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TECH NEWS
Team Sky Spray JacketTech Roundup: Rapha, Wiggo, Lightweight, Tokyo Fixed, SIS and more
Rapha Team Sky Spray Jacket
Want to show your support for Team Sky even when you’re off the bike? Rapha offer you the Team Sky Spray Jacket (above) – yours for 75 quid.
It’s water-resistant (rather than waterproof), windproof and comes with a hood, so it’s not the best choice if you’re actually riding. It packs down into its own zip-up rear pocket.
Rapha have extended their Team Sky clothing line-up well beyond any manufacturer/team tie-in that we’ve ever known in the past. As well as all the riding kit that you’d expect, the Supporter’s range includes a Team Sky long sleeve shirt – a proper tailored shirt with a collar, cuffs and everything – Team Sky jeans and even a Team Sky belt which, we must admit, looks pretty cool.
Wiggo ditches O.Symetric chainrings
Bradley Wiggins has apparently ditched the O.Symetric chainrings and gone back to round ones. The idea behind the O.Symetric design is that they increase power output, efficiency and speed, but they weren’t on Wiggo’s bike (above) when we photographed it at the Giro.
Here they are on Wiggo's Tour de France winning bike from last year.
Wiggins told the BBC, “I’ve come off those silly rings now.”
Tokyo Fixed is moving and changing name
Bespoke road and track bike shop Tokyo Fixed is moving from Peter Street in Soho, London to Golden Square, also in Soho. The new shop will be called Kinoko Custom Cycles.
They’re also extending their offering. As well as featuring boutique brands like Tonic Fabrications, Donhou, Cherubim, Independent Fabrications and their own Tokyo Fixed brand, they’ll also be stocking bikes from Trek, Focus and Cannondale.
The Peter Street shop will close this Saturday (11 May) with Kinoko Custom Cycles opening next week.
The website will change with the exsiting URL redirecting you. Check it out because they say they’re discounting a significant amount of stock.
Route T-shirts
Here we have a couple of new bike-related T-shirts from Glasgow-based Route. Route was founded last year by David McNeil.
“We strive to create expertly styled garments that look and feel great, whether you’re on or off your bike,” says David. “We believe in quality and making products that last. All our garments are printed a short bike ride from our studio, adhere to Fair Wear Foundation standards, and use Turkish, Indian and Egyptian cotton.”
First up, we have the Crash T-shirt. It’s 100% combed cotton, comes in three different sizes, and it’s a slim fit. It’s available in indigo as well black, priced at £26.
Second, we have the Wheel T-shirt. This one is a 70% bamboo fabric with the remainder organic cotton. It’s designed to be odour-resistant so you can wear it for several days without washing. It’s a fairly slim fit too. Ours is in eggplant colour although you can go for black if you prefer. These are £30 each.
Go to www.routeclothing.com for more info.
SOS rehydration drink
A new rehydration drink called SOS has been launched that the manufacturer claims to be comparable to an IV drip in the treatment of mild to moderate dehydration.
“SOS is formulated to provide the right balance of electrolytes and sugars for optimum hydration, and is the only product that utilizes the World Health Organization's oral rehydration solution standards,” according to its makers.
SOS is a blend of sugar, sodium, potassium, citrate and magnesium and the comparison to an IV drip is based on the manner and speed at which it replenishes water and electrolytes.
SOS is designed for use before, during and after exercise to aid rehydration and recovery. It comes in single serving packets that create a mild lemon drink. At the moment you need to buy direct from the manufacturer at www.sosrehydrate.com – $8.75 for a package of five – but it should soon be available in UK outlets, so keep 'em peeled.
ICEdot launch Crash Sensor
We first told you about the ICEdot Crash Sensor a few months ago; now the first production run is being made, to be marketed this year.
In brief, the ICEdot Crash Sensor is a slim device that is able to detect motion, changes in forces, and impacts. It attaches to a helmet (bike, ski, motorsports, or whatever) and is paired up via Bluetooth to an ICEdot app on a smartphone.
The idea is that if you crash it triggers an emergency countdown. If you don’t stop it, the system will notify your emergency contacts and send GPS coordinates of where you are.
The first products will ship in the first week of July. The sensor will retail at $149, including the annual service fee for the first year. After that, it's $10 per year. They plan to launch the product in the UK this summer.
For more info go to the ICEdot website.
Bicycle Academy balance bike course
If you fancy turning your hand to a bit of bike building, the Bicycle Academy is offering you the opportunity to make a kids’ balance bike on a two day course from July.
The lightweight steel design has been developed by the Bicycle Academy and it’s suitable for children aged two and above. They reckon it’s strong enough for an adult too – and you’ll obviously want to test it out.
Enrol on the course and you’ll get to do all the brazing yourself with appropriate instruction. You’ll get to choose the colour and components and customise the stickers too.
The course costs £400 plus the cost of the components (from about £30 to £100). For more details check out the website.
New bottle cage from Lightweight
Lightweight, the German wheels people, have launched a new carbon bottle cage called the Edelhelfer. According to our sources – okay, the internet – Edelhelfer is the German for ‘super-domestique’, a reliable team-mate who’ll put the team leader into the best position possible.
Anyway, Lightweight say that the Edelhelfer weighs just 18g and it mounts with two alloy bolts. The cost? €65. It was never going to be cheap, was it? Visit Lightweight here.
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
Latest Comments
- hawkinspeter 3 hours 13 min ago
Interesting theory - how many points does it take for them to drive carefully?
- eburtthebike 3 hours 36 min ago
At the end of the consultation in May 2025, a decision will be taken.........
- Grahamd 4 hours 39 sec ago
The absurdity of it deepens when you realise that those points were acquired by the age of 26.
- David9694 5 hours 35 min ago
BAM!
- IanGlasgow 6 hours 10 min ago
"Polartec Power Shield RPM fabric – which has a 10,000mm hydro head to keep wet weather out, and an industry-leading breathability spec of 30,000g...
- mdavidford 7 hours 14 min ago
Oxfordshire councils are quite capable of letting you down too!...
- levestane 7 hours 28 min ago
'each spoke' (single) and 'leaf spring' (made of many leaves) seems contradictory.
- PenLaw 8 hours 20 min ago
I guess Morrissey could claim it.
- wtjs 8 hours 46 min ago
I do see a lot of delivery riders (on illegal e-motorbikes) with their faces covered...
- David9694 9 hours 26 min ago
Stuff like this seems more relevant than ever after the Trump victory. sorry not a funny
Add new comment
29 comments
Why don't these pseudo pro's do cycling clubs a favour, join a club and wear their club colours with pride.
Couldn't agree more! It really needs to be a prerequisite of getting a 4th cat licence that you're a member of a club.
I don't have a problem with people wearing replica football kits, and I don't have a problem with people wearing replica cycling kits either. I can't understand why it's a big deal. Were I to wear one (I don't) I wouldn't be attempting to fool myself into thinking I was a pro. I'd just be wearing the top of a team I like. I can't really see the harm in that. Rather that than someone stayed at home on the sofa.
At least, by and large, the people buying replica Sky kit *are* actually cycling in it. Most people wearing a football shirt aren't playing football.
National jerseys, tour leader jerseys, world champ stripes... that's another matter entirely
Yes but the Rapha spray jacket isn't cycling kit, "replica" or otherwise. On their website it is advertised as "for spectators","on the roadside". For such a product isn't 75 quid a bit steep?
The wearing of team/national tops can be disconcerting - we went into the cafe at the Ronde van Vlaanderen museum last year and were faced by about a dozen Tom Boonens. The shop must have sold out of Belgian national champion jerseys!
My replica Flandria jersey is exempt from this criticism though.
I agree. There's definitely cache in the more exotic team/national tops. In 20-30 years I'm sure all the tour winning Sky jerseys that are still around will be seen as a classic. But until then I will probably be spending my weekends overtaking slower versions of Froomy, Wiggo,
Rigoberto, Knees et al.
Opps, phone messed up. Agree Mercury One. Add Marmite, Heinz and A-Z tops to that
list.
@Colin Peyresourde, I passed a bloke who was wearing the Cavendish one from last year the other day, man he was slow...No national champ there.
Did anyone read last weeks Cycling Weakly Rumour Milt which talked about some pro rider complaining that the team kit provider gave him a dozen merino underpants (or something), but did not provide them with them waterproof overshoes in a pro peloton team. I'm assuming this is the Sky team talking about Rapha. But if anyone knows better let me know.
I think the kit looks good. But because its Sky I can only see myself despising it after every Tom, Dick and Harry buys it. They already turn up at Sportives in their droves, so much so they could form a entire pro-peloton out of them....though it tends to highlight that you are a slow, novice rider.
I'm sure they'll sell out of the XXXL sizes as a result.
They already turn up at Sportives in their droves, so much so they could form a entire pro-peloton out of them....though it tends to highlight that you are a slow, novice rider.
I'm sure they'll sell out of the XXXL sizes as a result.[/quote
I much happier to see new cyclists in Sky kit than those bloody awful jerseys with ribs, heart and lungs on that were all the rage a few years back.
Agree Mercury One. That and the standing stock of Evans' Cycles baked beans, marmite and A-Z tops. I feel sorry for the hapless punter off the street when faced with this choice. I can understand why the Sky top is alluring. Its just when 20-30 other riders turn up in the same outfit (and its not a club top) it sort of loses its cache.
You know one day I will probably see Bradley Wiggins or Chris Froome and completely blank them because they're in the Sky uniform (although I think I'm more likely to cop that their passing at 30mph, than who they are and what they're wearing).
If you don't like it Colin, why are you turning up to a sportive? Plenty of open roads out there to enjoy free of Rapha riders
I think you misunderstand me and probably deliberately so. I don't have a problem with Rapha (I quite like their kit, as I said). But plonking on the team kit just looks a bit naff. Specifically the Sky kit because it is everywhere.
I ride plenty of open roads too, I just ride Sportives because the missus makes me - it's her training process.
I know these 15 stone Chris Froome's don't pretend to be him, and I know they do it in support, but a bit like the 20 stone football supporter in their team kit, I can't but see the irony in seeing someone so out of shape dressed up like a pro. Hope you're not one of them!
To try and clear up this O ring thing.
He's running the 11 speed system that O rings aren't compatible with at the moment, nothing to do with the branding or anything like that.
I'm sure he'll be back on them soon. Maybe even Saturday
Wiggins last week: “My climbing’s improved a lot. I’ve come off those silly rings now; I’m back on the normal o-rings, and it’s been a really good transition really.”
£75 for a jacket!!??!?!?!
.....oh wait.........that seems quite reasonable.
The Rapha moody boys will hate this. Too cheap. Too obvious.
Im sure they will see this as a cheapening of the brand.
Rapha will just become the Burberry of cycling.
In other news....
is it just me or do those recovery drinks look a bit like a packet of condoms?
Rapha hater here. Nothing against the brand apart from its overpricing of everything, but the product itself.....my god, who in their right mind would walk around in jacket blazened with SKY. Believe me, just like the people who walk around with complimentary conference backpacks, you MAY think you look cool, but you WILL appear to be a bit of a dick to everyone else.
Since Wiggo is still using 7800 arms on his bike, he could just as easily be using 7800 arms with a 5 arm spider (rather than the 4-arm one on there). If he still really wanted the Osymmetric rings, I'm sure the company would be happy to custom machine a set (or a dozen) that works "perfectly" with 9000. If that means using a dremel to remove 0.3 mm of chainring width so they work with the 9000 chain or countersinking the mounting area so the spacing is correct, then they would.
I can't imagine that anything is keeping Wiggo from using Osymmetrics if he really wanted to.
Hold on. A Rapha story on here without the Rapha haters making an appearance! What is going on...
The Rapha jacket looks good, £75 in plain black and properly waterproof would be nicer. Still £120 for some blue mitts I see, nice apart from the (50's Sci-fi voiceover) CRIPPLING PRICES!
"edelhelfer" would literally be "noble helper", presuming the words mean the same thing in German as they do in Dutch (which I'm reasonably sure they do).
Pretty sure that, given it's a cycling product, they've got a cycling meaning in mind.
http://www.dict.cc/german-english/Edelhelfer.html
http://www.dictionary-german-english.com/en/dictionary-german-english/Ed...
I've got Rotor Q-Rings on my 'best bike', can't say I can honestly feel the difference compared to identical gearing with 'round' rings on my other bikes.
You do pay a little bit of a penalty in front shifting quality as well, as at certain points the chain drop distance is significantly bigger. Its shifting difference isn't huge, but definitely noticeable, sometimes requires an extra quarter turn or so to engage the gear.
Nothing against them, but when it comes time to replace them I will probably go back to round rings.
I thought I had heard he wasn't using for that exact reason, Osymetric hadn't done a set for the new dura ace cranks.
I really don't think that's the reason why, the team have happily run non sponsor kit in the past if they decide there's an advantage to be gained.
He's probably just decided there's bugger all difference using non-round rings
And besides, those aren't the 9000 crank arms, though the spider and rings clearly are
For the sake of being a pedant, its an SRM and the arms and spider are DA 9000. I feel like a git just for pointing that out. Ah well, it was going to happen eventually.
More pics here
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/srm-adding-dura-ace-9000-for-2013-...
You're confident those are DA 9000 crank arms on his bike? They're 7800 arms, the same as he rode last year, just with the new 9000 four-arm spider and rings fitted, which SRM is calling their new SRM 9000 system. More info here http://scientific-coaching.com/deposit-for-da9000-srm.html
I wonder if the O.Symetric rings have been updated for Dura Ace 9000? It doesn't look like they have been updated to fit the new DA chainset. Is Wiggin's remark just him being flippant? I thought I saw a set on the new Pinnerello Bolide TT bike that he was testing.
I ride QRings from ROTOR myself and, so far have been impressed. I certainly find that they have made my pedalling harder, if anything easier.