The UCI’s mandatory wheel sticker regulation programme has been postponed until later in 2014.
The international governing body announced plans last year that all non-standard wheels used in elite competition would need to carry a sticker confirming they had passed a rupture test assessment.
According to a document on the UCI website, almost 400 wheels from brands such as Shimano, Bontrager, Campagnolo and Zipp have already passed the test.
However the UCI’s technical co-ordinator Matthieu Mottet told BikeRadar the sticker programme – due to be implemented in January this year – has been postponed while they streamline the testing and approval process.
He said: “The new approval process is postponed to a later date. This will allow us more time to develop the best approval process possible working in close collaboration with the different parties.”
Brian Roddy, president of Rolf Prima Wheel Systems, which has nine sets approved for UCI competition, said a regulatory process was a welcome development to weed out shoddily built wheels. He agreed, however, that the process needed to be streamlined and voiced his hope the UCI would adopt an international standard – such as an EN safety test – so that all manufacturers could target the same test.
Roddy said: “The EN-based standards are a pretty good start and cover more aspects of wheel safety and reliability, so we are hopeful that the UCI will go further down the route of adopting the EN-based standards and not creating more of their own.”
The UCI lab test is designed to investigate what happens to non-standard wheels – hoops with 15 spokes or less, a rim depth of more than 25mm or a spoke thickness wider than 2.4mm – in a head-on collision or if it hits a kerb or pothole.
Roddy also called for a second lab to be accredited to carry out the testing procedure. Currently a single lab in facility in Belgium has test authority.
Roddy said the UCI test cost €1,100 for the first wheelset and €500 for each additional model, and required four sets of wheels per assessment.