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TECH NEWS
Tech Roundup: Rapha, Enigma, Thule, Orro, Fizik, Kali, SiS, Prendas, Peter Sagan t-shirts and more
Thule RaceWay 991 car rack launched
Thule are a well regarded company for bike racks and with their brand new RaceWay, they’re claiming it’s the “strongest, simplest and most secure rear-mounted bike rack.” You certainly don’t want your bike falling off your rack now do you?
It looks similar to the Saris Bones, with curved arms mounted to the vehicle. Thule reckons it will fit most vehicles, with the FitDial ensuring it is compatible with a wide range of models. The Sure-Tight ratcheting cables are claimed not to stretch like regular straps. The arms are narrower so most bikes should fit, even small size frames. A cable lock gives some security when you leave the bike and car unattended.
It’s available in two and three bike versions and costs £235 and £260 respectively. More at www.thule.com
2014 Rapha Team Sky Personalised Replica Jersey now available
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Rapha are once again offering personalised Team Sky Replica kit, with your name printed on the sleeve and rear pocket. They’ve done this before, but the new 2014 kit has seen a subtle change, with a new sponsor now going on the side panel, requiring a relocation of the athletes name.
As well as your own name, you can choose your national flag. There is a maximum of 16 characters for your chosen name. More at www.rapha.cc
New bike brand ORRO soon to launch
Looks like there’s a new bike brand on the way, and it goes by the name of ORRO. We’ve just had the most teasing email newsletter from ORRO with a small cropped photo of what clearly looks like a carbon fibre frame, with close ups of the internal cable routing and seat tube junction.
And that's about all at the moment. The email says the brand is launching mid-April. You can sign up to the newsletter to keep in the loop at www.orrobikes.com
David Millar’s latest Tirreno-Adriatico custom Fizik shoes
David Millar, currently in his 18th and final season as a cycling professional, is now racing the Tirreno-Adriatico. And he’s wearing this swish custom shoes courtesy of sponsor Fizik. If you don’t know, Millar is wearing custom Fizik shoes in every race he’s taking part in, and they’ll then be auctioned for the Small Steps Project charity. The first pair in this project, dubbed ‘An Eloquence Of Movement', sold recently for £460.
Merlin Cycles launch Interactive Cycling Events Map
Online retailer Merlin Cycles have just launched their Interactive Cycling Events Map that currently lists over 50 cycling events right across the globe, so if you’re looking for a challenge this summer, it seems like a good place to start. The team are busy adding more events to it all the time. You can take a look at it here
Kali helmets coming to UK in April
Helmet manufacturer Kali will soon be coming to the UK with new distributor nrg4, starting with two road lids, the Phenom and Loka. The Phenom tops the range at £149.99 with a claimed 260g weight with a layer pyramidal EPS cones placed in the cross-section of the EPS liner. It’s available in a wide range of colours.
The Loka is more affordable at £89.99 is made using the same Fusion Plus technology as the Phenom but has fewer vents so we imagine it’ll be a bit heavier, but they don’t quote a weight for this one on their website. Anyway, it looks smart and is available in a range of colours. www.nrg4.co.uk
Enigma Cycles disc-equipped titanium Etape
Enigma Cycles just posted this photo of a very nice Etape build on their Facebook page, and we thought we had to share it with you. As you know, we think disc brakes are well suited to all-rounder everyday road bikes, and this Etape is a perfect example.
The model is their touring bike but it’s been built with Hope’s V-Twin hydraulic disc brakes with their floating rotors and a Shimano 105 mechanical groupset. There’s mudguards and rack, naturally, and a Brooks saddle with matching leather bar tape. A tasty build that, someone is a lucky chap.
Peter Sagan t-shirt launched
Peter Sagan fan? Who isn’t, and you can show your admiration for the young rider with this new ‘Hulk’ t-shirt that has just been launched by G4, a French sporting garments company. The ‘Hulk’ graphic is to commemorate the victory salute made by Sagan on his second stage victory during the 2012 Tour de France. It was also marked with a special edition bike by Cannondale, with a pair of ‘Hulk’ eyes on the top tube. The paint finish was said to glow in the dark, so a good one for the evening commute.
G4 have also designed a t-shirt for the classics and an Australian t-shirt, with more in the pipeline. No word on pricing yet.
SiS add Elderberry and Raspberry flavours to range
A couple of new flavours from SiS, SiS GO Energy in Elderberry and SiS GO Electrolyte in Raspberry - both in a new style 500g wide neck tub. They cost £9.99 a tub, which is good for about 10-11 servings.
Prendas release two new cap styles
Just in time for the spring, Dorset-based clothing company Prendas have added two new cotton cycling caps to their range. There’s a blue Belgian champion edition, a cracking cap for heading over to the spring classics or just showing your worship to the Belgian gods of cycling, or one inspired by the stunning San Pellegrino jersey of the 1960's. Take your pick at www.prendas.co.uk
More from Tech Roundup next week, have a good weekend.
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
Latest Comments
- Rendel Harris 10 min 31 sec ago
Hard to tell on such blurry evidence but presumably as with the Trek IsoFlow bikes what looks like the seatpost is at least partly actually an...
- Paul J 26 min 4 sec ago
CO rebreathing, altitude camps, and altitude/hypobaric tents are all trying to exploit the same effect: The body producing more red-blood cells in...
- LondonCalling 56 min 41 sec ago
Royal Parks are nothing but a bunch of middle and upper class nimbys that loath cyclists and love drivers and SUV's. The only way cars will be...
- levestane 1 hour 24 min ago
DOT4 is pretty aggresive stuff (nothing melted), mineral oil is probably OK on EPS hemets. I'm surprised this is allowed on planes.
- Hirsute 1 hour 29 min ago
" To be fair it is a completely unsolvable problem…. Like aging, belly button lint, or fascism. "
- wtjs 1 hour 36 min ago
Blocking, shunning and disparaging people is the last refuge of failing organisations desperate to discourage members of the public providing...
- Velophaart_95 2 hours 17 min ago
Imperial College now do a helmet safety test, and while this wasn't tested, other Kask's were - and didn't score very well....
- Rendel Harris 2 hours 36 min ago
Amazing that I've been cycling in Richmond Park for 45 years and still visit regularly and I've never once seen a cyclist scream, spit at or...
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22 comments
I want a top tube that slopes the other way 'cos then when I go uphill it'll feel like I'm cycling on the flat
The 80s beat you to it
http://velostage.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Picture-2.jpg
Fk me that's the wrongest looking bike I've ever seen! Maybe some Shoreditch hipster will fixie it it and fit a brightly coloured trispoke wheel for no apparent reason. Then it'll still look shit.
Anyone know what fork that is on the Enigma?
In reply to Bez:
Looks a bit like a de-branded Kinesis DC37...? They seem to be Enigma's go-to fork when the customer wants discs brakes.
Mm, I thought the same. Hard to be sure from the small pic, though. Ta.
FFS the 'rules' are meant to be a tongue in cheek thing yet once again self righteous 'tards try to quote them as if they actually matter.
If I want to wear team sky kit personalised or otherwise or any other pro team kit for that matter that is my business and only mine , to those who shout 'obey the rules' the response will start with f and end in uck off you tard.
I couldn't give a rats ass what others think I ride for myself and not for anybody else.
I wear club kit when it's warranted if on a club ride. Otherwise I will wear other kit.
Just one question to all those who keep this crap going does any of the kit you wear have a logo ie Castelli, Are you sponsored by them? Didn't think so.
Do remember though:
giving a mate stick for being the sort of tit that has bought personalised team Sky kit: all good.
shouting abuse at strangers for doing likewise: flagrant breach of Rule 43.
Hell, giving strangers stick, yelling "obey the rules" as you pass someone- all breach 43.
' personalised Team Sky Replica kit'
just...why????
To match your hairy legs and Pinarello on the next hilly sportive, which you can tell "your mates" at the office all about, or when your down the pub with "your mates".
So shaving your legs when you're not a pro means you are a 'proper' rider but wearing replica team kit when you're not a pro means you're not?
Interesting logic.
I refer you to rules 17 and 33.
http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/
I refer you to my big hairy anus!
Quoting any rules makes you a bigger knob than anyone who buys personalised sky kit. If people want it let them wear it, it's all good for cycling. What the Fcuk is going on with this sky/Rapha kit bashing.... What's the the difference to wearing a prendas molteni Merckx jersey or is that just old skool retro... Think I will get the sky personalised top, wonder if they will let me have Fcuku as my name.
I don't like using those little icons to get through to the unsubtle. Maybe I should click on the tongue in cheek one for you and drfabulous.
Or is your problem the lack of a sense of humour?
Edited to add cavmem to the list of the thinskinned. Though he at least has noticed that "The Rules" are meant to be amusing.
Why do these touchy people need to use foul language to express themselves?
Why do they make these retro bikes with sloping downtubes? It's like bringing back the Morris MInor and sticking an aerofoil on the roof.
It's not supposed to be a retro bike + sloping down tubes are just as retro as straight one - everything has been tried in terms of frame layouts before.
As already pointed out, the Etape is not a "retro bike".
More on point -- Enigma is a custom frame builder. Their expertise attracts a lot of people with fit issues. For some of these customers, a sloping top tube is a godsend. (I'm assuming you mean "top tube" not "downtube", since all down tubes slope?!)
[mild rant mode]
I am getting a bit tired of comments about the steep top tube slope and/or tall headtube on many custom road bikes. Oddly enough, in my experience to date, all these comments come from people who never seen the bike's rider in person. What's that about?!
So for all you armchair critics out there -- and by that, I mean those who are NOT trained and qualified bike fitters and/or frame designers -- I'd like to pose a little puzzle you can try solving at home:
Your customer wants a light touring bike. He/she is long-legged and short bodied. You start with a stock geometry frame but the reach is too long (and that's just the glaringly obvious problem).
Have you got access to special Bike CAD software that lets you key in all of your customer's physical measurements and strength and flexibility parameters, plus desired ride characteristics? And then lets you experiment with all the tube lengths, diameters and angles?
Oh, you don't have Bike CAD? No matter... try reverse engineering from the experts. If you like, take the Etape shown in this article (or my own link below) and try making it more "normal". Level out the top tube... shorten the head tube... obsess about rake and trail, or standover and toe overlap...
How many problems emerge, not just in terms of fit but frame strength and handling?
http://velovoice.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/custom-enigma-etape-update-final...
Yes, the result may look odd to the eyes. It may offend a certain aesthetic. But a great deal of consideration and thought has gone into the design. Every decision has a good reason behind it.
And the result is a bike that enables someone who wants to cycle to do so without pain.
[/mild rant mode]
I never get questions or comments from people who've actually seen me riding my bike. Just sayin'.
It's free, so no excuses - http://www.bikecad.ca/
(Though that full list probably does need the Pro version.)
Rather liking the look of that Enigma bike. £2700 for the 105 build, mind...
http://www.g4dimension.com/en/home/238-t-shirt-sagan-limited-edition.html
No chance of a link thingy to the g4 site if they have one?