At the 2024 Vuelta a Espana, arguably the leading hope for a Spanish Red Jersey winner, will be Soudal - Quick-Step's experienced leader Mikel Landa. In 2024, the Basque rider has been reborn and raced at a higher level then seen for many years. As such, is a Grand Tour win finally on the cards?"Win...

After a solid performance earlier this year at the Giro d'Italia before his untimely abandon due to injury,Cian Uijtdebroeks will take on his second Grand Tour of the season at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana, with the talented young Belgian, seeing the race as an opportunity to learn.I am really lookin...

A recent Fox wireless dropper post patent application takes smart mountain bike technology to a new level of integration. Envisioning a world where almost everything on your bike is electronically controlled, Fox is working on a wireless dropper post that connects to their next-gen Live Valve suspension, syncs to your electronic-shift drivetrain, pairs to all the existing sensors on your bike & body, and even adds a few more new ones, too. The end goal seems to be multi-system automation whether linked to GPS position data, to your live power output and heartrate levels, or even reacting to your voice commandsPlus, this new dropper would add smart user-customizable drop point, in addition to classic infinite-adjust drops!A smart Fox Wireless Dropper in development for years(Illustrations by Cory Benson from FOX patent documentation)Weve seen Foxs wireless dropper seatpost patent applications for more than a decade (the earliest one I remember dated back to 2013). And the core concept and visuals havent really changed at all since then a dropper post that could be mechanically or electronically actuated, and potentially linked to multiple systems on your bike. But in those 10+ years, what has really changed is more and more electronics on mountain bikes, smarter control systems, and more possibilities for integrated and automated controls.Some of the wildest controls that Fox could come up, now seem much more plausible in our minds like a voice-activated dropper post or even a dropper that learns from past rides and automatically drops your saddle as you approach a descent.So what do we know?This newest Fox wireless dropper patent that they filed earlier this year (and was just published this summer US20240182131A1) interestingly focuses more on automatic shifting than it does on the dropper itself. But Foxs core wireless dropper tech already received patent protection in February of this year. That simply shows a dropper with an electronic solenoid (365) inside the base to open and close the valves that allow the dropper to go up and down. It shows possible antennas (1402A&B) at the dropper collar & seatpost head to communicate with a remote, and power connectors (1404A&B) that can draw power from internal or external batteries.What I think this suggests? Foxs upcoming wireless dropper post is pretty much dialed-in. And now they dive deeper into the automated controls themselves.Infinite AND stepped dropsWhats unique that we know about the wireless dropper from these patent filings is that Fox is proposing a dropper post that is both infinitely adjustable and able to be dropped to set heights. The interesting thing there, is that the tech to have infinite & stepped drops is not specific to electronic droppers, but could work on a mechanical dropper post too. Thats because they have two separate pairs of valves and release circuits inside to activate either mode (see 530 A&B and 535 A&B in Fig. 10-13, below). So the 2 modes could be controlled separately with two levers, a single 2-stage lever, or with sequential inputs to an electronic lever.Especially on an electronic dropper, thanks to an internal position sensor the rider could pre-program their ideal drop points. Maybe you like your post fully extended for climbing but just 2cm dropped for rolling trails? Even pre-setting upper and lower stops could allow a bike manufacturer or the end user to limit overall travel, or limit full top-out height. For example, the end-user could set their saddle height with an electronic stop. And they could set how far they want to post to go down at maximum drop. That would even allow manufacturers to put the same maximum length dropper in all bikes, regardless of size, and still let the buyer easily customize their ideal position on the bike.Inside this wireless dropper post, the Fox patent also describes how the position sensors pair to electronic actuators to feather the 4 valves that open & close to allow vertical dropper movement. That lets them slow the dropper as it reaches the desired travel set-point for smoother movement and accurate stops at any point in the travel. So no top-out or bottom-out clunks or overshooting the preset travel limits.Dropper paired to everything electronic A big part of the latest Fox Live Valve patent that we reported on last year, was how much more connected it plans to be. And how smarter also means more active. Now, we expect the upcoming Fox wireless dropper post is going to get in on the smart party, too. These latest patent docs described a dropper closely synced with electronic shifting and electronic suspension damping controllers.And automated controls seem to be their biggest feature. However dont worry, theres clear description of on-the-fly adjustability and a temporary pause in automatic controls whenever the rider makes a manual override input. But it looks like Fox envisions dropper post position, suspension compression damping (and somehow spring rate), and gear selection all automatically controlled.And automated Fox wireless dropper control from all sensorsThe Fox solution sees a central processing unit and controller collecting data from speed, cadence, power meter, rider heart rate, GPS location, vertical acceleration, and inclination sensors. And crunching that data to make sure your bike is always in the optimal setting. They also describe a voice activation system where you could speak commands to drop or raise your saddle to a predetermined height, of drop/raise it fully. And theres descriptions of a screen, indicator LEDs, or even audible alerts (beeps?) that could confirm what mode or position your dropper post is in.the seat post is actuated by a controller designed for receiving and analyzing input associated with a cyclists heart rate as well as the cyclists GPS coordinates. For example, if the controller receives input that describes the cyclists heart rate as being lower than a given preprogrammed threshold while riding, then the controller may signal to the seat post to move up or down, causing the cyclists work rate and heart rate to increase or decrease. In another example, if the controller receives input that describes the cyclists GPS coordinates as being such that the cyclist is just about to arrive at terrain having a steep descent, the controller may cause the seat post to lower in preparation for the descent.[or] following a pre-mapped route, for example, predetermined seat post height and/or gear selections, or suspension settings can be embedded in the route map and the controller can signal the seat post height changer and gear changer to change to the location appropriate seat post height and/or shift to the location appropriate gear automatically.To us this all sounds pretty wild. But, Fox has been working on much of this tech since at least 2012 before XTR took mountain bikes electronic with Di2 in 2014, long before SRAM pushed MTB wireless with AXS in 2019, or when Fox made Live Valve electronic suspension controls real the summer earlier.So maybe its not as far-fetched as it sounds?RideFox.comThe post Patent Patrol: Fox Wireless Droppers Infinite & Stepped Travel to get Voice & Auto GPS Drop appeared first on Bikerumor.

The Dutch race favourite rider fell hard with 6.3km to go, and lost the race lead in the process

Stage 4 of the 2024 Tour de Pologne has gone to Team Visma | Lease a Bike's Olav Kooij after a powerful bunch sprint finale in Prudnik.With a number of Polish riders going out on the attack early, the likes ofSzymon Sajnok, Michal Paluta, Norbert Banaszek and Kacper Gieryk all spent time out ahead...

Seth Dunwoody (Team Ireland) has emerged best in the 116-rider field on the TT stage at the Nations Cup Hungary stage race. It was the second UCI Junior Nations Cup win of the season after he also claimed a stage win, in a bunch sprint, at Course de la Paix Juniors(2.Ncup) in May. And underlining []The post Dunwoody motors to second UCI Nations Cup win, Gaffney also impresses appeared first on Sticky Bottle.

The Canal Bank between Naas and Sallins, from Abbey Bridge to Osberstown Bridge, will soon be made local access only for motorists, making the route safer and more attractive for walking and cycling.The project is part of the Naas to Sallins Greenway. It will eventually also form part of the wider Grand Canal Greenway, but it is seen to have a high potential to enable more active travel locally in the short term.Cllr Bill Clear (Social Democrats) said he thinks the move will enable more children to walk and cycle to school in Naas. He said: Its been nine years in the making, so Im very happy its going ahead.The plan to remove cars from the canal path has been a long-term policy objective supported by councillors, but motorists who use the route as a rat run have strongly objected with some taking to Facebook and calling the council dictators for planning to implement the project.Cllr Clear said: There are 2,500km of roads in Kildare, and this is only 1.8km. We have a ring road, the motorway bypass, and various regional roads coming into the town. This is a small local road. If people want to stay in their car, they can still do so.Kildare County Council said hat the project includes the prohibition of through traffic whilst retaining access of local resident traffic along the scheme extents, the installation of retractable bollards and coloured surfacing at Lock N4 along the Canal Road and at Lock N1 along the Canal Road and in vicinity of Osberstown Bridge, and the installation of traffic calming ramps on the approaches to Abbey Bridge, Tandys Bridge and Osberstown Bridge.Some councillors have taken note of the annoyance of motorists, including parents using the canal route to drop their children at school. However, because the project is progressing under Section 38 of the Road Traffic Acts, no vote was needed at a recent local area meeting which included a debate on the project. But while its unclear how many councillors would have voted for or against the project only Cllr Anne Breen (Labour) expressed outright disapproval of the project proceeding while other councillors mentioned timing and better communications. Some councillors want the project trialled, but council officials said that it is not a trial. The measure has also previously been implemented temporally on Sundays and has proven popular.

Despite looking relatively peerless in the opening stages of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, Demi Vollering's Maillot Jaune defence could be in trouble on stage 5 after a nasty crash late on.There a massive crash in the peloton at just over 6km to go with even Maillot Jaune Demi Vollering hitting t...

Local cycling campaigners have welcomed news of resurfacing works planned for cycling infrastructure in Ongar, Dublin 15.Fingal Cycling, a branch of the Dublin Cycling Campaign, said: Great news for cycle lanes around Ongar. Resurfacing works to take place.The group posted a screenshot of a letter from Fingal County Council officials to Cllr Angela Donnelly titled Replacement of cycle infrastructure surface. The official said: I wish to advise that the area has been inspected and the worst affected [cycle track] areas will be scheduled for maintenance works in 2024. The area will also be listed for possible inclusion in the 2025 Programme of Works where areas will be prioritised based on current condition.

After Tadej Pogacar's suffocating dominance of the first two Grand Tours of the 2024 season, the upcoming Vuelta a Espana looks to be a much more open race, with plenty of potential Red Jersey winners. One of those, will be EF Education-EasyPost leader, Richard Carapaz.Alongside Pogacar, both Jonas...