The Week in Tech: UCI pushed on discs
Also: New goods from BMC and Scott
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The Week in Tech rounds up must-read tech stories from across the industry every Friday. Read on for this week’s editorial picks.
Manufacturers push UCI to allow disc brakes on road bikes
With the recent debut of Colnago’s C59 Disc and more race-worthy disc bikes likely on the way, brake and frame manufacturers are beginning to push the UCI to allow disc brakes in road racing, as they did for cyclocross in June, 2010.
SRAM road and triathlon product manager Charles Becker told Carlton Reid of bikebiz.com: “We’ll be supplying road discs for testing by the UCI soon. Regardless of what the UCI decide we’ll be producing the kit for the market. For us it’s a safety issue as well as a performance issue. Yes, there are compatibility issues for team and neutral support at pro races but that’s not an insurmountable problem. I think the UCI will see sense on this one.”
Read more at BikeBiz.com.
New BMC classics frame spotted
A new frame from BMC is being tested under riders preparing for the classics. BMC posted a photo of the of the new bike from their Twitter account, as well as a video of Thor Hushovd using the new frame during a Paris-Roubaix recon ride.
Notable design features include extremely slender seatstays, sloping geometry to allow for the use of a long, thin seatpost, and a tall, chunky head tube. The goal, it seems, is to provide as much comfort as possible out of the back of the bike while retaining a stiff, race-worthy front end. The only visible concession to front-end comfort is the abrupt curve found on the fork blades, a feature that looks like it will provide a bit of suspension.
The new bike will be called the GF01, and was approved by the UCI for competition on November 8th, 2011. According to the UCI’s approved frames list, it will be available in 6 sizes, from 48-61cm. The bike is likely intended for the 2013 model year, and will therefore be available sometime this fall.
Scott debuts new aero helmet
Scott announced a new aero helmet, dubbed the Split. The helmet was developed with GreenEdge and has already seen its first victory with the squads winning team time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico.
It appears to use a slightly cropped tail, similar to the Giro Selector. The trend towards shorter aero helmet tails is aimed at improving aerodynamics as a rider’s position deteriorates and the head begins to bob around, sending the tail waving around in the air. Scott says the Split was developed using extensive wind tunnel testing to be a fast as possible across multiple yaw angles and in a variety of rider positions.
The Split is CPSC certified, so it can be used in the United States. Weight of a medium without the visor is 343 grams.
Availability is set for spring of 2013 in the US, and retail pricing is expected to be $210 with no visor, or $300 with visor. Final pricing and color options will be made public this July.