Bike Rumor just ran a story on Tyler Wren winning the Tushar Crusher on a 2013 prototype Carbon Fiber Jamis cross bike. It was sporting four nifty features: 1) TRP Parabox hydraulic braking system for drop bars; 2) Di2; 3) a nice set of Stan’s Race Gold tubeless tires; and, 4) ENVE carbon disc-friendly cross fork (so the frame sports a tapered head tube as shown in the pic). Not a ton of details otherwise (can’t see what bottom bracket, but if I had to guess, I’d guess Pressfit 30)…and yet I am really, really happy to see the continuing expansion of hydraulic disc brakes for drop bars…and hope that they’re publicly available soon… I do wish we would see more integrated brake systems (in the brifters) rather than the cable over hydro setup of the TRPs.
In the regard of wanting better integrated options, I’m with Stevil at All Hail the Black Market, when he says…
Now while this is new, and bold and unprecedented, just by looking at it, I can see that one day in the very near future, it will seem as outdated, clumsy and laughable as any other number of transitional technologies that we’ve seen come and go in the last ten years. Certainly with the abundance of room under the hoods of electronic shifters, it’s just a matter of time until integrated reservoirs are slapping all over our faces, and this will be yet another relic to hang on the wall next to the last pinnacle of engineering, but at least for now anyway, this is as good as it gets, and I have no doubt that TRP will be at the forefront as this application of theory develops.
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