Table of contents for April 2017 in Cycling Plus

1 ADIDAS ZONYK AERO PRO VARIO GLASSES £TBC Adidas’s latest glasses do a sterling job protecting against sun and rain. The photochromic Vario lenses are removable but why bother when they’re this good, a highlight is the way the transparent blue becomes mirrored in bright sunlight. 2 DHB AERON RAIN DEFENCE KNEE WARMERS £25.99 If you’re staying in Europe, no matter where you go, it’ll be chilly in the mornings, if not all day. The Aerons provide shower protection, warmth and breathability. A silicone thigh gripper keeps them in place. 3 RIEMANN P20 SPF 30, 200ML £24.49 It won’t be sweltering during European training camp season but the sun can still be strong. Reimann P20 is designed for active people, in sprays (SPF 15, 30 and 50) and transparent lotion…

I prefer cycling alone when I’m training and in total focused isolation, just pedalling away Charity rides are my new Olympic event. I’ve just completed a 750km ride in Australia, just after doing a stage of a 362- mile ride from Holyhead in Wales to Barkingside in east London. That route followed Thomas Barnardo’s path when he arrived from Ireland in 1866. I love doing rides for that charity. I have close friends for whom Barnado’s was a lifechanger and I’ve been supporting them for around 20 years. The bike bug has bitten me. I’ll do three or four event rides a year and training rides in between. It’s a bit overkill I guess but I’ve got four bikes in all - your readers may think that’s too few! I’ve…

The details are pretty special, with the front and rear thruaxles using Focus’s own RAT system axles ocus is forged from cyclo-cross, its first bikes were ’cross bikes, and the founder has been a cyclo-cross world champ. So the company has accumulated a fair bit of knowledge over 25 years, which shows the minute you ride the impressive Mares. F At just a smidge over 8kg (58cm) it’s lighter than both the more expensive Ridley and Trek, bikes built for road racing, not mud plugging. It’s impressive just how light the Mares is, especially when you consider that it’s only shod with budget A-Class wheels. Step up to a set of race-level wheels and you’d shed a good half a kilo. The aggressive ride position with a stack of 568mm…

Boardman has set about showcasing its capable frames with a selection of the best components oardman has built its reputation on offering top-class bikes for mid-range money. With the Signature Series, the company has set about showcasing its very capable frames with a selection of the best components money can buy. Add in exclusive livery for a ride that looks every inch the superbike. B With a parts list that includes an ENVE carbon stem (£250), bar (£325), Zipp’s 303 Firecrest disc wheels (£2250) and Vittoria Corsa CX tyres (£100), you’re already looking at over £3000 in parts, before you throw in Shimano’s flagship Dura-Ace Di2 electronic drivetrain and BR-R785 hydraulic disc brakes. That price tag starts to seem less daunting. Thankfully the chassis all this jewellery hangs from hits…

WE SAY The Bortolas are likeable allrounders but they lack the wow factor › Low-profile carbon clinchers TAIWANESE MANUFACTURER PRO-LITE’S BORTOLA C28W is a 28.6mm deep, carbon, tubeless-compatible clincher wheelset that weighs 1699g including rim tape, plus 116g for the quick-release skewers. Pro-Lite builds the Bortolas by hand on its own hubs, using straight-pull spokes in a 20 front, 24 rear configuration that includes “spoke braces” at the rear non-driveside. These mimic oldschool tying and soldering and claim to reduce torsional and lateral flex. We’re sceptical, as world-renowned wheel guru Jobst Brandt asserts that tying and soldering is bunk having tested it, but it doesn’t do any harm. The rims are wide externally at over 26mm (25mm nominally), but their internal width is middling at 17mm, likely a consequence of…

Mustard’s Gravel frame is filletbrazed in Reynolds 953 stainless steel by Mark Reilly BRIGHTON MAY BE known for many things – Britain’s first nudist beach, England’s only Green Party MP – but it’s less famed as a beacon of bespoke bike manufacturing. Until now… Prestige Cycles was founded in Hove in 2011, it launched Mustard the following year and it’s planning to expand the brand this spring. Its Gravel frame is designed in-house and silver-brazed in Reynolds 953 stainless steel by Mark Reilly – of Enigma and Reilly Cycleworks fame – in Brighton. The 44mm diameter head-tube comes from Paragon Machine works, the bottom bracket is an old-school threaded model while Brighton’s D’Lucks Custom Paint is responsible for the paintwork. The Gravel frame is paired with a TRP carbon fork…

I got my first road bike in 1978 when I was 13. It was a 10-speed, BSA Tour de France. It had solid steel cranks attached to the axle with cotter pins, and weighed a ton. The bike I yearned for was a Dawes Galaxy with a Reynolds 531 frame. I bought one in 1994 from a bike shop in Kettering, which specialised in end of line models and odd sized frames. I tried to convince myself that the Dawes was fine but in the end I had to accept that it was too small for me. There are plenty of Galaxies available on eBay now but competition has become fierce as people realise the virtues of a classic steel frame. One Sunday afternoon, while I was searching under ‘Reynolds…

“DO YOU REALLY WANT TO LIVE AND RIDE IN A PLACE WHERE YOU NEED TO WEAR BODY ARMOUR TO REMAIN SAFE?” CHRIS BOARDMAN ‘Helmets encourage a false sense of security.’ ‘They’re only useful for children falling off bikes.’ ‘Helmets put people off bikes.’ These aren’t the outbursts of Twitter trolls; each statement is backed up by studies over almost three decades of ongoing discussion of the pros and cons of cycle helmets. It was the publication of one such academic paper that started it all. A case-control study of the effectiveness of bicycle safety helmets, from 1989, is said by some to have been the catalyst for mandatory helmet law in Australia in 1990. Its findings continue to influence debate and divide opinion. Mandatory cycle helmet laws have been introduced…

ONE OF BRITAIN’S OLDEST SPORTIVES RELIES ON A WORD OF MOUTH REPUTATION AS THE TOUGHEST IN THE COUNTRY Fred Whitton Challenge 7 May, Grasmere, Cumbria Recent successful newcomers to the British sportive canon over the past few seasons recognise that in order to make a splash in a crowded market, you need to go big. The likes of Prudential RideLondon, Velothon Wales, the Tour of Cambridgeshire and this year’s new kid on the block, Velo Birmingham (p12), are all closed-road extravaganzas, starting a trend for the London Marathon-isation of the mass participation cycling market. It makes you wonder how popular the Fred Whitton Challenge would be if it was brand new. With a no frills approach, one of Britain’s oldest sportives (it began in 1999) relies on a word of…

Sportful Hi-Viz NoRain £125 1 You might be on the road for anything up to 10 hours, and with the UK’s changeable weather, a rain jacket that you can stow in your jersey pocket when the sun breaks out is crucial. Weighing just 140g and taking up 400ml, this is one of the lightest, best performing rain jackets out there. Lezyne Femto Drive Set £21.99 2 Ride a sportive in France and front and rear lights are a must; police have been known to pull cyclists up who aren’t using them. Lights are especially important in tunnels, which are most prevalent in the Alps. You don’t want something too heavy, which is why this front and rear set from Lezyne is perfect, at just 62g all in, with a smart…

he new £294.99 range-topping road shoe from Northwave has been developed to create an upper that uses a wire and dial system to completely eliminate any friction or pressure points. T The upper’s patented XFrame technology balances tensions for a seriously snug fit, and one that works best with just a single SLW2 dial to operate, thanks to the lacing design and the construction of its upper. ON THE RADAR BIKE TECH OF THE NEAR FUTURE BLADE RUNNERS? Four spokes? Three spokes? Nope, these two-spoked carbon wheels from Dutch company, er, 2-Spoke are claimed to actually help generate speed in certain wind conditions. At _2440 a pair we think they should! CANYON LOW-DOWN German online retail giant Canyon has released its lightest bike. The Ultimate CF EVO 10.0 SL frame…

he bicycle is living in troubled times. Cycling, once merely a means of transport for the poor and those too small to operate cars safely, is now an instrument of urban revolution, a statement, a badge of allegiance. T But, actually, this is all twaddle. There is an outspoken bicycle lobby, just as there’s one for cars, trains, line-dancing and Belgium, but to most of us a bike is just a useful ingredient of the personal transport minestrone, and quite good fun. Riding a bicycle feels good. I like a bicycle. I haven’t been without one since I was three years old, and have done many thousands of miles on them. So when some berk with polystyrene bananas on his head starts lecturing me about the importance of cycling –…

The SL5 feels more comfort driven than the standard braked version SPECIFICATION Weight 8.45kg (58cm) Frame OCLV carbon, front and rear IsoSpeed decouplers Fork Carbon Gears Shimano 105 50/34, 11-32 Brakes Shimano BR-R505 hydraulic discs Wheels Vision Metron 40 carbon disc Finishing kit Bontrager Affinity Comp saddle, RL alu bar, Blendr stem, R2 32mm tyres xpectations on a £3000 bike would be for Shimano Ultegra, but Shimano’s latest 105 has 99 per cent of the performance for considerably less upfront cost. The 105 on Trek’s Domane here is matched to minimal R505 flatmount brakes and rather oversized companion shifter units. Braking is enhanced by IceTech rotors with their distinct cooling fins and steel/ aluminium sandwich construction. E Where this 105 frugality comes good is with the wheelset. The SL5 has…

The NKI’s uncompromising geometry suits those who like fast blasts e’ve tested a few Cipollini bikes (RB800, RB1000) and found them aggressive, rock solid and fast. The uncompromising geometry of short wheelbase, low front end and long ride position suits those who like fast blasts rather than long days out. W While the NK1K keeps to that ethos, it has a few more tricks. The front end is low – 541.5mm of stack on our medium bike combined with a 384.5mm reach – but you can choose a second handmade carbon headset cover that raises the front by 15mm, if you want more stack. The angles are similarly aggressive with a steep 73.5-degree seat angle that puts you square over the cranks, encouraging powerful high-cadence efforts. The head-tube is 72.5…

AS A DIRECT-DRIVE TRAINER, the Flux replaces the back wheel of your bike, with the cassette of cogs mounted onto an axle embedded in the turbo. This removes tyre wear, tyre/roller noise and slippage, holding the bike - and you - more securely than a conventional trainer. A bolted cross piece creates a stable but bulky tripod stance rather than the folding, self-locking ‘wings’ of the company’s £1199.99 Neo version. This makes it more cumbersome to store and transport without breaking it down, but it’s a tough, practical design that doesn’t show oil or scuffs. It comes with fittings for 130 or 135mm quick-release (QR) frames but you can get adaptor kits for 142x12mm thru-axles. There’s more chainstay clearance than a lot of direct-drive units too. Like the Neo it…

FIZIK PERFORMANCE TACKY TOUCH This tape has a 3mm thick MicroTex and foam construction, with a supple feel. Central parallel stitched lines provide useful extra grip. Cushioning with a high level of surface grip, especially in the wet, make for a refined cockpit. It’s durable and washable, with perforations to help drying. BROOKS CAMBIUM RUBBER Brooks’ rubber tape has a hard wearing and rubbery-feeling PU surface coating over MicroTex and foam layers. There’s almost no stretch, but once on, the mini oval shapes of the finely textured surface are grippy. Adhesive woven cloth finishing strips plus Brooks’ vulcanized rubber Bar End Plugs maintain a superior look. FABRIC SILICONE TAPE Fabric’s tape is all medical-grade silicone. It’s easy to fit, with no backing tape to remove or adhesive to stick in…

WE SAY The RS bar and stem are at the pinnacle of cockpit marginal gains BAR £249.99, STEM £156.99 › Light front end SUPERLEGGERO IS A TERM COINED by an Italian automotive coachbuilder long before the advent of carbon fibre, but super light is still as relative. The Superleggera RS carbon bar is essentially the Superleggera bar with a limited edition finish. It uses high modulus HR40 carbon fibre and a resin that Deda says allows a high level of compaction, saving weight. It’s formed in Deda’s popular Rapid Hand Movement (RHM) bend, which is a compact shape with a smooth ergonomic curve that makes swift positional changes simple. Our bar measures 46cm to the outside, or 44cm centre to centre, and weighs 202g, putting it among the lightest available.…

P _ower meters, GPS units, electric groupsets, virtual reality indoor training systems, mobile phone training apps… In 2017 cycling technology is, surely, white hot. Like our children who can’t believe we used to communicate without adding bunny ears to ourselves on Snapchat or those 20-something colleagues who scoff at the idea that we used to ‘telephone’ orders to the Chinese takeaway or taxi firm, it’d be easy for those of us who weren’t riding bikes in the 1990s to believe that cyclists of 25 years past had to endure intolerable equipment-based hardship. You’d be surprised though. Sure, in the 1990s when Cycling Plus was born carbon fibre frames for everyone was still a thing of the future and no-one could carry a smartphone in a jersey pocket (Google the IBM…

TEXTBOOK FITTING Many riders see cleats as the most effective and safest means of connecting foot and pedal. They allow some movement to control where your toes point, although the textbook fitting suggests that the toes should point ahead with the ‘knuckle’ of the big toe aligned with the centre of the pedal. Whenever I set up cleats, I always fit them dead centre. TRY ALL AND ERROR If you getting pins and needles in your feet you may need to move the cleat slightly forward or back depending on the pain position. If you getting sore knees try to angle the cleat slightly in or out, depending on the leg stroke. A professional bikefit should cover that and address any issues you encounter,some will even fit insole wedges to…

EVOLUTION, NOT REVOLUTION 1 _The biggest mistake is to go on a training camp and think you’re going to make the difference only at that training camp. It’s not possible. It should be an evolution of your training, so you need to train at home and then maintain that at your training camp. So many cyclists train okay at home, but then they triple their workload at a training camp because they think they are there only to train. And then they crack, because if your body is used to doing two hours a day, and you go on camp and do six hours a day, you can’t maintain it because your body is simply not used to it. CHILL OUT Riders also think that because they don’t have work…

was filming recently on Holme Moss, riding up the iconic Yorkshire climb with the Ravensthorpe Cycling Club. I won’t forget that day in a hurry. I For a start, I think I’d been a little blasé about the climb. Maybe watching a trio of rather fruitless Francophone attacks during the 2014 Tour de France had rather emasculated the climb, and made it look, frankly, piffling. So it was that, in my infernal arrogance, I set off with a gaggle of a dozen or so riders from Holmfirth, and straight into a blast of icy headwind. I took this badly, and started to complain. To my shame, the Yorkshiremen and women around me seemed quite unperturbed by this unwelcome moving wall of cold air. With hindsight, an absence of headwind might…

1 K-WHO? Idaho, USA-based K-Edge has always been known for producing high-quality, attractive bike mounts for GPS devices and other accessories, but is also perceived to command premium prices to match. 2_WHAT’S IT FOR? his new 42g mount maintains familiar K-Edge quality and uses the same aluminium, CNC-machined in a more economical way to reduce costs. Instead of the original model’s curved lower half, the Sport Mount’s is !at, with a plastic insert slotted in to it to oppose the U-shaped aluminium clamp. 3_FITTING As before, a pair of small hex bolts screw in from below to clamp the mount to a standard 31.8mm bar. It’s designed to be safe for carbon bars, and won’t overtighten enough to crush your precious cockpit. 4_COMPATIBILITY The replaceable Garmin quarter turn insert includes…

’m rubbish at spotting wildlife. Despite countless cycle tours in Scotland, the Lakes, Kielder and so on, the only red squirrels I’ve seen have been on road signs. How times change: in the 1960s, Tufty the red squirrel was a mascot who instructed children how to cross roads. Today his species needs road signs telling them where to do it. I I’m better at spotting bike facilities. The pedestrian crossings zoo, for instance: zebra, pelican, puffin, pegasus, toucan. (You know those spoof updated Ladybird books? Novelty publishers should do an updated I-Spy Book on cycle infrastructure. It’d be more useful, and funnier.) Recently we were in London hunting rare species – the rainbow pelican and small spotted zebra. They seem part of an emerging trend: facilities that are eyecatching, rather…

Fulcrum’s Racing Quattro Carbon DB wheels are efficient and agile hen disc road brakes started to become prevalent, they seemed a logical fit for most road bikes, especially endurance ones. We questioned whether we’d see disc aero bikes, and even though it was assumed to be an inevitable development, years of increasing frame, wheel and brake integration seemed at odds with disc brakes. W Ridley isn’t the first to the aero disc party, but is an early adopter. The carbon frameset retains the Noah shape, with its F-Split airchannelling fork, twin grooves on the leading edge of the down-tube to speed airflow, truncated aerofoil profile to the seat-tube and seatpost, and heavily dropped seatstays with a slim frontal section. The lower head-tube and down-tube junction is lowered to incorporate the…

The F8 stays in the range, and in the pro tour too, for good reason SPECIFICATION Weight 6.8kg (56cm) Frame Toray T1100 1K carbon Fork Onda F8 T1100 1K carbon Gears Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9000, 50/34, 11-25 Brakes Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 Wheels Shimano Dura-Ace C35 Finishing kit Talon one-piece bar/stem, Carbon aero Dogma seatpost, 23mm Veloflex tubular tyres he F8 might be the reigning Tour de France winner, but its place at the top of the Pinarello tree has been taken by the latest F10 with its electronic-optimised frameset and design tweaks over the F8. T The F8 stays in the range, and in the WorldTour too, for good reason. The F8’s race-ready geometry is aero enhanced, using flat-backed airfoil-shaped tubes (Kamm Tail) that get around the UCI’s 3:1 aero…

Weather-proofing and great design Rapha’s Classic Softshell has absorbed features from the original Classic and Hardshell to become what Rapha describes as its most versatile foul weather jacket. Made from Polartec Power Shield Pro fabric with taped seams, the jacket is relatively light, supple and stretchy with a soft feel. The fleece-lined collar, asymmetric zip and shaped sleeves with snug internal cuffs banish draughts, and the hem is adjustable. It’s windproof and waterproof, with a hi-vis drop tail zipped inside the rear, a water-resistant main zip plus waterproof front and rear zipped pockets, and three generous drop pockets with drain holes. Without in-built insulation, you’ll need a mid-layer in cooler weather, but underarm zips ensure easy heat management. BONTRAGER VELOCIS SOFTSHELL GLOVES It should be getting warmer, but there’s bound…

“ T HE ONLY T HINGS I DIDN’ T H AV E WE R E MONE Y, A CUS T OMER B A SE AND AN A SSEMBLY FA CI L I T Y. I DE CIDE D T O BEGIN MY OWN BR AND! ” 122 | April 2017 | CYCLING PLUS e just wanted a good-sounding name that was easy to pronounce in different languages,” explains Jochim Aerts as he tells us about the brand he founded just over 25 years ago. “Many Belgian companies and bike shops used their family name or tried to make the company sound Italian, such as Borghini. I loved Alien and Blade Runner, both directed by Ridley Scott, and thought Ridley would be a great name.” We’re with Aerts at Ridley’s headquarters and…

Pulses and lentils are a great way to add protein and slow releasing carbohydrate to your diet to aid recovery and provide slow releasing energy for training. THE BENEFITS Pulses are great if you have a training session 2-4 hours after eating them because they are low GI carbohydrates that are digested a lot slower and so need time for that release of energy. The protein in pulses is high in lysine and low in sulphur-containing amino acids. Grain’s protein is low in lysine but high in sulphurcontaining amino acids. Combining them provides all the essential amino acids needed to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. They’re a tasty addition to your diet and can help reduce your meat intake, which can save you money too. 100g of cooked chickpeas will provide…

AFTER THE ROUGH OF THE TUMBLE, THE ROUTE UNDULATES, WITH TOUGH SECTIONS UP AND DOWN EXPOSED DUAL CARRIAGEWAY Velothon Wales 9 July, Cardi_ We haven’t seen the Vélo Birmingham course yet so we’ll reserve judgement on how it stacks up with the other closed road rides in Britain. Of the ones we have done, we reckon Velothon Wales has the best pure cycling course and will be the fastest ride you’ll do all year. Prudential RideLondon might be more prestigious but doesn’t have the cracker of a climb that the Velothon does with The Tumble – a three-mile, near 1300ft icon of British cycle sport (some might be shouting Box Hill right now but really it’s just a pimple). Heading out of central Cardiff via Newport, the route juts north…

IT INCLUDES TWO ASCENTS OF THE MORTIROLO _ WHICH LANCE ARMSTRONG DESCRIBED AS THE HARDEST CLIMB HE’D EVER RIDDEN Granfondo Campionissimo 25 June, Aprica, Italy The name of this event – “Champion of Champions” – gives a clue that it’s serious. Based in the heart of the Italian Alps in the resort of Aprica, the longer route includes the Gavia and Mortirolo climbs, both of which are synonymous with suffering and heroism during the history of the Giro d’Italia. And it includes two ascents of the Mortirolo – which Lance Armstrong described as the hardest climb he’d ever ridden – though the second is up the “easier” road from Monno (only 7 per cent average gradient as opposed to the other side’s 10.5 average). In between there’s the matter of…

Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle 29 July, London A companion piece to the RideLondon 100, the FreeCycle is akin to the Sky Ride series, a chance to get the whole family on bikes in central London. Unlike the 40 miles of the New York Five Boros ride, the eight-mile circuit in London is doable for people of all ages and fitness, with seven Festival Zones situated along the route offering bike-based entertainment, should you want to take a breather. The route takes in The Strand, Lincoln’s Inn Fields and the Victoria Embankment, and iconic sites including Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Bank of England, as well as a trip south of the River Thames with a loop over Waterloo Bridge. A map of the complete route is available…