For most riders, a derailleur hanger is something we used to hardly think about. I mean, unless it broke, then it was just a matter of buying another and replacing it. Its just a small piece of metal that hopefully never crosses your mind. Well, absoluteBLACK is treating it differently with their new Titanium Direct-Mount Derailleur Hanger. This new hanger actually looks like something youd want people to notice.(Photos / absoluteBLACK)The direct-mount design cuts out the small link that usually sits between a standard hanger and the rear derailleur, giving you a cleaner, more direct connection to the frame. Its built from Ti6Al4V titanium using 3D printing. This means the sculpted shape couldnt realistically be produced any other way. It looks nothing like the flat, stamped hanger your bike probably shipped with. The visual difference is hard to miss, even on a part thats normally tucked out of sight.One practical detail worth highlighting, and its an important one. Yes, the threads are CNC-machined after printing, rather than left in their raw printed state. This is an important detail to mention because printed threads alone can be inconsistent. So, the extra machining step helps ensure the hanger fits properly and installs reliably. This is important because this small lil component can be critical to your drivetrains alignment.Titanium Direct Mount Hanger Retail & DetailRetail: $119Weight: 16.7gColor: TitaniumCompatibility: Shimano groupset only. Frames: Tarmac SL6 / S-Works Tarmac SL6 / Tarmac SL7 / S-Works Tarmac SL7 / Tarmac SL8 / S-Works Tarmac SL8 / Roubaix / Aethos (2021 2025) / S-Works Aethos / Venge / S-Works Venge / Venge Vias / Allez Sprint / Crux / S-Works Shiv TT / DivergeMaterial: Titanium Ti6Al4VShimano Groupsets: R9250 / R9200 / R8150 / R8100 / R7100 / R9100 / R8000 / R7000 / RX820 / RX817 / RX815 / RX812 / RX810Right now, the hanger is available in versions for Specialized and Trek frames, with compatibility depending on your specific frame and drivetrain setup. For riders on Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH) frames, a UDH-compatible version is also in the pipeline. So, if youve been looking for a way to add some personality to a part of your bike that usually goes completely unnoticed (and you think normal derailleur hangers are far too affordable), this one may be worth a look. Check out the link below for more details and to get yours.absoluteBLACK.com

A star-studded line-up is set to officially kick off a new phase of the cycling season at theClsica San Sebastin 2026 on Saturday, August 1st. The preliminary startlist comes packed with high-flying Tour de France general classification riders, riders who starred in the Giro d'Italia re-focusing...

The out-of-contract 36-year-old faces an uncertain future regarding both his future racing schedule and his career

The Tour of Denmark will be taking place from the 29th of July to the 2nd of August. After the Tour de France, it is the first high-level stage race, suiting several different types of riders in a traditionally explosive race.Below, you'll find the stages, profiles, and information on how to watch...

Wolf Tooth Components makes a huge range of products, and we cover them quite frequently here on BikeRumor. When we do, we often write things like thoughtfully designed or precision machining. But beyond the words on the screen, what does that actually mean or look like? Turns out, the folks at Wolf Tooth want to give everyone a look behind the curtain, and theyre doing it with a video detailing the development of their new clipless pedal lineup, which launched last October.Ive tried all of Wolf Tooths new pedals, and they are really, really good. Not only is the machining and finish quality excellent, but the SPD binding mechanism is the smoothest and most refined that Ive used in 30+ years of riding clipless pedals. After watching CTRL + ALT + DEL: How Wolf Tooth Rebooted Clipless Pedals, it became a little clearer to me why that is. But dont take my word for it. If youve got six minutes to spare, its worth a watch.From Wolf Tooth:The product development crew here at Wolf Tooth have a lot of miles on clipless pedals. Like really a lot easily 200,000+ miles and 60+ years of cumulative riding experience. We have ridden clipless pedals in every possible condition, from the worst mud and snow to the driest and rockiest deserts, through a few thousand races and countless miles of singletrack and gravel. We have also ridden just about every binding system and pedal brand. When we started scoping our own clipless pedal project, one thing that became apparent was that no one was making the pedals we wanted to ride. Every other brand/design had compromises and was leaving important opportunities on the table. We set out to design and build the perfect clipless pedal family something that would outperform every other clipless pedal in the areas that we found to be most important.The first and perhaps easiest decision was going with an SPD-compatible binding/cleat. Many of the other systems work well, but none of them can match a properly designed SPD-compatible system for overall feel, reliability, and size/profile. Its also hard to argue with the numbers; there are more riders with SPD cleats on their shoes than any other type. With so many other opportunities to improve, it wouldnt make sense to invent yet another binding system just to be different. We wanted to make better pedals, not just different pedals.We started this project over two years ago and have invested countless hours of design and testing time with dozens of different pedal body, binding, and cleat designs carefully tested and optimized both in the lab and on the trail. We even designed two custom test machines to enable us to compare and improve our binding system relative to other brands.This realization sparked our mission: to design and build the perfect clipless pedal family, one that would consistently outperform all others in the areas we identified as most crucial.Clipless pedals needed a reboot.wolftoothcomponents.com

SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star are set to appear at the Tour de France Femmes aboard the Factor One team bikes for Human Powered Health and Ma Petite Entreprise.Factor revealed the special editions of its aero bike today, with the ONE XXRAY PLUS SpongeBob SquarePants Edition and ONE XXRAY PLUS Patrick Star Edition said to represent where performance meets play.The custom graphics for the Factor ONE transform the brands elite, race-proven chassis into a rolling piece of pop culture. Vibrant SpongeBob-inspired artwork brings energy and personality to the peloton while preserving the control, aerodynamic efficiency, and handling demanded at the highest level of competition, Factor said in a press release. The Factor ONE XXRAY PLUS SpongeBob SquarePants Edition. Factor The starting point for the design was American artist Jason Freenys X-ray interpretation of SpongeBob and Patrick Star, which revealed the residents of Bikini Bottoms anatomy.Factor also says there is a natural connection between the brand and X-rays because it looks beneath the surface.[T]he ONEs performance is also defined by what lies behind its visible form, its aerodynamic architecture, carbon structure and integrated engineering.Factors chief brand officer, David Millar, said superbikes dont need to be monochrome to be fast: This project is about bringing joy and personality into elite racing without compromising performance in any way. The ONE XXRAY PLUS SpongeBob SquarePants Edition and the ONE XXRAY PLUS Patrick Star Edition are built to compete at the very highest level. It just happens to do it with a smile. The Factor ONE XXRAY PLUS Patrick Star Edition. Factor The inspiration for the designs started with Jason Freeny's X-ray interpretation of SpongeBob and Partrick Star. Factor Human Powered Health and Ma Petite Entreprise will race the bikes at the 2026 Tour de France Femmes. Factor With Human Powered Health and Ma Petite Entreprise racing the bikes at the fifth Tour de France Femmes, which gets underway on Saturday 1 August, Factor says the project aims to connect with new audiences and celebrate the sport through a fresh, unexpected lens.Factor is no stranger to the unexpected. Earlier this year, it teamed up with Bugatti to release another special edition of the Factor One. And this isnt the first time SpongeBob has made his way into cycling. In 2025, Supreme and Castelli released SpongeBob cycling kit.Factor says the ONE XXRAY PLUS SpongeBob SquarePants Edition and Factor ONE XXRAY PLUS Patrick Star Edition are available for sale as a very limited edition.

Primoz Roglic is aiming high when it comes to the final months of the 2026 season but an obstacle has gotten in his way. The Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe has been hit by a vehicle recently during training, and has been forced to skip several races. Roglic had recently been training in Livigno, using...

Factor is bringing some cartoon color to the Tour de France Femmes, with two custom Factor ONE aero bikes dressed up in SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star custom graphics and they look amazing. (All Photos/Factor Bikes)Battlefield Bikini Bottom SpongeBob or Patrick StarHuman Powered Health will race the SpongeBob version, while Ma Petite Entreprise gets the Patrick Star bike. Both are built on Factors ONE aero platform, which gives the artwork plenty of real estate across the deep fork legs, broad tube shapes, and aero frame sections.The bikes use artwork from Jason Freenys XXRAY series. The design gives familiar characters a split-view, part-cartoon, part-anatomical look. On the Human Powered Health bike, that means plenty of SpongeBob yellow and blue, with character graphics worked into the frame and fork. The Ma Petite Entreprise bike gets the Patrick treatment, with pink and purple tones and matching details across the same Factor ONE chassis.Still A Proper Race Machine Under the paint, these are still proper race bikes. Both teams are SRAM-sponsored, so the bikes will run SRAM Red AXS drivetrains, along with Black Inc 62 wheels from Factors in-house component brand.Not The First Time It is not the first time Factor has gone big on limited paint and artist collaborations. The brand has done high-profile projects before, including the $25,000 UCI illegal Bugatti Factor ONE. Plus earlier this season Human Powered Health and Modern Adventure Pro Cycling raced Factor Monzas with graphics from Belgian artist Vexx at Paris-Roubaix.This one is different, mostly because it puts world renowned characters SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star into the middle of a prestigious WorldTour-level race. The Tour de France Femmes already brings plenty of special bikes and sponsor tie-ins, but this should be one of the easiest to spot in the bunch. Special paint at the Tour is nothing new, but Factor went a little further than the usual color fade or team-edition decal package here and Im totally here for it. These are full-character builds on one of its fastest race bikes, and love it or hate it, nobody is going to miss them especially the kiddos watching. The Factor ONE XXRAY PLUS SpongeBob SquarePants Edition and Factor ONE XXRAY PLUS Patrick Star Edition are available for sale in very limited editions when you visit factorbikes.com or an official Factor dealer.

The team had previously asked fans to keep an eye out for the stolen bikes whilst warning thieves, "Rose Bikes are pretty nice. But stealing them is definitely not the way to get your hands on one."

The Tour de France is the best showcase for professional cycling in the world and shows the very best. Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel and several others got their time in the spotlight. Who are some of the riders who didn't spend time in the spotlight, but certainly put in impr...