A special “Made in Italy” technology was equipped on Team Sky’s Pinarello K10S for the cobbles campaign: the first electronic suspension for endurance road bikes, and it’s already on the market
There’s an Italian soul behind Team Sky’s cobbles’ campaign, one of the most awaited squads at the Cobbles classics, starting with Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. The British team has tackled the test of cobbles riding K10S, the latest endurance model by Pinarello, equipped with an exclusive “Made in Italy” technology that is setting a new benchmark of bike adaptability and efficiency in different road conditions, as well as stability and solidity.
The groundbreaking technology used by Team Sky is named eDSS, and it’s the customized version for Pinarello of “Endurance Smart Adaptive Suspension”, ESAS: in other words, a smart electronic suspension, that adapts its rigidity to the conditions of the terrain, and it is used to dampen vibrations on the chainstay of Pinarello K10S. ESAS is an invention by HiRide, a company incepted in Milan, with the mission of bringing to the cycling world ideas, technology and innovation derived from its team’s top-end experience maturated in the motorbike and off-road branches.
ESAS: electronic suspensions break into cycling
ESAS is an absolute innovation in the road cycling world. HiRide invented the first ever electronic suspension system for all-road, endurance, gravel and cyclocross bikes. The concept behind ESAS is easy, and revolutionary at the same time: go beyond the traditional trade-off between performance and comfort, providing a solution to adapt the frame to each specific terrain condition, automatically and in real time.
When riding uphill on tarmac, you need a stiff frame, but when you get on dirt, cobbles or even off-road, a more flexible setup is needed to provide stability and solidity. ESAS avoids any kind of compromise: with its complex algorithms, the smart electronic system analyzes the vibrations on the frame and the bikes’ dynamic, and adapts the frame’s rigidity accordingly, locking or unlocking the suspensions. The advantage is concrete, and measurable: on a mixed stretch (tarmac, cobbles, off-road), ESAS significantly improves the riding efficiency, and reduces impact and vibration transmission by over 30% compared to a traditional bike.
The system is made by one electro-hydraulic suspension, capable of automatically adapt its rigidity, and a control unit (smart battery pack), the actual “brain” of the whole system, integrating a number of sensors. ESAS also has its own user interface, and can be connected to other devices – such as a smartphone or a bike computer – through Bluetooth or ANT+ protocols.
Top-notch technology, winning innovation that actually makes a difference. And already available on the market: the ESAS system is available as standard on the new Pinarello Dogma K10S model, in the customized eDSS (electronic Dogma Suspension System) version.
HiRide Quotes
“This Classics campaign has been a memorable milestone in the history of HiRide” – commented Vincenzo Russi, CEO of e-Novia, the “Enterprise Factory” that created HiRide. – “Riding some of the greatest Classics in cycling, along with established champions, has confirmed, once again, the quality of our engineering and know-how, and how fast we have been able to bring it to the top international competitions as well as the international markets. HiRide has brought a totally innovative technology into the world of cycling, thanks to a unique team for its background, skills and vision. In less than two years from HiRide’s inception, the Smart Suspension has been chosen by one of the most important road cycling teams in the world to aim for success in a Monument like Flanders and Roubaix: that’s an all-important testament of HiRide’s revolution at the highest level of cycling.”
“Facing the Classics with Team Sky is the most important reward for the huge commitment by HiRide in this couple of years – told Domenico Borgese, HiRide’s Chief Technology Officer – with the goal of introducing something really innovative and revolutionary in the cycling world. We have had the privilege of working with top-level riders who have appreciated our technology, helped us to develop it, and finally chose it to compete in huge races like Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Today, we can confidently say that the electronic suspension is a reality in cycling – and it’s named ESAS.”
About HiRide
HiRide is an all-Italian reality, born in the innovation cluster of e-Novia – the first Enterprise Factory – with the ambition of setting new standards of performance in cycling, reaching new heights in terms of riding flexibility, effectiveness and stability.
HiRide designs, develops and manufactures smart active suspension for different bike categories, from those in which the use of suspensions is more established – notably, mountain bike – to the gravel and endurance branches.
During the riding action, the rider is mentally and physically focused on the drive and the pursuit of performance, hence the suspension becomes crucial for the riding efficiency, safety and stability. With HiRide, the suspension becomes smart, and capable of understanding – through complex algorithms – maneuvers, riding styles and road condition, and activate automatically to adapt the suspensions’ behavior in order to maximize the performance of the rider and the stability of the bike in every condition.
HiRide is engineering and technology always pushing beyond the state of art, along with the significant high-end experience derived from the automotive world, and the motorbike branch in particular: thanks to this unique background, HiRide can count on cutting-edge competences in algorithms and control electronics.
HiRide has landed in the world of cycling at the highest level, becoming the first ever brand to introduce an electronic suspension on an endurance bike, a technology whose effectiveness has been tested and stated by the strongest professionals in road cycling.
Milan, April 13rd, 2018
