UCI commissaries were out checking bikes for hidden motors this weekend at Omloop Het NIeuwsblad in Belgium, reportedly scrutinising dozens of bikes from competitors in both the men’s and women’s editions of the Belgian race that kicks off the cobbled Classics season.
This video from Dutch UCI WorldTour team LottoNL-Jumbo shows how a commissaire, using a tablet computer linked to a bespoke app developed or the governing body, scans a bike.
Fietsmotor controle voor de start van Omloop het Nieuwsblad.+++++Bike motor check at the start of Omloop het Nieuwsblad.
Posted by Team Lotto NL Jumbo Cycling on Saturday, 27 February 2016
As we reported last week, the Belgian cycling federation had been planning to invest up to €50,000 in its own scanning technology, but it seems the UCI will be carrying out random checks at races throughout 2016.
Philippe Marien of the UCI told the newspaper Het Nieuwsblad: ”With an iPad we can measure the cycling of magnetic waves. We use it on a scale of 1 to 10.
“At the lowest end of the scale, there is nothing to worry about.
“As soon as a 10 is registered, there is something wrong, so a further check is carried out and the bike taken apart,” he added.
He said the UCI is keen to push the technology further and is in discussions with companies developing more advanced ways of combating technological fraud.
Rumours of riders cheating by using concealed motors in their frames had been around for several years, but the discovery of one hidden inside a bike prepped for Belgian under-23 rider Femke Van den Driessche at the recent UCI World Cyclo-Cross Championships is the first time one has been found in competition.
And that's just the bikes that have been reported stolen.
Get thyself over to Buildhub - a community owned forum where I am on the moderation team ("Ferdinand") which is about self-build and renovation....
"30mm outer diameter 18mm inner diameter 13.4mm". Good luck finding a skinny tire.
It was a slip-up.
Ahem, the recommended lockring is just a common through-axle specific lockring, so nothing Miche specific there, and the required tool for it is an...
Nonono, not those, but those that have constructed Italian cars and motorcycles that have been driven to hundreds of race and championship...
This may well be the case although Im unaware of the brands popularity on their home turf. I used to see them being advertised more in the UK...
Arguably sticking it in a bank account is bad....
I'd counter that those brakes were in fact so inadequate that they eventually developed a whole new type of bicycle that was actually suited for it...
Unfortunately, Africa is heavily exploited both for resource extraction...