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it's a long story
it's quite a number of years since bicycles had down tube levers - new bikes have cable stops on the head tube or top of the down tube to handle the cables from sti or ergo levers. and at the point where the outer cable stops, there is inevitably a barrel adjuster, presumably to allow cable adjustment on the move. however, i have never found it necessary to use this adjuster, and i dont know of anyone else who has either (far more reliable to use the adjuster on the rear mech, or just tighten the cable for the front).
on the clx tested only a few weeks ago, these adjusters were made from black plastic (sorry - resin), while the more up market carbon gets alloy. but we here on islay, along with many other coastal areas, have shedloads of salty air all year round which gradually turns shiny alloy into a grey, brittle mess. so at some point (just before christmas in this case) when it becomes desirable to change the cables, the adjustable bit crumbles away, leaving the threaded bit inside the cable stop and no means of removing. in fact, by the time the outer alloy has reached the crumbly stage, the threaded bit is probably pretty well welded in place (mine were).
however, while i make no bones about the fact that cable adjusters at this point are about as much use as a chocolate fireguard, they do perform one inportant function - they make sure that the cable stops in a straight line. try having the cable ferrule butt against the end of the cable stop, and you'll have the wire running through the stop at a less than advantageous angle. so the functionally inept adjusters need to be replaced anyway.
had i had the foresight to see this coming, said adjusters would have been regularly removed and lubricated - what price an honours degree in hindsight? unfortunately, the only remedy for this is to drill out the stuck bits and replace them with new ones - in this case a pair of campagnolo braze on replacements. if you plan on doing this yourself (one of those 'don't try this at home' moments), be very careful since a very sharp spinning drill is mere millimetres away from some very expensive carbon fibre. one false move and you could have a genuine excuse for upgrading to an extreme c.
happily, in the case of the company c40, all went exceedingly well, and front and rear gears zip across sprockets and chainrings as they always have since time immemorial.
so, having completed the saturday morning routine maintenance, if only due to to very low cloud and severe precipitation, an afternoon clearing of the inclemency gave the perfect excuse to try out the effects of my mechanical remedy and partake in a review of more excellent cycling gear from rapha. in this case, a pair of almost inseparable (at least at this time of year) garments: bib shorts and winter tights.
starting from the inside out, the bib shorts certainly feature 
amongst the most comfortable, if not the most comfortable shorts it has been my pleasure to wear. in a pair of cycle shorts the most important element is the padding. if that lets you down then it's only so much lycra. in this case the padded insert is a protech by nalini. in earlier rapha advertising, this was being described as a pettachi pad, and i assume this is the same item here. in which case, alessandro has a very lucky bum - this was comfort at the top of the luxury scale.
the comfy bits are separated symmetrically and sewn into a dark blue 'soft and fluffy' fabric. unlike many other padded inserts on which my posterior has sat, this provided a very decent and welcome level of comfort. so having satisfied ourselves that the bum will travel in comfort, what about the lycra?
unlike assos, for instance, rapha size their leg clothing on waist size as opposed to height, which meant that, according to the info on their website (well, actually i phoned and asked claire), this means i needed the small size. in this case i thought either rapha or i were wrong, since the shorts seemed impossibly narrow to make it past the tops of my legs (suffice to say chris hoy will not be buying the small size), but the matt lycra is a darned sight stronger and stretchier than it looks. let's face it - you pay £120 ($185) for these and you don't want them to rip before you've actually made it anywhere near a bicycle. believe me, unless you are chris hoy and bought a pair of smalls, this is very unlikely to happen.
having got them on ok, and now looking remarkably similar to a member of the rapha condor team (see below), the fit is superb. unlike the average mountain biker, i am not at all keen on baggy cycle clothing, and had i paid the aforementioned sum for these, i would be t'd off if there was any saggy lycra on view. these felt as if they had been sprayed on. the grippers on the inside of each leg looks like that stuff left on a magazine cover after you've peeled the free cd off. it creates a better leg/short interface than the more common leg gripper and doesn't feel as if it's removing skin at each pedal stroke
naomi klein (author of 'no logo') would love a pair of these: black lycra with black logos. you'd need to be very close to find that out. the other feature that requires a degree of closeness is a small pocket at the rear which is just the right size in which to secure one of debbie's free coffee cards. or money, if you prefer. the bib section is finely produced mesh, allowing a high degree of breathability and comfort, the latter being of particular interest when we reach our second review item...
...which is rapha's relatively new winter tights. these are sized in similar fashion to the shorts but were a lot easier to put on. shorts need already to be in place, because despite a list price of £140 ($235), the rapha winter tights are sans pad. yes indeed, all that money and no comfy bit. up until the assos airblocks, i always wore shorts under a pair of tights, but these were never bib shorts, so concern was high over the need to have one pair of bibs sitting on top of another pair of bibs, sitting on one pair of shoulders. fear not, for all is mesh and mesh + mesh = comfort.
the bibs on the tights are edged with white which looks very cool if anyone sees, while the mesh continues to add a welcome degree of breathability. each leg has a footloop which rapha states can be snipped off if surplus to requirements, and there's more of that magazine-like goo around the ankle to stop the legs riding up. while the tights are of a similar matt black lycra vis-a-vis the shorts, they sport a very distinctive white panel on the back of the left leg onto which has been applied a white rapha logo. naomi would still be happy.
since the chaps at rapha are nothing if not aficionados of tim krabbe's the rider there is a small square of rubber affixed just above the seating area containing a quote from the book: 'm going to show him how one goes about racing on a bicycle. I'll make him show himself for what he is: a wheel sucker'. and just in case you hadn't quite got the point, the word 'wheelsucker' is imprinted below the quote - in black of course. sneakily, there is also an undocumented rear pocket, this time with a zip, should you happen to find yourself with more than one of debbie's coffee loyalty cards.
while i have never owned a suit in my entire life, dressing head to toe in rapha (winter cap, winter jersey, merino base layer, shorts and tights finished off with a pair of merino socks and a pink stowaway jacket stuffed in the back pocket) must be the cycling equivalent of weaing armani. and riding a colnago c40hp. does it get any better than this? all of us went for a 50km cycle in a gale force wind (it's very rarely below this before end april) and despite the adversity, it was one of the more comfortable rides i have enjoyed under such conditions. both garments exhibited just the right amount of stretch, of comfort, of warmth (the tights are lined with thermolite fleece). so price be damned - these are worth every penny on initial pedalling. i'll let you know how they hold up, but i wouldn't hold your breath waiting for surprises.
second ride of 45km took place in the pouring rain. unlike my current pair of shorts, despite being soaking wet, the raphas chafed not at all. my kind of saddlewear
and while rapha have become renowned for their commitment to exceptionally fine cycle clothing, their involvement in cycling doesn't stop there. for a second year, they will continue their joint sponsorship of the rapha condor cycle team, along with monty alexander's world renowned condor cycles. if it had to be summed up succinctly 'cycle racing with style' would be an apt description.
the team will ride trademark black, white and racing pink condor leggero carbon bikes tastefully kitted out with campagnolo chorus groupsets and continental rubbered eurus wheels. helmets and shoes are by specialized, saddles by fizik, pedals by speedplay and energy food and drinks by torq. from may onwards they will be racing and riding in rapha sportwool jerseys along with other items from the rapha range. this is called putting your money where your mouth is.
along with participation in many of the cyclosportives (though i'm not sure they're doing the gran fondo ardbeg this year:-) the team will race in the uk premier calendar and an exciting evening of cycling in london on 23rd june. matt seaton and rouleur editor guy andrews will be two of those racing in the 'masters' team.
the team's riders' code: 'the team will always act as a group, with absolutely no prima donnas'
photos from londoncyclesport
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................lest we forget
on reading the article/interview with ernesto colnago in the latest issue of rouleur, ernesto pointed out the obvious, but obscure fact, that the reason the c40/c50 frames were built with lugs was because the frame could 'stand' as a complete frame before bonding had even been initiated. tig welded frames depend entirely on the strength of the weld to maintain their integrity, because there is nothing else to keep them together.
i don't mean this to be a witch-hunt against tig welding, because the likes of dario pegoretti builds some of the most beautiful frames to come from the far end of a welding torch. but there's a wonderful 'feelgood' factor to come from a lugged frame. even a carbon one: jez owns a pre-b-stay colnago c40 and there is even some neat lug detail on that.
that the lug is not only surviving, but prospering, is made patently evident at the recently held north american hand-built bicycle show in san jose (march 2-4). a seeming majority of the builders exhibiting had frames sporting elaborately carved, lined, plated and drilled lugs. and far from being retro, most of them looked cutting edge. so while the 'big boys' continue to produce the carbon de jour for the pro peloton and us wanabees, the small craftsmen in the usa (and doubtless other continents too) continue to exploit the advantages of lugged bicycle construction and proving that not only are the old ways often the best, but that there's still a heck of a lot of mileage in the old lug yet.
for a photographic account from the show, take a look at cyclingnews.com
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................collector's item
paris-nice starts next sunday. or at least, it might start next sunday. and it might contain the pro-tour teams, because they all agreed to race. but then aso got a bit fed up with the uci and stopped it being a pro-tour race and opted to run it as a french national race. so the uci told all the pro tour teams that under the regulations (why are there always regulations?) they're not allowed to participate in non pro-tour events, so they'd have to go and stand in the corner if they even so much as thought about it. so aso retorted that if the pro-tour teams weren't willing to race paris nice because of the regulations, then they probably wouldn't manage le tour either. or the giro, or the vuelta.
now they might just all grow up in the next few days and we'll laugh about it someday over a bidon of isostar. but then again, they might not. which makes prendas' offering of a uci protour 'windstopper' jacket possibly more of a collector's item than it started out to be. available in limited quantities, this rare jacket from santini is available in ten sizes from xs to 6xl (are there any pro cyclists that size?) for the rather comfortable price of £49.95 (around $96). remove the plastic from its wallet and click over to prendas ciclismo. even if the teams never make it to paris-nice, you'll still own a piece of history. heck, how many cyclists do you see wearing molteni jerseys these days?
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................tv makeover
after an excellent weekend's racing live on cycling.tv (though i do have my reservations about the pre-race studio discussion which really adds little to the experience), anthony mccrossan and brian smith - the morecambe and wise of cycling commentary - really have developed a style all of their own. saturday was het volk and sunday, kuurne-brussels-kuurne with over two hours coverage of each, and almost immediate on demand re-run.
but while most of the broadband cycling aficionados watched on the tried and tested interface, some of us were beta-testing the new look cycling.tv, and oh it is so much more. with pre-race blogs, route maps, a community section entitled 'innertube'... all should be revealed within the coming week (so i'm told), but it makes the £24.99 for a year's watching seem like a gift.
caveat: if you intend viewing on an intel mac, you will probably already be aware that the windows media plug-in doesn't work in any of the macintosh browsers. so you either enable flip4mac and watch in quicktime (which is a bit eccentric at times) or in the standalone windows media player 9 for mac - the last version available for the mac (microsoft have stopped development of wmp for mac). so the new viewing environment loses a bit in the translation. however, as long as we can watch the cycling that's fine. the rest of the site is very cool and very useful.
as i never tire of saying - it's what broadband was invented for
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................whats up doc?
we're an unassuming (for the most part) but secretly self righteous bunch, those of us in the cycling fraternity. on those frosty, icy mornings, the bike always starts first time, there's no need to have a cupboard full of de-icers to see where we're going, and you don't have to top up the tank several times a week with that rapidly diminishing, but eternally polluting petrol. and parking is rarely much of a problem.
so perhaps a modest degree of high and mightiness can be justified. that is, until you delve into just what our bicycles are made of. aluminium is a relatively cheap metal to extract, but the pollution caused would be better pushed to the back of the mind. and, as mike burrows once succinctly described it, carbon fibre is just 'burnt plastic'. and we all know which fossil fuel that is derived from.
so while this may not put us in the same class of global warmers as aircraft or the humble (?) motorist, we are not totally absolved of all blame.
however, last year's launch of the new museeuw frames which combined carbon fibre with flax may just have been the dawning of a new plant based age, which has now been joined by fife, scotland based cellucomp and their carrot based curran. i hear your scepticism, and if you had received the same press release that i did, it would have done little to lessen the effect. but it is indeed true.
drs hepworth and whale have entered the carbon fibre market with fishing rods constructed from curran - nano fibres (you must remember those from all the bmc bikespeak) extracted from carrots are 'combined with high-tech resins that enable tough, durable components to be molded to whatever degree of stiffness, strength or lightness required.
yes, i am well aware that there is a world of difference between a fishing rod and a colnago extreme power, but we've had carbon fibre for over thirty years, and a bike wasn't the first thing they made from that. the two doctors plan to involve themselves in the snowboard market next, so it's only a short hop, skip and a jump to a carrot fibre bicycle frame from there - sort of.
initial products have used a curran/carbon fibre mix, but it is believed that entire products could be fabricated using the nano fibres, losing the 'burnt plastic' altogether.
then we could be really self righteous.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................stitched up
in a recent issue of singletrack magazine, chipps penned one of the best editorials i have ever read, all about the underground cycle movement that will one day rise up and... well, go for a ride or talk about bikes or something. and this underground movement is only known to other cyclists (a hod's as good as a sink to a blind norse). this group of stealth cyclists do not include those who find it necessary to wear liquigas or old polti tops - at least not when off the bike.
so how do we go about 'being' cyclists incognito, having those tell-tale but significant attributes that are immediately recognisable to others of a similar persuasion? well, that's pretty much up to you, but you could do worse than peruse some of the offerings from rapha. in thewashingmachinepost review of rapha's merino training top many moons ago, i paid tribute to the fact that it had been worn out to dinner with mrs washingmachinepost (bet magnus backstedt can't wear his jersey in a similar manner), but even that merino top had the blazingly obvious white hoop on the left sleeve - well, blazingly obvious everywhere apart from islay.
the merino training top suffered from having to be hand washed and flat dried, the latter feature not always a practical option. but it did (as do the current offerings of same jersey) look and feel superbly stylish. however, if you fancy moving even further underground, but in a garment that could comfortably be worn to the office (as i have done) look no further than rapha's fixed jersey.
a finer knit than the training top, and significantly lighter (both in weight and stress on the wallet) the fixed jersey sports a quarter zip and close fitting neck, just like a real cycle top, minus the three rear pockets (because that would be a dead giveaway). there is a tell tale hoop on the left sleeve, but cunningly, it's the same colour as the rest of the jersey and has 'rapha' embroidered in similarly coloured thread. subtle, or what?
despite my having long arms (that 130mm stem isn't just for decoration you know), the sleeves on my medium size top were comfortably long, with double stitched cuffs. fit is slim without being restrictive and body length is actually more generous than on the rapha winter jersey. rapha's attention to detail stretches to their almost trademark 'zip stopper' at the top, preventing the zip from nipping your neck when pulled up close (and how many times have we all done that?).
the fixed top is designed to be worn on and off the bike, for all day use in both scenarios. comfort is ours, as is the other rapha trademark of a label sewn inside with a nice wee story relevant to the garment with which it is associated. this makes it slower to put on, because i usually stop to read it before wearing, more than once. and it's machine washable - an important point when discussing merino garments with mrs washingmachinepost.
so, for a very wallet friendly £85 you too can join cycling's underground movement day in, day out, in either black or new chocolate brown.
or there's always the small oval tan spot on the back of the hands.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................our man on the spot
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jez hastings and family took time of from bushcrafting and birding (and even the sunday ride) and headed south to manchestershire to watch the last day of the track worlds. and proving that a washingmachinepost correspondent is never off duty (except when we are), he sent this report and pictures.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................ultremo - the latest
if you're a regular reader of the post, you will hopefully be aware that we've been testing a pair of schwalbe's latest road bike clincher offering, the ultremo. since i'm well aware that tyres often take a good few kilometres to show their true colours (or soft underbelly) these tyres are still fitted to the company colnago - or at least one of them is.
the tyres have suffered about 1700km over islay's winter roads, and the poor soul on the rear wheel has had to be retired from service (dreadful pun, i know). after finishing the road test of the colnago clx, i pumped up the ultremos on the neglected c40 to find a rather odd bump of rubber in the area surrounding a nick in the tyre's surface. not wishing to find myself with a tyre blowout in the middle of nowhere (and there are a lot of those around here), i erred on the side of safety, and swapped the rear for another ultremo. it's worth pointing out, however, neither tyre has suffered any punctures.
now i would expect at least twice as many kilometres out of a tyre at this price, but i will point out that the tread (or lack of) is showing almost no sign of wear. and considering the horrendous state of some of the more obscure single track roads around the island, coupled with the amount of cr@p covering most of them, it is perhaps unfair to criticise the tyre alone. i have had similar problems with my previous tyre of choice from michelin.
and if you've seen any of the photos from the tour of california, the navigators insurance team have their campag shamals shod with exactly the same schwalbe rubber that i have been hammering around islay for the past four months. the point being it is primarily a race tyre and not necessarily made to cope with cycling over a cheese grater with a grass verge and a ditch at the side. (the front tyre, incidentally, looks almost brand new).
as they say in computer speak 'your mileage may vary'. consider this a long term test with more to come.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................full speed ahead
having just completed a very pleasant couple of weeks and several hundred kilometres on colnago's clx, one of the 'surprises' if i can put it that way, was the fsa components. now at this sort of level, and the fact that team csc have used their chainsets for years, the quality wasn't the surprise - it was their nationality.
it's always possible that i'm the only one previously under this misapprehension, but i thought fsa were japanese. major apologies to claudio marra (head of fsa europe) and peter nisbet, since britain's colnago distributors are also britains fsa distributors. in fact the fsa headquarters are only five miles from cambiago. how wrong can you be?
having been sent an fsa catalogue, you just wouldn't believe the depth and breadth of the fsa range. there are handlebars, stems, wheels, chainsets, (for both road and off-road bikes), brakes, chainrings, front gear mechs, headsets, bottom brackets - in fact everything to equip a quality bicycle apart from a cassette and rear mech (and i bet you're thinking the same as i am - don't worry, i've asked:-). and there are even some high quality tools to help keep the bike in trim after you've built it
if you think fsa might be as much of a revelation to you as they have been to me, have a look at the uk range on the windwave site. and you could always ask them nicely for a catalogue.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................at last - first past the post
last year, ernesto colnago backtracked on his classic position that no colnago carbon fibre frame would ever be made outside italy. sudden and surprising addition to colnago's far eastern range was the clx - a carbon monocoque front triangle married to a carbon rear end and all carbon fork - brought colnago carbon to the masses.
there were sharp intakes of breath throughout the bicycle industry and purists crying foul, that no carbon colnago made outside of cambiago could be considered a 'real' colnago. so how good is it?
thanks to peter at colnago uk, thewashingmachinepost has had the opportunity to find out, and to present the first european road test/review of the colnago clx. a nice shiny red one.
so, to find out if carbon fibre knows what nationality it is, read on.
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