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Mt Hood Classic
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New Arrivals – February 9, 2006

By John Stevenson & James Huang

Got Tech? Send press releases, news, and tech questions to the Cyclingnews tech-heads.

Welcome to New Arrivals, a section showcasing the latest equipment that's landed on the Cyclingnews tech desk. Look out for reviews over the next few months when we've clocked up some saddle time with this stuff.

Zipp 300 cranks
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Zipp 300 crankset and 185 bottom bracket

Zipp uses a unique bonding process that allows it to use less aluminum and more carbon in the 300 road crankset. Zipp says the additional carbon not only produces a lighter crankset but also a stiffer and more durable one. Weight on our 172.5mm test set was a stunning 464g with 39/53T chainrings and a mix of aluminium and titanium hardware.

Zipp sticks with a traditional three-piece configuration for a low Q-factor and uses an ISIS spline pattern to mate the crank to its 185 bottom bracket. The 185 BB uses double-wide cartridge bearings for durability and rigidity and a hollow titanium spindle to drop the weight of our test BB to just 182g. /JH

More info: www.zipp.com
MSRP: US$750 (300 crankset), US$250 (185 titanium bottom bracket)

fi'zi:k Arione Carbon with carbon rails
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fi'zi:k Arione Carbon with carbon rails

Having established a reputation for making very comfortable seats, fi'zi:k is now going after the gram-counters with the latest version of its Arione Wing Flex seat. With the previous titanium rails replaced with braided carbon fiber, but retaining the popular carbon-reinforced WingFlex hull, the new incarnation weighs just 190g on our scale. More importantly, fi'zi:k says the new rails are just as strong as its previous solid titanium rails, despite being 20g lighter./JS

More info: www.fizik.com
MSRP: US$285

Shimano WH-7801-SL road wheels
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Shimano WH-7801-SL road wheels

Tubeless road tires aren't even available to the general public yet, but Shimano has already released it new tubeless-compatible WH-7801 road wheels. The lightweight scandium alloy rim uses a solid outer wall for air retention and the rear rim incorporates an offset spoke bed for more even tension. Dura-Ace quality hubs use polished bearing surfaces and an aluminium 10spd-compatible freehub body. The WH-7801-SL wheels use 16 butted and bladed spokes up front and 20 in back, and the nipples are located at the hub flange to reduce rotating weight. Our test set weighed 1610g without skewers./JH

More info: www.shimano.com
MSRP: US$979

Nike Altea Plus shoes
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Nike Altea II Plus

It's getting increasingly hard to find shoes that will take anything but cleats that conform to Look's three-bolt fixing pattern. Riders who prefer pedals with other cleat designs, such as Crank Brothers Quattros or the Shimano SPD-R of a couple of years ago will be pleased to see that Nike is looking after them with the Altea II Plus, which has cleat mountings in its carbon fiber sole for just about every bolt pattern there is.

Up top, the Altea II Plus' synthetic leather upper fastens with the tried-and-tested three-strap design, with a ratchet buckle for quick and easy closing of the top strap. There's a moulded heel cup to keep your foot stable, and dual density insoles for support and comfort. A women's version is also available./JS

More info: www.nikecycling.com
MSRP: $169.99

Nike Poggio IV Ultralight
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Nike Poggio IV Ultralight

At the other end of the sclae, Nike's Poggio IV Ultralights take only a three-bolt cleat, and are about as simple as it's possible for a cycling shoe to be. There's no ratchet here, or any other mechanical closure, just three Velcro straps, because that's the lightest way of fastening a shoe. And The Poggio's live up to their name, tipping the scales at a mere 480g/pr in a size 43. The only way to get anything lighter, as far as we know, is to shell out two to four times as much for fully handmade or custom shoes from companies such as Lust Racing and Rocket7./JS

More info: www.nikecycling.com
MSRP: $199.99

Dinotte Ultralight
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Dinotte Ultralight

Dinotte's aim with this compact, high-power single-LED light was to make the ultimate front light for road bike use. While mountain bikers like the huge light output of HID and multi-LED designs, what you need for road cycling is lots of light, in a compact, low-weight assembly. To that end Dinotte uses a five-Watt Luxeon LED powered by four rechargeable AA cells that sit in a pouch under your handlebar stem. The whole shebang weighs just 200g, leaves spots in your eyes for several minutes if you're foolish enough to look straight into it and has a claimed run time of 180 minutes in low power mode and 100 in high, with 2300 mAh cells./JS

More info: www.dinottelighting.com (in the UK: www.on-one.co.uk)
MSRP: US$249.99 (with 2300mAh AA cells & charger), UKP119.00 (without batteries or charger)

White Industries ENO Disc hub
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White Industries ENO Disc hub

White Industries offers up an elegant solution to the problem of achieving proper chain tension on a fixed/single-speed bike with vertical dropouts. The offset mounting holes in the axle of White Industries' ENO Disc hub create a built-in eccentric and eliminate the need to run a separate tensioner. The ENO Disc uses a highly polished aluminum body and solid aluminum axle along with a pair of stainless steel axle ends. Hub shell is threaded for a standard BMX-style freewheel and is compatible with IS six-bolt rotors. A clever disc caliper mount also incorporates a similar eccentric to maintain proper brake alignment. Our test hub weighed 386g with mounting hardware, and the special caliper mount adds an additional 48g.

The ENO Disc hub is available in 32h and 36h drillings and silver or black anodized hub shells. 135mm OLD spacing is standard, but 130mm spacing is also available for you singlespeed/fixie cyclocross freaks out there./JH

More info: www.whiteind.com
MSRP: US$160 (hub); US$60 (caliper mount)

Powercordz brake cables
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Powercordz

Here's yet another way to shed a few grams. Powercordz are brake and gear cables in which the standard steel inner wires are replaced with a high-strength synthetic cord made from polybisbenzoxazole (PBO). The polymer inner wires are noticably lighter than steel ones and manufacturer Io DuPont claims weight savings of 30-60g over a complete bike./JS

More info: www.powercordz.com (in Australia: www.smoothride.com.au)
MSRP: $199.99