Tabla de contenidos para April 2016 en Cyclist

It’s a tough job to persuade cyclists to part with £348 for a set of jockey wheels, but CeramicSpeed gives it a good go: ‘Some consumers will be put off by the price – it’s hard to avoid but not our intention,’ says CeramicSpeed managing director Martin Banke. ‘Everything about the bearings, cage and wheels, plus the relationships between these components, has been intensively researched, so we think the cost is a fair reflection of the system’s quality.’ The long-arm, carbon fibre cage houses two large 17-tooth pulley wheels. CeramicSpeed claims the design reduces friction by allowing the chain to wrap around the pulley wheels at less extreme angles. This, coupled with the wheels running on CeramicSpeed’s famed bearings, saves 2.4 watts over conventional set-ups, according to Banke. ‘The idea…

‘I think safety has been a growing problem in cycling. We have a lot of political involvement in road safety – in the USA that’s where we’re active. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and it’s not a train’ Cyc: We gather you’ve cycled with George W Bush. How did that happen? John Burke: I was on the President’s Council of Physical Fitness. Back then George W Bush was a big runner but he was having problems with his knee. I sent a note to someone who knew him that he should get a bicycle – the White House called about 20 minutes later. So all of a sudden he got into biking, and he turned out to become a huge mountain biker, so I’d…

Bike shows are great places to see the latest road bikes up close, but wouldn’t you rather get on them and ride? That’s exactly what you can do at the first ever Cyclist Track Day. We’ve brought together 10 of the biggest brand names in cycling, who will have their top bikes available to test. If you’re considering a new purchase in 2016 or just fancy getting a feel for the best kit our there, it’s the perfect opportunity to compare models and find the right bike for you. The action will take place on Sunday 17th April at the Olympic Park in east London. Located next to the iconic velodrome, the mile long outdoor track is purpose-built for road riding and offers a fast, winding circuit to get the…

This will be a horribly biased review because I own a Pinarello myself. In fact, I felt like a cheating lover when I left my 2012 Quattro at home to enjoy a weekend jaunt in the Apennines with this younger and slimmer 2015 model. With geometry and tube shapes derived from the higher-spec Paris, the Marvel is a smooth ride that, like all Pinarellos, rewards you when you put your foot down. With its quirky asymmetric design, the bike felt well balanced on the Apennines’ rustic roads, while the tapered head tube offers extra lateral rigidity, which is noticeable as you climb out of the saddle. The internal cable routing and wavy fork are nice touches, and what you’re getting here is a slick bike at a great price. I…

TRAINING BLOCKS Within each block of training (macro-cycle), each weekly micro-cycle should be increasingly challenging, either through adding extra sessions or ramping up the intensity. In the high intensity weeks remember to do your hardest sessions early on while you are freshest. FITNESS LEVEL In a well-managed programme the recovery week (Week 4) allows your body to adapt and ‘super-compensate’ to the training, which should see your performance increase in a stepped fashion. Remember that proper recovery is just as important as the training itself.…

To download this route go to cyclist.co.uk/46dingle . Head west out of Dingle Town along the marina, turning left at the roundabout by the stone bridge. Follow Slea Head Drive/R559 around the coast, then back inland in a clockwise direction to Dingle Town. Leave Dingle Town going northeast on the R559 signed Spa Road, which segues into the Conor Pass. The road splits at the bottom of the descent at 52km. Bear east to continue, or head north to Cloghane for 4km to visit O’Connor’s. Head onto the R560, through Aughascasla, turning right at Knockglass and through Camp. Tackle The Wall, descend to Aughills then turn right onto the R561, continuing onto the N86 back to Dingle (although a more circuitous, seaside route can be wended below…

‘He built bikes only because of his great passion. Since the first day, that has never changed,’ says Passoni’s owner, Silvia Gravi, of her father-in-law Luciano Passoni. Here in Vimercate, on an industrial estate just beyond the boundaries of glamorous Milan, in the shadow of the peaks of the Eastern Alps, bespoke framebuilding company Passoni goes about its business just as it has done for 30 years. The frames lovingly crafted inside show no sign of being trapped in the past, however. ‘To cut the tubes and TIG-weld the frame takes Rubens eight hours – a full day,’ says production manager Lisa Rossi as she shows Cyclist around the workshop. Welder Rubens Gori is working on a Top Force titanium frame. At this early stage he’s simply ‘tacking’ – welding…

CANNONDALE CERV Cannondale’s Continuously Ergonomic Race Vehicle (CERV) has single-sided swing-arms for both front and rear wheels, plus an entirely enclosed shaft-driven transmission, but its main party piece is less obvious to the eye. It has the capacity to alter its geometry so the bar position lowers and extends forward to give the rider an aggressive aero tuck for descending, and rises and comes back towards the rider for a more powerful position with increased leverage for the climbs. BMC IMPEC Entirely made in BMC’s Swiss lab, the Impec’s bars, stem and saddle have been completely integrated into its entirely carbon, mostly single-sided structure, which we’d wager would be incredibly light and stiff (if it was actually rideable). Electronic integration is a key aspect of the design, with a smartphone…

When it comes to bicycles, many people stick to convention, favouring the mass market over the unique and quirky. Perhaps, though, we’re poorer for it. For instance, if modern carbon is ‘best’ it would be easy to overlook the Colnago Master X-Light with its crimped steel tubes, sumptuous paint and decades of history. Equally, if you focus only on the big brands, you might miss out on the elaborate design and thrilling ride of the custom Italian Formigli. And a stoic allegiance to tarmac would mean a rider might pass up the opportunity to explore new territory on a bike such as the Cannondale Slate. So for a slightly different perspective on road bikes, read on……

THE SPEC Model Formigli The One Groupset Campagnolo Super Record Deviations None Wheels Vittoria Qurano 46 tubular Finishing Kit Deda 35 carbon bars/alloy stem, Formigli carbon seatpost, Fizik Airone CX carbon saddle Weight 7.32kg (56cm) Price £4,400 frameset only in custom silver, approx £8,500 as tested Contact  lebeauvelo.co.uk According to my once lorry-driving uncle (who used to deliver everything from water purifiers to Romanian orphanages, to knickers to Ukrainian ladies) there’s a saying among long-haul drivers: ‘I’d rather be homeless than chromeless’. In other words, truckers would gladly forgo a roof over their heads if it meant having a sparkling, chromed truck cab. It’s a phrase you’ll hear in the motorbike world as well, and now one that I think is applicable in the land of bicycles thanks to the…

The Elemnt bike computer is a surprising little device, not least because Wahoo has allowed some of the vowels to remain in its name, which is unusual for them. In order to compete in a market heavily dominated by Garmin, Wahoo has opted to take a fundamentally different path in terms of set-up and connectivity. ‘A consistent trend we noticed in our consumer research was the need for simplicity,’ says José Méndez, Wahoo’s head of cycling. ‘So we created an intuitive set-up and update process for the Elemnt using an app on your phone, rather than in the computer itself. Apps, unlike device-specific software, are used every day so we could capitalise on the familiar app navigation processes.’ The app combined with the Elemnt’s wi-fi capability allows a degree of…

To paraphrase William Cowper’s line from his 1785 poem ‘The Task’: versatility is the spice of life. If this is to be believed, the newest do-it-all disc wheelset from the pioneering tubeless-ready brand Stan’s NoTubes is very spicy indeed. ‘The wheel is designed with a wide-section rim for use on the road, gravel or in cyclocross,’ says Simon Beatson, Stan’s brand manager at distributor Paligap. ‘Its 20.3mm internal width will take a range of tyres – 25mm to 40mm – whatever the frame can accommodate. The wheels aren’t designed to be a super-light road option, but for real-world use in tough conditions. The rim profile seats tyres easily and securely.’ These rims have Stan’s 3.30 hubs, but soon the ZTR Grails will come paired with the company’s all-new Neo hubs.…

Houses, cheesecakes, DNA double helixes… they all start with a good base, and it’s no different with cycling kit. Be it sleeveless, short-sleeve or long-sleeve, the base layer is a year-round staple in a cyclist’s wardrobe because it serves two important functions: to wick sweat and provide insulation. Until recently brands tended to focus only on the fabric technology, and as a result the base layer was simply a functional item – you could choose between plain black or plain white. But now designers are realising that an unzipped jersey offers a chance for riders to show a more flamboyant side, and they are producing base layers accordingly. ‘This trend has arisen in line with more colours and patterns in all types of cycling clothing,’ says Yanto Barker, pro rider…

1 ADIDAS EVIL EYE EVO PRO VARIO GLASSES £189.99, adidas.com Back in Ancient Greece an evil eye was nothing to be proud of – a magical curse that manifested in anything from excessive hiccups to feverous death-knells. Today, though, an Evil Eye is a thing of sunglass envy, providing superb wide-angle vision and now coming complete with Adidas’s latest photochromatic Vario lenses. 2 TRUESTART COFFEE £5.95, truestartcoffee.com It’s said that snakes don’t drink coffee because it makes them viperactive. That’s why Truestart has developed an instant coffee for cyclists that guarantees the amount of caffeine per cup to help you finely tune your intake and boost performance. Because all those little gains adder up [you’re fired – Ed]. 3 AIRSMITH MINI FLOOR PUMP £50, neoscycling.co.uk With a chamber capacity of…

Wary of any late mishaps, our guide regularly reminds us that there is a sting in the tail of today’s ride Zig-zagging up the slopes of the 2,142m Blockhaus mountain – an imposing mass of rock in the central Apennines of Italy often likened to Mont Ventoux for its stark and sinister allure – I can feel the late summer sunshine boiling my brain to gnocchi and the razor-sharp gradients gnawing at my legs. But the true pain, the one that will still make me wince tonight, stems from the fact I’m being beaten uphill by a cycling-mad octogenarian with a jersey full of pastries and a pair of youthful lungs stolen, it seems, from Vincenzo Nibali himself. Nunziato Pellegrini is the suitably bubbly name of the vivacious 80-year-old local…

You’d have to go a long way and expect to pay a serious amount more to find a better all-round race bike than the TCR. The compact frame is exceptionally stiff for the weight – 6.65kg off the peg, size medium. Yet thanks to the long, thin seatpost, skinny seatstays and squared-off down tube (where the underside is flattened to increase vertical flex but inhibit torsional flex), it’s a truly comfortable bike. Given the potential for rain, I swapped out the nimble Giant SLR 0 carbon clinchers for alloy Hunt 4Season Aeros with Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tyres, which provided reliable braking in the wet. The SLR 0s are tubeless compatible, so I’d urge anyone to ditch the Giant PSLR-1 tyres and look to Schwalbe for some quality tubeless rubber.…

XXTI £6,199 frame and fork The carbon/titanium XXTi tops the Passoni range. With titanium from Reynolds and carbon from Dedacciai, the XXTi is all put together under the Passoni roof. TOP FORCE £5,799 frame and fork The all-titanium flagship. A mix of Grade 9 and Grade 5 Reynolds ti tubing keeps the build light but stiff, while a tapered head tube does a lot for the handling. TOP EVOLUTION £5,299 frame and fork While the Top Force is the racer, this is the more forgiving endurance ride, separated from its sibling mainly by thinner tubing and a straight 1 › in head tube. LIGHTSTEEL £3,499 frame and fork Using Columbus XCr stainless steel, the Lightsteel offers the same customisation as its top titanium frames, but in a slightly stiffer and…

The route is one of the best known in cycling and the longest that the pro peloton faces each season car park on the periphery of Milan isn’t the most impressive location for the departure of a bike race, but no one is too bothered by the surroundings. There’s a tense excitement in the air and we’re all on edge, huddled onto a small starting grid, squeezing brake levers and trying not to look nervous, wondering if we’ve brought enough kit, if the weather will be cruel or kind, and if we could possibly have stuffed another snack or two into our bulging jersey pockets. The concern is not unwarranted, nor is the eagerness to get going and escape the city. We are, after all, staring down the barrel of…

THE SPEC Model Colnago Master X-Light Groupset Campagnolo Super Record Deviations None Wheels Handbuilt Ambrosio Excellence ‘China Blue’ rims on Campagnolo Record hubs Finishing kit Ritchey Classic bars, Ritchey Classic C220 stem, Ritchey Classic seatpost, Selle San Marco Concor Light saddle Weight 8.10kg (size 53cm) Price £1,799 frameset, £4,358 approx complete build Contact  windwave.co.uk Between them, Eddy Merckx and Giuseppe Saronni won 719 races from 1965 to 1988, and the bulk of those victories were aboard a steel Colnago. Ernesto Colnago first designed the Master frame in 1982 as a replacement for the Mexico, which was named after Eddy Merckx’s successful Hour record in Mexico city. Over the course of 17 years in the pro peloton, the Master was ridden to hundreds of wins, and there are few bikes that…

THE DETAILS Weight 1,540g (700g front, 840g rear) Rim depth 55mm Rim width External 26mm Spoke count 20 front, 24 rear Price £1,099 Contact huntbikewheels.com Trends in wheels are a little like trends in fashion – sooner or later everyone ends up doing the same thing. At the moment, tubeless-ready rims are a hot topic, and many brands are opting for the blunt U-shaped rim profile championed by the likes of Zipp and Enve. With that in mind, the Hunt 55 Carbons are no doubt trendy, but look closer and these wheels boast some serious innovation. ‘Pretty much all mountain bike carbon wheels are hookless,’ says Hunt founder Tom Marchment. ‘It’s the accepted way you do it, and I think the way we think about it for road will change…

Stages power meters became popular owing to the neatness and simplicity of having strain gauges built into the left-hand crank arm, but that also threw up a problem. Stages previously steered clear of carbon fibre crank arms because they were considered too challenging due to the potential inconsistencies in the way carbon fibre behaves. This wasn’t a problem if you used alloy Shimano cranks, but ruled out anyone using high-end FSA, Sram or Campagnolo chainsets. Until now that is. ‘We could have made a carbon power meter a long time ago, but it would have required constant and vigilant zero resets,’ says Sam Morrison, Stages Cycling engineer. ‘Carbon expands and contracts with temperature very differently to metal. The biggest hurdle was designing the [power] meter to handle temperature changes in…

Flourescent clothing has long been the safety-conscious commuters’ choice, and it has enjoyed a recent surge in popularity with fashion-conscious road cyclists, too. But in spite of its obvious attention-grabbing qualities, debate rages about whether fluoro and brightly coloured attire actually makes its wearer safer than a rider who prefers more muted shades. It might seem intuitive that bright clothing is more noticeable, yet academic studies and empirical evidence suggest it may actually make little difference in the real world, or even provoke a negative reaction in some drivers. In the name of clarity, we decided to examine the evidence on both sides to find out if wearing fluoro really is the sensible thing to do. Perhaps unsurprisingly, The Highway Code comes down clearly in favour, recommending ‘light-coloured or fluorescent…

‘There’s a danger if you try to peak too frequently you won’t be as fit as you could be, as you’re spending too much time resting’ In the words of Hannibal Smith, leader of The A-Team, ‘I love it when a plan comes together.’ In his case, that usually meant breaking out of a high-security compound having knocked together a tank out of some spare parts found in a barn, but his catchphrase also rings true for the cyclist looking to get in shape after the winter lay-off. Without a proper plan, it’s hard to structure your training in any meaningful way, so where do you start in creating one? You could always hand over a fistful of cash to a qualified coach who will guide you every step of…

There’s no doubt about it, travelling by bicycle is the best possible way to see the world and, indeed, the best possible excuse. Cycling is at its very least a glorious end in itself, where exertion meets fatigue and turns to triumph, and at its pinnacle is the ultimate expression of man, machine and landscape. I seem to have slipped into an internal monologue of pseudo-poeticisms that would put a GSCE student to shame, but I can put the blame on the beauty and solitude of the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. This is Europe’s most westerly point, from where St Brendan is reckoned to have sailed for America more than 700 years before Columbus, and while it doesn’t count as part of the UK, I can’t imagine a more stunning…

The Cime de la Bonette is home to Europe’s highest paved road, and is… what’s that you say? It’s not Europe’s highest paved road? Then why does it have a sign at the top saying it is? It’s one of life’s little mysteries. Officially the Pico del Veleta in Spain’s Sierra Nevada mountains is the highest ‘proper’ road, reaching just over 3,300m. Still, the Cime de la Bonette is at least France’s highest paved road, which isn’t to be sniffed at. However, if you’re talking about Europe’s highest cols things get even more confusing, because the Cime de la Bonette is not quite the same as the Col de la Bonette. A ‘col’ is a pass – a road that passes over the top of a climb en route to…

THE SPEC Model Cannondale Slate Groupset Shimano Ultegra Deviations Shimano R685 shifters and BR805/785 hydraulic disc callipers, Cannondale Hollowgram Si cranks with SpideRing Wheels Slate 650b alloy disc Finishing kit Cannondale C2 alloy bars, Cannondale C1 alloy stem, Cannondale C1 alloy seatpost, Fabric Scoop Radius saddle Weight 9.6kg (large) Price £2,800 Contact  cyclingsportsgroup.co.uk Over the years, Cannondale has taken more of a lead-not-follow approach to its designs. As a result it now has technology at its disposal, such as its single-legged Lefty suspension fork, that it can use on interesting projects such as the Slate. It’s certainly distinctive, which makes it difficult to categorise. Is it a road bike, a mountain bike, or is it that latest of cycling trends – a gravel bike? Influenced heavily by the US market,…

THE DETAILS Total cost of eTap parts £1,180 Mechanical parts to complete groupset £879 Total price £2,059 Total weight (BB30, 11-25 cassette) 1,978g Contact sram.com It was only with the advent of Di2 in 2009 that Shimano finally persuaded the cycling public to adopt electronic gear shifting. Since then, Di2 has enjoyed such success that there is now talk of it filtering down to the mid-level 105 groupset. Campagnolo followed suit with the launch of its EPS electronic system in 2012, which rather left the other big name in groupsets, Sram, out in the cold. But the American company has at last released its much-anticipated eTap Wireless system, and the question has to be asked: was it worth the wait? On the pulse Realising the industry didn’t really need a…