Table of contents for October 2017 in Cycling Plus

SPECIFICATION Weight 13.68kg (22in) Frame Alloy Fork Rigid, alloy Gears Shimano HG200 nine-speed, 12-32, Shimano Altus derailleurs, Suntour chainset Brakes Clarks M2 hydraulic disc Wheels Black, double wall aluminium Finishing kit Black flat bar, Carrera stem, Carrera Hybrid saddle, alloy seatpost, 1.95in Kenda K841 tyres At the heart of the Subway 2 is a simple alloy frame with an inoffensive black paint finish that won’t stand out from the crowd, but neither should it stand out to thieves. Practical touches include a couple of places to mount a water bottle plus clearances and mounts to attach mudguards or a pannier rack. It’s available in three sizes, which distributor Halfords says should be fine for people between 5ft 5in and 6ft 5in tall. There is no suspension fork, but at this…

MUSICAL CHAIRS Several British and Irish road cyclists are on the move this transfer window. Sky’s Peter Kennaugh is leaving for Bora- Hansgrohe, while Dan Martin will ride for UAE Team Emirates. BECKY TURNS BAKER Track star Becky James has announced her retirement. Olympic success last year came at the end of years battling injury and illness. After taking a break after Rio, she plans to start a baking business. PERKS OF THE JOB Few athletes would want to touch Russia with a bargepole. Not Australian track sprinter Shane Perkins, who recently defected in a bid to make it to the Tokyo Olympics. Perkins is a big star in the Japanese keirin scene. THIS LUKE’S BAD No matter how hard cyclists are, some injuries can’t be shrugged off. Sky’s Luke…

Germany’s Abus is known for its high-grade bike locks, but more recently the company has moved into helmets. Following on from the successful Tec-Tical Pro V2 road helmet is this new aero road lid, the boldlynamed GameChanger. The £179.99 helmet has been developed over the last two years with input from pro team, Movistar. Abus claims that its slippery shape is one of the lightest, fastest and most cooling designs of its kind. It’s available in yellow, white, black and Movistar team colours.…

JFK airport; a hostel in Rosario, Argentina; the B6164 into Knaresborough... I’ve had near-death experiences at all of them. JFK involved a lightning strike on our plane and horrendous landing in a violent storm. I still hate flying. The hostel was the target of an armed raid – I was hauled out of bed and held hostage at gunpoint. I still don’t like Argentina. And the B6164? Oh, you know, just another close pass where I cheated death again by diving into nettles. The sort of thing we all put up with several times a year. At least I still like cycling. The thing is, we shouldn’t put up with it. Every month, since the West Midlands started the ball rolling last year, it seems another police force comes on…

Brighton-based Reilly Cycle Works showcases the enormous frame designing and building talents of Mark Reilly, respected as a master of his craft. Experienced with titanium and steel, Mark has been using Columbus Spirit steel tubing for over a decade, more recently progressing to hydroformed Spirit HSS as used here. Hydroforming lets frame designers get more creative, and offers the ability to customise a frame’s stiffness, comfort and looks with specific tube profiles. The triple-butted niobium steel forms a flattened top-tube, down-tube with flattened upper surface, extremely flattened seatstays that broaden towards the seat-tube, and ovalised chainstays with no crimping or bridge. The 44mm diameter headtube is a match for the oversized down-tube and swoopy carbon fork. What sets this frame apart is its fillet brazed construction, which creates beautifully clean,…

Riders of a certain age may recall when Holdsworth was one of the finest British bike manufacturers, with steel machines being raced by prominent riders. Sadly the original company fell by the wayside several years ago, but the brand has been resurrected by current owner Planet X, and offers quality steel frames in keeping with Holdsworth’s heritage. The Strada was designed by Mark Reilly [of Reilly Cycle Works, p53], and is built from Reynolds 953 stainless steel. It’s TIG welded before being highly polished, apart from its matt detailing, and the enamel painted brass W.F Holdsworth headtube badge that adds authenticity. An oversized head-tube is a useful concession to modern cycling, housing the carbon fork’s tapered steerer and 1.5in lower headset bearing, but behind it, every tube is slim and…

HIGHS Access to detailed training plans on the go, battery life LOWS Screen quality, no navigation (yet), cost for best access to Link, heart rate strap an extra £50 IN WHAT WAS MORE AMBLE than dash, Stages’ first head unit arrives five years after the launch of its crank-based power meter. Cyclists looking for navigation and Strava Live should head elsewhere - Dash isn’t that product, right now anyway (an October update will add navigation). Rather, it’s a tunnel-visioned training tool. It has an aluminium/ plastic body with protective rubber casing, five buttons and a no-touch, black and white, largely graphic-free screen. It can sit in either portrait or landscape on your bar, it operates more effectively in the latter, and comes with Stages’ own robust mount. The screen displays…

ALPKIT TAU £14 Alpkit’s value 20g Tau mounts most places with twin hooked rubber bands. The single 20-lumen COB LED strip gives two constant modes, pulse and two flashers to grab attention with useful side coverage, with a run time of 3 hours 30 mins on max power. The switch is backlit to show full or low charge and it powers back up quickly. BONTRAGER FLARE R £44.99 This one-eyed, 47g Minion lookalike gets an angled bracket to point its range of steady and flash modes in the right direction. Additional LEDs throw light sideways and forwards and it can be controlled and synced with Bontrager front lights via the £44.99 Transmitr wireless remote or via your Garmin. Run time on max power is 4 hours 50 mins. KNOG BLINDER…

WE SAY The carbon-infused hull offers a fine blend of compliance and stability THE SHORT SADDLE FOR ROAD riders is a relatively new concept, but with Specialized’s Power proving very popular and San Marco entering the fray with its Shortfit models, the snub-nosed design looks to be here to stay. PRO, Shimano’s component subsidiary, designed the new Stealth saddle with input from Team Giant Alpecin, as an option for aggressive road riders, and, of course, it wouldn’t look out of place on a time trial bike either. The shape, which features a wide nose and a substantial deep and wide channel, is claimed to allow you to spend more time in a more aggressive riding position – on the rivets, as old-school roadies might say. The padding atop this 174g…

There’s a lot of wisdom in the warning never to try out a new and unproven component on an important ride. Then again, following words of wisdom has never been my strong point. That’s seldom been more obviously illustrated than now as I wander to local Kinesis stockist, Prologue Performance Cycling in Harrogate, to pick up a new Kinesis Tripster AT on the day of its release. Not only is the AT a brand-new frame, my bike is running my own experimental singlering electric shift transmission using a mix of Shimano Di2 road and mountain bike components. It’s also running tyres I’ve never used before, which might not seem a big deal, but I’m possibly the most hysterical pea-sensing princess when it comes to pneumatics. Plus, I’ve only got three…

Never couldn’t see, no point in ’istory, I weren’t there, so I don’t care,” so goes the refrain of the classic Don’t Tell I, Tell ’Ee by west country wonders The Wurzels. Well, Cycling Plus has an A-Level (at least) in the subject, so for once we’re going to have to disagree with our illustrious neighbours. And as 2017 marks the 200th anniversary of the invention of the first machine that could be said to truly resemble the modern bicycle, what better excuse to take a trip into the past with the men and women who regularly take to the byways of Britain on what are – at heart – adult-sized balance bikes with iron tyres? At the pub on the edges of Berkshire’s Mapledurham Estate we meet the Dandy…

1 EFFICIENCY SAVINGS Riding a fixed gear bike really helps to improve a rider on a standard road bike. I grew up on the track and so many top class road riders started on a fixed gear bike. It teaches you a good pedalling technique, making sure you’re producing power through the whole pedal stroke, as opposed to ‘stomping’ on the pedals like I see many riders doing. 2 FULL SPEED AHEAD Additionally, riding a fixed gear helps with cadence as generally when you are on a fixed gear you are forced to pedal a lot faster. When transferred on to the road this gives riders a lovely high cadence, which is efficient, but also great for developing a rider’s top end speed. 3 SAFETY FIRST We might tear around…

Calvin Watson, rider with the Aqua Blue Sport team, has advice from the Arctic Race of Norway 1 BACK IN STAVANGER Prepare by including offroad and stamina-building sessions in your training, because you need to be ready physically and mentally. 2 BERGENER’S BREAKFAST Head out well energised and healthy, having fed well the night before, and taken on extra carbs first thing. This will help you maintain your energy levels. 3 DRAMMEN BASE We pack summer and winter clothing - from sponsor Vermarc – to cover all bases, but I start each day with a Gabba rain cap, winter gloves, shoe covers and a rain jacket. 4 EARLY RISØR Pack an eye mask and ear plugs if you are travelling as you never know who you’ll be rooming with! Eye…

One of the abiding memories of the 2017 Tour de France is Chris Froome ascending at speed with his nodding head diverting from what lies ahead to what lies below. Instead of eyeing the road, the 32-year-old Brit honed in on data emanating from his Garmin bike computer, which received a constant stream of wireless information from his Stages power meter. Racing by numbers has been a highprofile feature of the Tour since 2012 when Sir Bradley Wiggins and his Sky ‘entourage’, including Froome and Richie Porte, strangled the life out of the opposition by basing key climbs on specific, sustainable wattages. This wasn’t ‘panache’, this was clinical racing and pacing – and it worked. Cycling artisans argue that power meters have made racing boring; that they’ve suppressed instinct and…

£3849 SPECIFICATION WEIGHT 7.65kg (58cm) FRAME Carbon FORK Carbon GEARS Shimano Ultegra 50/34, 11-28 BRAKES Shimano BR-RS805 WHEELS DT Swiss P1800 Spline Disc FINISHING KIT Simplon ERO stem, Simplon ERG carbon bar, Selle Italia SLR saddle, Simplon Pavo carbon seatpost, 25mm Schwalbe One tyres The frame Austrian company Simplon’s bikes have only been available in the UK in the last year. In the Pavo Gran Fondo it’s created an innovative frame; the chainstays are twisted to aid comfortgiving flex and the seatstays are made from Vibrex fibres to damp road vibrations. Add in the rear-facing fork dropouts that enable the fork leg profile to be flatter for better controlled fore-and-aft movement and the front is as plush as the rear. With a weight of just 870g there’s no penalty for…

CYCLING BEST ON TEST CANNONDALE BAD BOY 3 £849.99 Cannondale has always built smart frames, here neat cable routing and a rubber strip along the top-tube protect against knocks. The rigid Lefty single-sided fork is stiff in a good and bad way; its steering is precise, but the ride isn’t exactly forgiving. It also reduces front mudguard options and keeps the front end high. With £150 less to spend, and Cannondale’s use of a highspec frame, the kit can’t compare to the Giant’s. A 3x9 Shimano Alivio/Acera groupset is mated with a square taper FSA crank. Hydraulic brakes are a highlight and handy on an urban bike. The rest is basic but functional. We loved the Fabric saddle, but didn’t like the bar grips. While not light, the Bad Boy’s…

1 Simple to use The general rule is that you need 60g of carbohydrates to fuel an hour’s ride. The beauty of OTE’s products is that its whole fuelling range is designed around that magic number, so it’s easy to work out how much to eat and drink. 2 It’s all natural Key components are the use of natural "avourings, no arti#cial sweeteners or colours. OTE also o$ers a more balanced, complete option – its bars contain carbs and proteins, the energy drink contains electrolytes, as do the gels, so you don’t need to look for add-ons. 3 Crispy goodness The Duo bar has a rice cake base and delivers 41g of carbs and 9.3g of protein, which is more than some specialist protein bars. As the name suggests, it…

GIANT’S NEW NEOS Giant has teamed up with Bryton for its NeosTrack computer, which is being used by Team Sunweb. It has a claimed 33-hour battery life, ANT+ and Bluetooth connectivity and breadcrumb navigation. NEW NORCO ’CROSSERS With the season upon us Norco has updated its Threshold cyclo-cross bikes. The three aluminium and four carbon models have flat-mount disc brakes, 12mm thru-axles and internal cable routing. THE LAST WORD IN WOOD Wooden rim manufacturer Ghisallo has started making rims for Bromptons. The 16in clincher rim is reinforced with carbon and Ghisallo is also producing a tubular version (Panaracer makes a 16in tub – really). FOR ALL THE LATEST BIKE & GEAR NEWS VISIT…

With some girls, if they can’t cycle by the time they are eight or nine, they become too self-conscious I always check the weather before I go out on the bike. My three [primary school age] girls all cycle independently to school, and I tell them, “You will need your waterproofs today” or “You will have to take your gloves”. They used to pull faces but now, most of the time, they respect that I know what I’m talking about, that I am actually a weather forecaster! When they were younger and I’d pick them up from school on my own bike, I’d always be the one with the waterproof trousers on. Everyone else would just stare and make comments, but I would say, “Yeah, and? Look at you, you’re…

Tom Ritchey is cycling’s serial innovator. Even before building one of the first mountain bikes in 1978, he’d been building road frames for six years, and racing his own bikes with great success at USA national level. After perfecting his fillet brazing technique, Ritchey began using larger, often ovalised tubing in his lugless frames, and with the arrival of TIG welding, designed his signature Logic butted tubing in 1984. The heat-treated, triple-butted tubing on today’s Logic frameset is derived from the original concept, with short butted sections optimised for TIG welding and weight saving. Those 45 years of frame building experience are brought to bear on the Road Logic, where its forged and machined tapered head-tube saves 80g compared to a conventional design with external headset cups. We tested a…

What is a Stooshie? Well, the Oxford English Dictionary describes it as a row or fracas, although the Scots say it’s a rather friendlier uproar or commotion. It’s also a folk band, and believe it or not, a bike too. Shand’s all-roader is designed and built in central Scotland from a combination of heat-treated Italian steel tubes from Dedacciai and Columbus. It’s TIG welded and the joints are beautifully finished, then painted with a satin paint, giving a classy, utilitarian look. Each frame is supplied with three bottle mounts, mudguard and rear rack fittings, and the clever modular rear dropouts mean it can accept quick-release, thru-axle, singlespeed, Rohloff, derailleur and belt drive options, and several disc brake fitting styles are catered for. The rear brake hose has metal guides along…

GOT A LOT OF BOTTLE 1 Flaer’s fluid is biodegradable and at the end of the ride you just wipe off the chain. GO WITH THE FLOW 2 Three different settings let you alter the rate of flow for various riding conditions. RESERVOIR AND PUMP 3 Two small batteries power the pump and you cut the hose to length. YOU MAY JUST REMEMBER THE Scottoiler, a gizmo inherited from the motorbike world that automatically oiled your bike chain. Well, this is a new development of that device, and as we all love quirky niche cycling products we thought we’d give it a go. As with the Scottoiler, Flaer’s Revo Via is designed to regularly deliver drops of lubricant, pumped from a bike-mounted reservoir, directly onto your bike’s chain via a…

ONE WITH A LOW ENOUGH GEAR YOU CAN RIDE UP ANYTHING… The most reassuring myth any of us will ever hear is both true and false According to Rob Kitching of ride analysts cyclingpowerlab.com, in its most literal sense it’s completely untrue. “The physics of riding a bike mean there is a certain minimum speed below which we simply fall off. Even if there wasn’t, at a certain gradient we’d reach a limit of adhesion between our tyres and the road surface.” In practical terms, he acknowledges that it’s true, albeit subject to individual variables including maximum power output, minimum cadence, minimum gear and weight. Dr David Swain, Professor of Human Movement Sciences at Virginia’s Old Dominion University elaborates: “The main advantage of cycling over running is that cycling requires…

1. KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS Identify your strengths, discover what your body’s best suited to and what it’s capable of. Even if you’ve only been riding a few months you’ll already have a pretty good idea about where you feel the most comfortable. Are you at home smashing the big ring on the flat, or twiddling the granny ring heading uphill? Can you sustain your power over a long distance, or are you best in an all-out sprint? The beauty of cycling is that there’s a discipline for all, from 200m time trials in the velodrome to a 3000-mile race across America. Work out what you’re built for and pick a segment that matches your physique. If you recognise yourself as a climber, and are able to tuck your mates away…

Paul Hough (@the_hough), lead sport/exercise physiologist at St Mary’s University and author of Advanced Personal Training explains how… WHAT IS IT? The neck begins at the base of the skull and connects to the thoracic spine (the upper back) through a series of seven vertebral segments, termed the cervical spine. HOW IT WORKS? The neck consists of a number of muscles, which include the sternocleidomastoid and trapezius. The neck muscles interact to initiate movement of the head in all directions and also contract to adjust the posture of the head. WHAT GOES WRONG? Road cycling involves extended periods where the neck is hyperextended (tilted backwards), particularly when the bike is set up with a large handlebar drop, when riding a time trial, for example. This position can cause the deep…

YOUR EXPERT Freddy Vangoidsenhoven is team mechanic with the An-Post Chain Reaction UCI Pro Continental team 1 WHEELS Make sure the wheels are fitted correctly, well aligned, and with the right tension on the quickrelease skewers. Be careful not to tighten these too much as that can damage the bearings. 2 TYRES Make sure tyres are inflated correctly for the type of ride you plan to do and the weather conditions. When wet, we use less pressure so we get more grip, and for cobbles or rough surfaces to offer more comfort. 3 CHAIN Lube the chain, using the correct lube for the kind of weather conditions. Wet lube is thicker to stop it from being washed off in the rain. Allow the lube to penetrate the chain, then wipe…

The thing about cycling, and specifically trying to win cycle races, is that your body has to work properly. It’s no good trying to race the Tour de France, for example, if your body is a bit rubbish. That won’t end well. If you wheeze, limp, cough, hobble and generally hurt, then it’s unlikely you’ll be attacking Chris Froome and sprinting to victory atop Alpe d’Huez any time soon. It is, to paraphrase a certain Lance Armstrong (who understood so acutely the dangers of having a rubbish body that he chemically pimped his), Only A Bit About The Bike. So, the body matters as much as the bit of kit it perches on. Of course, there is a whole column to be written about the insanity of a three-week stage…

Porsche is well versed in horsepower, but it’s far better known for tuning car engines than human ones. Yet tucked away in its ‘Experience Centre’ at Silverstone, where excitable car enthusiasts prepare to tear round a purpose built race track in soupedup sports cars, you’ll find its Human Performance Lab, where clients are put through their paces aboard the resident Wattbike. I’d been training with a Wattbike in our office garage all summer, using training zones devised from a 20-minute threshold test. It’s an effective solution, but comes up short compared to Porsche’s lab-based offering. In the home test you pedal as hard as you can for 20 minutes and subtract 5 per cent from your average wattage, which gives you an estimated Functional Threshold Power, or FTP – the…

There are plenty of similarities between the first Tour de France of 1903 and the 104th edition of the race held in July. Established by a newspaper, L’Auto, to provide an epic test to the leading riders of the era, promote the wonders of France and, most importantly, boost its circulation, the modern-day Tour still essentially fulfils these goals. Yet, over the 114 years since that ground-breaking first edition that immediately captured the imagination of the French people, many other aspects have changed immeasurably, and perhaps none more so than the tactical approach to racing. When the 60 intrepid Tour pioneers lined up in the Paris suburb of Montgeron on the afternoon of 1 July 1903 for what was the first multi-stage bike race held anywhere in the world, they…

BIKE TEST I’ve been in charge of this month’s main bike test, putting six steel bikes through their paces (p46), as well as a First Ride on Specialized’s CruX Elite X1 (p24). Robin Wilmott, Technical writer NEW BIKES AND KIT An eclectic month of testing sees me ride Austrianbrand Simplon’s Pavo Gran Fondo (p22), rate Vision’s Metron bar (p72) and step into Vittoria’s La Tecnica shoes (p78). Warren Rossiter, Senior technical editor NEW BIKES AND KIT It’s been an illuminating month, testing 16 front lights (p92) and six rears (p74). I’ve also taken an emotional ride on Kinesis’ Tripster AT (p105) and reveal the benefits of tubeless tyres (p118). Guy Kesteven, Freelance writer RATINGS EXPLAINED EXCEPTIONAL A genuine class leader VERY GOOD One of the best you can buy GOOD It’ll do the…

This is the award-winning Reynolds 953 gravel bike from Gloucestershire-based Ted James, who has won numerous accolades at Bespoked handmade bicycle shows. Ted not only ovalised the originally round tubes but the chainstays started out as a prototype mountain bike handlebar. The T47 bottom bracket creates a large welding area and the shell is roomy enough to cope with the rear cables too. The custom-machined head-tube is topped by a Chris King headset, while ENVE provides the wheels. Framesets start at £2800, with this build coming in around £7500. 1 The stem nicely complements the frame on TJD’s gonggarnering gravel bike 2 We reckon the Crank Brothers pedals were chosen for their green springs 3 Neat. The rear cables go through the down-tube and bottom bracket shell…

The TIG-welded steel tubes are triplebutted and custom drawn by Dedacciai Proudly London born and bred since 1948, Condor’s graphics even shout about its heritage. But far from catering to commuters, the Grays Inn Road shop has always been focused on racing, supporting rapid riders at home and abroad. Steel has always featured, as have Condor’s long standing Italian links. For those not versed in Italian, or rudimentary frame tubing identification, Acciaio means steel. The TIG-welded steel tubes used to create each Acciaio are triple-butted and custom drawn by Dedacciai in Italy, with a painted 55cm frame weighing a claimed 1800g. The carbon fork is formed around an aluminium crown and aluminium dropouts, making it relatively heavy at 545g, although an extra £60 will get you a 360g full carbon…

From the moment we swung a leg over the Sequoia, it felt a good place to be. The Phenom Comp saddle with its cutout, channel and fabric cover is supportive and grippy, and the matching woven tape on the wide, flared bar has a purposeful, comfortable feel. The riding position feels like a normal road bike, with room to stretch, and although the elevated Hover bar and tapered head-tube make it a little taller than usual, it’s not cramped or unduly lofty. Tucking in to the drops got us low enough to feel efficient. The slim frame tubes are mostly round, although ovalising is used for the chainstays and the down-tube, where it meets the bottom bracket, while the round seatstays are partly flattened for comfort. The carbon fork is…

WE SAY Comfortable, compact bar with aero advantages but with a high price tag VISION, ALONG WITH its sister brand FSA, has always made bars with a unique look, pioneering the small rise up from the centre clamp section-style, angular ergo bend drops, and were also among the first to introduce the idea of compact drop bars. The Metron certainly pulls together new ideas, the bar having an 80mm reach [distance you have to stretch to get your hands comfortably on the bar] and a 125mm drop [distance to the lowest part of the bar], so far so compact. The difference over others is that the drop also swings outwards, so our 44cm bar measures 44cm at the hoods, but widens by 10mm down in the drops. That’s enough to…

WE SAY Superb fitting blend of tradition and technology VITTORIA IS RIGHTFULLY PROUD OF making shoes in its family’s hometown of Biella in Piedmont, northern Italy. That in itself would likely come with a premium over its massproduced rivals, but the price associated with the La Tecnica comes more from the materials. The upper is constructed from incredibly soft kangaroo leather, which is lined with a nylon mesh to help provide structural support, making them some of the most comfortable shoes we’ve ever tried. The natural compliance in the leather forms a brilliant fit. While the twin SSP micro-adjust ratchets may not be as minimal as a Boa, they offer every inch as much fine adjustment to further support the fit. The sole is Vittoria’s top-of-theline full unidirectional carbon unit…

1 START HIGH Start with your feet hip width apart, shoulders slightly back for good posture and bracing your core muscles to prevent extension of the thoracic spine, step back with your left foot. 2 GO LOW Slowly lower your left knee towards the ground, bending your right knee until it’s at 90 degrees. Lower your left knee towards the ground until it is also bent at a right angle. Keep the tension on your right leg and your torso straight. 3 SWAP LEGS Drive back through your right foot (the full foot but especially the heel) and return to standing. Repeat, then change legs. (2-4 sets, 8-15 reps). To progress hold_dumbbells by your side, as shown here.…

“I love the idea of training and racing by feel but, in the most part, those days are numbered.” So says Chris Boardman, one of the key men behind the growth of cycling science, in James Witts’ feature in this supplement on the use of power meters in professional cycling. And while Chris might have been talking about the pros, the growth of power meter usage among us amateurs means more and more of us are ‘riding by numbers’ too. So we should probably be making sure we’re using them properly, which is where this supplement steps in. In here you’ll find guidance from the experts on how to get the most from your toy, what you need to know to get started, what sessions to do in training to…