Translation of BNR News Radio item |
December 24th, 2017 |  |
M5 2-SPOKE wheel on BNR News Radio | ||
) Is this the clap skate of road racing?by Marjan van den Berg 23 December 2017 A bicycle wheel with two spokes: an innovation by which Dutch inventor Bram Moens wants to conquer the world of cycle racing. This doesn't happen without effort, but BNR spoke with a racer who, since using the wheels, has increased his speed so dramatically that he's completely convinced. A wheel with two spokes? "the idea is already thirty years old", says inventor of the wheel Bram Moens. "The fewer spokes, the better. Eddy Merckx already said it: every spoke is a brake. So it's best to have the least possible number of them. Nowadays this is technically possible, because there are now fantastic carbon fibres to make these products." Moens calls the two spokes "wing profiles". "When they were ready and we tested them, it showed that the two profiles generate a lower air pressure in the plane of the wheel, meaning it takes less effort to cut through the air. So, less energy and higher speed." The 45 year old Remco Grasman is a so called elite racer without contract and the best time trial rider in our country; in the category 45 plus he even became world champion. The uses the Moens two spoke wheels and says he has become much faster on his bike. "A first race conformed it immediately", Grasman says. "It was a short time trial of 7 kilometres. I cut 12 seconds of my personal record. That's a lot on 7 kilometres." He didn't believe immediately that it was because of the wheels. "I thought, well, it's a coincidence. The second race I also won with superior numbers (...). So I increasingly attributed it to the wheels. Clap skate Still it takes Moens effort to sell his innovation. "We saw the same thing with the clap skate. It was introduced in 1994", he says. "In the beginning people chuckled a bit about them too, but four years later everybody in Nagano used them. And everyone was riding new world records." Click here for the full story in Dutch, including sound clips of the interview with Bram. Jump to 2-SPOKE | ||
Winter 2018 |
December 23rd, 2017 | |
) Winter, this means reloading for the new bike season. During this time the M5 showroom is closed until January the 26th | ||
M5 2-SPOKE on main Dutch radio channel |
December 23rd, 2017 | |
The clap skate of road racing? | ||
) The M5 2-SPOKE wheel on BNR News Radio. Bram reports about the developments and aerodynamic advantages. World champion Remco Grasman confirms the claims with remarkable results during several races. Will 2-SPOKE follow the path of the clap skate? A somewhat slow introduction, followed by a broad dispersion in the world of competition, making it the new norm?Click here for the full story in Dutch, including sound clips of the interview with Bram. | ||
Remco Grasman world champion on UCI World Championships Time Trial at Albi, France using 2-SPOKE wheelset! |
August 24th, 2017 | |
) Remco Grasman from Emmeloord (Netherlands) is world champion time trial in the elite without contract in his age category (45-49). He managed to cover the 22 kilometres in 30 minutes and 21 seconds on the hilly, pizza oven temperature time trial course in Albi, France, using an M5 2-SPOKE wheelset. A beautiful apotheosis for Remco; after this world championship he's planning to slow things down a little.Picture: Marco Bos | ||
Yet another M5 CHR rider makes the trip from the Netherlands to the North Cape |
August 16th, 2017 | |
Maurice Mahieu from Amsterdam pedals his M5 Carbon High Racer 3800 km to the far north | ||
) On July 11th, I took my M5 Carbon High Racer, also known as "The Black Rider", with 20 kg of luggage (including camping equipment and cooking utilities) packed in 2 banana side bags and a backpack from Amsterdam to Emmen to follow the Jutland cycle route to Hirtshals in Northern Denmark. There I took the boat to Bergen and drove along the coast and the Lofoten Islands to the North Cape via the route of www.europafietsers.nl. With some extra trips here and there all together 3800 km (2360 miles). Initially each day trip covered around 150 to 200 km while decreasing in the Norwegian mountain landscape to an average of about 125 km per day.It is a beautiful route where I could often see magic scenes in the evening sun. Because of the beautiful light and the more quiet roads, I cycled a lot in the evening. Thrilling to see the landscape varying from beautiful round shaped mountains to vast fjords, magnificent arctic mountains and the tundra with the many beautiful reindeer. Well, of course, some effort had to be done, but in general, I actually cycled very relax (a nice smooth cadence), except at times when I wanted to set some small individual record.., wanted to heat up a bit (this is Norway..though the biggest part of the trip had very good summer weather) and when trying to catch some ferry deadlines. The most funny moment was in Solvorn, biking with over 50 kilometres per hour and piling up on a downhill barrier. I still remember the look of the ferry employee..., he initially seemed to refuse me on the ferry because of my enthusiastic action but it turned out that he was only bothered about the fact that I would probably bike on the ferry. The stability of the bike allows it to climb a slope of 10% or more even on my lowest effort at with speeds less than five kilometres per hour (3 mph) while my heart rate monitor indicates that I'm doing a recovery training! Descending is the other extreme, sometimes at speeds above 80 kilometres per hour,(50 mph) and that speed is often limited by the amount of steel in your nerves at the brake levers. Also, riding the bike with speeds above 60 km/h on bad surfaces and cattle grid does not feel bumpy at any moment. Although there is no suspension, it still feels that this bike sticks to the asphalt. A true joy! I did also met a number of North Cape cyclists and sometimes joined them, arriving at the top of a slope with a decent "may be see you later" to see them disappearing very fast in my rear view mirror, sometimes we met again at another ferry or shop. Eventually I arrived on the Northern Cape on August the 12th, where I celebrated my "victory" with the most overpriced beer ever! | ||
MINIMAL BIKE winner of German Bicycle Brand Contest 2017! |
August 5th, 2017 | |
) A few months ago the MINIMAL BIKE already received the Dutch Bike Innovation Award 2017.Now it also won the first price in the prestigious 2017 German Bicycle Brand Contest! | ||
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M5 Minimal Bike displayed at expo Cube Design Museum Kerkrade, the Netherlands |
July 7th, 2017 | |
To be seen from July the 1st including December 3rd 2017 | ||
 Minimal Bike displayed The future of a great number of bicycle types can be seen in a perfectly designed expo of the brand new Cube Design Museum in Kerkrade www.cubedesignmuseum.nl/en/activiteiten/fiets-bike-fahrrad-design-two-wheels >> | ||
From heavy duty dual function SPD pedal to lightweight version in only half an hour |
June 23rd, 2017 | |
) trimmed versus original versionA little bit of sawing, a bit of sandpapering and in the end a bit of polishing. From 180 to 120 grs. (6 to 4 ounce), but apart from that less bulky. After this session only 10 grammes heavier then the 5 times more expensive titanium version! | ||
Stijn van de Maele (Belgium) 3 time world champion during HPV World Championships in Mannheim (Germany) |
June 19th, 2017 | |
) Image: Jens SeemannStijn did it again!! With only an upgraded rear wheel Stijn used his very standard M5 Carbon High Racer to prove that this bike works as well for commuting, shopping, vacation tours as winning world titles on speed championships.... With the highest excuses to his family for being out so many hours on training sessions But the reults are stunning of course despite the fact that Stijn reaches 41 years of age. No trace of slowing down so far: -1st place at the 333 meter sprint -1st place at the kilometer standing start -1st place at the 3 hours race The climbing time trial was deleted because of an approaching thunderstorm while riding second place. | ||
M5 Minimal Bike winner Bicycle Innovation Award 2017! |
April 3rd, 2017 | |
Winners announced today at the annual congress RAI Bicycle Retail Trends in Burgers Zoo, Arnhem. | ||
) From the jury:M5 - Minimal Bike Minimal Bike M5 is a truly innovative bike design, which was created through a minimalistic and wherever possible integrated approach. This resulted in a totally different and super light (from 6.7 kg with disc brakes!) model. The jury believes that this is shown clearly and reflected in the design of this bike in about every detail. An integrated head tube, the carbon fiber frame, the hidden cables and of course the unique (light) weight. M5 has created a bike that turns heads and which meets a need in urban areas for example. | ||
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