Yet another selection of cutting edge products have landed at road.cc and are being put through their paces by our testers at the moment. Look out for reviews in the next few weeks...
HideMyBell handlebar mount
€34.95
This nifty innovation (main picture and above) does exactly what it says on the tin - it's a GPS mount with a bell all in one! The bell has a small click button but otherwise is concealed within the mount. Weighing in at 48g, there are different versions for Garmin, Polar, Bryton or Mio computers, and you can also buy a GoPro/light adapter to fasten directly onto it for an extra 8 euros. Netherlands-based HideMyBell say the bell itself "doesn't vibrate on rough terrain and rings loud and clear". Dave Atkinson is currently trying it out on the roads to see if it cuts the mustard...
hidemybell.cc
Stebles Bikes Aero Box
£29.95
Another clever integration feature, this time courtesy of British-based Stebles bikes. This 3D-printed box is the first we've seen and is an aero-themed replacement for a saddlebag. For the £29.95 asking price you also get an inner tube, tyre levers and a puncture repair patch included, and the box secures to your seatpost with thick 8mm cable ties. The internal partitions are designed so nothing rattles around inside and it simply slides open at a pivot point, so no zips or velcro needed.
www.steblesbikes.com
Edco 3AX Pedals
£249.99
The development and Kickstarter project for 3AX took close to four years to complete, and they finally became available to buy in Spring 2017. The pedal tilts when it moves laterally rather than a straight line, which gives you an extra degree of freedom and potentially improves your leg alignment without compromising stability. The pedals come in a smart presentation box with Keo-compatible cleats (as we'd expect for £250) and I'm currently putting the miles in them both in races and on training rides around the south west.
www.edco.ch/en
Powertap P1S single-sided power meter pedals
£550
Some more pedals, this time it's a single-sided version of the Powertap P1 pedals, named the Powertap P1S. They pretty much work the same as the P1's except they take a the left-sided power measurement and double it to give you a reading, instead of measuring both legs. The P1S features dual band ANT+ and Bluetooth SMART for compatibility with numerous head units and smart devices, plus Powertap are renowned for being very easy to switch between bikes. The pedals run on an AAA battery that has 60 hours of juice. Unless your left-right balance is serious out then the P1S seems like a cheaper purchase without the compromise, and John Stevenson is currently powering around Cambridge to see if the claimed accuracy level adds up.
www.paligap.cc
PRO Stealth carbon rail saddle
£174.99
Developed with input from the Giant Alpecin pro cycling team, this unusual-looking saddle from Shimano sub-brand PRO has carbon rails and a large central cutout for pressure relief. A claimed weight of 172g makes it a light, racey option, and you can also mount accessories onto the back such as PRO's camera mount. The saddle is designed to be very rigid and strong to minimise power losses, which means the central channel and wide platform will be needed to add some comfort. It's covered with a PU material in order to seal it off from the elements, and is touted as an all-rounder. It also comes in 142mm and 152 mm sizes to optimise fit. I've put a few hundred miles into this perch already, riding it everywhere from Lanzarote to the infamous mountain passes around Snowdonia, with a review coming shortly...
www.pro-bikegear.com
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19 comments
I've got those saddles fitted to a couple of my....no; wait, no, I've got Specialized Power Expert's.
Talk about clearly ripping off a design!
What! 35 euros for a garmin mount with a bell! Given that most Garmin devices come with some sort of mount, I'll stick with a $5 noname bell thank you very much, and spend the remaining $45 on something useful.
Might do that too!
+1 for the P1s
You'd think they'd attract some attention in hand luggage at airports but they don't. Unlike the spare tube.
And after crashing and landing on one of them, can say that they seem to be more indestructible than me.
If only they had some way of updating them that didn't involve an ithing or some crappy software that needs a specific bt dongle. Though they haven't had any updates released in past year or so, so maybe doesn't matter.
It takes less than 5 minutes to update them via the phone app...
Fire up the DeLorian! 2016 is calling, wanting their WorldTour team names back!
Giant Alpecin? Is this related to either Katusha Alpecin or Team Sunweb, with Giant Bicycles as technical sponsor?
We should be told.
Thats it? This is the best five things thats coming?
I have the sprucycle bell and it is one of the best out there.
The rest are just hmmm nothing special or nothing interesting to me.
Is Ginat a new bike manufacturer we've not heard of before!
Don't know what you're talking about sir! *edits furiously*
It is. I bought a Ginat Deffy Advanced 6 from China recently. It's 100% genuine, the seller told me .
In the shop you'd have people come in asking for a "Jee-arnt Def-ee" in some weird faux posh french accent followeds hortly by have you any of those "Bee-an-Chees"
What I like best about 'hide my bell' is the 'hide my bell' on it so everyone knows it's a bell...
I think the genius there is in the design of a warning device that requires taking your hands off the controls to operate a trigger hidden under your GPS - unless you were genetically blessed in the right thumb department.
Stealthy.
That 3D-printed box is anything but aero.
I've forgotten where I saw it but you can get a moulded pack that fits under the rear of your seat and clips on/into the rear portion of the rails.
I've been meaning to make something
similarbetter out of one of those big mini-eggs containers with a screw-top lid. It's shaped like an egg, which I think will be fairly aero and fill the negative pressure area behind my butt. It's plenty big enough for spares, tools, phone, wallet, food. (Mybigfat legs tend to rub anything attached to the seatpost.)I also like the idea of a decent rear LED that makes the round seatpost much more aero.
Stealthy.
That 3D-printed box is anything but aero.
I've forgotten where I saw it but you can get a moulded pack that fits under the rear of your seat and clips on/into the rear portion of the rails.
I've been meaning to make something
similarbetter out of one of those big mini-eggs containers with a screw-top lid. It's shaped like an egg, which I think will be fairly aero and fill the negative pressure area behind my butt. It's plenty big enough for spares, tools, phone, wallet, food. (Mybigfat legs tend to rub anything attached to the seatpost.)I also like the idea of a decent rear LED that makes the round seatpost much more aero.
[/quote
You have "fat legs" and you're worried about aero?]
Homey, please!
LOL at cable ties on that box thing. Does the company do a free lacquer and decal respray with every purchase?
And LOL x 2 at Powertap pedals. Does this mean they're half as sh*t now?
My P1 pedals are accurate, easy to install, easy to swap between multiple bikes, easy to calibrate, and come with a top notch warranty. Not sure what is exactly "sh*t" about them? Sure beats swapping cranksets every other day, or trying to calibrate the Garmin pedals.
My P1 pedals are the same. Ruddy marvelous, easy to swap and zero calibrate. Expensive but worth it.
What are we, animals? Manually creating sound by smashing one thing into another thing might've been OK for monks, back in the Dark Ages, but this is the 21st Century, surely it should activate via some kind of swipe or gesture on the touch screen of the device mounted on the top. And connect to your mobile via Bluetooth so it can post a tweet with your location and an emoji based on your heart rate. Applying a force with your finger to compress a spring that propels a hammer into a bell consumes valuable watts that could make the difference between winning and losing!