Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2018 i Cyclist

£TBC, zyrofisher.co.uk When the last helmet you released was named ‘Gamechanger’, you’d better make sure the one that follows is pretty damn good too. Luckily Abus claims its new Airbreaker is accomplished enough to follow its boldly named predecessor. ‘The helmet is based on the Gamechanger’s geometry to maintain an aero shape, but is blended with the airflow of the Aventor – our third helmet – which prioritises ventilation,’ says Abus UK brand manager Roger Seal. The result is Abus’s attempt at a Goldilocks product: a helmet that is aero, well ventilated and also lightweight. The Cyclist scales certainly seem to back up that third attribute – our medium sample weighs just 220g. ‘Our thinking is that when you can’t decide whether your ride necessitates the Gamechanger or Aventor, you’d…

£319.99, gorebikewear.co.uk The new C5 Shakedry jacket is the latest lightweight marvel from the German technicological giant behind expanded polytetrafluoroethylene – better known as Gore-Tex – the wonder-material that stops water getting in but lets moisture from sweat out. The C5 jacket uses the latest Shakedry fabric, which acts like normal Gore-Tex but doesn’t require the outer ‘face’ fabric. So where once the water-repellant material would be relatively bulky, it is extremely light and packable. As such, the latest edition of the Shakedry jacket features an internal layer of Polartec Alpha insulation yet still fits in the back pocket of a cycling jersey, meaning Gore has ticked all the boxes of dry, light and warm.…

Julian Alaphilippe Age: 26 Nationality: French Honours 2018: 1st, Stage 10 and 16, Tour de France, 1st, mountain classification 1st, Flèche Wallonne 1st, Clásica San Sebastián 1st, Stage 3 and overall, Tour of Britain 2017: 1st, Stage 8, Vuelta a España 2nd, Il Lombardia 3rd, Milan-San Remo 2016: 1st, Stage 3, 1st overall, Tour of California 2nd, Flèche Wallonne 2015: 2nd, Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2nd, Flèche Wallonne Cyclist: You’ve just won the Tour of Britain, having taken a stage victory along the way. Did you expect such a successful week? Julian Alaphilippe: I came here without any real ambitions because I took a break following the Tour de France and Clásica San Sebastián. I just came here with the goal of assessing my condition and maybe trying for a stage victory.…

As the crowds build near the start area of Stage 4 of the Tour of Britain, an all-Italian team of drivers and mechanics goes over its final checks ahead of the depart. This is the Vittoria Neutral Service, whose job it is to patrol the race and provide mechanical assistance to any rider who can’t get quick help from their own team. These days, however, their job is made all the more challenging by the ever-increasing diversity of wheels used by the riders. Where once the wheels would be similar from bike to bike, now Vittoria has to carry rim and disc brake wheels, with both 140mm and 160mm rotors, which are compatible with all the major groupsets. ‘We now have to keep a detailed log of the equipment used…

Gravel carries us away from the dangers of traffic, but still allows us to ride what largely amounts to a road bike, in civilised kit and in a road position Dear Frank More and more of my riding friends are turning to gravel riding and buying gravel bikes. I quite like the look of it, but I worry that it’s a step too close to mountain biking for comfort. What’s the Velominati’s ruling on this subject? Joseph, London Dear Joseph I’ve been a mountain biker all my life, beginning in the late 1980s as the sport was first coming into existence. I watched the first Mountain Biking World Championships on television, as John Tomac and Ned Overend duelled for the first crown. It was an exciting time in our sport…

Bowman bills its latest version of the award-winning Palace as # More Than A Race Bike and, hashtags withstanding, it proved itself on the winding roads of Mount Lebanon. The frame is constructed from triple-butted aluminium with a big girder of a down tube, and it’s tempting to view the bike as suitable only for crit racers. But its relatively light weight for the price – this build tipped the Cyclist scales at 7.8kg – meant that it was no slouch on long climbs, and it also turned out to be remarkably comfortable. I’d put that down to the skinny, flattened seatstays, which provided some welcome rear-end flex over Lebanon’s less-than-perfect tarmac. The Palace really shone once we reached the highest point of the ride and turned back towards the…

‘There is far more competition than five years ago but we like to think we can make something better than our rivals because for us this isn’t a side project, it is our primary focus’ Northwave has been making cycling shoes for 25 years now, and the company is based in Onigo di Pederobba near Treviso – an area of northern Italy that several Italian footwear institutions call home. ‘This is the silicon valley of cycling shoes,’ says Northwave’s global communication manager, Mauro Baldini. ‘Performance footwear is in the DNA of this area – many children grow up knowing how to make shoes because their parents work at our company and others based around here.’ Northwave’s commitment to developing new products has helped keep it at the forefront of an…

No Italian sportive would be complete without the thump-thump-thump of Euro-dance at the start line. It’s early in the morning and the historic streets of Bagno di Romagna are being blasted with noise while riders slowly gather beneath the gantry for the start of the Gran Fondo del Capitano. As a sun-bleached Alfa Romeo reverses towards us ahead of the controlled rollout, the DJ shouts, ‘Su le mani!’ and we all dutifully raise our hands in the air. The whole town is buzzing and the locals are out in force to support the race beneath a pure blue sky broken only by the occasional flutter of tiny yellow birds and confetti. By 8am it’s already 25°C. The DJ shrieks what I presume to be ‘Go!’ and I’m practically flattened by…

Change of Perception RIDER LEFT Bell Aventor helmet, £139.99 zyrofisher.co.uk Tifosi Podium sunglasses, £69.99 zyrofisher.co.uk Pearl Izumi Elite Pursuit Speed jersey, £79.99 madison.co.uk Pearl Izumi Pro Pursuit bibshorts, £149.99 madison.co.uk Pearl Izumi Elite Tall socks, £14.99 madison.co.uk Mavic Cosmic Pro shoes, £229.99 mavic.co.uk RIDER RIGHT Catlike Cloud 352 helmet, £159.99 i-ride.co.uk Bollé Aeromax sunglasses, £115.99 bolle.com Santini 365 Classe jersey, £70 zyrofisher.co.uk Santini 365 Genio bibshorts, £180 zyrofisher.co.uk Santini 365 Classe socks, £180 zyrofisher.co.uk Northwave Extreme RR shoes, £319.99 i-ride.co.uk Tre Cime Met Manta helmet, £180 met-helmets.com 100% Speedcraft sunglasses, £159 madison.co.uk Specialized SL Pro jersey, £115 specialized.com Specialized SL Pro bibshorts, £130 specialized.com Specialized Road Tall socks, £17 specialized.com Specialized Torch 3.0…

€328 (approx £293), repente.it The market for premium Italian saddles is a crowded place, but newcomer Repente has a clever point of difference to its competitors. The saddles are modular, meaning you can swap different shells onto the same rails to suit your requirements on a ride-by-ride basis. This version is the aggressively shaped Aleena 4.0, which weighs just 130g but has a padded tip to ensure riding ‘on the rivet’ should only hurt your legs and not more sensitive places. Other options include the more comfortable Kuma 4.0 and the Comptus 4.0, which sits between the other two.…

€2,390 (approx £2,140), schmolke-carbon.com As you will discover when you read our feature on Gigantex (p108), many of the world’s best-known high-end carbon wheels are made in huge factories in Taiwan. Not so the Schmolke TLO 45 Disc wheelset, which is handmade in Germany. True to the Germanic principle of catchy acronyms, the TLO stands for ‘The Lightest One’, and at 1,300g it really is featherweight for a set of disc brake wheels. To further help with weight and ensure a smooth ride, the hubs roll on ceramic bearings and are hand-assembled by another German specialist, Tune. The wheels aren’t fragile either. Even with a mere 24 spokes on the back and 20 on the front, the set has a maximum rider weight of 105kg.…

When they were handing out awards for perfectionists, Tom Warmerdam was too busy to collect his – he was back in his workshop hand-filing a lug to the nearest micron. This is a man who can spend 80 hours making a set of lugs from scratch, 150 hours on a frame and who counts making 15 bikes a year as hitting capacity. Warmerdam builds under the name Demon Frameworks, a name that crops up time and again among his peers, most usually in response to the question, ‘So who else’s work do you admire?’ Demon bikes are instantly recognisable for their understated elegance, which makes this flamboyant fixed-gear all the more intriguing. ‘It’s completely the opposite to what I usually do,’ says Warmerdam. ‘But I just went, “Fuck, this is…

There are certain things that can reinforce a sense of achievement after a long climb: a spectacular view, tired legs or even a number on a cycling computer. For me, at an unassuming building on the side of a dusty mountain, it’s the clouds below me obscuring all but the last few kilometers of the road I’ve spent all morning climbing. Sat in the cool shade, my appetite burning after 1,600m of almost non-stop ascent, I reflect on what a shame it is that Lebanon, with its turbulent recent history, is often written off as a tourist destination, let alone a cycling destination. As amateur cyclists we don’t measure our victories in stage wins or trophies, but in the experiences that make a ride live long in the memory. And…

TRAVEL BA and Middle East Airlines operate daily flights between London and Beirut. Expect to pay from £250 to £350 for a return. Public transport around Lebanon is poor, but car hire is cheap. If you don’t want to pit yourself against Lebanon’s drivers, Richard Kennison (see right for details) can help organise a support driver. ACCOMMODATION Beirut has plenty of options for accommodation. The Albergo (albergobeirut.com) is a beautifully decorated old chateau in the heart of town, while Beit el Tawlet (soukeltayeb.com/beit-eltawlet) offers bright rooms with great views in the Mar Mikhail district, renowned for its nightlife. THANKS Thanks to Richard Kennison for planning the route and arranging ride support, ably provided by Saeed Milan. Contact Richard on lebanonextreme@yahoo.com for assistance organising your own ride in Lebanon.…

Although hailed as Colnago’s affordable ‘entry-level’ road bike, the C-RS hasn’t been shortchanged on the Italian brand’s usual handling panache or classic aesthetics. The C-RS takes its cues from the V2-r aero road bike, but is half the price and features a much friendlier geometry. Having ridden a sportive aboard the V1-r, I can confirm the C-RS is far comfier, both in riding position and lack of jarring stiffness, but it still has a racy feel that laps up corners. It does have a little bounce in its step when the road gets rough, but it’s otherwise a sturdy, confidence-inspiring ride that descends as well as many high-end bikes.…

The list of bike brands that can boast even half the heritage of Bianchi would be very short indeed. The company is 133 years old, making it the longest-surviving bike manufacturer in the world, and for the majority of that time it has had a presence in the top ranks of the pro sport. There are several different tales of how the colour celeste (pronounced che-lest-ay) came to be Bianchi’s trademark pastel shade, the most fanciful of which relates to it mimicking the eye colour of a former queen of Italy, for whom Eduardo Bianchi once made a custom bicycle. The more believable and far less romantic tale is that it was the colour that resulted from a mixture of surplus military paint. Either way, the colour is synonymous with…

£59.99, scott-sports.com The ‘60th’ in the name of these sunnies refers to the 60th anniversary of the Scott company, which began in 1958 when American Edward L Scott redesigned the traditional ski pole in aluminium. As for the Scott Sport Shields sunglasses, they first appeared in 1989, before taking a leap forward in time to 2018 when they reappeared on the face of Simon Yates as he sailed to victory at this year’s Vuelta a España. We can’t promise these updated Sport Shields will turn you into a Grand Tour winner, but they do offer a very large a field of vision while looking retro-cool.…

1 BLUBEL BIKE NAVIGATION £79, blubel.co A Freudian slip is when you say one thing when you mean your mother. And the Blubel is a bit like a handlebar-mounted bell, if that bell synced to an app on your smartphone, had a light-up display to direct you via GPS and ‘tagged’ a hazard every time you rang its bell, then assimilated this info to develop less hazardous routes in the future. One of the breast inventions we’ve seen for a while. 2 GALIBIER CAMPIONISSIMO II MITTS £25, galibier.cc Mirror inspector – now there’s a job we could really see ourselves enjoying. Much like how we enjoy these mitts. Made from goatskin leather and featuring perforated backs, ergonomic knuckle holes and reinforced palms, Galibier promises they’ll ‘bond to your hand after…

To download this route, go to cyclist.co.uk/80lebanon. Starting in Byblos, take the Seaside Road south to Nahr Ibrahim. Turn left at the river, following signs to Yahchouch. Take a left towards Ghbaleh, then head up the valley to Mchati and Wata El Jaouz. Turn left onto the long road to Afqa – keep an eye out for ‘Lebanon’s Best Restaurant’ about 10km later. From Afqa, climb to Laqlouq then take the right turn down the valley to Tannourine. Turn left onto the long road down to your destination, Batroun. This was our end point, but you can follow the Seaside Road south for 16km to Byblos.…

‘We still have our full quota of eight riders, and not many teams can say that,’ says Jan-Niklas Droste, doctor to Germany’s one and only WorldTour team. It’s 11am on Wednesday 25th July 2018 and Cyclist is embedded with Bora-Hansgrohe at Stage 17 of the Tour de France. Today’s stage is a short one, only 65km, but it includes a lot of climbing. ‘I had a feeling, like you would with the stock exchange, that it was worth investing in the bad times to benefit when the good times return’ ‘So far we’ve been lucky with crashes,’ Droste adds as we jump into a team car to follow the race. ‘Let’s hope that carries on until Paris.’ Fast forward to 3.38pm, and a voice crackles over the in-car radio: ‘Peter…

The figures are unexceptional, but for so many reasons it would be a mistake to underestimate Tre Cime Length. Average gradient. Maximum gradient. Summit height. Figures that frame a climb. In some ways they seem to tell you so much, but in reality they tell you so little. Standing in northern Italy, surrounded by the pale limestone peaks of the Sexten Dolomites, the task that lies ahead is as follows if expressed in those terms: 7.5km, averaging 7.5%, maxing out at 18% and finishing at 2,340m. On paper, then, the climb of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo (or Drei Zinnen in German for this marks the linguistic boundary between Italian-speaking Veneto and the predominantly German-speaking South Tyrol that was until 1919 a part of Austria) sounds bearable. Not too long,…

On 2015, in the halcyon days before Trump and Brexit, I reviewed the Fuji Supreme 2.1. At the time, it was the second-best bike in the company’s Supreme range, and – purple butterfly paintjob notwithstanding – it was an impressive women’s race bike at a reasonable price of £1,800. But in bike years 2015 is eons ago, and the four new bikes in the Supreme range feel like they are from another planet (and another price point). Such is the pace of change in cycling these days. At the top of the family tree is the Supreme 1.1. It took two years to develop, and Fuji claims it’s the company’s fastest women’s bike yet – indeed, its fastest road bike, full stop. Compared to those old bikes it is indeed…

Ever wondered why suits are traditionally black? I have it on good authority from a cloth-selling acquaintance that it all comes down to status. Once upon a time, black was one of the most expensive colours for cloth, because to make cloth dark took a lot of dye. Dye was costly and thus any respectable gentleman would choose a suit that demonstrated he was a man of means. Now, have you ever wondered why so many bikes are black? I’ve asked all the acquaintances I know in that field too, and the answer I get is generally, ‘Well, customers want black bikes so we make black bikes.’ Maybe it’s making black bikes that makes customers want black bikes, but there came a point a few years ago where it felt…