Bikes Etc Magazine June 2019

The clocks have gone back, the weather’s warming up and spring has well and truly sprung. Which means you’re going to be spending a lot more time with your bike. Not just riding it, but making sure it can do the job it was built for, too, which is why we’ve teamed up with SILCA, one of the world’s finest bicycle tool manufacturers, to bring you this month’s unique competition prize. This Italian brand founded just outside of Milan by Felice Sacchi in 1917 has been at the cutting edge of cycling tool tech for over 100 years. It was the first to add pressure gauges to pumps, the first to work with plastics and in more recent years the first to move into using more sustainable materials. For your…

I was reminded of a quote recently that was way too smart for me not to share. ‘Meet the future mode of transportation for this weary Western world,’ said the bike salesman in the classic outlaw flick Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. ‘Now I’m not gonna make a lot of extravagant claims for this little machine. Sure, it’ll change your whole life for the better. But that’s all.’ Awesome line, isn’t it? It’s economic, witty, and enormously prescient, with the truth it contains even more relevant today than when its author William Goldman banged it out on a typewriter over 50 years ago. Riding a bike surely does change your life for the better and, this issue, we’ve interviewed a man for whom that fact is resoundingly true. Dean…

WHAT IS IT? A customisable endurance machine, with a little extra assistance thanks to a hidden battery and hub-motor system. Produced to designs created by Ribble, the Endurance SLe is part of its recently revised and revitalised range. Endorsed by the mighty Sean Yates, whether you fancy a bit of help up the hills, or just want to keep something in reserve on longer rides, it’s happy to chip in as needed. With a single button integrated into the top tube, and the battery neatly enclosed in the regular diameter downtube, only the chunky rear hub may give the game away that this is an e-bike. TELL ME MORE ABOUT RIBBLE. IT’S A BRITISH BRAND, ISN’T IT? Sure is. Based in Lancashire, Ribble is one of the UK’s larger cycle…

Created in conjunction with the Movistar Team, the Abus AirBreaker was on the head of its rider Alejandro Valverde as he claimed the World Champion’s jersey last September. Helping keep him as cool and aerodynamic as possible, it’s the German brand’s latest attempt to batter its way into a market dominated by big names such as Giro, Lazer, and Kask. First impressions are that this could easily be the design to do it. Based around its all-out aero model the GameChanger, the AirBreaker aims to be an almost as slippery, but a far cooler and more versatile option. Despite rivals MIPS and Bontrager investing heavily in slip-plane technology to reduce the effects of rotational impacts, Abus has suck to standard expanded polystyrene. While the benefits of the former can be…

Cycling stylists Rapha have outfitted the pros, including those of Team Sky, Canyon-Sram, and more recently EF Education First. Now the purple and brown outfits of Hertfordshire’s Boggy Bottom Wheelers can get the same treatment. In fact, so will the look of any number of amateur clubs if they choose to take on the London-based brand as kit supplier. Already trialled under-the-radar by a select number of trendy teams, Rapha’s newly released online kit designer allows its jerseys, bib shorts, gilets, warmers, and base layers to be fully customised. With a minimum order quantity of just five items, depending on options and numbers involved, the kit can even work out cheaper than the brand’s standard off-the-peg retail price. Doing away with the need to keep a graphic designer on your…

Further slickening the latest e-road bikes, Shimano now provides a way to control their propulsion system via the brand’s Di2 shifters. Coming in the form of a firmware update, this allows a road-style cockpit to be married to Shimano’s STEPS e-bike drive unit. Allowing riders to shift between assistance modes without taking their hands from the bars, this should increase control while cutting the number of parts bolted to the handlebars. Of particular use to gravel riders, it’ll allow them to adjust the level of assistance, even when rolling over bumpy sections. Working with existing Ultegra Di2 levers, it’s a set-up likely to be appearing ever more frequently in the coming year. For anyone happy to use just a single chainring, it’s already possible to mix and match Shimano’s road…