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come the revolution...

with both the tour of england and wales and la vuelta in progress over the past few days, there has been ample opportunity for armchair cycling spectators to watch pretty much wall to wall cycle racing on every day of the week. and such has been the raising of the former's velopresso international profile, helicopter shots displaying (almost) the finest of britain's landscape may well do the same for britain's tourist trade as the tour de france, the giro and la vuelta annually achieve for their respective countries.

however, what those aerial shots also witness, is the potential lack of green-ness inherent in a sport that admittedly, rarely makes claims in that direction. but the bicycle lays claim (quite rightly, in my opinion) to a high level of environmental friendliness; it's emission free, it consumes no fossil fuels in use, reduces traffic congestion and confers a myriad of health benefits on those that choose it as a means of transport. the sporting aspect of the velocipede all but undermines that. i can't speak for the tour of britain, but spain currently pays host to at least two cars for each team, several neutral service cars, commissaire and medical vehicles and a phalanx of team coaches back at the hotels, to say nothing of the peloton of photographers' and tv motorbikes.

you could easily argue that any uci sanctioned race takes away all the good conferred by the average cyclist.

of course, it would be particularly iniquitous to argue against this situation; how else would international cycle racing be brought to an eager television and press audience? and without such coverage, it would be very hard to argue the case to potential sponsors. the racing would hardly be as slick and impressive as it is were we to revert to the days of henri desgrange with no outside support and riders having need of repairing their own punctures and mechanicals. in this instance, it is perhaps better simply to acknowledge that cycle racing has affinities with that which we know as cycling, but in truth inhabits a parallel universe, unaffected by attributes pertaining to the real thing.

meanwhile, in our own universe, the benefits of pedal power continue unabated and not always from the sources you'd first consider. first produced as a graduation project by london's royal college of art design students, amos field reid and lasse oiva, the uniquely original velopresso has now become a viable reality and entered limited production.

there have been entire dissertations written about the connection between cycling and coffee, yet the true inspiration for such remains largely undiscovered. fortunately there is no real need for a doctorate in the subject to enjoy a decent espresso or the much-maligned soya cappuccino, simply enough coinage in that zipped rear pocket to hand over at the till. and one of those little caramel biscuits wouldn't go amiss neither. the velopresso if nothing else, brings that connection several stages closer.

with no tricycle platforms available that suited the velopresso's front wheel drive yet rear steering, combined with a riding position that had need of supporting both cycling and barista stances, reid and oiva designed and built their own. they also designed the conical burr grinder from the ground-up driven as it is by a gates carbon belt drive from that seated position. the espresso machine is a gas-fired, spring-lever device designed specifically in collaboration with fracino. the gas cylinder is easily replaceable as is the water supply.

the cycling part of the equation features powder-coated reynolds 631 plain gauge tubing, topped with a brooks b33 leather delivery saddle. the transmission duties are also undertaken by a gates carbon drive, while stopping is taken care of with a magura hydraulic disc brake on each wheel.

look mum no hands! have successfully operated one of the prototypes for a few months. to quote director matt harper, "We immediately recognised the potential of the Velopresso as a practical mobile coffee solution for all sorts of events, cycling related or otherwise. Not only does it look beautiful, it's well constructed. And its human-powered operation means that you can turn up anywhere and be self-sufficient. Perfect for the sort of events that look mum no hands! is getting in."

perhaps rather obviously, the velopresso has its limitations, pedalling rather than in the coffee sense. the website sees it as being able to cover up to 20km (obviously dependant on the cycling ability of the barista), though they do recommend avoiding bumpy roads and big hills, all but ruling out the pragmatism of operating one on the west of scotland. however, as a versatile, easy to operate means of selling quality espresso at the drop of a handbrake, it seems hard to beat. pricewise, it seems also well in the ballpark of afforability. when you consider just how many components are custom built, a few pounds under £10,000 makes it on a par with the disc version of the colnago c60, and even i'd hesitate to try selling coffee from one of those.

come the revolution...

velopresso

sunday 14 september 2014