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Cycling Weekly’s website has published a story about a colour-changing carbon composite technology developed by Hope Technology. In fact, the "story" was this year’s April Fools spoof by the Lancashire company, and Cycling Weekly fell for it at the end of September.
"Ever wished you could change the colour of your bike or components easily?" asked Cycling Weekly on September 29th. "Well, pretty soon you may be able to turn a dial on your bars and give your bike a whole new look instantly, thanks to tech that Hope is working on with Manchester University."
The Cycling Weekly journalist continued: "Together, they’ve developed a new resin that can be used in prepreg carbon fibre sheets. It conducts electricity and when a current is applied, the resin rapidly changes through a range of colours."
The journo added, factually: "There’s a lot of expertise in carbon materials at Manchester University: researchers there discovered wonder material graphene too."
However, the conclusion remains decidedly dodgy: "So it may be that it won’t be too long before we see Chris Froome’s bike immediately turn yellow when he takes the lead in the Tour de France. And just as quickly revert to standard Sky black if he has a bad day."
Hope Technology tweeted to Cycling Weekly, letting it down gently:
