Rouleur Live is the cycling industry’s last hurrah before the festive season, offering a chance to look back at the past year’s launches and present sneak peeks of tech to come in the year ahead.
This year’s show was awash with fascinating 3D printed tech, prototype kit and more amazing custom-painted bikes than you can shake an airbrush at.
Here are our highlights.
Mythos’ 3D-printed titanium Axion cockpit
Mythos’ fully customisable £1,500 Axion 3D-printed titanium cockpit can be specced to suit almost any rider – but you can only buy it via accredited bike fitters.
The cockpit's stem length, angle, bar width, flare, and internal cable routing can all be customised.
The bars are manufactured in three parts, with the drops bonded into the T-shaped stem section.
The bars were on display on the Meteor Works stand. Brand owner Lee Prescott is also the International Bike Fitting Institute’s president.
He says Mythos’ system fills a gap in the market, with few brands offering cockpits in such a wide range of sizes.
In particular, he says only one brand offers a 36cm wide – his most popular bar width – one-piece cockpit that meets his needs.
Topeak Ratchet Rocket Essential
Topeak’s extensive Ratchet Rocket range is a staple of the brand’s lineup and a firm favourite among BikeRadar staff.
The new Ratchet Rocket Essential kit is designed to replace a conventional multi-tool, with the alloy ratchet weighing 45 per cent less than the steel version.
The 10-piece kit slots into a neat jersey pocket-friendly nylon wallet.
Trek Project One Pantone collab
Trek’s amazing Project One collaboration Madone with Pantone was among the most striking bikes on show.
The marbled effect is created by Trek’s painters applying “an alcohol process over uncured paint to give the scheme a shadowy, water-like pattern”.
The paint is paired with a suitably flashy build – a full SRAM Red AXS groupset, Bontrager Aeolus RSL 51 wheels and top-shelf finishing it off.
Scope Artech 22 wheels
Scope’s top-spec Artech wheels are built around striking 3D-printed Scalmalloy hub shells.
Scope says 3D printing enables it to produce significantly lighter hubs than would be possible by forging or machining.
In a bid to save weight and reduce complexity, the hubs don’t feature preload adjustment. Instead, a small amount of play is built into the hubs, with the compression from the clamping force of the thru-axle taking up the slack.
A bushing behind the freehub can compress slightly to account for excess clamping forces. Fat O-rings in the front hub perform the same function.
The 65mm deep wheels are claimed to weigh 1,244g – exceptionally light for a wheel of this depth.
The pictured 22mm climbers wheels weigh a claimed 965g – again, very light for a disc brake tubeless wheelset with hooked rims.
Soudal QuickStep Castelli Gabba
This team-issue Soudal QuickStep Gabba ranks highly as far as covetous pro cycling kit goes, pairing the legendary performance of Castelli’s iconic foul weather jersey with sponsors for products you’ve only heard of through cycling.
Sizing Gabbas for pro riders was said to be very complicated because the heat from applying the logos to the jerseys shrunk them by ½ jersey size.
Tekkerz CC Volvo 850 Estate-inspired Aeroad
This fabulous Canyon Aeroad, produced in collaboration with sponsored team Tekkerz CC, pays homage to the Volvo 850 Estate in an iconic livery raced in the 90s British Touring Car Championships.
Highlights include the customised silver Lightweight wheels, full Dura-Ace groupset and Scaletrix track with a matching car on the stand.
2024’s limited-edition Panaracer GravelKing and custom Parlee Taos
Panaracer releases its GravelKing tyres in a limited-edition colourful tread each year
2024’s colours are a fetching shade of purple and vibrant green, which would have been a perfect match for this jazzy custom-painted Parlee Taos, also on the Panaracer stand.
Released earlier this year, the Taos is pitched as a versatile gravel bike manufactured in Parlee’s partner facilities in Europe.
George Fox’s record-breaking Argon 18 E119
George Fox won the National Road Bike Time Trial Championships on board this Argon 18 E119 – a time trial frameset he built with drop bars.
The bike was the subject of significant controversy in the UK time trialling scene, with many alleging the bike went against the spirit of the category.
However, a subsequent investigation by the Cycling Time Trials Ad Hoc Committee found neither Fox’s bike nor his position was in breach of its rules.
His setup leaves no stone unturned in pursuit of aero gains, with almost all holes taped over, an enormous 66t Digirit carbon chainring and a truly wild cockpit.
The biggest highlight of all was, of course, the ‘motivational’ comments taped to his stem.
Prototype Reap gravel bike
Reap’s prototype gravel bike was produced specifically for the show, and was developed from concept to prototype in a blisteringly fast seven-week turnaround.
Featuring an enormously chunky integrated seat mast and 50mm tyre clearance, you can read more about the bike in our full news story.
