We’ve been for a wander round iceBike 2019 this week to see the latest bikes, gear and gadgets from Madison, one of the biggest bicycle trade distributors in the UK. They supply everything from Shimano components to Genesis bikes and everything in between, and we spotted a couple of nice e-bikes and gear that could prove super handy. Here are the highlights…
Ridgeback Cargo-E
This is a brand new e-cargo bike from Ridgeback, and our e-highlight from the show. We have no info yet or even a press release, but it's a classy and very roomy-looking machine that's built to take on the city and carry just about anything... the storage compartment is huge, you could get a month's shopping in it!
A double kickstand up front for stability when you're parked, lights mounted to the front and rear mudguards are all included, with disc brakes providing superior stopping power. As you can see it's going to be priced at £3,699, very affordable indeed if it's replacing your car.
Adventure Road Sport
- Priced at £2,249, the Adventure Sport is built around a 6061 alloy frame and Shimano's super reliable STEPS motor system. Shimano supply most of the other components including a 9-speed gearing system and disc brakes. You also get full mudguards and Schwalbe tyres mounted to the doublewall alloy rims.
Air Fom Airless Tyre System
These inserts actually fit inside your regular tyre, making mounting far easier than systems such as Tannus with tacks that fit across the rim to attach the tyre. It's a precision-engineered, multi-layer insert that can last up to a claimed 10,000 miles and is said to corner far better than existing airless options as the compressive force when riding them is more akin to the pressure on inflated tyres with a normal amount of psi.
We're waiting for some more conclusive rolling resistance data and have our names down for a test set in the near future, but for most e-bikes where going mega fast is less of a problem we think Air Fom could be a really interesting solution for year-round city riding without having to worry about flats.
Dynaplug tubeless repair system
If you prefer to run your tyres tubeless, this looks like a great time-saving solution when you get a flat on the road/out in the woods. You'll usually have sealant in tubeless tyres that plugs any holes as you go, but occasionally you might get a hole that's too big. With Dynaplug you push a little plug into the hole with a specific tool, withdraw the tool, cut off the excess of the plug and you're good to go! They also do a version that installs on the end of a CO2 cartridge, the idea being that you can re-inflate the tyre and plug the whole in one go.
