We’ve got some new wheels for the deep-of-pocket this week. If you’re sticking to the road, may we suggest the latest wheels from Lightweight, which manage to shed 130g from their predecessors? Yours for just £8,799/$10,895.
If you prefer gravel, DT Swiss has two new rim profiles to suit your riding style, each of which is lighter and more aero than its predecessor. A little less expensive than Lightweight’s offering, but still pretty eye-watering for a wheelset that’s going to take a hammering.
Just in case you’ve not noticed, the Giro d’Italia has ended, although that hasn’t stemmed the flood of pink pieces. You can have Tadej’s pink sunnies or, rather more intimately, his pink seatpad.
Which might sit well on the retro Concor saddle released this week by Selle San Marco in collaboration with l’Eroica.
Lightweight by name, not by price
Lightweight has a new wheelset out: the Fernweg Evo Pro. If your Lightweight wheels aren’t lightweight enough, the new wheels manage to drop 130g from the non-Pro version, plus they add CeramicSpeed bearings. There are the same carbon spokes and you can choose between three logo color options.
You can also have either a 65mm or an 85mm deep profile, which Lightweight says have both been designed to improve crosswind stability. The 65mm deep wheels weigh a claimed 1,565g, while the 85mm deep rims increase that to 1,665g.
Lightweight reckons that, despite the weight loss, the new wheels are just as stiff and strong as their predecessors and says that they’re aimed at road riders who want the best rather than triathletes and time trialists.
Prices are from a potentially ruinous £8,799/$10,895. That sort of money buys you an entire Van Rysel RCR Pro...
DT Swiss adds new aero gravel wheels for adventurers and racers
DT Swiss has divided the gravel world into adventurers and racers and has a new set of wheels for each – or actually six sets, as there are two hub grades plus a 650b option on each hub, all sharing one of the two new carbon rim profiles.
The GRC Dicut 50 is designed for gravel racers, with DT claiming aero benefits for the 50mm deep rim over the previous generation GRC 1400 Spline 42 wheelset. The new rim profile is also said to be more stable in crosswinds. On the flashier 180 Dicut hubs, the GRC 1100 Dicut 50 wheelset has a claimed weight of 1,567g and a $2,990.80 / £2,299.98 / €2,499.80 price tag.
For bikepacking and less competitive use, the GRC Dicut 30 wheelset has a lower profile rim, still with claimed aero benefits and a weight that drops to 1,350g, but with the same price tag. It’s available in 650b as well as 700c diameter. As a bonus, there’s a new HGC 1400 Spline 30mm deep wheelset, beefed up with extra rear wheel spokes and stronger hubs for electric gravel bike riders.
DT has switched to 24mm internal width hooked rims for the new wheels, so its entire road and gravel wheel range is now hooked. It says that hooks provide better support and safety for gravel tires and that they are also more aero.
You can read our first ride review of the new GRC 1100 Dicut 50 wheelset here.
Seatpads and sunnies go pink
If you’re suffering from Corsa Rosa withdrawal now that the Giro is over, fear not as there’s a steady stream of pink merch trickling out. Witness the pink edition of the Teosport seatpad, as sat on for 3,400 kilometers by Tadej Pogačar and the rest of the UAE Team Emirates team.
The Teosport TruFlo Air Light pad is claimed to be breathable, lightweight, ergonomic and innovative, with a light supportive foam core.
Teosport hasn’t assumed that you’ll want to rip your own pad out of your shorts and sew in a new pink one, so it supplies the pad ready-sewn into a pair of Pissei bib shorts, again as worn by Pog, but in black rather than pink. It’s attached to the shorts at three points, which Teosport says adds comfort, improves ventilation and ensures fast drying.
If you want more overt Pog branding on your ride, which is easier to show off to your ride buddies, we’d recommend Scicon’s limited edition pink fluo sunnies. Perhaps a little too pink to match the rest of his outfit, the pink frames are available in the Aeroscope, AeroShade XL and AeroShade Kunken models, with the glasses supplied with a spare lens – pink, of course.
A retro saddle for your bike for the Eroica
Take a look at any bike from the 70s and chances are its steel frame with non-indexed downtube shifters will be kitted out with a distinctive wavy saddle, the Selle San Marco Concor. It’s actually 50 years since the Concor was first introduced, with its novel shape which held you in place better than the flat, slippery, unpadded numbers that preceded it.
To celebrate, the Italian saddle brand, which was founded in 1935, has launched the Concor 50 Eroica, a co-branding effort with the Eroica vintage bike ride series. If your 1970s bike needs a new San Marco Concor saddle, it’s available as a limited edition to buy on the Selle San Marco website, at Eroica sales points and in some bike shops.
Selle San Marco quotes a 300g weight for the leather-covered saddle, which is 265mm long by 140mm wide. It sits on suitably retro carbon steel rails – no fancy titanium or carbon fiber here. The recommended retail price is €124.90.
Selle San Marco has a line in retro parts, with its more generally available Concor Supercorsa Le Rino also adopting the Concor shape. You can finish your retro build off with a roll of its Bottega Leather bar tape to match.
