever chemicals, as the brand confirmed to us that its jacket is PFAS-free.

The Flux HydroShift Waterproof Packable Jacket does away with a face fabric outer layer. The jacket's 'ultra-hydrophobic microporous polyurethane membrane' is the outer layer of the jacket, which is what Shakedry jackets had, and is what the wet-weather race-specific Castelli Gabba R also does.

The brand's press release says 'a quick shake removes much of the remaining surface water' once you stop riding. This is as close as we get to any actual Shakedry claims, but the choice of language is interesting at very least.

We asked the brand for a little more information on the jacket, and it told us the jacket is designed to deliver breathability where it's needed, i.e climbing, and didn't focus on the highest possible waterproof rating numbers.

'HydroShift takes a different approach. Its microporous hydrophobic membrane allows moisture vapour to escape through open pores from the outset, helping to regulate heat and perspiration before the jacket begins to feel damp or clammy inside.

'The membrane also forms the jacket’s outer surface, removing the conventional face fabric that can absorb rain and eventually wet out. Water instead beads and rolls away, helping the jacket remain light while allowing moisture vapour to continue escaping.'

We are verifying waterproof numbers with the brand, but recent waterproofs have shown us that good breathability often comes at the expense of top-tier waterproofing. Brands will need to successfully combine the two to get anywhere near Shakedry levels of performance.

iGPSPORT's competitively priced bike computers have made me sit up and take notice this year.

iGPSPORT was founded in 2012, and its products are now available worldwide. It caught my attention earlier this year when it began sponsoring the FDJ WorldTour team.

I reported on that news at the time, as a pair of Chinese computer brands entered the top flight in the form of iGPSPORT with FDJ and Magene with Astana.

Like various other sectors, such as the automotive and coffee industry, this is another strong example of Chinese products challenging established Western brands.

I called in the BiNavi unit to test and to see if the performance, along with the price, justifies a seat at the big table alongside the likes of Garmin, Wahoo and Hammerhead in our best bike computers guide.

The BiNavi retails for £219.90 / $239.90 / €239 and possesses a spec list that on paper takes the fight to the big manufacturers.

The unit sits amongst the ‘bike navigator’ section of the brand’s computer offerings, alongside the six-unit-strong ‘GPS computer’ section. The Bi Navi units just place a little more emphasis on navigation.

There’s a colour touchscreen, app, 32GB memory, claimed 35+ hour battery life, certainly everything the average rider and this tech writer wants in a unit.

I’ve used it exclusively for several months and for the odd hill climb event. I’ve been impressed and won over; this review will be enough to help you leap to an unfamiliar system if you like the look of the unit and the price tag

Design and aesthetic

The BiNavi arrives in a neat box, and the standalone unit comes with a charger cable, tether, O-rings for mounting to a bar or stem, and something I’ve never seen before in a bike computer: a silicone case and screen protector to install to keep the screen looking fresh,

The brand also offers a BiNavi Air unit, which you might spot. It has a slightly smaller screen and costs a little less, but has a similar spec list.

The unit has six buttons and, size-wise, is roughly the same as the Hammerhead Karoo; official dimensions are 101×60×14.5 mm. There’s a picture comparison with a few units below for you to look at.

In terms of specifications, the BiNavi on paper at least is pretty much up there with various premium smart computers on the market, and it makes a strong opening case for the amount it costs. The full spec list is here, but the unit has a 3.5" colour touchscreen, a claimed 35-hour battery life, 32GB of memory, USB-C charging, an IPX7 waterproof rating and supports dual-band GNSS GPS.

In terms of additional desirable add-ons, there's music control, smart notification updates, Komoot, TrainingPeaks, and Strava integration, along with DJI, Insta360, Aerosensor and Tymewear, etc.

There's also training support, and the unit provides training analysis and training plans if you want to try and tackle more structured work.

This is the brand's navigation-focused unit, but its nav capabilities are on a par with a range of other smart computers. Routes can be planned or created from rides in the app and sent to the device; POI navigation can also be used, and you can see and access other local routes created by iGPSPORT users in the recommended route section.

Voice navigation for turns is also an option as long as you are connected to the app, and you can choose to have Chris Froome's (a global brand ambassador) voice as an option via your phone speaker/headphones, which I obviously tested out. You can have the multiple Grand Tour winner as your SatNav man/lady, it's a fun feature.

iGPSPORT has an app, and this is used alongside the unit using Bluetooth, just as you would with Garmin Connect or apps from any other brand. Activities are stored in the app, and routes can be transferred across to the BiNavi unit

The unit takes about two seconds to power up, and once on, you are met with the main home screen; 12 widgets take up the sreen from navigation, training, group riding, and weather, etc. Along the top is where you can select your ride profile screen; there are seven stock options for you to customise and set up. I've used two of them: one for my general road riding with lap screens, etc., and a pared-down race version.

There are two theme options to choose from, which dictate the layout of the computer (pictured below). I found the ‘dynamic widgets’ option a lot better than the ‘colourful cards’; it would be my recommendation and is a bit more like your average smartphone layout.

Slide down from the top on any screen, and a kind of settings screen comes up; from here you can toggle screen brightness using a slider bar, access your sensors and pairings, check the weather, etc.

Operating the unit and using the touchscreen to scroll through pages is very easy; the touchscreen is great and works perfectly, but the unit is very fast too; there’s no waiting for it to do anything. It’s great to use.

Performance

So, is it any good, and is it worth spending your money on? I would say yes, absolutely, but there are a couple of points to consider.

I’m well over 700 miles into my testing period with the BiNavi now and have been very impressed with the unit. I’ve used it for all my riding and training and a local hill climb.

It’s easy to use and generally very fast; the touchscreen is great, it charges quickly, and it does everything I need it to. There isn’t much to not like about it; I’ve bumped into two riders locally recently who use iGPSPORT units too, and they are converts.

My very first impression was that the screen wasn’t as bright or vivid as the other well-known units on the market. It’s more than fine, and I adapted within days, but it's just not as bright.

I found it easy to set up my pages, adjust them on the fly and set up a new one for a hill climb where I just wanted power and time on the screen for the short, all-out effort. It’s on a par with the Karoo for how easy it is to customise ride screens.

One detail I really like is the speed at which laps can be executed, and the lap ‘interval start’ screen is removed from the display; hit the lap button; the message comes up on screen; simply touch the screen to remove it, and it’s gone straight away.

I’ve found this a really agreeable feature in training. Don’t forget the unit is also compatible with TrainingPeaks, so your sessions can be uploaded to the platform straight away as well.

Battery life is quoted at 35 hours, though the brand says it will, of course, depend on your own use case. For my roughly 8-ish hours a week of riding, I haven’t come close to being caught out by a low battery; I've also found charging to be very fast. It will start to get used up quicker with all sorts connected and navigation on, but it will be fine for pretty long rides.

I've had a couple of ride upload issues to Strava where the device seemed to get the date wrong; rides I completed on a Monday came out as being done on a Sunday at a different time. I couldn't figure this out, and it seemed to be a glitch.

Navigation is generally good using the BiNavi, and I like the clear map layout, even preferring it to the Garmin format, I think. The device gives you turning warnings in advance, and you can customise nav screen metrics like speed and power.

There are a few points on navigation worth mentioning; the first thing that caught me out was that you can't use the touchscreen to zoom in on the map; instead, you have to use the + and - buttons on the screen.

The device froze on me once whilst calculating a route start; I was struggling for a few minutes before finding that hitting the power button sorted it out. Niggles can happen on any device, and it was isolated.

You can also only use the iClimb climbing metric feature whilst riding a pre-loaded route; again, no biggie, but it's not as comprehensive as something like Wahoo Summit can provide climbing metrics for every climb you ride.

You can navigate a pre-ridden route from the device, but you will need the app to save a route and send it across to your unit. It’s done in seconds, though.

I didn't find the one-click navigation function amazing in the app either; this is where you can search for a location and route to it. A simple search for a McDonald's (we've all been there) would only throw up one 100 miles away (there's one three miles from my house), but the unit located the nearby cycling track successfully, for example. The system seems slightly hit-and-miss and could be an issue on a bleak winter ride for some riders.

Verdict

At £219.90 / $239.90 / €239, this computer offers fantastic value for money; it’s on a par with units twice its value, and personally I’d take it over the Garmin Edge 550 due to that excellent touchscreen and save myself some cash.

The screen isn’t as vivid and bright; that’s it. I quickly got used to that though, and it’s not an issue.

Some of the navigation and UI performance from the unit and/or app seems slightly subpar, but for the price and overall performance, it doesn't bother me too much.

Verdict

For the amount of money it costs, I think this is a really solid computer unit from iGPSPORT. It's very fast and easy to use; the touchscreen is good, and it does all I need it to for my riding.

The map quality and navigation itself are good, and if you don't make new routes several times a week and really ask a lot of your computer's navigation tech, I don't think you will have much to worry about. If you're the sort of rider that generally knows your routes off by heart, and every so often downloads a GPX route for an event, you will be laughing.

At final count: over 800 miles of riding have properly tested the BiNavi. Some aspects of the overall system and app are slightly clunkier and less refined than some competitors in places, but there isn't too much in it.

Excellent performance at a very attractive price point; what's not to like. iGPSPORT deserves a seat at the big table.

I recently reviewed the Kärcher OC3 Foldable Mobile Cleaner and absolutely loved the compact portability of this wonderful low-pressure washer, which makes it one of the best pressure washers for bikes. As much as I rated the Kärcher highly, it did have limitations in pressure and reservoir capacity.

So, if mobile washing is a priority and you want some extra grunt for cleaning power, the Muc-Off Mobile Pressure Washer is worthy of your attention. However, there is a major flaw that turns what is a brilliant bit of kit into something less impressive, and some may consider it a deal-breaker.

The Muc-Off Mobile Pressure Washer launched back in 2024 as an upgrade and mobile variant of the brand’s mains-powered bicycle pressure washer. The unit features a self-contained 20-litre water tank, its own internal power source, a max pressure of 45 bar (approx. 652 PSI), and a rapid four-litre-per-minute flow rate. Impressive stats, and as a Muc-Off fan, I was keen to test it out.

Design and aesthetics 

Firstly, the Muc-Off Mobile Pressure Washer is very easy on the eye. Dressed in the brand's signature style with a sleek black-and-subtle-pink colourway, it really stands out, especially if you ever find yourself in a car park pressure washer standoff.

It is constructed primarily from high-grade, heavy-duty plastics, resulting in a solid build designed to withstand being bounced around in car boots, dragged across gravel, and exposed to the elements.

Considering it houses a 20-litre tank, it’s fairly compact. Its squat shape makes it resistant to tipping, but not impossible. The sturdy wheels, a basic towing handle, and a robust carry handle make it easy to manoeuvre even when fully loaded.

Muc-Off includes four lances with this basic Starter Bundle: a lower-pressure bike lance, an adjustable lance, a full-power motorbike lance, and a snow foam lance. The box also includes a bottle of Muc-Off bike cleaner.

The unit is driven by a 500W electric motor powered by a 40V lithium battery. This setup claims to offer 15 to 24 minutes of runtime depending on your selected mode (Boost or Eco) and recharges fully in three to four hours. The motor, internal pump, and water-sealed battery compartment are all safely contained inside, with a dedicated watertight door making the battery easy to remove.

The hose is a generous five meters long. While longer hoses always have tangle potential, not being tethered to a mains power cable makes this less of an issue, and the extra reach lets you move freely around your bike without constantly dragging the unit along.

This brings me to a curious design flaw.

The main lid isn't watertight. While this makes filling simple, but placing a full tank in your car or van means water will inevitably slosh out while driving. For me, this isn't a deal-breaker because I wouldn't transport a full tank anyway; doing so adds considerable weight and risks dumping 20 litres of water into my boot if the washer ever tipped over.

Muc-Off officially advises against travelling with a full reservoir. They even sell a separate 20-litre Water Tank for transport, though buying extra kit somewhat defeats the point of an all-in-one system. They also offer a waterproof Dry Bag Mobile Holdall to catch leaks and suggest filling the main tank no more than a quarter full if you absolutely must travel with water inside.

Empty, the unit weighs 7.7 kg (17 lbs). Filled to its 20-litre capacity, it tips the scales at a hefty 27.7 kg (61 lbs), a significant weight to haul around, particularly given the lack of a watertight seal.

Performance

Having owned several mains-powered, high-pressure washers, I was expecting big things from the Muc-Off and its power numbers, and it doesn’t disappoint. Thanks to a self-priming function, water pressure is instant the moment you pull the trigger, packing enough kick at full power to lift the lance if you're holding it one-handed.

I used the full-power nozzle on my bike’s tyres and gave the frame a general blast to shift the bulk of the muck. Just be cautious around sensitive areas like bearings and bottom brackets, as this unit will force water past bearing seals without a doubt.

The Snow Foam Lance is brilliant, quickly coating your ride in a thick blanket of Muc-Off Nano Cleaner or your preferred bike wash. Once the foam has worked its magic, you can switch to either the adjustable power lance or the full-power version for rinsing. I stuck mostly to full power, but the adjustable option is great if you want to dial back the force around delicate components, even if it's slightly less effective on stubborn dirt. The motorcycle lance packs the heaviest hit, and I used it on my bike with no problems; it's not advised, but useful for multi-purpose use.

Muc-Off claims a continuous battery runtime of 15 minutes in Boost mode and 24 minutes in Eco, plenty of time for a thorough clean. I found this accurate in testing, easily emptying the entire water tank well before showing any sign of battery drain. The unit also features a clear charge indicator displaying your remaining battery level.

The hose and lances are well-engineered, locking together with a satisfying click. While the hose feels quite long, perhaps slightly excessively so, it is robust and durable. When empty, everything stores neatly inside the unit, keeping all your accessories organised in one place.

Storage is another important factor to consider. Dimensions come in at 39 cm (15.3 inches) high, 32 cm (12.6 inches) wide and 43 cm (16.9 inches) long. Living in a first-floor flat makes storing and carrying the unit downstairs a bit of a slog when full, but certainly not impossible.

However, if you have a garage, shed, or nearby outdoor tap, or plan to use it exclusively for car park washdowns, this won't be a major issue. If you're using it at home, then having it filled, charged and ready to go works great and allows for a swift clean-down post-ride.

Returning to the washer's lid, it has to be mentioned and impacts overall scoring. If you want to transport the washer and water, your options are to either buy extra water-carrying accessories or use a waterproof bag (which doesn't really fix the root problem). Without a proper seal, water will spill while driving.

So the word mobile could be slightly misleading; it's definitely mobile, but just not as a water-filled mobile unit. Saying that, the convenience is no doubt a plus for use at home, meaning no hooking up hoses and running power from a mains supply.

Finally, like most portable washers, hot water is not recommended. I used lukewarm water for extra cleaning power, staying well within its maximum rated temperature of 40°C (104°F).

The power is impressive, but this level of output also makes the unit fairly noisy, sounding much closer to a full-sized mains pressure washer than quieter, low-pressure units like the Kärcher OC3.

Value

The Mobile Pressure Washer Starter Bundle is currently priced at £250 on the Muc-Off website. I think it offers decent performance for the price. However, considering you can buy a mains-powered unit like the Kärcher K2 Classic, which offers higher pressure, for just £75, it's something to weigh up.

Of course, traditional pressure washers require an outdoor tap, hose, and power outlet, none of which I have outdoors. If your requirements demand a punchy cleaner with built-in power and water storage, the investment is well worth it.

By contrast, the Kärcher OC3 Foldable is a fantastic low-pressure option. While it offers less power and water capacity, it is highly recommended for basic washdowns and is priced at just over £100.

Verdict

Overall, the Mobile Pressure Washer is really good; I enjoyed using it, and it performs brilliantly. The elephant in the room is that non-watertight lid, but is it actually a deal-breaker? If you don't fill the tank prior to transport, or if you don't travel with it at all and simply need all-in-one functionality, it's just no issue whatsoever.

However, if you do attempt to transport it full, prepare for a wet vehicle if you don't transport your water in a separate container. As far as cleaning power goes, it's right up there and does a great job of shifting stubborn dirt, especially on gravel and mountain bikes. It's arguably a bit overkill for a road bike, but it doubles up well as a general-purpose power washer – I've even used it to wash my car.

Ultimately, if it fits your specific setup, I have no hesitation in recommending the Muc-Off Mobile Pressure Washer. It has the lid design flaw and comes with a premium price tag, but it looks cool and performs brilliantly.

Designed to be Garmin’s entry level offering when it comes to chest strap heart rate monitors, the Garmin HRM 200 should not be considered lacking in advancements.

Impressively, for a budget heart rate monitor, the HRM 200 can be used for taking heart rate variability (HRV) measurements, something often lacking in chest strap monitors in the entry level market.

Appearance wise, it’s a big update from the previous generation HR monitor, but functionality wise there is little that has changed. That can be viewed as a good thing, given that the previous version just worked very well.

The HRM 200 has been positioned by Garmin as the optimal heart rate monitor to use when optical-based ones, such as wrist or arm-mounted, might not provide adequate data accuracy, such as high moisture/sweat environments where optical HRMs can struggle to remain consistent.

At £79.99, it’s not exactly cheap, but for a HRV (Heart Rate Variability) reading HR monitor, it starts to look better value. But just how well does it compare to other chest strap heart rate monitors on the market?

Design and Aesthetics

The Garmin HRM 200 is the entry-level offering from the brand when it comes to chest strap heart rate monitors. These HR monitors work by detecting the actual electrical signals from your heart, whereas optical sensors use flashing lights to measure pulse based on visual blood flow.

Optical sensors can become less accurate when there is moisture present, such as sweat, so for endurance sports with lots of perspiration, chest-based electrocardiography (ECG) systems are more accurate, as they detect the signal even better with moisture present. These two electrode readers are located on the back of the chest strap, and connect to the main broadcasting pod.

This pod has been heavily redesigned aesthetically. It now features a button on the front, and an LED light. The button needs to be held to enter pairing mode to easily connect to a bike computer or smartwatch, and then a single press to wake it up before use. The front LED has different flash patterns for connecting (orange flash), and being connected (green dual flash). The LED can also display battery level at the point of waking up; Green flash is okay, orange flash is low, red flash is critical.

On the rear of this pod, the coin cell battery, CR2032 in this case, is accessible. New US and Australian regulations require these to use a tool to open, rather than a penny or similar coinage to prevent children from accessing them. Garmin has addressed this very cleverly, making the strap buckle feature two small prongs which fit into this compartment to open up the battery door. Battery life is claimed one year, but it is not clear under what sort of usage that one year life is guaranteed.

Two strap options are available, XS-S (60-85 cm, 23.5"-33.5") and M-XL (80-119 cm, 31.5-47.0"). A simple hook and latch design is used to connect them, while the pod snaps on and off easily with two press studs.

Water resistance is a claimed 3 ATM (atmospheres) so should be able to deal with rain and sweat easily when cycling as that is far lower pressure. Garmin recommends removing the pod and washing the strap after every seven uses. You can also broadcast HRV data to compatible devices, Garmin, of course, recommends one of their Garmin watches. Total weight with the M-XL strap is 63 g (2.2 oz).

Performance

Some heart rate monitors can be a bit of a faff to get adjusted and fitted correctly, no such issues with the Garmin HRM 200. The M-XL strap fits me very well, with the advertised chest size being a good gauge of what size you should order. I also like the neat bit of low friction material that is placed on the inside of the strap hook. On the Wahoo Trackr HRM for example this isn’t present and the hook can dig into your side a little bit. Adjustment of the strap was also very easy and has remained in place throughout the entirety of testing.

Connectivity is also a breeze. Holding the button on the front of the unit until it flashes orange to show it is pairing, it then connects seamlessly with the Garmin Edge 1050 I was using alongside.

In terms of accuracy, to test this I ran a few different heart rate monitors concurrently in a few different scenarios. Indoors, I was using an Apple Watch Ultra 2 on my wrist, along with a Coros HRM on my arm. Both of these perform better when there is no fabric over them, so are ideal for indoors with a vest on. They do both struggle when the going gets sweatier though. For the easier rides, the Garmin HRM 200 tracked well with them, but at higher intensity it tended to read higher, where the others have struggled to reach peak HR readings.

Outdoors, I had the fun of wearing a Wahoo Trackr HRM at the same time, both around my chest. Both devices read consistently across lower intensity riding all the way up to maximal efforts around HR maximum. I’d confidently say that the Garmin HRM 200 reads accurately, as a lot of chest straps do nowadays.

The additional features are interesting. The waterproofing is more targeted toward swimming, where a smartwatch may not be as accurate for HR measurements because the wet environment can limit optical HR accuracy.

HRV is another feature of the HRM 200, but to measure this really you need to be either wearing a smartwatch which the HRM 200 is connected to, or connect each morning and get a waking measurement. Consistency is key when taking HRV readings, and I personally find putting the chest strap on for this a bit of a faff. At lower intensities, optical measurements have worked well for me and require less thought process. This is why an optical reading watch, strap, or ring would be my preferred option if I did track this regularly.

Battery level has been hard to judge, as over the course of the testing period I would not expect battery level to go from ‘okay’ to ‘low’ and it has not. I have not tested the unit for an entire year, just a few dozen hours, so I must take it at the brand’s word for the moment. Having used CR2032 HR monitors for years, the ‘one year battery life’ rings partly true depending on how much you ride and how many connections you have. I personally would have preferred to see recharging in this unit, like the HRM 600 or Wahoo Trackr HR, but coin cells, even with more waste, are better for fit and forget. I do have a huge list of devices that are being constantly charged after rides so maybe not adding to this is a blessing.

Value

Value is a tough one to gauge at the moment as there are a host of great HR monitors available with different pros and cons. The Wahoo Trackr HR monitor for example is the same price at £79.99 but is rechargeable although it lacks HRV broadcasting. Meanwhile the Polar H10 is very reliable, easy to use, has a great strap, but costs a fraction more at £86.50 and has a more awkward battery size.

There are some strong performing newcomers as well, with the 4iiii Viiiiva 2 (£64.99) and Magene H613 (£49) on paper offering better value overall given the features and the price difference.

Personally I find the HRV tracking a little hit and miss, as you need to be wearing a smart watch overnight to get truly accurate HRV measurements, which is not something I tend to do. You could connect it each morning with the Garmin app to measure waking HRV for a consistent tracking routine though. Personally, I prefer the rechargeability of the Wahoo Trackr HRM having tested that myself, while the Magene H613 with the same feature is a very enticing option.

As a chest based HR monitor though, the Garmin HRM 200 is a great performer, and if you don’t require the host of additional features that the Garmin HRM 600 comes with, then it is a better value offering and pretty good in the overall competitive market.

Verdict

The Garmin HRM 200 is a solidly performing heart rate monitor. It’s comfortable to wear, stays in place, has some neat features in-built, and it’s accurate for cycling use. The HRV features are something nice to have, but only if you have a smartwatch to pair with it or want to go through each morning actively setting up and measuring the HRV manually. For cycling use, I’d prefer rechargeability as a feature such as the same-priced Wahoo Trackr HRM.

What this means is that although it’s a solidly performing unit, it doesn’t exactly stand out to me. The likes of the 4iiii Viiiiva and Magene 613 claim to offer the same sort of performance for a decent chunk of cash less. Garmin has a great track record though as a superb HR monitor brand, so I expect the HRM 200 to be a reliable device for years to come.

When it comes to the best pressure washers for cleaning your bike, options and prices vary widely. The choice often comes down to your individual requirements and whether you need a gentle, bike-specific washer or a heavy-duty, general-purpose machine. You also need to keep in mind that high pressure isn't ideal for delicate paintwork or sensitive bearings.

Where you live matters too. I recently moved to a first-floor flat without an outside tap or mains power within reach, making post-ride cleanups a real challenge, and washing a filthy gravel bike in the bath is strongly frowned upon.

Will Jones’ review of the original Kärcher OC3 highlighted a potential solution, but its tiny 4-litre capacity meant it seemed that I'd be making constant trips back inside to refill and complete the job satisfactorily.

Enter the Kärcher OC3 Foldable. Built around an 8-litre collapsible water tank, it fixes the original’s biggest flaw while remaining easy to store and transport. This portable, low-pressure washer has been a total game-changer for post-ride cleaning. Even better, it doubles as a safe washing tool for muddy gear, cycling shoes, and even the dog, though Terry, my Lakeland Terrier, remains unimpressed.

Design and aesthetics 

Unboxing the Kärcher OC3 Foldable immediately reveals how compact it is, a massive plus for storage. Despite its tiny footprint, it genuinely holds 8 litres of water. The secret is its sturdy, accordion-style bucket that collapses down to roughly a quarter of its expanded size, making it easy to stash in a car boot or small cupboard while doubling the capacity of the original 4-litre model.

The tank is made from thick silicone (or thermoplastic elastomer) reinforced by a rigid plastic rim and base. The lid removes for easy filling and features a handy hook to clip onto the side during use, and the hose and pressure gun store neatly inside the collapsed tank afterwards. I initially questioned the durability of the flexible silicone, but after multiple uses, it feels tough enough to resist accidental punctures, leaving me with zero damage concerns.

Operation is intentionally minimalist. The front features a single rubberised power button, an LED indicator, and a USB-C charging port protected by a silicone plug. The battery sits safely inside the watertight plastic base, and that feels solid and well built.

Other thoughtful details include a sturdy handle that easily supports a full load of water, and an internal clip that keeps the hose from tangling, which is a generous 1.8-metre length. The pressure gun feels great in the hand, operating with a simple trigger pull.

Weighing just 2.2 kg (4.85 lbs) empty and 10.2 kg (22.5 lbs) fully loaded, it's easy to carry around.

Performance

Having owned several mains-powered, high-pressure washers, I didn't expect to get the same performance from the OC3 Foldable. I’m also currently testing the Muc-Off Portable Pressure Washer, which is double the price, far larger, and proving a bit of a storage nightmare, which really highlights the compact sizing of the OC3.

The beauty of the OC3 Foldable is that it collapses to almost nothing. At just 108 mm (4.25 in) tall when folded, a 60% reduction in vertical profile – you can easily store it in a small kitchen drawer or keep it in the car. Expanded, it stands at 271 mm (10.7 in), with a static footprint of 305 x 298 mm (12.0 x 11.7 in).

In operation, water flows instantly when you pull the trigger and stops the moment you release it. It is remarkably quiet, sounding more like a dishwasher or standard vacuum cleaner than a traditional jet washer.

While the nozzle spray isn't adjustable, its 5 bar (approx. 72.5 PSI) rating is powerful enough to dislodge stubborn mud while remaining completely safe around paintwork and bearings. The output feels like a strong household shower. I’ve even filled it with warm water to help lift mud. Kärcher rates it for temperatures up to 40°C (104°F); anything hotter risks degrading the silicone walls and internal rubber seals.

One word of caution: if you lean heavily on the bucket when filled, it will collapse and spill water. Accidentally testing this proved the power button's waterproofing works well. Kärcher also warns against submerging the base, so take care if filling it directly from a natural water source when out and about.

Kärcher says the OC3 Foldable has a continuous battery runtime of 15 minutes, and according to the spec sheet, a single charge gives you enough power to empty its full 8-litre tank about three to four times. That I found was pretty accurate, and in bike-cleaning terms, I got four or five cleans before the battery called it a day.

The LED starts flashing when the battery is running low, and a full recharge takes approximately 2.25 hours via its USB-C port.

Value

The Kärcher OC3 Foldable is currently available on Amazon for just £109, cheaper than the £119 standard OC3 model, and far less than the Muc-Off Mobile Pressure Washer starter bundle at £250. Given its performance and convenience, it offers, I think, exceptional value for money.

While it can’t compete with a full-sized pressure washer, it is a brilliant and incredibly useful piece of kit for cyclists with limited space. I absolutely love it; my flat and shower are both significantly cleaner as a result. While comparing it to the Muc-Off model will be an interesting exercise, the Muc-Off's double-the-price tag and much larger footprint make it an unfair fight.

Verdict

The Kärcher OC3 Foldable is perfect for washing your bike before loading it into your car or taking it inside your flat. It’s a viable solution for anyone short on space, lacking an outdoor tap, or travelling on bike trips, as it keeps trail filth out of your living space and vehicle.

At just over £100, it offers fantastic value. While similar cheaper alternatives exist, Kärcher’s reputation for superior build quality makes it worth the extra investment.

You could buy an entry-level, mains-powered unit like the Kärcher K2 for less, but there's little point in comparing the two; this is a specialised tool built for portability and space-saving convenience.

It handles basic grime effortlessly and fits my needs perfectly, especially for a quick rinse-down after a ride, or before loading the bike into the boot. If your cleaning needs sound anything like mine, I can’t recommend the OC3 Foldable enough. I've been hard-pressed to find a single fault in this brilliant piece of kit.

Canyon has launched a brand new edition of its Grail gravel bike today.

Like a lot of gravel bikes being launched right now, such as the Factor Elara and the Scott Addict gravel, the new 3rd generation Grail is a dedicated big-clearance, aero-focused gravel race machine.

We spotted what we believed to be this bike in prototype form at The Traka back in late April, speculating at the time whether the Grail would be joining the big gravel tyre club. We know now the answer to that question is a resounding yes.

As it did with the Grail RIFT, Canyon has flirted with its own embargo and has also been teasing this bike for over a week on social media, and by now, most will know the new Grail has arrived.

The Grail, regarded as one of the best gravel bikes for several years, was starting to stand out for its conservative official max tyre clearance of 42mm. Whilst there's nothing wrong with running a 42mm tyre, things are only going one way when it comes to gravel race bike tyre sizes and trends.

Now, it seems Canyon has answered in kind with 57mm tyre clearance front and rear.

The new bike isn't quite as light as the Gen 2 model. Canyon quotes 989 grams for a raw, medium-sized frame, 1095 for a CF SLX model and 1128 for a CF. It does make the point that overall the bikes are faster than the previous one, though.

There's more than just tyre clearance to go over here, though. We have all the new bike details, have logged several test rides on the new bike, and have verified the max claimed tyre clearance ourselves for you.

The 3rd generation Canyon Grail

We'll stay on tyre clearance for just a little longer. The Grail has 57mm clearance now, with a claimed 4mm ISO clearance around the tyre. Everyone will be happy, and the spec sheet will look good, but I get a slight feeling when listening to Canyon speak about the bike that it's still not completely on board with the big tyre philosophy.

It sounds like the clearance was partly just boosted because it was requested by pro riders like Rosa Klöser, who insisted that her future gravel bike would have to have big tyre clearances, and not because the brand was all in on big tyres.

Canyon says it 'watched, waited and listened whilst the internet debated whether wider tyres make you faster'.

The brand says the Grail was intended to be 2x compatible, which would have held clearance to a maximum 50mm figure, but riders like Klöser demanded bigger numbers.

To execute the 57mm clearance, Canyon has used a thin yet completely solid section of drive-side chainstay; it's the same workaround Lauf uses in its Seigla frame, which also has the same clearance number.

Bikes will come fitted with 45mm tyres. Canyon calls this a 'baseline from which riders can explore'. There will also be no suspension-equipped 'RIFT' models in the range. The brand explained that the large-volume tyres will take care of further off-road smoothing duties.

Canyon has also created a tyre pressure setup calculator with Pirelli, which can be found within the Canyon app to help riders dial in their optimal tyre pressures.

Aero testing

It's clear to see from looking at the Grail that aerodynamic performance has been a consideration, and it's a factor for any competitive gravel race bike launching right now.

Canyon makes the point that the longer you are racing, the more aero matters. This will certainly be a factor in events like the Traka 360.

The brand has tested at 35km/h, which it says is real-world gravel race pace. Testing occurred at the GST Wind tunnel in Immenstadt, Germany, and the brand uses a moving-leg dummy to replicate a rider's pedalling motion.

Let's start with a question many will want to know: how much faster is it than the old bike? A 3rd Gen Grail with 40,45, and 55mm tyres is faster than a Gen 2 bike with 40mm rubber. By up to 6.3 watts.

Canyon also tested against some competitors and listed them, something not every brand does when comparing to the competition.

You can see the table for yourself above, but the Gen 3 bike was faster by a few watts than the Rose Backroad FF, Factor Ostro Gravel and Cervélo Aspero.

Canyon tested each bike model with the same wheelset, leg model, and 45mm tyres. The wheels had a spec of 50mm depth, 27mm internal width, and 38.5mm external width.

Aside from aero testing, there's scope for rolling resistance to offer greater gains off-road; certain 50mm+ tyres can offer their own rewards when combined with the right tyre pressures off-road. The Grail's new clearance will allow riders to take advantage of those gains too.

Features and geometry

Canyon says that the Grail was well regarded in the handling department and didn't want to mess with its handling formula.

The bike's wheelbase has been extended by 10mm to accommodate the big tyres, and the chainstays are 10mm longer, but the brand says the 'handling dynamics remain the same as on the Gen 2 Grail' and the head and seat tube angles are the same.

The stack has changed and has been lowered by 15mm 'in response to gravel racing's rising speeds'; the reach number is the same, and shorter stems are specced on bikes. For instance, a medium arrives with an 80mm stem.

This generation of the Grail in CFR and CF SLX models has also received the Canyon Pace bar technology. This provides simple handlebar width and height adjustment of 50 and 20mm respectively.

Bikes arrive with Canyon Control handlebar drops, but these can be removed and switched out for several alternative options. Adjustable bar widths range from 370mm to 420mm.

There's also a new seatpost in the form of the SP0093 VCLS (vertical comfort lateral stiffness) unit, an aero-profiled post which Canyon says provides 25% more compliance than a rigid unit. Canyon also claims it offers the same amount of deflection regardless of a rider's seatpost height.

The frame uses a PF86 bottom bracket standard, primarily for clearance and stiffness according to the brand.

There are also some new frame storage bags for the Grail from the Bavarian brand Cyclite. Canyon has developed lightweight, top tube and frame storage bags for the Grail whch save a couple of hundred grams over the previous bags; they also don't affect aero performance much.

A few features aren't on every model. Load downtube storage can only be found on the CFR and CF SLX models, and the Fast Fender mounts don't feature on the CFR model.

Another new release comes from Canyon in the form of a new pair of carbon wheels from the brand. Canyon launched its own range of carbon wheels with the Grizl gravel machine last year.

The new 50 CF wheels will come on the CF 7 and CF SLX models, or retail on their own for €999. Spec-wise, the wheels have a 27mm internal width and 38.5mm external width. The 50mm rims are laced onto DT Swiss 350 hubs, and the overall weight is a claimed 1675 grams.

Initial riding impressions

I reviewed the previous-gen Grail, attended the launch of the suspension-equipped Grail RIFT and raced the Traka 100 on it.

I’m familiar with the Grail platform, and I really like it. Until now, I have considered the Grail a performance gravel bike that’s a strong all-rounder, user-friendly and fun to ride.

When I saw the new Grail, whilst I thought it looked good with its aero tube shapes and chunkier aero seatpost, I was hopeful that the previous Grail’s nimbleness hadn’t been done away with, despite the brand saying the geometry numbers and ride characteristics were very similar, though the Gen 3 bike is 15mm lower at the front.

Canyon sent me a Grail CF SLX 8 AXS model to ride in the eye-catching Strawberry Shake colourway. The bike as pictured comes in at €5,499, and my size small test model came in at 9kg out of the box with two bottle cages, a frame storage bag and tools, frame bags and sealant.

After my first ride on the bike, my fears had been largely allayed. In short, the Grail still feels like a Grail. The solid handling and manoeuvrability are still there; it's not just a point-and-shoot straight-line aero machine.

It's a little heavier; my size small at 9kg isn't exactly featherlight, but it doesn't feel like it holds the bike back particularly.

I don't feel much vibration damping from the aero VCLS seatpost, which I am also testing on the road with the latest Endurace; fans of the brand's older round leaf spring style VCLS post of old may be left wanting, and for me, that post did provide more compliance.

The ride is without a doubt solid, fast where it's needed and capable in the techy sections. The overall ride hasn't set my soul alight yet, though. This bike has been designed with speed in mind; I want to see what it's like to live with as a general gravel machine.

The bikes come stock with Schwalbe G-One R 45mm tyres, but I have fitted some 2.2" Continental Dubnital tyres to check clearances for myself, and can verify the big rubber does fit comfortably. Certainly more easily in the front than on the Factor Elara we recently tested. So if you want to go up to 57mm, you can.

Specs and pricing

Six Grail bikes will be available across three frame tiers: CF, CF SLX and the top-tier CFR bike. Two models will be available in each frame version, and there are eight colourways to choose from.

Access to the new range starts with the base CF 7 model, which starts at €2,499 / £2,499 for a Shimano GRX 610 mechanical groupset-equipped bike with Newmen wheels.

The CF CLX tier bikes start at €4,999 / £4,799 with SRAM Force XPLR and DT Swiss GRC 1400 wheels.

The top-spec CFR bikes start at €6,500 / £6,200 for a Shimano GRX R825 build with DT Swiss GRC 1100 wheels, and rise to €8,000 / £7,600 for the top-spec SRAM Red XPLR-equipped bike with the same wheelset.

The Cyclite bags are available separately; the Cyclite top tube bag costs €69,99 and the midloader bag €124,99.

Something to note: the CF bikes don't come with a frame storage hatch, and the CFR bikes do not have Canyon integrated fender mounts for the fast fit system.

Shimano has today unveiled a trio of new products that affect the way you clip into your pedals, and in doing so marked the company's first move away from SPD-SL road cleats since their invention in 2003.

Said trio comprises new pedals, at both Dura-Ace and Ultegra level; new cleats, in four guises; and an update to the brand's top-tier S-Phyre shoes.

Shimano says the launch offers a spread of benefits including lower stack height, more natural engagement, a reduction in weight, and simplified adjustment.

The news comes six months after prototypes of the pedals were spotted by our very own tech writer, Tom Wieckowski, on Jasper Philipsen's bike ahead of Paris-Roubaix, just days before their lack of backward compatibility wreaked havoc on Mathieu Van der Poel's race.

The launch also comes just weeks after Shimano's new Dura-Ace groupset was spotted by Cyclingnews at the Vuelta a España; it seems the Japanese brand has been busy.

The launch is being peddled (pun very much intended) as a holistic system, but I'll break it down to its constituent parts for ease.

New CL-SL120 cleats

At the core of the SPD-SLR launch is a new cleat, to be known as the CL-SL120, which are thinner and lighter than the existing models, and no longer come with the rectangular washers that sit between the cleat and the bolt. This means they no longer offer fore and aft adjustment, but they can still move from side-to-side.

The fore-aft adjustment is instead added to the sole of the new shoes. More on that later.

The cleats are now available in four different guises. There are still three different float options, with the same colour denotations: Red is fixed float (zero degrees), blue is one degree, and yellow is three degrees.

The fourth option is a grey cleat, which offers the same three degrees of float as yellow, but brings the rectangular washer back into the fold for anyone needing extra adjustment with their cleat position. The downside to this configuration is that you concede the reduction in stack height offered by the others.

Interestingly, Dura-Ace pedals will now be shipped with yellow cleats, rather than the blue they've typically shipped with.

The other small but tangible benefit is a reduction in weight. The new cleats themselves are 16g lighter, at 55g, thanks in most part to the removal of those metal washers.

New Dura-Ace PD-R9300 and Ultegra PD-R8200 pedals

Next up, Shimano has redesigned its two highest tiers of pedals too, with a new R9300 Dura-Ace pedal, and an R8200 Ultegra pedal. A quick aside is that this confirms there's also a new Ultegra groupset on the way, because existing Ultegra components are given the R8100 moniker, not R8200.

The primary claimed differences here surround the weight of the pedals, the interface between the pedal and the cleat, and how easy it is to clip into them in the first place.

According to Shimano, the existing pedals hang at 15.5° behind vertical, whereas the new versions hang slightly more vertically, at 10.5°. This means a slightly larger area to 'catch' the cleat as you bring your foot forward into it, but also 5° less rotation needed before you're clipped in.

Perhaps more tangibly, a Shimano spokesperson also told Cyclingnews that the new system reduces any small gaps or flex that can be created between the pedal and the cleat when pulling up in a sprint or when climbing, adding to the feeling of being securely connected to the pedals.

Elsewhere, the new pedals are technically lighter, but Dura-Ace is a mere single gram better off than its predecessor, at 227g versus 228g. Ultegra is now 228g, down by 20g from 248g.

The differences between the two revolve around the bearings. Dura-Ace's use of a bigger bearing nearer to the crank enables them to be stiffer and less resistant to rotation, making them slightly more efficient.

Stack height differences

Combined with the cleat, the primary gain is a 2.3mm reduction of stack height; aka the distance between the pedal axle and the bottom of your foot. This difference is small, but it's a change that Shimano says improves how well connected you feel to the bike.

Stack height can also have knock-on effects to bike fit, rider position, and in some cases significantly affect a rider's aerodynamics by allowing them to sit lower on the bike, albeit I remain sceptical as to how much will be achieved with 2.3mm difference.

The reduction equates to a total of 12.5mm stack height on Dura-Ace (for pedal and cleat, excluding shoe), and 13.3mm on Ultegra, but this is still some 4mm / 4.8mm higher than the Wahoo Speedplay pedals' 8.5mm claim – albeit they do require that you wear four-bolt compatible shoes.

This is reduced by a further 0.7mm if you wear the new Shimano shoes, but aside perhaps needing the extra fore-aft adjustment that they offer, there is no obligation to use them.

New S-Phyre RC910 shoes

Speaking of shoes, Shimano has also released the S-Phyre shoes that Jasper Philipsen has been spotted using all summer. In fact, he even won a race wearing just one of them back in March.

Shimano has been slowly working its way through the 900s with naming of top-tier S-Phyre shoes. I remember reviewing the RC901 shoes a few years ago, and the RC902 and RC903 have both launched since, each small iterations of their predecessors. Shimano has now jumped straight to RC910, so this one must be serious.

The shoes follow the trendy shift toward wider lasts, and benefit from Shimano's recently-released Dynalast 2.0 tech, which essentially widens the forefoot by 3mm at the toes and 2mm at the ball. They're available in narrow- and wide- versions too.

The big difference related to SPD-SLR, however, is that they have a longer slot for the cleat bolt receiving nuts to sit in, meaning they offer much more fore and aft adjustment when positioning the cleats. This offsets the removal of adjustment within the cleat itself.

Shimano SPD-SLR compatibility explained

Prices

I only have UK and EU pricing at the moment, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the new pedals are significantly cheaper than the outgoing models.

Of course, this is caveated by the fact that existing Shimano pedals and cleats are very rarely sold at their recommended retail price, but still, it's better than the other way around.

• Dura-Ace pedals will be priced at £199.99 / €229.99 (The old ones retail for £239.99).
• Ultegra pedals will retail at £139.99 / €160.99 (versus £159.99 for the old ones).
• All cleats are slightly more expensive at £24.99 / €28.99 (versus £21.99 before).
• And the new S-Phyre RC910 shoes are £389.99 / €449.99.

First ride impressions and thoughts

Having ridden the new system for the grand sum of around 70km, it's too soon to offer any more than just vibes and feelings, but my initial riding impressions are positive.

I will outline that I'm comparing a brand new pair of Shimano shoes, cleats and Dura-Ace pedals to a pair of Specialized shoes, year-old SPD-SL cleats and three-year-old Ultegra pedals though, which isn't conducive to a fair test. Not to mention the slight guesswork on cleat position as I tried to replicate it by eye.

Unsurprisingly since everything was brand new out of the box, I felt slightly more locked into the new pedals, and the action of clipping in felt cleaner.

I've used Shimano pedals for a decade almost exclusively, so clipping in felt entirely natural, which is positive. I wouldn't necessarily call it better, but in my opinion Shimano was already better than the competition, so I'm just glad to report it's no worse.

I didn't really notice any improvement in my 'connection' to the bike, though. I dropped my saddle by a couple of mm to offset the change in stack, and it all felt similar. I'm sure more back-to-back riding will tease out some perceptible differences, but they'll be small if noticable at all.

I fully trust that the new system is marginally better than the old one, but I wouldn't be rushing out to swap my bike over to the new system unless my existing Shimano pedals were wrecked. Shimano's problem here is that this takes an age to happen, so I expect uptake of the SPD-SLR to be slow.

The lack of backwards compatibility will also contribute to this, as anyone with more than one road bike is going to face an expensive switch when they make the jump. You can't just upgrade each pair of pedals or cleats as they wear out, it will require changing all your pedals at once, or consigning yourself to forever swapping pedals between bikes.

The one thing that remains unknown is whether the brand will license the design to brands like Favero in order to make a compatible power meter, or lock it down like they did with SPD-SL. The SPD-SL patent expired in around 2022, twenty years after it was initially filed ahead of their 2003 launch. This opened the door to brands like Favero to make SPD-SL compatible power meter pedals, which no doubt stole market share away from Shimano's crank-based power meters.

Cyclingnews understands the new SPD-SLR will be patented, but the brand was unclear on its plans for licensing out the new design to the same brands. There is a cynic inside me that wonders if that isn't in fact the primary motivation for the redesign in the first place, and that the stack height improvement is just a convenient front to hide behind.

As Campagnolo expands its gravel range and revitalises the entire Super Record groupset to include off-road electronic Super Record X, it brings with it a new gravel-focused iteration of the famous Bora wheels, the Bora X. The brand claims the new wheelset brings the best out of the new groupset, and vice versa, due to the synergy between components.

I can’t comment on that, having not tested the new Super Record X groupset, but after a lot of riding on the Bora X wheelset, I can confirm that it is a highly competent wheelset in many ways.

It’s lightweight for a 50mm deep wheel, although it is a little on the narrow side by some standards meaning it is perhaps better suited for 40-45mm tyres rather than larger. However, the greatest performance aspect of these wheels is the balance of stiffness. Lateral and torsional stiffness are easy enough to achieve, but to manage that with vertical compliance for a comfortable ride is sublime for gravel riding.

A hoard of high-quality parts, bags and accoutrements boost the value of these wheels, although they are still a shade under two grand. The cup and cone bearing system is perhaps not the preference for most, it works well if you look after it. Not to mention, the wheels frankly look stunning. They are a real winner in my books and a perfect addition to any gravel race bike.

Design and specifications

The Campagnolo Bora X wheels are built upon a unidirectional carbon rim that very closely resembles the Bora WTO rims used on the road. The 50mm depth is high for a gravel wheel, and closely on trend with the increasing focus on aerodynamics in the discipline. The width of the rim is where the changes are bigger, with a 27mm internal channel designed for 35mm tyres and larger, using hooked rims still giving some riders that added sense of security. Externally, the rim reaches 31.5mm wide, relatively narrow by some standards in today’s market.

The rim also features a solid rim bed, eliminating the need for tubeless tape, with spokes instead adjusted externally. Valves are supplied and are long enough for the 50mm depth, which is designed to make tubeless setup very easy time after time. A glorious gloss C Lux finish is present on the rims, offset with a mix of matte black and chrome logos, which personally makes this a stunning set of wheels.

Moving down from the rim, the spokes are laced in the iconic G3 lacing pattern. This uses sets of three spokes, one on the non-drive side at the rear and the non-rotor side at the front, two on the drive-side rear and rotor-side front. This results in a 2:1 ratio 21-spoke lacing configuration, with the seven radially laced, and the 14 using a three-cross arrangement. The spokes themselves are straight pull and bladed, but not all of them, some are rounded to balance stiffness and comfort for gravel riding.

The freehub is available for all standards from Campagnolo, SRAM, and Shimano, and uses NSW ceramic bearings, rather than the top-end CULT offering, with cup and cone rather than cartridge bearings. This requires a bit more maintenance, but if looked after, should last well. Lightweight lockrings are supplied as standard and attach externally. A nice bonus is the supply of both tyre levers and soft padded wheel bags large enough for wheels with 50mm tyres fitted. Claimed weight is 1,430g, but actual was 1,463g, although with lockrings and valves. Remove those, and the wheels still come in at 1,444g.

Performance

Tubeless setup for these wheels was one of the easiest I've done. The solid rim bed means no rim tape is required, just fit the valves, put the tyres on, and inflate with a track pump to seat. The Panaracer GravelKing ZX 45mm tyres inflated to 45mm exactly on these rims with the 27mm internal width and 31.5mm external. This is a bit narrow by some gravel wheelset standards, especially by modern wider trends, but it allows the versatility to run 35mm and upwards.

I have to say that the wheels look glorious. The C Lux finish combines a gloss carbon weave across the entirety of the rim with a mix of matte black ‘Bora’ logos with a chrome-finished ‘Campagnolo’ and winged wheel nut logo. They reflect the light in the sun and really make the frame pop. They do lose this once the dust from gravel riding gets them, but they’re easy enough to clean. I personally prefer this a lot to the standard matte black that is now all too common.

Of course, these are performance gravel wheels, and they are an impressively balanced set which have several features that really help them on gravel. The spoke lacing is heavily asymmetric, with a 2:1 ratio on the rear drive side and front rotor side to better deal with the asymmetric forces applied to the wheels. This results in the wheels having a superb level of lateral stiffness for out of the saddle accelerations and putting the power down, but also a great deal of torsional stiffness when accelerating and braking.

Impressively, this is balanced with a good amount of vertical compliance which gives them a more plush sensation when riding off road on rougher surfaces. Some of this is apparently to do with the carbon layup, but also the use of elliptical spokes alongside the bladed aero ones. Of course tyres and pressures make up a lot of the cushioning sensation you get, which is why I test with the same tyres and pressures on the same routes to keep things consistent. The Bora X, however, are noticeably more comfortable to ride than other gravel wheels on test with all other variables kept consistent.

A 50mm depth means these are a solid set of wheels when travelling at speed. At speeds around 35kph the wheels start to come alive. I’ve used these on the road a few times as well, and even on faster group rides the wheels feel pretty at home and not much of a compromise compared to road wheels with 30mm tyres.

Impressively, with this rim depth, the weight is competitive. Excluding the valves and lockrings, 1,444g for a 50mm wheelset is impressively lightweight. This is felt out on the trails when accelerating on steeper inclines. This, with the stiffness, means they get up to speed very competently and also brake effectively even on loose surfaces with heavier tyres fitted.

There are some concerns about the longevity of the bearings, however, as a cup and cone setup requires more user input to keep them running smoothly, but if you do this, they will run very well. Generally, cartridge bearings would be used with heavier external seals and potentially internal as well. A ratchet system is still used, but a 36-tooth engagement is on the lower side of teeth numbers. However it is sometimes seen as more resilient than high-tooth ratchets, and in practice the acceleration of the wheels was great even with a lower tooth count.

These wheels are also potentially a little on the narrow side. 27mm internal width works well for 35-45mm tyres, and can be used for wider. However, for using 50-55mm options, as is becoming more frequent, a lot of wheels are adopting a wider internal and external width. Meanwhile, the 31.5mm external width does mean the 45mm tyres used with this sit fairly wide. We’ve seen in wind tunnel testing that although wider tyres carry an aero penalty, this penalty can be reduced if the external width of the tyre is wider to better smooth the interface between tyre and rim. I can confirm that riding on tarmac surfaces, the likes of the Parcours FKT felt to roll a bit faster above 35kph, with a ballooning 40mm maximum external rim width.

Value

£1,999.99/$2,180 is an expensive set of wheels, putting it in the similar regions of the HUNT Limitless 40 UD Spoke with carbon rims, lower weight, and ceramic bearings. Of course, they are far behind the price of the likes of the Roval Terra Aero CLX (£2,998/$3,400) and the ENVE G SES 6.7 Pro (£3,500/$3,100).

My personal feeling with these wheels is that the versatility they offer is impressive. I like the inclusion of hooked rims, and with some 35mm tyres these would be great wheels on rough road surfaces let alone gravel. There is also no user weight limit, and a solid rim bed which makes future tubeless fitting a lot easier as tape won’t come loose while cleaning out old sealant.

Of course there are wheels that are cheaper, and not far off in terms of many performance aspects. The Scope R4G (£1,498/$1,798), for example, are superb, but the hub is like a siren while the Bora X are silent. Meanwhile, the Parcours FKT (£1,249 ) are great when rolling fast, but lack the same stiffness, compliance, and low weight that the Bora X offer.

I am also a big fan of the inclusion of the very lightweight external rotor lockrings, as well as the valves, tyre levers, bag for all of that, and some very high-quality wheel bags. It does mean that the wheelset as a whole does come with some additional value.

There is also the subjective element that I think these wheels look stunning, and that does add value to me. I like to look at the bike and think to myself that it looks great, and these wheels genuinely add to that. This is, of course, a highly individual and personal preference, but as are most aspects of value.

Verdict

The Campagnolo Bora X wheels have become my favourite gravel wheelset to ride. The balance of high stiffness for accelerations, braking, and cornering, combined with vertical compliance for comfort is fantastic. A deep rim depth and low weight also makes them wonderful to ride at speed or on climbs.

My only gripe is the relatively narrow rim width for tyres beyond 40mm, while the bearing setup will require more upkeep. But for the performance and included parts, not to mention looking stunning, the £2k price tag does not appear too high. There are better-value (around £1,500) wheelsets, but I prefer these.

Celebrating 37 years at the forefront of cycling technology, Garmin is marking its anniversary with the Garmin Birthday Sale. Over the last three decades, the brand has built a reputation for high-performance gear that transforms how cyclists ride, train, and track their progress both indoors and out.

From the best bike computers and indoor smart trainers to precision power meter pedals and rearview radar systems, Garmin’s lineup consistently earns top marks in our expert testing and buying guides.

Shop the Birthday Sale at Garmin.

The Garmin Birthday Sale runs until September 20, offering discounts across the majority of its cycling tech. Our best overall bike computer – the Garmin Edge 1050 has an impressive £70 off, down to just £529. It's the lowest I've seen this year on the flagship Garmin device. It also significantly undercuts the current Amazon Garmin Edge 1050 price of £614.

Below you'll find my top ten selections from the Garmin Sale, and these focus on the UK version. For Garmin US shoppers, the US Birthday Sale is live; sadly, there are more limited offers available.

Saying that, there are still some gems worth highlighting. Including $100 off the Garmin Edge 1040 Solar down to $599. So worth a look for those based in the US.

The Birthday Sale runs until September 20, but with Amazon Prime Day coming in early October, and then Black Friday in November, if you miss out now, there might be plenty of Garmin deals coming. Of course, we'll be highlighting all the offers as they appear, but if you have an eye on something now, why wait?

Below you'll also find the best prices on Garmin cycling tech from other retailers, relevant to your currency and location.

Despite the e-bike helmet being a relatively new subgenre in the world of bike apparel, there are already plenty of good options – see our best e-bike helmets guide for more of them. You probably have a list of must-haves when it comes to making a purchase: safety, comfort, and not looking daft. Sustainability credentials may or may not sway your final decision, but if you are looking for a model that looks after both your head and the planet, the Lazer Verde KinetiCore is for you.

Having used the Verde on both my 40-minute pedal-powered commute and on weekend e-bike outings for many weeks now, I can vouch for it as a comfortable, stylish option that won’t break the bank. At the time of writing, I haven’t put its safety credentials or ease of recycling to the test, but the relevant certificates and documentation back those up.

Design and aesthetics 

Lazer have been making helmets for over 100 years and claims to have designed the first true hardshell helmet, so it has always put technical innovation at the heart of its design.

The Verde is the latest product of this ethos, being the first to feature the brand’s EcoLoc system, which allows the helmet to be disassembled and recycled after use. In fact, 70 per cent of the helmet’s weight is made from recycled materials. There is no glue, Velcro, paint or stickers, all of which make the helmet’s production and decommissioning much less harmful to the planet.

Eco credentials in cycle kit can often read like marketing guff rather than genuinely meaningful action, but this doesn’t feel like the case with the Verde. Its closest competitor in the sustainable e-bike helmet category (admittedly a pretty niche genre) is probably the POC Myelin, however, the POC doesn’t have nearly as much certification.

The Verde comes with the essential NTA 8776 certificate, which is a Dutch standard specifically for e-bikes that rubber-stamps the helmet’s ability to perform in higher-speed collisions. It was awarded 4 out of 5 stars from Virginia Tech, so isn’t quite as safe as they come, but it’s pretty good. The helmet uses Lazer’s KinetiCore (essentially an in-house alternative to the MIPS design), which uses crumple zones rather than a separate inner shell like MIPS.

The Verde claims to provide ventilation that both offers enough inflow to keep you cool, while simultaneously keeping rain out. This is achieved by having most of the vents in the shell and the liner seemingly misaligned, which looks slightly odd at first glance.

The cradle uses Lazer's TurnSys dial adjuster, but unlike some of the brand's alternative options, there is no lateral adjustment. The strap comes with the old-school pinch-release buckle where some of the Verde’s competitors opt for a magnetic clasp, but again the design leans towards simplicity over sophistication as a way to reduce waste, and I’m here for it.

The Verde doesn’t come with a visor or the means to attach one. In terms of customisation, you might want to consider attaching Lazer’s LED light. There’s also the brand's compatible Winter Kit, which connects to the inside of the helmet to add insulation for colder commutes. Given the reduced ventilation, however, you might not need any extra warmth.

There are five matte colourways to choose from, with the Sage Green and Fort Knox particularly catching the eye. Another thing to note regarding the colour is that the plastic isn’t painted (another eco decision), it’s dyed, and has proved more resistant to scratches so far. Otherwise, the design is pretty slick and isn’t as bulky as some of its peers.

Performance

Overall, the Verde performed pretty well during test rides, which consisted of both e-bike nursery drop-offs and 40-minute, non–pedal-assisted commutes into the office. It’s probably worth noting that all of this riding was done in the south of England during the long, hot summer of 2026.

The two main things that let the Verde down are its noticeable weight and insufficient ventilation. While it feels unfair to judge it too harshly during the hottest British summer on record, for me the ventilation wasn’t sufficient for medium effort or on a warm day, and after half an hour I could feel the weight on my head – unlike my ususal helmet.

In designing the vents to keep rain out, it feels as though Lazer have sacrificed too much in the way of airflow. If you’re the sort of e-bike rider who is happy to let your battery do most of the work, then this might not be a concern, but if you’re looking for an all-rounder that you can use at the weekend on longer rides, then you might want to shop around.

In terms of weight, the M-L Verde comes in at nearly half a kilo which, given it doesn’t come with in-built smart features or a visor, feels quite weighty. Compared to the similar Smith Dispatch, it’s around 100g heavier.

Again, if you are using pedal-assist, keeping to shorter distances and riding in an upright position, this is much less of an issue. I noticed the weight far more when I was commuting head-down on my Genesis Croix de Fer compared to the rides when sat up straight on my motor-equipped Tern Quick Haul.

Having stripped the design back to make it more sustainable, there’s an unfussiness to the Verde that is quite refreshing. The TurnSys dial adjuster feels a bit primitive at first but is actually really effective and robust. The lack of lateral adjustment leaves you a bit limited when it comes to catering for ponytails or just getting a customised fit.

The straps feel a little bit dated but work well and are simple to adjust once the helmet is in place, although come with a pinch-release buckle and without any chin strap pads or the like. While the lack of glue in the manufacturing process means the shell and the liner are not inseparable and feel slightly loose on occasion, knowing this is part of the eco-friendly design put my mind at rest.

Lazer haven’t gone overboard on the padding, having sacrificed both glue and Velcro in an effort to make the helmet more recyclable. One inadvertent positive of having less padding is that when things do get a bit sweaty, is that there's less material to soak it up.

Otherwise, the overall fit was fine, even for someone not blessed with the most conventional-shaped head. Trying on helmets is not something I relish, as they usually only accentuate my Frank Sidebottom-esque aesthetic, but the Verde doesn’t look overly bulky. Even in the larger M-L sizing, the helmet doesn't look excessive.

The choice of matte colours is also very easy on the eye. I didn’t fall in love with the Lemongrass option of my test helmet, but I very much like the look of the Sage Green and Fort Knox.

Value

Anyone who is accustomed to making climate-conscious purchasing decisions knows that they often incur something of a surcharge. The Verde feels firmly in that category, given both its weight and its stripped-back design feel like they could belong to a slightly cheaper helmet.

But for those who genuinely try and make impactful choices when buying kit, the extra outlay might feel warranted. The Verde comes in slightly cheaper than the POC Myelin (at full price) and has much greater protection certification.

The simple straps without chinstraps or magnetic clasp feel slightly outdated, not to mention out of place at this price point, but won’t ultimately have a huge impact on the important things like safety and comfort.

At £99, the Verde comes in considerably more expensive than some of the best e-bike helmets, like the Specialized Mode, which has a similar stylish design and all the safety certification you need. If you’d prefer some lighting already integrated, the Nutcase Vio comes is at a similar price but has 360-degree lighting and uses MIPS technology rather than Lazer’s KinetiCore.

If you have room in the budget, there are a number of options around the £150 mark that weigh in quite a bit lighter, have integrated lights and much improved ventilation.

Verdict

Overall, the Verde is a solid and aesthetically-pleasing option that will keep your head intact should the worst happen. It also comes with the added benefit of helping you sleep better at night knowing you’re doing your bit for the environment.

The insufficient ventilation and weight of the helmet might leave you a bit hot and bothered if you’re putting in a decent amount of effort or you’re out on a warm day for more than 30 minutes, but for the average e-bike commute or school run, you should be OK. There are arguably better value helmets on the market, but that depends what price you put on sustainable design. There are also helmets that come with more bells and whistles, like integrated lights, but the simplicity of the adjustment on both the cradle and straps might suit the purists out there.

As much as an e-bike helmet purchase should fundamentally be about protecting your grey matter on the road, even the most safety-conscious of us want to look nice at the same time. The Verde is a good-looking lid that isn’t overly bulky and it comes in five great colours.

The holder of our best budget road tyre crown for more than two years, Michelin's Power Cup TLR easily challenges far pricier road tyres for overall performance. At almost half the retail price of the Continental GP5000 S TR, our best overall choice, it delivers matching real-world stats, speed, and value.

Right now, that incredible value is even better as you can pick up the Michelin Power Cup for just £42.95, reduced from £70 at Merlin Cycles UK.

Get the Michelin Power Cup TLR with 39% off at Merlin Cycles.

Cyclingnews' Senior Tech Writer Will Jones praised the Michelin Power Cup's performance, noting: "I cannot say they felt faster or slower than a GP5000 or the Vittoria Corsa Pro, but matching those benchmark tyres at nearly half the price proves just how good they are."

For US shoppers, the Michelin Power Cup TLR is priced at $48.32 at Merlin Cycles US, reduced from $78.75. However, US shoppers are subject to US import taxes which typically range from 10% to 22% depending on the item's value.

The Michelin Power Cup TLR is priced at $65.50 on Amazon US, down from $88.99 but only in the 28mm sizing.

Michelin Power Cup TLR UK deal

Michelin Power Cup TLR US deal

We've tested nearly every road bike tyre on the market, and the Power Cup featured in our testing at the Silverstone sports engineering pedalling efficiency lab. Up against Grand Tour winning rubber like the Continental GP5000 S TR and the Vittoria Corsa.

There impressive performance earnt them a strong 4 out of 5 stars, and the nod as the best budget offering. We reckon the Michelin Power Cup TLR matches the GP5000's rolling resistance at a fraction of the cost. Will Jones noted: "I love these tyres, and if I wasn’t constantly swapping rubber for testing, these are where I’d spend my own money."

The Power Cup features Michelin's Tubeless Shield technology and 4x120 tpi casing, which they say makes them durable and puncture-resistant. Will was impressed with his own real-world puncture resistance testing, saying, "I’ve had three different sets of the Power Cup, some set up tubeless, some with tubes, and I've only had one puncture."

Elsewhere, review highlights included the Power Cups' grip, even though they are a totally slick tyre, free of tread or sipes (the technical term for tread). Will was happy with the performance here, saying, "I can assure you that (the slick aesthetic) doesn’t make them less grippy." However, Will did add, If you're an aggressive crit racer, cornering hard, then perhaps you’d want to consider a more well-wrapped tread option, but for most of us, I’m pretty confident in saying they’re just fine."

For tubeless users, set up here was relatively pain-free too, and Will said, "They didn’t prove overly difficult to get onto the rim, nor did they present much of a challenge to seat, either with or without sealant in."

If you've never tried a Michelin Power Cup tyre, then at this price, and with up to 39% off, now may well be the time to try them for yourself.

Below, you'll also find Michelin Power Cup deals from other retailers, which show the best prices in your territory.

We are all used to professional road cycling, where marginal gains still mean shaving grams, chasing aero numbers in a wind tunnel, and hoping a new skinsuit saves half a watt. Don't get me wrong, as a lifelong bike nerd, I love all the latest WorldTour tech, but for me there's another branch of bike racing that trumps it.

If you want to see real bike tech, where cycling actually starts to resemble a motorsport paddock with things like tuned mass dampers, data acquisition rigs, chassis compliance, advanced suspension and more, you really need to check out the gravity disciplines in mountain bike racing.

Downhill, since its roots in the mid '90s, has always been a hotbed of innovation. Many of the things we take for granted on modern mountain bikes, like disc brakes, full suspension and progressive geometry, all started in the pursuit of speed down a hillside.

The tracks are three to five minutes of controlled violence over rock gardens, roots, and braking bumps that would shake a normal bike and rider to pieces. To survive that, let alone win it, teams have to optimise bikes to not only be fast, tuned to the trail, and adaptable to rider preferences, but also make it to the bottom of the hill in one piece.

This has created an atmosphere of constant development and testing, with a broader scope for improvement than in the WorldTour, much like motorsports.

Now, granted, the amount of money a cycling team has to spend is pennies compared to their Formula 1 cousins, but that has only furthered the innovation, as teams, mechanics, and engineers have relied on ingenuity and clever solutions to tricky technical problems.

Weight in the wrong place, on purpose

Santa Cruz Syndicate are one of the leading teams in modern downhill, with all of their riders in the top 5 at the recent Val Di Sole World Championships, and lead rider Jackson Goldstone grabbed his second rainbow jersey too.

I was lucky enough to be shown around their team truck by team manager Rob Copeland to see how they optimise their V10 bikes for race weekend.

Start with something that sounds like it shouldn't work: adding weight to make a bike faster. In the WorldTour, mass has long been the enemy of speed. Riders and teams go to extraordinary lengths and spend a lot to drop a few grams. In downhill, some of the world's fastest riders do the opposite, deliberately adding weight to their bikes.

The Syndicate team has three different ways to add weight, all in and around the bottom bracket area. By positioning the mass low and central, suspended between the axles, it gives the bike a "planted" feeling under load. That's not an accident of language, it's the same principle a chassis engineer uses when deciding where to hang a fuel tank or battery pack in a race car.

The aim is to keep mass as close to the centre of the wheelbase as possible, keep the polar moment of inertia low, and keep handling calm and predictable.

It's in how you add weight that shows the level of development at the top of the MTB World Cup scene. Some teams simply stick adhesive-backed lead weights to the downtube, but they have much neater options. The first is by G-Project and mounts inside the 24mm axle of the Shimano Saint crank axle, a neat system designed and made by team mechanic Gio.

The second option is a custom-machined box that mounts around the BB shell and lets mechanics adjust the ballast based on feel and data from repeated track runs. And for riders like Goldstone who want even more, they use a simple Peatys Holdwrap, meant to store tools and spares on a normal bike, but its super-secure wide Velcro strap makes it work perfectly here too.

Downhill bikes also have a mind-boggling range of frame adjustments, which, depending on the rider, can be changed drastically for each track. Things like wheelbase, head angle, reach and bottom bracket heights can be tweaked accordingly, but that's only half the story. They can also make pretty drastic changes to suspension feel by moving the rear shock or linkage attached to it, adjusting the main pivot location or even adding a floating arm for the rear brake, which can change the bike's kinematics and let the mechanics and riders play around with things like the amount of travel, shock progression and even things like anti-squat and anti-rise or brake jack.

Data acquisition, not guesswork

How do they know whether their suspension and frame geometry setups are working? Like Formula 1, they look at data from bike-mounted systems that record suspension and braking movements, plus GPS, so they can see what the bike is doing on the track. I had a good chat with the Santa Cruz Syndicate mechanic, Gio, who not only makes the axle-based weights shown above, but also has a background in MotoGP and is an expert in data acquisition.

Some riders like to go on feel and validate with the data, whereas others like to follow it more closely. Either way, it's an important area for the team and one they put a lot of effort into.

This also has a big impact on suspension set-up, which, alongside the wide range of frame adjustments, also has a huge range of options. Riders and mechanics can tune things like spring rate, high- and low-speed compression and rebound damping, and for some teams even electronically-controlled damping. Not a lockout like you'd find on the XC circuit, since theres no climbing here, but different modes to make sure the rider has the optimum setup at different points on the track.

For a downhill bike, this matters because the margins are brutal and the conditions change constantly. A track that's tacky and grippy during Saturday practice can be dry, dusty and skittish by Sunday's final run. A suspension setup that felt perfect twelve hours earlier can work against the rider by race time.

Data acquisition turns that guesswork into an engineering problem: mechanics can see, objectively, whether the fork is using its last 20mm of travel on the biggest hits of a track, whether the shock is packing down over repeated braking bumps, or whether a rider is consistently under-using travel because the spring rate is too firm for the terrain. It's the difference between tuning by feel and tuning by evidence, and it's precisely the discipline F1 teams apply to ride-height and damper mapping.

Brands like RockShox, Fox, and Ohlins invest a lot of time and money in top-tier suspension and have their own mechanics and workshops on site at every race to make sure everything's running optimally.

They also hold multiple off-season meetings and test sessions, like the best motorsport teams do, to test new designs and get feedback from riders and mechanics alike to help design new products. That not only benefits teams like the Santa Cruz Syndicate but also trickles down to riders like you and me.

Tuned mass dampers: Borrowed physics, different frequency

If one piece of technology captures the F1 comparison most directly, it's the tuned mass damper, and the Commencal Muc-Off team has been at the forefront of adopting it.

Commencal riders Amaury Pierron and Myriam Nicole have run TMD units on their Supreme DH bikes for a couple of seasons now, most visibly units developed under the CounterShox/CounterCycle programme, mounted to reduce vibration and keep the tyre in more consistent contact with the ground.

The concept is a direct import from motorsport. Renault's Formula 1 team famously ran a tuned mass damper in 2005–06; a spring-mounted weight tucked in the nose of the car that oscillated out of phase with chassis movement to damp pitch and improve mechanical grip over kerbs and bumps, until the FIA banned it in 2006, ruling it a moveable aerodynamic device.

The underlying physics is straightforward: a mass mounted on a spring and damper absorbs energy at a specific resonant frequency, cancelling unwanted vibration in the main structure rather than letting it transmit through to the rest of the system.

Where it gets interesting is the difference in application. F1's mass damper was tuned to a narrow, specific frequency band, specifically the pitch and heave frequencies of a car's chassis under load, a relatively predictable and repeatable set of inputs given a smooth and repeatable circuit surface.

A downhill bike doesn't get that luxury. A rider is being hit with an enormous spread of vibration frequencies simultaneously. High-frequency chatter off small roots and rock, mid-frequency braking bumps, and massive compressions through berms and jumps often happen within the same second, on terrain that never repeats exactly the same way twice.

So the units teams like Commencal Muc-Off are running have to be tuned to work across a much broader frequency range than their motorsport ancestor, sacrificing some of the pinpoint efficiency of an F1 damper (tuned to one dominant frequency) for a system that takes the edge off a wider, messier spread of inputs.

It would be easy to write it off as a placebo for riders, but everyone I spoke to said riders could tell the difference in blind off-season testing, so they’ve stuck with it.

Frame compliance as a tuning variable

Another piece of this puzzle is one road cycling flirts with during the Spring Classics and on endurance and gravel bikes, but largely ignores for the WorldTour: tuning frame material and layup specifically for compliance, rather than pure stiffness.

For years, bike marketing in every discipline chased stiffness numbers as an unambiguous good: stiffer meant more efficient, more precise, faster.

Downhill has pushed back against that orthodoxy, because a completely rigid frame transmits all impacts and trail chatter back to the rider, and it also doesn't hold a line on rough terrain as well.

MotoGP and World Superbike know this too, which is why teams build flex and compliance into frames. That movement helps the bike flow with the ground instead of fighting it, which may seem counterintuitive at first.

Teams and manufacturers now treat compliance - how much a frame is allowed to flex, twist and absorb energy through its front triangle, chainstays and seatstays - as a deliberately engineered characteristic, and no longer just a manufacturing tolerance to be eliminated.

This can be done with carbon layups, but that is an expensive route and doesn't offer as much adjustability. Instead, teams like Commencal Muc-Off have been experimenting with different materials and inserts between the seatstays that can be swapped out. In the past, they used alloy, carbon, and even chromoly steel sections to find the ideal mix, but now they stick with alloy and use different composites in various thicknesses mounted between the stays to get the same effect.

This gives them lots of options they can swap out quickly between race runs to help the rider find their optimum setting.

When flying down a mountain, brakes matter

It sounds unglamorous next to tuned mass dampers and fancy frame tuning, but brakes and brake setup are among the most crucial parts of a bike designed to plummet down a mountainside.

Like everything else on a downhill bike, there are a range of options. Riders can pick different compounds, rotor sizes, and some even offer varying numbers of pistons (or pots).

It's an area where lots of off-season testing happens to make sure the products work well together and do what they are supposed to. The World Cup is also the prime proving ground for brands to test their new designs; if you want to see what the likes of Shimano or SRAM are doing next year, then have a close look around the pits at any race, and you'll find plenty of prototypes floating around.

Why this matters more than it gets credit for

None of this shows up on a start list or a results sheet. Nobody's writing "500g of lead, data-logged suspension, and a tuned mass damper" into a race report, but it all weaves into the fabric of the racing and something I find endlessly intriguing.

If you get the chance, you should check out World Cup downhill run closely, really closely. Watching what the bikes do under immense loads isn't only impressive; it also helps you understand why and how they set up bikes the way they do, and that can carry over to your own trail time too.

The WorldTour still, for the most part, treats the bike as a largely finished technology, with only marginal aerodynamic and weight gains left to chase. Downhill, however, has a much broader field of improvements to go at. The fact that they treat the bike as an active, tunable system - weight distribution, suspension damping, braking, thermal management, structural compliance and so on - has more in common with the top tiers of motorsport than most bike races.

Every one of which is being approached with the same rigour a motorsport engineer would bring to a car setup sheet, albeit with far less money to spend. And it's not a comparison I make merely for clickbait either, as a lifelong bike nerd who is as obsessed with the latest aero bike as he is with a suspension damper, and having been at both the start of the Tour de France in Barcelona, and at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Val di Sole in the past two months alone, I must say I find the downhill paddocks endlessly more interesting; a near-limitless pool of tech gems.

Downhill is where cycling's engineering ambition and ingenuity live, just not with the same budgets as its motorised cousins.

Winter is coming, and for many cyclists, that means spending a little or a lot more time cycling indoors. When it’s cold and wet, a productive indoor training session can be the more attractive option for a range of reasons.

With that in mind, Zwift has announced a range of updates in its latest 'This season on Zwift' announcement, which, to many riders, signals the start of the indoor training and racing season.

Zwift was founded in 2014, and the platform regularly rolls out updates and new features as technology develops, but also to keep the in-game experience fun.

The California-based company also acquired competitor indoor training platform, Rouvy, back in April. Within the latest updatres, Zwift has provided a little more information on what to expect next from this merger. For example, those with a Rouvy subscription will be able to pair Rouvy as a connection, which will sync activities across the two, and Rouvy rides will now accumulate Zwift XP at a rate of 5XP per kilometre.

This rollout delivers a range of updates, from hardware to virtual bikes. Here's the breakdown.

A new Zwift Ride smart bike

A new Zwift Ride V2 smart frame is available, starting today. The V2 model's price remains the same as the original, at $1299.99 / €1199.99 / £1099.99, but the brand says the new unit is more adjustable.

There's a new compact frame, which can fit riders from 4'10 to 6'6, and the V2 model will have multi-length crank arms as standard, so riders can choose between 160, 165, 170, 172.5, and 175mm crank arms.

There's also an updated seatpost design for more fore-aft adjustability. These changes make sense. If you are going to offer an adjustable indoor-specific smart bike, a wide range of adjustability is going to be necessary, and we cited the fixed crank length as a drawback in our review of the V1 bike.

Zwift says the adjustable cranks and updated seatpost will be available to buy separately if you want to upgrade the V1 model.

Software and game updates

A familiar part of the Zwift experience for many will be the home screen, where rides, races and training sessions can be selected. The home screen will get a refresh in late September. Planning and progress information will be given priority, and your next activity will be easy to access.

A new progress widget will also help Zwifters track progress towards weekly goals and career progression stats, which we understand was a much-requested update.

Zwift tells us that the Companion app is also being given a major update. It will be easier to view your training week and track fitness thanks to the new activity graph layout.

A new 'Watt Lock' function has also been created. It's an ERG mode toggle during free rides that allows riders to easily lock onto a target power. This sounds ideal for staying in a specific training zone. Players can also use Zwift game controllers to toggle the Watt Lock.

A new connection has also been created with the wrist-based fitness tracker, Whoop. This will allow Zwifters to connect their Whoop wearable and receive insights based on their Whoop Recovery score.

According to Zwift, on Whoop red days, it will auto-adjust personal riding recommendations to tailor athletes' sessions. Later in the fall, Zwift rides and runs will also be visible in the Whoop app.

Watopia, the most popular virtual world in Zwift, is going to be expanded. 18 kilometres of virtual roads are set to be added, inspired by the West Coast of California and Catalina Island. The new roads will feature two crit-style circuits and a flat bypass option around the Epic KOM. A new Archipelago island chain will also be available to discover from October 26th.

New in game racing and events

The Tour of Watopia will run again this year from October 5th to November 22nd. Double Zwift XP points will be on offer, as well as a new 'ultimate challenge'.

A new 'Power Play' campaign will launch in November. This function will make use of power segments in New York, Montmartre and The Grade climbs. Rewards will be on offer for the Power Play challenges.

All this hard work will be rewarded with the chance to win more virtual goodies; alas, Zwift isn't handing out actual bikes as prizes just yet.

Riding in Zwift earns drops. Drops, Zwift's in-game currency, can be spent in the Zwift online store. Virtual Kona and Factor bikes will be coming to the store, as well as Black Inc wheels and the Zwift x Pinarello paint scheme.

Two new Halo bikes from Cervélo and Canyon will be coming too. Only 9000 Zwifters own Halo bikes, and they can be accessed by fully upgrading three bikes from three brands currently. Zwift says to stay tuned for the rollout of this one.

Zwift Racing will also be available with TT, Crit and longer Epic formats; the first series will be sponsored by Dura-Ace (notable timing, given a new version of the groupset was spotted at the Vuelta) and begins this month.

The Zwift Racing League (ZRL) will also begin in September, and as the weather deteriorates, many riders will make use of virtual racing to stay sharp. Zwift is aiming to make the racing more accessible by holding ‘Road to Zwift Racing League’ rides.

A new Race of Truth will also be rolled out, not a time trial as per the name but a mass-start, draftless points race that the brand says will introduce a 'new tactical challenge'.

While The Traka was many months ago now, it’s still fresh in my head thanks to the slew of unreleased bikes that were spotted on that dusty and incredibly pollen-heavy Gironese long weekend.

Of all the secret machines on show, the one that lit up the switchboard the most was Factor’s gravel monster, which seemed to mate a somewhat normal gravel rear end with the absolutely outlandish fork of the brand’s ONE hyper-aero road bike.

Now, as we head toward the UCI Gravel World Championships, all the best gravel race bikes come back out on show for a UCI-sanctioned hurrah after being happily raced all over the more prestigious courses of the Lifetime Grand Prix and Gravel Earth Series.

And within said hurrah, Factor has now officially unveiled the aforementioned monster, and it’s called the Elara.

It’s another slightly poetic-sounding name to sit alongside the more multi-surface Factor Aluto, and the endurance-leaning Factor Sarana. Unlike those two bikes, which profess to offer usability beyond the confines of a race environment, the Elara has been created for the cut and thrust of the biggest gravel races on the calendar.

This isn’t Factor’s first aero gravel bike; the Ostro Gravel was one of the very first crop of aero machines designed for gravel races, but Factor is keen to stress that this isn’t just an Ostro Gravel with bigger tyres, but rather a complete redesign, even though it was internally known as the 'OG2' at Factor until relatively late in its development cycle.

Frame and geometry

It’s perhaps too easy to look at that gargantuan fork and just say ‘It’s just a Factor ONE with bigger tyres’, but besides the fork's wide stance, it - and the rest of the bike - is quite different, and even with the very wide and very deep legs, it eschews a bayonet design in this case in favour of a more traditional internal, and round, steerer tube.

The super wide legs claim to fit up to 57mm (as measured) tyres, though as I’ll go into in my initial ride experiences below, I think this may be pushing it and would suggest the maximum if you’re actually buying your own frames is more like 55mm.

The width isn’t an issue, but the height is, though at the back things seem a little more roomy, despite keeping the chainstays to a pretty short 423mm. Still, 57mm is the stated clearance, though this is only with 1x setups, and is claimed to be an industry first for ‘true race geometry’.

Against the run of play, Factor has maintained 2x compatibility for the frame with a direct-mount front derailleur plate for those increasingly few riders who want a double chainset. This will reduce the tyre capacity down to 47mm at the rear, due to derailleur clearance.

Geometrically, it doesn’t stray far from the other machines in Factor’s gravel range. It’s the lowest of the bunch, 5mm lower in stack than the Aluto and 13mm lower than the Sarana. It has the same chainstay length as the Aluto, and 2mm shorter than the Sarana, and the same BB drop as the Sarana at 80mm (the same as the Fara GR4, too - another bike designed around very large tyres). It’s 5mm longer than the Aluto, and 1mm shorter than the Sarana, but with a head tube angle steeper than both. In short, it has the most ‘race’ geo of the lot.

Aero claims and system weights

The Elara doesn’t come with any hard-and-fast wattage figures, despite its clear aero optimisation. It is "CFD-validated for 45-57mm gravel race tyres" however, and average speeds of 35km/h are mentioned too, so we assume this is the speed at which it has been tested.

Luckily for Cyclingnews subscribers, we've had it in the wind tunnel ourselves, so head to our Factor Elara wind tunnel results for the details there.

The brand also claims "comparable aero efficiency to modern aero road frames at equivalent yaw angles," and a "5-8% lower drag coefficient vs Ostro Gravel with a 47mm tyre."

The frameset weighs in at (claimed) sub-1,110g for a size M raw frame, while our test machine (a 56cm frame) tipped the scales at 8.76kg with SRAM Force XPLR.

New gravel wheels

Not to be outdone by the likes of Enve and Zipp, Black Inc., Factor's in-house componentry wing, has concurrently launched the Sixty Four Gravel wheelset, with a 64mm depth, a 40.25mm external width and a 30mm internal width with a hooked rim; the first of the big name brands to offer a hooked bead in this category.

This set has a claimed weight of 1,620g (excluding tape and valves), and runs on ceramic bearings as standard. Freehubs are swappable and available to suit the three main providers of groupsets, and engage with a three-pawl ratchet system.

New cockpit

As well as a new frame, and new wheels, the Elara also comes with a brand-new cockpit, the Black Inc. Aero Gravel Bar AB07, with 40/38/36cm widths available and stem lengths of 80- 130 mm. There’s a 17-degree flare, 75mm reach, and 114mm of drop.

Price

The Elara is available with either SRAM Red or Force, or Campagnolo Record, and with a choice of the new Black Inc. 64 wheels or the slightly cheaper 46 wheels.

First impressions

I’ve logged about 200km on the Elara so far, though a chunk of these were simply riding it to and from the office rather than on gravel, so I am not able to give a full account just yet. Before we go into how it rides, though, I must make a note on the tyre capacity: I am sceptical about the ‘true 57mm clearance’.

On taking delivery, I swapped the 50mm Continental Dubnitals out for a set of 2.25” Maxxis Aspens, which measured 57.6mm with my calipers, and when inflated to the pressure suggested by the SRAM tyre pressure calculator, they touched the crown of the fork.

Dropping the pressure made them rideable, but I wasn’t comfortable with the extremely limited sub-1mm gap and swapped the tyres back to a 50mm. I’d suggest a 52, and maybe even a 54 may be OK, and while the rear seemed to swallow the 57mm fine, the fork is not as cavernous as its width suggests.

This may be down to the specific tyre model, and in conversations with Factor it seems some athletes get away with a 57mm fine, but all the same, it’s 57 with caveats rather than a true 57 in my view.

As for how it rides, if you like road-like sensations with big tyres then you’ll like the Elara. The geometry keeps the handling lovely and sharp and poised, and it does match up to the claims of Factor that “we wanted the handling to feel fast again. A lot of gravel bikes have gone soft in the pursuit of comfort. We’re bringing back that sense of urgency.”

Going soft is a criticism that won’t be levelled at the Elara, which is hugely stiff. It is stiffer than the old Ostro Gravel, which was itself quite a stiff machine, but this is ameliorated to a great degree by the larger tyres. I did actually prefer it during my brief time on the 57mm tyres, and on rough terrain even the 50s can’t stop you from feeling a little rattled, but the flip side to this is that it never feels wallowy or anything less than immediate.

I also found it quite a competent climber, more so than I expected on rough, technical terrain, likely a function of slightly steeper geometry keeping your weight more over the middle of the bike.

In short, I think it hits Factor's internal brief, and I’d wager it’s more appealing to the gravel generalist than the ONE is to your enthusiastic road rider. The comfort is likely going to be the weak point, especially in the context of quite rough courses like Traka, but it needs more riding to tease that out. On fast, well-graded stuff, it absolutely rips.

Scott has launched a new version of the Addict gravel bike today, and unlike some of the recent gravel bike launches such as the Ridley Kanzo Fast, it isn't a bike that prioritises all-out speed and aero performance.

Instead, Scott seems to have prioritised comfort and user-friendliness. Perhaps the brand foresees a turning point where aero gravel bikes simply become too much for regular riders.

The last Addict gravel arrived in 2021, and a lot has changed in the gravel world in that time. The new Addict, as you might expect, has gained boosted tyre clearance, but the brand says the bike is "designed around what matters most: comfort that lasts, stable handling on varied surfaces, and the versatility to carry what you need."

There's up-to-date 57mm tyre clearance, a big increase over the old 45mm number, which a lot of best gravel bikes are getting now. Revised geometry, frame layup options, a new gravel-specific cockpit and some neat tool and bag options.

The race-oriented 'RC' version of the Addict Gravel will also be discontinued going forward. The brand told us the frame stiffness development of the new Addict Gravel builds directly on the work done for the recently launched Addict and Addict RC road models.

A more comfortable, user friendly platform

Scott claims front-end compliance has been increased by 30% for the new bike. The fork leg design, smaller fork steerer and a new handlebar all contribute to this. Compliance means comfort, and more comfort on off-road terrain should reduce fatigue and help riders go faster.

At the back, compliance is said to be up by 60%; the seat tube has been shortened, which means more seatpost to flex and improve comfort. The brand also says the dropped seat stays flexing also helps here.

Geometry has also changed to improve comfort and handling across the seven available sizes. The stack is 10mm higher, and reach is 10mm longer. This is offset by a 10mm shorter reach in the cockpit or handlebar.

The BB is lower, and the fork rake has been increased, in part to accommodate the larger tyre clearance. The front centre is now longer, placing more front wheel out in front of the rider. Chainstay length is the same as the previous generation bike.

In the name of comfort, overall stiffness has been reduced by less than 5% to improve traction and compliance, according to Scott. The brand stresses that the ride will still be precise and efficient but with a more forgiving ride quality.

A new gravel cockpit has also been developed for the bike. The bar has an increased forward sweep that the brand says will improve wrist clearance. Reach has been reduced, as mentioned, and the bar has a 'neutral shifter position'; this means that due to the shape of the bar, the brake levers will remain in line with the drops themselves, not sitting out at an angle due to the bar's flare, which the brand says will provide more control.

Tools and accesories

Scott appears to have implemented some handy features and accesories into the Addict Gravel.

Like a lot of Canyon bikes now, the majority of adjustments can be made with one T25 Torx key.

Tools have also been integrated into either side of the bar drops. One side houses a tubeless repair kit, whilst the other contains the T25 Torx key needed to make hardware adjustments.

There's also downtube storage, and the brand's 'Save the day' toolkit contains a tube, levers and a mini pump. There's also a dedicated top tube storage bag to provide additional space for gels, etc. Mounts on the inside of each fork leg also allow for additional water bottle storage if needed.

Finally, small parts from the Addict range are cross-compatible compatable opening up more cockpit and stem options and no doubt just generally making life simpler for users.

Prices, builds and weights

The new Addict Gravel range will consist of five models and ten colourways, along with two frame layup options: the premium HMX carbon fibre and HMF version.

Scott lists a weight of 794 grams for an Addict HMX frame and a 990-gram weight for the HMF.

Full bike weights start at 7.8kg for the Gravel Premium bike, and rise upto 8.7kg for the Gravel 40 model.

Models ascend in order from the Gravel 40 model, through 30,20, and 10 models before topping out at the Premium model. Shimano and SRAM builds are available.

Prices start at $3499.99 / £2,499 / €2699 for the Gravel 40 bike and rise to $10,499 / £7,999 / €8,999 for the Premium.

Most of us use some sort of GPS based device when out on the bike, and most of us have experienced signal dropouts, whether they be in steep-sided valleys, tunnels or densely wooded areas. Even if your device is picking up your heart rate and power, if your device loses sight of the satellites, large chunks of your ride can go missing.

To remedy this, Swiss wheel manufacturer DT Swiss has partnered with Wahoo to release its own hub based speed sensor, the Trackr Speed.

Designed to ensure your ride is recorded wherever you ride, the DT Swiss Trackr Speed by Wahoo - to give it its full moniker - is designed to clip around the brand's SPLINE and DICUT hubs. Fully encompassing the hub housing, it looks like an integrated part, not an add on and also works with the company’s recently launched 1800 series wheels, ensuring it works with the majority of the gravel and road range of wheels.

Using both ANT+ and Bluetooth, the hub connects to your phone, bike computer or smartwatch, and though we’ve not yet had our hands on the Trackr Hub, DT Swiss assures us it’s quick and easy to connect to your device, and more importantly, install on your rear wheel hub. The device uses its own internal battery, the company claiming up to 94 hours life, when it can be recharged in situ using the magnetic charger.

"When the mountains swallow your signal or tunnels block your connection, this sleek rear‑hub‑optimized sidekick keeps counting," the company’s press release reads, rather poetically. "In partnership with Wahoo, we’ve built a speed sensor that translates every wheel rotation into pure accuracy, even where satellites tap out. No drops. No excuses."

According to DT Swiss’s press material, the Trackr Hub uses a "3-axis accelerometer" to measure each rotation of your wheel to accurately measure your speed, though obviously not your precise location. So, while your ride may still appear as a straight line on Strava, at least you’ll know how far you travelled and how fast you were going when the GPS signal was lost, and, in conjunction with power and heart rate data, you’ll know every inch of your ride.

You can buy the DT Swiss Trackr Speed either on its own or as part of a bundle with the company’s G1800 SPLINE rear wheel. The device on its own will set you back $89.80 (€59.90 / £54.99), while the wheel bundle will cost you $427.90 (€280.90), with no UK pricing available.

It’s certainly a good looking bit of kit and will integrate perfectly with your DT Swiss wheels, and if you ride only their wheels or have a speed sensor for each wheel set you own, its certainly the most elegant and best looking speed sensor we’ve seen.

There is a but. Not only is Wahoo’s own speed sensor called the Trackr Speed - formerly known as the 'Wahoo RPM Speed' - it’s waterproof to the same level, uses the same accelerometer technology, works with all wheel brands and looks like it’s easier to swap between bikes, it’s even 10g lighter. It also retails at £29.99, it just doesn’t look as neatly integrated.

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MyWhoosh and Favero have announced a new partnership today that will require certain racers participating in the indoor training platform's Sunday Race Club (SRC) to purchase and use a specific pair of Favero Assioma power meter pedals to verify their performance.

From the 4th of October, all SRC Category 1 riders, along with Category 2 riders who have earned more than $2,000 in prize money, will be required to purchase and use approved Favero Assioma PRO RS-2 or RL-2 pedals, which come in at $789, as their primary in-game power source to remain eligible for prize money.

Cyclingnews understands that all Category 1 riders win prize money; this may be individual or team winnings.

Large amounts of prize money are on offer in the MyWhoosh SRC; it's well documented that some riders are taking home over six figures per year in prize money by racing on the platform.

This move by MyWhoosh is aimed at standardising power meters 'to improve integrity in e-racing.' Riders will still be able to race if they don't have the Favero pedals, but they will no longer be eligible for prize money.

“This is an important next step in strengthening the standards behind professional-level cycling e-sports," explained Director of E-sports & Game Operations at MyWhoosh Matt Smithson said;

There's more to the hardware than just a set of power meter pedals, however. MyWhoosh and Favero have designed a 'MyWhoosh eSports Race Mode' which will go live between October and early November.

The MyWhoosh e-sports race mode

MyWhoosh says the new Favero connection will be tested during October under SRC race conditions.

The race mode will auto-verify a rider's power meter for SRC. It will be rolled out within a firmware update and an app update for users.

Up until this point, SRC competitors have been required to complete stringent power and hardware verification checks, including submitting a video to verify equipment setup to be eligible to compete.

MyWhoosh says a properly set-up Assioma Pro pedal system operating the new MyWhoosh race mode, will automatically be accepted for power source verification for the SRC, which should streamline the process for users.

This news means that racers' smart trainers will no longer be their primary power source for e-racing. The trainers will still be a controllable device for resistance and gradient simulation, but the Favero pedals will be the primary power source.

MyWhoosh has published an approved list of smart trainers in the past; it remains to be seen whether riders will still need to use a trainer from this list.

MyWhoosh says the Assioma Pro pedals will control rider avatars in-game, and the power from them will be logged in MyWhoosh's race reporting systems.

Race results will be determined from their power data, and the data from them will be used for post-race power verification.

The Assioma Pro pedals will be the mandatory in-game power source for affected riders from October 4th; testing and validation will run through October, and the MyWhoosh eSports Race Mode will officially launch in late October or early November.

What do SRC e-racers think?

Cyclingnews spoke to elite racer Zach Nehr, who regularly competes in the upper categories of the SRC, to see what an SRC competitor thought about the changes.

Nehr was all for anti-cheating protocols and stringent verification, but cited some inconsistencies across categories, and explained that riders in lower categories are also winning healthy amounts of prize money.

'That was big news to see'. Nehr said on the announcement.

'I think that when riders are earning hundreds or thousands of dollars in prize money, we need to have the absolute highest levels of verification and anti-cheating protocol. If this is what MyWhoosh believes is the solution at this point, then I support it.

'The bigger issue to me is that the new rule is only being applied to Cat 1 and Cat 2 riders, not cats 3-6. Those lower-cat riders are still earning thousands of dollars in prize money, which is a huge problem.

'In my opinion, the prize money should be completely redistributed and only go to Cat 1 to eliminate these barriers and sandbagging, and to motivate riders to try their hardest to reach the highest level. In any other sport, only the top professionals make the money, not low-level amateurs making thousands of dollars annually.'

Labor Day has been recognised nationwide by the U.S. government since 1894 and honours the contributions and achievements of American workers.

This Labor Day weekend runs from Saturday, September 5, through Monday, September 7, 2026, and for cyclists, it's the perfect chance to upgrade your gear.

Whether you're looking to score a new bike, invest in fresh apparel, or grab one of the best cycling computers, these early deals offer massive savings.

I've been hunting around, and the tech discounts are some of the best I've seen. Below you'll find my top picks on tech reductions from the likes of Garmin and Wahoo.

If you're not looking for a tech deal and want to browse for yourself, then you can do just that using the links below.

Amazon: Save big on Garmin and Wahoo with site-wide reductions

Competitive Cyclist: Save up to 50% on road and gravel gear

Backcountry: Labor Day sale with up to 60% off

Jenson USA: Discounts on bikes, components, clothing, tools and more

Performance Bike: Save up to 50% off Specialized bikes and clothing

The majority of the Labor Day sales look set to end on September 8/9, so don't hang around, as some items are showing as selling fast and are only available while stock lasts.

Labor Day Tech deals

The above deals are just a small selection of what's available across the major cycling retailers and their individual Labor Day sales, and if you're on the hunt for a particular item we would suggest having a look at all the deals before it ends, generally on September 8/9..

As these Labor Day deals are only for US-based shoppers, I've added some of today's best Garmin and Wahoo deals from various retailers in your territory below.

Campagnolo has today announced the news of a strategic investment from SPAC SA.

In a press release shared with Cyclingnews, Campagnolo stated that the investment will support the Italian brand's 'next phase of development'.

On the investment, the press release explains that "SPAC, as a result of the execution of an investment agreement with Campagnolo’s existing quotaholder, will acquire a minority stake in the company, through a strategic investment."

Details of the transaction or the size of the investor's stake are not being shared at this time. However, the Campagnolo family will retain the majority share and control of the company. Operations will also continue to be based in Vicenza, Italy.

A section of the press release mentions "Campagnolo will continue to operate entirely independently from SPAC’s other investments in the cycling industry, including Pinarello."

Pinarello was sold in 2023 by private equity firm L Catterton to a private office. Reports at the time suggested that the buyer was Ivan Glasenberg, the billionaire investor and owner of both the Q36.5 clothing brand and Pinarello-Q36.5 pro team.

SPAC is an acronym for 'Special Purpose Acquisition Company', a type of financial investment company used to invest in or purchase a company.

Speaking with Cyclingnews, a spokesperson from Campagnolo told us a 'Swiss private investment holding company' was behind the investment.

What does this mean for Campagnolo's future?

Campagnolo has made steps forward over the past few years and, by all accounts, is emerging from a challenging period.

The company set the record straight in February this year, after explaining mass redundancy rumours which started in Italy.

The brand has also released various new groupsets over the past year or so, which have been met with more positive reviews after the lukewarm reception the original Super Record WR groupset received.

The brand says this new investment will "enable Campagnolo to accelerate this journey and invest further in the areas that are strategic to its future."

There is also a mention of the brand "strengthening its connection with elite cycling and professional racing," which will likely be music to the ears of certain fans of the brand and the wider cycling community.

The key development areas of focus are product development, supply chain improvements, improving Original Equipment business, and working with more professional cycling teams.

On the areas of development, the brand said "We need to be fast. The market is fast now, and so we need to provide the best service everywhere."

A delicate moment

Speaking with Cyclingnews, a spokesperson from the company provided insight into what this means internally at Campagnolo, a company which has been controlled by the same family for the best part of a century.

This year has seen the company opening its arms and bringing in external parties to help grow and move the business forward. In March of this year, the company announced the appointment of ex-banker and Rouleur owner Matteo Cassina to its board of directors.

'It's very big; Matteo was the first external person to join the board, and now we have a minor stakeholder that is a first for the company. It's a very delicate moment, and an important day for Campagnolo as a company, and also for the Campagnolo family.'

Silver by a tyre's width. That's how Evie Richards' 2026 short track world championship ended in Val di Sole; out-sprinted on the line by Austria's Laura Stigger after a race that had both the Italian crowds and me on our feet for all ten laps. It's the sort of result that could read as heartbreak or as vindication, depending on the season you've had. For Richards, though, it's probably a bit of both.

Richards arrived in Val di Sole with a palmarès few in the field can match: elite cross-country world champion in 2021, Commonwealth Games gold in 2022, two under-23 cyclo-cross world titles either side of that, and, more recently, the overall World Series short-track crown in 2025. She's a rider whose punchy full-gas style is built for exactly this kind of race: short, sharp, tactical, and flat out from the start.

What makes it remarkable is how she managed to be at the sharp end at all, given the challenging season she's had.

2026 has been brutal for Richards, even by mountain biking's unforgiving standards. She opened the World Cup campaign in YongPyong carrying the aftermath of injury and still managed second in the short track opener, then came Nové Město: fourth in the XCC, before a horror crash in the following XCO race sent her over the bars at speed on a technical section. X-rays cleared her neck, but the head impact was serious enough to floor her for weeks, layering yet another concussion onto a rap sheet that already includes a partially dislocated knee, a lower back injury and a string of wrist problems. XC MTB takes no prisoners, and can be a real test of a rider's character.

Racing again by La Thuile was impressive enough, but ending up on a world championship podium in Val di Sole a matter of weeks later is truly remarkable.

The Bike: Trek's still-unnamed flex-stay prototype

The machine underneath her for that short track final is the same one that turned heads when it broke cover earlier in the season: an unreleased, unnamed Trek prototype that the brand itself said: "may never hit store shelves." It replaces the modified Top Fuel downcountry platform Richards raced last year, a bike that always looked slightly overbuilt for XC racing and felt more like a trail bike.

The new frame runs a flex-stay rear end, ditching a pivot at the dropouts to save weight and bearings while keeping the suspension responsive enough for Val di Sole's brutal descents. The XCC course is smoother and less technical, so some changes come from tyre pressure and inserts, but settings remain very similar across both disciplines.

Speaking of bars, she runs a one-piece bar and stem from Trek's in-house brand Bontrager and goes for a 760mm width. Some riders run narrower bars for Short Course, but not here. They are also custom-painted purple to match the rest of the bike.

Tom Pidcock raced to a sensational win in the elite mens UCI Mountain Bike World Championships at Vale di Sole, Italy, on Sunday.

Pidcock, like his great rival Mathieu van der Poel, started on the fifth row, but unlike Van der Poel, who finished in 30th position, he powered through the field before soloing clear to take a fine win.

Two-time Olympic champion. World champion in 2023. European champion twice over. Nine individual World Cup wins and counting. On paper, there was no rider in the Val di Sole field with a palmares remotely close to Pidcock's. He has been a dominant force in pretty much every XC race he has entered over the last few years; but this year has offered precious few days to prove it.

A lack of MTB race days made no difference; Pidcock was untouchable on his Pinarello Dogma XC bike. Cyclingnews was on the ground at Val di Sole, and we took a good look at Pidcock's bike ahead of the race.

The bike: A Dogma XC built for one rider

The Pinarello Dogma XC is a bike developed in close collaboration with Pidcock himself, and it's every bit as purpose-built and uncompromising as its rider.

It's an aggressive, almost old-school take on the modern XC bike, and quite different from the longer-travel, slacker, more trail-focused bikes in the rest of the World Cup field.

Pidcock usually runs a very trick-looking European Champs paint scheme, but since he isn't allowed to use it for this race, Pinarello created this for him, a paint scheme that not only works well with his GB kit, but the graphics also match the Cherry Red RockShox SID SL fork lowers perfectly.

The suspension is unchanged from last season's winning formula: RockShox's electronic Flight Attendant system is fitted front and rear, with a SID SL Ultimate fork paired to a SIDLuxe Ultimate shock.

The system automatically switches damping modes according to terrain and effort without Pidcock needing to think about a lockout lever on the climbs. It's a clean, tried-and-tested system that XC riders have widely adopted.

Cyclingnews subscribers will be familiar with our popular tech galleries from big races such as the Tour de France, the Vuelta a España and Paris Roubaix, and now it's time to take that same formula off road.

As a result, tech reporter Neal Hunt was in Val di Sole at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, on the hunt for the latest tech that riders and teams were using to help get their riders into the famous rainbow stripes.

Here's what he had to say:

It's been a hot and sunny Mountain Bike World Championships here in Trentino, Italy, although given it took place in Val di Sole (Valley of the Sun), shouldn't really be a surprise.

All year, the talk has been about the incoming (32-inch) new wheel size and how it will become the new norm, but on the ground in Italy, that wasn't being evidenced just yet. Despite all of the chat from previous events like Eurobike, I expected to see more here.

A lot of bike brands have been talking about it taking over their ranges next year, and plenty of products looked production-ready, but strangely, only one or two riders were using them in XC practice.

Regardless, after several days poking and nosing around the pits, here's what I managed to find.

De Rosa says that its new Merak is a ground-up update and the result of two years’ development. Changes include a bulked out fork and rear section to the frame, with larger cross-sections, with the latter claimed to increase the bike’s stability at speed.

According to Cristiano de Rosa: “I’ve spent the last few weeks riding this bike like a madman on descents. I’ve found myself reaching speeds I had never even come close to before, and what surprises me isn’t so much seeing that number on the bike computer, but feeling completely safe while getting there. The faster you go, the more you understand the work we’ve done on stability. That’s probably what impresses me most about the new Merak.”

De Rosa has pared back the Merak’s weight too, with a claimed frame weight of 700g and full builds from 6.9kg to 7.1kg. The standard spec includes a one-piece De Rosa branded Vision cockpit and a Selle Italia SLR Boost Carbon saddle.

The bike can be kitted out with the full range of Shimano, SRAM or Campagnolo electronic groupsets and there’s a range of wheels on offer.

De Rosa describes the frame graphics as ‘retrofuturism’ with a smaller downtube logo and the heart symbol removed from the head tube in favour of a De Rosa wordmark. De Rosa will offer three different finishes for the new Merak: Classic, Dynamic and Race, with slightly different prices for each.

De Rosa is leaning into its history with the new graphics. Like Colnago and Pinarello it’s a longstanding Italian bike brand. Founded in 1953, it made steel frames for Eddy Merckx, which were rebranded with his own name when he rode for Molteni and has had the Merak in its range for over 25 years.

Back in the day, the Merak was an alloy bike and was ridden to the UCI Road World Championship in 2000 by Francesco Casagrande. It’s been through a number of iterations since, with the last version launched in 2020. Until the 2023 season, De Rosa was the bike sponsor to the Cofidis team and its bikes were ridden in Paris-Roubaix in 2024 by Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB.

De Rosa Merak specs and prices

The Merak frameset with fork, headset, seatpost and thru-axles is priced at €5,600 for the Classic, €5,800 for the Race and €5,950 for the Dynamic finish.

De Rosa quotes full bike prices of €13,230 with Campagnolo Super Record 13 and Bora Ultra WTO wheels, €11,390 with Record and Bora Ultra WTO wheels, €11,880 for Dura-Ace with Fulcrum Speed DB wheels and €12,500 for SRAM Red AXS with a power meter and the same Fulcrum wheels.

Ridley has launched a brand new gravel race bike today in the form of the Kanzo Fast 2.0

The bike is an aero-focused gravel race machine, with very large tyre clearances. Ridley has joined the brands that are reacting to the rising speeds and aerodynamic requirements and, dare we say it, trends within competitive gravel racing right now.

The Kanzo model has been in the Ridley range for some years, first launching back in 2020. It currently exists in adventure and race-specific forms; this new 2.0 bike sees it join the latest crop of the best gravel race bikes with big tyre clearances.

We spotted this bike in prototype form back in April at the Traka, along with a host of other gravel race bikes like the Argon 18 Anti Matter and a prototype Canyon Grail. Its mean looking silhouette set tongues wagging at the time, and we have been looking forward to receiving more details on it.

A new Kanzo era

Here's what Ridley has to say on the Kanzo Fast 2.0;

"A gravel race bike designed to deliver maximum speed on fast and demanding courses, while giving riders the freedom to choose the tyre setup that best matches the terrain and conditions."

Aero is clearly a consideration the headtube is much deeper than the current Kanzo or the Astr model from Ridley, and is comparable to the Noah Fast aero road model. This theme continues through the bike with deep, agressive tube profiles on show.

Tyre clearance for the new bike is 58mm or a 29x2.3" mtb tyre. A healthy increase from the current Kanzo's 42mm number, and more than the Ridley Astr RS's 52mm. The frame itself is also said to be 150 grams lighter than the previous Kanzo Fast.

Big tyre clearance is a must right now for new gravel race bikes being launched, and Ridley certainly seems on board with that thinking. The 58mm number is a little curious; a lot of bikes have 57mm clearance now. That extra 1mm isn't really going to open up any new tyre options, but it should give a little more clearance with big tyres fitted, and of course a wide range of options, both big and small, are available to a rider with this kind of clearance. It is also the largest we can see on the market currently, beating the likes of the Allied Able and Lauf Seigla by a single milimetre.

That 58mm clearance drew my eye; it feels a little unusual. I asked Ridley if there was any particular significance to it; could it be a simple 'one more than the competition' thing?

The brand told me it prefers working with even numbers in its frame design and that they are easier to work with. Relevant ISO clearance (4mm) is also an even number, and 58 is the next even number up from 57mm.

There is also updated geometry; the bottom bracket has been lowered and fork rake adjusted to deal with the large tyres the bike will be used with, the seat tube angle steepened, and Ridley cites the need to keep the chainstays as short as possible to maintain a racy feel.

To compare the 2.0 with the outgoing Kanzo Fast, the new bike in a size medium has a stack of 585 and a reach of 408. The same size in the current bike has a stack number of 587 and a reach of 385. The 2.0 is both lower and longer.

Aero credentials

Ridley says 'aero efficiency has been improved' and the brand has been to the wind tunnel, likely its own; the brand enjoys the use of a wind tunnel at its bike Valley location in Belgium.

We have some top-line testing numbers from the brand. As is often the case, it's hard for a brand to package up comprehensive aero testing into a compact press release, but we have some numbers, and some claims.

The new Kanzo is said to be 2 watts faster than its predecessor in bike-only testing and 13 watts faster in bike and rider testing. The testing setup included identical wheels and 38mm Vittoria Terreno Dry tyres. The bikes had two bottle cages and bottles fitted.

Ridley claims a 38mm tyre created 6 less watts aero drag than a 55mm tyre. That's with Vittoria tyres fitted to the 4ZA Skiron wheels. However, the brand acknowledges that the rolling resistance reduction on rough ground will offset the aero loss. We came to the same conclusion in our CN Labs tyre testing.

Tunnel results come from a weighted average over a -12 to 12 degree yaw sweep with a rider on, and a -18 to 18 yaw sweep for the bike only testing. All of the Ridley testing was conducted at 36km/h, which is generally regarded as being in line with gravel race speeds.

Frame details and features

The Kanzo Fast 2.0 has internal frame storage in the downtube; two padded pouches will allow riders to store the essentials.

There are also a pair of top tube mount points for riders to mount a top tube bag.

The frame is designed around 1x electronic groupsets and can accommodate up to a 56-tooth chainring, which in part facilitates the generous tyre clearance.

Mudguards can also be fitted to the bike; a bespoke mudguard system has been designed with Belgian brand Curana.

The Nimbus Pro cockpit sounds like it will only come in one size, with a 36cm width at the tops, widening to a 40cm size at the drops.

The 1350-gram Forza Skiron RS wheels which the full bike builds come with feature 50mm deep rims, with a 27mm internal width hookless rim. Vonoa carbon spokes are used, and the wheels will have CeramicSpeed bearings. Whilst they aren't the most widely known wheels, it sounds like they possess a competitive overall specification.

Pricing and specs

The bike will be available as a frameset and in three full builds. What we don't currently have is bike build weights, but we do know it will be possible to customise bikes on the Ridley online custom configurator.

The frameset will cost €4,499 and includes frame, fork, Deda aero seapost, 4ZA Nimbus cockpit and CeramicSpeed SLT headset bearings.

Three builds centred around three SRAM XPLR gravel groupsets, a popular build option right now, are available.

The top-spec SRAM Red XPLR bike will come with DT Swiss GRC14000 DICUT wheels and a 4ZA Nimbus Pro cockpit; it will carry an RRP of €11,699

The Force XPLR bike comes in at €6,499 with Forza Skiron wheels and the same integrated handlebar as the Red-equipped bike.

Finally, the Rival XPLR bike comes in at €5,499 with Forza Skiron GC40 wheels and a Cirrcus Pro cockpit.

On Saturday, somewhat inconveniently, while I was having a lovely dinner with some friends (Jess, your filo pastry leek pie thing was delicious by the way), we broke the story of the latest Shimano Dura-Ace, spotted at the Vuelta a España on the bikes of Alpecin-Premier Tech. The reception to the visuals was somewhat muted, with many commenters saying it looks pretty similar to the old one, though this is a criticism that could equally be levelled at the current Dura-Ace.

Most of the feedback, at least of the negative type, centred around the fact that while SRAM has gone entirely wireless throughout its performance range on road and gravel, and Campagnolo is following suit, Shimano seems to be steadfastly sticking to a semi-wireless setup. This caused some degree of surprise throughout the commenteriat, especially given the latest GRX and XTR is fully wireless.

Does this matter, though? There’s a case to be made on both sides, and so it pays to analyse a good faith argument for each.

The case for going fully wireless

At the time of the last Dura-Ace release Shimano was much more dominant in the componentry market, with SRAM playing catch up. Now the tables have flipped somewhat, especially at the lower end of the market. It’s a lot easier to explain ‘you have one kind of battery and you just need to charge it in house house every now and then’, rather than ‘the battery is in the down tube or seat tube and the shifters are wireless to the rear derailleur, which acts as a brain, and that is hard wired to the battery and the front derailleur so you have to plug your bike into the wall in-situ’.

I get that SRAM has a patent on using identical batteries, but even different batteries as is the case with Campagnolo is an easier system to live with. Mechanically speaking it’s a lot easier to set up, too. Routing brake cables and hoses is a pain but I find routing Di2 wires infuriating. I will admit the mineral oil in Shimano brakes is far more pleasant to deal with than hateful DOT fluid, and I think Hollowtech cranks are a breeze compared to Dub, but purely from the gearing setup SRAM has it licked and that is why they seem to be cornering the market from the bottom up I think.

It also makes sense for bike designers. If your batteries are all external you can omit ports in the chainstays, which will reduce cost ever so slightly. The same goes for the conundrum of where to place the battery, which seems to have migrated in recent years from the seatpost to the base of the down tube as seat tubes have got more narrow or simply more complex. I suspect there are more than a few brands who were hoping to see fully wireless, just because it would make their lives easier.

The final point for going wireless is that it both looks neater because you don’t have a wire sticking out the back of your chainstay, and it’s potentially slightly less prone to accidental snagging in a crash because there isn’t a wire sticking out of your chainstay. Nearly every tech gallery we produce from any race features some very neat cable routing, either through aftermarket direct mount derailleur hangers, or via the judicious use of strips of inner tube or tastefully arranged zip ties, all in an effort to keep the whole system plugged together in an emergency, and all of which would be unnecessary if it wasn’t wired.

The case for keeping the wire

A quick check revealed that SRAM claims approximately 60 hours of ride time for road derailleurs from a full charge.

Shimano doesn’t provide an approximate number of riding hours for its batteries, but according to the brand's site, 1,200 to 1,500 miles of riding can be expected from a full battery charge.

The Shimano battery will last longer, but it’s not necessarily night and day as I suspected. Regardless, I will continue with the defence, Your Honour. Keeping the wired system means the battery can live inside the frame, and with some clever placement (remember how they’re often at the base of the down tube now), this can have positive implications on weight distributions and the centre of gravity. It’ll be marginal in the grand scheme of things. But having the weight centralised at the bottom bracket (ish) will be a net benefit for handling.

There are also claims in the comments that Shimano’s system has faster shifting, particularly at the front, and while this is true, this isn’t down to the wireless vs wired nature of the systems but rather the internal protocols. SRAM shifters have a barely perceptible delay as it has to wait to see if you’re also going to hit the other paddle to shift the front derailleur, whereas Shimano systems can be immediate.

The final case for the defence is mostly aesthetic, but also has some performance implications. Not having a battery attached to both the front and rear derailleurs means they can be smaller, and smaller is more aero and, depending on your point of view, more aesthetically pleasing, though it must be said that people do seem to be appreciative of the quite bulky looks of SRAM’s XPLR derailleurs. It also means that, with a smaller front derailleur, there is hypothetically a greater width of tyre that can be fitted at the rear before either going no larger, or having to swap to a 1x system. Proponents of SRAM will point out at this juncture that you can just go 1x13, and it’s fine, but personally I always prefer the smaller jumps between the sprockets on a more traditional 2x setup.

What would I rather have?

The fence I’ve been sitting on for the last 1,000 words or so is getting rather uncomfortable, so rather than acting as a lawyer for both the defence and the prosecution I am also going to be the Judge, and my verdict is that I think the fact that Shimano hasn’t gone wireless with the latest Dura-Ace (assuming of course that this is the final form) is a mis-step.

I don’t think the slight improvement in battery life and smaller derailleurs makes up for the gains that could be won with a true wireless system in terms of usability and liveability. I much prefer working on Shimano bikes in the workshop. I can bleed brakes with ease without worrying about the fluid eating my paint. I can take the crankset off in seconds, and swapping chainrings is a breeze. I prefer the interface of the cassette and lockring vs a single piece as I find I am less likely to mis-thread a lockring. The wires are a pain, though, when building a bike, and finding your battery has dropped out the bottom of your seatpost and needs fishing out is infuriating and there is an easy fix for both.

More than how it will impact Dura-Ace though, I think the main knock on impact of this will be felt further down the line; if Shimano refuses to adopt wireless for its lower tier groupsets, and I’m particularly thinking of 105 level, it will be seen as a more complicated system and also a more dated one in the eyes of the consumer, and could well drive more new cyclists into the arms of SRAM, locking them into that ecosystem for when they next upgrade up the product tree.

I’m in little doubt that Dura-Ace will perform well out on the road. The current one still, in my view, shifts better than SRAM, but there’s more to how a groupset performs than how crispy the shifts are.

If you're looking to upgrade your cycling wardrobe without breaking the bank, then the Sigma Sports Sale has dropped significant discounts across its Universal Colours range.

From high-performance bib shorts and lightweight jerseys to the best cycling socks. The Universal Colours discounts include impressive savings on men’s and women’s kit, in a wide variety of sizes, styles, and colourways.

Shop the Universal Colours Sale at Sigma Sports.

I'm a big fan of the Universal Colours range. I was lucky enough to be one of the first to test the UC kit on a jaunt around the North Coast 500 in Scotland, when it launched back in 2020.

At the time, Universal Colours was a fledgling brand, and its core pieces performed admirably with the rigours of Scotland's notorious, ever-changing weather and the epic climb which is the Bealach na Bà.

Below I've selected some of the standout items that I can personally recommend, and from the women's range I've also enlisted the help of Christina Gaiger, who also rode on the NC500 shoot. Christina has selected some of her favourite pieces that are on sale at Sigma Sports.

There is generally 15% off, but some gems, like the Chroma Light SS jersey with 60% off. However, it's limited sizing and only while stock lasts. So I'd say be quick if you fancy trying the Universal Colours kit, then pull the trigger fast.

Universal Colours Sale - Men's Deals

Universal Colours Sale - Women's Deals

The highlighted Universal Colours deals are from the Sigma Sports Sale, but below you'll also find our handy price checker, which, if available, will find the best prices on Universal Colours clothing from other retailers, relevant to your currency and location.