Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2017 i Cyclist

£294.99, i-ride.co.uk When Northwave released the Extreme Tech Plus shoe in 2014 it set a new highest-ever price for a pair of road shoes from the Italian brand. Two years on that shoe has been usurped by the all-new Extreme RRs, dropping 46g per shoe and an entire fiver off the price in the process, but gaining a key new feature. We’ve worn the original top-level Extremes for the best part of two and a half years, commute in, sportive out, and bar normal wear and tear they have stood the test of time incredibly well, even surviving a fairly major crash. The construction and finish of the Extreme RRs would suggest similar levels of longevity. The upper is one seamless piece with an integrated tongue that wraps over itself…

With their bulky jerseys, caps, goggles and spare tubes wrapped around their shoulders, riders in the earliest Tours often resembled beasts of burden, which was appropriate as the canvas bag they also carried took its name from the nose-bag more commonly seen around the necks of farm horses – musette. Feed zones in these Tours were usually bars or cafes, where riders would down bottles of beer and plates of food – leaving the bill to be settled by the race organisers – or trestle tables heaving with glass bottles of water or something stronger. Peruvian coca soaked in port wine was given to the top riders during the 1914 Tour because of its ‘extraordinary stimulating properties’, according to an advertorial in French newspaper L’Auto. Formal feed zones weren’t introduced…

Dear Frank I have just passed my 50th birthday. Can I now be excused from Rule #5? Derek, by email Dear Derek Cycling is a relationship we carry throughout our lives. For some of us, it might be more of a casual date you take out at the weekend, while for others it is as deep and committed as the most intimate marriage. Except without the sex. Hopefully. That said, I have allowed my bike to sleep in my bed while I slept on the floor on the occasion I deemed my bike was more worthy of a comfortable rest than I was. Every relationship evolves over time. The couple weaves a story that is told together though the unique perspective and lessons that are brought by each partner through…

On a day that featured so much climbing, a bike as light as the Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 9.0 is a good friend. Canyon claims just 790g for the frame and the whole bike tips the scales at a soupçon over 6kg, yet at times it feels even lighter. The particular sensation of the bike zipping out of a steep hairpin did wonders for my morale towards the end of the final gruelling ascent, and the stiff Mavic R-Sys SLR wheels no doubt helped in this regard, too. As ever, the fuss-free shifting of an electric system (in this case Campagnolo’s gorgeous Super Record EPS) was a boon when searching for the last cog on an incline. I’d love to say how comfortable the Canyon was, too, but to be…

Built in South Africa under licence to Peugeot France, the Classique was one of the higher-end models in the South African Peugeot range. It has a Suntour Cyclone groupset with Mavic MA4 wheels. At around 11kg, with a rear cassette of six sparsely-toothed sprockets, climbs were a long, slow grind. Naturally the old steel frame is a little on the bendy side, but that proved a real boon on the rougher gravel roads and descents where it (and its big Selle Italia Turbo saddle) soaked up the bumps and proved surprisingly comfortable. The inherent flex also means the Classique is not the most chuckable of bikes and the tarred descents were best handled with a smooth, early braking, early turn-in technique.…

THE SPEC Model Parlee Altum Disc Groupset Shimano Dura-Ace 9070 Deviations Shimano R785 Di2 disc brakes Wheels Enve SES 3.4 Disc Finishing kit Parlee bar, stem and seatpost, Fizik Antares saddle Weight 7.31kg (56cm) Price £3,999 frameset, approx £10,200 as tested Contact  parleecycles.com If ten grand sounds a lot for a bike, consider the Henk Carbon Attache, which starts at €9,900, and is a briefcase. True, unlike the Altum Disc it is largely custom – for €5,770 extra you can get the interior trimmed in calf skin, the exterior made bulletproof and a cigar humidor installed in its base – but beyond that it’s a carbon fibre clutch for storing pens. Couched in those terms, the Altum seems a positive bargain. For one, it has wheels (although it must be…

£1,999, madison.co.uk After years of making aero wheels faster, manufacturers now seem to be focusing on making them more stable in crosswinds. The latest to join the fray is DT Swiss with its new wheel technology, Aero+. ‘Aero+ goes a step further to the normal aero optimisation – it aims to balance drag with handling and efficiency,’ says DT Swiss’s Alex Schmitt. ‘As a result, Aero+ wheels aren’t just fast on flat tarmac in calm conditions – they perform consistently regardless of road surface, weather or terrain.’ These ERC 1100 DiCut wheels are the first incarnation. Developed in collaboration with aerodynamics company Swiss Side, every component has been designed from scratch to try to blend aerodynamics with handling, comfort and grip. ‘Wind-tunnel testing with Swiss Side allowed us to produce…

It’s not often that we see something entirely, uniquely new. When the Bastion Road Disc – the fruits of labour of three automotive engineers from Melbourne – arrived we were treated to a rare helping of nonconformity. Extravagantly woven carbon tubes are fixed together by 3D-printed titanium lugs in a design reminiscent of titanium-carbon fusions championed by several bespoke builders, yet altogether different. ‘There is actually nothing like a Bastion,’ says Ben Schultz, founder of Bastion Cycles. Every part of the Bastion frame is designed in-house and manufactured in Australia, mostly at Bastion’s own facility. The tubes are made locally using a filament-winding process where strands of dry fibre are passed through a resin bath and wrapped over a preform structure to create the carbon tube – a process rarely…

Tools, to an aficionado of the bicycle workshop, are more than simply functional items. Yes, they are created to do a particular job, but that’s a bit like saying a Breitling will tell the time. Some tools perform the task with exceptional proficiency and are objects of beauty in their own right, such as this Silca Hiro Side-Lever locking chuck v.2, which to a professional mechanic is tantamount to tool pornography. It’s certainly no ordinary track pump connector, and with a pricetag of £105 neither should it be. Primarily it was designed for disc wheel operation, compact enough to fit in the fiddly cut-out where the valve sits, and capable of maintaining an airtight seal beyond 250psi, but its appeal need not be limited to just track and time-trial enthusiasts.…

Vou should never go into a supermarket during the first five hours after returning from a long ride. To do so is to see yourself sweeping all sorts of unlikely products into a trolley as your hunger rules your head. A kilo of the latest bizarre chocolate bar with marshmallows, popping candy and mustard powder? In it goes. A packet of blackberry and apple flavour crisps? I’ll take two dozen. You arrive at the till with everything except the small quiche you popped in for. In short, you make unreasonable decisions, the like of which you would never make on a full stomach. Similarly, you should never ring up the editor of Cyclist and suggest a ‘terrific route’ for a Big Ride immediately after driving it in a Porsche 911…

I do still love a paper Ordnance Survey map. There’s something captivating about running your finger across the page, compiling a mental image of the topography and specific features of the course you’re plotting thanks to the intricate details, contours and symbols. It’s just far more fulfilling than Google Maps on a screen. Exmoor is a real treat for a certified map geek. In cartographic form the landscape immediately looks dramatic. There are vast swathes of narrowly spaced contour lines, sometimes so tightly packed that sections of the page appear to be shaded orange. On an OS map a single black arrowhead on a road signifies a slope of 14-20% gradient. A double arrowhead suggests 20% or greater. Exmoor has rather a large number of double-arrowed roads, and it’s certain…

The Graphene Interceptor is Dassi’s flagship frame, and comes in at £5,995. It’s created in the UK, contains graphene, weighs around 780g and its carbon fibre lay-up can be customised to the rider. The geometry is set by the existing moulds, so it is currently available in five sizes, from 50cm to 58cm. Next in the hierarchy sits the standard Interceptor, which is what we saw in construction, and it weighs an extra 200g. Both are made to order, and custom painted to request.…

THE SPEC Model Dolan DR1 Groupset Shimano Ultegra 6870 Di2 Hydraulic Deviations Shimano RS805 flat-mount disc brakes Wheels Mavic Cosmic SSC tubular Finishing kit Deda Superzero bar and stem, Dolan DR1 carbon seatpost, Selle Italia Flite titanium saddle Weight 8.0kg (54cm) Price £2,999 Contact  dolan-bikes.com If you’ve been around cycling for a while, or at least kept tabs on the successes of some of our athletes over the years, chances are the name Terry Dolan will ring a bell. This is a marque with a rich heritage. Dolan learned his trade from renowned British custom builder Harry Quinn, before going it alone to form his own framebuilding company. Notably, Chris Boardman had an association with Dolan’s machines from a young age, using them (at that time named Cougar), in his…

The thought first came to me while gazing at a painted phallus adorning a Normandy backroad during a long ride from Cherbourg to Barcelona last summer. I remembered the meat and two veg graffiti from the Grand Départ in last year’s Tour de France. Riding over it represented a two-fingered salute to the humdrum nine-to-five life many of us lead. That feeling of needing to escape by bicycle returned to me at the recent launch of a book called Ultimate Étapes by cycling writer Peter Cossins. In the book, Cossins has created a theoretical Tour of Europe, taking in 25 iconic pro stages that draw on his experiences as both writer and rider. The accompanying raft of wow-inducing images from Jered and Ashley Gruber had me itching for an extended…

£199.99, zyrofisher.co.uk It’s been a while since road helmets offered much in the way of genuine innovation, so the release of Bell’s new Zephyr might be something to get excited about. Where most use a polycarbonate shell to house a single-density EPS liner, the Zephyr’s EPS is dual-density, essentially two shells nestled one inside the other. ‘We’ve called this Progressive Layering,’ says Bell’s Sean Coffey. ‘It creates a structure for absorbing a broad spectrum of impacts – regular EPS for severe impact protection, over lower-density EPS that reduces transmitted forces at lower speeds.’ What’s more, the two densities vary in thickness based on Bell’s crash research data on where different types of crash are most likely to impact the helmet. Bell has backed up the Zephyr’s unique shell with additional…

‘When I did the omnium at the Euros the stress was unbelievable. Because it was just me and it wasn’t going to affect anyone else, I was tearing my hair out’ Katie Archibald Age: 22 Nationality: British Honours: 2016 Gold, Team Pursuit, Rio Olympics 1st, Individual Pursuit and Omnium, European Track Championships 1st, London Six Day 2015 1st, Team Pursuit, British National Track Championships 1st, Team Pursuit, Individual Pursuit and Elimination, European Track Championships 1st, Team Pursuit, UCI World Track Championships 1st, Team Pursuit and Individual Pursuit, European Track Championships 2014 1st, Milk Race 1st, Stages 1 & 3, Matrix Fitness Grand Prix Series 1st, Stages 2 & 6 (3rd overall), British Cycling Women’s Road Series Cyclist: What means more, the Olympic gold medal in the team pursuit or the…

1 SPEEDYSHARK ESPRESSO COLLECTION £49, speedyshark.com Why is milk so fast? Because it’s pasteurised before you see it. Depending on your persuasion, dumping such cow juice in a coffee might sound like udder madness, but one thing on which we can all agree is that SpeedyShark’s dinky little espresso cups (milk them up for a cortado) are as much a joy to behold as they are to sip from, clad gloriously with graphics of your favourite climbs. 2 RUDY PROJECT FOTONYK GLASSES £120, yellow-limited.com In the future there will be no official words, only arbitrary collections of letters designed to make you search for a meaning that isn’t there. There will also be sunglasses, and they might well look like these futural numbers from Rudy Project. Featuring an adjustable nosebridge,…

With the last dregs of festive mulled wine still coursing through your veins, you’ve no doubt already turned your thoughts to 2017 and your cycling goals for the year ahead. Is this the year to conquer the Dragon Ride? Perhaps enjoy a traffic-free capital at RideLondon? Or tame the Etape du Tour? Whatever your plans, now’s the time to lay the fitness foundations so that you’re at your peak come the day of the big event. But where do you start? A one-size-fits-all plan rarely fits anyone perfectly, so we consulted the experts to help you better understand the principles that will guide your training. The first step is to assess your current level – from there you can structure a plan that’s right for you and work out the…

Walking through an industrial estate in Banbury, Oxfordshire, there’s a sense of expectation in the air. We’re here to visit the manufacturing facility for Dassi, a company that aims to make the first mass-production carbon frame in the UK, the first frame to use a material 300 times stronger than carbon and the first 3D-printed carbon bike components. Nestled somewhere between a chocolate factory and a heavy tool factory, it’s not obvious which one of the dozen anonymous-looking warehouses is being used to achieve these various technological wonders. Dassi’s production is currently handled by Brick Kiln Composites, a company more at home with F1 and aerospace components than bicycle frames. The factory is just one part of the global hub of F1 businesses in Oxfordshire. How exactly Dassi owner Stuart…

 Ouberg is a real knee buster. The previous night’s storm has scrambled the rutted surface and finding traction is a challenge There are plenty of bemused faces in the small town of Montagu. It’s not that cycling is an unusual pastime in these parts – in fact quite the opposite. South Africa has gone cycling-mad over the past decade and the Western Cape has become home to a slew of stage and single-day road and mountain biking events. They’ve just not seen this before. Instead of the usual shrink-wrapped Lycra peloton, the local people find themselves staring rather incredulously at a motley crew attired in old woollen cycling jerseys and little cotton casquettes, riding bicycles made of skinny steel tubing. And unlike the jostling for position the start of a…

If it weren’t for the convention of using company owners’ surnames for bike brands, this month we might well have been test-riding a James, a Robert and a Terrence. As it stands, naming bicycles is a more mundane affair, so in this issue we have a Felt FR2 from Jim Felt, a Parlee Altum Disc from Bob Parlee and a Dolan DR1 from Terry Dolan. But don’t be fooled – despite their perfunctory designations each bike exhibits a distinct personality. The question is, which will ride the sweetest?…

THE SPEC Model Felt FR2 Groupset Shimano Ultegra Di2 Deviations Tektro T851 direct mount rear calliper, Pioneer Single Leg power meter Wheels Mavic Ksyrium Elite Finishing kit 3T Ergosum Team Stealth bars, 3T ARX II Team Stealth stem, 3T Stylus 25 seatpost, Prologo Scratch saddle Weight 7.3kg Price £3,999 Contact  feltbicycles.com Road bikes are going through a bit of an identity crisis at the moment. Manufacturers are keen to emphasise their bikes’ race credentials, while simultaneously aiming to make them accessible to a broad range of customers. So even while busily fine-tuning aspects such as aerodynamics and frame weight they’re also ensuring that they cater for comfort and versatility. The result is a sector full of bikes that claim to be both sporty and comfortable, and sitting squarely in the…