In advance of leading international bike show, Eurobike, getting under way from 26-29 August in Friedrichshafen, Germany, MTB and racing bike manufacturers are offering a first peek at the 2016 model year.
Eurobike notes that 2016 is ‘certain to be an exceptionally innovative year for the bike industry.’ The show organizer added that ‘market actors will have to learn a number of new technical terms…. Anyone who does not want to embarrass themselves while talking shop with fellow bike enthusiasts next year should learn these terms for the 2016 model year: 27+, size split, boost standard and flat mount.’
The fact that mountain bike manufacturers have enjoyed experimenting with new tyre sizes for the last few years is fairly well known in the bike scene. This experimentation has led to several new trends, such as 29ers, 650b and fatbikes. Now, another new tyre size is arriving for 2016: 27+, which has ‘trendsetting potential and combines the best of several worlds.’
27+ is based on a wide rim in 650b format, also called 27.5 in bike lingo, which has been equipped with a 2.8 to 3-inch tyre, placing it between a traditional all-mountain tyre and a fatbike. The result is a tyre width that offers high traction but does not tip the scales in the way that heavy fatbike tyres tend to.
The mountain bike industry sees a lot of potential not only in bikes suited to a wide variety of terrains and uses, but especially in the rapidly growing e-mountain bikes category. This is a category in which the somewhat wider tyres can make full use of their traction potential, yet in which their slightly increased weight has less of an impact.
Wheel sizes are also at the centre of the second big mountain bike trend for 2016, the size split. This term refers to bike manufacturers’ new strategy of equipping more and more models with several possible wheel formats, depending on frame size. Thus, for example, next year a given retailer may sell a size S mountain bike model equipped with 650b wheels alongside the same model in size M that offers a choice between 605b and 29ers, next to a size L that is only available with 29ers.
The new Boost standard is also about width. For 2016, mountain bike manufacturers have decided that wider is also better where hubs are concerned. Especially in endurance races or at bike parks, wheels with traditional hub widths can be pushed to the limits of their stability. Hubs that have been widened – by 6 millimetres in the case of back wheels and 10mm in the case of front wheels – are intended to provide broader support to spokes, thereby ensuring more stability.
Comfort is in demand in the racing bike segment. A clear sign of this trend is the fact that, for the 2016 model year, most racing bikes can be equipped with broader tyres. The majority of models will roll off the assembly lines with (already broad) 25mm tyres, but in most cases the bike frame and fork leave enough room for even more comfortable 28mm tires.
Just a few years ago, racing bike purists turned up their noses at such formats, which seemed close to those of trekking bikes (which start at 32mm), but now more and more riders, especially larger and heavier ones, value wider tyres’ added comfort and better grip.
The fact that traditionalists are no longer the only ones with a say in the racing bike market is also demonstrated by the success of disk brakes in the segment. According to Eurobike, ‘experts have little doubt that this brake technology will reign victorious in the racing bike scene in the coming model year.’
While rim brakes used until now offer very respectable response times, the advantages of disk brakes become convincing in wet conditions and when the brake lever is only gripped from above or with one or two fingers.
In any event, in the future, Eurobike adds that many racing bike enthusiasts will come to appreciate disk brakes’ increased safety and more relaxed hands, as they require less force to operate.
In addition, in 2016 the bike industry is introducing Direct Mount, a new, elegant mounting standard for brake calipers on racing bikes that will reduce the weight difference between rim and disk brakes to just a few hundred grams.
From 26-29 August 2015, Eurobike in Friedrichshafen will put innovations and trends in the spotlight. 2015 is expected to witness: 1300 exhibitors, 46,000 trade visitors from over 100 countries, 20,000 consumers, and nearly 2000 journalists.
As the leading global bicycle industry trade fair, the trade exhibition on Lake Constance is reserved for industry representatives for the first three days. On Saturday 29 August 2015, the exhibition gates will be open to all cycling enthusiasts.
