A $31,000 Titanium Bike, 32-Inch Wheels, and Breaking the Factor One

Five minutes after walking in the door from the Taipei Cycle Show, I sat down with Mike Levy to unpack what it was like being there. We immediately dive into the wildest tech from the show floor: what a $31,000 3D-printed titanium road bike actually looks like, whether those budget power meter pedals are legit or just vaporware, and the exact physics behind Pirelli’s claim that their new aero tire cuts drag without ruining rolling resistance. I also talk about the one Chinese brand I found at the show and how they’ve got a brand new gravel bike that’s half the price of a Western company. We also get into the 32-inch wheel standard. The first suspension fork for the standard hit the market at the show, and we dig into whether this is the upgrade riders have been waiting for. It wasn’t all walking trade show aisles, though. I spent a few days riding Factor's futuristic One aero road bike through the Taipei jungle, and the experience taught me how much better road culture can be. I was planning to bring that bike home for a full review and further aero testing. Instead, it stayed behind. We get into how the bike actually handles on the road, its aggressive geometry, and the ongoing mystery behind how I somehow managed to break it.

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A $31,000 Titanium Bike, 32-Inch Wheels, and Breaking the Factor One is an episode from VeloNews Podcasts by Velo.

This episode is 61:02 long.

This episode was published on Apr 3, 2026.

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