News

Jul 06, 2023

Classified hype intensifies with new partnership and €10m investment

Latest fundraising said to value the company at €40 to €50 million This

Latest fundraising said to value the company at €40 to €50 million

This competition is now closed

By Oscar Huckle

Published: January 27, 2023 at 10:00 am

British wheelset manufacturer Parcours has announced a long-term partnership with Classified.

Parcours’ Alta gravel wheels and the Ronde, Chrono and Strade range will all be available with Classified's Powershift hubs. These models make up Parcours’ Monuments range of wheels.

Classified's Powershift is a 2-speed gear system housed in the rear hub.

It effectively replaces a front derailleur on a 1x drivetrain. The system can be actuated wirelessly via a modified Shimano 11-speed Di2 shifter, or with a separate remote mounted to the handlebar.

The technology is currently only found in road bikes and gravel bikes, but Classified has said openly that it's developing a similar system for mountain and urban bikes.

Parcours has teased more announcements and partnership developments later in the year.

Parcours becomes the eighth wheel brand to partner with Classified.

In July 2022, DT Swiss, Mavic, Fast Forward, ENVE, Reynolds, Boyd and Spinergy all announced they would begin making Classified-equipped wheelsets.

Classified also offers its own G30 Powershift wheelset, which pairs the hub with a 30mm-deep, tubeless-ready hooked carbon rim for £2,299 / $2,999 / €2,599.

This week, it was announced Nick Evans, chairman of Rapha, would invest €10 million in Classified.

Whether or not Classified's innovative hub-based system can spell the end of the front derailleur remains to be seen, but the increase in partnerships and investment suggests interest in the technology is growing.

1x drivetrains are near ubiquitous on mountain bikes and are specced on many gravel bikes. They’re not as popular on road bikes because some riders prefer a wider range of gears with smaller jumps between them.

With the gear housed in Classified's proprietary hub, the front derailleur can be removed. This offers a cleaner aesthetic and is one fewer location for mud to ingress in an off-road setting.

It also opens up the possibility for new frame designs, given the front derailleur mount doesn't need to be accounted for.

Technical writer

Oscar Huckle is a technical writer at BikeRadar. He has been an avid cyclist since his teenage years, initially catching the road cycling bug and riding for a local club. He's since been indoctrinated into gravel riding and more recently has taken to the dark art of mountain biking. His favourite rides are epic road or gravel routes, and he has also caught the bikepacking bug hard after completing the King Alfred's Way and West Kernow Way. Oscar has a BA degree in English Literature and Film Studies and has close to a decade of cycling industry experience, initially working in a variety of roles at Evans Cycles before joining Carbon Bike Repair. He is particularly fond of workshop tool exotica and is a proponent of Campagnolo groupsets. Oscar prefers lightweight road and gravel frames with simple tube shapes, rather than the latest trend for aerodynamics and full integration. He is obsessed with keeping up to date with all the latest tech, is fixated with the smallest details and is known for his unique opinions.

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