Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2020 i Cycling Plus

SUBSCRIBE! NEW SUBSCRIBERS TO CYCLING PLUS CAN GET A LEZYNE DIGITAL ROAD DRIVE PUMP WORTH £69.99 ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? Get access to exclusive content, competitions and offers. Turn to p70 There used to be a time when I would argue that because I cycled I could eat what I liked. And for a while I got away with it, too, burning off enough calories over the weekend to make light work of that Friday night curry. Those days, however, are passed. Age and reduced mileage now ensure that a price is paid for all indulgences these days, usually around the waist, but that doesn’t stop me. So it was heartening to read James Witts’s piece on page 72 and learn that there are health benefits to my bad habits! What…

£10,999 Roadmachine, the sequel The first Roadmachine broke the endurance bike mould and the new 01 ONE model raises the bar again The first Roadmachine, which was launched in 2016, broke the endurance bike mould with wider tyres, new geometry and cutting-edge integration. The new model raises the bar again with similar geometry, improved rider fit across all sizes, 33mm tyre clearance, greater performance and comfort. BMC’s Tube Compliance Concept (TCC) debuted on the GF01 in 2013 with visible tube kinks and steps helping frames to tame rough surfaces. It’s been refined since and, although the current TCC Aero, Race and Endurance designs have largely lost the visual references, the Roadmachine’s TCC Endurance creates Angle Compliance with specific tube shaping. This allows specific areas of the frame to move in…

JOHN WHITNEY: What makes a great race? A tight, rollercoaster finish, an outstanding individual performance, the result going against the script or the weather playing a big part? One of the races that sprung to mind was the 2013 Milan-Sanremo, AKA the one with all the snow. Milan-Sanremo is one of my favourite races full stop. I love how all the action is condensed into the final hour. But the 2013 race had more than an hour, as they took shelter on the team buses. Really, this is more of a memorable race than a great one. There shouldn’t be a half-time in a bike race. Weather can be a useful antagonist, but it can become too decisive a factor. PAUL ROBSON: I’m not a fan of riding my bike…

Ribble’s overhauled range of bikes is simply huge with models for every discipline and builds for every budget. There’s no shortage of standard builds, often in up to three colour options, and Ribble’s online Bike Builder allows you to customise any bike to your personal preference, or budget – at least up to a point. The basic price of the R872 Disc we have here is £1399, but it was supplied with a couple of upgrades from standard. A carbon seatpost replaced the alloy one and the tyres were switched to Continental’s sublime Grand Prix 5000s. We didn’t choose them, but had we been customers those would be two elements of any bike high on our list for potential improvement. You will have noticed that even then the Ribble still…

When Trek first debuted the Domane with rear IsoSpeed, the endurance bike market changed for good. The advent of front IsoSpeed then balanced the ride feel of bikes it was fitted to because the original front end always felt firmer than the rear. Our new Domane SL4 is the cheapest 500 Series carbon Domane with front and rear IsoSpeed and disc brakes. It’s the cheapest carbon disc Domane full stop because the only bikes below it in the range are the rim brake-only Domane AL2 and AL3, at £595 and £750 respectively. Trek says that the all-carbon frame and fork with double IsoSpeed is much lighter than the preceding aluminium Domane frame but in 56cm size, our SL4 weighs a not inconsiderable 10.01kg. The current Domane’s frameset has more angular,…

01 LOMO HI-VIZ DRY BAG £32.99 It’s big, it’s tough, it’s waterproof, it’s bright, it’s cheap and its hi-vis fluorescent yellow PVC is decked in reflective stripes. So what are the downsides? Well, you’ll get a bit sweaty on longer rides or carrying heavy kit but this 30-litre PVC bag will swallow all your belongings and keep them bone dry, thanks to the roll-down top and welded seams. It lacks any extras but for 33 quid we really aren’t complaining. 02 OXFORD AQUA V20 £54.99 A simple design –_an effective rolltop opening into a single 20-litre compartment –_but this is available in loads of colours all of which have extensive reflective details with 360-degree visibility. With the top tightened this proved impervious to water with even the external pocket waterproof.…

£49.99 Bigger tyres don’t have to cost you speed During the three years Bontrager’s engineers spent developing the new R3 Hard-Case Lite tyre range, they created a completely new testing protocol. They replaced the traditional rotating steel drum with a customisable flat, rolling surface that can imitate every possible road surface. Experimentation with tyre widths, tread patterns, puncture protection and rubber compounds proved that larger volume road and gravel tyres definitely roll faster and sometimes by over 10 per cent in one direction than in another. This resulted in improved Hard-Case Lite puncture protection from the Nylon 105 breaker belt and a new TR-Speed rubber compound, which is claimed to roll 7 per cent faster than the previous R3 tyre, and last almost twice as long. Central to the R3…

£180 WEIGHT 76g SIZE 78mm x 50mm x 25mm SCREEN SIZE 34mm x 45mm SCREEN TYPE 320 x 240 colour IN THE BOX Out-front mount, bar mount, micro USB cable WATERPROOF IPX7 MEMORY 800 hours BATTERY LIFE (CLAIMED) 32 hours The setup of the Mega C is a little convoluted as you have to launch the desktop website, plug in the unit, download firmware updates then pair to the Lezyne Ally app. After that things get easier. The Ally app is slick and using your phone to plot routes is pleasing, it will offer numerous options for your route and the comprehensive search is welcome. Simply upload the route for turn-by-turn navigation. Mapping requires you to download tiles for your area but make sure you download enough as on a…

£209 WEIGHT 95.2g SIZE 48mm x 75mm x 23mm SCREEN SIZE 46mm x 35mm SCREEN TYPE Everbrite™ LCD colour screen IN THE BOX Out-front mount, micro USB cable WATERPROOF IPX7 MEMORY 16gb BATTERY LIFE (CLAIMED) 20 hours The Stages Dash feels similar in use to Wahoo in that all the major functions are controlled by facia buttons combined with a small, backlit screen, which is seriously crisp, putting every other unit here to shame with auto-brightness adjustment built in. Stages has done a great job in presenting the wealth of data available and a well-detailed map. The minimally sized screen has a lot of information to show, so pages can be hard to read at a glance. To tune pages you need to connect via USB to a laptop. Set-up…

£349.99 WEIGHT 81.3g SIZE 85mm x 20mm x 50mm SCREEN SIZE 52mm x 40mm SCREEN TYPE Colour touchscreen, 246 x 322 MEMORY 16gb IN THE BOX 2 x mounts, 1 x out-front mount, micro USB cable WATERPROOF IPX7 BATTERY LIFE (CLAIMED) 20 hours Garmin has packed in full-colour mapping, tactile touchscreen and onboard navigation into what looks like a mini 1030. GPS pick up was between 35 and 40 seconds, quick though not the quickest. The 830 is simple to sync with sensors and it had no problem finding our HRM (Garmin Vivosmart HR watch and Wahoo Tickr strap). Once you find a sensor you can rename it to avoid confusion. It also quickly found our SRAM eTap, SRAM/Quarq power meter and the Shimano WU1111 antenna on a second bike,…

£499.99 WEIGHT 124.1g SIZE 112mm x 58mm x 20mm SCREEN SIZE 46mm x 76mm SCREEN TYPE Colour touchscreen 282 x 470 MEMORY 16gb expandable up to 2TB (via SD card) IN THE BOX 2 x mounts, 1 x out-front mount, micro USB cable WATERPROOF IPX7 BATTERY LIFE (CLAIMED) 20 hours Garmin’s range-topping GPS has more data and functions than you’ll ever need. Most are the same as the 830, but it does work faster. It has a 16GB internal memory and you can add a micro-SD card up to 2TB. Garmin claims 20 hours of battery life, up to 40 with the optional Garmin charge pack. We’re getting just shy of 10 hours when using power, gear and HRM sensors. Setup is identical to the 830, so it’s a case…

“Average speed is one of those metrics everyone likes to brag about to their friends,” says Liam Holohan. “If you want to travel further in your allotted training time, there are a series of factors to consider and apply to your training routine.” Making those improvements through drills and structured sessions, tweaks to your kit and riding style, along with routine ride-outs needn’t detract from the enjoyment of the ride, and when training alongside other riders can ensure every ride has a purpose. You can work on raising your speed out on the road or indoors on a trainer, reducing your body weight if needs be. Other useful ploys to engage include… 01 ROUTE PLANNING “The less elevation, the more ground you’ll cover. Use route planning apps, such as Strava…

Bottom brackets are one of those industry pet peeves that have plenty of ‘standards’ but no definitive standard. It’s one of the areas of the bike that people seem most hesitant about working on. That’s understandable, it’s the part of the bike you’re more or less standing on, but with the right tools and some help, it’s pretty straightforward. Here, we show you how to solve a loose Shimano Hollowtech 2 bottom bracket, which can be caused by hasty factory installation or slight under-torquing on replacement. To tell a loose BB apart from a worn one with bearing play, take hold of each crank arm and waggle them from side to side. If a gentle movement offers an easy but slight movement, it’s bearing play and the BB is wearing…

WHAT GOT YOU INTO CYCLING? “I set up my own physio business in Wokingham in 2015 and started riding there from south-west London.” HOW DID IT CHANGE YOUR LIFE? “I had an undiagnosed tumour on my adrenal gland. It was releasing adrenalin into my body at a rate that affected my heart and my life. After completing a TdF Challenge on Strava I collapsed. My resting heart rate was 165 and resting blood pressure was 250/120 and yet I was fit. Cycling stressed my body, enabling the tumour to be found, but it also meant I was fit enough to survive it. Cycling literally saved my life. Eighty per cent of all these rare tumours are only discovered in autopsy.” HOW OFTEN DO YOU GET OUT ON THE BIKE? “I…

I can’t risk catching any germs on the eve of the Rapha Festive 500 It’s a week before the start of the Rapha Festive 500 and my bike needs a new freewheel. I take it down to my local bike shop and find that owner Steve and mechanic Paul are both full of a cold. I keep my distance and hold my handkerchief over my mouth and nose. Like a scene from a cold war spy swap movie, I leave my bike halfway between them and me and back away to the door, shouting instructions over the heads of several Christmas shoppers. “The freewheel’s buggered,” I say, “and I need a new one before Christmas Eve.” Paul gives my rear wheel a spin: “16-tooth? We can get that in for…

Cannondale CAAD Optimo 105 £1000 WHAT DO THEY SAY ABOUT THE BIKE? “The perfect getaway bike to pure tarmac performance,” says Cannondale’s spiel. It’s all about steep and aggressive frame angles with its short wheelbase and a head tube 25mm shorter than the Specialized’s, further emphasising the frame’s raciness. Apart from the paintwork the Optimo is unchanged from 2019, which is no bad thing. IS IT COMPLETE SHIMANO 105? Not quite. The levers, mechs and 11-30 cassette are 105 with a 50/34 FSA Gossamer chainset and Tektro R741 caliper brakes. The brakes are a higher-end Tektro pair: their stiffness is good enough for power and control. EASY RIDER? There’s no lack of stiffness from the oversized down tube and tapered head tube. The stiffness aids out-of-the-saddle climbing, the lowish bottom…

Pressure washing your bike is such a tempting proposition. After all, the pro team’s mechanics all do it, so can it really be as bad as some of the dire warnings suggest? Well, those expensive components on WorldTour bikes don’t have to last. Replacements direct from the sponsor see to that, but blasting away regularly at your own hubs, headset or bottom bracket with a full-sized, full-powered pressure washer will inevitably shorten their lifespan. So has pressure washer giant Kärcher come up with a solution in the shape of its KHB 5 battery-powered, lower-pressure, hand-held washer? It certainly is more convenient to use on a bike than a full-sized machine, and the lithium ion battery means you don’t have to worry about plugging it in (you’ll still have to be…

The days of buying bikes based upon word of mouth or the recommendation of your local bike shop have mostly passed. Hours spent perusing catalogues or cupping your hands to better glimpse the most exotic Italian trinketry through the shop window are consigned to a simpler past, too. Today’s fast-moving bike market has grown out of all recognition with dozens more brands, ever more new niches of bike and countless options. No longer are there just road, track, audax or touring bikes, but everything from fat bikes to e-bikes, via gravel, endurance, triathlon, and cyclocross. The technology used to design the next big thing is literally space age, and so are some of the materials used, but possibly the greatest tool any customer has these days is the internet. Every…

Canyon’s Endurace has been a fixture within the German online seller’s range for over three years. During that time the number of carbon fibre and aluminium Endurace models has expanded with three levels of carbon – the CF, with rim brakes, and lighter CF SL and CF SLX with discs. Our CF SL Disc 7.0 is the lowest-priced carbon disc model and looks to offer typical Canyon value for money, but how does it measure up against the current competition? The endurance market has really evolved during the last few years with designs that distinguish its bikes more clearly from race-focused models. Tyre volume and clearance is key, plus frame geometry, components and comfort levels that make long rides less arduous. With its slightly dropped seatstays, subtly cut away and…

When the latest SuperSix Evo launched earlier in the year it meant saying farewell to one of the most-loved framesets of recent years (although it is still available) as Cannondale’s premier road bike. In contrast with its name, the new SuperSix Evo is more revolution than evolution and a complete root and branch overhaul of the model. Some commentators were dismayed to see the new Evo gain dropped seatstays, a sloping top tube and aero tube profiles, just like any number of the current crop of leading road bikes. Others embraced the design recognising that, although it’s admirable to stand out from the crowd, there’s a very good reason that so many designs look so similar. And with the many subtleties built in to each brand’s offerings, if you’re prepared…

HEAD TO HEAD MAVIC KSYRIUM PRO MIPS £125 CONSTRUCTION Mavic’s Ksyrium Pro MIPS has unmistakable Mavic styling, with an abruptly squared lower lip that helps to protect the rim’s exposed EPS core, plus horizontal rear vents. The in-moulded, four-part outer shell neatly outlines 26 evenly spaced vents and our large example weighs 300g. FIT The Ergo Hold SL retention system has three rear cradle height adjustments, plus a rotary dial for one-handed fine-fit control. Inside the MIPS cap there is a breathable memory foam strip across the brow. On top of that is the one-piece 37.5 pad, which covers the front half of the helmet with bug mesh covering eight forward-facing vents. Another pad on the occipital cradle improves comfort. Lightweight webbing straps are easily adjusted. PERFORMANCE The Ksyrium Pro…

£165 Reactive riding shades Julbo isn’t particularly well known in cycling despite having a big reputation in winter sports for protective eyewear. That, it seems, is set to change as Julbo, with the help of pro riders and a development team, has moved into mountain biking with a rumour that professional road cycling sponsorship isn’t far away. The Rush is Julbo’s performance offering and it’s got a lot going for it. The lens shape is a single piece that’s deep, promising to offer protection without getting into the retro-shield shape of 100%. The full framing of the lens isn’t obstructive to your eyeline and the broad, highly sprung arms have a metal core so that you can bend and mould them to your head shape, making these superbly secure, even…

Racking up the miles is part of the performance equation. But not all. You also need to rest and recover suffciently, plus the big one: eat like a monk. (Apparently, Martin Luther was partial to a turnip, only consuming meat when ill or on special occasions.) Or so you’d be led to believe if you follow WorldTour chefs on social media whose admittedly delicious-looking food is reliant on the best ingredients, a large budget and a deep insight into nutritional science. In the real world of the recreational cyclist, there’s a balancing act to be made between textbook fuelling, ease of purchase and ease of consumption. Which is exactly where these tantalising training treats come in… A SLICE OF STAMINA When Pizza Hut announced back in 2013 that it was…

£299.99 WEIGHT 95.2g SIZE 85mm x 58mm x 20mm SCREEN SIZE 35mm x 58mm SCREEN TYPE 8-colour LCD, programmable LEDs IN THE BOX 1 x bar mount, 1 x out-front mount, micro USB, zip ties WATERPROOF IPX7 MEMORY Not specified BATTERY LIFE (CLAIMED) 17 hours Set-up is simple and is done by downloading the Element app, scanning the QR code on the unit and it’s all set to go through smartphones (Android or iOS). The unit syncs and downloads any updates, allowing you to connect to Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Ant+. GPS pick-up took between 50 seconds and one minute six seconds. Add into that loading time for the mapping and you do find yourself drumming your fingers. The routing (using the app) has the same issues as the…

Smart trainers may be all the rage right now, but that is an activity different from cycling. That’s just exercising with pedals. Cycling, as it’s meant to be, does not involve staying in place in front of a screen, breathing your own sweat and CO2 over and over again, locked up in the basement. It’s not a form of active sedentarism. Cycling is outside and it is an exploration. It is like the Wolf Ride. The name of this tour comes from the setting – the mountainous region of northern Portugal. It’s one of the last territories of the Iberian wolf, a subspecies of grey wolf that lives in the north west of the Iberian Peninsula in Portugal and north-western Spain. This wolf has been isolated from other wolf populations…

By now, you’ll have noticed the evenings starting to get longer. While it’s not time to put your lights back into storage yet, something that will help you think of warmer, naturally lit rides is planning what you’ll be doing to your bike in the coming months. What gearing will you need for those unending climbs? Which tyres are best suited to that particular brand of gravel? Take some admin time and revisit your riding kit – not only the clothes, which a winter well spent training has seen you shrink out Now is a good time to check how many unpunctured tubes you have left of, but also the material that you carry. Check how many unpunctured tubes you have left? Make sure you fix the others, or create something…

This tasty dish is packed with nutritional benefits Salmon is a solid choice for getting your requirement of Omega-3 essential fatty acid in your diet. It’s packed full of amazing anti-inflammatory benefits that improve HDL (good cholesterol) and blood pressure, and reduce the risk of heart disease. For pregnant women it can improve the brain health of your soon-to-be-born child. Other benefits are reductions in age-related mental decline and Alzheimer’s disease, improvements in eye health and reductions in depression. Salmon is very low in carbohydrate and may prove useful in relation to doing carbohydrate-restricted training. Some studies have shown that continuing carbohydrate restriction after a fasted ride for up to four hours may increase the response to the exercise and improve our adaption to it. But we will still get…

PRICE £3999 UPGRADES NONE MILES RIDDEN 200 Anticipation was high for the latest OMR version of Orbea’s race bike, which did not disappoint…WILL POOLE SHIFT IN STYLE 01 The distinctly unconventional shifting protocol is actually pretty intuitive. It can be changed, but one side up, one side down, both for front shift actually feels very comfortable POSITION CHANGE 02 I intend to spend a few rides tinkering with the position. No new bike is the perfect setup out of the box, but I have a pretty good idea about what needs changing SOLID SEAT CLAMP 03 It’s clear that Orbea has thought about the details on the Orca. The seat clamp is an integrated doublewedge arrangement, and has proven solid so far. It fits the look of the bike, too…

£3249 High-spec, integrated ’cross racer The CX SL is available in three builds: Sport, Enthusiast and Pro. This Pro build focuses on life between the course marker tapes. Every model shares the £1299 monocoque CX SL frameset, which is built from Toray T1000 and T800 carbon fibre, using an EPS inner core system for consistent wall thickness, plus increased torsional stiffness. Those clean lines start at the integrated bar with its flat, wide top, flush steerer clamp bolts and matching spacers, and continue with completely internal control lines. Ribble’s dropped, kinked seatstay design is matched to a large angular down tube and massive, 50mm deep, boxy asymmetric chainstays with room for 40mm tyres. The frame ports are well sealed against water and muck ingress and it includes mudguard mounts. We…

THE BIG PICTURE HIGH ROLLERS One of the big challenges Cycling Plus has thrown its casquette into the ring for in 2020 is the Tour Transalp, a sevenday stage race, which this year travels from Bruneck (South Tyrol) to Arco, near Lake Garda. In December, somewhere close to the nadir of our mid-winter slovenliness, we learnt the full extent of the task as the route was unveiled: 784km, almost 18,000m of climbing, mixing “famous passes as well as remote and bizarre routes that are hardly known.”…

Cambridge is Britain’s everyday-cycling capital, with one third of journeys being made by bike. The Guided Busway, 14 miles north west out to St Ives, with its stunning cycleway alongside, is unique in the UK and popular with families and triathletes. Lively, stylish cafes abound, mostly full of cosmopolitan town trundlers at laptops, but there are exceptions. Cycle-themed Espresso Library (CB1 1BG) is adorned with bikes, while Grounds Cafe (CB24 6AZ) in nearby Milton Country Park (on NCN11) has just gained a bike shop. The planned cycle superhighway-like Chisholm Trail is expected to have a new cycle cafe on Newmarket Road during 2020. But the place Cambridge’s roadies usually congregate for coffee on their flattish, villagey back lane day loops is 16 miles to the south-east, in affluent Saffron Walden…

RIBBLE R872 DISC £1504 Situated within Ribble’s extensive line of endurance bikes, the relatively inexpensive R872 Disc looks to offer great value with an all-carbon fibre frameset and choice of three Shimano drivetrains, from Tiagra to Ultegra. We’re testing the 105 hydraulic disc-equipped version, and for anyone yet to be sold on disc brakes, there’s still a rim brake R872 model available, too. CANYON ENDURACE CF SL DISC 7.0 £1849 Canyon’s Endurace packs most of the expected endurance bike features in to a compact and neatly executed all Shimano 105-equipped package. Greater tyre clearances for the 28mm rubber fitted to its DT Swiss wheelset and engineered-in comfort from its seatpost, seatstays and fork guide the frameset’s design, but after a few years on the market, can it still compete? GIANT…

Giant’s TCR seems to have been a fixture in the bike world for more years than we care to remember; like Trek’s Madone, Specialized’s Allez and Cannondale’s CAAD series, its evolution is closely entwined within the history of the company. From Mike Burrows’ original revolutionary compact frame design, Giant has continuously improved the TCR, keeping it relevant and competitive. Today’s TCR range is built from three different qualities of carbon fibre, or Advanced-Grade Composite, in Giant speak. The Advanced, Advanced Pro and Advanced SL bikes are all available in rim and disc brake versions, which is becoming much less common, and our Advanced 2 Disc is the cheapest carbon disc TCR available. With an identical profile to its more costly siblings it can take a close look to tell some…

The ride is composed when things turn rough, and very communicative… an amazing value package Whether listed by price, specification or category these five bikes should be fairly closely matched, which was, after all, the test’s concept. We potentially threw a torque wrench in the collective drivetrain by swapping Ribble’s entry from the most expensive to the cheapest of the five bikes, seemingly setting it adrift of the competition. But things don’t always work out as expected. Canyon’s Endurace still has much to commend it and it’s quick, but as an endurance bike it has been surpassed in the compliance stakes by several newer machines. Trek’s Domane SL4 promises epic ride comfort and great performance but additional mass from the groupset and recalcitrant wheels and tyres hold it back, making…

£299.99 Pro-level road shoes When Bontrager gives something the ‘XXX’ moniker that means it’s the top-of-the-tree, premium product. That said, throughout 2020 there will be a series of LTD versions of this shoe in various colourways. They will cost extra at £349.99, making what’s already a very expensive shoe somewhat jaw-dropping. The XXX is the shoe that Trek/Bontrager provides to their pro-athletes with a ‘rider-first’ design that prioritises stiffness and ergonomic comfort. The stiffness comes from the full ‘OCLV’ carbon sole, which is rated 14 out of 14 on Bontrager’s own scale. The sole is well vented with metal-mesh lined holes on the toe and through the spine of the shoe. A replaceable heel bumper protects the carbon at the back and bonded rubber toe bumpers do the same up…

£1800 An evolutionary step… at a price The Allroad’s recent evolutionary step includes carbon rims and a rather different price bracket. For twice the price of the Allroad Pro UST Disc, the Pro Carbon SL’s rims are a little taller and wider, with a subtly aero profile and very understated finish. The only branding being a slim yellow Mavic logo. They’re supplied with Mavic Yksion Elite Allroad XL 40mm tyres, UST tubeless valves, Mavic tubeless sealant and syringe, plus adaptors to switch the 12mm thru-axle end caps to quick release. Swapping to the optional frontaxle and end caps gives 15mm thru-axle compatibility as well. The centre lock hubs have aluminium bodies and axles, auto-adjust sealed cartridge bearings and Mavic’s responsive Instant Drive (ID) 360 freehub, which can be swapped for…

One of today’s go-to aero road bikes is now claimed to be faster, lighter and more aerodynamic than ever. Our 58cm Specialized S-Works Venge weighs just 7.56kg, which is impressive for a large aero road bike with disc brakes, deep-section aero wheels and an integrated power meter. The 2020 Venge has shed a considerable 460g. The fork lost 25g, the cockpit 107g, 25g in the seatpost and a hefty 240g in the frame. Not to mention 63g in ‘small parts’. But Specialized also claims this is the most aerodynamic road bike it has ever created, eight seconds faster over 40km than its Venge ViAS predecessor, regardless of the wind conditions. Specialized’s engineers perfected “the shape of the Venge’s tubes… using the Freefoil Shape Library… writing an algorithm that optimises their…

There are many questions to be asked before you purchase a bike GPS. Do you opt for pure data collection? Do you need full mapping? Route planning? Turn-by-turn navigation or a breadcrumb trail? Multiple satellites? Strava live, training plans? Bluetooth, Ant+? With as many as 170+ functions to be found on some units, it really becomes a case of thinking hard about what you need and, crucially, how much should you spend? We’re pretty sure what we want: reliable information, a good user interface and, above all, a GPS should enhance your ride not spoil it with bad functionality. We tested each unit in exactly the same way – creating the same three routes on each unit’s app or desktop software, uploading them and riding the routes multiple times using…

£199.99 WEIGHT 61.4g SIZE 73mm x 48mm x 20mm SCREEN SIZE 45mm x 34mm SCREEN TYPE Mono LCD IN THE BOX 1 x bar mount, 1 x out front mount, micro USB cable WATERPROOF IPX7 MEMORY Not specified BATTERY LIFE (CLAIMED) 15 hours The Bolt is simple to set-up via smartphone (IOS or Android): download the app, scan the units QR code and go. It syncs with your phone, downloads updates and connects to sensors (Bluetooth Low Energy and Ant+) straightaway. Customisation is in the app, which allows you to create custom pages (with nine fields). You can plan routes, or set a destination and the app works it out. Annoyingly, you can’t edit created routes and you can only select an indoor or outdoor ride type, rather than road,…

Gravel is now firmly established as a great way to get you riding away from the trauma of traffic and a means to open up a whole new range of o"-piste route options. But with longer and tougher events being added to the calendar all the time, what if your range is restricted by your fitness or other factors? We met up with Debs Goodall, from Yorkshire True Grit events, for a sneak preview of the 100-mile Five Forests event route taking Whyte’s Fazua motor-powered Gosport and human-powered Gisburn to see how electric and epic compare. ESCAPE AND EVATION As we roll out from Spiers House Cafe in Cropton, any worries about e-bikes shattering the peace of the forest are quickly dispelled. Even in ‘Rocket’, the most powerful of its…

JAMES NICHOLLS, TURBO TRAINER SPECIALIST AT HALFORDS.COM “If your aim is to keep your fitness up over winter, then indoor cycling is a great way to achieve this. The roads become slippery in the colder months, and the pervasive darkness makes it harder to see potholes or be seen by drivers. “Cycling on a turbo trainer allows you to get a short sharp workout in without any of these downsides.When setting up your turbo, you will need a mat to go under it (to catch the sweat and protect the floor) a fan to keep you cool, a towel to protect your bike from sweat, a drink as well as access to a power socket if your turbo has smart functionality. “We recommend sessions of up to one hour and…

Every winter many cyclists will temporarily swap their bikes for a pair of skis on a snowy holiday in the mountains of Europe. Around 1.5 million Brits go skiing every year and with the famous cycling cols of France, Spain and Italy blanketed in snow, it’s certainly easier to ski down them than it is to pedal up them right now. But as so many professional skiers ride their bike as a way to stay fit over the summer, it is no surprise that riders can learn from skiers during cycling’s winter off-season, too. Even the pros are catching on. “Over the winter I have always enjoyed cross-training with cross-country skiing,” explains Adam Hansen of Lotto-Soudal, who completed 20 Grand Tours in a row between 2011 and 2018. “Skiing keeps…

PRICE £1449 UPGRADES £1414 (SEE SPEC BOX) MILES RIDDEN 915 This may be the last appearance of my 2018 Giant TCR – our 2018 Bike of the Year. I liked it so much that I prised open my wallet and bought it. I have no regrets about the purchase, only the lack of miles that I’ve put in on it due to other testing duties. It’s a fabulous, stylish all-rounder and my first extended experience riding tubeless tyres. It still has the original Giant Gavia tyres, one of which loses its pressure a fair bit quicker than the other – go figure. The Halo carbon wheels were a major performance-boosting upgrade, and with the supplied SwissStop brake pads, stopping is very good. Not like the first generation of carbon rims.…

As a cyclist, one of the first questions I get asked is: ‘Do you race?’ My stock answer is that I did a few circuit races many moons ago, but no longer. I do really need to revise that answer because putting together this Racing special has shown me how much racing I’ve actually done. In 2020, there’s far more to racing on road bikes than road racing, and far more to it than competing against others, if racing to you is about self-improvement. There are time trials, that age-old discipline, and I write about my first experience of the classic 10-mile distance on p4. There are hill climbs (p12) and gran fondos (p14): we’ve got 2019 British National Hill Climb champ Ed Laverack explaining the seductive thrill of racing…