Van Rysel’s new concept bike, tauntingly called the FTP^2, grabbed headlines when it was revealed at the Velofollies bike show on Friday. Because that’s what it was designed to do. It’s a wild looking, intentionally provocative ebike. But a closer look at Van Rysel’s beast does actually hint where the future of bike design is going. Some of it is surprisingly practical, adding some form in with the folly.
Here’s a few hints and confirmations of where the bike industry is going. Whether consumers are driving this direction or being dragged along by brands is… up for debate.
Brands are all-in on smart design and integration…
… consumers be damned. Now, there’s good integration and bad integration. I’m quite confident that no one, even at the highest levels of the sport, needs batteries to micro-adjust their shoe laces via handlebar remotes. No one. Even in the most urgent race finish, we’ve all seen riders find the time to reach down and tighten their shoes. So, what benefit does this actually serve, other than showing off that it’s possible to do?
On the other end of form vs function, Van Rysel integrated lights into the FTP^2’s frame.
It all shows how myopically focused brands are – and this is in no way limited to Van Rysel – on adding more electronics to the simple experience of riding a bicycle. That these shoes are so focused on aero gains that they’re directly mounted to the pedals is a different story. There’s very obvious reasons why that will always remain a concept design. But bike brands have batteries to weirder places for more mundane reasons in recent years, so that is something that could move forward, if on a less wild shoe. Or shoe/pedal. Whatever that is.
Someone is actually taking rider safety seriously
For years, riders have asked race organisers to take safety more seriously. That chatter has ramped up recently as every year seems to see a new record average speed for the biggest races, and every crash seems to see more riders more seriously injured.
Instead of waiting for the UCI to act, Van Rysel worked with Jonathan & Fletcher workshops to integrate motorcycle-standard anti-abrasion materials and protective padding to the skinsuit.
It wasn’t the only mot0-inspired skinsuit on display at Velofollies, either. A micro-airbag system, called Aerobag, showed off a C02 powered skinsuit that it says World Tour team Picnic PostNL will be wearing in races soon. This sort of technology has long existed…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…