Tyres which may inflate themselves have typically appeared like a sci-fi conception of a would-be achieve in WorldTour using, however the expertise has moved one step nearer to breaking into the WorldTour peloton on the 2024 Gravel World Championships.
Marianne Vos (Netherlands) showcased Gravaa’s self-inflating tyre expertise forward of the Gravel World Championships following an absence of the system for the reason that 2023 version of Paris-Roubaix.
The Gravaa system makes use of tiny compressors which reside throughout the bike hubs to inflate the strain of the tyre whereas on strong terrain, earlier than decreasing strain to accommodate rougher terrain the place decrease strain might optimise rolling resistance.
Gertjan van Ginderen, proprietor of Gravaa, defined that the system has been developed significantly since its preliminary launch in 2022. “So we improved the electronics loads, I need to say,” he instructed Cyclingnews. “So there is a PCB inside every hub, and that is very weak for moisture filth, so we have truly made a change contained in the expertise to have it fully potted.
“So it is fully potted the electronics within the epoxy. We have modified the antenna, we have modified the disc brakes, together with the interface of the disc brakes, additionally to be appropriate with different spoke configurations.”
“This principally is a really small compressor clutch mechanism and digital printed circuit board, and the hubs speak with one another. So the entrance hub is the grasp, whereas the rear up is a slave. And to the entrance up, you may join both your smartphone or your bicycle laptop, so long as it and plus or Bluetooth appropriate.”
The expertise surprised the world of biking tech obsessives when it first made its look in 2022, with the potential enhancements of rolling resistance providing a substantial benefit towards competitors in blended terrains.
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Whereas initially intriguing, not one of the riders utilizing the Gravaa system for Visma in 2023 noticed success at that 12 months’s version and the hubs weren’t used the next 12 months.
Nonetheless, with the technical updates, and Gravaa’s broader enterprise growth, Van Ginderen is assured the expertise will now turn into a extra everlasting fixture of Visma-Lease a Bike’s bike setup on the Classics.
Marianne Vos defined that she had been coaching on the bike forward of the race. “I have been on the Cervelo gravel bike already two years in the past, however now this setup on the brand new bike I solely had since final week. We now have completed some recons on this bike, a minimum of the bike is prepared,” she mentioned with fun.
Vos enters the ladies’s elite race as a favorite, and so her use of the expertise is a giant vouch within the workforce’s confidence in utilizing it.
“I’ve to do a very good race, keep out of hassle. It is tough to foretell how issues will unfold, how I will likely be. I really feel good. We wish to attempt to be with some Dutchies within the last,” she mentioned.
Dutch teammate Femke de Vries can also be utilizing the system, and Belgian rider Tiesj Benoot will use it in tomorrow’s males’s elite race.
