We already had a look at Tune’s newest laser tool, the Linientreu to align your real derailleur. But the German lightweight component specialists had plenty more new components to show off in the Eurobike booth. The most direct new things were the new crane-inspired machined aluminum seatpost, a super short 35mm DH stem, and a couple of new alloy wheelsets. But the new kit went further than that with the quiet rebirth of their carbon seatpost, a special covered superlight saddle, a new deep carbon wheelset, and a rebranding of the King Kong hubsets.
Most of the new 2018 components from Tune come down to the fact that the company has developed a new CNC prototyping setup & in-house testing lab that has enabled them to keep regular production running while they carry out R&D in parallel. That has actually allowed them to produce and refine several of their key products without having to ever put a halt to production like they did in the past.
Leichtes Stück aluminum seatpost
The most unique looking of the new products in the Leichtes Stück seatpost. Externally machined from 7075 aluminum, the post is designed to mimic the design of tower construction cranes, retaining the full thickness & overall post diameter in a structural gridwork of bracing while machining out a large portion of the material in between to trim weight.
Tune says that the zero-offset post with ti hardware has weights starting at just 155g sheds about 40g over an unmachined design while retaining all of the strength. It does take an extra 20 minutes to machine each post on the 4-axis CNC mill, so that weight savings won’t likely come cheap. Another thing to consider is that the machined element of the post must stay above the seatpost clamp (while also having a minimum 9cm insertion), so it will be more important to get the correct size with around 8-10cm of adjustability possible. The 200€ Leichtes Stück (~light piece) is available only in 27.2 for now in 340 or 400mm lengths, with longer post claimed to weigh 172g, and in silver, black, or one of five other anodized colors.
Schwarzes Stück carbon seatpost
The Schwarzes Stück is the unheralded return of Tune’s carbon post. They weren’t really talking about it, but for quite some time Tune had been making apologies for not having been able to deliver on their previous carbon seatpost design. Apparently the issue had been in the carbon tubes being produced in a more conventional process in-house which Tune has now sorted out to deliver a balance of price & weight.
The new black piece post drops weight down to just 96g for a 27.2x350mm post using a internally tapered construction with UD prepreg carbon and a carbon saddle rail cradle clamped down with titanium & machined alloy hardware. The reborn zero offset carbon post is available in 27.2 & 31.6mm diameters and 270, 350 & 420mm lengths for now from 290€.
Geiles Teil GT35 machined aluminum DH stem
The new GT35 is the latest addition to Tune’s standard fourth generation machined alloy stem. While sharing a similar aesthetic overall thanks to the same CNC machining process, the GT35 gets a wider design with an open faceplate and a 35mm diameter bar clamp to match its 35mm length for more gravity fueled riding.
Still impressively light at just 119g, the 180€ GT35 promises high stiffness for use with oversized & wide bars on the most technical terrain. Its has a 39.5mm stack height and is available in the full range of Tune’s seven color anodized palette.
Speedneedle 20Twenty full carbon saddle
Celebrating 20 years of the crazy lightweight Speedneedle full carbon unpadded saddle, Tune has a new 20Twenty version that adds a bit more leather for the cover while still eschewing any real padding. The leather top has a tiny element of padding to it, exposing the carbon shell down the middle for a little pressure relief channel, while offering a less slippery surface and still a remarkable weight from just 99g for the 300€ saddle.
Schwarzbrenner 88 deep carbon clincher road wheels
New in carbon Tune has grown the Schwarzbrenner wheels to include an 88mm deep rim brake carbon clincher option. Designed for time trial race duty only due to their depth, the new wheels will be laced to Mig/Mag hubs with Sapim CX-Ray aero spokes. With a claimed weight of 1830g for the pair, they are light for the depth and of course come with a Black Burner flame job which never hurts to feel fast.
Endurorider Plus aluminum rim, made-in-Europe enduro mountain bike wheels
On the aluminum wheel front Tune’s Endurorider Plus fully made-in Europe enduro race-ready aluminum mountain bike wheelset are new with wider rims to support the growing plus-sized tire trend. Dutch Ryde aluminum rims, Belgian Sapim spokes, German Tune hubs. The new wheels get a new Ryde Edge 35 34.8mm internal rim width while adding just about 50g for the pair over the previous version. Wheels will be built with King Kong Boost hubs, 32 Sapim D-Light spokes, alloy nipples, and will come first just in 27.5″ at a claimed weight of 1805g for the set around the same 800€ price as the current Edge 30 based wheels.
Race 3.0 aluminum rim XC mountain bike wheels
The Race 3.0 are another update aluminum wheelset. At 820€ they are built to order with your choice of color of King King hubs, nipples, and Stan’s Notubes Crest Mk3 rims in either standard or Boost spacing. Available in 29″ at a claimed 1460g or 27.5″ at 1390g, Tune sets these as a nearly indestructible XC & Marathon race ready tubeless wheelset that won’t break the bank.
KING kong & king KONG aluminum disc brake hubs
This is a subtle update and one that Tune hadn’t even fully sorted out when we had a look at them. Due to a naming dispute that I’m surprised took this long their King front hub & Kong rear hubs are being renamed as the KING kong front hub and KONG king rear hub. No more naming confusion with Chris King, the hubs remain otherwise unchanged and are available in standard spacing, Boost, PS (Predictive Steering), MK (Marcus Klausmann oversized for DH), or Fat.
Oh well, they do get one update. The standard spaced disc brake King Kong hubs will also get a new Centerlock rotor mount option. It likely will stick to the 100/142mm spaced thru-axle hubs to be geared more towards road disc, gravel & cross riders, rather than mountain biking in 24 & 28 hole drilling.
Energieträger Di2 battery fork steerer mount
Lastly, Tune has added the new 33€ Energieträger fork mount for Di2. Tune already made a 8g mount to put your Di2 battery in the seatpost, but this new 13g option sticks the battery for your XT or XTR electronic group in the bottom of the tapered steerer tube of your fork. So if you are running a dropper post, you can still get that battery internal and locked down.
Most of all the new light weight goodies are available now through your regular Tune dealer, or will be in the coming weeks.
