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00:00 Welcome to July's Tech of the Month where we discuss all the latest news and reviews.
00:08 This month we've seen the first sneak peek of the highly rumoured Shimano 105 12-speed
00:13 mechanical groupset, we've seen some pretty jazzy looking carbon wheels and we take a
00:19 look at some of the funkiest custom kit for this year's Tour de France.
00:23 Plus we have our choice for bike of the month so be sure to stick around for that.
00:30 So Sam, let's start off with this new groupset from Shimano, what can you tell us about it?
00:34 So we spotted it at Eurobike and it was on the Corotec stand just in broad daylight and
00:40 it was just there.
00:42 And it does, in some ways, it doesn't actually look too surprising but then again I guess
00:47 maybe it shouldn't have been in the first place.
00:49 It does borrow a lot of the same parts from the 105 Di2 groupset which makes a lot of
00:54 sense so think the same chain set, the same cassettes, the same brake calipers, it's the
01:00 derailleurs and the shifters are the things that have the big change.
01:04 The thing that was a surprise for me though is that the shifters themselves actually resemble
01:09 the 11-speed shifters quite a lot.
01:11 They maybe look a little bit more bulged and a little bit more curvy but otherwise they
01:17 basically look the same and then the derailleurs themselves, they look pretty normal as well.
01:24 But I guess Shimano will have been sitting on so much of this 12-speed tech for quite
01:28 a while that they don't really need to push the boat out too far in any which way.
01:34 So it looks like with the later release for the mechanical groupset, Shimano are clearly
01:38 trying to push their customers towards that electronic end of the spectrum.
01:42 Yeah, definitely.
01:43 I think they're doing that whilst also maintaining an offering in the mechanical space because
01:47 I think at the 105 level you do still need a mechanical offering.
01:52 I think what's interesting though and what's quite different here compared to normal groupset
01:56 releases is that there's no trickle-down tech.
02:00 In some ways we're left in this very bizarre situation where you've got a mechanical 12-speed
02:06 groupset that's in some ways the best that's ever been created by Shimano because there
02:11 was never a 12-speed mechanical Ultegra or Dura-Ace.
02:14 But it does also leave the door open to actually upgrade the 105 mechanical groupset because
02:20 now that it has gone to 12-speed you could technically use an Ultegra or Dura-Ace chain
02:25 and cassette, you could use the same brake calipers, you could also use a Dura-Ace or
02:31 Ultegra chainset and then not only would you save a whole load of weight, you'd increase
02:36 the shifting quality which would be quite nice and obviously the aesthetic gain isn't
02:41 to be sniffed at as well.
02:42 So you could actually start to pimp out a 105 mechanical groupset whilst still maintaining
02:48 that mechanical shifting if that's something that you really value.
02:52 But that's kind of besides the point, that is kind of living in a dream world.
02:56 But it does still look very interesting.
02:59 I think what's really nice though is the fact that this new groupset will mean that mechanical
03:04 shifting is still very much at the forefront and customers for the 105 groupset is still
03:09 very much that keen amateur and people that want to take their riding pretty seriously.
03:15 And for those people as well who don't want to shell out on an electronic groupset, it's
03:19 bound to be better value isn't it?
03:20 No, you're absolutely right.
03:22 However, because this has only been seen in the flesh once at Eurobike, we've had no official
03:27 word from Shimano yet so we don't know the weight of the components, we don't know the
03:30 prices and we also don't know a release date.
03:33 However, the fact is because this was on show in broad daylight, it's fair to assume that
03:39 the release has got to be pretty soon.
03:43 Now there was another cool piece of tech at Eurobike that we saw, some pretty weird looking
03:48 wheels.
03:49 Joe, tell me about those.
03:50 Absolutely, so one of the stars of the sort of niche category at Eurobike was the BlackTech
03:55 wheels.
03:57 So the C1D wheels retail for a staggering $4,880, feature a unique carbon spoke design
04:06 and they're 100% carbon as well.
04:08 Okay, but what is the point of these wheels?
04:12 Well, BlackTech doesn't actually make any aerodynamic claims and they're not especially
04:16 light either at 1500 grams for the pair, that's for a 40mm deep wheelset.
04:21 They are hookless and feature a 27mm wide outside profile.
04:26 The internal rim width is 21mm, so again not particularly wide.
04:30 BlackTech does state that they're compatible with anything up to a 35mm tyre.
04:34 Oh, that's quite interesting actually because I think if you were to look at like ETRTO
04:39 standards, they wouldn't necessarily suggest that you put a 35mm wide tyre on a 21mm internal
04:46 width wheel.
04:48 So that seems quite interesting actually.
04:53 It is, at this stage, I mean we've got no word from BlackTech on that potentially.
04:58 We'd like to assume that they've done their own internal testing as I believe Enve had
05:02 as well for their tyres, but yeah, certainly interesting.
05:06 So who do you reckon these wheels are actually for then?
05:08 Well, the 100% carbon design does put this towards the bling end of the market.
05:13 BlackTech makes it very clear that they're very rigid wheels, very stiff, although again
05:17 no figures on that.
05:19 This is not something for the Pro Peloton though.
05:21 I don't think we're going to see Tom Pidcock on these wheels or anything like that in the
05:24 near future, but for the really sort of high-end custom builds, think your titanium bikes,
05:29 all that sort of thing, for people that want to stand out, I think these wheels would be
05:32 a pretty cool choice.
05:34 Now then, it is that time of year again.
05:36 As soon as June hits, the entire cycling world goes into Tour de France fever.
05:41 One growing trend over the last few years is teams bringing their own custom Pro kits
05:45 to the Tour de France.
05:46 Now Team Sky really started this off in 2018 with their Orca kit, some of you may remember,
05:51 which was designed to raise awareness for plastics in the sea.
05:55 Plans for custom kits now though span much wider with everything from respect out of
06:00 the yellow jersey, the maillot jaune, for teams that wear a lot of yellow, to just simple
06:04 sponsorship rebranding.
06:05 With several teams now bringing new threads to the Tour, we thought it would be rude not
06:09 to go through all the different custom kits and see what's hot and what's not.
06:13 Absolutely.
06:14 We're going to kick things off with Bora Hansgrohe, who are actually celebrating 10 years of competing
06:21 at the Tour de France.
06:23 They've switched out their usual patchwork kind of design to something which is a bit
06:28 more of a marine green gradient kind of vibe.
06:32 The jerseys also feature a really nice little touch, and I'm a big fan of this because the
06:36 jerseys have the names of all of the Bora riders that have raced at the Tour de France
06:40 over the past 10 years.
06:41 So I think that's a really nice bit of a throwback and a nice little bit of history as well.
06:47 So I think this kit looks pretty cool.
06:50 I guess it's not too special.
06:52 It's nice to see them do it.
06:54 I wouldn't say the design's anything crazy, but I think what it stands for is actually
06:58 just really nice.
06:59 That's exactly right.
07:00 I think they've hit the nail on the head here with a classy kit, understated, but with a
07:04 nice meaning behind it.
07:06 100%.
07:07 For me, that's definitely hot.
07:08 Yeah, I'll agree with you there.
07:09 That is one hot kit.
07:10 Up next, we have the reigning Tour de France champions in the shape of Jumbo Visma.
07:14 Now a team that often sports a lot of yellow on their jersey has had a little redesign
07:18 to get rid of any yellow jersey confusion.
07:21 Their kit is now much darker and features constellations, which Jumbo says shows their
07:25 understanding for hard work making dreams come true.
07:28 It's quite nice.
07:30 It's quite deep.
07:31 I don't know if I really pieced that together.
07:34 Does that make sense to you?
07:36 The story is potentially a little far-fetched.
07:38 In fact, it comes from their collaboration with Efteling, which is a Dutch theme park
07:43 who used to have a bike-themed roller coaster called the Velodrome.
07:46 I don't even think they have it anymore.
07:48 Right.
07:49 This is feeling a little bit...
07:51 I have no idea how to feel about this kit.
07:54 If we look objectively about the kit and forget the slightly strange story that is coming
07:58 behind it, it's an all right-looking kit.
08:01 I guess it's not actually too drastically different to what they normally wear.
08:05 There is definitely a lot less yellow on it and a lot more black, so hopefully that won't
08:09 kill them when it gets really hot because black kit is actually not that fun in the
08:14 sun.
08:15 It looks nice.
08:17 It's just not that different.
08:18 You know what?
08:20 I'm going to give this one a "it's not that hot."
08:22 I'm in total agreement.
08:23 I think it's just a bit safe for me.
08:25 The Tour de France is the pinnacle of the sport and it's really a chance to show off.
08:29 Other teams are bringing custom bikes and much more outlandish kits and I think I'm
08:33 all for that.
08:34 Unfortunately, it's a bit safe for me.
08:36 I'm going to go not.
08:37 Another formerly yellow outfit now in the shape of UNO-X.
08:40 Now they will be making their Tour de France debut this year.
08:43 They've had some pretty well-timed sponsorship come on board in the shape of Rayma 1000,
08:48 which is a supermarket chain.
08:49 So their formerly mostly yellow jerseys has changed to predominantly red with yellow stripes.
08:55 I think this is probably the most polarizing kit of the bunch.
08:58 Interesting.
08:59 I think with their red Dare bikes as well, I think it could go quite well, but I'm not
09:05 convinced personally.
09:06 It's a bit much for me, so I'm going to say not.
09:08 Fair enough.
09:09 I think this is one kit that we'll definitely see out in the breakaway quite a lot.
09:12 I imagine that's where we're going to see UNO-X get a lot of their airtime because I
09:14 think they are a wild card entry for this year's Tour, so they're going to want to capitalize
09:19 on that.
09:20 I imagine you're going to have to get used to seeing a lot of this kit.
09:24 Do I rate it?
09:25 You know what?
09:26 It's not the worst.
09:28 I'm going to sit on the fence on this one.
09:30 I don't think it's that hot, but I don't think it's necessarily terrible.
09:33 I'm going to stay in the middle on this one.
09:36 Wait and see it out on the road.
09:38 Next up on the list, Bahrain Victorious and this one are straight up.
09:42 I'm a big fan of it.
09:43 It's really, really nice.
09:44 It's a pearl inspired kit and it kind of harks back to Bahrain's heritage, which I think
09:50 is quite nice.
09:51 It's got some pale gold grippers with flashes of blue on there and it just looks really
09:56 nice and I think this is actually going to be a pretty practical kit for the Tour as
10:00 well because a white jersey keeps the heat off in the sunshine, so I think that's really
10:05 good.
10:06 I just really like the design of it and it's quite understated.
10:09 I think it still does a really good job for the sponsors as well.
10:12 I genuinely just really like this kit.
10:16 To be honest, I actually think this is nicer than their normal kit, I'd say.
10:20 What do you think?
10:21 I'd be inclined to agree with you.
10:22 I think they've done a really great job, haven't they?
10:24 It's just so, again, classy is the word, isn't it?
10:26 There's something about a white bike, white kit, white helmets.
10:29 Rudy Project and Merida, their team sponsors as well, have gone the extra mile to create
10:33 a fully custom outfit and I just think it looks really smart.
10:35 Definitely hot.
10:36 Yes, they're going to look really good at this year's Tour.
10:39 Now, obviously, following the tragic accident a couple of weeks back at the Tour de Suisse,
10:45 Bahrain victorious lost team member Gino Maida.
10:48 Now, those tragic circumstances have meant that the team is going to be racing in honour
10:52 of Gino at this year's Tour, so I think everyone here at Cycling Weekly would like to express
10:58 our condolences to the team, family and friends and we wish them the very best.
11:04 Movistar is up next now and like Team Sky in 2018, they are looking to raise awareness
11:08 for the planet.
11:10 This time, the course is ocean conservation.
11:12 A few cool things here.
11:13 The iceberg design is sort of meant to simulate rising sea levels, melting ice caps, which
11:17 is really nice.
11:19 As well, they're actually going to be auctioning off all these jerseys signed by every rider
11:23 that does the Tour and the Tour Femmes of Ex-Wift after the race and all proceedings
11:27 of that raffle will go towards ocean conservation projects.
11:31 Wow, that's really good.
11:32 That's, I mean, you'd love to see that actually.
11:34 And the kit itself, you know, there's a very good reason why you'd want to own it, because
11:38 it actually looks amazing.
11:39 Absolutely.
11:40 You know what?
11:41 If Frozone from the Incredibles had a cycling kit, this is what he'd wear and it looks super,
11:47 super cool.
11:48 What do you think of it?
11:49 Absolutely.
11:50 Another light themed kit is really nice for the French summers.
11:52 I think that the likes of Heinrich Maas will be particularly thankful as we get to the
11:55 high mountains when the sun's on your back, staying cool.
11:59 For me, this one is absolutely hot.
12:00 Yeah, me too.
12:01 This is definitely hot.
12:03 Lidl Trek up next.
12:04 So that's a new sponsorship deal for Trek.
12:06 They ditched Sega Fredo and now are with supermarket sponsor Lidl.
12:11 Pretty nice kit, this one, actually.
12:13 They've incorporated the colours of the Lidl supermarket really nicely while still matching
12:17 that sort of Trek red.
12:18 And I think all round pretty clean.
12:19 Yeah, pretty bold.
12:20 I do like the design.
12:21 I think it looks pretty sweet.
12:22 So yeah, I'll give this one a hot.
12:23 What do you reckon?
12:24 Hot as well.
12:25 Finally, we have Astana and they have gone all guns blazing for this kit.
12:29 And I'm pretty chuffed because that means that Mark Cavendish is going to have some
12:33 pretty swanky kit to wear for his last ever Tour de France.
12:36 And hopefully we will see that kit cross the finish line at first with his hands in the
12:41 air.
12:42 Now, what they've done is actually kind of mirrored the blue marble design that they've
12:45 got on their bikes, which everybody seems to love.
12:48 And I do too, to be honest.
12:50 So you've got a lot of blue in there and you've actually got some like gold flashes in there
12:54 as well, which is kind of worked into the marble.
12:56 So I think this looks amazing.
12:59 It's very clean.
13:00 It's very simple.
13:01 But it's just the fact you've got that pattern across the entirety of the jersey.
13:05 It just looks great.
13:06 So for me, definitely 100% hot.
13:08 What do you think?
13:10 By all means, I'm definitely in the same camp as you there.
13:13 The gold flex as well.
13:14 Nice little touch.
13:15 I think it's a good nod to the Tour whilst not being sort of too in your face.
13:19 And yeah, I just can't wait to see that kit come over the line first.
13:22 Come on, Cav.
13:23 Let's go.
13:24 For this month's bike of the month, we have the newly released Look 795 Blade RS.
13:33 Now, again, this bike was launched at Eurobike and the French brand says that it's made a
13:38 pretty incremental improvement over the previous model.
13:42 However, while the changes are still small, they do net a pretty decent gain.
13:48 Yeah, that's good to see.
13:49 So what exactly have they changed?
13:51 So there are a few claims from Look and they say that the bike is 7% stiffer and 10% lighter.
13:58 And that's thanks to the use of Look's ultra high modulus carbon, which is found in 25%
14:03 of the frame.
14:04 So that frame is coming in at 890 grams or so it's claimed.
14:09 And the fork comes in at 435 grams.
14:12 So it is pretty respectably light.
14:15 Full builds though are coming in at 7 kilos and that is with a full Dura-Ace groupset
14:19 and the new Karima MCC Evo 32 wheels.
14:24 So not bad.
14:25 It's a decent little packet.
14:26 Yeah, nice.
14:27 Seems like Look have done a pretty good job of the cycling marketing top trumps there.
14:31 Stiffness, aero, and lightweight all catered for.
14:34 What's your favorite feature?
14:35 So weirdly, I think the thing that I really like about this bike is actually the handlebars
14:40 on the cockpit.
14:41 Usually we tend to see bikes coming with carbon all-in-one pieces, which pretty normal.
14:46 But what I like about the bars that I found on the Look is that the stem and the handlebar
14:51 is a two-piece setup.
14:52 But at first glance, it actually looks like an all-in-one piece.
14:56 So what you can do is you can select your handlebar width, you can select your stem
14:59 length as we used to do in the olden days, and then you can make sure that your bike
15:02 fit is perfectly nailed.
15:05 So I do really like that level of adjustability.
15:08 However, the only downside to that is that you're only ever going to want to do that
15:13 once.
15:14 It's not a job you're going to want to do all the time, rerouting cables and hoses and
15:19 getting it all set up again.
15:20 So I'd say if you do go for one of these bikes, make sure you get a bike fit early on so you
15:24 know exactly what you need, get the parts, and then have it all built up and then forget
15:28 about it.
15:29 And actually, the other thing that I do like about this bike, just the tube profiles.
15:34 They're very slightly tweaked over the previous version, but they are a little bit more aerodynamic
15:38 and they just look a little bit more purposeful, which is really nice.
15:41 So yeah, I think this is actually a nice little package and this bike has been out in the
15:47 wild for quite a long time.
15:49 It's been raced by Cofidis this season in 2023, and it was also being used last year
15:55 in 2022.
15:56 So perhaps we'll see this bike piloted to a victory at the Tour de France this year.
16:01 Maybe it'll pick up a stage.
16:03 Pricing for the 795 Blade RS starts at £8,490 or $9,000 or €8,490.
16:13 And that is of course for a complete bike.
16:17 Let us know down in the comments, which is your favourite custom kit that's going to
16:21 be seen at the Tour de France this year.
16:24 If you enjoyed the video, then please do drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more
16:27 content and we will see you again very soon.
16:29 Yeah, that makes sense.
16:30 Well, as a junior national time-- Well, as a junior national hill climb champion, would
16:41 you use these tyres on your bike?
16:43 To be honest, absolutely.
16:44 I think the weight we--
16:46 [MUSIC PLAYING]