Cycle Magazine Taster June / July 2015

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M A G A Z I N E

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J U N E /J U LY 2 015 £3 O R F R E E TO C TC M E M B E R S This issue BIK E TO WORK TACTICS COUNTRY WIDE GRE AT TOUR CARBON

PLUS

ROAD

COAST AROUND BRITAIN WITH CTC

BIK ES

WHYTE & BOARDMAN ROAD BIKES CYCLING THROUGH CTC HISTORY

RIDING

TRACK PUMPS TESTED

INTO THE PAST A ROLLING RECOVERY TR ACK PUMP S TEST J U N E /J U LY 2 0 15

BIKE TO WORK CTC.ORG.UK

STEPS TO A CYCLE- FRIENDLY WORKPL ACE

SHOP WINDOW

TRADE SHOW SNAPSHOTS Early season bike shows always turn up some interesting items. Here are eight that Editor Dan Joyce spotted – remotely in the case of the Trek, which was launched in the USA 3

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1. RIDGEBACK PANORAMA DELUXE Ridgeback’s new top-end tourer has TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes and combines 10-speed Tiagra STI with an XT rear. How? It’s a 9-speed RD-M771 derailleur. ridgeback.co.uk

2. FLAT MOUNT BRAKES Shimano’s neater disc standard for road bikes was launched last year and is starting to appear on bikes like this Kinesis. Old calipers will fit with an adapter (pictured). New calipers are coming.

3. APIDURA BIKEPACKING BAGS Apidura make lightweight seatpacks, frame bags, and handlebar luggage for rough-stuff touring and adventure racing. They missed last issue’s grouptest but we’ll try some soon. apidura.com

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4. K-EDGE GRAVITY CAP This Garmin mount replaces your stem cap. It’s intended for mountain bikers but could also suit bar bag-using touring cyclists. madison.co.uk

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5. XTR Di2

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I’ve little interest in adding batteries to my bike… except that this new electric MTB mech can apparently be operated by a Di2 road shifter. As yet, front shifters won’t play. shimano.com

6. TREK STACHE 29+ ‘Plus-size’ 3-inch tyres are coming, thanks to the interest inflated by bikes like Surly’s Krampus.

Trek have redesigned their Stache range around 29+; others are pushing 650B+… trekbikes.com

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7. ISLABIKES CNOC This tiny Hebie Chainglider is now standard on the Cnoc 14 and 16, keeping legs and laces oil and snag free without the weight of a traditional chaincase. islabikes.co.uk

8. JUIN TECH R1 BRAKE This cable-operated hydraulic disc brake is like TRP’s Hy/Rd. Meant for ’cross, it’s a dual-piston actuation, low-weight (142g/caliper) upgrade for any bike with cable discs. edgesportsuk.com

IT’S SHOW TIME SOON. Turn to page 78 for details of discount entry to The Cycle Show.

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CTC & M E

Craig Grimes

With their stability, mountain bike tyres and disc brakes, the trikes can go where wheelchairs would struggle

Craig Grimes founded a CTC-affiliated club that helps disabled people explore the countryside.

He spoke to Dan Joyce

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ou may have seen Craig on a Mountain Trike on BBC1’s Countryfile earlier this year. ‘It came about through work we’ve been doing with the RSPB to get more disabled people onto their reserves,’ Craig said. It was good exposure – and apt: Craig got started in outdoor pursuits by producing short films. ‘I’d been to a conference on access in the countryside. I thought the best way to answer the question about how to access trails was by making films about it.’

Initially, he made films for Natural England as a volunteer. When that project ended, Craig founded Experience Community CIC and made films for Leeds City Council and Leicestershire County Council. ‘Then last year, we put in a funding application to Kirklees Community Partnerships to start a project getting disabled people into the outdoors.’

Last year was also when Experience Community became a CTC-affiliated Inclusive Cycling Centre. ‘Gavin Wood came to one of our taster sessions with the Mountain Trikes.

Then he helped me recce different routes.

CTC gave us money towards a trike and also provided us with the Mountain Bike Trail Leader course, which we adapted.’

The Mountain Trikes have as much in common with cycles as wheelchairs. ‘A lot of the parts are standard mountain bike parts,’ Craig said. ‘The wheels, the chains that drive the wheels, the hydraulic disc brakes, the Monarch shocks. The cables for the steering handle are just brake cables. But then you’ve got the lever-operated clutch-drive system.’

Compared to a normal wheelchair, the

Craig reconnoitres routes to make sure they’re manageable by other Mountain Trikers

“You’re giving people the ability to go to places they can’t reach normally, such as woodland tracks” Mountain Trike has an obvious advantage: ‘The terrain it can tackle,’ Craig said. ‘It’s front wheel drive, and your bodyweight is over the wheels more, which helps with grip. With the extra wheel on the back, you can’t fall backwards on a steep slope. And it’s got two wheels on the front footrest to stop you tipping over coming down. It’s also got an emergency failsafe: if you drop the levers going up a steep hill, it won’t roll backwards.’

Experience Community organises off-road rambles – led rides – in the countryside across the north of England, ranging from the Peak District to the Yorkshire Dales. There are demonstration days every Tuesday at Oakwell Hall in Birstall, West Yorkshire. ‘People have to do an induction before we take them out,’ Craig said, ‘to ensure they can handle the trike and will get around the ramble safely.’

The trikes are suitable for most manual wheelchair users. It’s possible to crank one along the flat with one hand. Participants range

from their teens to their 60s. The common denominator? ‘They love it,’ said Craig. ‘You’re giving them the ability to go places they can’t reach normally, such as woodland tracks.

And there’s the massive benefit of reducing social isolation with the group.’

When I spoke to Craig, he was just back from a recce for another ramble. He was busy with work for the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and planning to develop similar links with the Peak District National Park and the National Trust.

Expansion will require more volunteers.

‘We’d really struggle without them,’ Craig said.

‘I’d like to give a big shout out to them to say thank you very much.’

To volunteer or find out more, visit experiencecommunity.co.uk. For more on inclusive cycling, visit ctc.org.uk/inclusive

SHARE YOUR STORY: If you know – or are – someone with a CTC-related story to tell, email editor@ctc.org.uk 32 CYC LE J UNE /J U LY 2 015

where: The South Coast (and beyond) START/finish: Rye to Brighton for this stage DISTANCE: 65 miles for this stage PICTURES: Alamy and CTC

c oa s t i n g a r o u n d b r i ta i n | G R E AT R I D E S

Gre at r ide s

Brighton rocks This summer, The Countrywide Great Tour will circumnavigate the coast of Britain. Jon Sharpe previews one of the 64 stages, from Rye to Brighton

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here’s something special about cycling in sight of the sea. Growing up in Brighton, I took for granted the great riding on the chalk hills of the South Downs and the excursions along the coast, where waves break on pebbly beaches and white cliffs. These days I live inland, so I was looking forward to cycling by the sea again.

Being close enough to London and other cities for day-trips, the South Coast will, for many people, conjure memories of childhood paddling, melting ice creams, and fish and chips. It’s a popular destination still for such trips. Yet the South Coast has much more to offer: it’s steeped in history and has some of the best riding in the UK. My plan was to pre-ride the Rye to Brighton leg of The Countrywide Great Tour, a 64-stage event that follows the coastline of Britain. Joining me for the 65-mile journey would be CTC colleagues Matt Mallinder and Ian Taylor. The weather forecast was ideal: 20 degrees, sunny and with a tail wind – not bad for a spring day!

Left: © SFL Choice / Alamy

Making Hastings The small medieval town of Rye is set back a few miles from the sea. It’s in easy reach of the capital – a little over an hour from London St Pancras by train. Rye is a popular tourist destination, thanks to its citadel, cobbled streets and antique shops.

But weren’t here to take part in the Antiques Roadshow so, with the morning starting to warm up, we set out to cover the few miles to the coast.

It wasn’t long before we were ticking

off the miles with the wind at our backs.

Riding along past Winchelsea beach, we all started to appreciate how close we were to the whitecaps. The Great Tour route sends riders as close to the sea as it can, while avoiding as many main roads as possible.

We soon found ourselves in our first major seaside resort: Hastings. There we met Robin, John and Dave from Brighton & Hove CTC, who were our guides for the rest of the route. Hastings is famous for the Norman Conquest of 1066. Its history isn’t obvious at first glance; we rode along the promenade, past amusement arcades and bed and breakfasts, like you get in any coastal town. But if you take time to look

CTC. O R G . U K cyc l e 3 7

F E AT U R E | B IK E TO WO R K

BIKE TO WORK TACTICS

How do you make your workplace cycle-friendly? CTC’s Cherry Allan has some advice – and outlines what you can win by getting involved this summer

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Opposite page: © Juice Images / Alamy

arm mornings and long, sunny evenings make the summer an especially enticing season for cycle commuting. This June, there’s even more incentive with Bike Week’s focus on cycling to work and the Love to Ride Workplace Challenge (see the sidebars opposite and on page 46).

But with sunshine and targeted events charming thousands more onto their bikes to join the UK’s 800,000 or so existing cycle commuters, will their employers be ready for them? Come to think of it, if you cycle to work, has your employer always been ready for you? Are you and your transport choice welcome?

If your answer is ‘No’ or only ‘Sort of’, then this summer could be the perfect opportunity for your own cycle-friendly workplace campaign.

First, get your employer involved with a commuting-based Bike Week event and a prizes-up-for-grabs Workplace Challenge.

Then seize that momentum and do an audit of cycle provision where you work. Is

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something essential missing? Is something not fit for purpose? Here’s a checklist of what we think a cycle-friendly employer should offer at the very least – and why.

Cycle parking Is there any? If so, is it attracting bikes – or are the drain pipes doing a better job? Ideally, cycle racks should be near the premises, easy to get to, covered, secure and well-designed.

If there’s nowhere outside, could a room or cupboard inside be converted into lockable bike storage? Wall hooks can be used if space is tight.

What’s in it for your employer? Cycle parking is better value for money than car parking. GlaxoSmithKline in West London estimates that a single car parking spot costs them £2,000 a year to maintain. Filling the same area with six to eight cycles instead of just one car makes financial sense.

Lockers, drying facilities & showers Not everybody wants or needs to change clothes at work, but for those who do – and certainly for those with a passion for collecting cycling stuff for every eventuality – a locker is very useful.

Although the weather shines on cycle commuters more than it pours (honestly), there are occasions when a drying facility will be welcome. This need be nothing more complex than a cupboard, with hanging rails and a dehumidifier.

Showers help make some people much happier about cycling to work. Best to steer clear of any off-putting suggestion that cycling is hard, smelly work; it needn’t be.

Don’t forget that people who jog, go to the gym or exercise during their lunch breaks appreciate showers too.

What’s in it for your employer? a) It’s a good way of ensuring that staff who like to keep fit feel valued. Fit staff are good for business: on average, regular cycle commuters take more than one day fewer off sick a year than colleagues who don’t cycle to work, saving UK businesses around £83m annually; b) Lockers and drying facilities stop hazardous piles of mouldy sportswear annoying your site manager.

Tax incentives The tax-free mileage rate for using your own cycle on business is currently 20p a mile. (Note: this is for mileage at work, not for commuting to and from work.) There’s no excuse for not offering the going rate, particularly if car mileage is paid. It’s clear from CTC Campaigns’ inbox that some employees have to fight for it – or go to the hassle of claiming it directly from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Don’t let that happen to you!

What’s in it for your employer? It saves money: car mileage rate is more than twice as much.

By subscribing to the Government’s Cycle to Work Scheme, an employer can buy a cycle for an employee and hire it to them for a regular payment, usually over a year. If they want, the employee can buy the bike at the end of the loan period at market value. It’s tax-efficient because payments are deducted from wages before tax, typically saving an employee at least 25% of the cycle’s cost. There’s no need to worry about

BIKE WEEK 2015 When: 13-21 June (but events take place until September and beyond!)

Details: bikeweek.org.uk Bike Week is one of the best annual opportunities to promote and encourage ‘everyday cycling for everyone’. CTC invented it in 1923. It’s the UK’s biggest nationwide cycling event and there for people of all ages and abilities to give cycling a go for fun, visiting friends, getting to work, school or the local shops.

The special focus of this year is cycling to work, boosting people’s confidence and inspiring them to cycle-commute. We’ll be seeing all kinds of imaginative events, such as ‘buddy’ rides with novice colleagues, forays to scope out easiest routes and workplace challenges.

Check out the hundreds of events already planned for 2015, and/or organise one yourself and benefit from free public liability insurance, promotional material and event registration on a national site that attracts thousands of hits.

Bike Week is delivered by CTC as part of the European Intelligent Energy Programme.

WHERE: London and Surrey START/FINISH: Central London to Guildford DISTANCE: 51 miles PICTURES: Alamy (main photo) & Robbie Gillett

R id ing in to t he past | G R E AT R I D ES

Gre at r ide s

Riding into the past C

TC has a rich history. We’ve been promoting cycling for travel and transport since 1878, ensuring that the voice of the everyday cyclist is listened to. In 1888, CTC saw to it that the Local Government Act declared cycles ‘carriages’, with the right to use our roads. In 1899, CTC championed women’s rights, defending Lady Harberton’s decision to wear ‘rational dress’ for cycling. This ethos continues today. While the world has changed greatly in 137 years, many of the early battles CTC fought still resonate.

Through Space for Cycling, we are still fighting to make our roads suitable for cyclists of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. Through our Road Justice campaign, we are still working to ensure cyclists are treated fairly in the courts. And through our Inclusive Cycling programmes, we are still helping those who might be excluded from cycling. CTC’s heritage has shaped the charity that we are today.

Seeking to trace and celebrate this history, I donned my CTC heritage jersey one April morning and, together with colleagues Julie Rand and Robbie Gillett, headed to London to ride into our past.

A nod to Hoopdriver Our journey would take us from London to Guildford via Godalming, visiting CTC’s former offices – and, I hoped, their Winged Wheels. Coincidentally, our route would overlap with the journey described in HG Wells’s comic novel The Wheels of Chance.

To get into the 19th century spirit, we decided to navigate not by GPS or modern

maps but by replica Ordinance Survey maps donated by Cassini Historical Maps. We would also refer to The Wheels of Chance; though fiction, it describes a geographically accurate journey.

The adventures of Hoopdriver, Wells’s protagonist, were published in 1896 when cycling was in the midst of its first craze in the UK. Practical and more comfortable bicycles were becoming widely available and affordable. Through cycling, Hoopdriver is lifted from the mundanity of his existence as a draper’s assistant in a Putney cloth shop and becomes a duke of the road.

Hoopdriver is a cycling novice, whose biggest difficulties are with his bicycle. A modern-day Hoopdriver would struggle on busy urban roads designed with few concessions to cycling. The motorised traffic we deal with today would be a nightmare unimaginable by the cyclists of Wells’s day.

Signs of the times Our starting point was 139-140 Fleet Street, London EC4, where CTC’s first headquarters were in 1883. We could hardly see the road for the nose-to-tail buses, HGVs, taxis and other traffic. The offices themselves were just as hard to find: the art deco building of 135141 Petersborough Court sits squatly where CTC began its first London residence.

With the sun shining, and our adventure only beginning, we were not daunted by this.

Making a small blue-and-white peloton, we glided past gridlocked traffic, occasionally consulting our map to find our way to 3 Craven Hill, CTC’s office from 1927.

While the road layout for central London

Do it yourself Tempted to live the tweed-wheeled dream yourself? CTC will be present at this year’s Eroica Britannia, a threeday festival in the Peak District starting on 19 June. Eroica Britannia celebrates a differing cycling era when steel was real and heroes of the road dressed only in wool. There are rides to suit all abilities, with 30, 55 and 100 mile routes, each with off-road sections. Bikes must date from before 1987. Visit eroicabritannia.co.uk for further details.

To create your own journeys with historical maps, visit cassinimaps. com. Cassini is happy to offer Cycle magazine readers a 25% discount off all products on its website, between 28 May 2015 and 31 July 2015. Simply enter the code M-CTC25 when prompted at the checkout. This is transferable and valid for any number of orders in this period. The discount applies to the products only: p&p, if applicable, is charged as normal.

CTC. O R G . U K cyc l e 4 9

Opposite: © incamerastock / Alamy. Others by Robbie Gillett

Sam Jones cycles from London to Guildford to celebrate CTC’s heritage, finding en route echoes of the journey described in HG Wells’s The Wheels of Chance

where: South West France START/finish: Bordeaux to Collioure DISTANCE: 600km PICTURES: Alamy (main photo) & Simon Smith

A r o l l ing r ec ov ery | G R E AT R I D ES

Gre at r ide s

A rolling recovery

Suddenly a widower, CTC member Simon Smith took his daughters on the family tour they had planned before their world fell apart. This is their journey

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n 2003, two years after we were married, my wife Nicky and I cycled 2,000km around southern India on a tandem. It was a joyous journey that I wrote about for Cycle (Feb/Mar 04). Eleven years later, in March 2014, we were planning a summer of tandem cycling with our two young daughters when Nicky was diagnosed with a brain tumour. She died suddenly. Our loss was absolute.

Grief is miserable. In the immediate aftermath of a death, it’s just there, a constant. Gradually, you learn that if you occupy your mind fully enough with something else, you can take a break from it. Distraction therapy. So I decided to go ahead with our plans and cycle with Tilly (10) and Betsy (7) from Bordeaux to the Mediterranean, along the canals that cross France. Just the three of us. We would camp where possible, with kit in a trailer pulled behind our newly-acquired Thorn Triplet.

We needed distraction. We needed to be by ourselves.

Left: Moissac © incamerastock / Alamy

Mum’s the unspoken word My wife Nicky was funny and brave to her last conscious breath. As she was dying she told one friend, ‘Phew, I think I have managed to get out of cycle camping.’ We laughed. Nicky tolerated camping and she enjoyed cycling, but she simply couldn’t abide a combination of the two. Living without toiletries, pillows, extra blankets, books, camping chairs, and hot water bottles was not a holiday for Nicky. For me, by contrast, the reduction of luggage to its functional minimum is almost an obsession.

I like to carry only what is necessary for sustaining life: warmth, shelter, and food. On this trip, I would break that rule. We would be carrying something extra, not practical but precious: Nicky’s cremated remains.

Even in death, my wonderful wife gave us a purpose, a mission to accomplish.

She told me that she wanted some of her ashes to be scattered on the sea.

Her rationale was simple: ‘The sea is everywhere,’ she said. ‘Put me in the sea and I’ll be in all seas.’ In life, she had often carried me; in death, I carried her. In a strange way, she’d be with us on the mother of all cycle camping trips too. We’d have laughed at that together.

The three of us set off from Bordeaux on a clear, bright morning, heading south east.

In Creon, we were surrounded by a group of 20 or so British women on a cycling tour.

They clucked over the girls and the ‘Where’s Mum?’ question hung in the air. Eventually I told them. I always asked the girls before I told anyone our story, because the three of us would then endure the variable responses people have to grief. In this case, the cycling women emptied their panniers of various items of food: sausages, lentils, tuna, haricot beans. Food equals love for so many people.

Do it yourself Grief sucks. There’s no two ways about it. But cycling is great therapy – it’s an occupation for the mind and the body. If you plan to cycle your way through bereavement, here’s my advice: be kind to yourself. Don’t plan too much, don’t beat yourself up, have fun. Tell other people where you are and then forget about them. Be with your sadness. You can cry on a bike and people think it’s the wind in your eyes.

Talk to yourself, and keep a diary to chart all your journeys.

Better together We soon reached the canal. It was our companion for the next three weeks. I grew to love it. Like many canals, it is a feat of engineering that defies comprehension. It was flat and fast, even with a heavy trailer.

On one day, we did 70km. Our destination

CTC. O R G . U K cyc l e 5 5

MEET THE EXPERTS

EXPERT ADVICE

Q&A Your technical, legal and health questions answered.

This issue: a carbon steerer tube conundrum; ankle issues; multi-purpose tyres; sticky brakes; and potholes

RICHARD HALLETT Cycle’s Technical Editor

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

DR MAT T BROOKS Cycling GP

Tighten a carbon steerer's bung ‘the minimum amount to stop it slipping when the top cap is used to pre-load the head bearing'

PAUL KITSON Partner from Slater & Gordon (UK) LLP

TECHNICAL

CARBON FORK TORQUE

Q

Can anyone advise me on the correct torque when tightening an expanding bung in a carbon steering tube? It has to be held firm enough to allow for the pre-load to be added to the bearings but not too tight.

Any rules of thumb, like ‘tighten until you hear a crack and then back off by 1/8th’?

REVOLUTION (via the CTC forum)

A

If you hear a crack in a carbon steerer when tightening the bung, it’s too late… Given the risk of cracking they pose, expanding bungs aren’t a brilliant device to fit inside a carbon steerer; better is a permanently bonded-in plug, which obviously limits the amount the steerer can be trimmed but otherwise makes life easy.

The plug or bung not only houses

the thread for the top cap bolt, which as you note loads the bearings, but supports the steerer’s composite matrix against the crushing effect of tightening the stem clamp bolts. Those designed with an expander thread jam themselves against the inside of the steerer but this can, as noted, overload and damage the steerer. There are many types, and steerers are of varied construction, so unless a manufacturer’s torque setting for the bung is known, it is not possible to give a definitive figure. The trick is to find the minimum amount the bung must be tightened to prevent it slipping when the top cap nut is used to pre-load the head bearing.

The plug should be placed internally at the same height as the stem clamp and one or both of the stem clamp bolts lightly nipped up so the stem constricts but does not grip the steerer. This is a bit of a safety measure that prevents the steerer from swelling and cracking due to the expansion of the plug and the stem should still be able to slide down the steerer to

compress the bearing. If the plug shifts as the cap bolt is tensioned, tighten the expander a little more; it should grip the steerer without damaging it. It’s a bit of a juggling act and, rather than risk cracking the steerer, I have used epoxy resin to bond a slipping plug in place once handlebar stem height and, therefore, steerer length are decided.

RICHARD HALLETT

A torque wrench: useful if you know the fork manufacturer's recommended settings…

CTC. O R G . U K CYC L E 61

GROUP TEST

TRACK PUMPS A track pump can provide accurate and near effortless tyre inflation. Cycling journalist Guy Kesteven reviews four good ones

YOUR THOUGHTS? Cycle Letters, CTC, Parklands, Railton Road, Guildford GU2 9JX

W R I T E TO U S :

EMAIL US:

cycleletters@ctc.org.uk JOIN IN ONLINE:

forum.ctc.org.ok

TRACK PUMPS, floor pumps, workshop pumps – whatever you call them, moving

from a hand pump to a stand-up, stay-at-home pump is a fantastic investment. It makes tyre inflation easier and faster whatever pressures or tyre size you run, and if you’re regularly topping up tyres for a family fleet you’ll soon wonder how on earth you managed without one. Getting to 100psi is a breeze, and you’ll know when you’ve got there too, so you’ll get better performance and lifespan out of your tyres.

As ever with modern components, there’s an increasing amount of complications and ‘bonus’ features being added to even the humble track pump. To make sure you don’t fall foul of fragile or pointless designs that are more hot air than highpressure air, here are four usefully different pumps that are worth owning.

HEAD Push-fit, lever-tightened ‘smart’ heads are more convenient than a screw head. Some designs use separate Presta and Schrader fixtures, while others have ‘automatic’ valveadjusting heads. Make sure you can buy spare heads (or at least valve rubbers); the head is always the first part to fail on track pumps.

STROKE The larger the plunger diameter, the more force on the handle is needed to reach a given pressure. A smaller diameter plunger will allow inflation to a higher pressure, while a longer stroke will do it more quickly.

Smooth, easy movement marks a pump that should last well, and a soft, spring-damped end to the stroke will stop bumping and hand bruising.

‘Strokes to 100psi’ was counted using a 700fi25C tyre.

HOSE Long hoses make life a lot easier, especially if you’re inflating the tyres while the bike is in a workstand. A robust connection to the pump body and valve head are crucial for a long and happy workshop life.

HANDLE What handle shape fits best in your hands is obviously a personal thing.

Traditional, warm wooden handles get my vote compared to cold metal, and plastic always feels cheap, especially on a £100 pump.

GAUGE

BASE Fold-out bases are convenient if you’re sticking the pump in a car but you’ll often need to brace the pump against your leg for stability. Big, heavy bases with wide feet give a more stable platform for pumping.

Small, indistinct pressure gauge dials are hard to read, especially once workshop grime builds up. Gauges in the handle are easier to see but can be damaged more easily when (not if) you knock it over. At a nominal 100psi, I checked pressure accuracy with a Schwalbe digital gauge.

CTC. O R G . U K CYC L E 73

REVIEWS | BIKE TEST

Whyte Cornwall bike test

carbon non-copies Do you need disc brakes on your carbon road bike? Technical Editor Richard Hallett compares the Whyte Cornwall and Boardman SLS 9.0 Two interesting strands in current

bicycle design illustrate how the road market is becoming ever more segmented: the ‘endurance’ road bike aims to satisfy those wanting racing cycle performance with a little comfort; then there's a growing number of all-rounders that hope to marry a cyclocrosser’s off-road ability with road cycling’s pace and handling. The Boardman SLS 9.0 is the former. Whyte position the Cornwall as the perfect British road bike, while equipping it with tyre clearance and geometry suitable for well-surfaced trails.

The two bikes are quite different, although it's worth noting that Boardman and many other manufacturers now also offer disc versions of their endurance road bikes. It’s easy enough to pigeon-hole our rim-braked Boardman as a bike for the faster sportive rider. The Whyte isn’t obviously suited to any particular discipline and may be asked to tackle several. Which is it best at?

Frame and fork Carbon-fibre is the material of choice for both frames. The Whyte uses uni-directional

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carbon-fibre assembled using what is described as a multi-monocoque build technique. Its straight-bladed ‘full-carbon’ fork isn’t quite, as it employs an aluminium alloy steerer tube, but features in-moulded threaded aluminium mudguard fitment bosses in the sides of the blades and in the crown. The blades and crown are sturdy and built to take the loads imposed by a disc brake. The fork has all-carbon dropouts with, on the left-hand blade, an integral postmount disc brake caliper fitting.

Similar attention to detail marks the frame, which is offered in four sizes. The size gaps are inevitably large, and although the sizing geometry is cleverly arranged to suit a wide range, some well-set up riders may find themselves on a bike that looks a little too large or small. The gear and rear brake control cables are routed internally behind the head tube, mudguard bosses are moulded into the rear dropouts and the rear of the seat tube, and the chainstays are symmetrically dropped to allow the left-hand stay to accommodate the disc caliper inside the rear triangle.

(Above) Security skewers and disc brakes enable the Whyte to fill the role of high-end commuter well (Below) For other road riding, the Boardman's rim brakes are equally effective and require less frame reinforcement

BIKE TEST | REVIEWS

P61

Boardman SLS 9.0

a tapered steerer tube, of larger diameter at the crown, to stiffen the front end in pursuit of enhanced steering precision. Like the Cornwall, the SLS features internal cable routing; it also has neat detailing such as the ‘strap’-type seat post clamping band and is well-finished, albeit with a colour scheme that demands attention.

(Above) The Boardman has a PressFit 30 bottom bracket with a Shimano adaptor. The Whyte's is threaded (Far right) Both bikes run cables (and hoses) through the frame, which is neat but complicates replacement

The Boardman’s frameset is a fine example of contemporary composite road bike manufacture. Its beefy main spars – profiled using Finite Element Analysis to find the desired balance of strength, weight and stiffness – would not look out of place on any of its competitors, while the slim seat stays are similarly tweaked, for increased shock absorption. The allcarbon fork, like the frame, is made using super-stiff high-modulus fibre and employs

Components Equipped with arguably the best bangfor-the-buck road bike groupset available, Shimano’s 11-speed 105, the SLS is hard to fault. Its CBoardman Elite-branded finishing kit is well-made, light and attractive, although the saddle clamp mechanism needed some light filing before it could be correctly positioned. Mavic’s Aksium wheels are a popular fitment at this level for good reason thanks to their tough build, bladed spokes and sporting appearance. The 23mm Aksion tyres are too narrow for the bike’s avowed purpose; 25mm is now the de facto standard endurance fitment and Aksions in this size would offer a valuable improvement in ride comfort.

Braking is done courtesy of short-reach calipers that use Shimano’s new SLREV Dual Pivot concept; the symmetrical twin-pivot layout offers, according to the manufacturer, around 10 per cent more braking power than the previous design.

While more complex in construction, this brake is easy to set up and adjust.

Expected brake performance will surely

Tech talk Unidirectional carbonfibre improves on the stiffness of the familiar carbon twill by keeping separate the fibre layers running in different directions.

Woven fibres follow a wavy path that must straighten under tension before the fibres can properly resist a load, whereas uni-directional fibres lie flat and able directly to resist tension.

Twill is tougher and is used where the composite material must, for example, be drilled or is likely to be subjected to impacts.

Post-mount. This attachment standard enables a disc brake caliper to be fitted directly to the fork or stays without an adaptor, which saves weight.

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T R AV E L L E R S ’ TA L E S

DOING IT WIGHT Why rush an island randonnée when you can savour it, asks Janet Rogers

Down the Rhine

Phil Merrin’s boys, aged fi ve and seven, loved their family tour through Germany

P

eople were bemused when we told them how we were spending out summer holiday. ‘You’re doing what?’

Months of preparation – working out accommodation, distances, luggage, ferries, trains – all came together at the end of July as we headed to Hull to catch the ferry to Europoort in Holland with four bikes and six panniers.

The holiday started with a 45km ride into central Rotterdam. The Dutch cycle network made this straightforward, but it was further than the boys are used to. We wondered if we’d bitten off more than we could chew.

After spending the night in Rotterdam, we took three trains to Mainz. German Youth Hostels comprised the majority of our accommodation. They had clean rooms and decent food, and were easy to book online from the UK. Most are close to the river, but in the Rhine Gorge this often meant a steep cycle or push up the hills at the end of the day.

The boys relished each day’s adventure: meeting new people, practising their German, seeing all the trains and boats, and using the Rhine kilometre marker boards to track their journey north. Our eldest had his 8th

birthday in the Rhine Gorge. We stayed in a castle high above the river and he had balloons on his bike the whole day.

Travelling north, the scenery changed as we passed through Bonn and then entered the industrial heartland of Germany. We stayed at Köln and then finished our journey in Düsseldorf. We mixed up the distances, not having two consecutive long days, and this seemed to work. It allowed time to enjoy the scenery and culture.

We ended our two-week trip with a weekend in Rotterdam, plus some sightseeing in Delft. It was a real adventure and we are very proud of our boys: 350km in 10 days of cycling was a significant achievement.

THEY SAY YOU step back in time when you visit the Isle of Wight. I think that we just lost track of it. There was a lack of urgency in our cycling group when we did the Isle of Wight 100km randonnée. We took the organisers at their word: a ride not a race.

It was easy to be lulled by the island’s tranquil air, the rhythm of its undulations, the banks of wild garlic, and the shoulder-high cow parsley.

It was perfect cycling weather. We planned an early start but lazed instead in plush, comfy beds and feasted on fried eggs and sausages.

Eventually we set off and cycled up and down hills for hours, stopping at Bembridge for lunch and at all the checkpoints. We admired the sea views at St Helen’s and Ventnor. All day, cyclists sped past us.

We knew we were last in the non-race when, after 4pm, no one overtook us. Dave suggested we consider the last push as a gentle evening ride, blotting out the exertion of the early part of the day.

The final climb up the Military Road was hard, but freewheeling down to Freshwater Bay was wonderfully exhilarating. We made it by 7.30pm.

The organisers had gone home and all but one of the local restaurants had finished serving.

The following day, we cycled towards the ferry at Cowes, arriving with three minutes to spare. ‘No point in getting there too early,’ Ray said.

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