151. UCI rules, design evolution, and why bikes are so expensive, with Pieter Potters

About this episode

Pieter Potters discusses bike design evolution, UCI rules, and the high costs of bicycles.

This week's guest is Pieter Potters, R&D manager at Belgian Cycling Factory, the group that owns Eddy Merckx Cycles and Ridley Bikes. For nearly six years Pieter has been at the centre of designing cutting edge road and gravel bikes, including the recent Ridley Noah Fast 3.0, which features a new kind of geometry that many see poised to change the game - think steep seat tubes, short cranks and aggressive forward positioning of the rider (don't worry, Pieter explains it better). Pieter is also in charge designing Eddy Merckx bikes, so here he discusses plans to rejuvenate that once great marque, along with answering questions around how much input pro-riders really have into the bikes they ride, how to design bikes for the modern age, how to negotiate potentially ruinous UCI rule changes, and that perennial question, just why are bikes so expensive? Interview begins at This episode is brought to you by the Hammerhead Karoo GPS bike computer. Visit hammerhead.io and use the code CYCLIST to get a free HR strap with every purchase (just be sure to add the strap to your cart then apply the code at checkout) ------------------ Did you know  Cyclist  is also stunning…

People in this episode

Guest: Pieter Potters

Topics covered

• UCI rules
• bike design
• cycling industry
• bike pricing
• professional cycling

Keywords

• UCI rules
• bike design
• Eddy Merckx
• Ridley Bikes
• cycling costs
• Pieter Potters
• Karoo GPS

Sponsors

Hammerhead

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Belgian Cycling Factory, Eddy Merckx Cycles, Ridley Bikes

Products: Ridley Noah Fast 3.0, Karoo GPS bike computer

More episodes of Cyclist Magazine Podcast

• 159. Lidl-Trek's Mattias Reck: Why are riders faster, and the resilience of Mads Pedersen · June 11, 2026 · 1h 15m
• 158. Magdeleine Vallieres, World Champion · May 28, 2026 · 48 min
• 157. Rob Britton: Slave to the road turned gravel supremo · May 14, 2026 · 1h 16m
• 156. Guy Martin: Getting kidnapped, land speed records and defying death on two wheels · April 30, 2026 · 1h 16m
• 155. George Hincapie: Paris-Roubaix, elbows out racing and his Modern Adventure · April 16, 2026 · 1h 15m
• 154. Harry Tanfield: Baptisms of fire, keeping the faith, and the Ribble Outliers · April 2, 2026 · 1h 16m