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TECH NEWS

Dare releases "beast of pure speed" aero bike first seen at Tour de France, with framesets starting at £4,000; plus Rapha's new print, a £600 aero skinsuit, curiously-shaped wheels + loads more

All the hottest new tech from the week that was, including Cinelli, Rapha, Dare, Rule 28, Ron Wheels and others

We're back with another edition of Tech of the Week, interrupting your weekend with all the best new bikes, kit and accessories we've seen over the past seven days. From a "beast" of an aero bike that was raced at the Tour de France and has just been made available to the public at £4,000 a pop, through to fresh releases from Rapha and Cinelli, curiously shaped wheels, a Kickstarter bar bag and a very expensive skinsuit  — it's a varied bunch this week.

We'll start by giving a quick shout-out to the big tech news of the week, the currently unrelease Wahoo bike computer that was leaked and appears to have a built-in wind sensor, a 3.8" touchscreen, claimed 30+ hours of battery life and an audio speaker. Very interesting, unless the leak was all some kind of big hoax... 

Anyway, you probably already heard about that one, on with what you're here for...

Dare releases "beast of pure speed" aero bike seen at Tour de France, frameset costs £4,000

2024 Dare VA-AFO

One of the more intriguing bikes of the pro peloton this year is the Dare being ridden by Uno-X Mobility. No, they're not riding it for a dare, it is a Dare, a VA-AFO to give it its proper name.

That all stands for Velocity Ace-AFO so it's no surprise to hear the staff and riders are pretty happy with their aero machine. In fact, team manager Thor Hushovd, the former world champion who knows a thing or two about riding fast, said the bike has achieved "peak quality" and they are "very satisfied" with it.

Uno-X at 2024 Tour of Britain (Elliot Keen​​​​/British Cycling/via SWpix.com)

Likewise, Alexander Kristoff reckons "with the same wattage, riding VA-AFO is 1.5 times faster". Well, the previously unreleased aero bike has been launched by Dare, opening it up to the wider cycling public and, at £4,000 for the frameset, it's turned a few heads this week. 

Dare says it is "beast of pure speed" and the "cutting-edge" design has been optimised in the wind tunnel to ensure it is 11.4 watts faster than the previous generation VSRu and is "on par for aero performance with the best brands on the market". Of course those savings are at 45km/h, the saving five watts at 35km/h and 21w at 55km/h, according to Dare.

2024 Dare VA-AFO

The VA-AFO in 'Swift Black' is priced at $5,200 (£4,000) for the frameset, which includes the V:C1 Aero cockpit, V:P1 Aero seatpost, an "aero bottlecage" and CeramicSpeed's SLT headset bearing. No full bike option has been announced, although if you want one of 50 limited-edition VA-AFOs in 'Silver Lightning' colour that will cost $5,580 (£4,290). A size medium weighs 1,073g.

Check it out over on Dare's website.

Rapha's new print

2024 Rapha Pro Team Print

Here's something brighter from Rapha at the end of a week when we broke the news that the premium cycling clothing company had posted its seventh consecutive year in the red, its losses almost doubling to £22.7m amid a 20 per cent drop in UK turnover.

The Pro Team Print Pack adds a colourful splash to the popular Pro Team range, which Rapha says was inspired by data. We'll leave the explanation to them... "Data allows us to understand our limits and surpass them. It quantifies the sensations we feel when pushing ourselves to the edge. It illuminates what our bodies might achieve. This print has taken the data associated with our best achievements and translated it into a visual representation of our effort, showcasing what's possible when we go beyond."

Fair enough, us being simple just thought it looked quite cool.

2024 Rapha Pro Team Print

A very fast £600 skinsuit and three-figure aero socks

2024 Rule 28 Neo Men's TT Suit

Aero clothing specialist Rule 28 has two new collections out, its Neo range the "result of years of research and development" and "the fastest kit we've ever brought to maket", according to founder Sam Calder. You'd hope so if you are planning on shelling out £600 on the Neo TT Suit or £550 for the Neo Road Race Suit.

2024 Rule 28 Neo TT Suit

You'll be quicker if you do though, Rule 28 is pretty confident of that, telling us the new suit boasts a 10-watt improvement at 40-50km/h over the existing Neo Suit 1.1 and Base Layer combination ("previously worn by both men's and women's Tour de France champions", the brand adds). 

Calder continued: "Neo is the result of years of research and development — we're finally able to unveil the pinnacle of our offering, and the data to support it. This is the fastest kit we've ever brought to market. It's a logical progression from our top-end suit and base layer outfit — to combine these items into one refined garment and apply this concept across the range. The fabrics we're now using in the Neo range test faster than anything currently commercially available, and we've made it our mission ahead of next season to bring World Tour level tech to the public."

The range also includes £100 aero socks, because who doesn't love expensive socks? Bargain when comapred with the four-figure price tag of Nopinz's 'Project 35' aero socks worn by Mark Cavendish.

A BIG bar bag

Kickstarter bar bag

Over on Kickstarter, Route Werks has received almost £110,000 in pledges from 727 backers for its double-sized handlebar bag, more than three times the original £31,000 goal.

It's twice the size of the brand's Original Bag and has six litres of space, three mounts for tech and two storage inserts. Phone, GPS, camera, you can run all three. 

Kickstarter bar bag

Oh, and to prove the point about it being BIG, there's a picture of it holding two burritos and a four-pack. Nice.

Kickstarter bar bag

Cinelli releases Winter Racewear collection

2024 Cinelli Winter Racewear

Winter kit klaxon. Cinelli has its Supercorsa winter range "at the pinnacle of the collection" with premium fabrics and a race fit. The Tempo collection, the brand suggests, "focuses on endurance and bold design". Either way, as you probably guessed considering this is winter kit, comfort and warmth are top priorities here. Bib shorts, long-sleeve jerseys, vests, bib tights, jackets and accessories, there's a bit of everything. Check it out on Cinelli's website.

A curiously shaped front wheel from Ron Wheels

Here's something a bit different...

That's 105mm with what Ron Wheels is calling: "An innovative wavy shape." Not just for aero gains, the brand says the design provides excellent stability, even in crosswinds and is the "perfect balance of aerodynamics and stability".

In case you missed it:

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

Add new comment

4 comments

Avatar
Keesvant | 1 month ago
0 likes

I like the dare bike !
It even seems to be "affordable" compared to the big names.
And cinelli so stylish 😊

Avatar
Cyclespeed Tours | 1 month ago
0 likes

Asking all relatives for 3 figure aero socks for Xmas. 

Will probably get M&S.

Avatar
Rendel Harris | 1 month ago
2 likes
Quote:

Alexander Kristoff reckons "with the same wattage, riding VA-AFO is 1.5 times faster"

So if at the moment I get 30 km/h for 200W, with one of these I would get 45 km/h for the same effort? Take my money!

Avatar
mdavidford replied to Rendel Harris | 1 month ago
4 likes

Even better than that - if it's 1.5 times faster (rather than 1.5 times as fast) you'll get 75km/h.

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