Cycle around Arran – fekkin brilliant

Arran route and elevation profile

Sunday morning and the day breaks just as the weather app told me it would … bright but cold. So a quick dress and a scoffing down of some raw oats and I cycle down to the station to get the train that connects to the ferry to Brodick on the Isle of Arran. Arran is a bit of a mecca for cyclists, walkers, twitchers and climbers. This being a bank holiday it was busier than normal with about 30 bikes on the early ferry crossing over.
Last time I came down here I was very tired and slept most of the way on the train … but this time was bushy tailed and felt that the journey was a tad long. The problem with having only the space in my back pockets for things, so alas no reading material.
Departing the ferry it is a simple case of hang a left and keep the sea on that side of you for a clockwise circuit of the island.
Some cyclists opt for the road straight over the hill to Blackwaterfoot but I opted for the slightly longer route that takes you past Holy Isle.

onwards pushing to the south looking at some menacing clouds on the Kintyre peninsula that never came my way until I got to Blackwaterfoot and caught up with some of those cyclists that had taken the shorter route. The roads on Arran are a mixed affair … some sections including the extra south loop are actually pretty crappy in places.

Up the west coast is great – generally the wind is from the west or SW so this section is pretty quick – cruised up here at close to 30km/h.

The next good place to stop os Lochranza for a pic of the castle / a bite to eat / a trip to distillery or perhaps all 3 …. I did the castle as i wasn’t really hungry despite it being 2pm so started the climb out of Lochranza …. this is a pretty nice climb – I was in my lowest gear for the bottom but then was able to shift up a gear or two as the incline lessened and the two riders in front egged me on to passing mode.
Over the top the section os very rough then suddenly ‘sublime city’ there is brand new tarmac and the loveliest of sweeping descents that is buttery smooth and allows you to really fly … I hit 64.3kmh on this section which was very sweet …. not sure of the incline degrees but probably could only get a tad more next time. Not quite as steep as the one hill I hit in Shetland on the steel pinarello ….
then finally into brodick after 90km and 3h28? (26kmh average so something to aim for on my next attempt.)
I had missed the 2pm ferry so went to Bilsland the outdoor shop and sat down and ate a massive steak pie … the things that become fantastic after burning 2000+ calories (2239 according to Polar and 3000 on the Garmin)
Then the ferry home chatting to a lovely man who at 74 was burning around on his Flying Scot.

Surly long haul trucker

Owners might be the best salespeople when it comes to bikes … Certainly breadbike.org speak about the virtues of the Surly LHT and our friend Tom Morton who is crossing Scotland on one later in the year (we are filming a small doccie on this) is a fan.

Other people like the one below give an eloquent appraisal of the good (and very occasionally weaker) points of the bike. This one is so well written I thought I would repost it here.

http://bicycletouringpro.com/blog/surly-long-haul-trucker-touring-bicycle-review/

Deciding which touring bike to purchase is no small undertaking. When you’re going to be spending so much time and money on a bike, it’s important to get it right.

Over the past two years, my partner and I have used our trusty Long Haul Truckers to carry us up and over the hills of Wales, along the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, across the Peaks and the Pennines of England, and – in our most extensive trip yet – around New Zealand’s beautiful South Island.

But before we did all that, we spent hours poring through internet forums, blogs and reviews in our quest for the ultimate touring machine. We also talked to friends who have been cycling touring and were a wealth of knowledge. A few of them had the Surly Crosscheck or the Long Haul Trucker and rated them highly.

We looked at the Dawes, the Thorns and the Koga-Miyatas among the many touring bikes on offer. But it was the Long Haul Trucker that kept popping up as the touring bicycle to have: a steel frame with all the braze-ons that you would ever need for v-brakes, racks, bottle cages and even spare spokes.

We already had a Surly in our stable, the Steamroller, which had done a good service as a fixed city commuter. The Surly 4130 CroMoly steel gives a comfortable and reliable ride, the paint job was smart, and we knew that we couldn’t go wrong with a Surly.

At Brixton Cycles in London we had a chance to see the Long Haul Trucker in the flesh. Beautiful, aren’t they? We had a great chat with the staff there, who are real Surly enthusiasts. After some discussion, we found the right sizes for the two of us: quite comically I settled for the towering 58cm 2009 model in green, and my partner went for the diminutive burgundy 46cm, of which, happily for our wallet, Brixton had one left over from 2008 at a reduced price. We came away from the shop buzzing with ideas about how we’d build the bikes ourselves, to our exact specifications and needs. New additions to the stable were soon to be born!

The Build & The Ride

All the Surly bikes we’ve come across (the Steamroller, Crosscheck and now the Long Haul Trucker) are certainly not on the light side. But they are built to last – sturdy and rock solid. The relaxed angles and the longer wheelbase make the Long Haul Trucker a simply brilliant ride.

Over the years, we’ve each tried many other kinds of bicycle, from custom-made titanium racing bikes to aluminum hard-tail mountain bikes. Admittedly, we’ve never tried a different model of touring bike, but the Long Haul Trucker has made such an impression that we feel we’ll never need to. Simply put, they are probably the most comfortable bicycles we have ever ridden.

The Surly Long Haul Trucker is not built for speed, but for carrying you and the kitchen sink. It really does handle and feel most at ease when you have loaded it up. This is, I’m sure, a common principle of all good touring bicycles.

We’re ashamed to admit that our other bicycles have more or less been put out to grass since we got the Long Haul Truckers. We have a couple of fixed and road bikes along with a MTB commuter. But, over the last two years, they have just been gathering dust, since the Long Haul Truckers are so comfortable and a joy to ride. While the titanium road
bike is a flighty thoroughbred, the Long Haul Trucker is a sturdy and reliable cart horse.

We’ve even used our Long Haul Truckers as commuting bikes in London. They are slow and heavy but always get you there in comfort and with a smile on your face. It is no racer, but let’s face it, you’re not going to do a sprint finish when touring. Need to take lots of luggage, extra water and a stock pile of food when away from civilization? The Surly doesn’t complain. It just takes the load and keeps on going. You can almost hear it say “More luggage? Bring it on!”

Even at low speeds and fully loaded it handles very well. Nor is going up steep hills a problem. In the fastnesses of Wales and the Pennines we managed a few serious lumps – even a 25% incline – fully loaded, with the front wheel firmly planted on the ground.

I’m told I sound like a broken record when telling people about this bike, but it’s honestly the best way to describe it: It’s like riding a four-wheeled sofa. Heavy, but comfy as anything.

The Build & The Cost

We got hold of our two Surly frames at our local bike shop in London, Brixton Cycles. The 46cm was £50 cheaper than the 56cm, which set us back £350 since it was an older model (2008 rather than 2009). There are no substantial differences between the two frames aside from different lugs on the dropouts, and the colour: the 2008 frame was
only available in a rather fetching burgundy. Otherwise, they’re exactly the same. The 2010 model seems to differ from the 2009 frame in colour alone, and if there are further differences, they must be subtle as they’re not immediately noticeable. And, from discussions with other Long Haul Trucker riders, the ride quality doesn’t differ from model to model.

When it came to selecting the correct size, there were a few different schools of thought to consider. We took the advice of the bike shop to go for a smaller size than usual in a touring frame. The 60cm, and maybe even 62cm frame would certainly have fit me, but our man Barney at the local bike shop advised me to go for the 58cm in order to have
greater control over my steed when fully loaded, especially when getting on and off. I do have a rather long seat post and a raised stem. I didn’t even need to cut the fork down. What matters is that I feel comfortable on the bike, and so I’m absolutely sure I made the right sizing and set-up choices. Even my partner took the size down from her normal size, 46cm, and she just loves riding her Surly Long Haul Trucker.

If you prefer an off-the-peg bike, you can get the Surly Long Haul Trucker built up from Surly for just over £890. We decided that we wanted to build our tourers from scratch, as we had particular ideas about our preferred components. For example, I don’t get on with drop handlebars or downtube shifters, and my partner prefers shallow drops and women-specific saddles. I also looked forward to the process of sourcing the parts and building up our new steeds. And then there was the practical benefit of helping me understand the bikes inside and out, and be prepared for any potential mechanical breakdowns while out on tour.

I built up our Long Haul Truckers with XT groupsets, 44, 32, 22 chainrings and a 11-34 cassette which gives us plenty of low gears for going up the steepest of hills. I chose the Hollowtech II bottom bracket, which I admit I was a little worried about at start (new-fangled technology!), but they are running just fine.

My bike has butterfly/traveller handlebars, which I’m still playing around with to find exactly the right set up. I’m almost there. The wheels, 700c, I bought second hand from a friend who’d built them up himself with a HOPE XC rear hub and SON dynohub on Mavic A319 36 hole rims.

The smaller Surly was set up with women-specific shallow drop Bontrager handlebars and Ultegra STI shifters which work great with v-brakes when you use travel agents. The wheels, 26”, were built with HOPE front and rear hubs on Mavic A319 36 hole rims, by our very good friend and wheel builder.

Both bikes run Marathon Plus 35mm tyres which are pretty much bombproof, which is much needed for touring and commuting in London. Admittedly the tyres are slightly on the slow side (see a theme emerging here?), but it’s not speed we care too much about. Rather, it’s durability and longevity that are important. The Marathon Plus ticks these boxes. As for the racks, we chose Turbus Cargo and Ergo racks because we’d heard good things about them and I was lucky enough to get them on discount through my work.

It’s a bit hard to state the total cost of the bikes. To be honest, we got rather carried away when building our new toys and didn’t keep a close eye on the budget. Plus, we did have some of the parts stored up already along with several great offers we managed to pick up online and through my work. The bike building project began in January 2009
and the first bike was fully built by June of the same year. If you have time to spare, gradually picking up bits and pieces through online offers can save you quite a bit of money. For example, we picked up my partner’s Ultegra shifters for half price, and got the Hollowtech II crankset for over £100 less than the street price.

But I’m pretty sure if you go into a shop and order what we have, you are going over the £2000 mark for each of these bicycles. That said, I’m sure that the off-the-peg Surly would be a great ride still and a great starter tourer to build up when you can afford to upgrade.

The Small Things

The paint job is good quality. I have used my Surly heavily over the last two years and of course there are a few scratches, but the paint job is still sound. I had read that the paint job on the burgundy coloured Surly wasn’t the best. But, we have not had any problems with ours. There was a rather big scratch inflicted by the journey to New Zealand but no paint job would have survived that.

The smaller 46cm frame is rather compact so you can only have one 750ml bottle in the three cages. The one on the seat tube can just about hold a 750ml bottle, and it’s a bit of a faff to get the bottle out and in. The one on the underside of the down tube can only take a small bottle as there is no room for it because of the front wheel.

Since the Long Haul Truckers are on the heavy side, you will be a bit pushed keeping your packed up bicycle within your luggage allowance when flying. We try to add a little bit extra into the box, such as your sleeping bags and tent. But with the Long Haul Truckers you don’t have many extra kgs to play with.

The standard sized bike box you can pick up from your local bicycle shop, is a tight fit for the 58cm frame. Even with front rack and mudguards off your Surly will be bigger than the box. I had to take the forks off as well in order to get it all into the box. The 46cm frame, however, fit nice and snug into a standard cardboard bike box.

My very first ride on the Surly Long Haul Trucker was quite an epic one: a ride called the Dunwich Dynamo, a 110’ish mile long ride over night from London to a beach north east of London. Around one thousand people take part every year in the summer. It was pretty much thrown together in the morning before the ride, a quick spin in the carpark
to see if it worked, loaded it up and off we went.

After around 40-50 miles my shoulders started to hurt. I then raised the stem one spacer and the pain started to go away. And that was it for the rest of the ride. It was just so comfortable. When I got back onto the bike after a quick swim and breakfast it was not painful.

When people see the Surly they are really interested and only tell you good things about it, either from their own experience or from what they have read or heard. I recall that at 4am on the Dunwich Dynamo, I was passing two ladies on a hill, and we all were rather tired at this point. One of them asked me, “Is that the Long Haul Trucker, with the
long wheel base?” This made me smile, gave me a boost and made me rather proud that I had picked such a well thought of and famous bicycle.

The only thing that has broken on the Surly is the rear wheel which was second hand. After nearly 10,000 miles in total, the rim cracked. I think it handled it responsibilities very well since I’m not the smallest of people and do carry a lot in my panniers, including a heavy tool kit, while commuting in London. And we did ride on some rather rough gravel roads in New Zealand. Otherwise they just roll along taking in whatever you throw at them.

The Surly Long Haul Trucker: In Summary

You’re not going to win any races riding a Long Haul Trucker. But it does exactly what it says on the tin. It carries you long distances, with all your worldly possessions (well, almost) in comfort and style. It just gets better the more you load it up.

I’m now coming up to 8,500 miles on mine and when it’s clean it still looks like a new bicycle. In the meanwhile, our other bikes look out jealously from under the washing draped over them; they’re just glorified laundry hangers these days. We were warned that once we’d joined the Long Haul Trucker club we’d have trouble weaning ourselves off… and it’s true!

I know for sure that these lovely, dependable Surly Long Haul Truckers will be in our stable for many years to come. It’s testament to the comfort and quality of the bikes that we really can’t think of anything that we want to change about them. We might just top up the paint job when it’s needed. In the meantime, there’s a lot of world left to explore, so we’ll just keep on Long Haul Trucking.

Polar RCX5 review

The Polar HRM arrived nearly a month ago now and I have had a good chance to use it in various sports.

Firstly unboxing showed a nice little box and neat packaging. When you first switch on RCX it asks you to input basic things like sex, age, height, weight as well as the amount you exercise per week. I fall into a higher (amateur) category of roughly 5-7 hrs / week.

The RCX typically comes in 3 configurations … a gps setup which includes the excellent G5 gps. This is a very nice waterproof unit which holds charge for 20 hrs which is far from what i have had the pleasure of exceeding. The unit comes with an armband although I must confess that one month later i have yet to use it. The unit is very wee and fits into the small key pocket at the front of my running shorts as well as the back pocket of my running tights. I even used it the other day on a ride and had it jammed into a small front pocket of my jacket pocket. Being hunched over I expected the reception and subsequent track to be slightly skittish but coming back i compared the track to the one recorded by my Garmin Edge 305 which is on my stem with an uninterupted view of the sky. The comparison revealed that the Garmin recorded the ride as 51.42km and the edge at 51.62km … that is a 200m discrepancy over a huge distance. thinks it something like 0.4% (better get my calculator out) I am sure a shoulder mount or bar mount would make it perfect (that is me judging the Edge to be perfect …)

Other configurations are the Run pack which comes with the S3+ stride sensor. I have not used this but have seen side by side comparisons to the Garmin unit and from what I gather they are pretty compareable. The Polar unti is much bigger and does everything the Garmin does … the only feature useful to me would be the stride count … but then i am a slight Chi runner and my footfall stride is roughly 83-85/min.

The other configuration i have seen is the bike pack which has a cadence and Speed Censor … the cadence sensor would be the most useful to me … if you have the GPS sensor then i think you dont need the speed sensor.
One point I would say is that it is a shame that it is not the one unit like many of the competitors now do. Times and Garmin do their combined ones. I still use my Garmin unit along with the edge indoors when on the turbo trainer and having this placed on the back wheel makes it very practical.

I think that all the above configurations come with a heart rate belt although it is also possible to buy the RCX5 unit as a standalone piece which is probably only something that athletes that already own a polar belt (although not all older belts can be seen by the RCX5) On the heart Belt itself – amazingly comfortable and using Garmin and Suunto for the past few years I must confess that Polar know what they are doing when they make the belts … so comfy and you never get a strange spike or weird reading that you sometimes get with the Garmin HR belts.
Polar also do sports bras for women which have the HR receiver built into them which should make them more comfy than a standard setup for some.

what works with what POLAR

Back to the RCX unit. There are two colours to choose from a black and a red … I chose red because everyone knows that red is faster.

The square design has been criticised by some but I think it is great … it is slightly larger than a normal watch but once exercising the display is clear and very easy to use.
You can customise the display to show what you want to see .. I have gone into this before HERE

Using the Unit
Strapping the RCX on I immediately noticed how comfortable the watch was – in fact the whole construction oozes class not something i have noticed in the build of any previous Polar, Garmin or Suunto with the possible exception of my Suunto Core

Going outside for a run you can leave the gps on a wall whilst you pre-stretch – and then it latches onto the signal very quickly – the chipset inside the unit is a SIRF6 which allows for quicker lock on. the given wisdom is that cold fixing (in an area you have not been in before) will take around a minute, and hot fixes (starting in an area where you finished your last run / ride) will take 10-20 sec. From experience this seem to hold true. Of course this is a gps so switching it on when inside your house will not be good … but a sky above you should be good enough for the fix.
A tip I learnt for cold or rainy weather is to switch on the gps and leave it in your window whilst you put shoes on and it is generally ready to go when you are.

The unit when setting it up can be set to auto-lap – this is something I use when running having the watch perform every 1km … i find this more useful as a pace guide and a very good nudge to the brain when i need to speed up.
the watch can be set to either follow a programme (which can be configured on polar personal trainer and downloaded) say if you were doing intervals with a 5min warm up, 10 min tempo and 3 fartleks then arm down. The watch also has a great audible warning which can be set to pace or HR. This can either be set to Loud, quieter or off. I find this more useful when doing a fat-burn ride or run when my natural instinct is to speed up and defeat the very purpose of the training.

Post exercise the RCX5 stores your last exercise in the data section fro you to review. By itself the RCX5 gives a good breakdown and review of data. You can look at individual training sessions or see a summary of the week which is useful if you need a motivator to get out the door for a run or cycle. One of the good features is that there is a very good heart rate zone breakdown as well as a neat thing were you can see what percentage of calories was in fat burn.

HR zone breakdown

Speaking of features there is something missing and that is a proper barometric altimeter. Most of the course I do aren’t that hilly and I put bike tracks into bikewithgps or other tracking websites which recomputes gps info and produces a ride profile. For those running in hilly location this lack of altimeter might be a problem but for me it is not a deal breaker.

I think the beauty of the Polar RCX5 is in the heart rate monitoring … a lot of people like myself would look at the lack of ANT+ support and the very annoying lack of integration with other platforms like map my run, bikely,endomondo and others and decide not to go with polar BUT (and it’s a big butt) polar does and has always done great heart rate monitors. The analysis that you can do post exercise is way better than polar and a bit better than the hrm software that my old suunto t6 used with movescount.

Once you have done the exercise you can upload the data using polar weblink which is a free download from their site. One word of advice make sure you click the RCX5 for PPT option as I inadvertently clicked the other option when downloading the update then tore my hair out trying to figure out what i had done)
With the Polar Personal Trainer software you can create programs as well as seeing very easily how your training load is…. This prevents you overtraining (however rare this is in my case)

Finally I would say that polar, although not integrating as well as Garmin does with ANT+, weblink does allow you to access the RCX5 and download the .hrm files and .gpx files (gps track) – it’s a shame it doesn’t use the .tcx format but i think that is a garmin proprietary format.

I may have highlighted some weaknesses in this review but I am happy with the unit and wouldn’t change it.

Back on my bike

After a seemingly 2 month gap convalescing in one way or another I am back on my bike … quite literally. Now that my knee can bend 90 degrees I have pulled the bike in from the garage and the turbo trainer from upstairs …. the physic warned me that the first stint would be uncomfortable but it would get better as i warmed up.

 

So nothing extravagant just a low impact spin ….. but boy does it feel good.

 

Also been trying out the Running Free Online website which allows you to import data from a multitude of devices an has better analytics than most …  Here is a screen grab of the analysis from the the half marathon shown above showing distribution of effort over hr and various others …. still evaluating …

running free online graph

 

first go on a turbo trainer

After the assembly (10min) and another 5min changing the tyre on the road bike – I got on and cycled – I think my legs are a bit tired from gym session earlier but I loved it. Going to be the way I watch movies in the future … iPad on table and spin baby spin

Garmin picks up sensor on rear wheel too ...

More info once I have had more practice / experience.

Jedburgh Half Marathon

breakfast of champions

It is strange having to set alarms for the first day after the clocks change – my two watches are radio sync watches so wasn’t sure if the time was going to change automatically or not. In the end I set about 3 alarms to make sure I didn’t end up leaving an hour early for the race. Initially Findlay said he would drive – saving me the 2hr car trip – but as he was doing gigs up in Perthshire he decided to head straight there. So my routine on race day was wake at 7am … tactical ablution then the breakfast of champions, raw porridge oats, banana and a bit of honey. Clif Bar was for eating in the car. Picked up Douglas at 8am and hit the motorway for a quick stop an hour later for an espresso hit. Registration at 10am (the roads were also closing at 10:30am so had to be inside the cordon for then. Then tog up – stay hydrated and slight warm up (at this distance I don’t think a long warm up is needed in the same way as you do for a 5km race)

The weather was actually pretty good about 11C degrees, no rain as forecast earlier in the week – think that passed over on Saturday night … but there was a bit of wind which would change the second half of the race.

Race headed out and I got to see the leaders leg away into the distance …. in Fact when I was at the 9.5km mark I could see the leaders coming back at around the 12km mark … Winner Male – Robert Gilroy – 1 hour 12.04 minutes

Had a gel pack with me on the run that Fin had bought me … used on bike before but never running – had it just before half way – then picked up a water as well to wash it down and wash my hands which got covered in gloop …. quite good – should maybe have saved it a bit for later but who knows what the effect really was.

The course is great – although it won’t be the quickest as it is quite hilly and on the return we battled into a headwind of around 15mph. I got together with 2 other guys to push the pace up – figuring out on taking turns at the front to set a better pace … I had my brother in laws time in mind (he is 10 years younger but did a 1H31m time in the Glasgow Half) this worked well although the one chap dropped off about 3 miles from the end  and the other about a mile from the end. Was running then with Fiona who had a Glasgow Traithlon top on and her coach / hubby who was heckling encouraging her around the course. The last big hill he was going ‘c’mon the hills are your friend’ So i said out loud ‘they are not my friend so don’t worry if you don’t like them’ …. the other runners laughed, she grimaced and the coach didn’t express anything ….

Footpod out slightly laps are about 1.05km long ... 11sec less /km

Last push over the hill and saw the 1H31s tick over on my watch … the 6 miles into a headwind had sapped my last effort to break 1H30. Still only my second half marathon and 10minutes quicker than my first ….. I am going to train properly for the next one and smash 1H30.

elevation profile

Douglas got a 1H48 and Findlay a 1H51 PB’s all around – did you run - if so how did it go ……?

So the result 1H31m 26seconds (chip time)  66th out of 527 finishers and 19th out of semi old over 40 farts. ave pace 6:59/mile or 4m20/km and lastly but not least a medal for effort (which we like)

Polar RCX5 review (from Pez cycling news)

Polar was the pioneer in portable heart rate monitors for athletes, and continues to set the benchmark for heart rate devices. Their latest launch is the top-shelf RCX5, featuring just about every possible training feature in a sleek unit that is perfectly designed for cyclists on and off the bike

Having been in cycling since the mid-1980s and being a scientific geek for at least as long if not longer, I have personally owned or professionally used nearly every generation of Polar watches. Like collecting hockey cards or comic books, I wish I had kept all of them so that I can set up a museum display in my lab! While old tech has an aura of its own, I’m always happy whenever a new toy lands on my desk. With that in mind, I spent a month putting the new Polar RCX5 through its paces.

The RCX5 comes with everything you need to turn your bike, body, and laptop into a cycling cyborg. The RCX5 package is customizable, and accessories include a handlebar mount, speed and cadence sensors, the s3 Stride sensor, the G5 GPS transmitter, the new Hybrid HR transmitter that can give good signals while swimming, and the data stick for downloading to polarpersonaltrainer.com. 

Loaded with Features
When it comes to heart rate monitors, I’m of the sentiment that there are only two types of market out there. On the one hand, there’s the large majority who simply want to see their heart rate while exercising. These folks likely have no desire to record their heart rate, download their exercise file, or really do any secondary analysis. For this market, a dead simple heart rate monitor that simply tells heart rate is ideal and all that is necessary.

At the other extreme are folks like you reading this review! My theory with this demographic is that, if you’re going to have any kind of bells and whistles beyond the basic reading of heart rate, you might as well go all out and have as much functionality and interactivity as possible. The RCX5 certainly fulfills this goal by having a full slate of heart rate and cycle computer features, with additional expansion capabilities through compatibility with a wide array of optional accessories. You can choose to purchase the RCX5 in Multi, Run, or Bike configurations depending on what accessories you desire.

All the usual cycle computer features, such as speed, distance, trip, and cadence are available. Ditto for recording features such as lap times and time spent in 5 heart rate zones that you can customize. A variety of interval workouts of different work and rest durations can also be set up on the watch as audio and visual reminders and timers. Finally, Polar has integrated a vast array of tests for everything from estimated fitness through to recovery. The possibilities are too extensive to list and review in detail. However, some highlights in terms of functions:

• The famous big red button is now a much more subdued small blue rectangle, It is angled at about 45 degree angle from the main face of the watch, and remains easy to push while riding with fingerless gloves. In my experience, this is the first Polar watch where I haven’t accidentally pressed the red button in everyday use, which can get incredibly aggravating when you find yourself with hours of “ghost” data.

• For recording laps, a great new feature is the Heart Touch, where you can mark a new lap simply by holding the watch next to the transmitter. This is great for training in the winter with gloves or any time you do not want to be fiddling with buttons. You can also customize this Heart Touch to show the time, activate the backlight, change training view, or show training limits.

• The Zone Optimizer feature can take some of the guesswork out of training. Rather than static heart rate zones that do not change day to day regardless of your fitness or fatigue, The Zone Optimizer tracks your heart rate and heart rate variability in the first 5 minutes of your workout, prompting you to ride for 2 min each in your Zones 1 and 2, followed by 1 min in Zone 3. From this, an algorithm adjusts your 5 heart training zones for that workout.

• The RCX5 can display 4 lines of data at a time. Pretty much any data you can think of can be displayed, from the usual speed and distance, lap and total times, through to different heart rate metrics (max, average, current) and energy burned (kcalories). Each of the lines of data have a similar size though, so none necessarily pop out at you. However, the large watch face makes the screen quite easy to view and the display is very readable.

• You can switch easily between up to 6 Training Views, each with 4 lines of customizable data. Furthermore, there are additional settings for 2 bikes, running, swimming, and other sports. The unique aspect of the RCX5 is that, even in the middle of a workout, you can switch between bikes or the multisport settings, permitting you to log a dual workout within the same file.

• The soft fabric Wearlink HR strap from Polar is simply the most comfortable strap I have used. It conforms well to the body, and can therefore be snugged up really tight so there’s no risk of slipping, but yet not restrict breathing or feel uncomfortable at the same time. The RCX5’s new “Hybrid” transmitter is the first from Polar that is designed to provide clean signals while swimming.

Ease of Use
Loads of features are pointless if the unit itself is difficult to navigate or to set. The Polar system shines in this respect, thanks to easy two-way communication with the polarpersonaltrainer.com on-line training log software. You can adjust pretty much everything directly using the watch by itself, but it can be annoying pushing all those watch buttons on a continual basis. I personally found the buttons so well placed on the RCX5 that the watch simple to configure on its own.

Polarpersonaltrainer.com
We will have a more in-depth review of Polar’s online training tracking software, polarpersonaltrainer.com, in another article, because it has been extensively updated and improved. The main thing to note, as it relates to the RCX5, is that data transfer using the data stick is simple to use and foolproof.

Briefly, PolarPersonalTrainer.com can provide nearly every type of heart-rate based training analysis that you can desire. Polarpersonaltrainer.com has added GPS viewing to its features, so each downloaded file includes an integrated view of the ride on Google Maps set to the terrain map view. Start, finish, and each lap are clearly marked, and the entire map can be zoomed in and out. This is a huge improvement over downloading it and then opening it up separately on Google Earth. For someone who’s travelling as much as I will be this coming year, GPS is a perfect way for keeping a scrapbook of great rides in different parts of the world.

Another nice feature of polarpersonaltrainer.com is the algorithm calculating Training Load. This gives each workout a numerical value based on effort and duration, so that you can track your long-term training stress and give some insight into your state of fitness or fatigue.

The optional S3 Stride+ sensor provides information on stride length and cadence, and has also undergone a slimming diet and a more secure attachment design compared to the previous Polar footpod sensors. 

G5 GPS = Goodness
For me, though, the real star of the show is Polar’s new G5 GPS sensor, which is compatible with both the RCX5 and RS800CX watches. I really loved using the previous G3 model, preferring it to the traditional speed sensor. That’s because I can use it with any bike at my disposal, rather than having to buy a separate speed sensor for each bike. 

The G5 marks a major improvement over the G3 in my opinion, due to its ridiculously small and light (46 g including the rechargeable battery, whereas the G3 was ~50 g without the single AA battery) design. It’s about the size of a large USB memory drive and approximately half to a third of the overall size of the G3, being all but unnoticeable when tossed into a jersey pocket or hydration pack. For multisport athletes, the included armband holds the G5 securely. The G5 has a claimed battery life of 20 hours, and I’ve used it for at least 15 h between charges without coming close to running it down.

The G5 GPS sensor take up pretty much no space and doesn’t flop around in your pocket while standing on the bike. I found it insanely reliable, and quickly ditched the actual bike speed sensor in favour of just using the G5 all the time regardless of bike or sport. 

Another improvement with the G5 GPS is that the noticeable time lag I experienced with the G3 seems to have disappeared. With the G3, I found a slight time lag of about 5 s with speed changes before the GPS speed catches up. So you can be at the bottom of a steep roller before the speed reading goes up, and vice versa in that there’s a few seconds lag after you start climbing before the speed drops. I’ve been riding for the past weeks with the G5 GPS right next to my regular PowerTap SL+ hub-based sensor and Joule 2.0 computer, and the speed responds as fast with the G5 as the SL+ hub. Of note of course is that the G5 and RCX5 works as a GPS recorder only, and that it doesn’t provide navigational abilities.

This is usually the point in the review where we’d show a pic of the whole bike computer setup. But since you can just wear the watch on your wrist and stuff the G5 in a pocket, there’s nothing to actually see and you can end up with full functionality with the cleanest look around!

GPS Practical Advantages
In addition to the functionality of GPS itself, the G5 has a whole host of practical advantages:

• For the multisport crowd, the GPS provides a seamless equipment transition between running and biking.

• The GPS also permits a full range of speed and distance tracking for cross-training, from hiking, snowshoeing, skiing, through to kayaking (it’s water-resistant, but keep it in a waterproof pouch regardless!). 

• Having as many bikes as I do, it’s a ridiculous expense to equip each of them with a speed sensor. Having the GPS also gives me extra geek points for tracking speed and distance data for the times when I’m running with the cross bike or portaging the mountain bike, along with my commuting and casual errand biking too.

• The speed sensors have non-replaceable batteries, so they’re dead and done once the batteries wear out and you need to buy a complete new sensor. Therefore, combined with the multiple bikes issue, the higher initial cost of the GPS unit will pay for itself.

• Hands up who actually goes to the full effort of measuring the circumference of each bike’s main wheels, let alone different wheelsets with different tires? I thought so, since I’m a science data geek and I still generally just set all of my bike computers to a default 2096 mm circumference for road tires. With the GPS, there’s no need for calibration between bikes and wheelsets or tires.

Godzilla versus King Kong: RCX5 versus RS800CX
Polar positions the RS800CX as the top model in its line, and the RCX5 slots just below it. Realistically, both are top-flight monitors that are useful for either cyclists or multisport athletes, although the RCX5 seems marketed a bit more for multisport. Brass tacks time though: which are the real deciding points when choosing between these two models?

• First off, if you already own a RS800CX, a RCX5 is largely redundant.

• Both are compatible with the same accessories (G5 GPS, speed and cadence sensors, S3 stride sensor for running), so a wash there. Both can record data at multiple frequencies, from 1 s to 60 s intervals.

• If style above all is your deciding factor and this is going to be your main watch on and off the bike, I think the RS800CX looks a lot better off the bike. The RCX5 looks a bit too much like Polar’s old Accurex model in its utilitarian design. On the plus side, the RCX5’s “big red button” is the first Polar model I’ve ever used where I don’t get accidental pressing of the button in everyday use.

• The RS800CX features altimeter data that is not available on the RCX5.

• Both watches are highly customizable, in terms of what data you want displayed. The larger face of the RCX5 permits 4 lines of data as opposed to the 3 on the RS800CX. 

• The RS800CX can be downloaded to polarpersonaltrainer.com, Polar’s Pro Trainer 5 software, or exported and then opened up in third party software like TrainingPeaks and WKO+. RCX5 can be downloaded to polarpersonaltrainer.com, or then exported to a file on your computer and then opened up in TrainingPeaks and WKO+. Thus, both are equally accessible across multiple software platforms.

• The RCX5 has new features that are major ergonomic improvements. The memory capacity is higher (I logged 20h worth of HR and GPS data with recording set at 2 s intervals), and features like the Zone Optimizer, Race Pace and the Heart Touch can help with your training, pacing, and also makes the watch itself much easier to use.

• The RS800CX has an OwnOptimizer test feature that analyzes your training status in the morning by examining your heart rate variability at rest. The RCX5 does not have this feature, but similar information can be gained using the Zone Optimizer feature during training, or by analyzing the Training Load information on polarpersonaltrainer.com.

• The RCX5 can switch sports/bikes in the middle of a workout or race, which makes it ideally suited to multisport athletes. In contrast, this would require stopping a file, starting another one, and ultimately many more button pushes with the RS800CX.

So at the end of the day, I found the two watches pretty similar in terms of being fully loaded and excellent watches. Your choice between them really comes down to personal preference.

Summary
Is the Polar RCX5 the ultimate training watch? There are other systems out there with close to the same general features for less cost. However, I think it’s fair to say that Polar remains firmly at the head of the pack, thanks to its comprehensive array of features, its compatibility with accessories (GPS, speed, cadence, stride sensor), and the easy two-way interface with the polarpersonaltrainer.com software. If you’re committed to heart-rate based training, the combination of the watch and software gives you everything you need to analyze your training and performance. Put everything together and there really isn’t anything that you would be lacking in terms of cycling computer or heart rate function. 

Bryton Cardio 30 – A Full Review

I will start this review saying I really really wanted the Bryton Cardio 30 to be a great product. On paper it seemed perfect – a small size, waterproof, gps enabled but I have been sadly let down.

Out of the box it seemed nice presented in a neat case with instructions and lead enclosed.

Physical:

It is smaller and lighter than I thought it would be – the tiny face displaying 3 lines of data. The strap is comfortable which is a major point for me. The waterproof rating is very good and the construction seems robust.

In Action:

This is were I start to well up – it is hopeless as a training HRM. It may pair easily enough with ANT+ coded items and it may acquire a satellite reading in an OK time but it sucks when you want to read any info from it in a run. The display is useless – it always shows distance in the top line of the display and it will show Heart Rate / Time / Calories / Distance(rpt) but what any running watch needs to show is at least HR and Disatnce AND Time …. preferably at the same time.

The second bad point is that although it can be set to autolap at every 1km say it does nothing else … there is no lap time shown / there is no summary to read and no way to gauge how fast your last split was unless you deduct the last km from current and try work out the split …. and when you are pressing on in a training run this is the last thing you can do.

So this leaves it as a GPS tracker with which you can analyse your run when you finish …. but the disaster here is that the GPS is wildly inaccurate. I used it on the MTB marathon in Wales and it was way different from the Garmin Edge 305 I had on the bike (this is a steal these days at £170 ish)

Blue=Bryton Green=Garmin

This was bad enough but did a run on my regular river route and the Bryton came up very short again … you can see the type of track it records … this is an open park with near zero tree cover and NO tall building nearby ….

My Suunto T6 with GPS and the Garmin Edge (as well as sites like WALKJOGRUN) gave the same reading only ever differentiating by about 50m over a 12km run – but the Bryton is bad – it is out by 800m on this run which is an 83.9% accuracy according to a comparison on Sportypal…. so distance wise it was 800m out on this run and 2km out over a 52km ride. Very Very VERY poor

So thankfully Wiggle operates a good return policy and I will be buying something else that is ANT+ compliant (prob a Garmin of some sort)

BOTTOM LINE – Avoid the Bryton Cardio like the plague ….. it is faulty with bad software, bad GPS and terrible interface.

I have since bought myself a polar RCX5 which is just fantastic …. review HERE

That there Ruthin MTB marathon I did

map of the 50km route

A race weekend and I felt ill prepared. I had not bothered with the 100mile Sportive the weekend before due the remnants of the hurricane hitting Scotland’s shores. I did however make the most of it by going kitesurfing and filming it on the GoPro - see last weeks blog post for that bad video ….

I am currently working on a CH5 series which will go out in 6 weeks – I can’t give out any details but suffice to say that some of the subjects are a lesson in taking care of yourself (both in what you eat and exercise) So I was in the edit when ‘he who shall remain nameless aka NICK’ started sneezing away spreading germs by the ton.

I knew then that I would get it being confined in a small room with the sick bastard and true to my prediction come Saturday afternoon as i packed the bike and set off down the road I had a sore throat and the start of a runny nose.

In retrospect had i realised this was a 4+hr drive I might not have bothered to do it by myself. I got down to Ruthin about 9pm as the Exposure Big Night Out race was finishing … amazing to see the guys waltz in after 40km looking as fresh as a daisy.

I went to the table where they were getting tea and begged for a cup of boiling water … it was a lemsip for me then and there and quickly going off to crash. I hadn’t bothered with a tent, instead sleeping in the back of the estate which was remarkably comfortable.

Up at 8am and off to the catering tent for porridge and tea. Prepare the bike – making sure the Racing Ralph was still holding air … I ripped the sidewall out of the last one in Selkirk in August. then set shock and I was ready to race.

Porridge and tea please guv'nor

My race plan due to the cold was this:

Do the 50km race not the 75km

Keep heart rate below 150bpm

Start and better still ... FINISH

10am Start – at 10:06 hit the bottom of the hill that would only go up for the next 30 minutes, quickly wished I hadn’t started at the back as idiots all around stopped pedalling and thought about walking and in a lot of the cases did. My rohloff speedhub goes down to to about 19 gear inches so I can get up most hills as long as I have traction and can keep the nose from rising too much.

nice singletrack through moor

The weather was alright although the rain had made the course very muddy – something I regretted having the Racing Ralph on the back which held the claggy mud and made it pretty sketchy at times. Plodded along the whole way …. cleaned all the technical sections although had two very stupid falls, both times breaking on nearly level grass before a sharp turn to a technical section. A bit of back brake and the RR shot out sideways leaving me feeling rather stupid but completely unhurt.

down to the reservoir - big gaps between riders at this time

I only stopped at the first feed station but had enough to keep going through the rest. The finish was the biggest challenge trying to follow the signs through town and then not seeing the turn in to the park and the finish. Ended up down at the roundabout looking for directions before retracing my steps and eventually seeing another marker.

more mud and shorten course blob of paint for 75km entrants that did 50km

End result 3hr 54min (-2min spent looking for finish) AVE speed (a slow) 13.5 km/h

HR average 145 / 173 max

Nice to be finished – had a quick bike wash, shower for myself then treated myself to leg massage before the 4.5hr drive home.

Bontrager RXL shoes are fantastic fit and really stiff and comfy. Lost a bit of disco white with mud but cleaned right up.

proof on the speedo

OVERALL:

Course not great – pretty boring the Selkirk event was more varied and challenging

Camping and Event site – fine and would have been good if family were along as well.

Entry fee – a bit sharp

strange man and penny farthing - my rohloff'ed ti bride 96'er

Were you there at Ruthin? …. how did your day go?

SIDE NOTE

Was using the Bryton Cardio 30 on the bike as well as the Garmin Edge 305 (which is great and now around £175) and there was quite a large difference in readings.

There was a small section in woodland but not enough for this difference.

Blue=Bryton Green=Garmin

I am still testing the Bryton Cardio 30 and so far I would advise people to hold off buying … their website was playing up and there are various things missing from their functions that should be addressed.

Adieu to the Kite Surfer: Whisked away by the winds of change . . .

I was compiling a series of links to discuss when the Kite Surfer, whom I believed was heading out the door for some well-earned leave, revealed that destiny had decided that his fate lay elsewhere and that he would not be returning to the desert so with exchanges of “Bon Voyage” and “Keep writing” he was whisked away on the winds of change.

The most poignant piece that I stumbled across this week was Nicholas Roche Vuelta blog. Roche, son of Stephen, is a stalwart rider who maintains a top 20 position across most of the Grand Tours. The Vuelta D’Espana is the last of the 3 grand tours and tends to suffer as a result of exhaustion. Roche describes one of the hieneous mountain stages: stage 15; a stage where, sadly, Bradley Wiggins loses the Red Jersey of the overall leader on CG. Roche has been praised time and again for his easy-going yet engrossing style and it is easy to see why in this piece. The ferocity of the climb is recounted in the ratios that the riders have selected. I will let Roche take up the story . . .

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/nicolas-roche-i-went-ballistic-at-our-bus-drivers-remark-2866562.html

I had also promised an update on http://www.myfitnesspal.com

While it is a useful tool to log the perennial calorie input / output equilibrium I must be honest and say that its prediction that I would lose 3lb of French bread, cheese and wine is inaccurate because I have lost no lbs!!! Granted it is very diffiult to accurately estimate the quantities of food but I have cut down drasticallly on my sugar intake (white chocolate cookies) and maintained exercise levels but the needle currently hoovers at 150 lb. I will persevere until the end of this desert stint and then re-evaluate. The key take-away thus far is the monitoring of food stuffs and sugar intake so it can’t be bad.

The season is almost over. A quick check of the British Cycling website reveals that there are no races within striking distance for me when I get back to the UK in mid-Sep. I may look for a sportif just to keep the miles up but I have almost resigned myself to getting into winter routine of long steady zone 1/2 rides to keep the base fitness steady. So, on current predictions, it looks like I will finish the season as a Cat 3 having begun as a Cat 4 and the next challenge will be deciding if I want / can put the work in over the winter to challenge for a Cat 2 promotion. My initial feelings are that I would have to make a very determined effort as my build and record point towards longer, hillier races but there are far more criteriums than there are hills so I would need to generate a stack more power to challenge for the flat sprints. Set against this challenge is the march of time . . . .

Shifting, quite literately, to the technology side of the debate I notice that Wiggle are offering a pre-order of the new Ultegra Di2. I do like Wiggle; they are fast and friendly and their returns services are always no quibble. Having been really disappointed with the Saris Bones they refunded the entire cost and the postage. This piece, however, is not about Wiggle per se, but Ultegra Di2. I expect that it will be very popular as it reaches a large audience given its pricing and spec. To top it off it gets a 4 1/2 star rating from Bikeradar: http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/components/groupset/road/product/review-shimano-ultegra-di2-transmission-11-45107 so this will definitely be on the list for roadies this Christmas and to help make that decision, Shimano have distributed 1000 try-before-you-buy bikes around their distributors so that you can have some fun before the season starts in earnest!

The last piece of news before I wrap up is the switch-round of teams as the season closes. It looks like Radio Shack and Team Leopard will joins forces for 2012 allowing Bruyneel to take the Shlek brothers under his sizeable wing and get them ready for Le Boucle 2012: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/leopard-trek-confirms-merger-with-radioshack

So with 9 days to push before I join the Kite-Surfer in the land of wind and rain it is back on the LeMond spin bikes with no immediate races to worry about it will be nice to dream about what difference that Di2 will make and get very jealous of Mrs C riding the coastal paths of Glamorgan in the Sunday morning sunshine!! Bon chance to the Kite Surfer in his forthcoming 100 miler and wherever the winds of change may take him.

Bryton Cardio 30 ordered – to be reviewed soon

Interesting to see how the new upstart compares to others on the market.

Cardio 30

Cardio 30, the smallest GPS sports watch on the market, is for all levels of athletes. By setting goals in our pro-training programs, Cardio 30 can accurately calculate and record your location, speed, distance, pace, stride rate, cadence*, heart rate* and more. Your training results then can be shared and analyzed at brytonsport.com.

With built-in “G sensor”, no extra foot pod is needed for indoor exercise.

Obviously Garmin (with their patent infringement lawsuit) have their various Forerunners (which I found uncomfortable and too chunky) and Suunto with their T6C and Polar are main competitors … although Suunto/Polar have seperate GPS units which pair.

I wanted a system that worked on ANT+ so that my cycling and running as on one system …..

A review coming which will hopefully give more info and insight than the Bryton website.

Bryton Cardio 30 Review (via Andrew Birkett’s Blog)

Thinking of getting one to combine my cycling and hrm training – and to replace the Suunto T6C ……

This GPS sports watch is the smallest on the market and that’s the first advantage of this unit, many people find other large bulky units irritating for running so. I played around with the Cardio 30, took it for a run or two before using it in a race. It was very easy to learn how to use the unit, with a very simple and uncomplicated interface. What is probably the best thing about the Bryton Cardio 30 is it provides you with all the essentials … Read More

via Andrew Birkett’s Blog

Tonic vanishing point review from RIDE.cc

£1300 frame and forks

When a steel bike for testing was mentioned I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. I love steel bikes, I’ve owned three of my own in last few years and tested a couple more and every one has left a smile on my face. While I was doing a bit of research on Tonic’s Vanishing Point I just couldn’t get one little number out of my head – 2400g frame and fork weight. After miles and miles on carbon and alloy machines weighing a kilo under that was I finally about to ride a steel bike that wasn’t going to inspire?

Everything from Tonic Fabrication is hand made in house by the two man team Landon & Tony in Portland, Oregon. Right down to custom bending their tubing to the CNC machining of dropouts and other parts allowing full control over every detail found in one of their frames. The Vanishing Point is their first foray into the road market after cutting their teeth with jump bikes, fixed gear and then cyclocross.

Available as a frameset,r custom build or off the peg the options are endless We’re testing our Vanishing Point mainly as a frameset, but the build we have is available as an option too for £4100 – it does include some pretty snazzy componentry not least those Easton EC90 wheels and builds up to a complete bike weight of 8.4Kg.

It’s a beautiful looking frame with neat touches like the open ended seat and chainstay tubes blending into the, in comparison, dainty machined dropouts. My favourite part of the whole frame though has got to be the wishbone seatstay. The transition between tubes and diameters is seamless and so much more pleasing to the eye than the usual twin stays. In fact the smooth welds and black paintjob create a flowing structure throughout the frame. The oversized headtube with intergrated headset also flows nicely to both the top and down tube, with no logo or badge covering it the lines are kept clean and simple. The only quibble with the quality of the frame is the fact that the threads on the water bottle bosses weren’t cleaned out, no doubt the production models will come with cage bolts so this would be noticed before dispatch. The understated black paint looks classy but if its not to your taste custom colour options are available starting at a reasonable £95. If you want to go the full custom route things like mudguard eyelets and rack mounts can be sorted at the time of ordering as well.

Tonic’s design spec was to create a comfortable frame but fast and stiff like a track bike. The use of oversize Columbus Zona and True Temper OX Platinum tubing create the stiffness with deep section 22.2mm chainstays and 38mm diameter downtube controlling the flex from the bottom bracket area. In Tony’s own words “As for the tubing used, we select it based on Diameter, wall thickness, Butt profile and intended use (No magic formula here) . But we have always preferred the aesthetic and ride quality of large constant diameter tubes over award winning shapes and tapers.” The ride itself was somewhat compromised by the overly stiff bar, stem and seatpost choice, taking away the vibration reducing qualities of the steel but on rides of three hours or more the frame comfort shone through as I was finding my body a lot less fatigued than usual even when really pushing it.

The beefy carbon Enve forks bring a lot to the ride with good vibration reduction to match the frame but plenty stiff enough to give loads of feedback in the corners. Tonic Fabrication can supply a steel fork if you want something a bit different. Its a trimmed down version of the Suernaut steel fork. Getting the power down was fun too, when once up to speed the Vanishing Point is easy to keep there. The lightweight Easton wheel and component package our frame was supplied with balances out the frame and fork weight. Better to have the weight as a static than revolving in the case of heavy wheels. Hard acceleration and climbing showed no problems with stiffness with barely any flex felt anywhere and high speed descents were easily controlled thanks to the confident tracking of the Enve fork.

Although a frame and fork test obviously the components fitted to the frame will have a large impact on how the bike feels. As mentioned above the Easton finishing kit was so stiff it was really at odds with the frame, especially the aero bars – one of the reasons we reckoned it was fairer to test the Vanishing Point as a frameset. A swap to a more traditional bar with a bit of flex in it would help the overall comfort levels a huge amount. The Easton EC90 SL wheels, while amazing to ride giving loads of feedback and some of the best braking (in conjunction with Swisstop yellow pads) I’ve ever known are just too stiff to compliment the frame. Sram Force provided the drivetrain and gears and while not being one of my favourites gave clean shifts and stayed running quite and in alignment over the test period.

Verdict

In conclusion the Vanishing Point is a great looking and riding frame and fork. Build it up with some slightly less harsh components than we had, for day long rides and getting big miles in fast its up there with the best of them. The kudos of having a bike that not many people have heard of also is a feel good factor especially with its understated looks. A great blend of speed and comfort gives the Vanishing Point a large appeal to many, if you’re after an unassuming stealth sportive bike to slot in between the MAMIL’s Pinarello’s book yourself a test ride.

I love this shot – fab cafe and bike shop

Filming the other day popped into the North Star Cafe in glasgow on Queen Margaret drive for lunch. It’s great tasting and has a healthy/hearty menu. Love the way they have menu written over the tiles and that long mirror.
Nice little street with the most excellent bike shop right nearby – the lovely Carl at BikeLove – he is going to be assembling a new range of Surly fixies for cheaper than the standard range. Give him a call +44 141 945 0999 and see what he can do for you … I am sure he can ship around the UK too….
bikelove
120 Queen Margaret Drive, Glasgow G20 8NZ
Subway: Kelvinbridge SPT Subway Station
Open Weekdays 9am-7pm
Sat 9am-6pm

 

Do you know the cafe and the shop? Tell me about your favourite place?

Review – Hope 1 LED front light

Hope’s Vision 1 LED has been around for a while now. Running off four AA batteries the whole thing is contained in a beautifully machined aluminium can. It looks lovely and well made.

What makes this light practically unique, and explains its enduring popularity, is that it runs off ordinary AA batteries, rather than a separate battery pack or internal rechargable cell. That makes it considerably more versatile if you’re about to embark on a long night ride as you just need to carry a spare set of batteries to keep yourself going. I

Controlled by a single top-mounted button the light switches on in Low requiring a single press to cycle through each of the settings (Low, Medium, Max, Flash) and then back round to Low. Sensibly, Off is removed from the cycle, requiring a long hold on the button, so you won’t plunge yourself into darkness in between settings.

Hope claim a pretty hefty 240 lumens on Max. Our beam tests confirm that the Hope is kicking out plenty of light –  On Max it’s plenty enough for off road riding, although I’d be as cautious on unfamiliar trails. Flash setting is my default for bike commuting on the roads.

Run time is dependent on what batteries you use. I used 2500 mAh rechargeables from Maplin which gave me over three hours on Max.

The light has a simple on/off/mode switch on the back. This has a new cycle programme which turns the light on in ‘low’ mode and cycles through to the higher settings. This gives better control of the light in tricky situations when more light is needed quickly.

As well as the universal handlebar clamp, a NEW! reinforced nylon helmet mount is also included, along with a wrist lanyard as well as ample velcro fastenings. This makes the light truly adaptable. Perfect for bikers, outdoor enthusiasts and people looking for a high quality, high powered light for other nocturnal activities!

USE: When it goes dark! At home, in the car, on the bike,
walking the dog…

Verdict

Versatile light with hefty beam and respectable runtime. Watch out for the sharp cutoff using NiCad though.

Excellent review of the Rohloff Speedhub (from 29inches)

Great article from twentynineinches on the rohloff speed hub.

Read their article here.

Lovely anodised red

I have taken the liberty to put it all together below for easier reading:

Part 1 – INTRO: Who of you has heard about the Rohloff Speedhub 500/14? For those of you who have – it probably holds the image of German engineering par excellence – and of high pricing probably.

For those of you who haven’t I will give you a very brief wrap-up of the thing:

The Speedhub is an all German made, internally geared hub with 14 gears spaced evenly at 13.6 % resulting in exactly the same range as a standard MTB 27-speed drive train. By following extremely low tolerances and keeping the system completely encapsulated Rohloff claims to have comparable power loss by friction to an externally geared system (aka derailleur driven) and will run virtually forever with minimal servicing (only an annual oil change recommended). The hub has been in production for over 10 years And yes, it is costly, even here in its homeland.

(Before you readers start raining a myriad of technical questions, I herewith redirect your enquiries of such kind to the Rohloff website: http://www.rohloff.de. There is tons of technical info to be read about the working, on Rohloff´s – including compatibility charts, gearing ratios, exploded drawings. They even have done a book covering the Rohloff story)

fig. 1 The ROHLOFF Speedhub 500/14 in the test – condition like it should be: spotted with dirt. The labeling is laser etched into the black anodized hub shell. Each hub is individually numbered.

What motivated Bernd Rohloff, the man behind the hub to build this? – Before the Speedhub Rohloff has been producing (and still is for that matter) premium bicycle chains including several precision tools in that area.

There is a neat anecdote about it (rephrased to keep it short): “He was doing a vacation on the French Atlantic coast, riding along the sandy beach … or at least trying to as it only took two breakers to completely foul the drive train. It was there and then that the idea for a ever-running system was born. Two years and countless hours with technical drawings and engineering later, Bernd was pedaling it away happily without a second thought to the drive train-hostile environment. That was 1998 and by now there are over 100.000 Speedhub units in use on all kinds of bikes.

Here comes a bit more tech talk though:

The Rohloff 500/14 Speedhub basically consists of three units:

1, The 14-speed internal geared hub (available in a disc- or v-brake specific, and a QR or through axle version). Consisting of a hugely oversized hub shell housing the transmission unit (32 and 36 holes available in the colors silver, black and red anodized with laser etched logos), interchangeable side-plates on both sides and a screw on cog (standard is 16 teeth, 13, 15 and 17 teeth are available separately)

2, The mounting hardware: It takes special attachment systems to compensate the rotational forces induced by the internal gearing. Depending on the drop-out and frame design these can be simply a plate (if the frame is Rohloff-specific like in fig. 2), or varying torque arms (depending if the frame has disc brake bosses or not, one version shown in fig. 3)

fig. 2 This set up shows Rohloff specific dropouts, where the torque is taken up by the long slotted dropout and a special plate (only visible by the “in the know” near the lower end of the slot). Chain tensioning here is done by the sliding dropouts. The shifting commands are transferred by dual cables and the external gearbox.

fig. 3 Here a version with the long torque arm is shown. This version is needed when the frame is not suitable for disc brakes or when the disc brake tabs are not on the seat stays of the frame like on this frame. Why? -Think about which direction rotational forces will work.

3, The twist shifter proprietary to the system. This shifter is driving dual cables to the hub – usually in full length housing. The attachment to the hub can be by an external gearbox, like shown, which is recommended when running disc brakes or by an internal system which is about 100 g lighter. The shifter is not indexed like all other bike gearing systems but the indexing is happening directly at the place of shifting, inside the hub.

(Bikes with no built-in chain tensioning option or suspension bikes will need a chain tensioner) The rest of the modifications is like converting into a single chainring crankset and a specific 4-bolt disc rotor, as the standard systems don´t work with 6-bolt rotors.

Fig. 4 The shifters are like any twist shifter – only these actuate two cables. Yes, they are a bit clumsy looking.

So much for the marketing talk.

What is the Speedhub really all about? Does it work fine? How does the planetary gearing react when put through its paces? What about the total weight or weight distribution on the bike, compared to a standard derailleur system or SS? Is the system really bomb-proof and maintenance free – regardless of riding and climate?

Rohloff Speedhub part II

(First of all thanks for the patience on this follow up of the first article concerning the ROHLOFF Speedhub 500/14 and the great input by so many of you.)

So let´s get started. This winter is slowly passing for the spring (at least that´s what the
weatherman said before the recent blizzard turned all into a late winter wonderland) and I have been riding the Speedhub 500/14 in 29er set up for a fair amount of time – that is every time I had the derailleur gearing on any of my other rigs frozen or mucked up, I simply turned to my Rohloff build and rode away.

My story with the Speedhub: The last sentence pretty much states my story why I (and so many others) had turned to the Rohloff Speedhub in the first place: Because I was spending simply too much time cleaning and adjusting the external shifting, time that I wanted to ride instead. I could have turned to SS but some reluctance to self-induced suffering, and the desire to ride everything (that is everything I had been riding on my standard geared bike) made me turn my attention to internally geared systems.
The offerings of trail worthy internally geared systems are few and the Rohloff was and still is by far the one with the largest gearing range. I had been riding my Speedhub for more than 2 years in a 26” wheel but as I was turning more and more towards exclusive 29er riding, and the Speedhub was getting less and less use. Not because of the hub, but because of the wheel size it was built into … eventually, after a considerable time of neglect, I felt it was time to rebuild the Speedhub into a 29er wheel – and so I did.

One more word on compatibility: Initially I was using the Speedhub in a standard frame with vertical disc mounts and without disc brake tabs, which required me to run a chain tensioner and the external torque arm – which both worked flawlessly but looked dead ugly. Later I had the frame retrofitted with Rohloff specific sliding dropouts (incl. disc brake tabs) and I was able to use the much more elegant OE1 torque plate and leave tensioning duties to the sliders. Like I stated before almost any frame can be converted to Speedhub with one of the multiple mounting options. (again: turn to the Rohloff website and their step-by-step Speedhub finder.

The build
Building a Rohloff Speedhub 500/14 is nothing spectacular but can be a bit peculiar -only two things need to be considered:
1, Spoke length: The large diameter of the Speedhub´s shell requires considerably shorter spokes than with other hubs. In a 26” configuration getting the right length spokes can be difficult at times but running the larger diameter 29er hoops puts you in the range of your standard 26” spoke lengths. For finding out your required spoke length have a lookhere (http://www.rohloff.de/en/technical/speedhub/spoke
_lengths/index.html).

2, Lacing pattern: The other issue is that lacing is recommended to be different. This is because the spokes can interfere with the hub shell. When doing a 26” wheel it is only possible to execute a 2-crossed, lacing. With 29er wheels and their common ERD of 600 to 605 mm Rohloff clearly recommends doing the same but there is more flexibility.
On my rebuild I had done a 3-crossed lacing with good results. (This was primarily because I wanted to use some high end Sapim CX-Ray bladed spokes that I had laying in my shop.)

Adapting the bike and gearing limitations: The changes to the bike are analogue to the steps of converting your bike to single speeding; meaning you only need a single chain ring, do away with the front and rear derailleur plus shifters, shorten the chain, ….One thing is worth mentioning and that is the ratio between the chain ring and the cog is recommended to be no lower than 2.35 / 1, which basically means in order to not exceed the maximum input torque you should not run a combination lower than 40/17, 38/16, 36/15 or 32/13. By design this also represents the same gearing range of a 9-speed 11-34 configuration. I kept to these recommendations with my 26” wheel but decided to neglect them in my 29er build to compensate for the larger wheels. During the last 7 months I was running my bike most of the time with a 36/16 configuration (yes, this is lower than recommended) and on some specifically grueling alpine trips was even doing a 34/16 combination – (you can see the double ring configuration in the front on the next picture). And this much needs to be said at this point: All without any adverse effects. (Note that this was my personal choice and is not encouraged here.)

When confronting the Rohloff people with this they sure enough told me that this was not covered under warranty but in the same breath assured me not to worry as the hub was built to last. First of all it is built plenty strong (it is designed to handle Pro racing and tandem usage!), secondly there are several safety features built in the hub that would fail when overloaded before serious damage occurred to the hub. For example the internals of the hub are fixed to the shell by 9 small nylon pins that will shear when overloaded prior to any gearing damage. Then there are the bolts that hold the torque plate in place and the list continues …. All things that are easy to fix. GERMAN ENGINEERING at its best.

Weight and mounting:
The weight of a fitted Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 including twist shifter, shifter cables and cable guide is 1700 to 1825 g. This variation is mostly attributed to the way the shifting action reaches the hub. The different mounting options can vary by up to 100 g as well with the OE1 version being the lightest.

The external gear box (picture with the red hub, courtesy of Rohloff AG, also showing n OE1 torque plate and disc brake hub shell) is generally recommended when running disc brakes. It requires full length cable housing running from the shifters right up to the to the box and acts as a transmitting device to the hub. The two screws at the intake act as the cable tensioning devices. The box part can be easily detached by loosening a single tool-free screw for easy wheel removal, while the longer arm remains fixed to the hub. The fixture of the gear box can be rotated by 30° steps all around the hubs axis, independently of the torque arm setup – to allow for maximum flexibility. In the unlikely event of any failure of the shifter or cables this configuration allows to set any gear by a simple 8 mm open wrench.

The internal gearbox (shown on black hub with OE2 plate and non-disc hub shell) is about 100 g lighter by having the shifter cables run directly into the hub but requires some kind of frame mounted stop for the cable housing. In addition the cables need to have a splitting device for wheel removal. (no worry, all these parts are readily available through Rohloff or your dealer). These cables may interfere with the disc rotors, which is why it is not recommended for use with disc brakes. The proprietary twist shifter weighs in at roughly 140 g (with a very small number of tuning shifters available (e. g. by Tune called the “Rolff” or REWEL, Italy) and can be mounted on either side of the bars.

The Rohloff specific rotors (with a 4-bolt attachment by standard chain ring bolts) weigh roughly the same as standard rotors and are available in 160 and 180 mm diameters. There are several aftermarket versions available to get the rear rotors match your front rotors if you are worried about your bikes appearance. All in all my rear wheel with Speedhub and all mounting hardware weighed roughly 2530 g (sans tires that is). This sounds like much (and it is) especially when the comparable wheel with XTR hubs (incl. cassette and rotor), comparable spokes and rims weighs at a seemingly featherweight 1380g. But keep in mind there are about 700 g of other components you get to take off when running the Speedhub (like granny and big chain ring, front and rear mech, and part of the shifters weight). So when you do the math, your bike running on a Speedhub will gain between 500 g (when compared to a SLX/XT level drive train) and ~1100 g (when compared to other high end componentry) – It can be more when considering ultralight components but these riders don´t usually look at the ROHLOFF Speedhub anyway.

Ultimately my personal bike gained ~700 g compared to my XT/XTR drive train I was running before. Was it worth it? Wait and see the riding report. This weight difference will always be there (until ROHLOFF releases a light version of the hub that has been rumored for years now) and it is one of the strongest arguments among weight weenies and XC racers against the Speedhub 500/14, but when you take a look at the internals (shown in this cut away picture, courtesy of Rohloff AG) you begin to appreciate that it is only this much.

Speedhub in Action – Riding experiences on the ROHLOFF Speedhub 500/14:

OK so now that the bike is set up with Rohloff – let´s get it out and dirty!! Like I have mentioned I had owned the ROHLOFF Speedhub 500/14 for some time now, originally in 26” but now for more than 7 months in a 29er wheel so this review is based on some serious mileage. In the 29er configuration I have been on the bike on and off – mostly in the worst of conditions.

Add-ons to the last post: The original Rohloff shifters are not recommended for Carbon bars: For that combination you will have to turn to one of the few aftermarket shifter alternatives like Tune´s Rolff.

And one more thing for those running one of those modern Post-Mount disc brake equipped frames – no adapters existing! (The only option for you is to refer to the long torque arms – not too aesthetically pleasing, but possible)

Shifting impressions: So how is the Speedhub on the trail? The first thing you will realize when coming from your standard external shifting is that you can change gears whenever you choose to – no pedaling, wheel rotation or other motion required. You can change gear with your bike standing – cool.

The downside is that shifting becomes increasingly harder under pedaling loads. It has been mentioned here in some comments that when pedaling hard it becomes near impossible to shift and you are right – it is. This might be a bummer for some but I learned to live with this very quickly and never felt like it was taking away from my performance. You simply learn to take off the pressure for this moment of shifting and then go on. This takes quite some discipline when standing in the starter block but is possible nonetheless. Not being a racer primarily I have come to love the “anytime shifting” of the Rohloff – just think of how often you needed to lift up your bike and do a pedal stroke to air shift into the desired gear when starting out or on the first steep pitch after a downhill, in technical riding, or after a crash. With the Speedhub you just shift, wherever, whenever – simple as that. Besides, Rohloff claims that you just can´t harm the hubs internals by forcing a shift, no matter how hard you pedal – good to know.

With the above mentioned case – there can be some ghost shifting, when shifting under pedal load – I have been able to force them on the hub. But they can happen only between the gears 7 and 8 and it really took me several deliberate attempts to ever make that happen. In all my time on the Speedhub I never experienced this to happen unintentionally so to me the shifting has been 100 % spot on (at any condition).

The shifting action at the shifter can feel a bit undefined, though, especially when coming from the latest crispy SRAM and SHIMANO shifters. Keep in mind that the Rohloff shifter does nothing but pull cables – all the indexing is done inside the Speedhub itself. So cable tension and cable friction do play a role in this but the shifting feel will always be less precise to high end conventional shifters. Theoretically you can shift all 14 gears in one stroke. The 21° twist per gear (273° for all 14 gears) limits this capacity though. Unless you can twist your wrist in very strange ways, it will take 2-3 strokes to cover the full range – but here again, anytime and anywhere. Additionally the large diameter barrel at the shifters make for a considerable cable throw in the hub. If I were to ask for a shifter redesign it would be to make gearing steps smaller, reduce the shifter in overall size and make it carbon bar compatible. The shifters have some strongly triangulated grip area, that has been receiving some “semi-positive” comments – to me it felt fine and despite being a bit oversize I felt OK with it.

Shifting action in respect of finding the correct gear is as simple as it can get – no dual shifters, cross chaining or double gears to consider just equal transmission steps by 13,6 % with each shift. A real no-brainer.

Riding impressions: The first thing that struck me on my bike equipped with ROHLOFF´s Speedhub was the clean looks. I like that and there are way less possibilities to get caught on rocks or branches. (I ride much in wooded or rocky terrain and so I usually have several fatalities with my rear derailleurs every year.) Just like a SS bike, pure, clean and simple but without the limitations (and, yes – more weight).

Gearing range: Like stated many times before, the gearing range is equivalent to a standard 27-spd external system. With the Speedhub it is a very easy task to modify this range in either direction. Going faster is no issue at all (just mount a bigger chain ring) – fine for those running smaller wheels. But us big wheelers are prone to peek in the other direction – choosing even lower gears. The introduction of ever more 11-36 cassettes and other 29er specific gearing are signs for that. And unfortunately here we run into manufacturer recommendations (see prior report). I am glad to say that my neglect of these recommendations and decision for running smaller chain rings (36 and sometimes 34 instead of the recommended 38 teeth) has never ever caused any issues riding (apart from voiding my warranty) but has granted me the option of riding through some climbs where with a normal 34 to 22 gearing I would have been walking.

I admit that at these speeds walking might have been just as fast but personally I love the sensation of riding all the way, rather than pushing (one more reason I could never get hooked on SS riding).

“Rohloffing”: When riding a Speedhub you will be aware that there is something going on in the rear of the bike under you. In some gears you can hear a whirring sound and sometimes feel minimal vibrations at your cranks. Nothing serious but it can be irritating at first. These noticeable gears are the lower 7 ones with a definite climax in gear 7 (which is where the third planetary gear is kicking in). It certainly feels a bit strange to not feel anything in higher gears (8 to 14) and suddenly with the switch from 8 to 7 have these sensations coming. Once you get accustomed to the hub it kind of fades away in your perception – at least it did with me. When being really sensitive you will notice this sensation increase just so slightly under high torque. To me these sensations are what kept me away from going ROHLOFF all the way and never looking back. More on that further down. While the noises and vibration can be more with a new Speedhub, it usually becomes lesser with time. It is a mere effect of all the precision crafted gear wheels adapting to one another and running smoother. The manual states that it will take between 500 to 1000 km to reach its equilibrium and has not been detected to change anymore after. So far I can fully back up that statement.

Besides these lower gears the hub is running mostly unnoticeable. The gear No. 11 is the direct gear with every rotation in the cog is translated directly to the wheel.

One thing that will get you wondering is the fact that when your take off your feet off the pedal when coasting, you likely will see your cranks starting to rotate. Ever seen that happen on your external shifting system? I have and it always has been a sign of some malfunction in the freewheel. “Friction” is the inevitable thought that will cross your mind, which brings us to the next big issue with the ROHLOFF Speedhub:

Efficiency: Rohloff goes through great effort in explaining why their system is near identical in efficiency to a well kept external gearing system – with a multitude of scientific and semi-scientific explanations which I will spare you (have a look for yourself if you have some extra hours). Basically I concluded that efficiency under pedal load and when riding is a different matter to spinning your wheel in the stand. And you know what: I have come to believe them (even though I haven´t been able to understand everything). I have read of reports by riders, who had abandoned using the Rohloff because of the sensation of resistance and friction some gears had given them (and from the above mentioned sensations I can even understand this mental connection). There is probably truth to both sides and I agree this whirring sensation does make you wonder about friction and can lead to the subjective feeling of slowness. Being a tester I can´t just get away with these thoughts and so I went through the effort of looking at the recorded speeds and lap times on my usual rounds and I came to realize it was merely going on in my head (or too minimal to detect by my simple means).

Ignore that suspicion and chances are you will become a Speedhub fan. Give in to that nagging voice and chances are you will always wonder if you might not be faster with standard shifting systems.

Additionally I just want to throw in that efficiency is one side of the coin but being able to shift freely under any circumstance and trail condition might be the other one. In that respect the Speedhub has never let me down. For me it was: When conditions turned really nasty and my externally geared bikes were quitting on me, the Speehub equipped bike remained completely unimpressed.

One more tangible difference is the distribution of the weight with a Speedhub. Here you have much more weight concentrated in the rear of the bike. Lift up your bike and you will immediately notice. Since I was riding it on a light rigid bike the front was plenty light already and having even more weight shifted to the rear it made some adjustment necessary to succeed on some of the steeper climbs. Again, a bit of body english was all that was needed and maneuvers like wheelies and technical riding became natural again. Only Bunny-Hopping just wouldn´t work out for me like before – blame my lack of bike handling skills for that. I am not too fond of big-jumps and air-time and on those small jumps I have been doing it never became an issue. Through other riders I hear that the Speedhub is actually quite popular with gravity driven riders for so the weight distribution can´t be this much off there either.

Maintenance: That has been a very easy one for me – NONE but the frequent lubing of the chain. I have completely neglected the hub, none of the yearly recommended oil changes (though I will do one after completing the test just because it is cheap, simple and it cannot hurt). It is reassuring that Rohloff recommends the yearly oil change (or after 5000 km, whichever comes first) as the only service for the Speedhub 500/14.

When talking about maintenance it is important to note that your chain will be lasting considerably longer (because it will be stressed evenly) and with the cog being reversible you can get twice the mileage out of them (besides being high grade stainless steel anyway) So practically the cost factor grows smaller over time when compared to standard shifting.

Verdict:

I really love riding the Speedhub on epic adventures, tours, especially in adverse conditions or whenever reliability was key, but whenever I was doing XC-style riding with lots of acceleration it only felt 95 % right. It might have been the additional weight or potentially lower efficiency of the system or my mental inability to separate the whirring sensation from actual performance – my means didn’t allow me to distinguish – but for XC-kind of riding the Speedhub just never “klicked” with me. Like I said my basic measurements don´t back that up and so I must call that a purely subjective sensation.

If you are only riding in decent weather and don’t ride through winters the Speedhub will probably not catch your admiration but if you are the kind, who wants to ride anytime, anywhere the Speedhub might just be the ticket.

So my conclusion for the Speedhub is an ambivalent one; on the plus side you have perfect reliability, low maintenance, reliability and … did I say reliability – which to me means riding without any limitations. The bad side (consisting of added and concentrated weight, less crisp shifting and high cost) is longer but much less significant – at least to me. (Plus the whirring sensation in the lower gears I simply had not been able to ignore 100%.)

For epic rides and touring I give it two thumbs up and I favor it over any other transmission currently out there. For XC-racing, jumping and such I know it does work, it just wouldn´t be my first choice.

A few words on the future:

Rohloff and Gates Carbon Drive:

This combination seems like a very logical one (get away with the last bit of frequent maintenance by replacing the often to be lubed chain by the CARBON Drive) and some have already asked about it.

Since I don´t have any first hand experience with it (and no frame that would work anyway) I addressed Rohloff product manager Marco Rauch about it and believe me, they have spent serious time working on it and doing in-house testing with it. But the Rohloff guys wouldn’t be themselves if they didn’t expect near foolproof perfection (and 200 % reliability).

Technically the specific parts do exist and given the perfect chain line it does work just fine. Did you read my constraint? While our proven system of chain rings, cogs and chain does handle minor misalignment quite well (SS-riders know what I am talking about), the carbon drive belt system is very sensitive to these things.

It seems that one of the major limitations to the systems working perfectly in sync is the frame design and production (perfect alignment and minimal flex, plus very low tolerances). These things are more or less out of the hands of both Rohloff and Gates but when something does not work perfectly in the power transfer sector, these two will be among the first to be asked for explanations. So understandably they are not easily jumping on that horse before the basic requirements have been met and are executed in frame design.

Additionally I have been told that the testing by Rohloff has shown a recommended smallest cog of 20 sprockets, thus requiring a chain ring 50 sprockets or larger. And that is the least thing you want to do place the Carbon Drive belt closer to potentially harmful things like rocks  .

Exposure Lights Flash and Flare Review

Flash and Flare

I bought these lights a while back for the Brompton as I thought their neatness and compact dimensions would make them perfect as they wouldn’t interfere with the fold.

The parcel came and I was impressed by the build quality of the units – It is £70 for the pair which is quite spendy but then I am using them everyday in winter so they need to be well made.

The back (flare) light is 75w lumen and has a very nice flash mode where it doesn’t go on off but rather there is a steady light and it flashes brighter.

The light clips into its moulded bracket quite firmly and the bracket is attached to the bike with a silicone band that will fit all seatposts from 25.0 to 34.9 apparently. It’s real easy to get on and off the bike, no need for screwdrivers or allen-keys here – you can leave the mount in place and just click it on or off and put it in your front pocket. If you are a  multiple bike user or you don’t want a light bolted on their bike all the time for security reasons, then this is a godsend.

neat under the brompton saddle - no fold issues

Turning it on is a simple matter of twisting the lens clockwise, and turning the Flare off and on again within three seconds will change the mode from constant to flashing or vice-versa, and once turned off (by screwing the lens anticlockwise) the light will automatically turn on again in the mode you turned it off in. I found it a bit tricky to do on the move as when you twist the light the casing twists in the mount … again this is because I go through a darkened tunnel on my commute and want to be seen. The work around is to leave it on.

Flash on

The flare front light is not quite as good for a brompton as there is a bit of light spill which ruins night cycling. I know the front is designed so that light is seen side on but this interferes with eyesight on brompton as head is directly above light. The bottom spill also then reflect back off the S-bag so doubly compromised.

Saying that a tiny bit of gaffer tape cures any night vision worries – most users wont notice especially if they have street lamps as well – it’s only the country jaunts in pitch black that is an issue.

Battery time at the moment seems fine – bought a pack of 20 batteries for £12 (on expenses) but will probably get a rechargeable set in the long run.

RED means ....

Update: Front plastic lens on FLASH front unit since cracked – emailed USE and they told me to mail the light back to them …. what great customer service – new replacement arrived 2 days letter with comp slip and no charge. Fantastic – won’t hesitate to support them again.

A ride at Glentress – Scotland ‘is it spring’

A plan was hatched via email … the ‘Beer and Bento’ massive, a group of over 30 and over 40 men who should no better decided a trip to Glentress was on the cards and that being Spring we should head off early.

It was colder than I had thought.

 

snow

 

 

When i packed and left all my kit near the front door the night before it was warmer … when I cycled home at 11:30pm with a skinful of booze in me later in the evening I didn’t feel the cold. In the car it said 0 degrees C … got out jackets and tights on and ready to go. Just like the musketeers we were – except there were 5 of us.

I was feeling pretty fresh legged despite the 8km hard run the day before – and cardio was no issue. Some of the others struggled a wee bit. As we climbed up to the mast it got colder until there was a gentle fall of Ice / snow. Suunto on my wrist said 4 degrees but that was in my sleeve …. must have been well below freezing.

icy with dusting of snow still

To put this in perspective Ramon found that his front fork had frozen solid. This slowed down some of the party and there was a bit of waiting around (well earned recovery)

Descended down on black and red trails but then hopped on Blue again at the bottom for the fast sweeping trail (everyone down nr bottom rides red so trail too bust and keep on smacking into tail-enders of groups)

A great day riding

movescount

my 'rohloffe'd ti bride'

1 Salsa Vaya £1250 (RRP £1350)

Losing my Fixie fixation …. I like looking at them but who am I kidding – My Klein MTB is set up SS for town use, My Carver Ti is my play thing and I have a Brompton for town and commuting and multi transport use. What I don’t have (and I realised on that trip to Arran) is a touring long distance road bike.

So ones that have grabbed my attention are:

1. Salsa Vaya

2. Surly Long Haul Trucker (LHT)

3. Jamis Aurora Elite

4. Pompetamine Versa Pro

5. Kona Sutra

Salsa Vaya

• Disc Brakes
• Road / Gravel Use
• Sloping top tube / better clearance

The Vaya is our road adventure bike, designed to take on any surface that someone might consider a ‘road’.

Crafted of Salsa Classico CroMoly, the Vaya is loaded with braze-on’s for fenders, racks, and lowriders. This makes everything from wet weather commutes to full-on touring a breeze.

Stable geometry keeps the bike from being twitchy, and makes the bike a pleasure to ride while loaded. Our two smallest Vaya sizes use 26” wheels to provide better fit, improved standover clearance, and to eliminate toe overlap. The larger Vaya sizes use 700c wheels.

Enjoy a long day in the saddle. Link up pavement and gravel. Hit that limestone rails-to-trails route you’ve always wanted to do. Do a light tour. Or load your panniers to the hilt for a month of two-wheeled exploring. The Vaya will get you there. And bring you back.

Vaya. A true do-it-all road-riding bike.

2 Surly Long Haul Trucker £900

LHT

Like all our frames, it’s made of cromoly steel.  We like steel for a lot of reasons.  Foremost among them is the ride quality a well designed steel frame delivers.  It doesn’t hurt that steel is relatively inexpensive, or that it is more easily repaired than aluminum, carbon fiber, or titanium.  You’ll probably never need to have the frame repaired, but if you do you’re more likely to find someone who can weld steel than someone who can weld ti or aluminum.  Repair carbon fiber?  Good luck with that.

We offer the LHT as a frameset or as a complete bike.  The ‘Trucker is available in a 26” wheel size across the size run, with an option for 700c in 56, 58, 60, and 62cm sizes.  Some people prefer  the larger diameter 700c, and that’s cool.  26″ is a more popular size around the world, however, so you’ll more easily be able to find replacement tubes, tires, and rims should the need arise. Smaller wheels are also stronger than their 700c counterparts, so they’ll stand up better to rough roads and heavy loads.

The LHT complete is set up with quality parts meant for the purpose of this bike.  Add racks, fenders, pedals, and bags and then, well… go someplace.

3 Jamis Aurora Elite £1130 – 28lbs

Any colour as long as it's brown

Good:

• 631 steel - air hardened Reynolds 631, a touring benchmark.
• 10 speed cassette
• disc-braked
• rack and guards as standard

Road bikes are too light duty. Mountain and city bikes are too heavy duty. Welcome to the Just Right world of Aurora Elite, Aurora and Bosanova, the town bikes for smart urban speedsters and cyclo-tourists.

Legendary Reynolds steel is our chassis material of choice, for its unbeatably robust performance and the resilient ride-damping you’ll appreciate while loaded up and bombing around on the streets. This is magic stuff, especially for full pannier touring and rough-road adventures.

This year’s rides are simply better and lighter—Aurora Elite gets SRAM’s new Apex group, with double-chainring shifting and a huge gear range that’s lighter and faster than a repurposed triple-ring MTB gearset.

4. On One Pompetamine Versa Pro £1000

Pomp and Ceremony

GOOD:

• Disc Brakes
• Hub Gears – Alfine 8 speed

Our ultimate commuting, touring and cross bike. Steel frame, 8 speed Shimano Alfine hub gears, Versa VRS-8 drop bar shifters, and top end componentry make this the On-One C2W must have purchase.

Due to popular demand we are proud to introduce a drop bar version of the On-One Pompetamine- our disc only steel framed multi-purpose hybrid.

Versa VRS-8 drop bar shifters are a perfect match for Shimano’s renowned 8 speed Alfine hub gear system, offering unmatched low maintenance performance and a gearing range nearly as wide as conventional derailleur systems.

Breaking new ground in cross over bike speed and versatility the drop bar Pompetamine bikes are fast, reliable and tough enough to take a right hammering- whether that be on rough city streets, canal towpaths, bridle-ways, touring, expeditions or even cyclocross (now UCI are allowing disc breaks these bikes are competition legal).

The Pompetamine Versa Pro has an upraded spec over the standard model shedding weight and increasing riding effieiciency. A Selle Italia Shiver Kevlar saddle, Planet X Ultralight CNC stem and folding Continental Top Contact tyres are just some of the many highlights of what is unquestionably a beautifully well specced build.

Complete bike weight: 24.7 lbs (11.2 kg)

5. Kona Sutra £1000

'conduct of life'

GOOD:

• Disc and Racks included
• Sloping top tube

Kona’s Sutra touring bike adds a slice of mountain bike mechanics to your world domination plans to guarantee good global karma.

The world of long-haul touring bikes is dominated by traditional English manufacturers and specialist long-haul suppliers, such as Dawes, Thorn and others. Kona brings a sensibility that’s rooted in mountain biking to the notion of the sedate touring bike.

Ride: steady as she goes

With a 30lb all-up weight, the Sutra is definitely on the heavy side, but it is designed more as a yak than a racehorse and it fills that role superbly.

The weight you feel on the climbs is what gives it stability when the big panniers are fully loaded. It’s still much faster than an MTB anyway, and once you settle into its steady stride, it’s a resolute and enjoyable roller.

The steel frame is deliberately stiff to stop it wobbling around all over the place when you’re thundering down a pass with all your worldly possessions on board. Even with a sturdy straight leg fork, it’s still a lot more forgiving over potholes, cobbles and bridleways than an aluminium frame.

As you’d expect from a Kona, unloaded handling is still perky enough to play about on winding paths and woodland tracks. Ideal when you’ve set up camp, or fancy heading out for a local play instead of a once-round-the-planet lap.

On more technical trails or filthy days, the Avid disc brakes give a superb confidence boost, with their controlled and consistent stopping. Traction is only as good as the tyres, though, so if you’re heading off-road regularly then get yourself some more knobbly cyclo-cross rubber.

Frame: retro steel appeal

Kona has gone for big retro appeal with the white panel graphics over baby blue paint. Like the Charge Plug, it has a steel frame, although here it’s a quality, butted pipeset from Italian manufacturer Dedacciai.

Kona has also loaded the Sutra with an impressive set of standard fixtures, including v-brake/cantilever studs, as well as the fitted disc brakes and triple bottle cages for long days in the desert.

There are mounts for mudguards and conventional low-rider front racks, and it comes with tough tubular alloy racks fitted as standard.

Equipment: standout discs & racks

The Avid discs are definitely going to be a big draw for mountain bikers, but from experience make sure you take plenty of pads on any long trip, because wet weather rips through them in double-quick time.

In versatility terms, the included pannier racks are superb. The rear one isn’t the stiffest we’ve used under heavy loads, but its unique design means plenty of clearance around the disc brake for easy maintenance.

The Continental Contact tyres are classics, while the Shimano Deore hubs can be home-serviced and re-greased for years of smooth running.

Summary

It looks great, it handles great – loaded or unloaded – and it’ll carry your weekly shop or your worldly possessions all the way to Thailand safely and securely.

Overall weight dulls its sporting edge, but it’s a confident and versatile bike that’s not afraid of a bit of rough.

MORE to come I am Sure

Suunto T6C Review

Suunto T6C BLACK

Well it has been a month of intensive use on the T6C for me and I thought I would write a short review on it … it’s been about 30 hours of exercise so sweaty use mainly running and cycling. Most of this review is based on previous HRM I have owned and used … Polar 710 and a 625x , Garmin 301 and 405GPS

LOOKS / PHYSICAL

Well the Suunto is small and neat – it nearly looks like a normal digital watch. It is comfortable on the wrist and light. It is only 55g  and is waterproof to 100m. The cutouts on the strap sit comfortably on the wrist bones to when running. I used to find the Garmin a bit clunky and sharp edged – solved for me by running with a thin wrist sweatband to stop it rubbing banging too much. The Suunto is easily on par with the Polars and I forget it is there running until the auto lap beeps me to check my pace.

FEATURES

The features are great – it obviously does heart rate with a belt and has a barometer/ altimeter built in which is much better than the GPS fix the Garmin used to try. I have to confess now that I have a Suunto Core too so the menu system is very straight forward to me and I didn’t really need to consult the manual to find my way around. Not sure if the lovely Finnish watch is easy for everyone.

SOFTWARE

The best part of the Suunto and the movescount software is the EPOC and Training Effect information. They are linked but here is a brief blurb explanation:

EPOC with pace change halfway through

Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption

EPOC is the additional amount of oxygen the body needs to recover from exercise. Previously only measurable in sports laboratories, EPOC is a scientific indicator for the accumulated training load of each training session. Measuring your EPOC makes it possible to objectively gauge whether the training session was sufficient to improve your fitness level. EPOC is also used to calculate your Training Effect.

Training Effect: Any physical trainer will tell you that in order to maximize the impact of your workouts you need to train hard enough to make a difference, but not so hard that you injure yourself. Without a personal trainer to advise you, an optimal training range is exceedingly difficult to figure out because your target training zone will change as your fitness level improves. Suunto’s  Training Effect feature tells you whether you’re training too little, too hard or staying within the zones for optimal performance. Training Effect uses a simple 1-to-5 scale to display how intense your workout is based on your current fitness level. And with alarms, you’ll know as soon as you hit your limit. If for example you do a hard training at level 4 it suggests you do at least 2 sessions or recovery at 1 or 2 to prevent overtraining.

Training Effect is an accurate measurement of how hard you have trained. To calculate your personal Training Effect, Suunto heart rate monitors user data from your personal fitness profile and combines it with an analysis of your physiological progress in real time. Your heart rate monitor then formulates your Training Effect, presented as a number on a scale from 1-5.

The other remaining body parameters provided by the analysis software of Suunto t6 are energy consumption, ventilation, oxygen consumption and respiratory rate.

ACCESSORIES

The T6C uses the Ant Pod system – I have a bike Pod as well as a GPS Pod. One of the nicest things is that you can set speed on the watch to display individually for these pods. I have the GPS set to min/km for running (pace) and the bike one is set to km/h (speed)

The downside:

NO1

Firstly memory
I thought this Suunto would be a bit like the Core in that once memory got full the old entries in the logbook were overwritten (unless they were protected. With the T6C this is not the case – the watch still records total duration but stos recording exact parameters. When that happens you get an entry like this on Movescount

Memory Full - the result

So halfway thought a cycle and just as I started doing repetitions … a wee bit of a pain but lesson learnt. I reckon that recording all parameters ever 2sec (speed, HR, altitude, gps) will give you around a 4hr session recorded. Switch to /10sec if doing a longer race.

NO2

I have scratched the face of the watch so wrote to Suunto to see if there is some fancy scratch remover and I got this reply …..

Dear Sir,

Thank you for contacting Suunto.

The material used for the display in the t6/t6c models is mineral crystal glass. While mineral crystal glass is scratch resistant, this does not mean that the display is scratch proof and if used in rough conditions like mountain climbing we would recommend use of a display shield.

Unfortunately there is no product that can remove the scratches, but it is possible to replace the display at our service center.

With best regards,
Suunto Helpdesk