So, Dimond didn't make the cut?

I find the addition of the Reap bike very interesting. Just checked out their website and it appears they've made a few tweaks to the frame.

Edit: picture of the Reap bike below. That fork looks familiar 🤔

I'm not sure whether they didn't make the cut... It's more likely they haven't applied yet for approval... There might be a rush, just after Kona this year for some of the non-traditional bike makers to apply for approval so that by early next year their bikes could be legal... Or some may roll the dice and wait to see what the rules look like when they are released (Usually around Dec/Jan), before going through the application process, but that might leave their athletes out in the cold for a few months while they await approval. Dimond isn't the only one either, Falco makes a TT beam bike, that periodically shows up at races, amongst others.
I hadn't noticed tweaks to the Reap, I just know that it popped up in late May on the approved list. Out of the 4 approved, it is by far the one I know the least about...

Falco is out of business. They won't be applying for anything.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

So the few we see lingering around in t zones are going to be expensive wastes of money for most sanctioned racing...

The approval process isn't difficult or even lengthy. It's a one-page application that you can find for yourself on the itu website. The toughest aspect is getting independent ISO safety certification for the frame, fork, and seatpost, in all sizes of your bike. This is a very expensive process, and you don't want to undertake the independent certification until you are SURE that your bicycle will pass it. That means that you need to do the testing at the factory level first, before sending to the independent lab.

Most big name manufacturers and factories do all of this testing in-house already, so they know they'll pass when they send out to an ISO lab. I know of a big name wheel company who would send out engineers to the independent lab itself, to ensure that all the testing was done appropriately (torque specs, specific assembly stuff, etc). However, smaller manufacturers may not always have the budgets to do ISO testing, and perhaps wouldn't want to shell out for the independent certification not knowing if their product will pass the standards tests.

For TriRig's part, we indeed perform all of the testing at the factory level, to ~120% of the ISO standard, so we knew we'd pass the independent certification. We sent off our samples and wrote the big check for lab certification. We did this not just to have ITU approval (which is a relatively tiny chunk of the market), but to have an additional independent verification that our frames are safe. Moreover, we decided to make the testing even tougher, and we asked the lab to do ALL of the strength/impact AND fatigue tests on just a single sample of each frame size. Per the testing standard, you can use up to five fresh samples for different parts of the test. So we were prepared with additional samples in case our first one failed along the way. The lab advised that it was extremely unlikely we'd pass all the tests on just one sample. But we did - each Omni sample (Small, Medium, Large) passed ALL of the tests on a single sample. Omni is one tough bike.

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TriRig.com

That's good to know Nick! Any chance you could give us a teaser of whatever it is you're working on? I recall seeing one photo of a sub assembly on your FB page.

Great insight from the manufacturer's side. I know the testing is the challenging part, especially for the smaller manufacturers who don't do the volume to merit doing testing in house. I also know the costs can be huge, not to mention the volume of product that can be sent to the lab, depending on the number of sizes, models, etc (especially if you are not positive that they will pass).

And while i agree that ITU legal is a relatively small slice of the market, it may become much larger, with the WTC and ITU moving to one set of rules for long course racing, meaning that racing options start to become limited for non-approved non-traditional bikes...

I hate when people show up to races on illegal bikes and telling them that they can't be used, but I think everyone wants to know that people are riding safe machines, and not putting their own safety and that of others at risk.