{"id":226668,"date":"2025-06-30T13:07:22","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T13:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/226668\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T13:07:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T13:07:22","slug":"first-look-factors-unreleased-aero-bike-is-even-more-eye-catching-in-the-flesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/226668\/","title":{"rendered":"First Look: Factor\u2019s unreleased aero bike is even more eye-catching in the flesh"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9 earlier this month, all eyes were on Factor’s radical new aero bike. With its razor-thin head tube ballooning out into an incredibly wide fork, the bike is unlike anything we\u2019ve seen ridden in the pro peloton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But only one rider was lucky enough to ride it. Britain\u2019s Jake Stewart of Israel-Premier Tech piloted it to win stage 5 of the Dauphin\u00e9, beating favourite Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek to the line.<\/p>\n

At this year\u2019s Eurobike<\/a>, which closed yesterday, we were able to get a closer look at the aero bike, which was proudly on display at Factor\u2019s stand \u2013 even if the brand wasn\u2019t willing to say anything about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"UnreleasedFactor was unwilling to talk about the yet-to-be-released bike. Stan Portus \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

What we do know from the trade show is the aero bike<\/a> is still only a prototype, but the UCI\u2019s rules around using prototypes in competition should mean we\u2019ll see a final version of this bike released in the next year.<\/p>\n

Beyond finalising the bike, Factor will have to use that time for a bit of word searching. That\u2019s because the new aero bike is yet to be named, or so we were told at Eurobike.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bike \u2013 whatever it’s eventually called \u2013 shares similarities with Factor\u2019s Hanzo time trial bike<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SeatThe seatstays are similar to those on Factor’s Hanzo time trial bike. Stan Portus \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

As we\u2019re seeing on many of the best road bikes<\/a>, the seatstays turn to an almost horizontal plane, in a similar \u2013 but less aggressive \u2013 fashion to the Hanzo. The aero bike also has a chunky bottom bracket area and deep seat tube, like the Hanzo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bike\u2019s front end also appears to be heavily inspired by the Hanzo, where the fork extends as one piece into the extremely narrow head tube to reduce drag.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NarrowIt has an extremely narrow head tube. Stan Portus \/ Our Media
\n\"DeepYou can see how the fork extends as one piece into the head tube. Stan Portus \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

While the Hanzo\u2019s fork is wide, this aero bike\u2019s fork is wider still. It even beats the Hope HB.T Paris track bike<\/a> on width.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It also has a slightly different design at the bottom of the fork, with the triangular design positioning the disc brake caliper at an extreme angle, presumably to smooth airflow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FactorThe bottom of the fork has a broad, almost triangular section. Stan Portus \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

Simon von Bromley speculated in his Dauphin\u00e9 tech gallery<\/a> whether the wide design was to put the fork legs in cleaner airflow, therefore reducing turbulence.<\/p>\n

There was some speculation about whether Factor\u2019s aero bike would fall foul of the UCI\u2019s new 115mm limit on fork widths that is due to come into effect next year<\/a>. Apparently, the rule had been established before the Dauphin\u00e9 and Factor has remained on the right side of cycling\u2019s governing body by 1mm, at 114mm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FactorThe clear lacquer shows off the carbon layup. Stan Portus \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

The Factor is also eye-catching up-close, thanks to its clear lacquer \u2013 which shows off the carbon layup. You can see how Factor has used different carbon sheets around parts of the frame that need reinforcement, while others \u2013 such as a broad seat tube \u2013 almost ripple.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"CockpitThe aero bike’s gull-wing bar. Stan Portus \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

Another striking aspect of the bike is its gull-wing bar. This seems to be a developing trend, with the design echoing the Colnago Y1Rs<\/a> and the leaked Cerv\u00e9lo S5<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These two bikes will certainly animate the Tour de France, which gets under way next Saturday, because they\u2019re ridden by Tadej Poga\u00e7ar and Jonas Vingegaard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But will Factor\u2019s new machine make its way to the Grand Boucle? With Stewart heading to the race, the bike\u2019s stage-winning potential proven and the media furore it has already caused, we can almost certainly say yes.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9 earlier this month, all eyes were on Factor’s radical new aero bike. With…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-226668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114772472435925745","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}