5 of the Most Promising New Products from the Taiwan and Sea Otter Bike Shows

Jim’s Tech Talk

By Jim Langley

This time of year lots of new products are debuted at two large shows, the Taipei Cycle Show, which took place March 26 to 29th in Taiwan, and the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California, which was last week, from April 9 to 13. Our own Sheri Rosenbaum flew out to cover the Sea Otter, so watch for her reports.

I couldn’t attend either of these shows. Instead I followed along online reading and watching the coverage. As a member of the media, I also received press releases from the companies about their latest and greatest new bike toys.

Today, I’m going to point out 5 products I thought were worth sharing. Please note that I haven’t seen these products in person or had an opportunity to try or test them. Also, I don’t know the availability or prices of all the products but I’ll provide what information I have.

1. Park Tool BMT-1 Tire Bead Breaker

I requested a review sample of this new tire tool from Park Tool as soon as I learned about it because removing certain tubeless tires can be nearly impossible. Luckily you usually only need to remove them when it’s time to replace the tire (because the sealant inside takes care of most punctures and those that it can’t, tubeless plugs will fix in most cases).

Tubeless tires are designed to lock on to the rim so that they seal properly. This makes some of these tires so difficult to remove that it’s not uncommon for even mechanics to cut them off. I’ve written about this issue and ways to deal with it in two previous articles: Thoughts and Tool Ideas for John’s Too Tight Tubeless Tires and Another Tool Tip For Removing (Not Installing) Tight Tubeless Tires.

I was excited to see Park’s new tool because only the other day I ran into another tubeless tire that required a mighty battle to remove. You’ll see if you click on the first previous article above that I showed a duckbill type Vise-Grip as a tool that might work on tight narrow tubeless tires. I guess my idea was close because Park’s BMT-1 includes what appears to be a locking or at least adjustable pliers design. Instead of duckbill jaws though, Park’s features plastic jaws to protect tires and rims. In the video here you can watch how the tool appears to easily unseat the beads of tubeless tires. I can’t wait to try it and I’ll let you know how it works when I do.

While Sheri was at the Sea Otter she learned that one limitation of this tool is that it can handle tires up to 3 inches wide. That means it won’t work on fat bike tires that are wider. 

The BMT-1 sells for $39.95. Here’s the product page: https://www.parktool.com/en-us/product/tire-bead-breaker-bmt-1.

2. Praxis HiT Hinged Transmission Gearbox

Disclaimer: I worked at Praxis for six years and still serve as their on-call wheel builder. 

In case you don’t know what a gearbox is, it’s a crank-based transmission for bicycles that does away with the derailleurs and puts the workings inside a case that fits into a frame that has a dedicated spot for the gearbox built into it in the bottom bracket area. A popular gearbox you might have heard of is the Pinion, which has been on the market since 2006 and is pretty popular too.

One advantage of a gearbox is that the transmission is protected from damage because it’s enclosed. Also, you don’t have to worry about the cross chaining and dropped chains derailleur drivetrains can suffer from. And, gearboxes can provide wider range gearing than typical derailleur drivetrains and may shift better too.

What makes the Praxis HiT unique and noteworthy is that they’ve come up with a different way of gear changing inside the gearbox. As its name “Hinged Transmission” describes, switching gears is accomplished with clusters of sprockets inside that have hinged moveable sections. These hinged sections smoothly and quickly derail the chain moving it from one size sprocket to the next during shifts. You can see this in videos playing on this page on the Praxis website and learn more about the design and project: https://praxiscycles.com/hit/.

Praxis’s HiT Gearbox is not yet available. According to the company, “We are still exploring the options as the next step in the development is combining it with an eBike motor. We are looking for the right partner to help develop the HiT beyond our current capabilities.  This includes potentially finding partners for manufacturing, service, and/or licensing agreement.

Currently, we are talking to multiple brands about partnership/potential projects using the HiT Gearbox.”

3. Berd Trudi Automated Truing Stand

Berd is the Minnesota-based company that made “string” spokes successful and popular. Well, they’re not really made of string, they only look like it. They’re actually (quoting from Berd) “made from an advanced polymer called ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) that has 15 times the strength-to-weight ratio of steel and floats on water. Berd spokes have an improved fatigue life compared to steel and are impervious to the elements.”

I’ve built multiple wheels with Berd spokes and found them to work well for wheel building and to ride nicely too. Much more impressive, they were ridden to an Olympic Mountain Bike Gold Medal by Tom Pidcock.

But, it’s not their revolutionary spokes that caught my eye at the Taipei show, it was their new Trudi automated truing stand. At a hefty price of $6,999, it’s probably geared more for wheel building companies to purchase and use than for individual wheelsmiths. Still, I think the technology in this stand is very clever and worth knowing about.

As I understand its use, lateral and radial sensors resting against the wheel’s rim read and record imperfections in the wheel. Amazingly, as you turn the wheel slowly, these sensors “talk to” the attached electric nipple-driver spoke wrench. The sensors pre-set the spoke wrench to turn the spoke nipple at that point on the wheel the exact amount to tension that spoke to what’s needed to perfect the wheel. This automated process makes truing, rounding and tensioning wheels simple for anyone.

You have to hold the nipple driver on the spoke nipple and operate it, but there’s no manual truing required. It’s all automated by the truing stand. Berd says that  with the Trudi stand you can build wheels in a quarter of the time. I hope to get a chance to try one someday.

4. Stashed SpaceRail Bike Storage Solution

Storing multiple bikes just got easier with Stashed’s Spacerail hanging bike racks. They have different models for the needs of different types of rooms, such as with an angled ceiling or when the best option is wall-mounting – plus they offer a freestanding version, and you can get setups to hang up to 24 bicycles!

The two features that stand out are that the bikes slide together to take up less space than if you simply screwed bike hooks into a ceiling or onto a wall. Sliding means it’s easier to put bikes on and take them off too since you can move the other bikes out of the way. Plus Stashed takes space-saving even further with swiveling hooks so that the bikes can be hung in either direction, handlebars out or in. This allows pushing the bikes more closely together because there’s more clearance for the handlebars.

In this video you can see how this ingenious rack works:

Learn more about their products here: https://www.stashedproducts.co.uk/. Stashed ships worldwide. Pricing depends on the number of rails and hooks you choose, but to give you an idea, the single rail 4-hook model goes for $401.

5. Prevelo Bikes Engineered for Kids

Prevelo specialized in making children’s bicycles with the same attention to design, geometry, component spec and ride quality as is typically reserved for adult bicycles. Their line-up starts with balance bikes, which is the easiest way for kids to learn to balance and steer – all the way up to 26-inch wheel trail models to fit 9- through 13-year olds.

Unlike many “kids” bikes from other makers, Prevelo’s come with lightweight aluminum frames built with children-sized components for easy riding, a great fit with complete control and comfort out on the road and trail. Plus, you can even customize some of the models with upgraded components to make them truly special for your youngster.

I wish these bikes were available when my kids were little. I don’t know if they could have enjoyed biking any more but the balance bikes would definitely have gotten them started earlier and the skills they learned would have carried over to the bigger bikes they moved up to as they grew.

Learn more at https://prevelo.com/.

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Jim Langley is RBR’s Technical Editor. A pro mechanic & cycling writer for more than 40 years, he’s the author of Your Home Bicycle Workshop in the RBR eBookstore. Tune in to Jim’s popular YouTube channel for wheel building & bike repair how-to’s. Jim’s also known for his cycling streak that ended in February 2022 with a total of 10,269 consecutive daily rides (28 years, 1 month and 11 days of never missing a ride). Click to read Jim’s full bio.