Tabla de contenidos para Issue 58 en Cyclist Australia

Many of us still remember the first time we were overtaken up a hill by someone on an e-bike. Initially, we might have been impressed by how effortlessly they seemed to be laying down the power, but when they passed, for some strange reason they didn’t look us in the eye. As we puffed and ground at the pedals, they cruised serenely into the distance, legs turning smoothly, with never a glance back. Many of us will also recall our sense of disdain when it dawned on us how we had come to be so easily overhauled. ‘Why even bother riding if you’re going to rely on a motor to do all the hard work for you?’ was the general sentiment. It was around the same period the first reports…

For Shimano’s third groupset launch of 2022, 105 has gone electronic. That’s right, Shimano’s most affordable groupset – the one you recommend to friends who are just getting into riding, the one you use for spare parts when strapped for cash, and the one speculated would go electronic for years – has now pushed its way into the 21st century. Predictably, the 105 R7150 closely shadows its elder siblings, Ultegra R8100 and Dura-Ace R9200. It is now 12-speed and enjoys the semi-wireless configuration, with shift levers interacting wirelessly with a battery/brain in the seatpost that’s wired to the front and rear derailleur. 40 years in the making Shimano’s latest 105 offering is released in the groupset’s 40th year, and what a way to celebrate. All but the most discerning cyclists…

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m a huge Vittoria fan. Over the years, I’ve trained on Rubino Pros and raced on the famous Corsa tubulars. In 2023, Vittoria celebrates 70 years, most of them dedicated to high-performance tyres. It has nailed the formula with the Corsa concoction, and the brand is a regular in the pro peloton because of it. However, in the shop I worked at we used to say that Corsa must be Italian for paper, and Rubino for rock, because even though Corsa was the quickest rubber you could buy, it was notoriously fast-wearing. And although the Rubinos were incredibly durable, they were a little weighty. Vittoria has addressed each of these issues with the new Vittoria N.ext (which you’ll usually see branded as N.EXT). Glenn Lee,…

Cyclist: Five weeks after the biggest win of your career, what have you been up to? Jai Hindley: It was pretty hectic straight after the race – it was pretty full on, actually. The whole last 48 hours of the race was sort of a blur. So, I went on holiday in Italy for a week after the Giro with my girlfriend. It was super nice because I just really love Italy. I like the food, the country, the people – it’s all top-notch. When you’re a cyclist, you visit all these cool places but you never get to spend a good amount of time in one place soaking in the area. I was on a strict two-gelatos-a-day diet with plenty of bevvies, plenty of food, pizza, actually enjoying the…

I’m roused by the shrill blast of my alarm, purposefully set to a maddening tone to ensure that I wake promptly at 3:45am. An overwhelming urge to roll over and pull the doona over my head permeates my body. Still full of sleep, my eyes sting, although nowhere near as much as my legs will once the day is through. ‘Come on, there’s a mountain to be climbed.’ The little voice whispering inside my head is right, there is a mountain to be climbed, only it’s not just any old mountain. It’s the legendary Passo dello Stelvio. And that’s a serious undertaking as it is, but for today’s Big Ride, she’ll prove a beast thrice over. I’m struggling to remember why, given the early hour, but I’ve decided to climb…

The Fazua system is unique in incorporating both the battery and motor in a single removable unit. This assemblage then slots into the bike’s down tube to drive a differential-type unit that applies power directly to the cranks (much like the Bosch system). As such, although the battery is in the down tube, the Fazua is still considered a mid-drive unit. ‘This is a huge benefit because it lets us retain the characteristics of a road bike as you’re not loading the rear of the bike as you would with a hub motor,’ says Vitus road product manager, Jodie Shann. ‘Another big factor behind choosing Fazua was the torque.’ Shann is alluding to the support the Fazua offers in terms of torque – high enough to assist at low cadence,…

For much of the Second World War, Kefalonia was occupied by German and Italian forces, but when the 1943 armistice was declared between Italy and the Allies, the Germans began a process of disarming Italian garrisons. On Kefalonia, that left the Italian Acqui Division with a grave decision: fight with the Germans, fight against the Germans, or surrender. General Antonio Gandin polled his men and they chose resistance, and so on 21 September 1943 a bloody battle ensued, and by 26 September, 1,315 Italians had been killed in action and 5,155 executed (soon after, a further 3,000 Italian soldiers were killed when Allied forces sank the Germans’ POW transporters). This painful moment in history forms the backdrop to Louis de Bernières’ Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, and while the book sold three…

TRAVEL You can actually drive to Kefalonia, taking a ferry from Patras in Greece or Brindisi in Italy to Sami on Kefalonia. Alternatively, you can fly. We flew with Easyjet from London for around $200 return, and there are also direct fights from Rome and Athens. ACCOMMODATION We stayed with Simon Wallace of Pro Camp Cycling, which offers cycle training camps and holidays out of Skala, where Simon has a luxury villa with pool and sea views. The villa sleeps up to six in three bedrooms, and Simon offers training camps in May, September and October for groups of four to six. Prices are £795pp (about $1,400), which includes everything bar flights and food and drink when riding, with a discount for the group leader. See procampcycling.co.uk for more. THANKS…

Strange as it might sound, the original Allez was steel and hand-built in Japan between 1981 and 1984 by Yoshi Konno, who founded Cherubim and 3Rensho in the 1970s. Identifiable by its long, pointed lugs and sloping fork crowns, it’s highly sought-after today, the product of a man who learned his craft dismantling and rebuilding old Cinelli frames and who went on to forge an enviable reputation for Keirin-winning bikes. But success can breed tragedy. Konno was allegedly a hard drinker and this contributed to a car accident in 1995 that left him paralysed and led to the closure of 3Rensho. Konno died in the late 2000s but his legacy lives on in Cherubim, built by nephew Shinichi Konno and well worth a Google. As for the Allez, while production…

Louison Bobet wins the Tour de France, Elvis releases his first single, both Lord of the Flies and the first Lord of the Rings books are published. It’s 1954 and, on top of all that, Ernesto Colnago begins making lugged steel bicycle frames. Colnago is a company steeped in history and tradition, one that prides itself on producing bikes steeped in history and tradition, but 68 years on and the Italian brand’s latest bike, the C68, is embracing a whole new world and finally leaving lugs in the past – kind of. Despite no longer being Colnago’s go-to race bike (the monocoque V-series took over those reins many years ago) the C-series, which can claim to have been one of the world’s first full-carbon composite frames, remains an equally desirable…

Fizik has pulled out all the stops in the latest rendition of its popular Vento Argo saddle, offered in 150mm and 140mm widths. The Adaptive features 3D printed padding which, as the name suggests, allows for a saddle that is soft to touch and pliable when you’re seated. Therefore, says Fizik, the Adaptive suits all people in all cycling scenarios whether it’s road, gravel or mountain. We tested it on road and support Fizik’s claims that the rider can find comfort in multiple positions. Whether grinding up a hill or sitting on the nose on a flat effort, the Adaptive remained consistently comfortable with no sharp edges or unexpected twinges. Even though it was squishy to touch, when seated, the even pressure meant the saddle felt almost as firm as…

In a perfect world, a cyclist flying overseas would be able to wheel their bike directly onto the plane, sitting next to it while enjoying a movie and a comically small can of beer. Instead we’re forced to consign our pride and joy to the belly of the beast, leaving it in the merciless hands of physics, fate and baggage handlers. In an attempt to protect their bikes from the travails of air travel, many plucky cyclists make do with a cardboard box and bubble wrap, but Christian Pearce, global brand manager for Scicon Sports, explains why a purpose-built bike case is a better option. ‘Bike travel cases are equipped with a hard shell, and bike travel bags with a rugged, padded outer shell that will protect your bike from…

Jens Voigt’s ’Shut up legs’ might sound like a fun catchphrase, but a paper entitled Improvement of 10km Time-Trial Cycling With Motivational Self-Talk Compared With Neutral Self-Talk claims chatting to yourself during cycling can have serious benefits. In the study, 14 riders were split into two groups and asked to undertake a 10km TT, after which they were questioned over their inner thoughts and split into two groups: neutral self-talk (N-ST) and motivational self-talk (M-ST). The N-ST group was given a series of neutral statements to replace their negative statements, for example ‘My legs hurt’ became ‘My favourite colour is green’. The M-ST group was told to replace negative statements with positive ones, so one athlete’s ‘I’ve worked too hard’ became ‘I can manage my energy until the end’. Riders…

To download this route go to komoot.com/tour/466706670 or scan the QR code. Should you wish to take on this challenge yourself, we advise you start in Bormio. From here take the SS38 and follow it all the way to the summit of the climb – the high point of the Stelvio Pass – cresting the top and continuing on the same road all the way down to Prad am Stilfser Joch. It would be wise to stop for a coffee and cake here before turning around and heading back up the SS38 until once again you reach the summit. Descend back towards Bormio for around 3km and turn right by the Casa Cantoniera dello Stelvio. Descend to the end of the road in Santa Maria. Once again, we advise a…

‘This is it: the Holy Grail, the toughest and wildest climb in Britain.’ These are the words of Simon Warren, hill climb aficionado and author of 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs, a book that, despite the name, refers only to climbs on the British mainland. But, indeed, the Bealach na Bà is worthy of the title. Other leg-shredders such as the Hardknott Pass and Rosedale Chimney get the maximum 10/10 score, but only the Bealach na Bà gets the full Spinal Tap treatment. This one goes to 11. Road to nowhere Getting to the Bealach na Bà is a challenge in itself. It’s hidden away on the Applecross Peninsula, which lies on the northwest coast of Scotland at approximately the same latitude as Inverness. The nearest village is Lochcarron – a…

Popular on gravel bikes, Bosch’s Performance Line CX systems also feature on many mountain bikes and hybrids. Thus it’s little wonder that it boasts by far the most torque of the three systems shown here – a huge 85Nm. Based around a mid-drive design, the Bosch unit fits into a special bottom bracket shell and is a motor, transmission and bottom bracket in one, such that the bottom bracket’s axle is driven when the cranks are turned. Given this and the high power, the components are fairly burly, and Bosch-equipped bikes couldn’t pass as normal road or gravel bikes. Still, the system has shrunk in recent years and this fourth generation is now at least small and light enough to provide a viable option for road and gravel bikes. ‘In…

Motorbike crashes, frenzied crowds, equipment failures, exhaustion… the life of a WorldTour photographer can be fraught, but all the effort is worth it when it results in images that bring the sport of cycling to life for newspaper and magazine readers around the world. Readers like you, for example. Having graduated from the National School of Photography in her native France, followed by a residency in Argentina, Pauline Ballet has been a professional sports photographer since 2013. After the early days of working on the picture desk and photographing for Amaury Sports Organisation, Ballet went freelance, still for ASO and also for cycling teams and in other sports. ‘I was fascinated by old-fashioned, black and white, candid photos by Robert Doisneau and I try to capture that in sports photography,’…

To download this route go to komoot.com/tour/691870884 or scan the QR code. Take the coast road from Skala north to Poros, skirt the port and follow the blue signs for Argostoli (make sure you research the Greek spelling too). Climb up through the village of Tzanata, then at the main junction turn right, signed Pirgi. Ride on through Agios Nikolaos and Digaleto, then just after kilometre 30 take the sharp left signed Ainos. Follow the road up past the old Nato base to the top of Mount Ainos (around 9km later) and then return the way you came. Follow signs to Sami, stopping in at Contessina restaurant if you fancy good food and a sea view. Hug the coast, heading north, to Agia Effimia, picking up signs to Argostoli. Just…

Meet the Grevil, Pinarello’s answer to gravel, a platform that debuted in 2019, and one that immediately had me on board as a fan. For 2022, the Grevil gains an ‘F’, and most obviously adds full internal cabling, which runs inside the Most bars and stem (Most is Pinarello’s component arm) and into the frame via huge 1.5-inch headset bearings. Less obvious is that that frame is made of T700 fibres from Japanese carbon specialist Toray, not the stiffer, more expensive T1100 of its predecessor, the Grevil+. It’s the same fibres that the non-plussed Grevil used in 2019, and which when converted to Australian dollars helped it shed over $4,000. It’s this switch that helps keep the price down here despite two years of inflation and upgraded kit – the…

New Zealand bike brand Chapter 2 has unveiled its second Artist Collaboration Project with the release of 60 special edition Koko frames painted by Canadian artist Bradley Harms. It follows on from the 50 special edition TOA Disc framesets painted by New Zealand artist and athlete Caitlin Fielder, which sold out in two weeks earlier this year. Each of the lines used in the frame’s artwork is hand-drawn and layered to create a beautiful and dynamic piece of contemporary art. The full bundle includes your choice of MANA Bar (five sizes, two colours) cockpit system, custom-painted carbon bottle cages and anodised blue matching thru-axles/top cap. For further information visit the Chapter 2 website, or view the mini website at bharms.chapter2bikes.com.…

Bryton’s Rider S500 is the latest challenger to enter the hotly contested $500 bike computer bracket. In terms of hardware, battery life is impressive at a claimed 24 hours (continuous GPS recording time); the screen is a generous-for-its-size 2.4-inch colour touchscreen with ambient light sensor; and the whole thing weighs just 87g. Functionality highlights include turn-byturn mapping, online search-by-voice capabilities (when paired to a smartphone) to make finding mid-ride cafes that much easier, plus a neat ‘Climb Challenge’, where upcoming climbs are displayed in profile with height, length, ascent and gradients in colour-coded segments.…

If the newest addition to your home comes in human form rather than aero form, then you might be able to make good use of the Thule Courier – a versatile bike trailer for active family life. It’s designed to carry up to two kids and can be used on anything from long family rides to quick trips into town, commuting, or taking the kids to school. It also converts into a comfortable and easily manoeuvrable double stroller, and there’s an adjustable rain and mesh cover in case the weather turns grim. Better still, once the kids outgrow it, the Courier converts into a cargo trailer with a sturdy floor for your gear; or, with an optional dog trailer kit (sold separately, $149) it can transform into a trailer for…

Looking for a whole lot of bicycle tools in a compact set? The Wera Bicycle Set 9 Bit is an assortment of nine stainless steel bits along with a Wera Zyklop Mini 1 bit ratchet in a dropforged steel design. It features a fine toothing mechanism with 60 teeth, which allows a small return angle of 6° for maximum precision. Meanwhile, the knurl helps you to work fast in cramped situations when there’s no space for ratcheting. Wera offers a range of over a dozen bicycle sets in various configurations ranging from $100 to $580 for the top-of-the range Bicycle Set Torque 1 set. You can visit the FE Sports website to check out the entire Wera range.…

For just the second time in 95 editions, the UCI Road World Championships are heading Down Under, and it’s Wollongong that will have the honour of hosting one of the eminent weeks on the cycling calendar. The 2022 UCI Road World Championships will feature 11 events from 18-25 September encompassing time trials and road races for elite women and men, under 23 men, and junior women and men. Organisers say more than 1,000 cyclists will pin on a number, representing more than 70 nations. The event will be watched by more than 300 million people globally and 300,000 roadside spectators. To say Wollongong is in a for a shock when the Worlds rolls into town is an understatement. Racing overview The elite women’s and men’s time trials kick off proceedings…

The Endurace has long been my bike of choice for extended days in the saddle, of which this was one of the toughest. At a shade over 8kg this might not quite appear the quintessential climber’s bike, but the frame is stiff and efficient and for a ride such as this, comfort trumps weight. There’s clearance for up to 35mm tyres and Canyon has created a seatpost that’s anchored much deeper into the frame and wrapped in a silicone shim, which allows the post to flex much more effectively. I swapped the standard wheels for a set of Hunt 50 Carbon Aero Discs, which at 50mm deep helped decrease drag – even at 12kmh uphill, wind resistance is siphoning watts. With a 52/36 chainset and 11-34t cassette the Endurace was…

Thomas is a man who is only slightly bigger than his handshake, which is saying something, as he is a mountain of a Greek, with broad features and a peak of snow-white hair. Together with his brother Giannis he runs The Pines restaurant, although from what I could gather from last night, that largely means Giannis runs around taking orders and Thomas sits around playing backgammon and talking to the kittens. This morning is no different. Dice fall and kittens mewl, although at 7.30am The Pines is otherwise empty, save for Thomas’s Irish wife, Kerry, in the kitchen. Kerry was once-upon-a-time Miss Ireland, and met Thomas on an early Greek reality TV show about a cruise ship. At least I think that’s what happened. Simon is relaying such information to…

This Orca is one hell of a bike, but it all starts with the components. Shimano’s new Dura-Ace 9200 groupset is as you’d expect – it looks a bit like the old one and shifting doesn’t skip a beat. Shift times have been quickened and the levers are now wireless, making my bike packing that much easier (the mechs are still wired and the charge port is integrated into the rear mech). But the best thing is the braking, which is superior in feel and modulation thanks to tech borrowed from Shimano’s mountain bike brakes. Yet it’s the wheels that impressed me most. These new Dura-Ace C50s are finally a useful inner width – 21mm (up from 17.5mm), meaning these tubeless Vittoria Corsas felt voluminous and plush, with the knock-on…

Hands up who hates front derailleurs? I do. And hands up who can explain planetary gears? I can’t. I’ve looked it up, and it has something to do with planet gears revolving around a sun gear turning inside a thing. It’s the basis of Classified’s Powershift system, and I’ve tried imagining it happening every time I click the Powershift’s little satellite button with my left hand, which changes my theoretical front gear from 1:1 to 1:0.686. The message is communicated via Bluetooth; the transmitter is integrated into a special bar plug à la the previous generation of Di2; the receiver is integrated into a rear thru-axle lever, which acts like solenoid to actuate a shift inside the hub’s planetary gears. I don’t really get that either. But what I do…