The Italian sports newspapers has reported on Electromagnetic wheels as “poor man’s doping” following the reports of the motorized doping scandal at the CycloCross Worlds this past weekend. They say it’s the new frontier of doping.
Theses wheels are said to be able to produced 20-60 watts with electromagnetics. They cost 200,000 euros. They say the motor in the down tube is “old” technology.
The electricity in the wheels is “less damaging to your health.” Italian journalist Claudio Ghisalberti: “The new frontier is far more technologically advanced and ten times as expensive. It’s in the rear wheel: it costs 200,000 Euros, and there’s a waiting list of six months. The first type uses a motor to turn the cranks; the second is electromagnetic.”
He has a “source” who claims to have sold 1,200 motors the past few years. “I can only laugh when I read the Gran Fondo results, I could rewrite almost all of them.”
The bikes are often bought via a “middle man”. If there’s a weak point after the motor is inserted and bike the painted and sealed, and there’s a crash, then the frame can open and reveal the motor.
It’s suspected that the motors have been in use since before 2010.
Electromagnetic wheels have electric wires hidden inside to create 20-60 watts of power. That’s enough to make an ordinary rider into a performance athlete.
Last year there were rumors about the wheels but they have not yet been discovered. A rider may not even know that their wheels are using this system. “They just think they’ve had a great day,” Gazzetta dello Sport’s source claimed.
Now there are requests for power data to be included in the Biological Passports.
