Industry challenges are coming from all corners of the world

Good morning everyone, welcome to the Volta a Catalunya Liveblog. Today sees the 5th stage of the 105th edition of the race, and were finally heading into the high mountains. A real treat for us, but a real pain in the legs for the riders. Come on over and join us well be here to bring you all t...

RST had an E TACK-branded upside-down gravel fork featuring an electronic damper on its stand at the Taipei international Cycle Show. The fork is designed to work with electric gravel bikes, taking charge from the main battery, but it can also be used with conventional gravel bikes using a battery in the steerer tube. Its not the first upside-down gravel fork weve seen, with Cane Creeks Invert CS impressing us with its take on the theme. RSTs fork goes one step further, though, with the electronic damper controlling the 60mm of travel. The cable routing may not be the neatest. Nick Clark / Our Media There are three modes for the damper: Open, Pedal and Closed, while the Auto setting cycles through them by sensing the ground you're pedalling on using accelerometers. Buttons are mounted near the hoods. Nick Clark / Our Media You can take command yourself, with buttons mounted to the handlebar that control the damper's setting. The battery sits in the steerer tube on non-assisted bikes. Nick Clark / Our Media The fork is also said to feature a built-in mudguard. 32in forks for the masses? Nick Clark / Our Media Elsewhere on the stand, RST displayed its 32er fork, which shares an upside-down design but is focused on cross-country mountain biking. Upside-down forks are more at risk of scratched stanchions. Nick Clark / Our Media The fork sees guards positioned over the stanchions, and if I had to describe it in one word, it would be 'black'. No doubt about it, this is a basic fork. Nick Clark / Our Media An air-spring system is used internally, and the fork provides 90mm of travel, putting it on the shorter side compared to XFusions Rezza 32er. There's no word as yet on pricing, but we can expect to see 32in making its way to more affordable bikes in the future. More from the Taipei International Cycle Show This new ebike conversion kit offers 51km range, weighs only 3.8kg and will fit in your backpack X-Fusion's E-Manic 2 electronic dropper post looks to be everything we wanted from the original Steel tubes, lugs... and an electric motor?! This could be the perfect retro e-bike DVO returns after post-COVID slump with more tuneable luxuriously smooth fork and shocks This wild steel gearbox enduro bike could convince me to drop the derailleur Wheeltop expands its challenge to SRAM and Shimano with new wireless groupset These new smart thru-axles sound an alarm to prevent you crashing This is the longest-travel fork we've seen for 32in wheels could the new size go beyond XC racing?

The main block of the cobbled classics are upon us, with the E3 Saxo Classic starting this Friday. Mathieu van der Poel is going to be at the start whilst Tadej Pogacar is not as he is recovering from his Milano-Sanremo crash and preparing for the Tour of Flanders; And Isaac del Toro was never a pos...

While inverted forks have been around for a long time, in the past 12 months they've garnered more attention. That could be down to the release of the Fox Podium or the rise of 32in-wheel bikes, which at this early stage of development favour inverted fork designs. Featured on the Blues Bikes Tripping Balls bike I spotted at the Taipei International Cycle Show was an inverted fork, the Arata, built just for fun as a weekend project. The fork was spotted on this Blues Bikes Tripping Balls. It's quite the machine. Kyle Dewick / OurMedia When Fox released the Podium fork last year, Evan, who works as an intermediary in Taiwan between brands and vendor partners, figured he might be able to create his own version. In doing so, he added a few features nobody else has thought of. From the bottom The inverted design is inspired by the Fox Podium. Kyle Dewick / OurMedia Those with keen eyes will have spotted an off-centre axle in the CNC's aluminium dropouts. This means the front wheel sits on a regular 15mm axle, rather than the 20mm axle Fox specifies for the Podium. The axle is held in a keyed insert concentrically to the dropout, enabling both the fork's offset and axle-to-crown height to be rider-adjustable. This prototype offers between 44mm and 51mm offsets (with a few options in between), with around 6mm of potential ride-height adjustment. Evan has thought about offering it with a super-short 40-44mm offset, though. The concentric axle enables you to adjust offset and ride-height. Kyle Dewick / OurMedia On the brake side, there's a reinforcement plate built in, in order to protect the splines of the concentric axle insert under heavy braking. The brake caliper has to move when the axle position is adjusted, so a reinforcer has been employed to keep everything in shape. Kyle Dewick / OurMedia The dropouts are mounted to 34mm lower legs, however the next version of the fork will come with 35mm lowers. This, in turn, should offer added stiffness, as well as enabling the upper tubes to be larger in diameter, which counterintuitively will enable them to be built lighter. The lowers are protected by 3D-printed guards. Moving on up The CNC'd crown holds a clip-in fender. Kyle Dewick / OurMedia Towards the top, the 7000-series upper tubes are bonded into the CNC'd crown, which has neat cut-outs celebrating the Japanese manga robot Gundam. A custom fender has been built, which pops into the steerer and is supported by additional blocks that key into the crown, by the upper tubes' junction. Rather than build his own damper, Evan has whipped a GRIP2 damper out of a Fox fork and fitted it to his fork. In theory, he could drop any damper in there, and considered using a RockShox Charger. Dampers are tricky things to make, so you might as well plug-and-play with a Fox GRIP2. Kyle Dewick / OurMedia On the air side, a simple homemade air spring is used. However, Evan showed me a prototype air spring he's developing. This does away with volume spacers because instead there's an on-the-fly, dial-tuned air spring volume adjustment system smart stuff. A simple air spring was shown on this fork, but a more interesting concept is in the works. Kyle Dewick / OurMedia This is very much a garage project although Evan has access to a fairly big garage and some useful friends in the bike component manufacturing industry. Don't expect to see this fork on a trail near you soon, though, unless you shred near Taichung. More from the Taipei International Cycle Show This new ebike conversion kit offers 51km range, weighs only 3.8kg and will fit in your backpack X-Fusion's E-Manic 2 electronic dropper post looks to be everything we wanted from the original Steel tubes, lugs... and an electric motor?! This could be the perfect retro e-bike DVO returns after post-COVID slump with more tuneable luxuriously smooth fork and shocks This wild steel gearbox enduro bike could convince me to drop the derailleur Wheeltop expands its challenge to SRAM and Shimano with new wireless groupset These new smart thru-axles sound an alarm to prevent you crashing This is the longest-travel fork we've seen for 32in wheels could the new size go beyond XC racing?

Imperfect equipment doesn't always have to be a problem, as Cameron Mason demonstrated this month with his FKT attempt

Good morning everyone, welcome to E3 Saxo Classic Liveblog.The race often referred to as a mini Tour of Flanders takes to the road today, with a route packed with many of the climbs well known to riders who specialise in the cobbled Classics. Tough and demanding, and featuring a peloton full of b...

NOBL launches Ethos wheel range with bold claim to the ultimate ride for every disciplineCanadian carbon wheel specialist NOBL has unveiled its new Ethos series, a six-strong line-up developed around one clear idea: building the best possible wheel for each off-road discipline, from featherweight cross-country racing through to gravity and e-MTB use.Launched on 4 March 2026, the Ethos family marks a major step for NOBL, with every wheelset in the range built around discipline-specific targets for weight, strength and ride feel. Rather than producing a one-size-fits-all carbon wheel and tweaking the details, NOBL says it has started from scratch, combining new rim designs, Berd spokes and a new Ethos Ti70 hub to tailor each build to a particular type of riding.The headline number is impossible to ignore. At the top of the range sits the Ethos SL180, which tips the scales at just 993g for a 29in wheelset with a 30mm internal width. NOBL is calling it the lightest production XC wheelset in the world at that width, and notably it achieves that figure while still using a full 28 spokes per wheel. The SL180 is aimed squarely at short-track and ultra-light cross-country racing, pairing Ethos SL rims with DT180 hubs and Berd spokes, and it comes in at $2,499 USD / $3,369 CAD.Just below that is the Ethos SL, another short-track and ultra-light XC option, weighing 1033g and using the same 30mm internal width in a 29in format. This model swaps in the new Ethos Ti70 hubs and is priced at $2,299 USD / $3,069 CAD. Next comes the Ethos XC, aimed at more general cross-country riding, with a weight of 1175g and a reinforced lay-up intended to balance race-day urgency with everyday reliability. That wheelset is priced at $2,199 USD / $2,969 CAD.For riders who spend more time on rougher terrain, the range then moves into trail, enduro and gravity territory. The Ethos Trail wheelset is pitched as an all-mountain option, weighing 1338g and promising a mix of smooth trail feel and quick power transfer, priced at $2,299 USD / $3,069 CAD. The Ethos Enduro comes in at 1551g, is offered in 29in, 27.5in and mullet configurations, and is designed to deliver a higher level of compliance and strength for harder charging riders, again at $2,299 USD / $3,069 CAD. Then there is the Ethos HD, the heaviest and toughest wheel in the collection at 1971g, built for e-MTB and gravity riding with a 35mm internal width and a price of $1,799 USD / $2,469 CAD.NOBL founder Trevor frames the project as something more ambitious than a routine product update. In the press material, he describes the Ethos series as the kind of dream project a small brand might struggle to justify on paper, but one pursued anyway in order to create the wheels the company had always wanted to ride. He also says the aim was simple: if a rider asks for the best wheelset NOBL can build, the answer should be Ethos, without caveats or compromise.A big part of that pitch rests on the new Ethos Ti70 hub, developed in collaboration with Berd and Erase Components. The hub uses a lightweight titanium freehub body and a 70-tooth ratchet, giving 5.14 degrees of engagement, while Berds Hook Flange design is intended to make spoke installation secure and straightforward while improving strength at the spoke interface. NOBL says the centrelock hubset weighs 331g, and buyers can choose between 6-bolt or centrelock versions in Boost spacing. The Ti70 is used across the SL, XC, Trail and Enduro wheelsets, while the SL180 uses DT180 hubs in the pursuit of that sub-1000g target, and the HD model uses Erase J-Bend hubs.Spoke choice is another central part of the Ethos concept. Berd spokes feature across most of the range, with NOBL highlighting not just their low weight but also their vibration-damping characteristics. According to the company, the fibre-based construction helps absorb trail chatter and improve traction, which should appeal to riders looking for more than just a low number on the scales. Berd PolyLight spokesare used on the SL180, SL, XC and Trail wheelsets, while the Enduro model gets the tougher PolyLight X version, which NOBL says is larger in diameter, stiffer and more abrasion resistant. The HD wheelset instead uses Alpina Extralite steel spokes, chosen to better handle aggressive riding and the added torque of e-bikes.The rims themselves also introduce a set of new design features. NOBL says the Ethos rims use a flared hookless bead profile to spread impact forces more effectively into the sidewalls, alongside tapered bead wall construction to save weight without sacrificing strength where it matters. There is also an integrated flexible material in the rim bead to improve resistance to vertical and off-axis impacts, plus front and rear specific rims for the XC, Trail and Enduro wheelsets in order to fine-tune handling, compliance and durability. The company adds that extensive testing led to a concave sidewall shape intended to optimise torsional flexibility.For buyers, the practical reassurance is a lifetime rim warranty. NOBL says that if a rider breaks a rim while using it as intended, the company will replace it free of charge, with the customer only paying shipping. The wheelsets are available through authorised NOBL dealers as well as the companys own websites.On paper, the Ethos range looks like a serious statement from a brand already well established in premium carbon wheels. The ultra-light SL180 will grab the headlines, but the more interesting story may be the broader ambition behind the line-up: six distinct wheelsets, each tuned to a specific job, with no attempt to blur the categories. If the ride quality matches the claims, NOBL could have a very convincing new flagship range on its hands.

Have you been itching to clear your cockpit of a dropper cable, but balked at the price? The KS Rage Circuit is a gateway to the freedom of wireless performance thats both reliable and affordable.KS Suspensions Rage Circuit wireless dropper is a streamlined version of its more premium LEV Circuit wireless dropper, which has a $739 price tag. The Rage shares much of the same DNA as the LEV, including a similar head design, battery, electronics, remote, and overall aesthetics, yet stands out with its $429 price tag the lowest entry into the wireless world weve seen.The Rage Circuit also enjoys the trickle-down tech of the brands proprietary 2.4GHz wireless communication system, providing a fast response and a reliable ride experience. Beyond the simpler design, the most notable difference is that the Rage uses a hydraulic cartridge with a fixed return speed. Check out the brands release video for a quick summary of this new dropper:KS Rage Circuit DetailsFor $429, the Rage Circuit wireless seatpost comes with a Bluetooth remote, a removable/rechargeable battery, and a charger, so all you need to do is install the post, and youre off to the races. The battery charges via USB-C and could rapidly charge to full power within 1 hour.As we noted in our coverage, this is a solid value if the popular size options are a fit. (It is currently available in 30.9 mm and 31.6 mm diameters, with 120 mm, 150 mm, and 180 mm drop lengths.)KS explains that the hydraulic cartridge is easy to replace and has an automatic reset functionality. The handlebar remote control uses a CR2032 battery (the same silver disc commonly found powering odometers and watches).Lastly, theres the question of durability. All we can say is that KS didnt go through the trouble of getting those electronics into a seatpost to let it get destroyed on trails. Thats why the Rage Circuit is rated IP67 for water and dust resistance.You can learn more about the brand and check out the latest models at the KS Suspension website.The post Video: The KS Rage Circuit Dropper Brings Affordability to Wireless appeared first on Bikerumor.