Table of contents for April 2018 in Cyclist

£769.99, silverfish-uk.com Taston’s new Cinch power meter is single-sided and costs £770. At first glance, this doesn’t sound like much of a bargain, but the Cinch isn’t your standard system. Easton says its cost has to be balanced against its design: packing all the important stuff inside the spindle provides several practical advantages over spider or crank-based systems. Hidden inside the bottom bracket shell, the Cinch is protected from crash damage and water ingress. This also ensures there are no issues with crank arm clearance. Most importantly, according to Easton, crank arm lengths can be changed if required, as can chainset configurations. This means you could use it on the road with a two-chainring set-up one day, then change it to 1x for a gravel ride the day after, as…

From €495 (approx £430), schmolke-carbon.com The TLO moniker stands for ‘The Lightest One’, and that’s not marketing hype. These bars are 40-50g lighter than even the lightest offering from rival big names such as Fizik and Pro, which is no mean feat when you consider we are talking about weights of under 200g in the first place. Schmolke achieves this by using Toray’s high modulus T1000 fibres and it says that by analysing the direction and load of the stress on the bars it only needs to reinforce the relevant areas, thereby keeping material – and weight – to a minimum.…

Two years ago we showed at NAHBS [North American Handmade Bicycle Show] and did all our bikes in black,’ says Andrew Low, owner, founder and chief fabricator at Low Bicycles. ‘There was quite a lot of confusion – lots of frame flicking, listening for that tink or tonk, as people thought our bikes were carbon. They’re not, they’re aluminium.’ Even with a metallic finish, it takes a quick touch and squeeze of the top tube to dispel the suspicion that Low’s Mki Road bike is some kind of tongue-in-cheek statement about our perception of materials. The welds are so smooth as to appear drawn on, the polished metal grain behind the clear coat could easily be an optical illusion and there’s a homogeny of tubes normally only seen on carbon…

1 APIDURA EXPEDITION TOOL PACK £40, apidura.com ‘Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful,’ read a press release for Shackleton’s Endurance Expedition back in 1914. It puts cycling into perspective, but dangers such as mechanicals are still real, so Apidura has created this minimalist, waterproof saddle pack to carry everything you need to save your 27-strong group from a puncture in the Surrey lanes. 2 MATRIX POWERWATCH $199 (£150), powerwatch.com PayPal billionaire Elon Musk might have put a car into space but the guys behind the Powerwatch could be about to make history too. As a fitness tracker, the Powerwatch is fairly basic and functional, but it packs a neat trick: it is powered from body heat, a technology…

It is a good day to be interviewing Esteban Chaves. Sauntering into the dining hall of a boutique hotel in regional Australia, Chaves looks relaxed with barely a hint of fatigue. He flashes a smile at teammates and other riders, who congratulate him on his latest success. The day before, Chaves had attacked solo at the base of a punishing 20km climb during the Herald Sun Tour. In his first stage race back on the road after a September crash curtailed his 2017 campaign, the Colombian was unstoppable. Giving the two-fingered peace sign as he rolled across the mountain finish, Chaves looked ecstatic with his start to a potentially defining WorldTour season. The 28-year-old’s smile is famous. He is softly spoken and diminutive – he stands at just 5’ 5”…

You can tell when a sports star is ‘in the Zone’. Whatever they touch turns to gold and unlucky opponents are dazzled by a spell of pure sporting alchemy that results in anything from a century in cricket to a 147 in snooker. It’s not the preserve of the greats, either. This magic can kick in at every level, from a kickabout in the park – that day when everything you try just works – to the World Cup final. But the sensation amplifies in proportion to the number of hours of practice in the bank and the intensity of the occasion. Blend a visit to the Zone with supreme ability and a packed, expectant arena, and you get fireworks. Still, no matter how spectacular the view is from the…

I leave my bike propped up against the gazebo of the feed station and stagger over to the open door of a van. Sitting inside is a young French assistant for the Haute Route Alpe d’Huez. ‘Ça va?’ he asks as I approach. ‘Non,’ I reply wearily. ‘J’ai fini.’ At this point I am struggling to remember my own name, let alone my A-level French from over a decade ago. With a frown and a cutthroat signal to reiterate that this is probably the end of the ride for me, I sit down on the step of the van. I’m glad of the shade but not at the prospect of a DNF on a sportive. In fact, I’m gutted that I will not be able to finish the event. For…

To look at the gleaming metal tubes and the ornate logo, it would be easy to assume that Dutch brand Van Nicholas has a long and rich history of framebuilding. In fact, it’s about a decade old and only really came to prominence in 2012 when it was bought by Koga bikes. The fact that the titanium specialist has built such a reputation in that time says a lot about its bikes, and the Skeiron is its first frame built for hydraulic disc brakes. Skeiron was the Greek god of the north-west wind, a name that might better lend itself to an aerodynamic carbon frame, but it does indicate that the purpose of this bike is to race. ‘We optimised the frame for rigidity at the key stress points by…

For Italians, cycle racing is more than just a sport. The word tifosi translates simply as ‘fans’, but that is to completely underestimate the passion of the devout Italian followers. You can be a cycling ‘fan’ from the comfort of your living room, glued to a flatscreen, but a true tifoso would only ever be truly happy standing by the roadside, staring into the pain-glazed eyes of the riders – willing on their heroes in the flesh. The bike brand Tifosi (not to be confused with Tifosi the sunglasses brand, which is an entirely separate company, and is Italian) takes its name from this fervently passionate band of cycling fans. But that is where the Italian heritage ends. Rather less romantically, the company actually has its roots in Leighton Buzzard,…

Land of the Faroes Lazer Z1 helmet, £149.99 madison.co.uk Scott Spur sunglasses, £74.99 scott-sports.com Castelli Perfetto gilet, £110 saddleback.co.uk Castelli Perfetto Light jersey, £175 saddleback.co.uk Castelli Nanoflex+ armwarmers, £35 saddleback.co.uk Poc Resistance Enduro gloves, £40 2pure.co.uk Castelli Omloop bibshorts, £120 saddleback.co.uk Shimano S-Phyre socks, £19.99 madison.co.uk Shimano S-Phyre shoes, £320 madison.co.uk Too Haute to handle Lazer Blade helmet, £159.99 madison.co.uk Rapha Classic II Gilet, £100 rapha.cc Rapha Pro Team Midweight Jersey, £140 rapha.cc Sportful NoRain armwarmers, £27 c3products.com Gripgrab Roadster mitts, £39 gripgrab.com Rapha Core Bibshorts, £100 rapha.cc Shimano S-Phyre socks, £19.99 madison.co.uk Shimano S-Phyre shoes, £320 madison.co.uk Gripgrab toe covers, £18 gripgrab.com Bikes VAN NICHOLAS (BELOW) Giro Synthe helmet, £249.99 zyrofisher.co.uk Oakley Racing…

£399.99 (with two SL bags), tailfin.cc Touring is dead; long live bikepacking! That’s the mantra of many hip and trendy adventure cyclists nowadays, for whom the main desire is to go further, faster. That means there is no longer any place for girder-like pannier racks on which to pile your expedition tent and bars of Kendal Mint Cake. Tailfin is the sleek alternative. The majority of the T1 rack is made from carbon fibre, meaning it weighs just 350g, which the brand is proud to state is less than the weight of a can of cola. Most old fashioned racks would be about the same weight as a two-litre bottle of the fizzy brown stuff. What’s more, you don’t need specific bosses on your frame to fit this rack; it…

The landing gear came down some time ago so we must be close to the ground, but as I stare out of the window all I can see is white. Our plane is about to touch down (I think) at Vágar Airport in the Faroe Islands, but the dense cloud and lashing rain means I’ve not yet had so much as a glimpse of land. It occurs to me that the pilot essentially has the same view as me, and I grip my armrest a little tighter and try not to think about how fast we are approaching the tarmac. Moments later, the aeroplane lands with only the mildest of bumps and rolls towards the few small buildings that make up the Faroe Islands’ main travel hub. I’ve no idea…

Arenberg Forest Perhaps the most famous 2.4km of the race, the Arenberg is where heroes are made and dreams (and bones) are shattered ‘If this uncouth forest yaield anything savage, I will either be food for it or bring it for food to thee.’ Orlando to Adam in As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 6 Just the name of the Forest of Arenberg has that Shakespearian ring to it, and, just like As You Like It’s Forest of Arden, it has the capacity to give with one hand and take away with the other. ‘You can’t win Roubaix there, but you can lose it,’ Mitchelton-Scott’s Mat Hayman tells Cyclist. We’d dismiss his assessment as just another sporting cliché were it not so true: the Arenberg section of cobbles…

Despite my difficulties on day two of the Haute Route Alpe d’Huez, I can’t lay any of the blame at the door of the Ridley Helium SLX, which proved to be a true and faithful partner throughout the ride. It’s not the lightest bike out there, but at around 7.2kg (claimed 750g for the frame) it was certainly light enough to aid my efforts on back-to-back HC climbs, and its stiffness was welcome both on the climbs and the descents, where it was exceptionally easy to handle in the hairpins. Its solidity didn’t detract from its comfort, however, and even when my legs couldn’t turn the pedals from exhaustion, my backside and arms were remarkably unaffected by a long day in the saddle. I have unfinished business with the Haute…

If there was one bike I regret selling it was an early-2000s Dolan aluminium track frame. Resplendent in replica Team GB livery, it was one of the harshest, most impractical bikes I’ve ever ridden. I knew no better so rode it fixed with a huge gear around the hilly roads of Brighton, but even when I was pushing it up a hill, I still felt Velominati Rules-style Fantastic. It had the first one-and-a-half pieces of carbon stuff I’d ever owned – a seatpost and carbon-wrapped stem – along with white rims, saddle and tape. It drew more comments from strangers than any bike I’ve owned since, and it endeared me for life to the Terry Dolan brand. Yet in recent years I must confess to falling a little out of…