VP Components brought the innovation with a new trail-side adjustable angle headset and the new Pilot, an axle-less flat pedal.
The Pilot uses a house-ground bearing race with hand picked bearings. The design and careful assembly allows them to improve the strength by using a larger ball since it’s not relying on a separate sealed bearing. There’s also a small sealed cartridge bearing on the outside edge of the bulge. It all comes together for a thin, 7mm body height. The one above is a prototype/mock up, the production versions will be forged.
The Pilot uses a bottom bracket tool to pull apart the bearing assembly.
Seems Cane Creek was onto something, variable angle headsets are here to stay. The Varial adjustable angle headset is trail adjustable via quick Allen wrench adjustments and a sliding bezel. It provides 3° of adjustment (+/- 1.5°) and only weighs 186g. It works with tapered or straight steerers simply by selecting the proper bottom cup.
Bottom comes in Zero Stack semi-intergrated 1.125 and 1.5 (for 49 and 56 ID headsets), external cup 1.5 and full 1.5 headtubes. MSRP is TBD.
It does require loosening the stem and top cap to take pressure off the headset. Once those are loose, you rotate the lever through the 180º range to set the angle. Marks on the side show where you’re at.
New Vice (left) is 16mm low profile pedal with 12 pins per side. Weight is 406g with forged chromoly spindle, drops 70g with their stronger forged Ti axle.
The VP 69 (right) gets a 5mm wider profile with more aluminum at the pins to help them withstand impacts without losing pins. They get new paint colors, too, and a forged Ti axle is available as an upgrade that drops 70g. 379g with the forged chromoly axle.
VP’s Bebop pedals get some new spacers to go between the shoe and cleat to adapt to curved outsoles. They reduce pressure on the cleat caused by screwing it too tightly to a curved sole, letting it engage better and wear more evenly.
