Like this site? Help us to make it better.
Tech of the Week is always an eclectic mix and this one features super-fast wheel, a whole load of clothing to keep you comfortable on off-season rides, very cool eyewear, and a two-wheeled tribute to the Hawaiian humuhumunukunukuapua’a fish. Oh yes, it’s diverse alright.
We’re starting, though, with Zwift’s latest innovation to add excitement to your indoor riding.
Online cycling app Zwift has now introduced the holographic replays feature first previewed last month, allowing you to race a representation of yourself on screen.
> Zwift set to release a host of new features including the ability to race yourself
The new feature is available to all Zwift users under FutureWorks, Zwift’s development program for testing new product ideas and features.
“The HoloReplay is a visual representation of your fastest pace within the past 90 days or your most recently completed segment,” says Zwift. “It allows you the opportunity to compete against your previous performance set during a free ride.
HoloReplays won’t use a PR or recent completion data recorded in an event, race, workout, group workout, Meetup, Club, or group ride.
You can choose between these options:
It sounds like a great option to us because even if you don’t beat yourself, you’ve still won. Kind of. Hang on, this is getting too confusing. Let’s bail out.
Zwift expects its HoloReplays feature to evolve over coming months.
Rapha has introduced new Pro Team Training Tights that are designed to keep you comfortable in cool to mild off-season conditions. They’re made with a lightweight recycled nylon and use a size-specific Pro Team chamois pad.
You get reflective logos and contrast details on the legs to help you stay visible in low light.
Both men’s and women’s versions are priced at £180.
British wheel brand Parcours has unveiled what it’s calling its fastest ever wheels. The new Chrono wheelset (£1,199, 68.6mm front, 75.7mm rear) is designed to be “an extremely versatile race day wheelset option for triathletes, time trialists, or road racers”.
“Maintaining the class-leading aerodynamics of the previous generation wheelset, the new Chrono offers an improvement of over 17% in way of crosswind stability,” says Parcours. “Aerodynamically optimised around a 28mm tyre, the Chrono wheelset is also tubeless-ready and disc-brake specific to accompany a wider rim profile.”
The internal width is 22.5mm while the maximum widths are 32.0mm (front) and 30.5mm (rear).
The Chrono Max (£1,649, 83.6mm deep) is described at Parcours’ fastest ever front wheel although it is said to maintain the handling of the company’s older 77mm model.
Parcours has also launch the Disc2 which it calls “the first full-carbon rear disc wheel to be truly optimised for wide tyres”.
“With an internal rim width of 22.5mm, the Disc2 (£1,049) rear wheel can be run with a tyre up to 30mm wide with no aerodynamic penalty,” says Parcours. The Disc2 saves over 120g in weight over the previous Parcours disc wheel, making it the ideal choice for riders wanting to maximise their aerodynamic advantage.
“All three models have been designed from the ground up using #thinkwider technology, developed following the results of an in-depth scientific study carried out by Parcours in association with the Sports Engineering department at Nottingham Trent University and Dr Steve Faulkner [a scientist with British Cycling].
“This revolutionary research showed that the real world yaw – the angle between a cyclist’s direction of motion and the relative wind vector – experienced by the front and rear wheel are consistently different by an average of 1.5°, giving rise to the engineering of differential profiles for the front/rear rims. The front, U-shaped, blunt rim design provides optimal aerodynamics at the higher yaw angles observed at the front wheel while having the added benefit of enhancing crosswind stability. The rear, V-shaped, sharper rim profile is used to optimise aerodynamics at the lower yaw angles it would experience.”
Parcours has published a white paper on the new wheels.
The Maillot Jaune (which means ‘Yellow Jersey’, but you already knew that) collection launched by Santini and the Tour de France last spring has now been extended to include winter technical cycling wear.
> Santini launches new Maillot Jaune collection to celebrate the Tour de France
The collection covers tights (£170), for example, featuring Santini’s C3 pad, a jersey (£110) made from thermal fleece, and a rain jacket (£180).
The full Maillot Jaune winter collection is available now.
Canyon is celebrating the return of the Triathlon World Championships to Hawaii after a three year absence with a limited edition Speedmax CF SLX Hawaii LTD.
“With a salute to Hawai’i’s official state fish, it emulates the vivid colours of the humuhumunukunukuapua’a,” says Canyon.
Congratulations to the humuhumunukunukuapua’a for its first (and possibly last) ever mention on road.cc.
> Canyon unveils new Speedmax triathlon bike range
The carbon-fibre frame is built up with Shimano’s Ultegra Di2 12-speed electronic shifting groupset and a 4iiii Precision power meter.
You have the choice of a CP0019 flat aero bar or a CP0021 riser aero bar with mono extension aerobars while the saddle is a Selle Italia Watt Superflow.
The Speedmax CF SLX Hawaii LTD is equipped with DTSwsiss Rapid ARC 1400 Dicut DB wheels, with deep-section 62mm front and 80mm rear rims.
Just 100 of these Canyon Speedmax CF SLX Hawaii LTD bikes are available at £8,899.
Do these look familiar? No, these aren’t Oakley Sutro Lite Sweeps or Razor Blades. This is the Hydra, a surf-inspired nod to the retro scene. Technically, these aren't designed for cycling but, as with nearly all Oakley shades, we don't think it’ll be long before we see lovers of two wheels hiding behind a pair.
Like Oakley’s cycling range, the Hydra features colour and contrast boosting Prizm lens technology as well as no-slip grip nosepads. There's a choice of five colours: Rootbeer, Black Ink, Crystal Black, Neon Orange and our favourite: Trans Arctic Surf.
The real question is: which pro is going to be first to rock them? Our money is on MVDP.
Met has launched a new Intercity MIPS helmet with a wide, integrated visor and NTA 8776 certification – a Dutch safety standard for e-bike helmets
> Keep your head protected! 8 of the best road and time trial cycle helmets from MET
One of the key features is the adjustable polycarbonate visor to keep wind, dust and insects out of your eyes. There are quite a lot of urban helmets out there with integrated visors these days, such as the Kask Urban R and the Giro Evoke MIPS Urban.
A magnetic LED is attached to the upper rear part of the helmet for extra visibility and the Fidlock buckle on the chinstrap is magnetic too.
The MIPS (Multi-directional Impact Protection System) is attached inside the helmet between the comfort padding and the EPS (expanded polystyrene).
> Find out all you need to know about MIPS
Met says, “One of the safest helmets out there, the Intercity MIPS is NTA 8776 certified – the world’s first safety certification for e-bike helmets. The NTA-certification confirms that the MET Intercity dissipates significantly more impact energy than a standard helmet. An NTA EPS shell has 10% more impact-tested coverage around the two most sensitive brain areas: the back and the temples.”
The Met Intercity MIPS has a claimed weight of 460g, comes in five colours and is priced at £200.
Ass Savers has been the go-to minimalist mudguard since 2012, so if previous success is anything to go by we should take note of this new model.
The brand’s new Win Wing is certainly lightweight at just 64g for the road version and 72g for the gravel version and Ass Savers claims that it brings all the benefits of full mudguards without jamming, rattling or weighing you down.
Like an original Ass Saver, the Win Wing uses rubber mounts attached to your bike’s seatstays.
An Ass Savers Win Wing is priced €25 (£22).
The 2022 Torrent collection includes bib shorts, short sleeve jersey and jacket that “will serve as your ideal riding companion in cooler autumn weather”, according to Gore.
The Torrent Jersey (£89.99) combines a soft stretch fabric and close fit, and Gore says that it deliver a high level of moisture control and optimal aerodynamic efficiency. There are three gusseted back pockets and also a zipped side pocket to hold your ride essentials.
> Check out our Gore Torrent Jersey review
The Torrent Bib Shorts+ (£99.99) are claimed to be quick drying and feature an insert that we’ve seen in other medium to long distance Gore shorts. You also get a Gore Windstopper “cup” to provide “extra protection at the groin and ensure the best comfort possible”.
> Read our Gore Torrent shorts review here
Meanwhile, the Gore Torrent jacket (£229.99) is designed for cooler and wetter weather and we found it performed very well indeed when we reviewed it. Now available in new colours, this lightweight jacket also comes with a Goretex “guarrenteed to keep you dry” promise.
Italian brand Koo has introduced a new model called Cosmo that’s designed for everyday use.
The Cosmo comes with grippy temples, nose pad rubber inserts, and a flexible Grilamid (a high-performance polyamide) frame that’s available in seven different colours.
> Check out our review of Koo's Supernova sunglasses
You get Zeiss polycarbonate mirror lenses that offer 100% UV protection, and you can have polarised lenses to eliminate glare if you go for the black frame option.
The Koo Cosmo with multilayer lenses is priced at £105. The version with polarised lenses is £130
Velobici has just introduced its Hugo Thermal collection for the cooler weather. The clothing comes in a sage and forest green colourway and is made in the UK.
The Hugo Thermal jersey (£220), for example, is made from a two layer thermal fabric that’s wind and water resistant.
The Hugo Thermal Bib Shorts (£210) also feature two layers to trap air round you while a DWR (durable water repellent) treatment helps keep you dry.
The Meryl/Lycra-blend base layer is available in short sleeve (£65) and long sleeve (£70) models.
Women’s versions are available too.
In case you missed it earlier in the week…
We’ve noticed you’re using an ad blocker. If you like road.cc, but you don’t like ads, please consider subscribing to the site to support us directly. As a subscriber you can read road.cc ad-free, from as little as £1.99.
If you don’t want to subscribe, please turn your ad blocker off. The revenue from adverts helps to fund our site.
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
It unfortunately can be defeated by pressing down on the noisy pedal. Which is pretty much the way speed limits have always been overcome.
Reminds me of a few weeks ago riding into London from the west, somewhere around Putney/Chiswick. Lights in front of me were green. Taxi stops to...
I've done exactly the same!
I blame the USA, where prepopsitions seem to be interchangeable. Let's just cut them all out of our vocabulary and choose just one to take the...
The Win Wing looks interesting.
"Buy Now" link goes to the wrong item (old version with the unhelpful scale)....
Based upon the review, I took a punt on these....and have worn them throughout our office (Square Mile, not Hoxton) on a Friday before the pub!...
if Liz Truss survives that long, I feel better about the GE 2024 - like (I) actually having it and (ii) the Tories being wiped off them map as some...
I think a magpie has taken up residence in my brain. I still haven't actually used my woolftool link pliers for chain wrangling.
You use your insurer to recover the monies....
Editorial, general: info [at] road.cc Tech, reviews: tech [at] road.cc Fantasy Cycling: game [at] road.cc Advertising, commercial: sales [at] road.cc View our media pack
Report an advert on road.cc
All material © Farrelly Atkinson (F-At) Limited, Unit 7b Green Park Station BA11JB. Tel 01225 588855. © 2008–present unless otherwise stated. Terms and conditions of use.