In recent weeks, four notable product launches have made me choke on my breakfast porridge: two from Colnago, one from Wahoo and one from Jaguar.
The first was the Colnago Steelnova, a very beautiful bike handcrafted from Columbus steel tubing and loaded with Campagnolo components carefully bolted on. It has the elegance of a ‘restomod’ – a modern classic crafted by artisans, crafted to traditional proportions using period-favored materials, but equipped with enough modern technology – 3D printing and electronics kit – to bring the It brings it into the 21st century without being disturbing. Purist.
Its arrival garnered so much adoration and adoration that Colnago sold all 70 of the limited-edition bikes, worth £16,000, in just two hours. Such is the monetary power of nostalgia – £9,333 a minute, £1,120,000.
Colnago Steelnovo sold out
(Image source: Colnago)
As for other product launches—futile attempts to bring advanced products to a deeply conservative market—what were they thinking?
The second product launched by Colnago is the Y1Rs, a state-of-the-art aerodynamic bike that will be Tadej Pogačar’s ride on the flat tracks at the upcoming World Tour. Colnago says that with its innovative seat post connection (achieved through design changes mandated by UCI rules) and gull-wing bars, it is “the most aerodynamic road bike in the WorldTour” and “faster than the fastest competition” The opponent is faster”.
The overwhelming consensus online? “This is ugly.”
Colnago’s departure from tradition with double diamond sparks backlash
(Image source: Colnago)
Wahoo’s new Elemnt Ace is the brand’s most powerful cycling computer ever. It features a wind sensor, significantly improved battery life, and a larger, clearer display with millions of additional colors.
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The overwhelming consensus online? “Too big.”
Of course, cycling isn’t the only industry where knee-jerk monosyllabic judgments reign supreme. Jaguar’s brave ‘exuberantly modern’ brand relaunch (which we rarely see in Cycling Weeklybut Jag is currently not producing anything but contempt, so hehe) is also universally condemned. It is trying to reposition itself from a legacy brand to a relevant brand. But all Jag die-hards want is a rear-looking E-Type back. Until they understand this, they will be in happy hell, ignoring the fact that their perspective is a window to a successful past rather than a successful future.
Jaguar’s ‘exuberantly modern’ reboot (below) is brave, but fans just want their old 1963 E-Types (above)
(Image source: Top: Getty, Bottom: Jaguar)
Jag is important here because almost every well-known bicycle brand is also a heritage brand with at least 50 years of performance and baggage – Colnago, Pinarello, Wilier, Bianchi, Raleigh, Scott, Cannondale, Specialized, Cinelli, Giant , there are countless such examples. Even Trek is 48 years old. To make matters worse, our industry, pastime, sport—whatever you want to call it—is dominated online by rebellious traditionalists who, like those narrow-minded E-fans, refuse to let these brands A breath of fresh air into an industry that is quickly becoming stale. .
It’s not the product that makes me wolf down my cereal bowl, it’s the flippant negative judgment of opinionated people
To me, that’s the ugly thing about cycling. What makes me wolf down my cereal bowl isn’t the product, it’s the flippant negative judgment from super opinionated people, often on social media but increasingly also in the mainstream media.
This crude cynicism about anything new or progressive is killing innovation in cycling. Hell, we’re still wasting time debating the merits of disc brakes, tubeless setups, e-bikes, and whether gravel is a “thing.” Who can blame the above-mentioned brands for playing it safe with their product launches? It’s easier and less confrontational to keep doing the same old thing and make a few tweaks here and there.
show to next generation
For better or worse, Cornago and Wahoo are braver. I haven’t used the Elemnt Ace yet (technical writer Joe Baker has done so himself – read more here), but Eurobike gave me a working prototype. Headlines, memes and parodies on social media would have you believe it’s like strapping an iPad to a bar. Or, at least, have an iPhone. Well, I don’t want to disappoint, but it really isn’t that big. I own an aging stock iPhone 11 that puts the Ace to shame. It also has a fraction of the battery life. So I’d use the Ace or Edge 1050 on the handlebars instead of using my phone all day (even more so since I don’t use my phone “all day”). If you’re an enduro rider like me who constantly needs to navigate, the two larger head units perform much better than the smaller head units.
Wahoo Elemnt Ace is bigger than other computers, but still smaller than iPhone XR
(Image source: Future)
I haven’t ridden the Y1R yet, but I’ve spoken at length with Colnago’s head of R&D, Davide Fumagalli, and there’s no doubt that keyboard warriors have missed the boat. There are two things in particular that excite Fumagalli about this bike. First, the wind tunnel testing was more rigorous than anything ever done before by Colnago or any other brand known to Fumagalli. It invested two years in the process. Second, the Y1Rs project provides Fumagalli and his team with the opportunity to develop something new.
“We wanted the new generation to see something futuristic when they see the bike,” Fumagali told me. “We use it to open their minds as a design thing, not a bike thing. We need to offer them something cool, not a traditional bike with a double triangle. We need to show the next generation that we Moving forward with faster and better products.”
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but the Y1R shouldn’t be simply dismissed as “ugly.”
Bicycle design is backward
The irony is that most of these legacy brands were once progressive innovators. It is this quality that makes them so special in the eyes of the public, who unfortunately also demand that they be preserved in aspic – treasured, if you will. Campagnolo comes to mind – damned if they try to reinvent themselves, damned if they don’t.
Sitting back and slowly composting is not a sustainable approach for any brand. Legacy brands may retain some appeal and respect among older, less transactionally active consumers, but younger generations may reject them as irrelevant. They demand better from us.
Shockingly, the bikes we ride in 2024 are very similar to the bikes we rode in 1924. All other forms of transport bar walking continue to evolve, after all, most of us are happy to think of steam trains, biplanes and Model Ts as museum pieces.
Other areas of transport are allowed to continue driving, why not cycling?
(Image source: Getty Images)
Equally worrying is the fact that cycling brands are struggling on an almost monthly basis, with British racing unable to launch a men’s continental team in 2025 and loss-making British Cycling’s membership falling by 11% in the past 20 months. Cycling in the UK has not progressed, while in the US interest in road racing has waned, which is not surprising as the country’s last Tour de France victory dates back to 1990. In contrast, gravel racing has exploded – because it brings a freshness that the stale exterior of road racing cannot guarantee. While exciting products will not solve all of these problems, they will broaden the appeal to a wider audience and help grow the sport from grassroots to elite sport.
Advanced technology is not required, but it opens the door to new possibilities
Cyclists are often suspicious of brands that sell us products we don’t need. There is some truth to this. No one needs a big GPS computer screen any more than we need navigation – but many of us would be lost right now without it. No one needs to go beyond the traditional double-diamond bicycle design any more than we have to downgrade steam trains, but the world gets faster when we keep it going.
Advanced technology is not required, but it opens the door to new possibilities. The reality is that brands can give us what we want more easily and cheaply. If the need is the same, the same, then we will get what we deserve. Same old, same old.
My hope for 2025 is that we will be more open to innovative change and for brands to be more open to designing products that are not restricted by bigotry and tradition.
