Table of contents for April 2019 in Cycling Plus

Rolling on The Vitron is designed to be very much the endurance bike, and the frame certainly shows that to the full. The swooping curve of the top tube melds into tapering and flattening seatstays, which help add plenty to the compliant feel of the Vitron on the road. The stack is tall at 621mm and the reach short at 397mm. This compact ride position is seriously comfortable and gives you a commanding view of the road ahead. Stable hand The relaxed seated position and a long wheelbase (1038mm) and headtube combine to deliver steering that’s slower than a race bike, which makes the Vitron wonderfully stable, even when you’re bouncing across rougher road surfaces. The chassis has plenty of tyre clearance to spare, as it comes with not-often-seen Vredestein…

When I visit websites, I get ads for Zwift. In case you’ve been stuck for three years at one of those traffic lights with an induction loop that doesn’t detect cyclists, Zwift is an online platform that enables you to cycle at home on your turbo trainer against others round the world on screen. You never have to leave the house. All you need next is a robot to cycle the trainer for you. Now, we know that advertising algorithms are hit and miss, but in terms of relevance, this advert is as remote from me as Meet Telugu Speaking Women In Your Area! or Do You Have A $1m Pension Pot? You may have good reasons for spending £2k on a smart turbo trainer and £4k on a big…

All but the most extreme gravel tracks fall well within its grasp The only difference between this Domane SL 5 and the SLR 9 models used by the Trek-Segafredo riders in the cobbled spring classics is the carbon fibre used to make its frame. While the WorldTour riders’ bikes are built with Trek’s 600 Series OCLV, this one is constructed from the slightly heavier 500 series. There’s no difference between the technology in the frames though, which means this SL 5 gets the same IsoSpeed decouplers that the pros rely on to smooth out the cobbled roads of Flanders and Roubaix. The front decoupler comes in the form of a rocker-cup that replaces the top part of the head tube. It allows the steerer tube to flex forwards and backwards…

Fact 9r carbon is two tiers below the S-Works but it’s still a superb lightweight base for a bike The Future Shock-equipped Roubaix is held in high regard amongst our test team. It was our Bike of the Year in 2017 and we’ve had one or more in our long-term test fleet ever since. This new 2019 Sport model is the priciest bike in this test, but it is also the lightest, and while the components are pretty much on a par with its rivals, it’s the chassis that gives the Roubaix its class. The frame is made from Fact 9r carbon, that’s two tiers below Specialized’s S-Works but it’s still a superb lightweight base for a bike. On the road, the Roubaix feels incredibly smooth. Yes, all the bikes…

What is it? Absolute Black makes a variety of chainrings, and this direct mount ring is available in 36-48 tooth sizes and compatible with just about everything. We replaced a SRAM Force 1 spider and X-SYNC ring weighing 147g, with this 40-tooth, 100g, one-piece oval ring. Design Each ring is CNC machined from 7075 aluminium with an appropriately weblike spider and 3D narrow-wide teeth profiles. These alternate between 2mm chisel shapes and square 3.5mm-wide anvil-like teeth designed to guide and grip each chain link. The oval shape means the ring’s radius varies by 10mm between highest and lowest points, so the spacing between frame and chainring must account for this. Performance When pedalling, initially the oval shape is obvious, but within minutes it’s harder to notice. Although difficult to subjectively…

LIFELINE £2.19 At 108.8g, Wiggle’s LifeLines (60mm valve, 700cc, 18/25) aren’t the lightest, and out of the box they’re a little tacky, but they don’t puncture easily and the wall thickness stops small punctures from tearing. After seven days, 80psi had dropped to 65psi, but at less than the price of a cup of coffee (cheaper when you multibuy), the LifeLines are a bargain. BEST ON TEST CONTINENTAL RACE 28 LIGHT £9.99 Conti’s basic Race 28 Light (42mm valve, 700cc, 18/25) is a quality tube with a removable core. Nicely powdered rubber makes them easy to fit, and they roll well and prove tough for their low 75.8g weight. They patch easily with traditional rubber cement patches, and with self-adhesives too. After seven days the 80psi had dropped to a…

WITH WATERPROOF JACKETS, YOU GENERALLY get what you pay for, so a reasonably priced Rapha surely can’t be up to much, right? This new Commuter Jacket offers a raft of features, some usually found on higherpriced rainwear, and all for £100. It’s available for men or women, in sizes from XS to XXL, in black, chartreuse, bright orange, and this hi-vis pink. To be honest, pink wasn’t our first choice. It’s the sort of shade that casts a glow on to nearby walls, and we’ve never felt more conspicuous on test rides, which is, of course, the point. Urban commuting has different demands to normal road riding and, although the same jackets can be used for both, your standard roadie waterproof does lack some practical features that matter on your…

Your textbook pre-sportive breakfast of porridge, toast with jam and a shot of synapse-stimulating caffeine has you lining up ready and hungry to unleash a performance that’d have Team Sky rescinding its decision to exit the world’s greatest sport. The announcer sends you on your way, your inner chimp eaten by your inner lion as you pass packs of riders and hone in on bragging rights over your post-100-miler-pint. You. Are. A. Tiger. Or you were. Two hours later your bonking brow’s resting on your top tube and there’s seemingly insufficient oxygen on the whole planet to revive you. Welcome to the science and art of pacing. Pacing, in its very basic form, is the distribution of energy during a ride. Your goal is to achieve your desired outcome, whether it’s…

In any fall from your bike, no joint is more under threat than the shoulder. This most mobile of joints enjoys its freedom at the cost of stability; think of the main shoulder joint, the ball-and-socket glenohumeral, as a golf ball on a tee. There’s not much socket at all. In the words of one of the experts we consulted for this article, it really is a bit rubbish at being a socket. The potential injury list from a fall is lengthy: shoulder, or acromioclavicular (AC), dislocations, collarbone (clavicle) or shoulder blade (scapula) breaks, or soft tissue injuries, such as cartilage or rotator cuff tears. Such injuries are to cyclists what broken fingers are to cricketers, or anterior cruciate ligament tears to footballers: occupational hazards. Unfortunately, the road to recovery…

FOR OVERSEAS TRAINING Petr VakocČ, of the Deceuninck – Quick-Step cycling team, shares his advice for combining winter sun and warm-weather training… 1 YOU NEED WARM AIR “It’s so much easier to do a long ride when the weather is nice – even more important is being able to do high-intensity work without the risk of getting sick from the cold air.” 2 GET RACE READY “It’s fundamental to get a quality block of training in before heading to your first races or big rides. When the start of the season gets closer, you need more quality sessions on the road.” 3 BUILD TRAINING IN BLOCKS “I usually train in three-day blocks. The first two days are usually more intensive and the third day is pure endurance. When the whole…

VIRTUAL REALITY London will host the inaugural British Cycling eRacing Championships. Using the Zwift format, competitors will compete in the final in late March, across various race formats, for a national champs jersey and £1000 prize pot. CONFIDENCE TRICKS A British Cycling campaign aims to get 1m more women on bikes by 2020. The move follows on from its own research that showed 64% of women aren’t confident riding on roads, 26% higher than men. BEST OF BOTH WORLDS A new update from indoor training game Zwift allows users to choose between two of its worlds on any given day. The original Watopia world is ever present and joined daily by a rotating guest world. BIKE FOR LIFE The NHS could save £319m over 23 years if cycling in UK…

At 16kg, it’s pretty good for an eBike, and with motor assistance hills have been easy enough (it won’t do all the work though) I’m a utility cyclist.” There, I said it. It’s not glamorous, but it’s true. Now, I’m not only a utility cyclist, much of the time I love to get out my road bike and ride for riding’s sake, sometimes I actually even train, and once I rode 1200km from Paris to Brest and back to achieve my ultimate cycling goal. But I commute by bike, I go shopping by bike, I nip into town or to the pub by bike, and I take my child to nursery by bike. All of these things would be just that little bit easier with an electric bike, especially as…

The new frame and fork have more generous tyre clearances than previous models A side from the impressive Defy frame, the main highlight on Giant’s Advanced 1 model is its almost full Ultegra groupset, which is rare to find on bikes costing less than two grand. What’s allowed Giant to spec such a premium drivetrain is the mix ‘n’ match nature of this bike’s braking system, which is made up of Giant’s own Conduct hydraulic disc brakes hooked up to the cable-actuated Ultegra brake levers. Don’t worry, this isn’t a mistake – the one system does work with the other by virtue of Giant’s converter unit integrated into the face plate of the stem. The brakes work well. Their power is impressive and the 140mm rotors, although basic, stayed quiet…

The C2 gives you just enough of a taste of how good the C-Series chassis can be Cervélo launched its C-Series endurance bikes in 2015, and although it may have been a little late to the endurance bike party, by making the entire range disc-brake only, the Canadian brand managed to stay one step ahead of the game. The C-Series frames have also been built to handle tyres up to 32mm wide so they have a reasonable level of all-road ability. Granted, that’s not enough to make them full-on gravel bikes but they can certainly go places where other Cervélos would fear to tread. The problem a lot of people had with the initial range of C-series bikes was price – over £7k for the top-of-the-range C5 and £3.5k for…

What is it? Praxis Works has made a name for itself with high-quality cranks, chainrings and bottom brackets. This direct mount Wave CX ring is available in 38-42 tooth sizes and fits threebolt crank arms. Our 40-tooth example weighed in at just 97g. Design Machined from 7075 T6 aluminium plate, the Praxis ring has an approximate five-arm construction. Chain retention relies on the ‘wave’ arrangement of the 2mm-wide, CNC-shaped, staggered teeth, which apply alternating lateral force to each link. This doesn’t rely solely on the insertion friction of other wide-narrow designs with heavily shaped teeth, and so evenly spreads the chain’s load across more of the teeth. Praxis recommends only using with a clutch rear mech, and using an upper chain guide for peace of mind. Performance We raced this…

CASSETTES 1 Shimano and SRAM 8-11 speed cassettes fit directly, while a Campag body is sold separately. RESISTANCE 2 The Flux S uses a magnetic field to create resistance, and this can be altered to make riding harder. INTELLIGENT 3 The Flux S talks directly to your phone/computer, giving easy access to speed, power and cadence data. DIRECT-DRIVE SMART TRAINERS THAT talk directly to your phone, laptop or tablet and enable you to train to power and immerse yourself in virtual cycling worlds such as Zwift and Bkool have become the new standard. For those of us still wearing out the rubber of our rear tyre while staring at the garage wall and listening to a Bruce Springsteen bootleg (your musical tastes may vary) it can seem like another world.…

THE GREAT QUALITY AND UNUSUAL kit from British brand Stolen Goat is made by Belgium’s highly regarded Bioracer. Its Climb and Conquer winter jackets come in seven colourways for men, including this attention-grabbing Jenga pattern, and seven for women. In sizes from XS to XXXL, the jacket is a close-fitting performance cut, so if you’d like a little more room, go up a size. Our UK medium is snug, with just enough room for a base layer and a thin jersey underneath. The Tempest Protect fabric is robust but highly elastic, wind-resistant and water-repellent, and thick enough to insulate effectively, with a soft brushed Roubaix lining. The temperature range is from 8°C down to -5°C – it depends on how hot you run, but we only added a mid layer…

Rondo is the latest project from Szymon Kobylinski. He started NS Bikes 15 years ago because he couldn’t find the sort of bikes he wanted to ride in his native Poland (Kobylinski raced mountain bike downhill at a high level). The brand is still going, and its gravity, freeride and jump bikes are highly regarded. In recent years, Kobylinski has put away his full-face helmet and body armour and taken up road and cyclocross, which has led to his latest venture: Rondo. According to the website, it “wants to change the way drop-bar bikes are perceived, by both roadies and mountain bikers.” Rondo’s first bike was the RUUT, a gravel machine with ‘Vario geometry’ – a simple flip-chip in the fork adjusts the bike from an aggressive road-race like stance…

FITNESS IS A FACTOR “I’m a road cyclist but the bike and gear, and the demands of a world record attempt, are so far removed from taking myself out for a routine ride. I have to work on my general fitness and do a lot of strength training and anaerobic stuff. Ironically, having smashed records at breakneck speeds, my only accident was on a club ride.” ONE GUY INSPIRED ME “I’ve had my heart set on the cycling speed record for half my life, but it’s only been in the past five years that I’ve been in a position to go for it. I took inspiration from the motorcyclist, mechanic and allaround action man Guy Martin. After watching him breaking the British record in 2016 (112mph), I looked at him…

If your disc brakes make a rubbing noise, or worse, squeal, there are a few things you can do to remedy this, or prevent it happening in the future. Often unwanted contact is caused by poor positioning of the calliper in relation to the disc. To alter this, simply grab a 5mm Allen key (or T25 torx in the case of SRAM) and loosen the calliper bolts until the calliper can move a little on its mounts. Then rotate the wheel towards the calliper and pull on the lever to activate the brake. Hold and re-tighten the bolts and this should square it up nicely. This is often the right solution for a small amount of rubbing or contact, and also should stop a squeaking disc. If the squeaking continues,…

Merlin’s direct-buy Malt-G gravel-specific bike represents fantastic value for money. Using Shimano’s 10-speed Tiagra groupset found on bikes nearly double the Malt-G’s price, a carbon fork, with carbon steerer and dropout blades, and Tektro Lyra mechanical disk brakes with 160mm rotors, it’s almost a ‘too good to be true’ ride. The carbon fork and frame – made from 6061 aluminium – both have mudguard-mounting bosses and pannier fittings. The mix of own-brand and Kalloy Uno finishing kit keeps the price down, but works as expected. On road, the bars’ 41cm width is fine but a wider set up for gravel would be preferable. The flat centre surface of the Kenda Kwick 35mm tyres keeps rolling resistance down on paved surfaces, but lean over to corner and the sharp transition between…

1 What’s all this then? Apparently, one of ‘The Rules’ is that you shouldn’t ride with a saddle bag as it makes your bike less sexy. And if you ignore the fact that every fully supported pro that you see racing on TV without one, fits one for solo training rides, there is some truth in that. But saddle bags are practical, so it’s always worth the style sacrifice if it keeps inner tubes and multitools out of your jersey pockets. But what if there was an alternative? 2 Good for your stealth! Topeak has come up with one in the shape of the Ninja Pouch+ bottle cage. As a cage, it will hold all standard bike bottles up to 750ml in its polymer grasp, but the real appeal comes…

In BikeRadar Diaries, Joe and Reuben asked their viewers to pick a favourite between their respective 5.1kg hill-climbing bikes. Was it Joe’s mass-produced Trek Émonda or Reuben’s more bespoke Reilly 600SL? More than 2,500 votes were cast, and Reuben lost out. His forfeit? A brutal climb on a very cheap bike. The guys set out to take on one of the hardest climbs in the south-west of England, the 2.05km Draycott Steep, ‘armed’ with one of the cheapest (£180) and heaviest (13.6kg) road bikes (Barracuda) they could get their hands on. Want to know how it stacks up against a £10,000 Trek Émonda hill-climb-specific superbike? Head over to BikeRadar’s Youtube channel to find out. FOR ALL THE LATEST BIKE & GEAR NEWS VISIT For more videos follow us at: youtube.com/user/bikeradar/videos…

It revels in tight technical turns but is just as happy carving through fast open bends on long descents Cannondale’s Synapse has a big reputation round these parts – the previous generation won our coveted Bike of the Year award back in 2014. What makes the Synapse such a great bike is just how well suited its geometry is for endurance riding. Our 58cm test bike has a 610mm stack and a 393mm reach, with a 1009mm wheelbase and 58mm of fork trail. All of which adds up to a fine-handling machine that’s capable of providing all-day comfort. Also helping matters is its relatively light chassis: the frame weighs in at 1100g and the fork 367g, which is decent for an endurance bike. It’s a classy-looking machine too. We love…

It’s hard to beat if you want to stay free of aches and pains after big days out at a brisk pace The VR in VR4 stands for variable road and the design of the chassis reflects that of a bike built to go long – be it up, down or over coarser surfaces. The dropped seatstays and sloping top tube expose a lot of seatpost, which is a sure-fire way to introduce some rear-end compliance. Up front, the fork uses a tapered steerer, which varies across the sizes to equalise the front-end stiffness, so a tiny 43cm model should ride the same as the largest 61cm bike. Tyre clearances all round are generous, with plenty of space around the big 28mm Schwalbe Durano tyres, so you could go a…

SHIMANO’S WHEELS HAVE, FOR MANY years, been solid performers – well-built, smooth-running and easy to maintain. What they haven’t been is particularly exciting. These Dura-Ace 9170 wheels are the Japanese company’s first fullcarbon clinchers, which just goes to show how conservative its approach to wheel design is – Shimano’s rivals have been making equivalent wheels for years already. So were they worth the wait? In short, yes. For a start they’re built around Shimano’s highly evolved D2 rim profile, which uses a blunted aero shape that’s 37mm deep and 24mm wide (externally). Their internal width is a standard 17mm as Shimano has, perhaps conservatively, chosen to eschew the trend towards more wider rim beds, meaning these wheels are best suited to road tyres of more ‘standard’ dimensions – we ran…

ROLF’S PAIRED SPOKES DESIGN HAS been around since 1996, and the Vigor model since 2002. Save for a brief hiatus due to the 2008 global financial crisis, the company has stuck with its patented design, and produces aluminium and carbon wheels in the USA for all types of bike. The Vigor ES comes in rim- and disc-brake versions, and our disc pair has aluminium rims that are 32mm tall, 23mm wide and 19.5mm internally, built with 24 Sapim CX Speed spokes on XR hubs, with steel cartridge bearings, pawls and freehub body. They’re supplied with thru axle end caps, with a quick-release option available, and including rim tapes, 12mm rear and 15mm front-end caps, our pair weighed 1824g. If converted, the Vigor ES Disc rims can be set up tubeless,…

SCOTT’S LOWEST-PRICED BOA-FASTENED ROAD SHOES combine slick looks with practical specification. The composite injection nylon and fibreglass sole has a three-hole cleat fitting, permitting generous fore-aft adjustment, and hard rubber bumpers moulded around the heel and toe for walking grip and protection. The uppers use synthetic leather in Scott’s Wrap Fit design, with a single forefoot seam in front of the ball of the foot, which is supported by the Velcro fit strap. The heel cup is PU coated, and there are three 3D Nylon Airmesh panels around the toe box, with perforations along both sides of the shoe and in the tongue. Supplementing the ventilation is a single, mesh-covered vent at the front of the sole, aligned with perforations in the footbed. The shoes are available in sizes 40-48,…

FRANCE Moucherolle Cycle Tours Ride through dramatic gorges in the Vercors and take on the most iconic Alpine climbs. Small groups are fully supported during the rides and served up fantastic homecooked dinners every night. Enjoy a week of adventure, challenges and fun with your friends and clubmates in the south of France. andre.moucherolle@gmail.com • moucherolle.com SPAIN Andalucian Cycling Experience Classic road cycling holidays on quiet, super smooth, roads in inland Andalucia, where traffic is minimal and there are more than 320 days of sunshine every year. Cycling around the Serrania de Ronda is a paradise for road cyclists. If you are looking for somewhere new to ride, come and give it a go, you will not regret it! Riding is believing! For more infomation, email ashley@andaluciancyclingexperience.com. +34 952 184…

I remember being struck by the bond between Phil and Paul In 2013, the Tour de France started on the island of Corsica. Back then, of course, David Millar was still racing, and racing to some effect as it happens. His performance on stage one was destined to become a half-forgotten detail in the drama of the day. Lest we forget: the race was marked in people’s memories by the hilarious surrealism of the Orica GreenEdge bus misjudging the height of the finishing arch and getting stuck, essentially blocking the passage of the 100th Tour de France at precisely the only point of the race that really mattered. It was almost a bunch sprint with a bus in the way. Anyway, they managed to clear the finish line in time…