Tech Roundup: Colnago, Indy Fab, Polar, Muc-Off, Morvelo, Lapierre and more

Another weekend, another batch of new products and interesting tech from the cycling world. Lots of video this week.

Kinoko Cycles build gorgeous Indy Fab Crown Jewel

London’s Kinoko Cycles have just posted some photos of a gorgeous Independent Fabrication Crown Jewel they’ve just built. Isn’t it lovely?!

The frame is a marriage of Reynolds 853 and True Temper OX Platinum tubing, beautifully welded and finished, with an Enve carbon fork painted in the same colour as the frame. It’s topped of with a SRAM Force 22 groupset and wheels made with Chris King R45 hubs on H Plus Son Archetype rims, with a wider 23mm profile.

The tyres are Vittoria Open Corsa SC 25mm and we think the tan sidewalls works brilliantly. It’s not a look that’s for everyone we’ll admit, but it works for us. Well me, anyway.

It’s currently residing in Kinoko’s store so if you’re in town we’re urge you to pop along and have a closer look. Try not to drool. Or you can head over to their website for a better look 

While we’re dealing with Kinoko, they’re offering some discounts on their many frames at the moment. This 2012 S2 track racing frame is currently reduced from £400 down to £250. Seems like a steal to us. 

Wind Tunnel testing with Lampre-Merida’s Rui Costa

Always wondered what goes on in a wind tunnel with a pro cyclist? This short video featuring world champion Rui Costa has clearly been working on his position and fit on his new Merida Reacto aero road bike for the coming season.

The Reacto is a brand new aero road bike, we first spotted it last year. It’s like a road going version of their Warp TT bike, with similar Kamm tail tube shapes, where the trailing edge is chopped off to get around UCI’s 3:1 rule (tube depth can't be more than three times the width).

Polar Loop launched

Wearable tech is going to be the next big thing in the technology world according to some people, and Finnish company Polar has launched the Loop.

It’s billed as an activity tracker and is designed to be worn all day, to monitor your levels of activity and exercise. There’s a free online service and smartphone app that it can be paired with to analyse the data. It costs £79.50.

According to Polar, it can ‘Accurately tracks five different levels of activity’ and offer guidance on how to reach predetermined activity levels. It’ll basically nag to to get of your lazy arse and do some exercise, but not quite so blunt as that. It can provide a daily, weekly or monthly view of your activity levels. It can be partnered with a Bluetooth Smart heart rate sensor for an even more accurate analysis of your exercise level.

As ever, there’s a slick promo video, below, or you can pop along to their website for a closer gander www.polarloop.com

Muc-Off partners with IAM Road Cycling Team

Fresh from the news that Muc-Off have partnered with Team Sky for all their lubing needs, Muc-Off have just confirmed they’ve bagged another pro team, this time the Swiss-based IAM squad.

Muc-Off’s Managing Director, Alex Trimnell had this to say on the partnership: ‘We are delighted to be working with such an ambitious and young team. We firmly believe through new innovation and building on 2013’s successes IAM  Cycling are the team to watch in this year’s peloton.’

And of course, no launch is complete these days it seems without a slick video. And here’s the Muc-Off and IAM Cycling vid. If you like the drums and want to see some video of the team out training following by a bit of soapy sponge action, hit the play button.

Niels Albert's Colnago Prestige for the cyclo-cross world champs this weekend

It’s the 2014 Cyclo-Cross World Championships in  Hoogerheide, Netherlands this weekend, and GCN have been taking a closer look at Niels Albert's Colnago Prestige that he’ll be racing.

It’s a full carbon fibre frame, with the curved tube at the seat tube junction to make shouldering the bike more comfortable. It’s equipped with a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, the electronic setup has been working well in the typically atrocious conditions of most cyclo-cross races. It’s rolling on Dura-Ace C24 carbon tubular wheels with Dugast tyres. Which tyres he runs will depend on the course conditions over the weekend. Brakes are TRP's RevoX carbon fiber items and it’s PRO for the handlebar, stem and seatpost.

Slick new website for PRO

Shimano’s componentry brand PRO has got a brand new website. As well as listing all their products, which includes things like saddles, stems and handlebars, they also have a section where you can read about all their sponsored riders and teams. And there’s quite a few. So you can see just what products your favourite athletes are using.

Have a look at www.pro-bikegear.com

66 Seconds With Velocity: The Birth of a Bicycle Rim

That’s the title of the video below, in which wheel company Velocity decided to whip back the thinly veiled shroud of secrecy concerning the manufacturing of a humble bicycle wheel.

Check them out at www.velocityusa.com

Morvelo soon to launch spring/summer range

As the rain batters the windows of the road.cc office, it does seem like spring and summer are a jolly long way off. Here’s something to cheer you up, a little glimpse at what Morvelo is working on for its spring/summer 2014 range.

The photo doesn’t give all that much away, but there’s some cool colours and designs going on. We can’t wait to see the finishing products.

Kora launch Yak wool base layer

Kora claim to have developed the first base layer made from yak wool.

They’ve developed a fabric for active use called Hima-Layer, developed using yak wool, which they reckon its 40% warmer than merino wool. They make other claims too, they say it’s 17% better at dealing with water vapour than merino, and also far more breathable too. Sounds like the best thing since, well merino wool actually. We can’t wait to try it out.

Base layers will cost £105 and available for men and women, and leggings will also be available, they cost £95. More at www.kora.net

Lapierre celebrates 12 years with fdj.fr pro team with… a video

It’s been 12 years since French bicycle manufacturer Lapierre partnered with the French fdj.fr professional cycling team, and to celebrate this longetivity they’ve produced this video. In it they’ve headed to the team’s early season training camp and chatted to some of the riders, trainers and mechanics about what this means to them.

Allez cycling t-shirt brand launched

And we end Tech Roundup today with a news of yet another t-shirt brand to offer some cycling themed clobber. This is a young company based in the Netherlands, they’re actually a couple of students, and have only been going three months. Their t-shirt designs look pretty good though.

More at www.allezcycling.com

Got anything you want to see in Tech Roundup next weekend? Fire an email at tech@road.cc headed 'please include me in tech roundup' and we'll take a look.