We measured some 50 bikes at the Tour de France – every one will be illegal on January 1 under the UCI’s proposed hood-width regulation.
Ronan Mc Laughlin
As the Tour de France took over Lille the past few days, I had a simple question I wanted answered: how many bikes fall afoul of the UCI’s proposed new handlebar and lever-width rules? The new rules, announced last month to much backlash, are being framed as a safety measure, but the surprise to me was not that I found soon-to-be-illegal bikes, but that I couldn’t find a single bike that would still be legal when the new rules are applied.
The rule isn’t due to come into effect until January 1st, but the tech zone offered a rare chance to see where the current peloton stands. So, armed with a tape measure, I began my checks, until, as it turns out, several teams didn’t quite like the idea of me measuring their bars. So I improvised. I found a stick broken off a tree, measured it exactly to 32 cm, then snapped it at the mark. Armed with the makeshift – and more discrete – compliance gauge, I quietly started working my way through team setups.
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