The big tech news this week is that SRAM’s cinderella Force groupset has gone wireless, electronic and 12-speed all in one bound, only two months after the brand’s flagship Red eTap AXS groupset was launched. Force eTap AXS may not look as flashy and does add 300 grams of additional weight, but you also save over £1000 over Red eTap AXS and a lot more on most manufacturers’ complete bikes.
An extra sprocket and wireless shifting for Force
We’ve run through everything you need to know and also searched out some new bike options from leading makers, featuring Force eTap AXS groupsets. We’ve updated our ever-expanding guide to road bike groupsets too, so you can see where SRAM’s latest option fits in.
Bernard Hinault powers up the hills around Sancerre
Also this week, Look has launched its first ever e-bike. The E-765 Optimum is a carbon road bike with an endurance focussed design and a 250 watt Fazua motor sitting in its bottom bracket shell. That certainly worked for us, as we managed not to be dropped on a test ride at the launch by five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault, an ambassador for Look. We’re raring for a face-off with Chris Froome now.
New Enve wheels and floating cleats
Enve has a new aero wheelset out. The SES 3.4 AR is aero optimised to work with the 28 to 32mm tyres that are becoming increasingly the norm. Despite a 25mm internal rim width, they weigh the same as the brand’s narrower SES 3.4 Disc wheels. Of course, the SES 3.4 AR wheels are disc-only too, which lets Enve lower the rim’s weight and improve its aerodynamics. And they’re designed to work only with tubeless tyres.
Wide, tubeless, aero - what's not to like?
(Image credit: Ian Matteson)
Also this week, we’ve asked if you should have float in your cleats and have asked a bike fitting expert for advice, we’ve told you all about Garmin’s GPS computers and given you another eyeful of bling in Rate My Bike. And we’ve got 12 tips for the beginner cyclist, if you’re just thinking of setting off in the sport and rounded up our pick of sub-£2000 bikes.
And we’ve also asked if touring is an effective way to get into shape and covered an eight-in-one kids’ bike that grows as they do.
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Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.
He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.
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