French frame and pedal specialist Time is believed to be poised to launch a new frame with a novel vibration damping mechanism in the fork.
Recently the company website replaced its homepage with a composite photo of a carbon fork and an X-ray of a human arm and the tagline, ‘New sensations are coming soon’.
Meanwhile, in the latest update to the UCI’s approved frame list, a Time frame with the name IZON / IZON Aktiv was added on 5 June.
Details are scant, but according to 2007 patent sketches from Time published on the French tech website Matos Velo, the systems appears to be based on elastomers in the fork leg. The site speculates that the system can be calibrated to a rider’s weight and could also be integrated into the seatstays of the bike.
Time, which doesn’t sponsor a World Tour squad with its frames, is believed to be waiting until Eurobike to reveal the technology.