Tech of the Month June: Pitbull pedals, Tifosi Ekar gravel bike, Gaerne G. STL road shoes and Garmin giveaway

June has finally come around and – alongside the much better weather – we also have some exciting tech to get stuck into. You can view the full video of June’s Tech of the Month here, or you can read on for a quick roundup of the main stories.

Before we get onto that, though, we wanted to let you know that we’ve partnered with Garmin to give away a Garmin Edge 830, worth £350. It’s one of the German brand’s flagship models, featuring turn by turn navigation, a market leading touchscreen and performance metrics to make you fitter and faster.

It’s a genuinely great bit of kit which impressed when we had it on review, earning an impressive 4.5 star rating. 

To be entered into the random prize draw, simply click this link  or fill in the form below. We’ll get in contact with the lucky winner by the end of this month. If you don’t end up being the lucky one – don’t worry, we’ll be running it again next month.

News shorts

Are integrated 'cockpits' and proprietary aero seatposts really a good idea?

Integration and proprietary systems are becoming ever more prevalent. It wasn’t so long ago that integrated cabling meant simply entry at the downtube – and stems, handlebars and seatposts were mostly a standard size.

Whereas now we’re commonly seeing bikes with cables completely hidden from view as well as combined handlebar/stem systems and seatposts which are completely bike specific – and generally very expensive if you ever need to replace them.

There are undoubtably some benefits, Merida tells us there is a two-watt saving per hidden cable. Purely subjectively, the clean lines of these bikes are much more aesthetically pleasing too.

But is this worth the increase in cost and the greater difficulty of what were previously quick and simple jobs, such as replacing a cable? For the full depth, you can read our article on the matter here.

Tubolito launches 'world's first' smart inner tube that can send tyre pressures to your phone

Tubolito, the Austrian inner tube brand burst onto the scene 4 years ago with its bright orange tubes that promised greater puncture resistance, lower weight and lower rolling resistance than standard butyl tubes.

Now, Tubolito has managed to integrate a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip into its tubes to provide accurate pressure readings which can be viewed on a mobile phone. 

We’ve currently got a set on test, but until the end of the review period, you can check out our launch story for more details.

New Motion Labs reinvents the sprocket and aims to showcase radical new drivetrain design at the Olympics

New Motion Labs has created a new sprocket design which has half the number of teeth and aims to reduce frictional losses. The company isn’t planning on mass manufacturing the drivetrain system itself, but rather licencing the idea to other companies.

That said, we’ve heard that the design will be used in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which will be a fascinating showcase of the technology. Our full story on the tech can be viewed here.

Pitbull pedals

These pedals have been designed to make clipping in much quicker and easier. Unlike most other designs, the retention system is built into the cleat with the pedal being a simple metal bar. You can just stamp on the pedal and clip straight in, it has a positive feel, almost the sensation of two magnets snapping together.

They are genuinely wider than a Look or Garmin pedal, but only around 10mm or so – their very thin profile makes them appear much longer than they are. We’ll be bringing a full review to the website, so watch this space, but for now more information can be found in our first look story.

Gearne G. STL shoes

The G. STL shoes are Gearne’s most expensive model at £379.90, which places them above the Specialized S-Works Ares which were designed in conjunction with sprinter Sam Bennett (£375) and also above the widely used S-Phyre shoes (£319.99) which are Shimano’s top of the range offering and also very prominent in the pro peloton.

The G. STLs did live up to their billing as an incredibly stiff set of shoes with a great retention system which can really lock you in place. However, at that price, it is hard to justify buying them over similarly excellent shoes which costs a fair bit less. Our full review of the shoes can be found here.

Tifosi Cavazzo Ekar

The Tifosi Ekar is perhaps one of the best value bikes with Campagnolo’s coveted 1x13 speed gravel groupset. Despite Ekar costing on its own £1,449, Tifosi has somehow managed to pair it with a full carbon frame and a set of Schwalbe Ultrabite tyres. 

We haven’t had much experience of the Miche wheels, but they at least don’t hurt the weight, with this bike coming in at 8.9kg – which is only 700g heavier than the Bianchi Sprint road bike which half as expensive again!