Removable chin bar: not really innovative

Uvex wins a gold Eurobike Award for a mountain bike helmet with a removable chin bar. This is really nothing new - Giro, Met or Casco have been doing this for years. Nevertheless, the gold award-winning innovation from Bike Ahead Composites is also interesting for mountain biking: An NSA, a no-slip application, made of a type of rubber is bonded to the carbon component during the manufacturing process and ensures that tolerances are compensated and friction is increased. The result is a reduction of up to 60% in tightening torques, which should eliminate cracking and breaking carbon handlebars or seat posts.

Gravel bikes in the award fast lane

Gravel bikes are included twice in the Gold Awards: here the mountain bike at least has some DNA, because the road bikes are poaching on unpaved paths. The 3T Exploro gravel bike rides to gold, and the WTB Horizon Road Plus tire also makes you think of mountain bikes, because after all, these are 27.5 Plus tires (650x47) for cross or gravel bikes.

The jury presented the Gold Awards away from mountain bikes with racing bike shoes, a power measurement crank, an electronic road group, a twistable stem, a horn and high beam switch. The award-winning triathlon bike, the helmet with built-in diode light and a roller trainer also show that the jury does not see the mountain bike at the top of the innovation podium in the 2016 award season.

Individual, handmade, super light: this is how the jury likes mountain bikes

The "normal" Eurobike Awards are where things get interesting. A trend can also be seen here. With Stoll, AX Lightness and White Stone, suppliers who focus on highly individualized, handmade and super-lightweight bikes win prizes. The jury thus rejects the mass-produced mountain bike and makes a statement for the individual: at Stoll, even the laminate structure is tailored to the customer, the ultra-light AX Lightness hardtail weighs just over 7 kilos and colors are available on customer request, and at the White Stone hardtail, the customer's request is also the top priority and the focus is on manual work.

The jury

Six heads selected the winners for the Eurobike Award 2016. With Thomas Hellriegel, one of Germany's best triathletes, Lotte Kraus, an ergonomics expert and Marcus Schröder, a bike tester, the jury brings together a wealth of expert knowledge. With Kevin Quad, founder of the Canadian design studio KQS, the Italian specialist journalist Marcella Crisanti and Rik De Bruin, owner of a Dutch bike store that has been in family hands for 60 years, further cycling know-how was represented.

www.eurobike-award.de