Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2022 i Cyclist

£1,999, i-ride.co.uk For a sport that requires such symmetrical body movement to complete, cycling has its fair share of asymmetry. Cannondale offers its one-sided Lefty Oliver fork, there hasn’t been a symmetrical bike from Pinarello in years and now Fulcrum is at it with its new Speed 25 wheelset. And the reason? Weight. The Speed 25s launch as Fulcrum’s flagship climbing wheels and weigh a claimed 1,285g. That weight is primarily down to the shallow 26mm rim depth, which is all well and good except for the fact that low-profile rims can come at a price, namely stiffness, particularly where rear wheels are concerned. That is, rear wheels are dished, the spokes on the driveside laced at a steeper angle than on the non-driveside due to the hub flange’s position…

You’ve just spent the last month watching the world’s fittest athletes smash their bikes around the toughest roads in France at unrelenting speeds, and I know what you’re thinking: Maybe I should get one. But it’s me, your conscience speaking, and I’m here to tell you to think twice. It might seem like a good idea. A pro bike will undoubtedly help you go faster thanks to its light weight, high levels of stiffness and aerodynamic tube shapes, but having observed those machines up close at the Grand Départ in Copenhagen, it’s clear to me that riding these superbikes should be reserved for one-offs and special occasions. Taking price out of the equation – if you can buy one, price is irrelevant – let’s first examine the possible pros. Then…

Cyclist: Congratulations on your podium place at the Dauphiné. Are you ahead of where you expected to be, form-wise? Ben O’Connor: Thanks. There’s always going to be a gap to Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič, but I didn’t expect to be literally in between them and the next guys. If you’re with the best in the world it’s really cool to know that if you improve you’re going to be fighting for wins. It was a resounding success. Cyc: Is there more to come? BO: I thought last year, after Romandie [where O’Connor came 6th], that was my peak level, but that definitely wasn’t the case. I don’t know how much I can improve until I hit that ceiling. I believe I’m better than I was last year, more agile, more…

Jonas Vingegaard won the Tour because he was the strongest rider, right? Of course he did, but a new study in journal Nature, ‘Frontal neurons driving competitive behaviour and ecology of social groups’, might well show who wins is also down to social hierarchy. The study looked at large groups of mice as they foraged for food, with researchers wirelessly tracking neuronal activities as the mice ‘competed’ for resources. A part of the brain called the anterior cingulate was linked to gathering information about social ranking and information about available food, environment and past success. Further analysis demonstrated how outcome to competition affected social ranking – mice rose up the pecking order if they were successful – and how this ‘perceived’ social ranking affected future outcomes. ‘Using neuromodulation techniques,’ the…

What exactly is a plant-based diet? Simply put, a plant-based diet is any diet that focusses consistently on foods primarily from plants, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, legumes and beans. There are different interpretations, however. Some people include eggs and dairy, known as a vegetarian diet, others will include small amounts of fish and meat, a ‘flexitarian’ diet, and there are those who don’t eat any animalderived products at all, such as vegans. What they have in common, though, is that most of their diets come from plants. According to Vantage Market Research, the total global plant-based food market is expected to reach £62.52 billion by 2028, up from £31.84 billion in 2021. Cyclists such as Lotto Soudal rider Victor Campenaerts, Trek-Segafredo’s Lizzie Deignan and the fastest woman…

The intense heat continues to rise across Europe as 159 hardy souls line up at the start line in Briançon. Four hours, 55 minutes and 24 seconds later in the western Alps, the Alpe finds itself a new champion. I follow it all, perched on the back of a motorbike, camera in hand, sweat dripping from my brow, bend after 21 bend. Today’s stage is one of those that gets described as ‘for the ages’. It is glorious. But in a twist of fate I’m not here to follow the day’s action but rather to document it through the eyes of the fans that help make it so special. Playing chicken It’s early in the day and my trusty moto-pilot Phil and I travel the course avant. The riders have…

My feet sink into the bog. The thick, brown mud slowly swallows them as we stop to watch the sun rise from behind a wall of sheer rock with a razor-sharp ridge. With the sun comes a welcome warmth and momentary respite from the slow trudge across the open moor. It’s not that we’ve lost the trail. There wasn’t one to begin with. Quite where we’re heading at this moment I don’t know. We are simply following the little arrows on my bike computer telling us this is the route, despite both of us feeling a rising sense of doubt. With no obvious alternative we have little choice but to keep moving forward in the hope that sooner or later we will return to a trail that is rideable. We…

Carbon fibre composites may have unassailable performance and production advantages when it comes to road bike frames, but that doesn’t mean metal has been left to rust. Brands such as Specialized and Cannondale continue to innovate with aluminium, Saffron and Ritchey keep steel up to speed and names like Reilly Cycleworks fly the flag for titanium. This new Reilly Fusion aero bike is a case in point. Reilly started out eight years ago as Nerve Bikes, the project of long-time friends Mark Reilly, of Omega and Enigma, and Formula 1 carbon fibre specialist Neil FitzGerald. Together they produced frames in carbon, steel, stainless steel and titanium. Sadly, Reilly passed away last year, but his name remains as the company looks to carry on his legacy. The Fusion is the first…

Firefly was founded in for years designing and building custom frames at Independent Fabrication, but when IF decided to relocate from Boston to New Hampshire, the friends decided their framebuilding fortunes might lie elsewhere. ‘We wanted to stay in Boston, so took the move as an opportunity to build our own framebuilding business from the ground up,’ Wolfson says. ‘We wanted to focus on high-end materials, so we started making stainless steel and titanium frames. Since then we’ve shifted our focus completely to titanium and a ti-carbon blend that gives us the versatility to build every type of bike we want in any custom geometry.’ It was a gamble that paid off. A decade on and Firefly has a worldwide reputation for its titanium and has long since expanded to…

1 PEATY’S HOLESHOT TOOLS From £21.99, peatys.co.uk It would appear the primary use of the little toe is to check if the furniture is still hard, while the primary use of Peaty’s Holeshot tools is to fix flats, whether that’s with the CO2 Inflator Kit (£29.99) or the Tubeless Plugger Kit (£21.99). Both are functionally excellent, the Plugger Kit especially so thanks to the neat storage of tyre plugs in its waterproof handle compartment. 2 WOLF TOOTH ALLOY BAR END PLUGS £23, saddleback.co.uk The best thing about anti-bacterial hand gel is that everyone walks around like they’re hatching a dastardly plan. And the best thing about Wolf Tooth’s bar ends is they look great and come in a host of delightful colours. What more could you ask for? 3 SYNCROS…

‘Well you can run all you like but the rules state you have got to have your bike with you. He hasn’t got his bike.’ ‘Well this I have never, ever seen before.’ ‘Neither have I, but you’ve got to carry your bike, you can’t just go for a hike up the country lanes of Mont Ventoux.’ ‘Well this is bizarre, this Tour de France…’ Paul Sherwen and Phil Liggett can’t believe their eyes: with just two kilometres to go until the Giant’s scree-slope finish, a TV moto unexpectedly braking causes Richie Porte, Chris Froome and Bauke Mollema to pile into the back. Porte is able to wrestle his chain back on while Mollema disentangles himself, but Froome’s bike is finished. And so he runs. And runs. It’s an enduring…

1 Pearson Minegoestoeleven p126 Pearson is, famously, the oldest bike shop in the world. It also happens to make rather clever new bikes, as the latest Minegoestoeleven proves. 2 Trek Checkpoint p132 The US brand was ahead of the game with the Checkpoint in 2018, but gravel bikes have moved on since then. So too has this updated version. 3 Factor Ostro VAM p138 Aero all-rounders face the huge task of reconciling aerodynamics and lightness, yet the Ostro VAM makes it look easy. Here’s how Factor did it.…

Trek’s original Checkpoint was regarded as a progressive gravel bike when it first came out in 2018, yet things have shifted to such an extent that nowadays its design is seen as barely more capable than a contemporary endurance/all-road bike. The new iteration seeks to address this, and it does so emphatically – pushing design aspects such as geometry much further into off-road bike territory, while at the same time introducing more utility and choice to the bike. The Checkpoint now comes in three guises and this, the SL, sits between the aggressive carbon SLR and the workhorse aluminium ALR. The SL uses Trek’s mid-tier OCLV 500 carbon construction and aims to match the SLR’s raciness while providing the versatility of the ALR for long-distance adventures off-road. Trek traits The…

There’s a climb that rises 1,450m from a river bank to a rocky promontory in just 23km. Along the way, it leaves you dizzy with its beauty – soaring spires of rock, swirling filigrees of hairpins – and its toughness, the gradient sticking relentlessly at around 10% for the last 13 of those kilometres. But I don’t want to tell you where it is. In the opposite direction, a succession of quiet bike paths and roads takes you across a fertile delta, through rice fields where the black and white flags are ineffective scarecrows against the herons and gulls, and past lagoons where flamingos stalk the shallows. But I don’t want to tell you where it is. I don’t want to tell you where it is because I don’t want…

Entering the Vittoria family just below the Corsa 2.0 but above its Rubino Pro, the Vittoria Corsa N.EXT has rivals Continental GP5000 and Schwalbe Pro One firmly in its sights. The big sell here is that the N.EXT’s carcass is woven from nylon, much like those competitors but unlike its bigger brother, the cotton-cased Corsa 2.0. The reason is longevity – nylon is a more robust thread, plus the vulcanising construction method that goes with it creates harder-wearing tyres than the hand-gluing method used with cotton. But nylon is thicker so thread count is lower – 100tpi versus 320tpi for the cotton Corsas – hence suppleness is theoretically diminished as fewer threads means less supple. Yet that’s besides the point, as Vittoria says the N.EXT matches or betters its nylon-cased…

It is at this point in the year when cyclists are most often at their strongest. The days are long, the weather is warm and the buzz around cycling generated by the Tour de France still hangs in the air. It’s the perfect time to log a lot of enjoyable kilometres on the bike. It would therefore seem appropriate for the rider to celebrate by sporting suitably outspoken outfits. The recent trend may have been towards more muted colours and understated designs, but keep those for dingier days. When the sun shines it pays to be bold, and thankfully being stylistically avant garde no longer means having to settle for novelty kit. Several fashion-forward brands are producing bold kit that’s as technically proficient as some of the more reserved apparel…

PREVIOUS PAGE Race: Tour de France, 21st July 2022 Photographer: Kristof Ramon ‘This shot is of Jonas Vingegaard climbing to the stage win on Hautacam, the final mountain of the Tour. We noticed this mass of Basque fans that had gathered 2km from the top of the climb, so instead of driving all the way to the finish we decided to try to get a picture of the winner between the colours. BELOW Race: Tour de France, 9th and 14th July 2022 Photographer: Chris Auld ‘There are no ends to Wout van Aert’s talents. He dominates whatever the parcours and when he’s not winning stages he’s a super-domestique for the maillot jaune. Opportunities to see the peloton at the Tour are extremely limited – a good day will be two…

When Dutch prodigy Mathieu van der Poel slipped down the start ramp of the Stage 1 time-trial at this year’s Tour de France, it was aboard a state-of-the-art Canyon Speedmax TT bike. This futuristic aero superbike is the result of years of research and development, meticulous design and rigorous testing. Perhaps, more surprisingly, it is also the work of a brand that, by founder Roman Arnold’s own admission, had humble beginnings, selling simple bikes built around rebadged Taiwanese frames. This route isn’t an uncommon one for new bike brands to follow. Step one: find a reputable vendor and choose a frame design. Step two: select your components and build the bikes. Step three: slap your logo on. Step four: profit. Anyone with the money can buy a plane ticket to…

‘The Minegoestoeleven is now in its fifth generation, much like the business,’ says Will Pearson, joint-owner with brother Guy of Pearson, officially the world’s oldest bike shop. ‘This time around we’ve reduced weight by 400g by using lighter Toray carbon fibre. The seatstay bridge and seatstays have been redesigned to be more angular and aerodynamic, so too the fork.’ The MGTE is designed at Pearson’s UK HQ and is manufactured in Asia by a factory ‘whose engineering team suggests tube forms, which are run through programmes to account for the aerodynamic effects of design tweaks.’ Thus this isn’t an aero bike in the truest noholds-barred wind-tunnel sense, but it does use proven aero tube shapes and aero components such as the 50mm deep wheels and Pearson’s integrated bars, which have…

The aero all-rounder category has become the vanguard of most brands’ ranges and the default choice of most pro teams. After all, drag even affects how fast you climb a mountain. But so does weight, and aero bikes tend to be heavier because they have more complex tube shapes. Reconciling lightness and aerodynamics is the big challenge, then, which is where the Factor Ostro VAM comes in. ‘In any new project, we use a ranking system for aero, lightness and comfort,’ says Factor’s owner, Rob Gitelis. ‘The Ostro had a very clear goal – to be the most aero 780g frame. We set the weight budget, then chased aero. Then it had to move forward in other areas, such as fully internal cabling.’ The Ostro’s frame profiles are derived from…