Orbea and Giant’s fresh e-bikes, brand-new tyres and more

Get ready for this week’s dose of all the tech news.

Adwitiya Pal

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May 4 2024

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After a relatively quieter week last time around, this week has delivered the goods in spades. There’s a ton of cool tech news to unpack, from Orbea’s potential game-changer e-bike and Cervélo’s Aspero update to two brand-new tyres from Hutchinson and Vittoria. So put on your reading glasses and find a nice, warm spot to sit for an update on all the tech news from this week.

Cervelo updated the Aspero, now with improved comfort

The new Aspero offers a lot of mud clearance – 7.4mm when running 700c tyres with 42mm tyres. Interestingly, the trade-off of making an aero and comfortable bike has been the weight — the new Aspero weighs almost 1.5kg more than the Aspero 5, although the difference in fork weight is negligible.

You can get this gravel bike in several different builds, starting from the cheapest one at £3,000 with Shimano GRX RX610 1, all the way to the most expensive SRAM Rival XPLR AXS 1 at £5,200. Read more about this bike here: New Cervelo Aspero promises greater ride comfort and riding confidence in muddy conditions

We asked if Privateer is working on a new downhill mountain bike

Earlier this year, Privateer pulled the covers off its new Gen 2 161 and 141 platforms, introducing a host of refinements and upgrades while building on what made the first-generation bikes so good. And now it seems as if Joe Connell, one of Privateer's athletes, has just won a round of the Scottish National Downhill series on what looks like a Privateer downhill bike.

Although Privateer is pretty stringent with its testing, we've been tipped off that this particular bike is running a custom link. Compared to the original link, it's super shiny and hard to miss. We reckon this boosts the rear travel up to 200mm, making the 161 Gen 2 both an enduro bike and a downhill bike.

Get the full scoop by clicking here: Is Privateer working on a downhill mountain bike?

Hutchinson developed its most race-orientated all-terrain gravel tyres

The French tyre specialist has come out with two new semi-slick gravel tyres: the Caracal and Caracal Race. While the former is a reliable rubber with its minimalist centre tread, the real star of the show is the latter, prioritising speed over everything else.

In comparative testing, the Caracal Race proved 40 per cent faster across the ground than an Overide, thanks to Hutchinson’s MachTread 3.0 rubber compound, which promises a 25 per cent rebound energy return.

Hutchinson’s Caracal Race is priced at £55 and only available with a tan wall finish. The standard Caracal is available in traditional black or tan wall, and priced at £50. For more info, click on our news story: Hutchinson reckons the new Caracal is its fastest gravel tyre.

Orbea redefined lightweight e-MTBs with the updated Rise

It was just last week that Canyon launched the 19.1kg Neuron:ONfly, its offering to those looking for a more agile electric mountain bike. But it appears that Orbea has taken the fight to Canyon and, in the process, attempted to redefine what a lightweight e-MTB can be.

It’s said to weigh around 19kg but one important thing to remember is that the weight is going to be impacted based on your option of the battery and there are lots to choose from — a 420Wh battery prioritising lightweight and a 630Wh battery – and there are options for range extenders, too.

There are also different choices for suspension with the heavier-hitting Rise LT equipped with 150mm of travel at the rear and 160mm at the front, and the SL which gets 140mm of suspension at both ends. Read more about the bike here: Stiffer, more powerful Orbea Rise takes the fight to Canyon's Neuron:ONfly.

YT’s improved its Tues downhill bike

The Tues has been around for years now in its current guise but YT Industries has brought huge geometry adjustments in a new and improved version, the Tues MK4, along with the option to run mullet wheels.

The new model fits into the YT Industries current sizing concept and the reach figure stretches by 20mm from size to size, with the S frame getting a 430mm measurement and the XXL benefitting from a 510mm reach.

Besides, YT has kitted the Tues with a Flip Link, that allows the rider to ride either a mullet or full 29-inch wheel on every frame size. That head angle can then be slackened by a further 0.3 of a degree and there's another flip chip at the lower shock mount that allows for 5mm of bottom bracket height adjustment.

You can check out the brand new bike here: YT's Tues DH ripper gets huge geometry adjustment and the option to run mullet wheels on all sizes

Giant and Liv launched new hardtail alloy e-bikes

Giant and Liv have introduced two alloy options for electric hardtail bikes on the more affordable spectrum of the market. The Fathom E+ comes with the Giant branding, featuring a 130mm coil-sprung fork and rolls 29-inch wheels and a 625Wh battery pack.

The same value e-bike can also be found in women-specific geometry called the Lurra E+ from Liv. Its reach measures 415mm, 36mm shorter than a size large Fathom E+ and features a more compact package with the same 130mm fork, SyncDrive Sport 2 mid-drive motor and RideControl tech.

Take a look at both the bikes yourself: The Fathom E+ and Lurra E+ enhance Giant/Liv’s hardtail e-bike range

Vittoria added a fifth tyre to its trail and enduro range

The new Mostro has been introduced by Vittoria to fill the gap in the range for loose and coarse trail conditions, positioned between the all-out mud Mota and Mazza and designed for mixed conditions.

It sports a distinct V-shaped tread pattern and comes with sidewall stability inserts, strategically positioned between the nylon bead-to-bead protection layer and the kevlar tyre bead to guard against rim-induced pinch flats.

You can check out this new tyre here: New Vittoria Mostro enduro tyre gets sidewall stability inserts to guard against rim-induced pinch flats.