15 products you won’t want to miss from IceBike 2017
New kit from DT-Swiss, Lazer, Park Tool, K-Edge and more
UK distributor Madison looks after some of the most important brands in cycling and once each year it displays the latest and greatest from them in halls located close to the company’s Milton Keynes HQ.
Having covered the show from top to bottom, we’ve selected the bikes and bits we think you should know about.
- Shimano’s new Deore M6000 groupset
- Prototype Genesis mountain and gravel bikes spotted at IceBike 2017
Adventure Babyccino 160
The Babyccino from Adventure is an especially cute way to spend £209.99. From the basket to the low-slung frame and full-length mudguards, it’s the perfect shrunken replica of a women’s town bike.
Rolling on 16in wheels, with an enclosed singlespeed drivetrain, it’s meant for riders aged between 3 and 6 years old.
Saracen Urban Studio 74
This bike isn’t entirely new but we think it looks like an excellent option for the cash strapped commuter. For a penny under £500 Saracen has built this hybrid with Shimano’s Acera triple drivetrain and Promax hydraulic disc brakes.
Also included are full-length guards, a suspension seatpost and a sturdy looking front rack.
The alloy frame and fork are nicely finished and, although we didn’t have scales to hand, we were surprised at how light the Urban Studio 74 was to lift.
Elite Fly bottle
Get used to seeing a whole lot more of this Fly bottle from Elite. It’s now the confirmed choice of eleven teams in the pro peloton.
With this bottle Elite used a different manufacturing process than the blow molding used by most. This process allowed Elite to alter the bottle’s thickness in crucial areas, dropping weight in the process.
The result is a bottle that weighs somewhere in the region of 40g when empty, that’s half of the weight of most other bottles out there. It’ll cost £24.99.
DT-Swiss RWS Plug-in Axles
Convenience usually comes at a cost and when it comes to DT skewers, that cost can sometimes be aerodynamic performance. Yes, the axle levers protruding from the certain thru-axle hubs have been identified as stealing crucial watts.
If that sounds like something that may concern you — or you’re simply after a cleaner look — then these RWS plug-in Axles may appeal.
Simply tighten the axle down by rotating it clockwise and then pull off the lever section with its hex interface, leaving a cleaner, more aero axle.
Various different versions are sold covering 12mm and 15mm front hubs as well as 12x142mm rear ends. They’re certainly not cheap though at £69.99 each.
Lazer Bullet Helmet
The Lazer Bullet has grabbed plenty of headlines before at BikeRadar, yet this all-black version was still managing to draw plenty of attention at IceBike.
That’s probably because the Bullet, which features a switchable vent allowing riders to choose between aero advantage or a cool head, has not quite made it to shops yet. Lazer seems confident it’ll get these out in time for summer.
You can read more about the Lazer Bullet in our first look article.
K-edge Garmin Race mount
At just 32g, the latest Race mount from K-Edge shaves precious grams from the company’s existing Garmin Sport mount.
Displayed on the K-Edge stand with an entire case of beer hanging from it, there’s no doubting the strength of this alloy handlebar accessory.
Expect to see this £50/$50 component dotted throughout this year’s peloton including at the handlebars of Team Sky riders.
Lazer Walter glasses
Named after Belgian road cycling legend Walter Planckaert, these £99.99 Walter specs from Lazer immediately snatched our attention. So much so that we struggled to get them off staff writer, Jack Luke’s face.
Perfect for small to medium heads, and a favourite among female riders, the full frame Walter is sold with three lenses.
The full frame design makes for an uninterrupted field of vision, while silicone nosepiece and temple tips mean the fit can be tailored to your face and head.
Park Tool Fat Bike Wheel Truing stand
Having to remove bulbous tyres to true wheels is a bugbear of many mechanics and the issue has only got worse with the increasing prevalence of 3.0-5.0” fat bike tyres.
In order to get around — quite literally — this problem, Park Tool has released the TS-4, an upgraded version of its longstanding TS-2.2.
The stand can accommodate tyres up to 5.0” wide, axles up to 215mm wide and is also compatible with most thru-axle standard. Available now for £349.99 / $350.00 / AU$TBC.
Park Tool CM-25 Pro chain cleaner
Any shop that’s used Park’s timeless CM5.2 chain cleaning tool will attest to its scrubbing prowess, but subjected to daily use the relatively flimsy plastic units don’t hold up so well in the long run.
Identifying this problem, Park has released the CM-25 in hardy stamped alloy. The internals have also seen an update over the 5.2 with all brushes and sponges now mounted to a single plate. No more losing little rollers at the bottom of your parts washer.
The CM-25 is available now for £79.99 / $99.00 / AU$TBC.
DT-Swiss DICUT ERC1100 clincher disc brake wheelset
These new mid-depth aero wheels from DT-Swiss boast a host of new tech for the brand.
Developed in conjunction with aero specialists Swiss Side, these 19mm (internal) wide wheels are optimised for peak aero performance when used with now ubiquitous 25mm tyres.
The rims are not the only thing to be optimised for ultimate slipperiness in the wind, with the rims laced to brand new aero hubs that borrow the internals from DT’s legendary 250s hubs.
The spokes are also brand new, switching from a bladed to round profile two-thirds of the way along their length, which is said to improve the comfort and ride quality of the wheels.
If you’re interested in learning more about the wheels, we recommend you check out the ERC1100 microsite which goes into huge detail about the design of the wheelset.
Available now for £1,999.98 / $3,117 / AU$TBC.
PRO Tubeless Tyre Inflator
Following the success of the Airshot, the market has been flooded with a tonne of auxiliary tubeless inflation ‘chambers’ and this simple one from Shimano’s house finishing kit and tool brand, PRO, caught our eye.
Coming in at £50, the catchily named PRO Tubeless Tyre Inflator works in largely the same way as the pleasingly simple Airshot, with no pressure gauge and a simple button to release a blast of air.
The inflator is considerably more substantial than the Airshot, so will likely suit home workshops and shops that don’t do huge amounts of work on tubeless set ups.
Pearl Izumi Versa quilted softshell hoodie
Standing out among a sea of groovy new kit at IceBike was this retro-styled insulated jacket from Pearl Izumi.
Part of the brand’s soon to be released multi-use Versa range, the jacket is built around an insulated front panel with a super stretchy softshell arm and back panels.
The jacket is nicely finished with a flap to protect a chest pocket, reflective highlights in the pull cords and a capacious, helmet friendly hood.
The jacket is available in the pictured red and blue combo or plain ol’ black and comes in at £190 (US/AU pricing TBC).
Profile Designs 1/Fifty wheels
These new wheels from Profile Designs use the same rims as its higher end models, but employ regular round, non-aero spokes and slightly cheaper hubs to bring the cost for a pair of the wheels down to £1,200.
An optional CeramicSpeed bearing upgrade will also be offered, but pricing wasn’t available at the time of writing.
Mulebar Duo Tonic reusable gel
Nothing riles us more than seeing lazily discarded gel wrappers by the side of the trail or road, but sending them to landfill isn’t much better.
Unhappy sending so much waste to landfill, Mulebar developed these reusable silicone ‘tubes’ that can be filled with any of the bulk gels that the brand offers.
Each tube is priced at £5 with the bulk gel coming in at £14.99, which works out at around £1.25 per gel.
We also quite like the idea of filling them with honey, maple syrup or any other sticky, sweet on-the-bike treat.
It’s worth noting that Mulebar’s regular gels are also reusable, though the silicone ones are slightly easier to wash.
Ridley Helium X Ultegra
We’ve already had our hands on the top-end Ridley Helium SLX and were very impressed by the ride quality of this lightweight, climber’s favourite.
But for mere mortals, the approx £5k price tag of a top-end SLX is understandably a little off putting, but Ridley has also released the competitively priced Ridley X to accommodate those without bottomless wallets.
The Ridley X frameset uses a slightly less refined layup than the SLX and weighs in at 900g (claimed), a 150g gain over the more expensive frame.
The pictured Ultegra-equipped build costs £2,899 and we’re looking forward to trying this one out in the coming months.
