Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i Cyclist

Hold on, what’s this? Small wheels, folding frame, casual wear – have we changed into Commuting World? Fear not, we’re still dedicated to the road, but this little bike deserves a special mention. Brompton is a rare British manufacturing success story, especially in the bike industry, with growing markets around the world. Sales of its folding bikes topped 93,000 last year, which is rather a lot more than the 500 a year the company produced back when it started in the early 1980s. More importantly, as our profile on p68 reveals, Brompton’s CEO, Will Butler-Adams, is not just concerned about sales figures and profit margins, he is passionate about how the bike – any bike – can transform society and make this world of ours a slightly more pleasant place…

The Egos is Rudy Project’s new do-it-all road helmet, with dual-density foam that the brand says helps improve ventilation and shock-absorption, as well as keeping the weight down (a size medium is a respectable 250g). While not ostensibly an aero helmet, the Egos has seen time in a wind-tunnel. Similarly, while the Egos doesn’t include Mips, Rudy claims it outperforms industry standards for rotational impacts. A new lightweight, micro-adjustable retention system takes care of fit, while a Fidlock magnetic buckle means the rider should be able to secure or release it one-handed, even with gloves on.…

Fancy an insulated jacket but can’t stomach the usual £200-plus pricetag? Thanks to a construction comprised chiefly of the Polartec Alpha insulative fabric many puffer-style jackets use, Castelli promises its Cold Days 2nd Layer replicates such high-warmth, low-bulk characteristics when paired with any outer layer. The brand looks to have got the layer’s details right too: it has a high collar for extra coverage and an asymmetrical half zip, which aims to interfere less with the zip of the jacket going on top of it.…

‘Most people ask me if it’s suspension,’ Sam Fish tells Cyclist during a rare break from welding and changing nappies (not at the same time, thankfully). ‘It’s actually an adjustable seatmast. I was asked to make a bike for the Grinduro gravel race a couple of years ago, and I wanted to do something that would be interesting and fun to make. I built a rigid bolt-on seatmast for that bike. Then I became curious about making an adjustable one.’ Since then, unconventional seatmast setups have become a visual signature of Fish’s bikes, which he crafts under the name Flying Fish. It’s a creative outlet for Fish, who also runs a successful fabrication business producing pieces of fine metalwork for artists, galleries and designers. ‘At Fish Fabrications we’re constantly in…

1 CANNONDALE CONTAIN QR SADDLEBAG From £28, cannondale.com Unemployed? Search and Rescue is always looking for people. Need to carry stuff on your bike? Cannondale’s QR is what you might be looking for. It’s made from waterproof nylon with a storm zipper, but the really neat thing is the T-shaped bar on top, which twists and locks onto saddle rails, with the Velcro strap then anchoring the Contain to the seatpost. 2 STYRKR BAR50 BARS £29.99 (12pk), styrkr.com Our GP is worried that we’re addicted to drinking brake fluid, but honestly we can stop any time we want. Our penchant for Styrkr bars, though, may be trickier to call a halt to. That’s because each Bar50 contains 50g of dual-source carbohydrates that claims to make for faster energy release, as…

Are you in the market for a new bike? Of course you are – all cyclists have an eye out for their next bike – but how do you find the right one when you can’t test them all? If only you could tell how a bike is going to ride before you sling a leg over its top tube. Will it be racy and reactive or stable and stately? Will it inspire confidence on technical descents or require wrestling like a rodeo bull? Perhaps the answers to these questions lie in the numbers on the geometry charts that can be found on the websites of every bike brand. An extra millimetre of tube length here or an extra degree of angle there can affect the way a bike handles,…

You could be forgiven for thinking bike designers must by now have run out of different ways to make things squishy. Surely every possible combination of flex, springs and dampers has already been tried? Specialized’s Chris D’Aluisio – he of the Allez Sprint’s funky welds – begs to differ. Hence the Diverge STR, which is his concerted effort to ‘isolate riders from the chaos of the trail below’ without losing the ‘double diamond snap’ of a conventional rigid frame. Soft at heart The outgoing Diverge was already a thoroughly accomplished gravel bike. Its steerer-based Future Shock front suspension set it apart from rivals while thoughtful features such as the SWAT in-frame storage added to the appeal, alongside unimpeachable riding manners. The Diverge STR (‘suspend the rider’) doubles down on the…

Lost In The Algarve p52 Limar Air Pro helmet, £254,99 chickencyclekit.co.uk Oakley Sutro Lite Sweep sunglasses, £152 oakley.com Giro Chrono Elite jersey, £109.99 giro.co.uk Giro Chrono Elite bibshorts, £149.99 giro.co.uk Giro Hrc+ Grip socks, £23.99 giro.co.uk Sidi Shot 2 shoes, £410 saddleback.co.uk Col de Couraduque p82 Rudy Project Spectrum helmet, £179.99 bikeloungeonline.com Rudy Project Spinshield sunglasses, £89.99 bikeloungeonline.com Giordana FRC Pro jersey, £104.99 bikeloungeonline.com Giordana FRC Pro bibshorts, £109.99 bikeloungeonline.com Giordana FRC socks, £9.99 bikeloungeonline.com Bont Helix shoes, £335 bontcycling.com Bikes p115 SPECIALIZED Specialized S-Works Prevail II Vent helmet, £240 specialized.com Rudy Project Spinshield Air sunglasses, £119.99 bikeloungeonline.com Castelli Unlimited Puffy Jacket, £280 saddleback.co.uk Castelli Espresso GT gloves, £125 saddleback.co.uk Castelli Sorpasso RoS Wind bibtights, £225 saddleback.co.uk Sportful Giara TH overshoes, £55 saddleback.co.uk ENVE HJC Ibex 2.0 helmet, £220 saddleback.co.uk…

When the 3T Strada was released in 2017, the controversy around its 1x gearing system overshadowed other arguably more important aspects of its design. It was a bike that tried to balance performance with practicality. It had an aero-styled frameset but one that was designed around wider tyres, so going fast and staying comfortable on real roads didn’t have to be mutually exclusive. Likewise, in contrast to many aero bikes, it didn’t try to hide cables entirely. That would have either enlarged the bike’s frontal profile (for a wider head tube) or hindered adjustability, thereby compromising fit. Both outcomes would have had a far bigger impact on drag than some short lengths of exposed cable. Again, this was performance considered in practical terms. ‘That meant a design update to the…

‘Joining Zwift can be a complicated experience,’ admits Zwift’s own PR director, Chris Snook, and it’s for this reason the brand created its own smart trainer, the Zwift Hub. Although its technology doesn’t feature anything you can’t get elsewhere besides minor in-app improvements, it’s all about making the Zwift experience easier and more accessible. At £449 the Hub is one of the cheapest direct-drive trainers available, and features Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity, claimed +/-2.5% measurement accuracy, maximum wattage of 1,800 and gradient simulation up to 16%. It’s compatible with road and mountain bike framesets, will work with quick release or through axles, and can take 8 to 12-speed cassettes. The cassette is another area where Zwift sets itself apart. ‘Zwift Hub is unique to the trainer market by including a…

With its 350 lumens, the Icon3 is SeeSense’s brightest ever rear light. It offers 270° of side visibility, is highly water resistant and weighs a mere 50g (claimed). The brand says the Icon3 will last for 15 hours on reactive flash mode but if your battery does get low, the light has a ‘Get Me Home’ mode that automatically dims to save power. There is also a new ‘Super Visibility’ mode for extra brightness, and a ‘Light Sensing’ mode, which SeeSense says offers optimal daylight visibility.…

When gravel riding first became a bona fide discipline, there was little demand for gravel-specific shoes. Most riders thought mountain bike shoes would do the job, and some misguided souls even thought road shoes would still be OK. Shoe brands, however, saw an opportunity to better tailor the equipment to the riding experience. As a combination of road cycling and mountain biking, it is unsurprising that gravel shoes have cherry-picked the best elements of each. Shoes such as the Specialized Recon Lace, Rapha Explore and Sidi Tiger 2 DZero all have carbon soles, aiming to emulate the stiffness of a modern road shoe. While good power transfer is vital, no off-road shoe can excel without decent off-bike traction. All come with grippy soles, and some, such as the Bontrager GR2,…

‘This image looks more like a winter training ride rather than the pointy end of a bike race. Stage 6 of the 2022 Tirreno-Adriatico featured a double ascent of Monte Carpegna and the race was relatively compact on the first ascent, but another push to the summit left the general classification contenders to fight it out. ‘We drove ahead and had no idea the summit would still be covered in snow. It’s difficult to photograph big-name riders alone and without the normal race paraphernalia of team cars, motorbikes and TV cameras in the background. When I saw two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar coming through the trees solo on the queen stage, I knew there was an opportunity to get a clean shot.’ ‘In this photo, Andreas Kron of…

Five starts. One second place. Four abandons. So read Henri Pélissier’s record in the Tour de France as the 1923 edition of the race prepared to roll out from Paris. It was a mixed bag for sure, and so the question was which version of Pélissier would the Tour witness this time around? The 1914 vintage who had won three stages and finished second overall? Or the man who hadn’t gone beyond the sixth stage in any of the other Tours he had started? Despite his chequered Tour history, Pélissier possessed a rare talent. He was one of four brothers born into relative comfort in Paris, and while one, Jean, would lose his life during the First World War, the others all found a living on the bike, with Henri’s…

The scorched earth ends with precision. One side of the road is a scattering of blackened stumps, the other side a carpet of pristine green, like the stuff greengrocers used to put under their shop displays. This is Quinta do Lago, less nestled and more flag-planted in the eastern Algarve, a huge privately owned resort of 2,000 acres. Or, proudly, ‘three times the size of Monaco’. The net worth of most individuals here might be similar to Monaco too, because while anyone can rent a hotel room or a private villa for reasonable money, real estate changes hands for millions of euros, something that apparently only grew in lockdown as ex-pats cashed their chips and moved here wholesale to enjoy a life of some luxury. Especially if you happen to…

This early ramp hits 13%, the steepest pitch of the whole climb, so moderate your effort to save your legs There’s a good chance you haven’t heard of the Col de Couraduque, let alone ridden it. That’s likely true even if you have visited the Hautes Pyrénées to tackle the likes of the nearby Col du Tourmalet. While the latter has been climbed by nearly 26,000 Strava users, only 6,000 have ridden Couraduque. The Tour de France has never been up it. All of this is a shame because the Col de Couraduque has much to offer – and certainly enough to warrant a place among our Classic Climbs collection. Its 6.4km length may not seem like much, but the stat is misleading because the pretty village at its base,…

For a bike to be aerodynamic, it’s not enough that the frame is sculpted in a wind-tunnel. It’s how that frame interacts with all the other components, as well as how the rider fits on top, that really matters. As a result, most of the big brands now outfit their latest models with finishing components made in-house and designed to work specifically with the frameset. Yet often there remains the sense that the frameset is the star of the show, and the auxiliary parts all hold only minor roles. In producing its Custom Road, and more recently the Melee, years after establishing an extensive range of well-regarded components, Enve can claim to have done things the other way around, which could be to its advantage. ‘The outcome is a complete…

British brand Aerocoach specialises in making riders more aerodynamic, whether that be via ride position consultancy or its range of proprietary kit and componentry. The Ornix aero bars are the brand’s latest product. ‘The rider is by far the biggest source of drag in the overall system, so using the shape of the bars to optimise their aerodynamic position, rather than focussing on purely reducing the drag of the bar itself, was the aim of the project,’ says Aerocoach director Xavier Disley. ‘The Ornix bars can make the rider over 20 watts more aerodynamic at 45kmh versus a typical round bar.’ The Ornix’s narrowness is a key factor. ‘The bars have a 325mm centre-to-centre hood clamp area, while the drops flare out to 375mm,’ says Disley. This encourages riders into…

After Hunt added carbon spokes to its Aerodynamicist wheels, the company says it was flooded with requests to do the same across the board. So when they weren’t manning the phone lines, Hunt’s engineers created a carbon-spoked version of its Limitless all-rounder. The Limitless rims have been around for several years now, combining a 22.5mm internal width with a 35mm external width said to be optimised for 28mm tyres. Ingeniously, the rims use polymer inserts, co-moulded into the carbon, to achieve their unusually wide external width without becoming unfeasibly heavy. The addition of UD carbon spokes to the design helps these wheels maintain stiffness while shaving some useful weight: ‘The spokes weigh 2.7g each [a comparable steel spoke is closer to 4g], and you can use fewer of them owing…

Cyclist: What was your life like before finding cycling? Jack UltraCyclist: I was and still am a very normal dude. During school, I was a triathlete, which kept my mind steady, but when I went to university I gave it up to concentrate on my studies and my mood really slipped. I achieved a degree in construction management and economics, worked in that field for about six years but didn’t enjoy it, turned to drugs and alcohol, battled through depression and spent a stint in rehab with drug addiction. Cyc: When did you turn to the bike? JU: Once I got out of rehab, my old man said to me that I should jump on a bike again. I hated the idea, but he kept pestering and eventually I gave…

Life, as far as Will Butler-Adams is concerned, should be a risky business. ‘As you get older, your risk profile drops,’ he says. ‘In business you have to stop that happening, because you get too comfy. You have to keep taking risks. I’ve started taking my children flying. That was quite a challenge with my wife, because she knows me far too well.’ Butler-Adams, it seems, is one of those people who puts your own life in stark perspective. The chief executive of folding bike firm Brompton is not only a chartered mechanical engineer with an OBE for services to industry, he’s also a qualified pilot. ‘You plan a trip – I take it very seriously – and it’s a bit scary,’ he adds. ‘Once life gets too comfy, you…

‘Education has helped. Plus many riders today weren’t even born when the past offences happened. However, we always have to be awake to fight against doping. It can never stop.’ The words of Nicholas Raudenski, head of the ITA, aka International Testing Agency, an independent organisation that implements anti-doping programmes for international sports federations. It was created in 2018 under the supervision of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Raudenski’s note of anti-doping optimism was struck just before this year’s Tour de France in a webinar hosted by the ITA. But how clean is professional cycling in the modern era? Pragmatism rules ‘I feel it’s in a better place than years gone by but it’s always good to leave the light on,’ says Roger Legeay,…

1 Specialized Diverge STR p116 The US brand’s updated gravel machine gets a clever rear suspension system that provides flex at the saddle while keeping the frame stiff 2 Enve Melee p120 Enve went from making parts to building frames – an approach that has paid dividends with its well-equipped and beautifully balanced race bike 3 Scott Addict Gravel p124 The clue is in the name, as Scott takes the Addict’s road racing pedigree off road – and it works, if you want an all-rounder that still likes tarmac…

Guess how much Scott’s Addict RC Ultimate road bike costs? It’s £15,999. Yes, I’m aware I tested a £13k Argonaut last month, but that bike was custom-built and Argonaut can at least claim a boutique builder’s economy of scale (or lack thereof). One pound shy of £16k for a stock bike is insane money. I discovered this detail partly by virtue of being a tenacious newshound, but mainly by accident as I delved into the geometry for the Addict Gravel – the bike that seeks to take the Addict’s racing pedigree off-road. Geometry matters The Addict Gravel has been around in various iterations since 2016, but for 2023 Scott has rejuvenated it wholesale, starting with the geometry. Stack is now slightly higher (590mm, size large), wheelbase slightly longer (1,049mm), and…

February is traditionally the month that sets the hearts of cycling fans beating that little bit faster. It’s when box-fresh hopes and dreams collide with harsh reality, and happiness and heartbreak are decided by physique and cunning. Yes, I am of course referring to Valentine’s Day, which this year falls just 11 days before the start of the European road racing season. The connection between cycling and a day that has become a cheap, tacky and globally commercialised celebration of romance may not be immediately obvious. I’m not going to claim that the bicycle was the analogue predecessor of Tinder but its role in increasing the personal mobility of ordinary men and women made it a remarkable accessory to matchmaking and a vital component in the courtship ritual. People lived…