Geek Warning

The Geeks answer your questions.

The Geek Warning podcast is growing! Today, we’ve launched our first bonus episode exclusively for Escape Collective members.

While the weekly Geek Warning podcast remains unchanged, we’re now providing additional bonus episodes each fortnight. These bonus episodes will be a mix of Ask a Wrench, deep-dives, or interviews with the people behind popular products.

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What do Aston Martin, Lizard Skins, Cinelli, Chris Froome, and bleed kits all have in common? We’re not entirely sure, but they’re all discussed in this week’s episode of Geek Warning!

Hot on the heels of Lotus’ new bike comes an announcement from Aston Martin – they too have a new superbike. Made with 3D titanium-printed lugs and carbon tubes, this one is built in true collaboration with custom frame maker J Laverack. Aston Martin previously dabbled in bicycles with the help of Storck, but this one is on a whole new level. See more of the new Laverack Aston Martin .1R here.

Iconic Italian brand Cinelli has announced that it’s bringing some frame-building back in-house, for the first time since 1981. It all makes sense once you know Cinelli and Columbus are under the one roof.

Finished the Beckham documentary and have nothing to do? Geek out on this impressively detailed and playful content from Bartosz Ciechanowski. Thanks to reader Frederik Bonde for the tip on this one!

In industry news, Rapha has seen “negative profitability” for a number of years, while it appears Lizard Skins’ parent company may soon come under the house of Fox Factory (the suspension company).

All that and plenty more discussed in this week’s episode.

Timestamps:

0:50 – More high-end car collabs, this time Aston Martin and J Laverack
9:28 – Cinelli brings (some) frame building back to Italy
13:50 – Advanced visualisations for nerds
15:50 – Rapha is in the news
21:10 – Fox Factory set to buy Lizard Skins’ parent
23:25 – Chris Froome’s fit is on Ronan’s mind
28:06 – The one must-have feature of repair stands is on Dave’s mind
33:45 – Pick one cycling computer
39:55 – Our unintended PSA related to hydraulic disc brakes
52:18 – There’s a new member-only bonus version of Geek Warning!

An unexpected stop-ride notice from SRAM, a new bike from Lotus, and thoughts on tyre widths and pedal choice gave our tech team plenty to discuss in this week’s Geek Warning podcast.

Rumours of a Lotus road bike have been circling for some time, but we didn't expect it to be an aero-e-road bike. The Type 136 takes design concepts from current Lotus-designed track bikes, adding a lightweight HPS mid-drive e-bike system for a complete claimed weight of just 9.8 kg. Lotus has launched the bike with a limited edition model with just 136 available at a cool price of £20,000 / €25,000, ouch.

Ratio Technology – the company best known for bringing new life to old SRAM DoubleTap shifters – have done it again. The company’s latest release is a new ratchet and pulley wheel kit for SRAM 10 and 11-speed mechanical road groupsets, allowing you to use a Shimano 12-speed cassette and chain.

Speaking of SRAM, the American company has announced a stop-sale notice (for North America) related to its aftermarket 12-speed road levers. Set to become a voluntary recall, the notice applies to all SRAM 12-speed road shifters manufactured prior to July 2023 (it’s a long list). And before you run to your local store, know the issue is simply that too much thread locker is applied to the clamp bolt, meaning the levers aren’t clamping as tightly as what a torque wrench says. If you’re already riding a bike with SRAM 12-speed then this one doesn’t apply to you, but we’ll keep you updated if things change.

The biggest news in the bicycle industry has been related to the loss of funding for Signa Sports United, the parent company to Wiggle, ChainReactionCycles, and countless other brands. Now, Wiggle/CRC is in administration with reports of widespread redundancies in business segments responsible for future product and growth.

The first mover in producing truly great kids bikes, Isla Bikes, announced it's ceasing production. It’s a brand that James has fond memories associated with the first Isla bike he purchased, and it’s a brand that will surely be missed by many.

POC Sports have launched an LED-equipped version of its Omne road helmet. Integrated lights have been done before and are often somewhat underwhelming in terms of brightness, it’ll be interesting to see how POC’s new integration goes.

After the news, we get into the recurring segments of the Geek Warning. We think that SRAM’s Transmission gearing favourability seems to be largely related to geography and riding style. We discuss our preferences related to road tyre width. And then our new ‘Pick One’ segment returns, this time we each share and justify our favourite road pedals.

Merida and Polygon have just announced some interesting new gravel bikes, and Campagnolo's new Hyperon road wheels are a far better value than the flagship version. But what we're really interested in this week is Focus's new Izalco Max semi-aero road racer. It's supposedly faster, stiffer, and lighter than before (naturally), but also unabashedly less comfortable. Is that a good thing?

Who said road riding was dead? Clearly a lot of industry folks haven’t gotten the message. Lauf just introduced its first road bike, Classified and TRP are seemingly teaming up for an integrated wireless electronic road groupset with Classified’s novel two-speed rear hub, and Ingrid Components showed a prototype mechanical road lever with Shimano flippy-shifter vibes.

Welcome back to Geek Warning, the show that proves the world of cycling tech never stops.

This week we published our vision for covering tech news. In response, many of you asked for links to see and learn more of what we discuss in the Geek Warning podcast. And just like that, we present links!

Zwift has launched its Hub One smart trainer with a single cog. Ronan is working on a review, but in the meantime you can read what DCRainmaker thinks of it.

The recently announced Shimano crank recall is picking up steam as other countries roll out their respective recalls. However, it appears to be getting uglier.

We discuss BMC’s new all-rounder race bike, the Teammachine R. This bike left Ronan rather impressed, follow the link to find out why.

The Gravel World Championships offered a glimpse at a new Merida Silex. Meanwhile, Canyon’s long-awaited Grail CF is finally here, a bike James has a full review on.

We also touch on new mountain bike wheels from Princeton CarbonWork's off-shoot brand P1 Race Tech. And being a new week, there are of course, new chainrings from Wolf Tooth.

Timestamps:

4:58 – Zwift goes singlespeed and many tangents

16:05 – Shimano crank recall is getting uglier

21:50 – BMC’s new “not an aero bike” aero bike, automotive collabs, and narrow handlebars

43:05 – Princeton CarbonWorks launches for mountain bikes

46:50 – More new products from Wolf Tooth

49:50 – New gravel bikes from World’s

57:00 – How we’re thinking about covering tech news

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There has been a slew of wheel introductions recently, with some of the most interesting ones being from Zipp (lightweight carbon XC!), DT Swiss (“Aero for All”!), and Mavic (hookless aluminum gravel!). Wait, what? Yep, Mavic is now so progressive that its new aluminum gravel wheels feature a hookless profile, and we have some thoughts on the idea.

Timestamps:

1:37 – A close at DT Swiss’s new “Aero for All” aluminum wheels

8:27 – This most definitely is not the Mavic of yesteryear

15:04 – Zipp enters the XC wheel market (and their carbon road wheels have quietly gotten heavier)

25:56 – Bontrager cozies up with Look for a new range of clipless MTB pedals

32:57 – Wahoo Fitness continues to streamline its operations

35:58 – Brighter days are hopefully ahead for Parlee Cycles

41:35 – The indomitable and indestructible Surly Cross-Check is no more

46:30 – Dave is obsessing about what spare parts and – of course – tools to carry on his new bike

52:59 – James’s safety rules of the road

57:52 – More power or less weight for eMTBs?

1:02:08 – Choosing the right chain lube is about saving money, not watts

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Roughly a decade after problems first started surfacing with its bonded aluminum road crankarms, Shimano has finally issued an official recall for certain Ultegra and Dura-Ace models – and we have some thoughts on the matter. SRAM is also making its long-awaited entry into the e-MTB scene with its new Powertrain system, Specialized wants people to start thinking about e-bike performance a little differently, X marks the spot for Pinarello, and there’s some dodgy stuff going on out there when it comes to ultralight road wheels.

Timestamps:

5:16 – Shimano’s bill has finally come due

22:35 – SRAM is now entered the e-MTB game

27:45 – How much does e-motor efficiency matter?

32:05 – Pinarello’s new endurance road bikes

40:31 – Canyon sure does like its CP0018 three-piece integrated cockpit

46:28 – Ignore those ETRTO rim dimensions at your own peril

51:50 – Introducing Ronan’s new podcast: Performance Process!

55:58 – Dave has gone down the eMTB rabbit hole

1:00:01 – Should MTB rims switch to Schrader valves?

1:04:22 – Ronan’s view on aero gains? Testing, testing, testing

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This week’s Geek Warning has James, Ronan, and Dave covering a broad range of topics from Fulcrum’s new road wheels, a new airless tyre, and a tyre that’s recalled for being unwantedly airless.

There’s also a surprising amount of chat about e-bikes, but perhaps not for the right reasons. There’s the new Moots entering the space, but not with its expected material. Rad Power promises safer batteries, which is great, but also feels late. And yet another recall has us asking whether cheap e-bikes are a responsible product.

Timestamps:

4:45 – Moots takes an Express train in an unexpected direction

16:00 – New mid-range performance road wheels from Fulcrum

21:40 – Another attempt at the airless bicycle tyre?

25:42 – A road tyre recall from Pirelli

28:52 – Rad Power announces safer batteries, bit late?

34:38 – And another recall, this one impacts 45,000 bikes!

46:42 – Ashton Lambie gets out of a stick’y situation

51:50 – High-priced wheels are on Dave’s mind

56:45 – A PSA for Shimano Di2 users

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Specialized announced its latest Roubaix and Giant launched its fifth-generation Defy Advanced this week, but while they’re both “endurance road bikes”, they could hardly be more different.

We’ve also got a new aero all-rounder from Ridley, fancy 3D-printed titanium derailleur hangers, new indoor developments from Wahoo and Zwift, a whole day of hour records, thoughts on the UCI’s minimum weight limit, and a word of caution to maybe not trust that little map on your GPS computer *too* much.

Timestamps:

6:55 - A Specialized Roubaix, but no Cable Cobbler (yet)

21:45 - More endurance road bikes and Giant’s new Defy fills a gap.

32:20 – Silca has derailleur hangers with holes in them

38:45 - News from Wahoo with special guest, GPLama (https://gplama.com/)!

52:22 - A quick mention of Zwift things

54:50 - Ridley replaces the Helium SLX

1:01:30 - A new testing facility at MIPS

1:03:43 - There’s a day of Hour Records and Ronan is very excited

1:05:50 - The UCI weight limit is on Ronan’s mind

1:11:14 - A PSA that James and Dave hadn’t considered.

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