thewashingmachinepost




..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

i don't want to peak too soon

casquette

at the risk of repeating myself (yes, i know) may i remind you that jez, david harmon and i were oft discussing the seeming revitalisation of wearing of the casquette, if not in the professional peloton, at least in the completely amateur and totally out of their depth peloton. now this could be that those of us whithout a hope of even beginning to resemble the honed athletes on sponsored carbon fibre, are subsconsciously attempting to emulate same. could be that by wearing a casquette under the helmet, we broach the actual on-the-bike equivalent of wearing the c-record t-shirt that featured only a few days ago. it shows that we 'understand'; that we are 'in the know'

this even extends to placing a casquette on the head while watching the early season classics on cycling.tv - the get out clause here is that the nearest and dearest, by now, have pretty much given up on pointing out just how ridiculous we look, hunched in front of a laptop on an april afternoon. however, given that this sort of thing goes on in the privacy of our own homes, and, if truth be told, also at the outdoor tables on debbie's patio, it introduces yet another indefinable that could give serious cause for concern.

assuming that the wearing of such headgear is acceptable in the company you keep, and enough confidence is displayed by the wearer in a degree of cycling ability that allows it to be carried off with aplomb, do you wear the casquette with the peak up, or with the peak down? while i can appreciate that several of you are sniggering at the back, this is a serious question. having plucked up the courage to choose one from the range of caps available from rapha or prendas (or taken the economy route from the latter, and bought four at reduced price), heaven forbid that this should be completely undermined by parading with the peak in the wrong position.

on certain occasions, the answer has been provided for you; some have the logo on one-side only, and since a helmet covers the majority of the casquette, it ill behoves the wearer to obscure the only outer sign of coolness. but if, horror of horrors, the cap arrives with logo or name on both sides...

of course, some well meaning acquaintance will doubtless ask whether it really matters at all. we can but feel sorry for people like that - they're obviously past saving.

posted on friday 25th july

top of page.

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

strange photograph no.131

factor 001 - sneak preview

take a quick glance at the photograph accompanying this article, and have a shot at figuring out what the heck it is. yes, it's something made out of carbon fibre, and it's definitely something that the uci would not look favourably on if it were currently being used in the tour de france. in fact, had anyone attempted to ride it in the latter, they would not have made it past the start line.

fortunately the bicycle of which this is a part (darn it, now i've given the game away) is closer to a formula one racing car than it is to erik zabel's colnago eps, and there was/is never any intention of entering it for races of any description. because, believe it or not, this a sneak preview of the wheel, caliper and carbon disc of what is expected to be the most technologically advanced bicycle ever unleashed upon the world; the factor 001.if your memory is better than mine (not difficult), you may well remember the launch of the 001 last december, when the described objective of manufacturer beru f1 systems was declared to be:

'we want to take the very latest technologies from motor sport, from aerospace and from the world's top materials research laboratories and apply them to one of humankind's most elegant and enduring inventions: the bicycle.'

this was never going to be one of those projects that would appear overnight; at present things are ticking along nicely - beru have started to create some of the bespoke tooling required to build the 001. validation of the integrated electronics and display unit currently absorbs a large portion of project time and tooling for the prototype wheels has only just been completed as you read. since part of the plan was to create the lightest, yet strongest wheels available, beru have quite possibly outdone their own projections by having made the wheels laterally stiffer than was originally intended.

in keeping with current formula one practice, the build area will allow customers to see their bike assembled in something similar to those bright, shiny and almost medically clean environments as seen at mclaren and williams. since most of the factor 001 will be built in-house, the the carbon composites area currently awaits delivery of an autoclave to cook the carbon and possibly high spec cheese and pickle sandwiches (only kidding about that last bit:-). and just to illustrate the attention to detail being lavished on this bicycle, ultra-thin graphics placed under the clearcoat have been selected to offer a smooth, durable and aesthetic surface. these are akin to the sponsors' logos that decorate the airfoils on f1 race cars.

factor 001

with integrated biometric electronics, all the information stored on the bicycle will be downloadable to a nearby computer at the end of each training ride; the factor 001 will effectively put together the best in formula one race technology, cycle technology and data measuring and merge it all in one, probably quite incredible, carbon package. of course, much like lots of stuff that heads in our direction these days, it'll scare the heck out of your bank manager: starting price is expected to be around the £10,000 ($20,000) mark. if providence smiles nicely on those affiliated with washing machines, i may just get hold of one for a road test when the autoclave is finished with it.

very many thanks to nick bailey for the photos and assistance with this article.

factor001.com

posted on thursday 24th july

top of page.

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

does my bum look big on this?

rabobank clx

some of you will remember the days when our cycling heroes were occasionally partial to having frames made by builders other than those who were ostensibly responsible for sponsoring the team for which they rode. even in richard moore's in search of robert millar it's detailed that french riders at acbb were allowed to ride their own frames, which would be sprayed in peugeot colours, and early lance was on a litespeed blade made to look like a trek (no mean feat in itself). everybody knew it was happening, but disbelief was (happily?) suspended in the quest for yellow.

but in those good old days, the cream of cycle frames were generally constructed from some sort of metal; steel, titanium or aluminium (beryllium never quite made it to the peloton) and it was quite easy to custom build a frame to fit whichever rider was to be favoured on the day. and as custom builders never tire of telling us, you cannot beat a made to measure frame built by a craftsman/craftsmen. and they are quite probably correct.

and to a greater or lesser degree, such customisation was able to continue into the carbon age, since early models were constructed from carbon tubes and, initially, aluminium lugs then subsequently lugs of carbon. colnago still makes his top end frames using this method, something that allows for differing sizes and even varying lengths of tubing. during his first year with csc, andrea tafi had his mapei colnago c40 painted up as a cervelo. while the latter developed their own carbon frame.

but, in the words of the song (don't ask me which one) 'life is so different now'; many of the world's carbon frames are constructed using the monocoque process. this involves laying up the carbon to produce two halves of the main triangle, which are joined after 'cooking' and receive the stays and fork to make a complete frame. however, molds for this process are somewhat on the expensive side, so the fewer each manudacturer can get away with, the more economic for everyone.

of course, you can see the downisde of this; it means that no longer is it practical to build specific sizes for individual riders, and there are few, if any, smaller manufacturers of carbon frames that are able to supply substitute frames for those who, in yesteryear, would have been able to demand/request same. this pretty much explains why there has been a veritable plethora of odd sized stems appearing in the professional peloton. if necessity demands that a rider use a smaller frame than usual because the next size up would be too large, often the only way to have the cockpit fit, is to fit something like a 140mm stem, something that old-skool thinking would have pointed out was just plain wrong.

companies such as colnago and museeuw still have the ability to supply a large(ish) range of standard frames (the new eps is available in a total of fourteen distinct sizes) and even substitute varying tube lengths as a custom build. giant offer only four sizes of their tcr advanced, and trek produce a mere six sizes for the madone 6.9 pro.

but that's progress.

posted on wednesday 23rd july

top of page.

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

and after summer comes...

dhb wool jerseys

the temperature during today's stage of the tour was apparently around 30 degrees, under which conditions the peloton had to climb (and subsequently descend) the highest paved road in france on the col de bonnette. the very kind of day when they probably hoped there would be those cheering at the side of the road throwing vast quantities of water in their direction. i can never quite decide whether this is a welcome distraction or not, though in 30 degree microwaving...

with the olympics looming in under four weeks time, the temperature in beijing is also purported to be in a similar range to that experienced in the alps, but compounded by a 95 percent humidity which, i am reliably informed, makes sweating a bit of a problem. to this end, those responsible for the well-being of the british sportspeople heading for china, have constructed a cupboard filled with fitness equipment to allow for training in conditions similar to those expected near the great wall.

but of course, this is july and august we're talking about, and july and august in countries which are not the united kingdom. i was asked today by scottish television to send a photo of the weather conditions on islay to use in a feature on the 5:30pm news, about the wildly differing climate across scotland today. i need hardly mention that, despite this being just past mid-july, the cloud was so low, the camera and its operator were unable to see to the far side of the loch midst the drizzle (warm drizzle, mind).

it's a fact of living in the uk that the further north-west you go, the more likely you are to find rain, wind and less than scorching temperatures, not always in summer, but certainly as we head into autumn (fall, for those of you across the pond - i'm sure those in porltand and seattle know of which i speak). so when those conditions are experienced, you simply don't wander about in c-record t-shirts and brave it out - something cosier with long sleeves should be stowed in the wardrobe for just such a season (or three). and this cosyness really needs to speak of the unspoken obsession.

there are, of course, a seeming plethora of merino wool jerseys pertaining to the beautiful sport, but if her indoors is of similar mind to mrs washingmachinepost, a glowering look will greet the arrival of any merino package for one very good reason: merino usually means handwashing and flat drying. but assistance is at hand for those such as the mrs in the shape and form of four wool/acrylic jerseys as seen above; two molteni, one solo superia and the coffee flavoured faema. hand-made in belgium, these are offered under the dhb label from burgeoning all things cycling website, wiggle.co.uk for a very reasonable £71.99 ($144).

does this mean we can look forward to autumn?

wiggle.co.uk

posted on tuesday 22nd july

top of page.

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

sticking to clinchers

tubular glue

there has been discussion, however limited, on eurosport's coverage of the tour de france regarding the team riders' tyre choice. not so much over whether they're on vittorias or michelins, but about tyre options in the way that formula one drivers have choice of wets, drys and everything in between. perhaps a null discussion because formula one cars just go round and round with a pit stop available whenever it suits, while climbing through the pyrenees doesn't quite offer the same possibilities.

however, the real discussion is why, in this day and age of rather superbly crafted clinchers, so many pros still ride on tubs. it's a question that has been asked by more folks than i, since an answer of sorts has surfaced on velonews.com, and by someone well qualified to do so, carsten zahn of schwalbe usa. according to schwalbe's test equipment which is likely as state of the art as it's possible to get, there is so little difference between the rolling resistance of the very best clinchers and similar quality tubulars. however, there are some professional excuses that do make at least a bit of sense. well...maybe.

first off, have a thumb through any of the wheel catalogues (they're in that cupboard somewhere) and check the comparative weights of clincher rims versus sprint. if we take the mavic carbone clinchers and compare with the same wheel with a sprint rim of same, we find that the clinchers weigh in at 1595g per pair, while the tubular wheels (carbone sl 09) are a recorded 1740g. only doesn't that make the tubular version heavier? (in fairness, the all fibre, carbone ultimate only weighs 1185g) if we check lightweight standards, the tubular version is marketed at anything from 1060g per pair up to 1090g, depending on spoke count. the new clincher version of same is listed at 1080/1095g. hardly a screaming difference, though doubtless the rotating weight argument will be scientifically levelled as a suitable reason.

so according to official weights offered by two manufacturers, this may appear to be an invalid argument - we're somewhat struggling on the tubular side of the proposition here.

so the two indefinables in favour of tubs may be the safety aspect, whereby punctured tubs tend not to roll off the rim. i'm sure we've all, at some time or other, been on the squirmy side of trying to ride on a flat tyre. except caisse depargne's arnaud coyot managed to roll the tub off his front rim in today's stage, probably because of heat build up due to continued braking on a descent - i don't think the tub had punctured. so that almost leaves us with the final reason: souplesse, where riders claim that there is more 'life' inside the tyre, improving rolling and cornering properties. unfortunately these are somewhat subjective qualities, though mr zahn was willing to concede that real handmade tubs are definitely 'more flexible and adaptive', despite being unable to measure the difference on schwalbe's test equipment.

i have fairly limited experience of riding tubs, my most recent experience being day one of the london-paris, when i rode a pair of wheelsbike carbons running a pair of tufo tubulars. in this case i'm happy to concur; the tubs rode beautifully and almost certainly kept me out of trouble when i struggled with standard pads on carbon rims. however, similarly to carsten zahn's conclusions, tubs are just dinky doo if you have a mechanic to glue the tubs to the rims (take a bow mr freestone king), and a following van/car just waiting to swap out the wheel if a puncture happens along (thank you nigel). i have risked a long walk home when riding on two pairs of carbon sports carbon wheels (at different times, you understand) on tubs but carrying no spares (or, if truth be told, with much idea of how to replace one if i had been).

so, probably as we've all concluded for ourselves, tubs are perhaps a raised ideal for most riders, but now that clinchers have come such a long way, and it's easy enough to carry a spare inner tube, tyre lever and a pump, we should probably let the pros have first choice and we'll stick to clinchers.

but that hasn't stopped me keeping a pair of vittoria tubulars stretched over a pair of milremo sprint rims, just in case valverde ever punctures while on holiday on islay.

posted on tuesday 22nd july

top of page.

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

gage & desoto c-record t-shirt

c-record t-shirt

i doubt that there is any one of you reading this website who isn't regarded as, well, maybe not weird, but certainly just a little bit different. for starters, you're reading a site that has as its domain, thewashingmachinepost, yet it has nothing at all to do with the machines that clean our clothes. and if that's not just well off-centre, then you probably live in a community of cyclists. of course, there are times when we can all be considered members of the public and we become civilians, just like everyone else, but however egalitarian you might feel, it's nice to be elitist now and again.

in summer months the giveaway is often the cyclists' tan which can be as simple as brown oval patches on the back of the hands, all the way to a shade of brown that stops just north of the knee. but how can this be done subtly so that outward appearance is no different from anyone else, but anyone in the know will just know? in keeping with the post's policy of camapgnolo spoken here it gives great pleasure to feature this rather stylish, and suitably obscure gage & desoto cotton t -shirt featuring not only the legend 'c-record' but printing it in helvetica (now we're into a whole different headspace).

helvetica heroes t-shirt

if all this matters to you - and surprisingly there are some cyclists who just don't get it (apart from the ones who ride shimano) - the t-shirt is available in small, medium and large from urbanhunter, eager suppliers of the tartan cycling cap featured not so very long ago. cost is a miniscule £18.95 ($38). and while the last personality on one of their other t-shirts (also printed using helvetica - a typographical education in itself) might just give the game away, you could enjoy the same discretionary isolation from the masses, by acquiring a cycling heroes shirt from the same source for only one more pound. these, colourfully enough, can be had in black, blue or green with white lettering.

come the revolution, we'll all be wearing helvetica t-shirts and tartan caps.

urbanhunter.biz

gagedesoto.com

posted on monday 21st july

top of page.

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

lake cx400 road shoes

lake cx400 road shoes

if i remember correctly, lake shoes used to make the original shimano spd shoes (and maybe they still do for all i know), but came in a little under the shimano budget. i owned a pair of their mountain bike shoes in the early nineties (everyone has a past) which eventually died due to severe mud-caking and not nearly enough tender loving care. but here we are over a decade further forward, and lake can no longer be thought of as the budget option.

uk distributors moore large sent me a pair of the top of the range, custom fit carbon shoes, the lake cx400. these are available in pearl white (as tested), silver or black, and according to lake, weigh in at around 235 grams. thewashingmachinepost kitchen scales are not the ultimate in weight technology, but they did more or less agree with this number; they're certainly not heavy.

the clever bit, and certainly the most bizarre bit, is the method used to attain the custom fit. no doubt there are many of you out there with either a pair of lakes, or other brand cycling shoes that allow the same function, but it certainly seems really weird to put into action.

the trick is in the thermo setting resin employed in the carbon sole, specifically in the heel section of each shoe. this type of resin retains its shape when cool, but heat it up, and the carbon becomes moderately pliable. in this case, you place one lake shoe at a time into a pre-heated oven, remove (using an oven glove - now tell me it's not bizarre) and put your foot in straight away. tighten the shoe to a comfortable degree, then manipulate the heal and instep section with fingers, or a dishtowel to prevent fingers burning.

lake cx400 road shoes

aside from making your feet nice and toasty, leaving them in there for about fifteen minutes sets the resin to provide a custom fit. and you can re-do this as often as you like. the shoes are supposed to have a heat sensitive sticker applied near the heel, but the moore large shipment arrived without these. however, provided you follow the instruction manual to the letter, no ill will befall these beautiful shoes, or indeed your necessary feet.

lake have eschewed laces or velcro closures, substituting their own boa closure system. this works by using a round, ratcheted dial on each shoe which winds in a synthetic thread over the shoe's tongue which is itself attached at one side only. turning the dial in the opposite direction immediately releases the tension completely, allowing the foot to be removed from the shoe. it's a truly excellent system, being far more efficient and adjustable than velcro, and nobody uses laces any more these days anyway (do they?).

the inner fabric employed in the cx400 is designated smartfabric technology (isn't everything?) supposedly developed for nasa and known as outlast. this apparently stores excess heat from your feet and releases it back when it's needed. now i, just like most of you, am extremely cynical of such claims, so i didn't fall for this one. that is, until today's sunday ride; turning from a tailwind into a disturbingly cold headwind (it's supposed to be july for heaven's sake), i suddenly realised that my feet were rather cosy while the rest of me was wondering whether to stop and put on the gilet in my back pocket. and so they remained for the rest of the ride - never too hot, never too cold. smart fabric.

the uppers are of hand-crafted kangaroo leather; very soft, very supple and particularly fine looking in the pearl white. made me look like a pro, or at least made my feet look professional. and i really must say that these are singularly the most comfortable pair of shoes i have ever had the pleasure of having cleated into my pedals. after the moulding process had been undertaken (though you do feel a bit of a pratt sitting in the kitchen watching a cycle shoe in the oven) the fit was nigh on perfect with excellent support round the heel and instep. while the shoes' lining cossetted my tootsies in the most luxurious manner possible, lake cx400 road shoes the carbon soles provide incredible stiffness that can only but aid pedalling, and the 140km covered over this weekend were a delight from below the ankles.

of course, footwear such as this hardly comes at budget prices: while i did manage to find these at a variety of discounted pennies, the recommended retail is £279 (lake's online store in the usa lists them at $499), but in my opinion, even if it means selling that unused frame or set of wheels lying out in the garage, you should do everything in your power to garner the wherewithal to purchase a pair cx400s.even if it's only to sit in the kitchen and watch a cycling shoe heat up in the oven.

moorelarge.co.uk

lakecycling.com

posted on sunday 20th july

top of page.

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

the round bits that every bike needs

mavic r2r technology

yes, we're talking about wheels yet again, such an important part of everyday cycling no matter what your preference, that i have no qualms about devoting more pixels to them. add to that, i'm a wheelaholic, so a bit of obsession goes a long way. notwithstanding certain luddite tendencies when it comes to bicycle design, or perhaps more accurately, bicycle marketing, i'm still a sucker for technology - i'm very happy with the chris king wheels currently adorning the company colnago, but the mavic r-sys that filled the dropouts previously were rather intriguing in their intent.

and it's to mavic that we return for this continued wheel interest. new for 2009 is a clincher version of the cosmic carbone which, unlike carbonsports lightweight clincher, has an alloy rim; perhaps a welcome notion, bearing in mind the somewhat dubious braking qualities of pure carbon. and possibly even the durability of same. the spokes on these wheels are, similar to lightweight wheels, carbon fibre, and while the construction method could well have remained the same since last year's introduction of the carbone tubular version, mavic seem keener to promote what they have dubbed r2r spoke technology.

just as a minor digression, mavic seem to have a tidy knack of producing some really neat logos for each piece of technology incorporated in their wheels and rims: ftsl, ism, maxtal, qrm+, sup, ub control - and that's just the carbone clinchers.

the r2r technology is shorthand for rim to rim, by which mavic are pointing out that the carbon spokes bond into the rim at one side and carry on through the hub flange to the rim at the other side. of course, you can't really see this anywhere other than the mavic catalogue, because the spokes are the filling in a carbon flange sandwich. and right on cue, mavic then point out that this presents a flat flange to the airflow. perfectly true of course; what mavic didn't point out was that the hub flange is the slowest moving part of a wheel and flat or otherwise, it's unlikely to make a lot of difference to anything in particular.

the sort of clever bit about this relates to the now old fashioned four-cross build beloved of tandems and touring bikes. the advantage of four cross built, steel spoked wheels, is that the two opposing spokes leave the hub in almost a straight line; every other spoking pattern describes a flattish pyramid (best description i can come up with), and therefore builds a less strong wheel. with the endless development of hubs and rims, three cross and below can now provide enough strength for most contemporary uses, but as folks like mavic continually reduce the spoke count in their factory builds, the closer they can imitate the characteristics of a four cross traditional build, the better for all concerned.

so in the quest to find out just how good this r2r technology really is, i am ever hopeful of 'borrowing' a pair of these from mavic in the future.

fearless in the face of technology.

since this article was originally posted, mavic contacted to point out that the r2r carbon spokes can be replaced for repair or tuning, somewhat of a unique feature on a carbon aero wheel.

mavic.com

posted on saturday 19th july updated thursday 24th july

top of page.

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

let's suppose...

once ridden

yes, here we now enter the realm of the hypothetical, or at least the hypothetical as it applies to me. colnago have, via erik zabel, announced the imminent arrival of the eps which, despite it having a semi-integrated headset is rather a spiffing looking machine, particularly in its retro colour scheme. and while i cannot claim to be in possession of a pair of legs that could justify owning this particular colnago, it hasn't stopped me constantly checking the balance in my bank account for the not inconsiderable amount of £2900 for frame, forks and headset.

so, much as it would cause me great grief to dispense with the services of the faithful c40, that is likely the only way such a future purchase could be financed (unless milram are looking for an ageing climber). if you remember, i live on an island of slightly more than 3000 people, and the only other real cyclists on the island are the guys i go cycling with in the ardbeg peloton - and they're probably not in the market for a used colnago.

kneejerk reaction would be to place the frame on e-bay (we're still talking hypothetically here), or perhaps even send some text and a colour pic to the comic, then sit back and see how much more i'd have to find, in order to get myself an eps. however, had i been paying anything like the attention i should have been at last year's earls court cycle show, i would have been aware of the launch of onceridden.com. as perhaps the name suggests, this is a website dedicated to those of us who would like to sell our newish or very well cared for bicycles to people who are anxious to avail themselves of same. and the best part about it is that it's free.

in my brief moments of pain and suffering in group three on the london-paris stage to dover, i cycled alongside the instigator of aforesaid website, nick taylor (photo above) who was riding a rather tasty de rosa. so i can say without fear of contradiction, that onceridden.com is operated by someone who's as obsessed with bicycles as we are. you can advertise, and hopefully find, pretty much any kind of bike or frame that you desire; categories include road bikes, mountain bikes, singlespeed, cyclocross etc., etc. nick's rules for selling should hopefully ensure that the machines advertised are legit sales, and he will endeavour to have any submitted advert on the site within twelve hours, and to keep it there for for six weeks (unless, of course, you sell it first)

once ridden

sadly, even by selling the c40 i'd probably struggle to purchase a colnago eps, especially if mrs washingmachinepost ever gets wind of the idea, but should it ever come to pass...onceridden.com

posted on friday 18th july

top of page.

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

nokia's sportstracker software part two

nokia sportstracker

the one thing that nokia could do to improve the user friendliness of this setup is to re-orient the mounting bracket and turn of the po... the two things that nokia could do to improve the user friendliness of this setup is to re-orient the mounting bracket, turn off the power save and enlarge the bu... the three things that nokia - i'll come in again (with apologies to monty python and the spanish inquisition).

i've had a further couple of weeks with the nokia n82 and its free sportstracker software, and some of my initial misgivings have been solved at least partially. i'm well aware that most of my problems were exactly that - my problems. as i mentioned in the initial review, i am very much a mobile phone agnostic; now that the test is over, the phone will be snuggly packed into its box and returned to whence it came. even spending four weeks with a fully fledged mobile phone, that both my kids though was particularly cool, did not persuade me of the benefits, and i won't be holding back the tears as i hand it to the postmistress on monday.

previously, having paused the sportstracker at a brief stop, i was unable to restart it. this was due to the continue message being hidden under the rubber strap that holds the phone onto the bracket. now that i know that, the problem is solved - well, maybe. having done the same thing last week, when i pressed the screen-printed button to do exactly what it says on the screen, the phone popped me into nokia maps, and even with the screen font set to large, i still couldn't read things well enough to get myself out of this while cycling. yes, i could have stopped and sorted the problem, but i'm more interested in how the heck i was able to select maps in the first place.

and therein, methinks, lies the fundamental problem; a mobile phone is just not designed to be used for this purpose. the sportstracker software is actually very good. the gps system works very well, without any glitches that i could find, spinning out my speed, average speed, altitude and any other panoply of accurate numbers, all displayed in a generously sized and clear screen font. unfortunately, the display would kick into power save after about a minute, and i am reliably informed that it is not possible to disable this feature. realistically, us cycling people would like to have continuous access to the numbers; whenever i look down at my stem/bars, i want to see numbers, not a black screen with the time moving randomly about. because even allowing for the fact that the trackpad is easily the largest button on the front of the phone, it's still not the easiest target to hit when bumping along one of argyll and bute's finest examples of the pothole variant. allow the user to stop the phone going into this mode, and nokia would be heading in the right direction.

and talking of direction, re-orienting the handlebar mount would not only be a nice feature, i'm willing to go on record as stating it to be an absolute necessity. the company colnago currently features a set of fsa k- force carbon bars which, like many a pair of similar nowadays do not have a perfectly round profile across their entire length, particularly as the carbon heads towards the stem. so mounting the phone vertically means that no matter how tightly you pull the zip ties, hitting a bumpy patch (and i think everywhere has more than its fair share of those) tips the phone forward - as does attempting to press a button or two. fortunately the rubber strap holds the phone exceptionally well, so there's no need to fear for broken nokia bits in the tyre tread.

by either changing, or allowing the changing of, the bracket to fit the phone on the stem portrait-wise rather than landscape, would prevent any possibility of the phone moving, and would support it well when it comes time to press those buttons. take a leaf out of garmin's book.having recorded my workouts, such as they were, the next step would be to upload to the sportstracker website, where the route(s) can be overlaid on a google map, and there would be hours of fun studying the day's outing on a bigger screen. only, it seems that i require a 3g connection to do so from the phone, and islay has no 3g coverage whatsoever. nokia have obviously taken this hiccup into account, since each workout can be exported in up to three different formats and bluetoothed (what a terrible word) to the mac for upload over a broadband connection. however, having created the necessary free account on the sportstracker website, i could find nowhere at all that would allow me to upload the file to the web, even though i had been assured i wasn't attempting the impossible. so, sad to say, i never managed to see any of my workouts in glorious living colour on the big screen.

the nokia n82 costs, as far as i can find out, around £300, though it's possible to acquire one free with a monthly contract through one of the mobile phone vendors. realistically, i doubt anyone would buy one of these purely for the sportstracker facility - if you already have this, or one of nokia's other gps phones, sportstracker is a welcome free addition, and the software is easily up to the tasks demanded of it. unfortunately a mobile phone is not the ideal platform on which to use it, at least not on a bicycle. it's hard to criticise something that is free, but that's sort of what they've asked me to do.

nice software, shame about the phone.

sportstracker

posted on thursday 17 july

top of page.

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................