Tech from the Tour paddock

07/12/22 • 43 min

We’re a little late with this week’s Nerd Alert episode and for good reason – the Wi-Fi at the Tour de France is terrible. That’s right, Caley Fretz and Ronan Mc Laughlin are in France and chat about all things Tour de France tech.

From prep for the cobbles to bikes with hidden motors (just kidding!), Ronan and Caley catch up with a number of pro riders to hear what they’re riding and why.

From prep for the cobbles to bikes with hidden motors (just kidding!), Ronan and Caley catch up with a number of pro riders to hear what they’re riding and why.

Previous Episode

Rim brakes aren't dead yet

The bike industry may have shifted entirely to disc brakes, but there are millions of happy rim-brake users out there with bikes that still have years — or even decades — of life left in them. Mainstream brands have already stopped spending money on anything related to rim brakes, and while that’s a bummer in one sense, it’s also created an opportunity for smaller brands to fill the void.

Next Episode

The future of aero wheel development might be a bit rocky

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and wind tunnels have long been the primary tools used by wheel engineers and aerodynamicists. However useful they are, though, they’re still based on laminar airflow — those picture-perfect parallel lines you see in illustrations — that doesn’t necessarily reflect real-world conditions.

So what happens if you introduce a degree of turbulence to the R&D process? Do things change? Can the wheels get better? And what might this mean for bikes and other gear in general? Buckle up for this one; we’re about to get real nerdy here.