If I said Kraftwerk hit upon a fundamental aspect of the Tour de France, you may laugh or wonder what I was on about.
But listen to their album Tour de France and you might get what I mean. I’m not talking about the repetitive beats, the continuous pumping noises, evoking the machinic qualities of riding a bicycle. Instead, the lyrics relayed over the second track: “Radio Tour information, transmission télévision / Reportage sur moto / Caméra, vidéo et photo”.
Kraftwerk understood that the Tour de France, launched by the newspaper L'Auto, whose yellow paper led to the maillot jaune, has always been about the spectacle and the media coverage. What would a three-week long, 4,000km race across France, fleetingly visible from the roadside, be without it?
With this in mind, we’ve been full gas this week at BikeRadar bringing you that coverage, in our unique and – okay, maybe I’m biased – standout way.
Alongside bike checks, including Geraint Thomas’ Pinarello Dogma F and Remco Evenepoel’s Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8, Simon von Bromley asked why pro teams are divided on chain waxing and Jack Evans delved into the complicated world of fuelling for the race (spoiler: it involves a lot of rice).
Meanwhile, Oscar Huckle compared the weights of nine team’s bikes and James Witts explained what it takes to win at the Tour.
We also shared our predictions for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, which thankfully has the media coverage Kraftwerk spoke of, unlike some other women’s races that don’t.
And be sure to check out our Tour de France hub for all of the coverage, with more to come over the race’s closing weekend.
It hasn’t all been Tour de France, though. We rounded up our picks of the best endurance road bikes and best electric bikes, alongside reviews of two rather special mountain bikes, the Mason Raw and Rob’s Pivot Firebird.
Coros Dura cycling computer
The Coros Dura cycling computer launched in June with bold claims and a competitive price of £249 / $249 / €289.
Coros, which previously focused on smartwatches, says the Dura has a run time of up to 120 hours on single-band GPS. The run time drops to a claimed 70 hours on dual-band GPS, but that’s still considerably longer than many of the best bike computers.
The Dura also has solar charging, with an hour of riding said to generate up to two hours of additional run time.
Coros says its new head unit features turn-by-turn navigation and off-course alerts. When connected to the Coros app, the Dura will use Google Maps for rerouting.
The Dura has a range of workouts and training plans available, alongside FTP tests. Like Garmin’s Edge bike computers, the Dura will track training load and suggest your optimal load.
It is compatible with various cycling apps, including Strava and Komoot, and can be linked to SRAM and Shimano’s electronic groupsets.
Coros’ computer is a similar size and weight to the Wahoo Elemnt Roam. Both computers have a 2.7in screen and the Dura weighs 3g more than the Elemnt Roam at 97g.
- £249 / $249 / €289
Schwalbe Clik Valve
The new Schwalbe Clik Valve is said to avoid the complexity of Presta and Schrader valves, while combining their best aspects.
Invented by John Quintana, who wanted to design a bike valve his kids could use, the new valve doesn’t require you to unscrew a nut, as you do with a Presta valve, or fiddle around attaching your pump head, as with Schrader.
Instead, you just ‘click’ your pump onto the Clik Vave and you can then pump away, with a 50 per cent increase in the airflow rate compared to a Presta valve.
This simplicity is paired with grand ambition. Schwalbe says it wants its new valve to become the industry standard for bike valves.
Schwalbe hasn’t said by what date it wants to have achieved this goal. But in terms of a timeline, you can already buy the standard as a tubeless valve and as part of a kit to convert other valves and existing bike pumps, with Clik Valve inner tubes to follow next year.
- Tubeless Clik Valve: from €23.90
- Clik Valve conversion kit: €5.95 (valves) / €13.90 (valves and pump head adaptor)
Wahoo TRACKR heart-rate monitor
The new Wahoo TRACKR is a rechargeable heart-rate monitor that uses a lithium-ion battery charged via a proprietary port, instead of a single-use battery.
The battery offers a claimed 100 hours of ‘active’ battery life and is sealed in a waterproof pod, which measures 6.15x3.05x0.95cm and attaches to a chest strap with a 'non-invasive side closure'.
The TRACKR provides ANT+ and Bluetooth connectivity across multiple devices, including bike computers and cycling apps.
Wahoo says the heart-rate monitor will be accompanied by a range of newly branded Trackr accessories later this year.
- £79.99 / $89.99 / €89.99 / CA$119.99 / AU$149.95
Michelin Lithion 4 tyres
The Michelin Lithion 4 will only set you back £30 and addresses the “diverse needs of road cyclists”, including ride enjoyment, wet-weather performance and high durability.
A comparable road bike tyre is the Hutchinson Challenger, which costs £3 more and similarly targets long-distance riding and puncture protection.
The Lithion 4 uses Michelin’s Magi-X compound. Michelin says the compound was originally developed for MotoGP and offers the highest level of grip within its range. You won’t be riding on exactly the same compound as Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia – Michelin adapts Magi-X for each product.
The Lithion 4 has a new tread pattern, with a ‘slick’ central section for enhanced braking and grooves on the outer edge for cornering grip, according to Michelin.
Underneath all this, there is a reinforced 60 TPI casing, which Michelin says contributes to the tyre’s long life.
Compared to the outgoing Lithion 3, Michelin says the Lithion 4’s grip in the damp has increased by just under 8 per cent and riding efficiency is up 5 per cent.
The tyre is available in sizes from 700x23c to 700x32c, which Michelin stresses makes it suitable for a wide range of applications including, but not limited to, road riding, bikepacking, ultra-cycling and use on electric bikes. How about that?
- £30
