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TECH NEWS

Is this the future of mudguards? Five cool things coming soon from Ass Savers, Specialized, Prime, Magene and Bell

Check out the latest and coolest gear we have on test right now, with full reports on the way…

This week's highlights include gear for bikepacking, a bike radar light and a new helmet from Bell. There's also the latest version of the Prime Baroudeur wheels (will they get another 10/10 like last time?) and Ass Savers' new Win-Wing mudguard which it claims will offer all the benefits of a much heavier design. As always you can expect full reviews to go live on the site in the coming days and weeks...

Specialized/Fjallraven Seatbag Harness

£125.00

2022 Specialized-Fjallraven Seatbag Harness - with dry bag side on.jpg

Specialized has partnered with Fjällräven to offer a huge range of bikepacking and adventure gear, and we've got a whole heap of it out on test. This seat bag promises 10 or 16 litres of cargo carrying capacity depending on which drybag is selected, and Specialized says that its compact size (45 x 11 x 20cm) makes it compatible with most frames and wheel clearances.

> An introduction to bikepacking – three ways to try it and what to pack

2022 Specialized-Fjallraven Seatbag Harness - detail 1.jpg

The seat bag claims impressive durability thanks to the Vinylon panels and aluminium frame. Other features include quick-release Camlock buckles, reflective details to increase visibility in low-light conditions and adaptable fixtures. Hollis Jones has been lugging all kinds of cargo with this one, and his full verdict is coming soon...

www.specialized.com


Prime Baroudeur V2 Disc Alloy Wheelset

£249.99

2022 Prime Baroudeur V2 Disc Alloy Wheelset.jpg

You're probably bored of us harking on about how good an upgraded wheelset can feel compared to stock hoops, but it's something that we think is worth repeating!

Prime has lofty ambitions to become THE value-for-money components and wheels upgrade brand, and these latest Baroudeur wheels epitomise that. In fact, it was the first generation of the Baroudeur wheels that scored an illusive 10/10. In times of rising prices, we're impressed to see that the second generation retains the £249.99 price tag.

> Review: Prime Baroudeur Road Disc Wheelset (V1)

2022 Prime Baroudeur V2 Disc Alloy Wheelset - rear hub 1.jpg

Prime says it has added its ratchet freehub technology to the 26mm deep and 19mm internal rims, and continues to offer a long list of replacement parts to keep these wheels turning for years to come. John Stevenson has been putting in the miles on these and his full review will be up on the site in the coming weeks.

www.wiggle.co.uk


Magene L508 Radar Tail Light

£125.49

2022 Magene L508 Radar Tail Light.jpg

Over the last few years, many of us have become accustomed to rear radar systems on bikes, and often these are now integrated into a rear light. Magene's offering, the catchily-named L508, comes in significantly cheaper than the compatible Garmin Varia (£169.99), offers a 40-degree detection angle and has a claimed range of 140m.

> Garmin Varia RTL515 Review

2022 Magicshine Magene SEEMEE 508 Radar Taillight Safety Light - side.jpg

The Magene doesn't cut corners when it comes to modes and functionality either. There's a smart braking function, peloton mode for when riding in a bunch and a claimed visibility of 220 degrees.

The new device is compatible with Magene's own bike computers as well as Wahoo, Garmin and Bryton devices. Dave has been out using this system... will the IPX7 waterproof rating and up to 12-hour battery life ring true?

www.magene.com


Bell XR Spherical Road Helmet

£209.99

Bell XR Spherical road helmet

Bell helmets first appeared on the scene in 1954, and have since been responsible for some of the best cycling helmets to hit the market. That said, the brand has been a bit quiet on the road scene in recent years, and aims to change all that with this new XR Spherical. For anyone after something not quite as out there as this bright blue contraption, Bell also offers the helmet in black, white and a rather good-looking 'Gloss Titanium'.

> Mips comes out fighting in helmet safety debate

2022 Bell XR Spherical Road Helmet - back.jpg

The new helmet is designed for more than just road riding, featuring Mips technology which claims to protect from rotational forces. Like many of the latest helmets, this one uses a dual-density EPS construction.

George Hill has been using this lid to find out whether it really can balance sweat management, ventilation and weight to mix it up with the best.

www.bellbikehelmets.co.uk


Ass Savers Win Wing Road

£22.00

2022 Ass Savers Win Wing Road.jpg

Ass Savers has been the go-to minimalist mudguard since 2012; so if previous success is anything to go by, we should take note of this new model.

Dubbed the 'Win Wing', the new mudguard is certainly lightweight, with this road version weighing in at just 64g. For those using wider tyres, Ass-savers also offers a gravel version.

> How to clean your bike - from a quick lick to a full makeover

2022 Ass Savers Win Wing Road - stay strap 1.jpg

Despite its low weight, Ass Savers claims that it brings all the benefits of full mudguards without jamming or rattling. We're not yet convinced the person riding behind will agree, but John Stevenson has used the rubber straps to attach the Win Wing to his seat stays and will be letting us know whether it's something we should all be going out and buying very soon...

www.ass-savers.com

For all the latest road.cc test reports, head over to our reviews section. If you want some more advice before splashing the cash, check out our buyer's guides.

Jamie has been riding bikes since a tender age but really caught the bug for racing and reviewing whilst studying towards a master's in Mechanical engineering at Swansea University. Having graduated, he decided he really quite liked working with bikes and is now a full-time addition to the road.cc team. When not writing about tech news or working on the Youtube channel, you can still find him racing local crits trying to cling on to his cat 2 licence...and missing every break going...

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42 comments

Avatar
peted76 | 2 years ago
0 likes

That spesh bike bag is a good looking unit! If it didn't look so bloody heavy I'd put it on my 'I'd like one of those, but will probably never buy list'.  

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peted76 | 2 years ago
0 likes

I might be the only person here who's actually mildy excited about that new ass saver.. (p.s. there's a new front one too).

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Cristox | 2 years ago
0 likes

If you had RTFM, you would have noticed that the ass saver mudguard is mounted much too high above the tyre. It is meant to be mounted as close to the tyre as possible to offer best protection.

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Simon E replied to Cristox | 2 years ago
2 likes

Cristox wrote:

If you had RTFM, you would have noticed that the ass saver mudguard is mounted much too high above the tyre. It is meant to be mounted as close to the tyre as possible to offer best protection.

Regardless, it's still rubbish.

"Ass Savers claims that it brings all the benefits of full mudguards without jamming or rattling"

That is an outright lie. Still, £22 is small change to the kind of people who think this is a useful device.

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Sredlums replied to Simon E | 2 years ago
0 likes

Your reply is what is rubbish. Alle the reviews I've read have stated it works very well, for what it is. It's not a full fender, so no, it won't do the same as a full fender, but it dus give way more protection than the normal Ass Savers and other fenders that attach to the seat post, and for some that is enough. Add to that the easy installation and removal, the light weight and reasonable costs, and for many people it actually useful.

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Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
1 like

Genuine question.  Does Fjällräven actually have any brand reputation outside of college kids?

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Brauchsel replied to Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
0 likes

A number of small children of my acquaintance have them, so presumably they have some cachet among the subgroup of middle-class parents who dress like they're still college kids. 

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The Name Simon ... replied to Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
2 likes

They make a lot of hiking gear and that sort of thing. Tents, rucksacks, what have you. They do make other things than the classic Kånken backpack. Their stuff is typically very high quality. 

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Sredlums replied to Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
1 like

They are a very well regarded brand, known for quality stuff with especially their products with a more classic esthetic standing out from other brands.

As for broader appeal, they (lucily) have not gone the same mass market route as The North Face for example has. Once known for top quality technival outdoor products, they now seem to specialize in cotton shirts and hoodies, caps and casual jackets with their logo plastered on it as big as possible.

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armb replied to Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
1 like

40 years ago they made expensive but well regarded technical stuff. The collage kid stuff is a newer spin-off.

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timscottellis | 2 years ago
7 likes

Is this the future of mudguards? 

No.

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EM69 replied to timscottellis | 2 years ago
2 likes

Agree, imagine turning up on a group ride on a shitty winters day with that on???

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steppia replied to EM69 | 2 years ago
5 likes

Well, that's what someone did on the gravel ride I joined last Saturday. And you know what? It worked really well.

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Brauchsel | 2 years ago
7 likes

"it was the first generation of the Baroudeur wheels that scored an illusive 10/10"

Do you mean they're not in fact very good, or was "elusive" the word that was not easy to find?

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Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
1 like

At first glance I'm thinking the aerodynamic disruption caused by that mudguard will be significantly greater than the weight advantage of omitting an extra six inches of plastic?

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hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
2 likes

That rear light is expensive considering it doesn't have a camera. I don't see the point of radar without a camera - what are you going to do, bunny-hop over a car driving behind you?

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mark1a replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
7 likes

I've been using radar since the first Garmin Varia in 2015, it's invaluable in rural/country areas, gives visual and audible warning on head unit of up to 8 vehicles from 140m away, and I don't know about the Magene, but the Garmin ones change the frequency and intensity of the rear flashing with proximity, i.e. flashing quicker & brighter as the vehicle approaches. There is often an audible change in vehicle speed as the driver sees this. 

Plus also, on the Garmin Varia versions, when paired with an Edge head unit with Connect iQ app support, you can install a data field that captures the approach speeds and display them, plus further analysis at mybiketraffic.com. I wrote about it a while ago here. The stats could come in useful at the inquest. 

https://road.cc/content/forum/garmin-varia-radar-data-analysis-290881

 

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hawkinspeter replied to mark1a | 2 years ago
1 like

Thanks. It seems to me that radar analysis is not likely to be trusted by police forces and courts, whereas video evidence is far more substantial.

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Oldfatgit replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
2 likes

The Fly 6 (and Fly 12s) all have a reinforced cage around the SD card so even if the rest of the unit doesn't survive, there's a good chance that the SS card and it's data will ...
Providing the cage lasts long enough for the outcodes to be written to the file.

Far easier to get evidence from that then a radar plot that doesn't give any information than is blatantly obvious after the fact.

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mark1a replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
2 likes

Yeah I know, I was being flippant, I'm hoping that an inquest is not needed. 

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Sredlums replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
2 likes

The point of the radar is obviously protection, by giving you a timely warning when cars etc. come up close from behind.
Camera's of coure serve a different purpose, and nothing's stopping you from using one. Some products combine both, but they are more expensive. So this is presumably aimed at people who either already have a camera, or don't feel the need for one.

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Awavey replied to Sredlums | 2 years ago
1 like

I dont agree its point is protection, it's just a tech solution to providing you with some additional information about your surroundings, that may or may not be useful to you.

but then Im unlikely to find anyone who has spent 300quid on it who doesnt think its totes amazing, but it is not protecting you.

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hawkinspeter replied to Sredlums | 2 years ago
1 like

Sredlums wrote:

The point of the radar is obviously protection, by giving you a timely warning when cars etc. come up close from behind.
Camera's of coure serve a different purpose, and nothing's stopping you from using one. Some products combine both, but they are more expensive. So this is presumably aimed at people who either already have a camera, or don't feel the need for one.

But if you're happily cycling along and you get a warning about a car behind you, what are you supposed to do? If it's a good driver then you just carry on as you were, but if it's a bad driver, where do you go?

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chrisonabike replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
0 likes

Good point.  If this one is like the Garmin reviewed presumably this is for "road with huge speed differential between bike and car which isn't at all busy".  Otherwise it'll just be beeping all the time.

Again though "what do you do"?  During the day it could warn you to keep an eye on the vehicle.  But then they ought to be able to see you given the detection distance.  At night I'm not sure it would leave you with sufficient time to observe a problem developing AND react (into the hedge).

I feel this is a bit like the "always make eye contact with the driver" advice too.  I've had a couple of "clearly looking straight through me" cases - must have been the hi-vis).  It's not useless but it's not a panacea.  It all depends on the time you've got to assess it's a bad driver and the time then left to fix the issue.

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Hirsute replied to mark1a | 2 years ago
0 likes

I have been trying to get mine to work not having had any garmin stuff before.

Seems you have to have the light on all the time in order for it to connect to the head unit or phone despite there being a setting for light off, radar on.

Is that what you found ?

 

 

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mark1a replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
1 like

You can definitely have radar on, light off, I've done this before on a 200km ride to eek out the battery for the evening. 

I've only ever used Varia radar with Edge head units, so I don't know what it's like on other brand head units or the phone app, but once you have the light on and paired with a Garmin Edge, you can swipe down and then across to the lights widget, and change between light modes, such as (on the 515) solid, flash, peloton, off. 

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Hirsute replied to mark1a | 2 years ago
0 likes

Wonder if it depends on the edge unit then as I don't have any swipes, just buttons.  It definitely lost contact on the phone app when switching off the light (small side led was still on).

 

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mark1a replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
0 likes

Just paired my RCT715 with the app, and no light network options it would seem. Looking at the manual, peloton mode can be selected via the device key, that's probably better for battery during the day, or just leave it on day flash. 

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Hirsute replied to mark1a | 2 years ago
1 like

Thanks. Says 16 hours day mode, so that is more than sufficient.

I did find a data field in IQ that tells me the battery level.

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mark1a replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
0 likes

Which Edge model do you have, there may be light network options in the sensors menu if you don't have one with the widget menu.

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