In a tech-launch heavy week, Suvi, Josh, and Alex have taken over the pod to chat about what was happening at the recent, season-ending Rouleur Live show, which then led to further discussion on the value of these cycling exhibitions.
To wrap things up, the team chatted through the – admittedly very off-road focused – new product launches from Nukeproof, Ritchey, Velocity USA, and Lazer. If you scroll past the show timestamps, we've also included a little Rouleur Live gallery there for you to browse.
Timestamps:
00:10 – Intro, and Suvi's Brompton skills
04:49 – Rouleur Live: crowds, vibes & venue
05:45 – Show tech highlights: Reap aero gravel bike & POC bags
10:30 – What are trade shows even for now?
15:00 – Industry networking, media value & meeting members
20:39 – Nukeproof is back: new Reactor trail bike
25:00 – Ritchey Septimer breakaway gravel bike
32:00 – Tangent to talk about travel bikes vs hire vs bags
39:44 – 32" wheels & the emerging 32er niche
46:40 – New Lazer Impala: Dual Core trail helmet, helmet testing, MIPS rivals & Virginia Tech ratings
55:00 – Outro
Rouleur Gallery
As mentioned in the podcast, instead of a standalone gallery article, here are a few of the Rouleur Live highlights from Alex and Suvi.
The entrance to the venue, Truman Brewery, and Colnago's standalone booth near it. The Italian brand had decided a mere booth along others would not do, and curated a whole Colnago experience (and after-party venue) for the visitors.
The two new Steelnovo colourways were on the window spots, and both new and older bikes inside.
Aeron was showing its new TPU tubes (with alu valves, all made in Austria), prices start from 26€. There are also some new things coming from Ergon, including a new women's saddle and the biological reference point (BRP) tool.
POC's new bikepacking bags. The white material lets light through so you should find your belongings a little easier. And, that front bag has some aero claims to it...
That Dan Bigham's Reap Type 300 bike that was built for him just ahead of the show. It's certainly aero-optimised.
Reap also had this plastic prototype road bike on show. The company founder Martin Meir had certainly had enough of being a model by this point of the evening.
As usual, beautiful paintworks were aplenty. Trek had a whole host of Project One frames at its stand, Canyon had a tree (or whatever it is) of its custom MyCanyon programme Aeroads, and SRAM had this special Matteo Jorgenson's Cervelo S5, painted by Mosaic Cycles, on its stand.
Did we do a good job with this story?
