UCI Bans on Track Cycling
The UCI, the organization that monitors all cycling-related sports, continuously places bans on every sub-community. Let’s see what else the UCI has in store this time
Three track cyclists, Will Bjergelt, Matt Richardson, and Charlie Tanfield from the GB team went to Turkish velodrome, Konya Velodrome, with world records in their sights. Each cyclist used the same model of bike, the Hope HB.T. However, the cycling governing body, the UCI has banned the bike due to the length of the bars, forks, and seats. According to regulations, forks are solely limited to an internal fork width of 115mm at the front and rear. With smaller riders, there was also an internal handlebar width regulation which prevented riders from riding uncomfortable or potentially unsafe positions, which was met with strong opposition. With hundreds of complaints, there's rumor of the UCI backpedalling and removing some regulations, but despite that, the Hope HB.T used by this British trio is slowly facing its inevitable demise.
It’s fascinating but expected for the UCI to once again add more rules in track cycling. But the strict regulations constantly being added is still as infuriating as ever. Its also intriguing that famous companies, such as Swiss Side, are sending hundreds of thousands of formal complaints to the UCI in rage of having to comply with these outrageous regulations. Another interesting statistic is that these new rules and regulations have caused companies to lose a lot of money in the SIX DIGITS (euros) due to having to redesign many bikes. Though the UCI may give leeway, those are only sad rumors. Luckily, these should be reinforced by the year 2027. I personally don’t even race in the UCI, but this information to me is sad to see as I intend to race in the UCI sometime in the future. Personally, I believe these regulations should be lifted or allowed to have lighter punishments for all future track cyclists.
