When the figurehead of the DerbyWheel project to reinvent track cycling writes an article about reinventing track cycling, and doesn’t use the word DerbyWheel, that’s worth a closer look.
For what it’s worth, we never liked the name DerbyWheel. Nobody would hear the name, and instantly associate it with bicycles or velodromes. Nobody searching online for keirin racing would find it.
What they would find instead would be articles describing repeated missed deadlines; and a UCI statement declaring it a forbidden competition. Those are heavy bags to carry, as you try to get out of the start gate.
We also foresaw legal problems. The name ‘Derby Wheel’ (two words) was already being used for a horse racing-themed video slot game. It had been registered as a trademark, specifically in the area of gambling, online gaming and the organisation of sports competitions.
We weren’t even sure how to pronounce the word. Did Derby rhyme with Herbie or Barbie?
James Pope’s use of the term Pro Keirin (and Pro Keirin World Series) with capital letters, coupled with his avoidance of the DerbyWheel name must be an indication of the initiative’s plans going forward.
In fairness, it was hiding in plain sight. The words ‘Pro Keirin’ have been used as part of DerbyWheel’s logo – not just the current red-and-black iteration, but its blue predecessor too.
Accounts in the name /prokeirin were registered some time ago at Instagram, X/Twitter and TikTok. All currently carry DerbyWheel references in the account bios, although no posts have yet been published by any of them.
We also note that the domain name prokeirin.com was (finally) registered at the end of last week. Details of domain registrants are no longer public, but there are reasons to connect prokeirin.com to the DerbyWheel organisation. It currently points to a hosting company’s holding page: but rest assured, we’re monitoring it for updates.
We’re wary of reading too much into all this. But the switch to a viable name was always going to be an essential step towards launching this thing… and this is the first tangible step forwards we’ve seen in months.