OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER BUT HERE WE ARE...

Two guys who've been around the block a few times sharing their thoughts, and opinions, about bike stuff.

How To Tidy Cabling

By Rich

Reading Time: 5 minutesA little while back, my good lady wife’s bike was in need of a spring clean so I took the opportunity to finally cover something I’ve been meaning to do for ages – cables. But this is not so much a ‘how to setup and tune your brakes and gears’ and more like ‘how to keep your cabling tidy when you do it’… The cable of choice for me at the moment is the Jagwire ‘Racer’ or ‘Hyper’ range – they’re…

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No Numb Bums

By Rich

Reading Time: 5 minutesSaddles are perhaps the most personal item in cycling — what works perfectly for one rider could feel like sitting on pine cones to another. For some, even the visual appeal of a particular saddle could be enough for them to persist with something less comfortable, or to reject what might otherwise be the perfect perch in the case of an uglier duckling. We reviewed three of the SQlab road range previously. It is fair to say that visually they…

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La Vida Rotor

By Rich

Reading Time: 7 minutesFor Campagnolo, 2017 was a big year. They launched a range of products to the market which many speculated whether the company would even attempt so soon in their new ‘H11’ road disc range. But how would it stack up against Shimano and SRAM — both of whom already had years of experience with disc brakes? On the back of the Record EPS groupset review we posted in September 2017, Campagnolo sent us the relevant parts to convert that groupset…

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Matte Blackness from Massachusetts

By Rich

Reading Time: 5 minutesOff-the-peg carbon from the custom carbon specialists. Parlee are a brand I have admired from afar for a while. They came to prominence when a riding buddy ordered a custom Z2 from Bespoke Cycling in London sometime around 2008 — a bike which blew me away when I first saw it as the lacquered raw carbon finish looked incredible. Since then I have watched Parlee grow and seen their progression; from the stock Z4 and the full custom Z1, 2…

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Ti Infinity And Beyond

By Rich

Reading Time: 6 minutesMelbourne-based Curve sent us their ‘Belgie Spirit’ frame to see what we thought of it…   Mention the word ‘Titanium’ in certain circles and you’ll see grown men glaze over, drifting off into romantic, wistful state of Bike Lust. Thankfully it is not a material that is likely to be leaving the bike industry in any hurry, so bikes like the one featured here will hopefully continue to romance us for a long time to come. However, it is also…

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Weave & Loop

By Rich

Reading Time: 6 minutesTechnology and art have always combined in bicycles. One man’s treasure is another man’s poison; but whether your treasure is a hand-built lugged steel machine draped in 8-speed Campagnolo or SRAM eTap hanging off a bang up-to-date creation, the beauty, and elegance of a bicycle are indisputable. Bastion Cycles are taking this perfect marriage up a notch by — according to their own strapline — ‘Engineering a New Art Form’. They sent one our way for a brief dalliance. We…

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Intuition Be Damned — SRAM eTap Groupset Review

By Rich

Reading Time: 8 minutesIs wireless shifting the future of electronic groupsets? Intuition is a funny thing. For years we have been shifting our rear derailleurs with our right hands and our front derailleurs with our left hands — a continuation from the days of downtube shifters, for those of us who remember and used them. Electronic gear systems — Shimano’s Di2 and Campagnolo’s EPS; not forgetting Mavic’s Mektronic from back in the day — haven’t changed that, but the arrival of Di2 and…

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Fleet Feet

By Rich

Reading Time: 7 minutesTesting the latest light weight and leather offerings from Lake Cycling As a not-so-proud owner of awkward feet, cycling shoes have been a constant battle. Having not only wide feet with but also a high instep and a tendency to pronate, results in a heady mix that writes off many options; and of the manufacturers who do produce a wide option shoe, these are often only offered in limited models from their range. A few years ago, Lake offered the…

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