The 2026 Renewi Tour is set to bring some of the world's best riders to Belgium for a challenging five days that includes brutal cobbles, sprint finishes and punchy hills. As the preliminary startlist is announced, it's set to be a battle of the best sprinters next week. Tim Merlier returns to actio...

Volkswagen has announced its new Smart eBike, the worlds safest ebike thanks to a suite of tech borrowed from automotives, plus smart glasses and a smart helmet.The Smart eBike features Smart View, a camera and radar system that is the first of its kind on a production electric bike and works as part of a safety ecosystem to plug specific safety gaps that leave cyclists vulnerable in traffic.Peter Jost, CEO of Volkswagen Accessories, says the bike demonstrates how technology thats established in the automotive industry can be transferred to bicycles.By combining this technology with intelligent lighting and connected rider equipment, the eBike shows what modern assistance systems can achieve enhancing awareness, supporting safer decisions and giving riders greater confidence in everyday traffic, says Jost.Volkswagen Smart View The Smart eBike pairs a rearview radar and camera with a high-resolution display. Volkswagen The Smart View system pairs a radar camera built into the bikes rear mudguard with a high-resolution, colour display integrated in the handlebar.The radar works like rear-view radar bike lights, monitoring traffic up to 70 metres behind the cyclist and alerting them to approaching vehicles. Meanwhile the camera streams a live video to the handlebar display.You have the option to switch through a variety of displays: a dashboard that shows data about your cycling, and the bikes Yamaha motor and battery; a continuous feed of your rearview; or Auto Mode, which switches to the live feed when a vehicle is approaching. The handlebar's built-in display. Volkswagen The bike will also be available with a step-through frame. Volkswagen If a vehicle is detected, an orange alert will flash across the camera view. The LED strip lighting along the top tube will also increase in brightness if a vehicle is detected to give drivers an additional visual cue as they overtake. These strips double as turn and brake indicators.Volkswagen says the system is designed to remove the single greatest blind spot in everyday cycling: knowing what is approaching from behind without turning away from the road ahead.Smart View's radar detection gives riders several seconds of advance warning, often well before a vehicle can be seen or heard, supporting safer decisions when merging past obstacles, positioning for a turn, or simply holding a line in busy traffic, it adds.Smart glasses and a smart helmet The glasses will display ride data and directions. Volkswagen Alongside the Smart View camera and radar system, the Smart eBike will come with a set of smart glasses and a smart helmet.The smart glasses are said to be a wearable heads-up display, projecting radar-activated blindspot alerts, turn-by-turn Google Maps navigation and ride radar. The display can be turned on or off with an intentional eye movement to the top-right of the lens.If borrowing from the world of cars wasnt enough, Volkswagen says the glasses were developed with engineers that worked previously on fighter pilot heads-up display technology. The helmet can alert emergency contacts when it detects a crash. Volkswagen The final piece in the safety puzzle is the smart helmet. Volkswagen says this extends the electric bikes radar, lighting and camera tech to the rider.The helmet is equipped with more than 500-lumen lights, which automatically mirror the bikes brake and turn signals. It also includes MIPS to reduce rotational impacts and will alert an emergency contact with the riders location if a crash is detected.Havent we seen something like this before?Some readers may have noticed similarities between the Smart eBike and the Mercedes Petronas F1 team electric bikes. Thats because both Volkswagen and the Formula One team made their bikes in collaboration with N+ Bikes.The bikes draw on N+ Bikes innovation and therefore share a similar handlebar display.You can also get a Mercedes Petronas smart helmet with similar features. But the Smart View system and smart glasses are unique to Volkswagens ebike.At Eurobike 2026, Canyon presented its vision for the future of cycling tech. This included a road bike with an integrated computer that uses radar technology and a helmet with a heads-up display and audio cues.The Smart eBike will be unveiled at IFA Berlin in September, where visitors will be able to take it for a test ride.

The Vuelta a Espaa 2026 will start on Saturday, August 22nd, with a short ninekilometre individual time trial through the streets of Monaco, but the route designed by the organisers will quickly raise the bar for the general classification contenders. The race opens at full throttle, with mountain...

While massive Asian and American brands like Giant, Trek and Specialized now completely dominate the bike market, Nottingham-born Raleigh was once the biggest name in the cycling game.The Raleigh Bicycle Company was launched in 1887, four years before Cycling Weekly first appeared in print, and for riders of a certain age, the instantly recognisable big-R heron-topped logo will forever be tattooed on their heart. With Raleighs future now looking rocky (Accell Group, the Dutch company that owns both Raleigh and Lapierre, began insolvency proceedings last week, was declared bankrupt this week, and at the time of writing no rescue bid has been forthcoming), Ive realised just how warm my memories of the brand and its bikes are. Unlike my best buddy Jamie, I never had a Raleigh Grifter, something I spent much of the early 1980s whinging about, and I was forever covetous of my older cousins classic Raleigh Chopper. Instead, my first ever bike was a kids Raleigh racer, back when I had a haircut straight out of Stranger Things that was never troubled by a bike helmet. I was faster than my mates, but it was less good for wheelies, endos and jumping off planks. Later, during a period of post-degree peripatetic indecision in the mid 1990s, I spent a season working as a bike courier in London, riding around on my old man's Raleigh Peak, a proper sturdy steel-framed, sans-suspension so-called mountain bike, with a surprisingly decent Shimano groupset. I stuck a set of bar-ends and some slick tyres on it, and rode that bike completely into the ground. Sorry dad. You dont have to search far on the internet to find vintage versions of all these classic steeds, some of them very impressively pimped. They might not have been the world's most ergonomically designed bikes, but along with the odd spot of oil they all absolutely oozed style. However, it looks increasingly likely you will no longer be able to buy any new Raleigh bikes for much longer."Its so sad," says Tim Bright, who recently rode around Britains coastline on a Chopper. "Raleigh has been around for decades. I recently saw a film about the company, made just after the war the amount of people they employed was incredible, and to see British craftspeople and engineers working to such a high standard opened my eyes to just how good the bikes were. And of course the iconic Chopper, never to be forgotten and maybe never to be repeated."But, as Molly Monks, insolvency specialist and business expert at Parker Walsh, says: "Nostalgia does not pay wages, suppliers or interest. A company can be known and loved by millions and still reach a point where it cannot meet its financial obligations.So here, with misty eyes, we look back at some of most iconic Raleigh bicycles ever made, in the hope that the heron gets to fly again. Raleigh Chopper(Image credit: Future (Richard Butcher))There is really only one place to start, and thats with the Raleigh Chopper, a bike that first rolled off the production line in 1969 and went on to feature large in youth culture for more than a decade. Instantly recognisable with its high-rise bars, banana-seat (with spring suspension) and muscle bike profile apparently inspired by a Harley-Davidson motorbike the Chopper featured a 16-inch front wheel and 20-inch rear wheel. It also boasted a three-speed Sturmey Archer gear box, which was mounted on the top bar of the frame. Pure class. I still want one. Raleigh Grifter(Image credit: Getty Images)Originally released in 1976, and refined in the MK2 model in 1978, the Raleigh Grifter was the bike everyone wanted to own for the next few years. Built with a heavy-duty, thick carbon steel frame, it felt as heavy as a tractor, and had chunky tyres to suit, but Grifters were virtually indestructible. One of the bike's defining innovations was the three-speed Sturmey Archer hub gear system, which was controlled by a handlebar-mounted twist grip that had a horrible habit of shifting the gears down every time you pulled a wheelie, resulting in some serious bumpy contact between saddle and nether regions when the torque suddenly disappeared. As soon as BMXs bounced onto the scene, in the early 1980s, the Grifter fell from favour faster than flares. Raleigh Burner BMXA post shared by All Ride Now (@allridenow)A photo posted by on This seminal BMX bike was born in 1982 and immediately bunnyhopped into must-have status as films like E.T. and BMX Bandits helped propel the backyard sport into an essential pastime for teenagers across the globe. Available in 15 models, including the top-end Aero Pro with a chrome-finish Japanese-made Tange frame and fork, over 500,000 Burners were bought in the first two years, and the star-studded Raleigh BMX team dominated the sport for ages. This was the bike that launched Nicole Kidmans careerRaleigh VektarA post shared by Hollingsworth Cycles (@hollingsworth_cycles)A photo posted by on Flush with the success of the Burner, in 1985 Raleigh released the beast that was the Vektar. On its powder-coated steel frame, it had an actual electronic dashboard featuring Tomorrow's World-level technology including a speedometer, odometer, an FM radio (with a big aerial extending out the back of the bike) and sound effects to suit its futuristic features. It also had a price tag that put it well out of the reach of the majority of us. But wow, what a machine.Raleigh BomberA post shared by Interesting Things SA (@interestingthingssa)A photo posted by on Launched in 1981, the versatile Raleigh Bomber was a single-speed steed that sat somewhere between a street cruiser and an off-road explorer a classic, reasonably affordable do-everything freedom machine for older teenage kids whod outgrown the chopper but still went everywhere on their bikes. Boasting wide balloon tyres, a low-slung frame and cowhorn bars, it was also the first bicycle made by Raleigh to feature the 26-inch wheels which the mountain-bike revolution would very soon roll in upon. The marketing team would likely go with a different name these days, but this was a deadset bomber of a bike. Raleigh TI Raleigh's Specialist Bicycle Development unit made a one-off bike when Olympian Tommy Godwin made a comeback (Image credit: Future)Between 1972 and 1983, the British-backed Dutch-registered TIRaleigh team were super dominant in bike racing, with all-conquering riders sat astride frames made with state-of-the-art Reynolds 753 steel alloy tubing. Joop Zoetemelk won the 1980 Tour de France on this beautiful bike, a limited number of replicas of which were built and released in 2020, to mark the 40th anniversary of that victory. Only 250 were made lucky you if you bagged one. Raleigh Banana TT Bike(Image credit: Future)There are vanishingly few numbers of this unique time trial bike left in existence, and none of us ever owned or rode one, but the sight of it will invoke a few memories. Made for the short-lived but unforgettable Raleigh Banana cycling team in the dying days of the 1980s, the dragster profile was achieved via a banana-shaped sloping top tube (made with Reynolds 753 tubing), with a 700c disc wheel at the back and a deep-section 650c at the front.

Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team have already confirmed two marquee signings for the 2027 season, with Mauro Schmid and Pavel Bittner to join Tom Pidcock's fast expanding squad over winter. Now, they've bolstered their climbing ranks with an Australian enjoying a successful season. The ProTeam have...

Further to yesterdays post, Id like to thank commenter Graig, who identified theseAs the missing thingies for this:I dont know much, but what little I do know I learn in the comments of my own blog. Plus, my package from Bens Cycle included these:This means I have basically everything I need to properly freshen up the Bargain Basement Bike:Which in turn would make it a dark horse candidate for the coveted assignment of Summer Vacation Bikethough it would have to unseat the mighty Roadini, currently ahead in the polls:As well as the Farbman, seen here with black tires, which could just as easily find itself swept into office in the event of a late surge:The black tires should be a relief to anyone who couldnt stand those green ones, yet still an affront to anyone who believes cyclocross bikes should sport knobby tires at all times.Hey, as long as someones unhappy then Im doing something right.And of course Im monitoring the spoke hole with the broken socket:For all I know its been that way for years, plus there are 31 more spokes should that one pull through, and being a non-drive side spoke its under less tension anyway, so hopefully the rim can withstand all those DFUs even in its slightly compromised state:Also, isnt a spoke under the most tension when the wheel is not being ridden? That means riding it as much as possible would be the best way to avoid failure.**[Go ahead and upload your comment about how the repeated loading and unloading is what would ultimately cause the failure here.]Speaking of failure, Accell Group is insolvent:And if youre wondering who Accell Group is, they own a bunch of bike brands:Accell is the owner of the bike and e-bike brands Raleigh, Haibike, Winora, Ghost, Batavus, Koga, Lapierre, Sparta, Babboe, and Carqon, and the P&A brand XLC. This year Accell divested two of its brands,selling its titanium frame brand, Van Nicholas, to the Italian cargo brand Velo-ce, and its Nishiki bike brand to Turkeys Kron Bicycle (In the U.S., Dicks Sporting Goods continues to own rights to the Nishiki brand).But while I may be able to answer that question, I cannot answer this one:What the hell do we need all these bike brands for, anyway?Take Nishiki, for examplenow owned by Kron Bicycle, except for here in Canadas Beaded Seat Cushion, where it remains the property of Dorks Sporting Goods. Now consider that Kron will sell you all sorts of different bicycles, such as this gravel bike, which costs 58,000 squiggly things:I have no idea if 58,500 squiggly things is a lot or a little, but it really doesnt matter.Anyway, I have no issue with anyone who rides a Nishiki, and in fact I myself am a proud Nishiki owner:Actually, thats not true. I mean I do own a Nishiki, but Im not proud, and Im always thinking about removing the decals. Also, any value it has is derived from the fact that it was in fact made by Viner.So why in the world would any company pay money to use the name Nishiki in 2026? What association does this have for anybody shopping for a bike today? Wouldnt it be cheaper to just think up a name for free and use that? As long as its not something horrible thats going to embarrass the owner what difference does it make, anyway?[AI still hasnt quite gotten the mutant handlebar thing out of its system, has it?]I mean someone looking for a bike in Istanbul or in Dicks Sporting Goods or wherever else fine Nishikis are sold isnt going to not buy a bike because its a Nishiki, but theyre also not going to buy a bike because its a Nishiki. Theyre going to buy it because its a bike. Plus, even in their heyday its not like Nishiki was some coveted, storied brand; it was mediocre even then, locked in a head-to-head battle with Univega over who could be the most adequate while having the least cachet. Thats why nobody in the world goes, Oooh, look at that, a genuine Nishiki, name your price!As for Dicks Sporting Goods, if theyre going to pay good money to use old brands[wait for it]THEN WHY WOULDNT THEY USE THIS ONE?!?!?[Classic Cycle]Like seriously, what are their marketing people even doing all day? Then theres Raleigh, which actually, was a storied brand, and for people old enough to remember evokes images like this:Or this:[Via Classic Cycle, where else?]Or even this:It was with bikes like these that a British company was able to take America by storm:**And its why every Gen-Xer remembers tying on a headband, hoisting the Union Jack, and going cycling with Mom and Dad:I mean really, whats more quintessentially American than that?**[I think maybe at that time the British Raleigh and the American Raleigh were two different companies, but youre reading a throwaway bike blog post hastily composed for purposes of amusement, not a historical document.]But by the aughts Raleighs offerings conveyed little sense of that heritage:[Wait a minute. The bike improves visibility?!? Wouldnt that be the glasses? Maybe it came with the glasses]But they did literally hit pay dirt when they stumbled upon the idea of the dedicated gravel bike:[In 2013 you could still do bro stuff like make Anchorman references in your branding.]Sure enough, the gravel concept took offbut Raleigh didnt.Now I guess theyre another one of those bike brand names that floats around out there like so much confetti.

Picnic PostNL may well see their ongoing problems worsen as their bicycle sponsor's future has been threatened by financial worries. In a season that has seen their status as a WorldTour team due to disappointing performances, their UCI ranking most recently dropped to 29th - well below the race for...

The new Outlier Metronome Pedals use the same dropped position and one-sided design as the original Pendulum Pedals but feature a compact platform that's better suited to smaller feet. Take a closer look here...The post The Outlier Metronome Pedals Are Self-Righting and Sit Lower appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

This is a story that officially started while I was flying through the air. Id just clipped the back-end of a medium-sized deer that had bounded into the path of my bicycle, and now I was airborne, en route to a violent meeting with the floor. How long does it take to fall off a bike? One second? Two maybe? Three at push? However fleeting the flight, I had somehow found the time to engage myself in a lively discussion about the potential ramifications of a bad landing.This was either going to end in a) scuffs, b) stitches or c) broken bonesI couldnt help but dwell on the latter. Concerningly, not because of the pain element, but because broken bones require rest. And how exactly is life supposed to continue if Im unable to ride my bike? I dont do rest; I cant do rest. Strava recently sent me a notification, congratulating me on '400 uninterrupted weeks of training'. Instead of making me feel proud and accomplished, I felt a little uncomfortable even before the crash, Id wondered if I might have become somewhat of a slave to the sport. An exercise addict, even. Touchdown was anything but smooth. A whirlwind of blood, dust and bad language tumbled down the trail. Ive never witnessed such a comprehensive shredding of finery. My best shorts and jersey were ripped to pieces and my helmet although having done a fine job of keeping me conscious now sported a large crater. But all I could think about was whether or not the injuries Id sustained would lead to the unthinkable time off the bike. Hobbling into A&E, I was subsequently told by a nurse that Id either fractured or badly bruised my pelvis. Either way, depending on severity, the protocol is to spend three to 12 weeks resting. No exercise, no nothing. He might as well have taken a knife to my heart, pulled down my carefully organised tapestry to day-to-day life. Three weeks?! And just what the hell do you expect me to do during these three weeks?As an ultra endurance rider, Steve is in a high-risk group for exercise addiction (Image credit: Future)A&E nurses rarely have the skill or capacity to offer advice to unhinged cycling addicts, so I decided to pose the question to Dr Josephine Perry, a sports psychologist who is well-read on this surprisingly common affliction. And it is an affliction. A lot of the time, we kind of joke about exercise addiction. Ive even done a race where they had running addict all over the medals, and it made me cringe inside because youre making a badge of honour out of something thats actually really harmful for many people, Dr Perry stressed. We find exercise addiction worse in endurance sports. And the longer that you are going in your sport, the more likely you are to have that level of addiction, she continued. This rang alarm bells. I present an ultra-endurance podcast called 'Going Long'. Im all about, well, going long. I did some research about 10 years ago now, and found that about 30 to 40% of ultra-endurance athletes showed levels of exercise addiction.So here I was: a statistic. But exercise addiction isnt a one-size-fits-all ailment. For some it manifests as a part of an underlying eating disorder while others are so highly focused on their training that it becomes life-defining.Ive known people that will run on stress fractures because they have to do a certain amount of mileage every week, even though its actually going to mean theyre not able to perform at a level that they want. Dr Perry told me. There will also be lots of people with things like RED-S, where exercise is a way of purging calories. And so actually, whats often under there is an eating disorder.For me though, exercise is rewarded not by ticking off training sessions. Nor is it about purging calories, although the thought of jettisoning the days indulgences will always hold some appeal.I ride, run and row because the day feels incomplete without having partaken of some form of exercise. Its headspace, a habit, an addictive hit of dopamine. Take that away and, well, Ill ask the question again: what the hell am I supposed to do for three weeks?I would find something else you can do to move safely. Some people will almost use it as a challenge of, well, actually, Ill look at my gym and see what else is on offer, Dr Perry suggests.If youre completely out of action, however, a lot of athletes Ill get studying, so they have something else. I know quite a few actually who do things like cookery courses when they have their months off recovery after world championships and stuff. The main thing is to do things intentionally to fill that space.While Im certainly not recovering from any world championships, I do have a month living and working in Tenerife planned for next January. So what will I be doing for the next three (to 12!) weeks? Learning Spanish, apparently. And possibly, maybe, definitely planning an Everesting attempt on Mount Teide. I suppose some addictions are easier to manage than others.How to combat exercise addiction(Image credit: Future)Steve's outlook on exercise addiction might be lighthearted, but it is an issue that can seriously impact lives. Cycling Weekly published an in-depth look at exercise addiction, how to spot it and tips for addressing it here. Below, Dr Josephine Perry offers some advice on those dealing with exercise addiction.Develop other identities Dont let being a cyclist, runner or athlete become your entire identity. Perry recommends developing other interests and roles so you have something to fall back on when sport is taken away.Learn to be flexible Perfectionism and rigid thinking can make it difficult to adapt when injury or circumstances prevent training. The aim is to become more mentally flexible and adaptable. Find another way to move If youre injured, look for forms of exercise or movement that are safe for your injury. I have dusted off my jigsaw with a view to rekindling my love of woodwork. One door closes Find another goal Invariably were training towards a goal having no target at all can leave a big void. Replace the physical goal with something else to work towards studying, learning a skill, or another challenge.Fill the space deliberately If training normally occupies several hours of your week, don't simply leave a hole where it used to be. Use that time intentionally.Remember what exercise gives you For many athletes, exercise isn't just about performance. It regulates stress and emotions. When injury takes it away, you need to find alternative ways to manage that stress whether that's movement, reading, baking or seeing friends.