Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2025 i Cycling Plus

WELCOME… Leg-shaving (by men), secret nods and hand signals, impenetrable jargon, smearing strange salves and lotions on our unmentionables, a predilection for unflatteringly tight clothing – and even worse, ‘going commando’ under it… road cycling is full of arcane practices that mystify those who haven’t been inducted into the fold. And that’s before we get into individuals’ pre-ride rituals, from lucky socks to unyielding warm-up routines. This issue, we seek to explode a few deep-seated myths and, conversely, to explain how superstitions may actually help your riding – if you can adapt them to different situations. I don’t think I have any odd cycling habits – but then, maybe they just don’t seem peculiar to me! Your experts Nick Clark BikeRadar staffer Nick takes a look at five of road…

With carbon-laminate rims for comfort and a ‘sawtooth’ profile to optimise aerodynamics and stability, Fulcrum’s latest wheelset is claimed to be suitable for both road and gravel riding. “[The Soniq 42 is] ideal for anyone seeking a unique and functional wheel,” say the Italian brand. “It’s ready to handle any road with ease and unmistakable style.” The ‘FF80’ lamination appeared on Fulcrum’s Wind wheels in 2023. While they haven’t given much away about the construction, they say it provides “maximum comfort, especially on long rides and mixed surfaces”. When the Wind wheels launched, the brand also said the FF80 mix helped reduce weight – the Soniqs are claimed to tip the scales at 1,595g a pair. Meanwhile, the ‘2-Wave’ rim profile is borrowed from Fulcrum’s Sharq hoops. It’s a design we’ve…

Pinarello’s new Dogma GR bears much resemblance to the brand’s Dogma F road model. It also blends characteristics from their Crossista cyclocross bike and the Dogma XC mountain bike. The gravel race bike is sold in two top-spec builds, each costing £12,500. Aero focus Compared to the Dogma F, the Dogma GR’s head tube has a narrower profile, with an elliptical-shape headset. This sees the use of Pinarello’s latest E-TiCR cable-routing system, where the brake hoses enter in front of the steerer, rather than next to it. Further aerodynamic touches include a hidden thread design for the front thru-axle, an integrated seatpost clamp and partially shrouded bottle cages. The down tube is optimised to shield larger 750ml bottles, while the walls are thicker for added strength. The Pidcock touch Pinarello…

Your Experts Ashley Quinlan Road tech lead As we head into winter, Ash pits four rear lights against each other – which will win? Simon von Bromley Senior tech writer Wahoo’s new GPS and a pair of Favero power pedals are on Simon’s list for this month Liam Cahill Product tester Liam takes a spin on Canyon’s Endurace:ONfly e-road bike in an unseasonably damp Girona Paul Norman Product tester Paul shines a light on what front light you should buy in our Buyer’s Guide…

Weight 10kg (54cm) Frame and fork Carbon fibre Groupset SRAM Rival eTap AXS Wide (43/30t, 10-36t) Wheels WTB KOM i27 rims on KT hubs Tyres Maxxis Rambler TR EXO, 700c x 45mm Finishing kit Ritchey Venturemax XL Comp bar (48cm), Ritchey Trail Comp stem (40mm), Ritchey Link 20 WCS aluminium seatpost, WTB Volt saddle The Ouroboros is a new model in Kona’s gravel bike line-up, designed to push the genre’s boundaries. Its name comes from the ancient symbol of a serpent eating its own tail in a cyclical, continually evolving process. This represents how the brand aren’t trying to reinvent the gravel or cross-country mountain bike, but are paying tribute to both disciplines. It took me a while to fully understand this bike, but I came away impressed, despite some…

This Magicshine light is designed to either be slung on the underside of an out-front style mount or sandwiched between your bike computer and its handlebar mount. Garmin, Wahoo and GoPro-style attachments are included in the pack. If you’re riding with a bike computer, it’s a design that makes sense. Even more so if you have an out-front mount that’ll accept a GoPro adapter. The Hori 900 is a flood-style light, with a wide beam that has a pronounced cut-off at the edges. There’s a horizontal delineation between a brighter and a less-intense area when run on lower settings. This only works in one orientation though, so you need to mount the light the correct way up, whether you opt for bar-top or under-bar installation The beam pattern offers good forward…

A larger light with a 1,000-lumen output, the Oxford Ultratorch CL1000 provides good illumination for unlit roads, although the peak-output runtime is quite short at one hour and 15 minutes. It clips quickly and firmly into its mount, which bolts semi-permanently to the handlebar and can cope with multiple bar diameters. There’s no out-front or GoPro attachment included, though. Of the lights on test, it’s the only one to still use a Micro-USB charging cable, with four of the rest using USB-C (the Exposure Sirius uses a ‘SmartPort’ connection). Alongside the Micro-USB input under its rear rubber bung, the Ultratorch also has a USB output – which means you can use it as a power bank to charge other devices. The IPX4 water-ingress protection rating is the lowest of the…

Your Experts Mark Bailey Boost your ride Mark explores if superstitions help us perform better on the bike, or if they’re exactly that John Whitney Senior editor John investigates if broccoli sprout juice (yes, really!) can improve your endurance Oscar Huckle Workshop wisdom Oscar divulges his top tips for maintaining an effective tubeless tyre setup James Witts Freelance writer James questions whether the UCI’s anticipated gearing limits will make races safer…

Q1 SHOULD WE STOP TESTING THE PRICIEST KIT? “Why do Cycling Plus and BikeRadar always test such expensive bikes?”Everyone This question crops up most commonly when a new bike launches, and it’s a fair point – not many readers are in the fortunate position to be able to buy the £10k+ bikes we frequently review at launch. So why bother? There are plenty of reasons, but the most important is that we don’t always get to choose which bikes we test. When brands unveil a new model, they usually have a limited number of test samples available. More often than not, these are premium builds – the kind of bikes used at press camps and for global launches with key dealers. Companies understandably want to demonstrate the very best of…

A spate of high-profile crashes and rider deaths have intensified scrutiny on rider safety in pro cycling. In a bid to bring speeds down, former Tour de France jersey winners Wout van Aert and Chris Froome, among others, have called for gearing restrictions. The UCI have responded by organising a ‘Maximum Gearing Protocol’ trial, saying: “The maximum gear ratio limitation aims to limit the speed reached in competition. It’s been proven that the very high speeds reached by riders today are a risk factor for their safety.” By the time you read this, the test event should have taken place at the Tour of Guangxi in China, with riders being limited to a maximum gear ratio of 54x11t or 10.46m per crank revolution. However, Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe’s head of engineering, Dan…

Aluminium-alloy bottle-cage bolts are bad and should be banned. It’s common to find them on high-end bikes though – typically with a smooth, mushroom/button-style 3mm socket head. Why? It seems to be to reduce weight and to mitigate the minor increased chance of galvanic corrosion when using steel bolts in aluminium inserts. However, there’s only a couple of grams or so of difference between an alloy and a stainless-steel bolt. As for galvanic corrosion – where a bolt can effectively weld itself into the eyelet pressed or welded into your frame – I understand that steel and aluminium are dissimilar metals, and mixing the two, in theory, increases the risk. But if the bolts are greased before fitting – which is crucial for both alloy and steel bottle-cage fixings –…

THAT’S WILD Multi-discipline Brit Tom Pidcock’s impressive third place in the Vuelta a España made Q36.5 the first wildcard team to reach the podium of a Grand Tour in well over 10 years. EYES ON THE PRIZE Next year, the Tour of Britain Women will increase from four to five days of racing, with plans for it to rise to six to equal the men’s version – with the prize money set to follow suit. DOUBLE WHAMMY Reinforcing his dominance, Tadej Pogačar recently became the first-ever rider to win both the Tour de France and the men’s road world title in back-to-back years. POLITICAL UPHEAVAL After mounting pressure from sponsors, race organisers, riders and the public, pro team Israel-Premier Tech are finally dropping all connections to the state. EXTENDED STAY…

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Weight 12.04kg (medium, claimed) Frame Carbon fibre Fork Canyon FK0140 carbon fibre Motor TQ HPR40 Battery TQ 290Wh Groupset Shimano Ultegra Di2 R8100 with Praxis EC-5 carbon cranks and Shimano Deore XT chain (50/34t, 11-34t) Wheels DT Swiss ERC 1400 Tyres Schwalbe Pro One TLE, 700c x 32mm Finishing kit Canyon CP0048 integrated cockpit (90mm, 370-420mm), Canyon S15 VCLS 2.0 CF seatpost, Fizik Aliante R5 saddle Extras Lupine C14 and LightSkin Ultra Mini lights The new Endurace:ONfly isn’t as powerful as other electric road bikes and the battery isn’t as big. However, it’s the first e-road bike I’ve enjoyed riding, beyond the novelty of being able to fly up hills. Although I’ve only had a short time with it, it appears to represent a big step forward for electric road…

The Titan Mini is a small front light with a CNC-machined casing and a boxy design. Its 700-lumen peak output is a little lower than that of the other five lights on test, but it’s the second lightest at 90g, and the cheapest. It’s supplied with a bar-strap mount with a Garmin-style connection, along with a GoPro adapter allowing it to be slung under an out-front mount. Optional accessories include a wired remote (£8) – potentially useful if you want to fit the light under a cycling computer – and a helmet mount. There are six modes – three constant and three flashing – which you can cycle through by pressing the small side-mounted control button. Furthermore, Moon’s Variable Lumen System allows you to tailor the light output for each…

On its top setting, the compact Micro 950 provides abundant illumination with a good spread of light. Although the unit itself is reasonably low in weight, the hefty mount makes up about a quarter of the 160g total. NiteRider’s Lumina lights all have a similar design, with deep, machined cooling grooves down the sides and a pronounced lens ‘hood’. The Micro 950 is the lowest-power option in the range and is quite compact, with a fairly low 118g weight (the Lumina Micro 1150 is the same claimed size and weight, with an extra 200 lumens for $10 more). Not only does the Micro 950 have a nice broad beam, but the light tapers off evenly towards the sides. On full power, there’s plenty of down-the-road illumination, which makes for confident…

Castelli claim their new Premio Evo line is their “most comfortable cycling kit ever”, with these bib shorts the centrepiece of the collection. The brand say they’re designed for “ultimate long-distance comfort, support, speed and durability”. The word ‘ultimate’ is important here because the Premio Evos are Castelli’s most expensive bib shorts for 2025 by a significant margin – the Superleggeras are their next costliest at £210. Compared to the Premio Blacks, Castelli have reduced the number of seams and revised the shorts’ compression, as well as the fit, “so you don’t feel like you’re wearing” them. At the centre of the shorts is the tried-and-tested Progetto X2 Air Seamless pad, which has sat at the top of Castelli’s chamois tree for many years, and for good reason – it’s…

NEW GEAR Latest kit on test Including powerful front lights, Wahoo’s Kickr Core 2 smart trainer and more IN-DEPTH FEATURES Pogacar - the inside track Exclusive insights from his first official biography Ultimate upgrades Maximise performance without breaking the bank TOP TRAINING ADVICE Boost your ride What the experts say about electrolyte use, sugar intake and more ON SALE 21 November 2025…

We’re living in a time of cost-of-living rises, global economic uncertainty and incoming tariffs – and the bike industry isn’t isolated from that. During this period, we’ve seen big-name brands Giant, Merida, Specialized, Rapha and many others post less than impressive financial results. At the same time, it seems prices for everything related to cycling are on the up. Bikes and components are one thing, but the escalating cost of clothes and shoes has been troubling me. Back in 2009, I felt a little naughty spending £130 on a pair of limited-edition Rapha three-quarter bibs that matched my bike. Today, I’d be spending twice as much on the same kit. In recent months, we’ve seen Specialized launch new shoes that cost the best part of £500, and numerous helmets breaking the…

In the summer of 2023, with some impressive performances at the Spring Classics under his belt, Belgian pro cyclist Nathan Van Hooydonck supported his team leader, Jonas Vingegaard, to a second successive win in the Tour de France. The 27-year-old’s other Jumbo-Visma teammates included Wout van Aert and Sepp Kuss. He was full of promise, having also notably helped Primož Roglič to a Vuelta a España win in 2021. Then, just two months later, it all came crashing down. While driving at home in Belgium, in mid September, his pregnant wife in the passenger seat, Van Hooydonck suffered a massive cardiac arrest. He crashed the car and, in his words, was “dead for a little bit”, before being resuscitated at the scene. After several emergency surgeries, he thankfully awoke in…

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This is a newer option from Lezyne but has a similar wide, flattened body to their other lights, which offer outputs from 500 to 1,200 lumens. All have an integrated rubber-strap mount bolted to their underside, though you can replace this with a GoPro mount, costing just £4, if you prefer to fit them below an out-front computer mount. It charges via USB-C, but is the only light on test not to come with a power cable. This is good for the environment, if nothing else, and most people should have a USB-C cable to hand these days. The Micro Drive 800+ puts out a good amount of light on its highest setting, and has a long runtime. Lezyne quote two hours, but during my test, it was still going…

That the Sirius is now at Mark 10 indicates the basic stick-shaped design’s longevity. Exposure describe it as ‘the ultimate to-be-seen front light’, but its very bright 900-lumen peak output places it squarely in the ‘to-see’ category. The Sirius sits towards the middle of Exposure’s road range – it’s more substantial than the Trace and Boost, but less beefy than the Strada. Unlike the former, which can now be charged via USB-C, Exposure continue to use their SmartPort plug on the Sirius (and the Strada) – yet another type of cable to keep tabs on. A CNC-machined body with a finely milled surface gives this light a classy, durable feel. The power button is contained within the translucent rear window, along with two LED charge-level indicators. On its peak setting,…

01 Ravemen TR250 £49.99 Weight 68g inc. mount Runtime Up to 18.5hrs Water resistance IPX6 rated ● An update to the TR200, Ravemen’s TR250 features an increase in output from 200 to 250 lumens (still half that of the brand’s TR500 powerhouse). Claimed battery life has dropped to 18.5hrs compared to around 26 (assuming use on the ‘Low’ five-lumen setting, which hasn’t changed in output). This is mainly due to Ravemen revising their predicted runtimes. I also found that the brake light spools up a little brighter than on the previous version, which probably accounts for some of the discrepancy. Remember, with these active settings, battery runtimes become relatively unpredictable. The brake function is among the best I’ve tried. It doesn’t accidentally switch on when you’re freewheeling or dragging the…