Whyte, Canyon, Wilier, Cube, J.Laverack, Vaaru, Pinarello, Ribble, On-One, Viner, Planet-X, Restrap, Altura and Topeak highlights from Cycle Show 2016

Have you read our first highlights article from the 2016 Cycle Show? Good, then here is another massive gallery of new bikes from the show for you to gorge on today. If you're thinking about attending the Cycle Show this weekend, don't forget to use the discount code roadcc to save some dosh on the ticket price.

Whyte Bikes

British bike brand Whyte Bikes has launched this new Wessex, an aero bike equipped with disc brakes and clearance for wide tyres. Whyte sees there being a growing demand from customers that want a bike that combines the performance and aerodynamics of an outright race bike, but also want the practicality such for coping with British roads and weather, such as disc brakes, clearance for wide tyres and mounts for mudguards. 

So that’s exactly what Whyte has gone and designed. The fork has the same axle to crown measurement as a cyclocross fork, but in order to prevent the front-end from becoming too lofty, it has pushed the fork crown into the bottom of the head tube to keep the handlebars at a reasonable height, albeit still higher than a race bike. 

Whyte also produces a wide range of mountain bikes and to develop the Wessex, the company used some lessons learnt developing its race 29er hardtail. Principally, there are the huge profile chainstays and the oversized downtube to provide the high level of frame stiffness necessary to provide the performance, while the top tube and set stays are skinny in comparison to provide a level of compliance.

There are disc brakes with flat mounts and 12mm thru-axles at both ends, with all cables and hoses routed internally. There are mudguard mounts and it’ll take proper full-length mudguards. The pictured bike has 32mm Schwalbe S-One tyres on wide Easton AR-21 tubeless-ready rims, and there looks to be a generous amount of space between rubber and carbon. Wide rims and tubeless are two developments that Whyte is very keen on and they are key features of the Wessex range. 

This is the standard build, comprising a Shimano Ultegra mechanical groupset with an FSA Gossamer Pro Evo compact chainset and BR-805 hydraulic brake calipers, with 160mm rotors using the Centrelock standard. There are the aforementioned Easton rims and Schwalbe tyres and Whyte’s own finishing kit. It costs £2,150 and weighs a claimed 8.8kg. 

Whyte wanted to put the budget aside and build a truly top-end, money no object build using the best equipment, and this Wessex Special Edition is the result. The frame is the same but it has refined the carbon layup and uses less paint to save nearly 200g over the stock model. The bike is built in the UK to order and will use a SRAM eTap Hydro disc groupset, Easton EC90SL rims with Schwalbe Pro One 28mm tyres and FSA K-Force finishing kit, including the new Vision Metron aero handlebar.

What do you think? It’s a bike you could race on (providing the UCI relax their rules), commute to work, battle the evening chain gang or turn up for the weekend club run or just ride in the hills on your own.

Wilier

Wilier is best known for producing some very beautiful and fast carbon race bikes, but it’s moving into the adventure bike market with this new Jareen. A double butted aluminium frame with clearance for up to 42mm tyres with disc brakes and flat mounts and a thru-axle fork. Oh and mudguard mounts in case you need them. 

The Jaroon takes the same blueprint but uses a new steel frame, with some of the tidiest welds you’ll ever see, thanks to a special technique that hides all the weld material inside the frame. There’s also a Jaroon Plus which takes 29er mountain bike tyres as wide as 3in if you really want to conquer any terrain, but sadly it wasn’t at the Cycle Show. Here’s a link to the website if you’re interested in seeing it.

This is what Wilier is known for. This is the new Cento10Air, the company’s new aero bike designed to celebrate its 110th birthday. I got to ride it out at the launch in Italy and you can read all the nitty-gritty about this new bike in this article, to save repeating it all here. It’s very fast, is all you need to know. 

Cube Bikes

Boasting the biggest stand at the Cycle Show was German bike brand Cube, with 100 bikes in the display. We won’t run through them all, but have picked out this nice looking Attain SL Disc for £1,299. Aluminium frame, disc brakes, thru-axles, flat mount, tapered head tube, internal cable routing, press-fit bottom bracket, it’s ticking all the modern road bike design boxes. 

Centre of attention was this Litening C:68 with a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset. The brand new groupset won't apparently be arriving until March next year, so this bike has current brakes and shifter levers with 9070 derailleurs with the new 9100 crankset.

Apparently, the new groupset isn’t being delivered until March next year, so quite some wait if you’re desperate to get your hands on it. You can read all about the new groupset here.  

Last year the Agree, which sits above the Attain but below the Litening in the lineup, underwent a complete redesign, and is an aerodynamic road bike with an endurance geometry and disc brakes. This is the most affordable model in the range and costs £1,799 for which you get a Shimano 105 groupset with RS505 hydro brake levers with Fulcrum Racing 77 Disc wheels with thru-axles. 

Cyclocross season has started, and here’s Cube’s top-end Race SLT cyclocross bike. Designed for racing. Carbon frame, SRAM Force 1x groupset with hydro disc brakes and Schwalbe X-One tyres on Mavic Askium wheels. 

Canyon

Canyon has been accused of its limited paint options in the past, but it’s stepping up to the challenge this year and this ‘Cherry Pepper’ Aeroad CF SLX looks absolutely stunning. Really you need to see it with your own yes ‘cos my photo doesn’t do it justice at all.

The pictured bike is the Aeroad CF SLX 8.0 Di2 model, costing £3,899, and equipped with Reynolds Strike Carbon Clincher wheels with Continental Grand Prix 4000S II tyres. 

For the Olympics, Canyon produced a number of specially painted bikes to ensure they stood out and get around the UCI’s apparently strict rules on branding. This Aeroad CF SLX belongs to Norwegian professional Sven Erik Bystrøm who races for Team Katusha. 

Nairo Quintana won this year’s Vuelta a España and to mark the victory Canyon produced this special bike to match the red leader’s jersey.

Underneath the red paint is the standard Ultimate CF SLX, completely redesigned last year to bring in some aero savings from the Aeroad, and it’s size XS and, we’re told, a completely stock frame, no special moulds have been involved here.

Team sponsors Lizard Skins, Campagnolo, Fizik and Power2Max have got in on the fun and delivered matching equipment.

Go to the Canyon stand and you might be able to bag a couple of these cool pin badges. 

J.Laverack

J.Laverack has launched the follow-up to its original J.ACK titanium disc brake do-everything road bike with this new R J.ACK. Like the original, it has a titanium frame and shares a few common details like the squashed and ovalised top tube and internal cable routing, though it has modified and entry points for the cables to the top of the down tube. But the key difference is that it’s designed for regular rim brakes.

The company wanted to set out to create a race bike, so the geometry is more aggressive than the J.ACK, the tubes have thinner wall thicknesses to lower the frame weight, and it uses an Enve carbon fork with a tapered steerer tube. There’s still space for reasonably wide tyres, 28mm at the front and 30mm out back.

It’s still finalising prices and spec options, but it’ll probably be in line with the current J.ACK. Rough weight for a Dura-Ace build is in the 7.3kg ballpark, pretty light for a titanium bike.

This is the BLK J.ACK and it’s a special edition version of the J.ACK, with a custom paint job produced by Fat Creations, combining a matte black painted front half over satin titanium rear stays. It’s limited to just 50 frames, with each frame being numbered on the down tube.

Painted titanium isn't something you see very often, so it really does stand out when you see it, and the attention to detail on this frame is astonishingly good.

Vaaru Cycles

If you want your head turned, then make sure to take a closer look at the bikes on the Vaaru Cycles stand. Launched just a couple of years ago, the British brand specialises in titanium and focuses very keenly on a high-quality finish and delivering custom bikes to suit a customer's every desire and requirement.

This is the V:8 Di2. It has a frame made from 3AL/2.5V double butted titanium with disc brakes and this build actually involved 40-hours of bespoke paintwork. With the Reynolds wheels and a free matching jersey and shorts, it costs £8,349. Or £6,999 if you buy it at the show. That’s quite a discount.

This is the brand new MPA, a bike built along classic touring bike lines with full-length mudguards and space for 28mm tyres with disc brakes, using flat mount and regular quick release axles. All cables and routed internally and there’s a 27.2mm seatpost.

The frame will set you back £1,799 with complete bikes starting from about £3,300. We’re going to arrange a test bike for review soon, very interested in riding this one.

SRAM’s wireless electronic groupset has no need for cable routing, because there aren’t any cables, so Vaaru has designed a new version of the Octane that completely does away with the gear routing. The Octane SL as it’s called will be made to order.

Some other interesting bits on the bike include a new handlebar and seatpost that Vaaru has designed in collaboration with ControlTech. The handlebar has a titanium centre section with a carbon fibre core extending to the carbon-only drops. 

Still in prototype form is the new GTA, which stands fro gravel, terrain and adventure. Yes, it’s an adventure bike and designed to be more capable than the new MPA. It’s come about based on customer demand and the frame will provide 40mm tyre clearance with mudguard mounts and a 12mm thru-axle.

Vaaru plans to see the frame with TRP’s carbon fork, with matching 12mm thru-axle. Frame weight is about 1,600g and the frame will £1,799. 

Ribble

Ribble has been extremely busy, launching 13 new and updated models at the Cycle Show. Here’s a quick overview of the new bikes, we’ll have a more detailed look at the bikes next week. This is the R872 which features a new carbon frame designed to be stiffer for improved power transfer, with an oversize bottom bracket and tapered head tube. This range starts at £1,199. 

The Evo Pro is the most affordable carbon bike in the Ribble range. The geometry has been improved, the frame has been made lighter along with internal cable and an oversize bottom bracket. A complete bike costs from £849.99.Ribble range. The geometry has been improved, the frame has been made lighter along with internal cable and an oversize bottom bracket. A complete bike costs from £849.99.

Designed for riding gran fondos is the Gran Fondo, newly updated geometry and a frame that now uses flat mount for the disc brakes, provides clearance for up to 25mm tyres, has a 27.2mm seatpost and curved seatstays for more comfort and a tapered head tube and oversize bottom bracket for improved stiffness. It’s also available without disc brakes. Prices start at £999. 

The Aero 883 Disc has a frame designed to reduce drag, with a Kamm Tail shaped seat tube and down tube and an integrated seat clamp. Cables are internally route and it is compatible with Di2 and EPS. It’s a disc-equipped bike, adding to the growing number of aero disc bikes on the market in 2017, and uses the flat mount standard. Complete builds start at £1,599. 

Standing for cyclocross, gravel and road, the new CGR is one of the new breed of do-everything, versatile bikes inspired by the growing adventure road touring bike category. Ribble reckons it’s ideal for such purposes as commuting, training or touring, you could easily fit a rack using the supplied mounts or some bikepacking bags.

There’s space for 35mm tyres and there are also mudguard eyelets. Builds start from £899 for this model.Ribble reckons it’s ideal for such purposes as commuting, training or touring, you could easily fit a rack using the supplied mounts or some bikepacking bags. There’s space for 35mm tyres and there are also mudguard eyelets. Builds start from £899 for this model.

Designed specifically for cyclocross racing is the CX5. Full carbon fibre frame, 12mm thru-axles, internal cable routing, flat mounts, a tapered head tube and 27.2mm seatpost and prices starting from £1,299, it’s a competitive package if you want to get into cyclocross this winter. 

With its bumble bee paint finish, the Sportive Racing Disc uses a carbon fibre frame with a relaxed geometry and space for 28mm tyres, with 12mm thru-axles at both ends and mudguard mounts. Builds start at £1,199. The Sportive Racing is also available without disc brakes priced from £999.

Hiplok's Airlok hits funding goal

The Airlok secure bike storage solution from Hiplok successfully achieved its Kickstarter funding goal today, taking a staggering £80,339, well above its £70,000 target. You can read all about it here and find out why so many people have backed this product on Kickstarter.

Planet X

Planet X is now looking after Viner, and this Settana is a carbon fibre aero frame that celebrates the brands 70th birthday. The frame costs £799.99 and is hand painted in Italy.

On-One is a bit of a legendary mountain bike brand famous for producing the single speed Inbred many years ago. At the Cycle Show the brand is displaying this Space Chicken, a carbon fibre adventure bike designed to accommodate wide tyres, and is pictured here with the new WTB Horizon 47c 650b tyres. There’s also SRAM Force 1 groupset, mudguard mounts and wide rims. The bike costs from £1,999. 

And here it is built up with some kerrazy 6-spoke carbon wheels.

And a Selcof Ultra Carbon Aero handlebar and stem, designed to carve through the air. The handlebar alone costs £250. 

This is the Planet X Galibier, featuring a triple butted aluminium frame with an oversized and tapered head tube and a carbon fibre fork. 

Designed by frame builder Mark Reilly, the Tempest is a titanium adventure road bike with disc brakes and big tyre clearance.

It’s built up here with a SRAM Force 1x groupset with hydraulic disc brakes and Challenge Graver Grinder 38mm tyres.

Shand 

Shand’s Stoater with a belt-drive, hub gear and the eye-catching Lauf fork, billed as the lightest suspension fork on the market. This is the Grit version designed for cyclocross and adventure bikes. It provides just 30mm of travel, the same as the Lefty Oliver on the Cannondale Slate, and weighs a claimed 900g.

Chris Froome's Pinarello Dogma F8

And lastly, let’s end our roundup of Cycle Show bike highlights with Chris Froome’s signature Pinarello Dogma F8, with a rhino graphic adorning the head tube. 

Bikepacking…

There’s a rapidly growing choice in the bikepacking market, with Topeak joining the fray with its range of smart looking packs, displayed here on a Donhou disc-equipped steel bike, the same one we reviewed previously. 

Leeds-based Restrap was showing its Carryeverything bikepacking bag range on this fully decked out new Orange Bikes RX9. Restrap first came to our attention when it colloborated with framebuilder Woodrup to produce a bike fro the Transcontinenal Race last year. 

The Carryeverything range is designed for the increasingly popular sport of bikepacking, long-distance unsupported racing like the 4,000km Transcontinental Race. Events like these place an emphasis on speed with very little stopping time factored in, it’s certainly not as leisurely as traditional cycle touring, it’s a race to the finish.

Altura has launched a range of bikepacking bags as well, under the Vortex Series tag. It originally started with a single saddle pack which came out a year ago and has been a success, so much so that it keeps selling out. It’s lined up a full range now, with a frame, top tube and handlebar pack. They’re not out just yet, though, but you can see them at the Cycle Show.

They all look extremely well designed and are 100% waterproof, using custom plastic zips it has developed itself. They have a silky smooth action and because there're no teeth like on a regular zipper, there should be less chance of them failing or fouling up when covered in dirt and grit. 

The bar bag has a semi-rigid and pre-curved design so it sits in front of the head tube. The frame bag is only available in this one size, the reasoning being that it wanted to provide clearance for the seat tube mounted water bottle. 

Best of all, the prices are typical Altura prices that won't break the bank, with the frame pack and seat pack each costing £49.99, the top tube and bar packs are £29.99. 

Altura is also offering a range of dry bags that can be used with the bikepacking bags if you need to separate clean and dirty kit during long unsupported quests.