The Design & Innovation Award (the DI.A) is more than just a title-giver or a round of applause for brands. It’s the definitive award that decisively tests products in the real world, assessing them in their entirety and reaching considered verdicts. This year once again saw select international journalists, professional test riders, and industry experts invest countless hours of their time to partake in the DI.A process.

The bike market is changing quicker than ever before. In all categories – from road to mountain bike, and every discipline in between – startups and established brands try to convince consumers to buy their new products. The same applies for the camping and outdoor as well as the tourism industry. But can every new development be considered as an innovation? How can buyers be confident they are not just naively consuming marketing hype?

The Design & Innovation Award is both a seal of approval and the benchmark achievement for the bike industry’s highest-performing products. Aside from being a catalyst for future innovations, the Design & Innovation Award brings clarity to consumers, offering navigation through what is an ever-more-segmented market flooded with new products and often well-intentioned declarations of new trends. In this special issue you’ll find everything about the Design & Innovation Award 2019 and the awarded products.

If you’ve already got our GRAN FONDO app, you’ll be able to download the special issue directly. If not, now’s your chance to grab our free app for iOS or Android.


Here’s a preview on some of the highlights from this special issue

Road bike trends 2019

In a relentless drive for innovation, the road bike industry is constantly bringing new products to market. It can be difficult to distinguish between true innovations and solutions that solve non-existent problems. We’ve summarized the most important trends.

All DI.A Winners 2019

The Design & Innovation Award is more than just an award. It’s the only award to feature comprehensive review, highlight potential and discuss the true value of innovation. The award team has once more invested countless hours to analyse the most exciting products of 2019 for you. Lear more about all the products that secured the coveted Design & Innovation Award.

DI.A Testing Process – Rethinking “innovation” and “design”

Unfortunately, innovation has become an overused term – so what is true innovation? What distinguishes an outstanding product? We take a look behind the scenes of the Design & Innovation Award.

The All-road Paradise of San Vigilio

It’s no secret that the Dolomites are the ultimate, no-mercy road riding location. The testing ground for this year’s DI.A, South Tyrol’s San Vigilio/Kronplatz threw back its veil and introduced us to an array of awe-inspiring routes that bisect and scale the mountains, revealing views with which life wouldn’t be complete without experiencing.

As of right now, you can read all the exciting articles in our app or on the Design & Innovation Award Website. Enjoy reading


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