..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
april fool
apologies to all those who believed the article below - just my bit of fun. as far as i know, nobody is thinking of increasing the wheel size to 750c, and vittoria do not make a rubino pro 3 - that was just some judicious photoshop work in thewashingmachinepost graphics dept. now there's a whole year to think of another one.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................bigger is bigger
i was always taught that, if you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all - which doesn't always work when it comes to product reviews. fortunately much of which i am sent for the benefit of a word or several hundred on thewashingmachinepost is of a quality where minor niggles are the most that can be expected. however, if i really don't like something i am inclined to make this known, while underlining the fact that it is only my opinion, considered or otherwise.
however, when it comes to aspects of contemporary bicycle design, there are bits of which i am very definitely not in favour; you know of the usual suspects - integrated headsets, differing bearing sizes on same, the disappearance of the square taper bottom bracket, the increasing of the bb shell for the new fangled bb30 - you know the drill. but despite all my rantings against these so-called improvements to aid our cycling pleasure, it is rare that i am given the opportunity to test new developments while they are still at the do we go ahead, or do we pretend it didn't happen prototyping stage. but ironically, that's exactly what has happened. at the beginning of the year, i was contacted by a well known wheel manufacturer to ask if i would be interested in testing the next big thing. and when they said 'big' they weren't joking.
if i have understood the mountains of pdf spec sheets and hyperbole sent in advance of the wheels' arrival, the impetus came from the current transition in off-road wheel design. for reasons best known to someone in the world of mtb, it was decided to increase the diameter of the standard off-road wheel, resulting in the love it or loathe it twenty niner. since i generally don't concern myself with the world of knobbly tyres, i couldn't see what difference a few extra millimetres on the wheel diameter was likely to make when hurtling across ruddy great rocks - but each to their own.
basing their research on figures derived from this increase in wheel diameter in one area of cycle design, this un-named wheel manufacturer ran computer models on a similar degree of increase for skinny wheels. and guess what? increasing the size of our beloved 700c wheel to 750c, apparently made so much sense that it was off to the rim-making machine to try it out. additionally, figures from the kirkpatrick macmillan bicycle research institute near dumfries, scotland, tended to suggest that this increase would decrease the wheel's rolling resistance. now, other than my rather condemning statements about the above mentioned bicycle developments, i can think of no reason whatsoever why thewashingmachinepost should be a chosen testbed, but why look a gift horse in the mouth.
the more astute amongst you will realise that larger wheels are highly unlikely to fit into a standard bicycle frame, so the wheels arrived as part of a package. the carbon frame was supplied naked - there was no indication as to who made it, but i have my suspicions; since the object of the exercise was to test the wheels and not the bicycle (though one does obviously affect the other), that's what i attempted to do. those of you with a cultivated sense of astuteness will, furthermore, realise that nobody makes 750c tyres or tubes. well somebody did, and that somebody very surprisingly was vittoria - the wheels came fitted with a blue pair of vittoria rubino pro 3 tyres (i'm wondering what happened to rubino pro 2?) rather obviously hand-stamped with the logo and 750c labelling (see photo above). while i was allowed to photograph the tyres, bike and wheels, i'd to sign a document stating that i could only publish photos of the tyres - vittoria are obviously less sensitive than the chaps who made the wheels - which makes it very hard to detail the review. and i'm not sure why they even let me tell you all this in the first place.
let's just say that to me at least, this seems like a pretty pointless notion. while the bicycle and wheels have now gone back from whence they came, all spent a very wet seven weeks on islay being walloped up and down those crappy roads i keep telling you about, including the abattoirenberg forest. the rubino pros survived very well; not a puncture throughout the 49 days, and remarkably little wear. in part, this was why the colnago arte review was delayed, because there's only one of me, and i can only pedal one bicycle at a time. i really didn't notice any practical difference between a standard 700c and the new 750c - it helped being able to do a + b tests with the tyres, since the colnago arte coincidentally was running standard rubino pros. the only real difference was the colour: red as opposed to blue.
as if to add insult to injury, the carbon frame was fitted with the new-fangled bb30 setup, so this really was the new with the new. i tried really, really hard to find some remarkable difference between the future and the bog standard, hoping to impress with my superior technical knowledge and my inherent velocipedal intuition. but try as i might, it just looked like somebody made a mistake with the ruler when building the bike. the bb30 is certainly stiff, but this seemed to be slightly negated by the softness of the wheels. it's very difficult for me to give many more details about the wheels' construction without giving too much away, but the fabrication and components - rim, hubs and spokes - are already out there at the moment. incidentally the wheels arrived with a campagnolo compatible freehub - most test wheels appear with the big s splines.
so now i have one more tirade to add to my arsenal. or at least i will have if they ever make it to the real world. apparently one or two professional riders have been running these wheels in the early season's minor races (presumably away from prying lenses), although in photographs i saw, the frames seem to have been concocted as optical illusions - their bikes looked decidely less clumsy than my test machine. hopefully these will never come to pass - the world's wheel builders would be better and i'm sure, happier, concentrating on refining the skinny wheels we already ride. and bike shops and neutral service mechanics will breathe a collective sigh of relief if they don't have to stock yet another size, or figure out which wheel they need for a punctured rider.
but don't say i didn't warn you.
posted on tuesday 1st april
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................braveheart
regular readers of the post won't be strangers to my of favoured rider. you need simply glance to your left and the name appears as a link, or look in the title bar of your browser, and there it is again: robert millar. i have attempted to collect all the stories, articles and even photographs of robert in one place, having struggled manfully with various locations on the web when i started looking quite a number of years ago. and embarassingly enough, i still have more articles to post, whenever i get round to typing them up and putting them in place. this is not the usual marketing speak to encourage you to scoot back as regularly as possible, simply a comment on my rather tardy workload in this respect.
and the success of robert millar does but point the way towards other scottish riders who have punched above their weight. scotland has a population of around five million, with little in the way of cycling facilities (even fewer, now that edinburgh city council have decided to demolish meadowbank) and yet the first world sprint champion for 54 years has just emerged at the weekend in the shape of edinburgh's chris hoy, aided and abetted in track exploits by craig maclean.
but the scottish rider most often in our face these days or, to be more precise, in our ears, has easily done as much, if not more, for scottish cycling as all the above, from both sides of the bike (so to speak). he carved a particularly successful career as a domestique with motorola looking after andy hampsten, rode alongside a young lance armstrong, and was british professional road champion in 1991 and 1994 - once more than robert millar. i am, of course talking about brian smith, one of the finest chaps i have had the pleasure of meeting. and in a sense, you can now meet him too with the launch of his very own website at briansmithcycling.com.
currently part of one of the finest commentary teams in the world, with anthony mccrossan on cycling.tv, brian's ability to be a pundit (his word, not mine) is pretty much second to none, along with the a fine, dry sense of humour. (anthony mccrossan: "tell me brian, have you ever ridden up the col du telegraphe?" brian smith: "no, but i've sent a few messages"). he populated these pixels only a few weeks ago when he and his partner kerry, celebrated the birth of their baby son, ethan james. brian is also the founder of scotland's equivalent of the dave rayner fund - the braveheart fund which does unstinting work and fundraising on behalf of scotland's cycling stars of the future.
pop across to briansmithcycling.com - a timeous reminder of the career of a great scotsman, cyclist, pundit and comedian (i know anthony will agree with me on that latter point).
posted on monday 31st march
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................seeing is believing
it's always nice to mention the sun. not the uk newspaper, but that bright shiny thing that we rarely see in the sky (at least, not round these here parts). but in sharp contrast (pun entirely intended) to much of the past three or four months, and only after a heavy rainshower during breakfast, the sky cleared, the clouds went all fluffy, and we were even able to dine al fresco at debbie's this sunday lunchtime. and the patio furniture needed the exercise.
however, all was not too tidy on the opthalmic front since, based on past history, the rain had suggested the nice yellow coloured lenses in the rudy projects as opposed to the dark and moody. so as we careened down the hill before the rspb centre at gruinart, carefully avoiding the scree (you think i'm making this up, don't you?), were it not for the peak on my casquette, vision would not have been good. yes, the sun was that bright. i wear glasses in order to see where i'm going, so it is incumbent on me as crash tester on the hills, to have the appropriate eyewear that allows me to see where i'm going, while affording an array of interchangeable lenses at my behest back in the clubhouse (ok, i'm made that bit up).
since this necessity to wear prescription lenses while effecting the mario cipollini look applies not only to yours truly, i would very much like to point you in the direction of where such can be had for such value, that you'll kick yourself for not having done this many years ago. as, indeed, did i. yes, rudy project, nike, oakley et al seem happy to advertise their eyewear in the monthlies, even so far as indicating that prescription inserts are supported, but a) trying to find where such can be had (i'll give you a clue - not specsavers) and b) checking that the cost of same won't be approaching that of the carbon frame advertised on the next page of said magazine (though if the bank manager is willing...)
i know i mentioned all this when i bought my rudy projects with prescription inserts about a year ago, but i find that there are still those who continue to experience the above dilemma. rx sport make this sort of thing decidedly easy, and while i apologise if this reads like an advert or press release, i found them rather than vice versa and subsequent service has borne out my enthusiasm for the service. you can choose from a large range of both standard and prescription ready glasses - cheapest on offer cost £99.99 (around $200) including prescription lenses, and the dearest were an eye watering £334.99 (approx $670). yes, they're oakleys.
for those of us optically challenged, all it takes is inputting of your most recent prescription - you can get that at specsavers - in the online page of rx sport website, after choosing your desired style and budget, and you're pretty much home and dry. and if, like me, you cannot make head nor tail of the scrawl on the prescription handed to you by your optician, simply telephone james, and he'll let you know whether what you think you've got, makes enough sense to produce the lenses. utterly painless.
it would be naive to expect blazing sunshine from now until late november, but the start of british summertime (sorry rest of the world) may bring the portent of more shiny bits, and now is definitely the time to start with the eyewear. since many have interchangeable lenses, how can you go wrong?
next thing you know it'll be time to break out the short sleeve jerseys.
posted on sunday 30th march
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................sex lies and handlebar tape - the remarkable life of jacques anquetil by paul howard. published by mainstream publishing. hardback 317pp illus. £17.99
a good book should involve you in the story being told, fact or fiction, to the extent that you forget you're reading a book. it should be unputdownable that, as you nod off to sleep while reading, you're desperate to read the next bit as soon as you wake up. and while sitting at work, or out on the bike, you can't wait to get home to find out what happens next. this is just such a book, and it is thus as a combination of two elements: subject and author.
jacques anquetil was something of an eccentric and an enigma. even raphael geminiani, his team manager for a good proportion of his career, learned early on that the only way to have jacques do something against his will, was to effectively try and prevent him from doing it in the first place. cycling throws up many characters, many of them eccentric in different ways - the jury is out on whether it's cycling that makes them that way, or their eccentricity that drew them to cycling in the first place. anquetil, however, wasn't just strange in his approach to his cycling genius - his rather public private life, verged on the bizarre.
however, it is his stunning appetite for victory that concerns the bulk of this writing; his private life did not enter the realms of the unpalatable until after his retirement from cycling in 1969. that he won his fourth ever race in 1951, bears witness to the length of his cycling career, during which he won five tours de france, was the first rider to win all three grand tours, and the first rider to win the tour de france and the vuelta in the same year. throughout a substantial proportion of this successful vocation, he was dogged by comparison with his apparent nemesis, raymond poulidor, despite his assertion that, in 80 races against poulidor, anquetil had won 77 of them. 'there has never been a duel anquetil-poulidor. the result was decided long ago'
however, the popularity of poulidor with the french public in preference to anquetil, had more to do with the latter's apparently cold, calculating mode of winning races - winning by a considerable margin, and treating cycling as a profession, as a job, rather than a sport. howard's considerable research and insights give us cause to doubt the coldness of anquetil's approach, but there is little doubt that he did concern himself just as much with money as with victory. jacques placed a stay of execution on his retirement in order to earn enough money to purchase a mansion that adjoined farmland he already owned. never one to hide his light under a bushel, anquetil was won of the first modern day riders to own up to drug taking in the peloton, something that also detracted from his public (and peloton) popularity. not that it has made much difference. his 'afterlife' gave the newspapers of the day their salacious stories, none of which i shall spell out here - you'll have to get your own copy for that.
the second element of a good book, as mentioned above, is the author. paul howard's last outing in book form was 'riding high' in which, if i remember correctly, he cycled the route of the tour de france just ahead of the peloton for the whole three weeks. despite it winning a prestigious sports writing award, i didn't find it to be a rivetting read. however, with sex, lies and handlebar tape he has redeemed himself, and then some. the man didn't stint on the research; he has managed to contact many of anquetil's team-mates, (including vin denson and brian robinson) many of his family members (who seemed surprisingly open in their discussions of a particularly strange man) and has subsequently written an exceptionally clear, concise and intriguing book that deserves it's place in every cyclist's library. the only one feature missing from this hardback release is a comprehensive index, which would have been an added bonus. still, there is an extensive listing of anquetil's palmares, and a useful bibliography. the book is published on 3rd april - buy it.
posted on saturday 29th march
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................the pride of scotland
generally thewashingmachinepost doesn't do race results, but what did you expect - i'm scottish. so major congratulations to chris hoy, men's sprint world champion at manchester 2008. and now keirin champion too
pride in being a cyclist just went up a couple of dozen points.
posted on friday 28th march. updated saturday 29th
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................in the land of grey and pink
on cyclingnews.com or cyclingweekly.co.uk, any reference to the forthcoming season would be taken for the tour of flanders, gent-wevelghem, paris-roubaix, and several other to-die-for classic cycle races. and along with the rest of you i will be glued to either eurosplot on the box or to be found with a mac laptop on my knee watching and listening to messrs. mccrossan and smith. but thankfully, this isn't either of the above websites (seems like far too much work, if you ask me) and the forthcoming season for us comprises racing of a somewhat lower, but no less entertaining order.
first off, almost a week after the hell of the north comes the first of an international series of rapha/rollapaluza roller races, on saturday 19th april at the waterloo gallery in baylis road, london. doors open at 7pm, and aside from an exciting evening's racing without going anywhere, music will be supplied by cyclones (very apt name) as well as a number of djs - oh how i yearn for the 50s when it was big bands (so i'm told). and, of course you can have a go yourself - the back of the eccentrically brilliant ticket (above) has blank spaces for you to write in your time. numbers are limited to 500 and tickets are on sale from rapha's website now.
if you find the nomenclature international series as intriguing as i, further investigation points up more events scheduled for london, new york and portland, oregon. uci, eat your heart out.
but of course, it never stops there. last june, the inaugural smithfield nocturne took place in, strangely enough, smithfield market, featuring what i figure to be one of the most inventive and inclusive type of cycle racing yet - the commuters' folding bike race. competitors had to run to their already folded bicycles, unfold them, and head off into the rain soaked streets, many wearing jacket, shirt and tie. take a tour to the website and watch a video of last year's race.
thankfully, not only is smithfield nocturne to receive a second annual outing on its way to becoming a regular fixture on the international calendar. perhaps not unreasonably expecting a major influx of entrants for the folding bike race, there will be two heats before a final, all sponsored by halfords, and the criterium race has become a part of the national crit series. and there is, as they say, lots more. last year's version won a visit london tourism award, and this year's promises to be even better and sooner: 7th june 2008.
and just to show that the north south divide doesn't really exist, the nocturne series is also expanding to the north west of england. the salford nocturne will take place on the 30th of august around the lowry centre in salford quays as part of the salford festival of cycling. hopefully the next stop is george square in glasgow.
just while i remember, rapha are having a paris roubaix sunday on a big screen at le bouchon in battersea rise on 13th april. timing depends on eurosplot, but croissants and brie and cobbles sounds ok to me. le bouchon
posted on friday 28th march.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................do the test
no comment needed here. follow the link below, to a very cool public information video. it's not all it appears to be.
posted on thursday 27th march.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................it's all front
quite often, when i launch into a diatribe regarding a feature of modern day, or even retro cycling, i sort of know the answer - or at least i know if the butler did it or not. but in this case, i don't really know how the story ends. nor, in fact, have i the faintest idea how it started. the front gear mech; how does it attach to your bicycle? all my colnagos have employed what is referred to as a braze-on, and that includes the recently tested arte model. what do i mean by braze-on? well the seat-tube of the bicycle bears a slotted flange that is either brazed, rivetted or bolted on just above the bottom bracket on the drive side. the mech that attaches to this, features a bolt at the top that allows it to be affixed to the aforesaid flange, with just enough adjustment available to move it up or down, and to alter the lateral angle accommodating any tendency for the chain to rub in certain positions.
the alternative is either referred to as a clip-on or band-on and rather tautologically allows the mech to be clamped around the necessary part of the seat-tube. there are advantages and disadvantages to both, but what i can't find out is, which came first? and assuming one of them did come first, what prompted a change? ironically, in the age of the weight weeny, it seems that the heavier (the band-on) has the upper hand. there is very little in it - the braze-on saves very few grams in comparison to the alternative, but there are fewer and fewer frames being manufactured with the flange on the seat-tube.
and strangely, should you find yourself with a braze-on mech, but owning a bicycle with no method of attachment, it is possible to purchase a clip-on braze-on. yes indeed, there is such a thing, presenting a suitable flange but fitted with a clamp that fits round the seat-tube. and, just like the clip-on front derailleur, it can be had in three different clamp diameters to suit the heft of your seat-tube. you may have noticed that aluminium frames have thicker tubing than that of a steel frame.
so why are there two ways to fit your front mech, and why do some manufacturers favour one over the other? colnago have a braze-on even on their bottom of the food-chain primavera, whereas pinarello don't fit it to even their top of the range carbon model. my rather limited research so far has thrown up no transition period, nor even which came first.
where's that butler when you need him?
posted on thursday 27th march.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................just the same - but different
in the course of my daily grind (which is anything but, actually) i inhabit the interfaces of some seriously elite software packages that cater to my every graphic whim. while i realise this isn't saying a lot, they really are the best of the best, and i have a high proficiency level in at least two of them (software manipulation equating with a black belt). and just to add a degree of wow to the experience, all this takes place on an unseemly large apple imac. thewashingmachinepost too is created in software that works only on a mac, this time a rather smaller example in the shape of a macbook pro. having carried out similar functions on a windows pc, i can readily attest to my distaste for doing so, and have no intention of shifting away from mac osx.
this is of a similar notion to that of the campagnolo versus shimano discussion that has not gone away for many a long year, and seems very unlikely to do so anytime soon. there are numerous reasons/excuses as to why either of the above became anyone's preference in the first place - it could have been because the first bike we purchased or were given, was fitted with one or t'other and an inherent loyalty sparked subsequent affiliation. (by the way, it is not my intention to ignore sram, but i'm not sure that their road groups have been around long enough to engender the degree of devotion often ascribed to their forebears in the component world. if you are a sram devotee, you may as well make some coffee just now.) i bring this up at the moment because i have just spent four weeks cycling a very nice colnago that arrived with shimano ultegra on board, but i've now switched back to the campag equipped c40, since the other has had to return home.
i do, like many others, have an inbuilt prejudice against shimano - i know not why, because throughout the colnago's holiday on islay, the gears and brakes worked just exactly the way you would expect and indeed, wish them to perform. yes, the rear brake was too fierce, but that's only after years of using a single pivot campagnolo at the back; yes, i did have to keep looking down at the sprockets to see if a change had been effected, but my five year old record changers are a tad on the stiff side (which, if you read the article below regarding campag's team only red shifters, you'll realise how incredibly up to date i have inadvertantly become) - even the latest chorus shifters make mine seem like too much effort.
the one inexcusable distaste from shimano is that indexed front gear mech; it's a silly idea, and one that numerous tweaks and updates have singularly failed to address. just drop the indexing altogether - it's only two sprockets; we can cope.
as someone who writes a great deal about stupidly light components, but actually has no neeed of any of them (...doesn't stop me wanting) i have not sat down and compared the relative weights of one shimano group over another campagnolo group, because it's irrelevant for the recreational cyclist, sportives or not. so it all comes back to what you're used to and what you find pleasing to use and to look at. switching back to campag record after 28 days on ultegra was a bit of a shock to the system at first, not least because the flip levers behind the brake lever perform exactly the opposite function on each, and those lever hoods aren't even close in form factor. however, after a few kilometres, all is well again, and the ultegra had been consigned to a (large) part of the brain that i don't use very often.
so it really comes down to whichever system you are used to. of course that takes on a different perspective when you have to maintain or repair them, but that's a whole nuther story. just be happy with what you've got, unless it's shimano (just kidding)
posted on wednesday 26th march.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................the emperor's new clothes
the library in the art school that i attended ran full of books and associated publications, printed with the express intentions of either pointing out the basis of good art and design, or by celebrating the artists who had achieved same. but i do specifically remember one book entitled ghastly good taste, the premise of which if i correctly recall was to portray design that was so bad, it was actually good - a bit like the tv programme i.t. crowd if you will.
now i like funny stuff the same as the next guy - i can recite word for word a port shoem by the speverent rooner from monty python's big red book and experience occasional lapses into the spanish inquisition sketch when it seems appropriate so to do. humour is good for the soul and if you spend at least part of your week on several thousand pounds of italian carbon fibre, clad in pink sportwool a sense of humour can make all the difference. but i'm not a great fan of being told something is side splittingly humorous when it blatantly isn't - or at least when it would require the removal of a sizeable amount of grey matter to find it so.
with april 1st looming on next week's horizon someone at the climate group, has had the particularly poor taste to designate it energy wasting day, the purpose apparently being to jokingly encourage us to waste energy in the hope that we will see the errors of our ways and begin to practice the opposite. duh? this has unfortunately resulted in a website and a rotfl (rolling on the floor laughing) youtube video. trade site bikebiz has even gone so far as to quote 'the video will spread virally across the internet because it's very funny' - except i have failed miserably to see the humour.
clicking through to together.com (because we're in this together) gives us the heading 'energy wasting day... are we kidding? of course we are! maybe it's just me and i had an infuriating day at the office (not really) but am i missing something? i realise that satire is meant to be humorous (in a satirical way) but i'm not even sure this qualifies on those grounds. cyclists often like to consider themselves saviours of the planet, even if only in their own small way, and there may be an element of truth in this stance. while i don't mean to come over all self righteous on that score surely there must be better ways of pointing out the nation's energy profligacy than spending a small fortune filming dan power making an april fool of himself?
in the words of one youtube viewer wtf? maybe it's an april fool.
unfortunately i have probably just assisted the propagators of the above drivel to achieve exactly what they'd hoped - so whatever you do, don't watch the video or we're all doomed.
posted on tuesday 25th march.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................a dying art
this thursday (26th march) messrs andrews and dubash will be demonstrating to an assembled multitude of thirty lucky blighters in the rapha offices, how to race prepare a colnago road bike. while i would have loved to have been one of those thirty, i will have to make do with my own version of race preparation, hopefully be a tad more effortless than my trying to fit the colnago arte back into the cycle bag in which it arrived.
but one thing that will not be shown on thursday evening is something that most of us who tinker with bicycles for reparation hope not to have to attempt too often. in fact, even in the days when this component was a de facto standard on all bicycles, repair was generally not an option - replacement being the preferred, and more economic way to proceed. i am, of course, referring to the once ubiquitous freewheel. this item started to disappear from view at the high end when shimano invented the freehub - a component which fulfils a remarkably similar function, but with more panache and far better axle support.
for those of less than a certain age, the freewheel or block consisted of a threaded freewheel body onto which the sprockets were affixed, aided in their rotational movement by hundreds (or so it seemed) of tiny little bearings both front and back, or top and bottom when it came to remedial maintenance. the item shown above is seen in this fashion because, as is often the case with mechanical devices, it failed to carry out its duties at a geographical point furthest from the owner's home (relative to the route taken).
this particular freewheel was manufactured by suntour (don't ask), and given the rather unfortunate name of perfect, and since i did not have a five speed freewheel in thewashingmachinepost bike shed (who does?), there was no option but to rebuild. as you can see from the photo, this involves placing all the aforementioned bearings one at a time on the bearing surface at the base of the freewheel body (an excellent way of either developing patience or impatience depending on your temperament). of course the tricky bit comes when replacing the sprocket set and trying very hard not to knock any of the bearings off the surface.
in the instance here, the freewheel was successfully reconstructed and is, at present, functioning the way the japanese progenitors intended. mind you, i've absolutely no idea why it failed in the first place, and i'm hoping not to have to repeat the process in the near future.
just in case you think this article is about to set a precedent for more about how to fix things, rest assured that there is precious little chance - this just seemed odd enough to mention. and yes, you are correct, those outer spokes do look rather the worse for wear, but they did check out ok for the time being - the bike does originate from the early eighties.
posted on monday 24th march.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................rapha condor recycling team stowaway
only because i could read drum music when they needed someone to do so, i spent about thirteen years as lead drummer in islay pipe band. i was never very good at it because i'm not desperately keen on pipe band music (you would think, as a scotsperson, it would be compulsory) but i did enjoy myself at times. the times when it was less enjoyable was having to stand out of doors in the weather that i now think of as character building, but dressed in a kilt, and with a drum weighing slightly more than the company colnago, suspended from my shoulders. to aid us in such moments, we would normally be clad in a pipe band cape to help keep wind and precipitation at bay.
these garments were pretty obviously designed by a piper, since in order to achieve full facility on a drum, the top part of the cape would have to be fastened back, leaving both arms to get thoroughly soaked - such a predicament never seemed to afflict the pipers, but since they have to cope with a complete lack of timing, the firmament remained in balance. these black capes (they are almost always black) arrived in small buttoned bags made of the same material as the cape itself, bearing two loops on the back that allowed fitting to the belt on your kilt. and inside each was a small slip of paper with a printed diagram of how the cape was to be re-folded in order to fit back in the bag.
doubtless most of you can see this coming, but firstly, the instructions were completely incomprehensible, but assuming by some strange quirk of fate you managed to follow them to the end, there wasn't a cat's chance in hell that the cape was ever going to fit back in that little black bag. when the original rapha stowaway jacket arrived a few year's back (the famous pink one), it came with a postcard, one side of which detailed the features of said jacket, with washing instructions on the obverse. disappointingly, there wasn't a hint as to how the jacket was to be folded in order to stowaway in one of the three back pockets of a rapha jersey. so just like everyone else who bought one, i just figured it out through trial and error, folding it in the best way i saw fit to do. pretty much like those of us in the pipe band always did with our rain capes.
well, rapha have now revised the stowaway jacket, which still arrives without any folding instructions, but to be honest, you'd need to be seriously distracted for this one to prove anything of a problem. the original stowaway was made of an incredibly waterproof material, but was never quite as breathable as the chaps at perren street had hoped. therefore the new incarnation has lost a degree of waterproofness but gained a substantial amount in the breathability stakes. the fabric used is the same as that employed in the latest rapha gilets, an order of substantiality less than the original.
the standard stowaway can be had in cream, black and acid green or, for an extra tenner, you can become a member of the rapha condor recycling team, and it is this version that i have had the pleasure of testing over easter weekend. i say pleasure because the stowaway was called upon to perform towards the upper limits of its abilities over 150km of cycling: freezing cold winds, rain and hailstones. i would take issue with rapha over their water resistant description; i got caught in a heavy shower on my way out to join the peloton for the sunday morning ride, and my long sleeve team jersey remained perfectly dry within. that's more than just resistance. breathability barely crossed my mind throughout the weekend, but windproofing certainly did - i wore a long sleeve merino baselayer, the long sleeve team jersey and the stowaway on top, and stopping at debbie's for an espresso (a guy has to recuperate you know) there wasn't the soggy arms syndrome that still afflicts my favoured pink original version. and if the windproofing survives hammering into a 55kph, sub zero headwind, it will survive anything.
the collar is sensibly high to keep the chill off the neck, and whereas the pink one zipped up the centre before skewing off to the right at the collar to avoid nipping the skin, the new one has the zip offset from bottom to top. the sleeves are actually curved to offer a better fit and have reflective strips running full length on front and back of both. in keeping with all of rapha's jerseys and jackets, the tailoring is superb - there's a complete lack of flapping in the slipstream. this is aided by a drawstring with toggles at the hem (in rapha racing pink, i'm pleased to say.) the cuffs are of lycra and fold inside the end of the sleeves to provide a wind and weatherproof seal. this works very well indeed.
the only differences between the regular stowaways and the team version are the lack of a front debbie pocket and reflective rear logo on the latter. since the team version bears bright white rapha, condor, and recycling.co.uk logos front and back, a reflective logo on the tail would be somewhat superfluous, and as to the missing front pocket, when was the last time chris newton cycled up alongside you during a race and asked if you had change for the coffee stop? exactly.
whichever version you deem more appropriate for your cycling neighbourhood, the rapha stowaway jacket does exactly as described. it stows away smaller and more easily than its predecessor (it weighs only 165g in medium size), it is both highly breathable and windproof, and it seems to offer better rain protection than rapha have given it credit for. available in sizes ranging from xs all the way through to xxl, the regular version sells for£170 ($290), or you can have the team version as tested for £180 ($305).
i still love my pink stowaway, if only because it's pink, but the new one really is a logical development of the original, and deserves your full attention. buy the acid green one and it'll grab everyone's full attention.
posted on sunday 23rd march.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................those great moments of cycling
if you flick through the pages of the comic each week (apologies if you're reading other than in the uk) there's usually a couple detailing an incredible spread of dvd or video recordings of the great races from the past decade or so, augmented by a number from slightly earlier in history. but still within living memory. some of these are quite expensive, though i do realise that after reviewing colnagos, rapha clothing and several other costly devices, expense is all relative.
and much like purchasing one of those japanese jimi hendrix recordings, you pretty much have to take the chaff with the wheat (yes, i know itunes changes all that but...). what if you just want to watch specific stages or highlights from races that you really, really enjoyed. or because your favourite rider is featured. and that's where i come in, or rather where paul mcbride comes in.
bearing one of the most scottish e-mail addresses that it's possible to have (haggismcb@haggisland.org.uk) paul has almost inadvertently created his own cottage industry (it's what we do, north of the border), but only to cover his costs, rather than enough pennies for the holiday home in the bahamas. paul sent me a dvd bearing three stages from the 1989 tour de france, including robert millar beating pedro delgado at superbagneres, after going over every preceding climb in first place. (them were t'days). the dvd is very professionally created, plays on a computer dvd drive as well as the black box sitting under the tv, and will only cost £3 plus postage per dvd.
the list i was supplied with, features races from the early to mid-nineties, and features riders such as indurain, konyshev, museeuw, abdoujaparov (remember him?) - a veritable treasure trove. if any of the above takes your fancy, drop mr mcbride an e-mail; he might have just what you're looking for.
posted on saturday 22nd march.
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