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Yep good point! Lol
Anyone else notice the clearly aero shoulder patches on Asa Vermette's jersey in South Korea?? Interesting seeing the tech crossover from the road and gravel world.
This was my thought too. I have a few versions of the ochain and the variances are minimal. SRAM could use a small arm spider for different splines and offsets that bolts onto the ochain mech since it's essentially an oversized chainring.
Pretty sure there’s a single speed guy laughing at your comment. Be a real man and ditch that cassette.
Can we make a tech rumor forum fantasy league? I’ll make my picks based on who has the most prototype parts on the bike.
What were commercial mucoff running on their wheels/valves? Looked like something about 2 inches across, on both wheels, on (I think) every riders bike.
Had a quick look in the pit bit photos and they weren’t there.
I can confirm that new saint is 8spd not 7spd (because Shimano) and that it will not be launched this till next summer. It has a clutch too, and rumoured to have a "enduro" version for 12spd cassettes for riders who want silence not pedaling effciency
The 2.2mm rotors everyone is running in Korea, should have been launched with all the new brakes last season and make a huge difference to the lever feel
Saw that too. Blocky guard looking things, maybe to protect valve stems from rocks? Uncomfortable to look at.
I wondered if they were minipumps that detect a pressure drop and kick on to try and salvage the run? Wouldn’t work with total flat but for some of those slow leaks in finals it would mean more points.
I haven't looked at the relevant patents – and setting aside any questions of whether it's economically feasible – would it be possible for a third party to offer alternative splined versions of the "internal spider" component without getting sued into dust?
I think the best response is to buy a Rimpact one instead.
I sincerely hope for Shimano the 8spd cassette has 12spd spacing and the same width as existing 7spd cassettes, otherwise it'll be dead on arrival ... Unless they make it compatible only with their hubs with a new proprietary hub format, until other brands maange to get their hands on the freewheel format (remember microspline? I do)
They now have a nice habbit of arriving 3-5 years too late on everything, like transmission, brakes, ebike motors, crankset length, ... wonder what's going on at the head of the company ?!
Definitely a protection for loose rocks breaking the valve stem. I sheered one off last year from loose rocks. I saw that and was like dang, that’s smart thinking on this race. Small risk but they thought it was worth it to protect it
They’ve always been this way. Besides the RapidRise and Dual Control failures, they usually play things super conservative. It’s also interesting how they’ve come up with some unique standards like Centerlock that nobody wants to fully embrace. Sram has been the more innovative company for two decades now. I think it’s literally a dishonor to Shimano’s culture to admit defeat if (and when) someone else comes out with a superior idea or standard. They literally can’t adopt it, or comply with it.
But they’ll be fine. They sell a LOT of fishing reels…
One of the nice things about the Filmore valves is even if you shear off the stem, it will hold pressure. I've never done this, but was talking to a shuttle driver up in Downieville who'd had that happen to him. Said it was pretty wild.
The head of the company is worried about what makes them the most money. They get to it when it’s convenient and does not cost them as much money would be my guess.
https://www.shimano.com/en/ir/library/financial_reports.html
Anyone catch Bruni with the Seatpost mounted TMD? New for him during racing as far as I’ve seen
what is that on the valves??
https://ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb29656690/p5pb29656690.jpg
Looks like a rimpact insert they cut and poked a hole to cover the valve stem
Certainly looks big enough to be an electronic pump to fix small drops in pressure. Since it’s for only a run i doubt you’d need much battery. Interesting if this is a product I’m unaware of or something cooked up by the commencal engineers.
I wonder if it pumps the tire up to pretty high pressures for the non technical sections. No idea if this is actually useful but I could see it being useful.
Wouldnt that weigh an obscene amount and make the wheel weird on any speeds?
My moneys on lightweight stem protection
I mean, it just looks like it's a cushcore or similar foamy stuff just wedged between the spokes to protect the valve stem:
If they were going to go with pumps, that'd be located around the hub to keep the weight centered. They had some glimmers of that making an appearance on the road side at Paris-Roubaix but I don't think any teams ended up using them.
Shimano fishing is only about 20-25% of the revenue, they are still primarily making bike parts. But IIRC they absolutely dominate OEM lowerend market and this is the part of the market SRAM doesnt even compete in. In the end Shimano is still 3 billion company while SRAM is 1 billion company, even if we exclude fishing they still make double the revenue of SRAM. But I agree, everything in high end market (mtb and road) has been absolutely dominated by SRAM lately when it comes to technology, their strategy (to offer pretty much every bike component) has been really well planed and executed. But this is already topic for another thread. I still dont like their approach of treating customers as test base though, 2/3 of my friends have had problems with their AXS though while I have changed the cable on my grx today and it was still working even though it was due last summer :D
UCI said no no for Jumbo Visma, they were using the KAPS (Kinetic Air Pressure System) made by Gravaa.
I'm going with the foam to protect thr valve.. You can see where it conforms to the spoke and it looks kinda porous when you zoom in.. Never heard of this but I guess it could help prevent a rock from taking out a valve..
True, but they didn't say no to the tech, they said no because Gravaa is in bad shape financially and might fold in which case the the product won't comply with the homologation rules (which may not be enforced in DH anyway?).
I’m rewatching the South Korea race: does Till Allran run unusually wide bars? Just noticed his very wide and low stance.
AFAIK the caveat is that the company already folded and the product is no longer available and that is the issue.
KAPS has been used in the past on Paris Roubaix.
Product launch imminent, Ben hildred out with SC in the US
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