Bikes Etc Magazine May 2019

The good weather is just around the corner, so to celebrate we’re giving one lucky reader the chance to bag themselves a brand new short-sleeved jersey courtesy of our friends at Craft. The Swedish brand based in the old textile town of Borås is a true pioneer of sportswear having created its first technical garment (a sweat-wicking base layer if you’re wondering) as early as 1973. And as its latest offering, the Essence jersey proves, it’s a company that’s still at the cutting edge when it comes to innovation and design. What you’re looking at here, isn’t just a fine looking cycling jersey it’s one with completely sound eco-credentials. Made from recycled materials, each one is also solution dyed to give it its colour, a process that makes considerable savings…

If you’ve never seen the documentary A Sunday in Hell, I urge you to seek it out. It follows the 1976 edition of the Paris-Roubaix one-day race and is essentially a paean to cycle racing filmed during the golden era or Merckx, Maertens and de Vlaeminck. I recently rediscovered it on Youtube and found it still has the power to mesmerise. Not least because it reminds you how far we’ve come since those pre-health-and-safety culture days when bikes were made of steel, helmets were optional and members of a team’s backroom staff could ride on the roof of a support vehicle rather than inside it. Possibly while plastered on absinthe. It also reminds you just how tough the Spring Classics races are, and what a shock to the system they…

WEIGHT: 11.2kg FRAME: 6061 Hydro Formed T6 aluminium, 160mm flat disc mount, straight bladed alloy fork GROUPSET: Sram Apex1 BRAKES: TRP HyRd mechanical/hydraulic CHAINSET: Whyte Forged, 44tooth CASSETTE: Sram PC-1130 11-42 BARS: Whyte Gravel 500mm STEM: Whyte 90mm, minus six degree SADDLE: Whyte Custom SEATPOST: Whyte 20mm offset WHEELS: Whyte alloy hubs, WTB Sandvik spokes, WTB Asym i23 rims TYRES: WTB Horizon 650b 47c WHAT IS IT? The Glencoe is one of nine drop bar road bikes in renowned British brand Whyte’s 2019 repertoire, they state that it’s the ‘most versatile all-round road machine we have ever made’ and who are we to suggest otherwise? Equipped with 650b wheels which roll on whopping, high-volume tyres, it naturally has bolt-thru axles and discs brakes for that go-anywhere, do-anything appeal. You might…

BROMPTON X CHPT3 BIKE PRICE: £1,990 CONTACT: brompton.com Anyone who’s watched David Millar on ITV recently will know how fond he is of a Brompton-based segue. Others might have faced the daunting prospect of lining up alongside the former pro at various Brompton World Championships over the past few seasons. Now four years down the line, his collaboration with the bike maker initially arose from a meeting he had with Brompton CEO Will Butler-Adams. ‘David mentioned he rarely used a bike in the city, only for training and competing,’ explains Butler-Adams. ‘The conversation turned to what would be the best type of Brompton for die-hard roadie. We didn’t want to create a pastiche or a replica but a stripped-down, distilled Brompton, useable but still eminently rideable.’ Like a regular Brompton…

Oakley’s new Sutro glasses may be pitched towards the ‘lifestyle’ end of the market, but they’re no less functional for that. Named after a hill in San Francisco, they may be ferociously trendy, but still retain all of Oakley’s usual technology. A stand-out choice for riders after something more ostentatious than a bog-standard pair of M-frames, their wraparound design gives improved peripheral vision for checking who’s sneaking up on your shoulder. Making them suited to both commuting and keeping an eye on the competition while racing. With a choice of eight options, their Prizm lenses are the same found on the brand’s other high-end sunnies and cover a range of different conditions. These include an iridescent purple road-specific formula designed to boost safety by helping you pick out hazards thanks…

Mountain bikers ditched them long ago, but could Rotor’s new 1x13 groupset finally see road bikes shorn of their front derailleurs? With 13-speed cassettes ranging from between 10-36t, all the way up to 10-52t, the balance between range and the gaps between each ratio may now be close enough to win over many roadies. Not only would that allow them to gain all the weight, maintenance, and aerodynamic benefits of ditching the second derailleur from their bike, it could also unlock a new and intuitive sequential shifting process. As the Spanish brand is keen to point out, Although traditional 2x11 groupsets have 22 theoretical gears, the effective range is actually just 14 due to overlapping chainring and sprocket combos. To access these 14 gears in the correct order, multiple front…