It’s that time of year again, when the cycling industry heads for Friedrichshafen in Germany. Inside 14 huge hangers that were originally built to house zeppelin airships is a Disneyland of bike bits. Pretty much every brand you can think of and many that you won’t have ever heard of converge to do business, show their wares and tease the cycling fans with what we can expect in 2015.
I’ve spent the past three days dashing around the halls checking out the new goodies. So what can we expect? 2015 could very well be the year you’ll need to invest in some good quality shades as bright colours were the one thing that stood out.
Black on black is over; pretty much every brand had steered cleared of monochrome paint schemes and introduced not just a dash of colour but a full splash. Oranges, pinks, yellows and electric blues all seem to be on trend. Helmets, clothing, shoes and frames are all coming in a multitude of hues.
But for this first article from Eurobike let’s cover the top and the tail.
Helmets
New lids were on show from a few brands. Mavic has two new lids. The Cosmic Ultimate is the company’s new lightweight all-round road lid. They also had on show the Mavic CXR Ultimate Helmet — their offering in to the Aero road market, which looks a lot more vented than many of the competitors.
Bell had their new Star Pro on display. The Belkin team were seen using this at this year’s Tour de France. It comes with a huge magnetic visor too.
Smith, who are normally better know for their eyewear, had the new Overtake on show. This helmet could shake up the market just as much as the POC did this year.
They constructed the helmet using a structure that was originally seen in their MTB lid. The material is called Koroyd and its structure looks almost like hundreds of plastic straws have been glued together. Wind tunnel testing shows it’s just slightly slower than the industry leader Specializd Evade, yet the cooling and venting is supposed to be class-leading at all speeds from a potter to a full-on sprint.
Uvex had a new aero road lid too, the Uvex EDAero. It looked a lot more bulbous and solid-looking than most of the other brands out there. This helmet is yet to see any action — maybe we’ll see Kittel in it soon.
MIPS is an internal plastic shell that helps reduce the initial shock of a crash to the brain. Lazer, Bell, Giro and Smith are just a few of the big names now working alongside MIPS to help make their helmets even safer.
Scott completed the custom paint job for German long-distance triathlete Sebastian Kienle with his race helmet.
Lazer have been developing a sensor that bleeps and vibrates when you have your head out of the most efficient position in a TT tuck. The small box is in development; this one was 3D printed and the tech has come from a medical background.
Right: This is Smith’s first road helmet. It is said to be just a shade slower in the wind tunnel than a Specialized Evade, yet reportedly has far superior ventilation at any speed due to the Koroyd construction. Left and centre: Due to it using Koroyd as a main building block in the helmet it makes for a much more compact design. Being designed by what is primarily an eyewear brand they have worked on making the helmet have an excellent field of view.
Seen at this year’s Tour de France, the new Giro Synthe is a claimed 13% lighter than an Air Attack and 16% faster than an Aeon. It’s a great-looking lid and this yellow and black splash colourway is available in the Empire shoe line too.
Uvex unveiled their new road aero helmet at Eurobike. A double in-mould shell has eight ventilation channels to keep the head cool.
Left: Eurobike is inundated with brands that many will not know; Selev is one of these. They’re an Italian helmet manufacturer. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s they had a strong presence in the market due to sponsoring FDJ. Right: Alpina supply the FDJ.fr team now. They had some really nice-looking helmets and sunglasses on display at the show. Here’s the team issue.
Top left: Matt purple is a colour option for the ladies with Poc’s new helmet range.
Though not a new helmet this year, the new orange colourway drew many to the Rudy stand. The back end of the Wing 57 is alot more drastic in design than many of the aero TT lids on the market.
Endura are best known for their clothing but they also make some nice helmets. Again, bright is the new black.
Top: BBB now has a road aero lid. The prototype was seen last year at Eurobike but now it’s available to buy. BBB worked with the Advanced Embodiment Design team at the Technical University of Delft on designing this helmet. Bottom: BBB had updated their TT lid. The matt black may show up sticky fingers easily.
It’s not a racing road lid but the Giro Sutton helmet has some neat features.
Bell were in on the aero road helmet action. Belkin have been using this and a few other prototype in the past few months. This is the final design. 15 vents are placed over the helmet and 13 of them are able to be shut via a small lever on the back.
Top left: Kask wasn’t to be outdone on the bright colour schemes. This helmet boasts a Brazillian flavour. They had a whole host of team paint schemes on display. This was by far the one that stood out. Top right: Team Sky were using this new Protone helmet from Kask. We tried it on and can say it feels light. A claimed 210 grams. The usual high quality Kask build is still present. Bottom: The new Protune has some huge vents yet is claimed to be very aerodynamic.
Italian helmet and sunglasses producer Solus had a new very sculpted aero TT lid on show (right) with minimal vents and a detachable visor. As you’d expect from the Italians there were a few bright colour choices too. You may have seen the yellow SH+ helmet on the left being used by the Italian Neri team throughout this season.
Aerodynamic and with great ventilation, the new Mavic aero road lid (top) weighs 250g for a medium. Taking its name from the Cosmic wheel range the new lid (bottom) is lighter than Mavic’s previous Plasma helmets — 210g for a medium. 26 vents keep your head cool.
No need for a helmet! Hovding had their Airbag for Cyclists on display. In the flesh it’s a huge and amazing piece of work. Hovding are making the product as stylish and accessible as possible, designing it in many great patterns.
These Brooks foldable helmets were made in conjunction with Carrera. The tartan detailing and old Brooks toe straps scream Britain.
Shoes
Shoes are always something that catches the eye. Again bright colours are all the rage — very few stands had straight white shoes. Particular favourites were the small spanish brand Luck. Though they are well-known in their homeland they haven’t been seen outside of the country much since the mid 1990s.
Their top-end shoe is now fully customisable, from the orthopaedic fitting service to the pattern or print that they’ll print on for you. On top of this they had a prototype sole hidden away … with a power meter built in. Their plans are to have it ready for sale by December.
The system will be interchangeable so if you run several shoes or crash and ruin a pair of race shoes you’ll still be able to still transfer the power meter across. This is something we’ll be keeping a close eye on. Stay posted as we have lined up a trip to visit Luck at their factory soon.
Wire closure systems such as BOA or ATOP seemed to be on every mid- to top-end shoe for the majority of brands.
Helmets and shoes are just the tip of what was on offer at Eurobike. More to come in part two.
It’s not just the Empire line up of Giro’s shoes that get a fresh lick of paint, but the Prolight range too. Orange is the new yellow.
Luck are making some very interesting products away from the powermeter sole. The innersoles are two layers and are custom moddable. You’ll have to find a Luck dealer to fit them for you though.
It’s not just the big boys who produce cycling shoes. A whole host of Asian firms can produce some interesting looking footwear for you. Here we have some by a firm called Ginia.
Not the best known brand Suplest make some great-looking shoes. The Swiss company sponsor a few riders on the IAM team.
A gorgeous looking touring shoe. The quality felt second to none. Surely one for the pub or the retro rides that seem to be growing in popularity.
Look has developed a shoe for beginners or commuters. The integrated cleat is supposed to keep the cleats from getting eaten up when walking about.
Bright colours weren’t just reserved for the bikes this year at Eurobike. Bont had some stunning combos on display. Bont also had a few unfinished new models on the stand.
Amongst the many pros usng Solestar are Andre Greipel, Gerald Ciolek, Maxime Monfort, Christian Knees and Robert Wagner. The multi-layered innersole is designed to help with power transfer, aide stability and comfort by bringing the foot in to its optimal neutral position.
The yellow fluoro that we’ve seen over the past two years isn’t going anywhere. Bright colours are here to stay.
Fizik had a bunch of new road shoes on display to compliment their new saddle colours.
No need for overshoes here. The zipped cover road shoes are designed for all out speed. 260g for a size 8.5UK. A bunch of tech is crammed into the shoes including an Ergo dial, an Ergo fit 3D+ Ortholite, and a bonded upper.
They were spotted at the Tour de France and for 2015 these laced Giro shoes be available to the public. The shoes, although available in white, also keep the bright colour trend alive.
Luck shoes may not be a major international player but the Spanish shoe manufacture hasn’t let that stop them with the development of a interchangeable power meter in the sole. It’s at the development stages but should be on the market in 2015. The power meter will be interchangeable, so if you crash and ruin a pair of shoes you can just remove the power meter system and place it in a new Luck shoe. Or if you run several shoes — for instance road and MTB — you’ll not have to buy two power meter systems. We hope to have a Luck factory tour soon.
Known for their helmets, it was a surprise to see the Spanish brand Catlike display a whole range of road and MTB shoes. These share the same name as their top end helmet. ATOP dials keep the shoe snug, 11 air intakes help with keeping the foot fresh and a full carbon sole keeps the power transfer positive.