Unreleased Tour de France aero bike comes to market, starting at £4,000/$5,200
Bike described as a ‘beast of pure speed’ by manufacturer Dare
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A previously unreleased aero bike used by Uno-X at the Tour de France is now commercially available, with prices for the frameset starting at £4,000.
The Velocity Ace-AFO (VA-AFO), made by Taiwanese bike brand Dare, was ridden as a prototype by Alexander Kristoff and other riders throughout the 2024 season.
The bike is characterised by its aggressive design, counting a remarkably bulky head tube and deep integrated handlebars. It entered the retail market this month, with the frameset – including a cockpit, seatpost, bottle cage and Ceramic Speed SLT headset bearing – priced at $5,200 (£4,011).
Article continues belowUno-X began using the bike in May 2024, and, according to a press release from Dare, “saw immediate results”.
“Not only did Uno-X secure single stage wins in several renown races, they pedalled to outstanding scores in July’s Tour de France, nabbing the green jersey in stages 2-4 and the polka dot jersey in stages 1-11, showcasing the excellence of VA-AFO’s engineering to the world,” the brand wrote.
Compared to its predecessor, the VSRu, riders are said to save 5.2 watts at 35km/h, 11.4 watts at 45km/h and 21.2 watts at 55km/h. “Our mission in designing the Velocity Ace was not to simply be better, but to be the best. In a world of speed, even one watt can be the difference between victory and defeat,” a press release read.
The bike was designed in conjunction with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) experts in Switzerland, before then going through rounds of wind tunnel testing. It is made from Torayca carbon fiber, originally an aerospace material, produced by Japanese brand Toray.
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According to Dare, the new VA-AFO is a “beast of pure speed”.
The bike is currently available through local dealers in Asia, Australia and Norway, with no sales information for customers in the UK or USA.
Its release follows that of Decathlon’s Van Rysel RCR Pro, ridden by Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale from the beginning of the year, which undercut the pro bike market at a full-build retail price of £9,000. The RCR Pro went on to sell out in minutes when it was made available for pre-order.
Tom joined Cycling Weekly as a news and features writer in the summer of 2022, having previously contributed as a freelancer and been host of the TT Podcast. He is fluent in French and Spanish, and holds a master's degree in International Journalism.
An enthusiastic cyclist himself, Tom likes it most when the road goes uphill, and actively seeks out double-figure gradients on his rides. His best result is 28th in a hill-climb competition, albeit out of 40 entrants.