Eurobike 2023: Silent freehubs and Olympic bikes

Eurobike is always a hotbed for the newest and hottest cycling tech and the 2023 edition was no different. We sent Ollie Bridgewood across to Frankfurt, Germany, so see what he could unearth. From innovative bikes to silent freehubs, here’s what he discovered.

Oquo takes a new approach to tubeless

Oquo is a brand you may not have heard of before, but they first emerged in 2022 with a range of mountain bike wheels.

Now Orbea’s wheel brand has transitioned to the road with their Road Performance range. The wheels are available in 35mm, 45mm and 57mm and all of them are tubeless-compatible, except not in a conventional way. Neither hookless or hooked, they use what the brand describes as a ‘mini-hook’ which lies somewhere between the two systems.

A self-confessed tech nerd, Ollie has encountered almost every type of tech, but this one was even a first for him.

Silent freehubs

Anyone who’s a fan of loud freehubs may want to skip this one.

Ollie himself is a big fan, never missing an opportunity to conduct a freehub sound check in our videos. There was no check needed for the Lavelle wheels he stumbled upon as they have completely silent freehubs.

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The clutch-style freehub creates no noise.

The wheel uses a clutch-like mechanism which has instant engagement. As a result, there’s no loud clicking noises like we’re used to with ratchet or pawl designs.

Freehub noise is a marmite subject and we suspect these wheels will divide opinions too.

Safety-focussed child bike

With a focus on sustainability, German brand li:on uses a unique moulding process to create the thermoplastic frames for their range of child bikes. Using this method reduces the brand’s carbon footprint and each frame can be recycled.

It’s the safety features that really caught Ollie’s eye. The brand offers three bikes, the li:on Pure, li:on Light or the li:on Urban. Each model has microscopic glass particles embedded within the paintwork to help increase visibility and the latter two models also include integrated rear lights.

Unique, safety-focussed designs: it’s a thumbs up from us.

A bike fit for the Olympics

Arguably the best find of the weekend was the Argon 18 Krypton Pro which was developed with input from GCN regular Mark Beaumont.

For anyone unfamiliar with Mark, he’s a record-breaking ultra-endurance cyclist who is the fastest person to ever ride around the world in an incredible 78 days and 14 hours - a feat documented over on GCN+.

In keeping with this type of riding, practicality is at the forefront of the design with a unique integrated storage system, plenty of rack mounting points, plus 40mm tyre clearance. Modern trends tend to prioritise performance so the Argon 18 Krypton Pro’s more practical design was a nice reminder that it's not all about performance.

Unless you’re heading to the Olympics. While practicality is nice, it won’t be enough to win a gold medal and for that the Australian, Canadian and Danish track teams will be using the Argon 18 Electron Pro TKO.

Ollie’s eyes were drawn to the front of the bike where Argon 18 has opted for an incredibly narrow fork. So narrow that the thru axle is only 40mm wide. That’s the same width as the tyre clearance on the Argon 18 Krypton Pro.

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The Argon 18 Electron Pro TKO has a very narrow fork.

Best of the rest

There’s so much tech at Eurobike, we virtually had to drag Ollie home.

Before we did, he had time to check out Selle Italia’s newest 3D-printed saddles. We recently visited Selle Italia to learn how their SLR Boost is made and they’ve now expanded the range with the new endurance Novus Evo 3D and the Watt 3D, a time trial and triathlon saddle. It’s one Ollie uses on his own time trial bike and he’s a big fan.

Sticking to the world of saddles, Selle San Marco have developed a new bow-shaped rail for their gravel-specific Regal offering which is designed to dampen vibrations. Anything that increases comfort is a winner for us.

And we couldn’t leave Eurobike without encountering lightweight tech. Brands are constantly in a tug of war to produce the lightest products. Enter the Rotor 2INpower SL which the brand claims is the lightest dual-sided power meter on the market, weighing in at only 530g. That’s seriously lightweight.