Paris-Roubaix is nearly upon us, and for bike tech nerds, it’s arguably the biggest race of the year, surpassing the Tour de France in terms of innovations of interest, and perhaps is only rivalled by the Critérium du Dauphiné (or the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, to give it its new name) in terms of cool things to see.
This year will be my third in a row covering the Hell of the North, and the previous two years have definitely seen some well-established trends. Aero bikes are now the norm, and while the days of dedicated Roubaix bikes are behind us, thanks to the advent of disc brakes allowing wider tyre clearances, advances in our understanding of rolling resistance have seen some teams buck this trend and opt for endurance or even gravel bikes.
