Innehållsförteckning för September 2017 från Cyclist

£219.99, madison.co.uk The development of performance helmets changed forever when Mark Cavendish won the 2011 World Championships wearing a snap-on aeroshell over his helmet. It served as the catalyst for the ‘aero-road’ niche – helmets not quite as slippery as a full TT set-up but a lot faster than conventional lids. After several seasons where it simply offered a removable cover to make its top-tier Z1 more aerodynamic, Lazer has joined the fray in earnest with a dedicated aero-road design – the Bullet. It was developed primarily to answer calls from Lotto Soudal’s Andre Greipel for something aerodynamically superior to the Z1. The helmet has a slatted central channel that can be pushed open or shut with the ‘Air Slide’ – a perforated, sliding panel – dependent on whether aerodynamics…

£320, saddleback.co.uk Some components look almost too pretty to use. Rotor’s Uno cassette is one of them, thanks to its (almost) one-piece hollow design. But it’s more than a piece of art. This 11-28t cassette graced the Cyclist scales at just 135g, including the lockring. That’s a saving of at least 40g over Shimano’s top-tier Dura-Ace and even more over Campagnolo’s Super Record. Sram’s range-topping 11-speed XG-1190 gets closer at a claimed 151g, but that’s still 16g of extra baggage you’ll have to carry up hills. Your wallet will be a fair bit lighter too.…

There was a time in the 1960s when we had the future all worked out. Elevated highways would allow space-age cars to whiz around our cities at 120mph, while pedestrians would be transported on a system of escalators. There wouldn’t be a cyclist in sight. Movie-makers, architects and policy makers all had a similar vision of the 21st century metropolis, and it was fast-paced and motor-centric. Had they looked into their crystal balls and seen the gridlocked roads, and the rise in popularity of cycling, our cities might look very different. Now, in a bid to ease congestion, cities all over the world are trying to retrofit a transport system to cater more for cyclists. In London, successive mayors have seized upon cycling as a solution to the great problem…

MODEL Specialized S-Works Venge ViAS Disc eTap GROUPSET Sram eTap HRD GEARING 52/36t crankset, 11-26t cassette WHEELS Roval Rapide CLX64 Disc TYRES Specialized S-Works Turbo tubeless; 700x24c FINISHING KIT Specialized Aerofly ViAS handlebars, Venge ViAS aero stem, Venge Aero seatpost, Body Geometry S-Works Power carbon saddle WEIGHT 8.02kg (56cm) PRICE £8,500 CONTACT specialized.co.uk STU’S SUMMARY Aesthetically the Venge ViAS Disc might be divisive, especially its unusual handlebars, but ride it in anger and it will almost certainly win you over. Where other brands rely on third-party wheels and components to slot in and work with their frames, Specialized is able to take a holistic approach, honing the Venge ViAS Disc to work most efficiently as a system. The benefits are obvious on the road. The super-stiff frame and wheels…

MODEL Cervélo S5 GROUPSET Sram Force 1 GEARING 50t chainring; 11-28t cassette WHEELS Lightweight Autobahn VR8 front; Lightweight Fernweg 80 rear TYRES Continental Competition tubulars; 700x25c FINISHING KIT Cervélo Aero Road bar, Zipp Service Course SL stem, Cervélo Aero seatpost, Pro Logo Scratch Pro CPC saddle WEIGHT 6.98kg (50cm) PRICE AED51,995 (approx £10,999) CONTACT Wolfi’s Bike Shop (wbs.ae) ANDY’S SUMMARY Having ridden on the Al Wathba circuit a lot I know it well, and I immediately felt a big difference on the Cervélo S5 compared to my usual road bike. First of all, I was taking less of a battering from the wind, which considering the depth of the Lightweight wheels was a huge surprise. In truth, they were absolutely fine in the crosswinds. Having only 11 gears works perfectly…

If you really had to choose – and we’re asking you to right now – which climb used by the Tour de France would you pick as the most iconic between Mont Ventoux and Alpe d’Huez? The Ventoux, of course, sticks out – and up – like a sore thumb, towering over the Provençal landscape with its white moonscape summit and red-and-white-striped candy-cane observation tower on top. But ‘The Giant of Provence’ also has its dark side: 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of British pro Tom Simpson’s death. It’s a horror few other mountains have to shoulder. Alpe d’Huez, in the heart of the French Alps, meanwhile, is all hairpin bends and party time. Arguably the most terrible thing to have happened there is what happened to Giuseppe Guerini at…

THE SPEC Model Open U.P.P.E.R. Groupset Sram Force 1 Deviations None Wheels Enve M50 Fifty 29in Finishing kit Enve Compact Short Shallow handlebar, Enve Carbon stem, Enve two-bolt Carbon Fibre seatpost, Brooks England Cambium C13 saddle Weight 7.36kg Price £3,850 frameset only, £8,900 as tested Contact  veloatelier.com We live in a confused era for the road bike. Categories now overlap so much that an aero bike can be a climber’s bike, an endurance bike can be sprinter’s bike and almost any bike can be a gravel bike. But there are some bikes that really push the boundaries of what it means to be a road bike – and none more so than the Open Upper. The Upper is the latest creation of former Cervélo co-founder Gerard Vroomen. A year ago…

How To Wear… Caps TOP TO BOTTOM, BY CLUSTER Rapha Tricolour, £25 rapha.cc Altura Race, £14.99 zyrofisher.co.uk Sportful Fiandre NoRain, £34 c3products.com Poc Fondo, £25 2pure.co.uk Castelli Fausto, £18 saddleback.co.uk Assos Millecap_evo8, £16 assos.com Bontrager Summer, £19.99 trekbikes.com Le Col, £13 lecol.cc Northwave Switch Line, £14.99 i-ride.co.uk Giro Peloton, £24.99 zyrofisher.co.uk Café du Cycliste, £23 cafeducycliste.com Pactimo Ratio, £19 pactimo.co.uk Pearl Izumi Barrier Lite, £24.99 madison.co.uk Sportful Giara, £18 c3products.com Chapeau Lightweight, £16.99 chapeau.cc Attaquer Big Skull, £19.95 attaquercycling.eu Heart Of The Tour Scott Arx helmet, £59.99 scott-sports.com Oakley Radarlock XL sunglasses, £195 uk.oakley.com Castelli Free AR 4.1 jersey, £90 saddleback.co.uk Castelli Free Aero Race bibshorts, £140 saddleback.co.uk Castelli Rosso…

It takes a unique talent to win an Olympic gold medal, but to triumph at three consecutive Olympic Games requires an even rarer blend of passion, dedication, resilience and vision. British track cycling icon Ed Clancy has shown all of these qualities in abundance during his glittering career. The Barnsley-born rider has won three gold medals in the team pursuit at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016, a bronze medal in the Omnium at the London Olympics, and five World Championship titles. But to stay ahead of the opposition Clancy has also drawn on his lifelong passion for the science of speed (he also loves racing motorbikes and go-karts in his spare time) and his gritty Yorkshire determination. ‘Ahead of Rio I knew my only chance of getting a…

£39.99, extrauk.co.uk Pirelli is making a high-profile return to the bicycle tyre market with its new range of P-Zero tyres, and thanks to its considerable heritage in motorsport, the company isn’t afraid to make some bold claims. It says the P-Zeros solve the compromise that exists with rolling resistance, puncture protection and longevity. How? Get ready to be scienced: the molecules in its Smartnet Silica compound place themselves into uniform sticks rather than the random spherical blobs of normal silicate compounds. This ‘directional positioning’ allows the tyres to be both supple and tough. Apparently.…

It had to happen on a Cyclist assignment eventually, and today is the day. I’ve forgotten my helmet. I discover my mistake when we pop the boot in the car park in Albertville, the start town for today’s ride in the Savoie region, near the borders of Italy and Switzerland. To get here, we’ve already driven a fair distance from the hotel, where the helmet was last seen nestled on a table next to my bed, so there is no chance of heading back to retrieve it. Equally, there is no chance of continuing without it, as it’s Cyclist law that magazine rides be undertaken under expanded polystyrene (with the exception of L’Eroica). What makes my predicament even more awkward is that I’ve only just met the people I’m due…

‘Swedish culture has democracy and egalitarianism at its core. In Sweden truly anyone can do whatever they want’ The Swedish are obsessed by light. When Cyclist visits Stockholm just after midsummer, there’s an uncommon clarity to the light in this part of the world that’s infectious – it can’t fail but make you feel optimistic. It’s no real surprise, then, that the HQ of Poc, a brand totally and utterly Swedish by its own admission, luxuriates in a huge amount of natural light. It provides a sense of calm in the working environment, yet considering the growth trajectory of the relatively young brand over the past few years, efficiency doesn’t seem to have been dulled by the relaxed atmosphere. ‘I’d pin the root cause of our development on our inherent…

It’s been weeks since we had a good election, so we’ve provided three candidates for you to consider at the bike ballot box. You could go for the popular choice, which has a proven track record on the global stage. Then there’s the sophisticated newcomer with the compelling backstory and the intriguing octopus tattoo. Or you could opt for the rugged, outdoorsy type promising lots of fun. Let’s see what the exit poll has to say……

THE SPEC Model Epoca R60 Groupset Campagnolo Super Record Deviations None Wheels Campagnolo Bora Ultra 35 Finishing kit Deda Superzero Alloy bars and stem, Thecno Aero2 seatpost, Selle San Marco Concor Carbon FX saddle Weight 7.30kg Price £8,400 (£4,000 frameset only) Contact  epocabikes.com This bike began life on the back of a beer mat. Admittedly that beer mat was then photographed, emailed and digitally rendered in CAD by Epoca, but nonetheless, it started out as a badly drawn pipedream that I honestly never thought would happen. After all, who would ever decide it was a good idea to paint an octopus on a bicycle? Well, Vincenzo Nibali for one. Sort of. The Merida he pedalled in this year’s Giro went for a similar theme, only his was a ribbon wrapped…

Every cyclist knows it’s the smallest details of training, nutrition, preparation and kit that can make the biggest difference. It is a vision that’s shared by professional and amateur riders all over the world. Mark Cavendish wants all elements of his preparation to be just right – and so do you. But when you can’t stop taking everything you do to the next level, you need the power to filter what is in front of you and fix your eyes on the game-changing details that will help turn your dreams into a reality. Oakley’s revolutionary Prizm™ Lens Technology provides ultra-precise colour tuning for different sports and environments. Prizm™ lenses reveal subtle details you never even knew were there. Prizm™ was created through years of intelligent colour science research, with experts…

‘I’ve done 50km and had two cups of coffee by the time I get to my desk so I am full of energy at 9am’ When Brazilian-born London cyclist Rudy Melo helped to set up the 5th Floor – an urban collective of cycling friends who meet up to race bikes, master tricks, eat post-ride pizza and have fun – he had no idea that he was shaping an influential new zeitgeist within the urban cycling arena. ‘The 5th Floor started out as a blog back in 2009 when we were just a group of friends in the London riding scene,’ explains Melo, 31, who has lived in London for 14 years. ‘We are called the 5th Floor because we used to meet up on the fifth floor of an…

from £389, mavic.com When tubeless tyres and wheels for road bikes first started appearing as far back as 2006, French brand Mavic wasn’t interested. Even as more and more wheel manufacturers took up the tubeless cause, Mavic refused to join the party, claiming that the lack of consistency in the tolerances of tubeless tyres made the system inherently unsafe. But it couldn’t hold out forever and now Mavic has finally gone tubeless with its new UST (Universal System Tubeless) range. The company says its change of tack is down to having overcome safety concerns by producing its own tyres and refining the inner rim dimensions of its wheels. Mavic now claims its rim and tyre diameters are more stringently controlled than the standard set out by the European Tyre and…

Cyclist: It’s Monday, Tom. Why aren’t you at school? Tom Pidcock: Because I’m doing this. I’ve only got one lesson today, anyway. On some days I don’t have school until 11 so I go out training in the morning. Then I go to school, come home, eat, watch the telly and do the chaingang in the evening. Or in the morning I’ll just sleep in, then clean my bike, then do the chaingang. Cycling’s the priority now. Cyc: Do you feel you miss out on other things that people your age get up to because you’re out on your bike? TP: Yeah, probably. But I’m not the sort of person who likes going out drinking and stuff like that. I just do what I want to do –…

Tell me about your perfect ride. Where would you go? That might sound like an excerpt from a psychiatrist’s transcript, but it is in fact one of 13 questions Argonaut founder Ben Farver poses to a prospective customer before a conversation about their new bike has even got started. ‘The questionnaire paints a picture of them as a cyclist. Geometry is just a small part of a custom bike. A bike can only be so stiff and so light, so for me the real opportunity in bike design, and a bike’s lasting value, is how it feels on the road,’ Farver says with an earnest smile. It wasn’t always the case that Farver looked to influence one of his creations so directly. He came to framebuilding in a roundabout way,…

1 VISION METRON 4D BARS £309.95, windwave.co.uk For some, 4D will mean time regarded as analogous to linear dimensions, used to specify the position and behaviour of a particle. For others, such as Vision, it demarcates a new series of carbon aero road bars with ergonomic forward bend, widened cable routing paths and an overall weight of 233g. The purpose of time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once; the purpose of these bars is to make you faster. 2 LOOK KEO 2 MAX PEDALS £69.99, zyrofisher.co.uk Cyclists owe a huge debt to skiing. Not only is the sport responsible for the creation of some of the world’s most inspiring roads, built solely to service ski stations, but sprung ski bindings gave Look the idea for the first clipless…

‘He’s pretending not to listen, but he can hear alright,’ says Roger Hammond, directeur sportif of Team Dimension Data. I’ve just brought up the topic of Peter Sagan, and Dimension Data’s head of performance, Rolf Aldag, has buried his head in invisible paperwork. ‘Er, I’m just planning the, er, bus schedule for the day,’ Aldag laughs. ‘When he hears “Sagan”, he tends to turn away,’ smiles Hammond. ‘We’ve moved on, but it’s still the first thought when we wake up.’ It’s 8.30am on Wednesday 12th July in the Hotel Kyriad in Bergerac, which is situated – as so many Tour abodes are – in a grey industrial hinterland. More than a week has passed since the African team’s talismanic sprinter, Mark Cavendish, saw his dreams of breaking Eddy Merckx’s record…

It only rains a few days a year in Abu Dhabi. In fact, the average annual rainfall here is so low that the process of ‘cloud-seeding’ is sometimes used to encourage further precipitation. So it seems more than a little unlucky that the day we’ve come to test bikes on the Al Wathba desert cycle track, armed with a trio of top-end aero machines and having carefully planned every last detail of our trip for months, large droplets of water are splashing onto our sand-blasted arms. At least when the rain arrives we’re near what is the only shelter on this 96km circuit – the Adnoc café – so we decide to head under cover for some refreshment while waiting out the desert storm. With cycling in the UAE a…

MODEL Trek Madone 9.5 Women’s GROUPSET Shimano Ultegra Di2 GEARING 50/34t crankset; 11-28t cassette WHEELS Vision Metron 40 LTD TYRES Bontrager R3 Hard Case Lite; 700x25c FINISHING KIT Madone integrated bar/stem OCLV carbon, Madone Micro Adjust carbon seatmast, Bontrager Ajna Pro carbon saddle WEIGHT 7.13kg (52cm) PRICE £6,500 CONTACT trekbikes.com KATE’S SUMMARY As a lighter rider I typically find myself affected more by strong winds, and I usually struggle into headwinds. The Trek not only felt stable and comfortable in the gusty conditions – more so even than my own Specialized Tarmac road bike – but it somehow also always felt really eager to go. It encourages an attacking riding style, and it was great fun to tuck down low and push it hard to make the guys suffer.…

Keep your cycling summer going a bit longer with a late-season trip to the beautiful northern lakes of Italy. As the venue for the final Monument of the year – the Giro di Lombardia – the roads around this region are rich in cycling history. You can climb the famous Madonna del Ghisallo with its church containing a museum dedicated to the legends of cycling, or test your legs on the fearsomely steep Muro di Sormano, which is etched with quotes from the pros of the past. Each day of the four-day trip will include a ride, expertly guided and fully supported by vehicles with mechanics. You can bring your own bike or hire a top-end Canyon, which will be set up and waiting for you on arrival. You’ll also…

THE SPEC Model Canyon Aeroad CF SLX Disc 8.0 Di2 Groupset Shimano Ultegra Di2 Deviations Shimano ST-R785 Di2 shift levers/BR-RS805 disc brake callipers Wheels Reynolds Strike carbon clincher Finishing kit Canyon H11 Aerocockpit CF integrated bar/stem, Canyon S27 Aero VCLS CF seatpost, Fizik Arione R5 saddle Weight 7.70kg (medium) Price £4,499 Contact canyon.com For some, Canyon is a devil, killing off distributors and independent bike shops with its direct-to-consumer sales strategy. For others, Canyon is an angel, with a business model that allows it to offer good bikes at great value in a heavily price-driven market. What your own view is rather depends on where you stand in the whole bike retail system. What’s not up for dispute is the quality of Canyon’s bikes. The latest addition to…

Keep your cycling summer going a bit longer with a late-season trip to the beautiful northern lakes of Italy. As the venue for the final Monument of the year – the Giro di Lombardia – the roads around this region are rich in cycling history. You can climb the famous Madonna del Ghisallo with its church containing a museum dedicated to the legends of cycling, or test your legs on the fearsomely steep Muro di Sormano, which is etched with quotes from the pros of the past. Each day of the four-day trip will include a ride, expertly guided and fully supported by vehicles with mechanics. You can bring your own bike or hire a top-end Canyon, which will be set up and waiting for you on arrival. You’ll also…

‘For me, racing was almost a by-product that enabled me to live this creative life’ Deep among the tree-covered slopes and rocky valleys of the Dyfi Forest in Wales, British mountain bike pioneer Dan Atherton is hard at work in his motorised digger. The 35-year-old rider is one of the famous trio of Atherton siblings, alongside Gee, 32, a two-time Downhill World Champion, and Rachel, 29, a four-time Downhill World Champion. Dan himself has been successful in almost every discipline of mountain biking, from four-cross and downhill to enduro – with notable victories in the 2008 Four Cross National Championships and the bone-shaking 2012 Maxi Avalanche. Yet the senior Atherton has always been most passionate about the creative side of the sport, forever pushing boundaries and searching for something new.…