Welcome to Escape Collective. Please select your language.
Please note that this is an automated translation and it will not be perfect. All articles have been written in English and if anything appears to not make sense, please double check in English.
The 2023 Eurobike trade show kicked off Wednesday in the bustling metropolis of Frankfurt, Germany, and the Messe Frankfurt was chock full of shiny new cycling riches: bikes, components, accessories, wheels, clothing, you name it – it’s all here. James and Ronan are on the ground scouring the halls and aisles to sort the wheat from the chaff, bringing you daily coverage of what’ll soon be landing on store shelves.
Today’s gallery includes aero road wheels from Reynolds, insulated steel (and titanium!) bottles and bikepacking bags from Camelbak, the big reveal from SR Suntour of its fancy new electronic MTB suspension system, new saddles from Prologo, a lightweight XC carbon fiber crankset from Praxis, and plenty more.
Enjoy this first round of coverage, and stay tuned for a whole bunch more to come.
Reynolds has revamped its mid-depth range of road wheels, replacing the old Aero 46 and AR41 with a single 46 mm profile.The new Reynolds Blacklabel 46 features an updated profile that the company says offers improved aerodynamic performance across a wider range of yaw angles than before.Reynolds is sticking with a hooked format, saying it offers a wider range of tire model and pressure options as compared to hookless. Internal rim width is 21 mm across the three different models.The Reynolds Blacklabel 46 Pro, Expert, and DB models all feature the same rim profile, but the Pro gets a higher-end carbon fiber blend to save some weight. Hubs vary between the three, too, with the Pro using Industry Nine hubs, the Expert using the Ringle Super Bubba X shown here, and the DB using the Ringle SRC. Claimed weight for the Pro model is 1,397 g, and retail price is US$2,300.Been wondering about that fancy electronic suspension system on Tom Pidcock’s Pinarello? Well wonder no more. SR Suntour finally unveiled its TACT system, which features a number of sensors in the fork, self-adjusting compression circuits in the fork and rear shock, and centrally located rechargeable battery to power the whole thing.The battery can be mounted below a bottle cage, but it can also be housed inside a frame or bolted to holes normally reserved for Fox’s Live Valve system.SR Suntour claims the system can react in as little as 0.004 seconds. Such intelligent automatic damping will come at the hefty price of US$4,000 for a complete front and rear setup, however.SR Suntour has updated its GVX gravel suspension fork. It still uses a 32 mm-diameter chassis with cast magnesium lowers and 40, 50, and 60 mm travel options, but the higher-end version (left) now gets a hollow aluminum crown and a large-volume air negative spring for a more supple ride. Retail price stays the same as the original model (right), which will see a price drop.The crown is forged just as before, but the upper-end model now receives a secondary milling process that removes material from the interior.SR Suntour includes a mini-fender with the GVX, but there are also mounts for full-length fenders, too. The brake mount is positioned for 160 or 180 mm rotors.Praxis has designed its lightweight Lyft carbon fiber mountain bike crank – and brought production in-house, too. Claimed weight is just 420 g for a set of arms with the integrated 30 mm-diameter aluminum spindle and a 32T direct-mount chainring, putting it 8 g lighter than a comparable set of Race Face Next SL cranks. Retail price is US$420 for just the arms and spindle.Most carbon fiber cranks feature a spindle that’s somehow pressed in separately after the arm is formed. However, Praxis uses a capped design because the spindle is co-molded with the non-driveside arm. The company claims this is the key to the design’s strength, but it also means you can’t swap spindle lengths down the road.Praxis uses a machined aluminum preload collar for the updated Lyft instead of plastic. The bolt also uses a 2.5 mm hex head instead of the more common 2 mm ones.The preload collar threads are built directly into that forged aluminum spindle.Dear Praxis: mechanics around the work thank you.CamelBak apparently isn’t content to just sit and watch Bivo steal the show. Debuting at Eurobike were its new Podium Ti and Podium Steel water bottles, both using a Bivo-like straw and non-squeezable bottle body that rely on gravity and air to boost fluid flow – just tilt and pour. Unlike Bivo, though, CamelBak is only offering its new bottles in double-walled insulated versions, in 530 and 650 mL capacities, and in a wide range of colors (at least for the stainless steel version). Pricing and availability are both pending confirmation from CamelBak.CamelBak also showed off at this year’s Eurobike show a range of bikepacking bags, all under the M.U.L.E. acronym and made of lightweight sailcloth.The handlebar bag uses Voilé-type cinch straps for easy and flexible mounting, while the bottle holder incorporates a cinch strap up top and loops for mounting other gear.The handlebar bag features a 12-liter capacity with a roll-top closure and aluminum internal reinforcement.CamelBak says you can stuff up to nine liters’ worth of gear into the new M.U.L.E. 9 saddle pack. The roll-top closure promises to keep your stuff reasonably protected from weather (Camelbak says it has an IPX5 waterproof rating) while compression straps promise to keep the whole lot from swaying too much.The frame bag is particularly clever with two zippers that allow much easier access to contents than usual. The top zipper can also open from either end, and there’s a specially shaped hydration bladder, too.CamelBak’s new Podium Flow waist packs mimic the centered bottle position of some other packs like the Bontrager Rapid Pack, but with larger-volume side pockets that hold more and easier to get into.Prologo says its new Akero saddle is aimed at the all-road market with its broad and flat shape. Models are offered with or without full cutouts, and retail prices start at a very reasonable €79.The underside of the Akero features Prologo’s mounting system for various accessories.Prologo has reimagined its long-running Nago range, giving it a new name: Nago R4. It’s now a fully split saddle with separate left and right padding zones, and a semi-rounded shape that Prologo says will “provide good freedom of movement in the saddle and maximize pedaling efficiency in all positions.”Prologo kept the Nago name, but this looks nothing like the original.The solid version of the Nago may not have a full cutout, but it still has a cutout base that supposedly mimics the effect without the visual hole.Prologo’s Feather 2 puts a spin on foam grips with a textured surface to improve, uh, grip. They’re offered in 29 and 32 mm diameters and weigh as little as 16 g per pair.Yep, purple is most definitely in.Need to know the “truth” about your tire pressure? Then clearly you need Silca’s ultra-premium pressure gauge, which is partially made from 3D-printed titanium and could be yours for the low, low price of US$250 / €300.It might seem silly to make tools out of 3D-printed titanium, but these tools from Silca are astonishingly light while supposedly still being tough enough for the task. They’re not new, but they’re still striking – and strikingly expensive.Goodyear showed off a new MTB tire purpose-built for XC racing called the Peak SL. The low-profile tread is clearly designed for a fast roll. Goodyear is offereing it in both a 120 TPI Race version and a standard model with a 60 TPI construction.The Goodyear Peak SL tread profile isn’t quite round or squared off, but more like a flattened oval with cornering knobs that are just a bit taller than the center blocks. Goodyear is offering both versions of the Peak SL in 2.25″ or 2.4″ widths, but only in 29″ diameters. The flagship Peak SL Race model is supposedly just 710 g in a 29×2.4″ size.Worried about someone stealing your wheels or other components off of your bike? Hexlox aren’t new, but the concept is still brilliantly simple. Instead of replacing your existing hardware with theft-resistant stuff, Hexlox fills the hex socket with a metal plug that can supposedly only be removed with a special coded key. There are sizes to fit virtually any common hex head on your bike, but the only requirement is the bolt has to be steel.Hexlox already had a range of lockable steel skewers for quick-release wheels (and also thru-axle ones).Hexlox’s new thru-axle skewers ditch the previous version’s modular design for a simpler setup that uses dedicated lengths and thread pitches, along with a built-in steel insert in the head that keeps it compatible with its clever locking hardware. It means Hexlox has more axles to keep on hand, but it also means the cost has come down considerably, from almost €59 to just €39 each.
