From the brilliant to the bizarre, we’ve seen it all in the world of bike tech this year. Most of it ended up in Tech of the Week, our home for the hottest (and weirdest) stuff we spot each week. Now, closing out 2025 we’ve put together an end-of-year round-up to give you 10 minutes peace and quiet during the festive madness.
It should become clear fairly quickly, this isn’t necessarily the best tech of the year (we’ll save that for our 2025 road.cc awards which are coming soon), but the stuff which turned heads and got you lot heading to the comments section in your hundreds. Let’s dive straight in.
Factor declares its new One “the fastest UCI-legal road bike in the world”
2026 Factor One Dec 2025 (credit: road.cc)
“What on earth is that?” was editor Jack’s reaction to an Israel-Premier Tech mechanic not-so-subtly pulling a blacked-out prototype off the roof of the team car ahead of the opening stage of the Dauphiné. Back in June, Jack and I had been tasked with heading to France to snap pictures of any new bikes that teams were testing at the Tour de France’s traditional warm-up race, and boy did we find one…
Dauphiné 2025 Jake Stewart Israel-Premier Tech new Factor (2).JPG (credit: road.cc)
Now, six months on it’s all official, no longer under wraps and the target of annoying reporters’ cameras in unassuming car parks in rural France. It’s called the One and (in true bike launch style) Factor reckons it’s “the fastest UCI-legal road bike in the world”.
With its huge bayonet fork, ‘chin’ fairing and V-shaped cockpit, Factor says it’s “22% faster than the Specialized Tarmac SL8”, with prices starting at £10,899 for a full bike. We reckon we’ll see plenty more new aero bikes in 2026…
Pidcock uses an aero condom?!
Tom Pidcock Q36.5 Rain Shell Aero Jersey, ‘The Condom’ (credit: Q36.5)
One of the more enjoyable headlines for someone as childish as me was when Q36.5 launched its ‘condom’ jacket, a new £250 double membrane waterproof jersey designed for racers who want some protection from the rain, but not at the loss of aero. Cue much sniggering in the road.cc office…
Shine bright like a Look Keo Vision pedal
Look Keo Blade Ceramic Vision pedals motage Oct 2025 (credit: road.cc)
I’m sure that’s how the Rihanna song goes, right? This autumn, Look introduced the Keo Vision road pedal, which uses a light system, one per side, to show more of the rider to following traffic. It uses Biomotion principles to highlight movement too, apparently this makes it 5.5 times more detectable than a steady light on a seat post, according to a 2020 study.
The lights are fully integrated, rechargeable and easily removable, and available on the Keo Blade Carbon Vision for £229.99 and the Keo 2 Max Vision pedals for £114.99. They can also be retrospectively fitted to 4th Gen Keo Blades and Keo Blade Power pedals when using the Keo Vision kit, which costs £54.99. It all got tech editor Mat thinking…
The future of cycling gear?
PakBrite modular storage system (credit: PakBrite)
2025 was also the year we were introduced to PakBrite’s modular carbon storage system, something whose designer believes is “the future” of storing cycling gear and could replace “clunky saddlebags”. The £150 capsule features a 300-lumen brake-sensing rear light and uses a modular mounting system. We’ve got one in for review at the moment so expect more on this in the new year.
“The lightest road bike on the market”
Cervelo R5 September 2025 (credit: road.cc)
If Factor claimed its One is the ‘fastest bike’ of 2025, Cervélo were the brand making the biggest claims about its being the lightest. Sub-6kg and already ridden to Tour de France Femmes victory — Cervélo was unsurprisingly very confident about its new climbing bike, the R5.
At 5.97kg, the Visma-Lease a Bike pros would need to add weight to get this above the UCI limit. It was a busy year for Cervélo, the brand also releasing its S5, the aero bike Jack and I again channelled our inner grubby tabloid photographer to get pics of at the Dauphiné (well, until the start of the race when everyone stopped caring about who’d seen what and photos became fair game).
Campag brings back the thumb shifter and goes 13-speed
Campagnolo Super Record 13-spd June 2025 (credit: road.cc)
Campagnolo marked the early summer by officially introducing Super Record 13, the world’s first wireless 2×13-speed groupset for road cycling. As well as that extra sprocket, Campagnolo said that Super Record 13 is the lightest 2x (double chainset) groupset available and the fastest-shifting on the market.
The price was also lower than for 12-speed Super Record Wireless, although we’re still talking a suggested retail price starting at £3,900 for a groupset without a power meter, and £4,950 with a groupset that includes one. Campagnolo Super Record Gravel also arrived later in the year too.
It’s not all about the bikes you’d need to sell a kidney to afford
2025 Canyon Endurance AllRoad (credit: Canyon)
One of my favourite bike launch stories to write this year was Canyon’s Endurace AllRoad. Why? Because it’s great to still see a brand putting loads of work into offering cracking ‘entry level’ bikes. I say entry level with quote marks because we’re still talking about a £949 price tag, but for the bike industry in 2025 that’s pretty good.
Billed as the “most versatile road bike possible at best possible price”, Canyon told us it aimed to shake up the endurance scene with “one road bike that can handle a bit of everything”, for less than a grand.
The latest inflatable helmet… is it any good?
2025 Ventete aH-1 helmet and pump – worn side.jpg (credit: road.cc)
Back in April, on a particularly hot and sunny day for spring, I sweated my way over to Imperial College in London on a Santander Bike to hear from the team that has designed a new inflatable lid, Ventete’s aH-1 The designers were impressive individuals and the testing set-up shown was interesting too, but was it any good?
> REVIEW: Ventete aH-1 helmet and pump
As suspected, the weight and that £300 price tag are quite deflating, even if it’s hard not to be impressed by the brains who’ve brought it to market.
A radical new pedal system
2025 Ekoi PW8 pedal system (credit: Ekoi)
If you weren’t taken by Look’s bright new pedals, Ekoi also brought out its radical road cycling pedal system in 2025. Ekoi claimed its “revolutionary” PW8 shoe/pedal system is “more efficient, lighter, more aerodynamic, easier to use” and can apparently save you up to eight watts… but does it have Look and Shimano scared?
And finally… some good news for British bike building
2025 Mercian Ventura Allroad (credit: Mercian)
There’s not really any way to dress it up, the past few years have been brutal for the bike industry, not least here in the UK. So it’s worth celebrating good news when we get a chance, such as Mercian releasing its first new model in two decades, having been saved from liquidation last year.
And finally…
The truth is our most-read stories of the year are rarely the ‘biggest’ per se. Here’s the list of random tech stories that got the most eyeballs in 2025.
> A 70g power meter with tool-free installation for £115? What’s the catch?
> Aldi unleashes latest batch of cycling bargains… but are they any good?
Maybe Aldi will release a middle-aisle power meter next year and it’ll break the internet? What did you enjoy reading about in 2025 and what do you want to see more of in 2026? Let us know in the comments.