This website uses cookies to help us give you the best experience when you visit our website. By continuing to use this website, you consent to our use of these cookies.
This website uses cookies to help us give you the best experience when you visit our website. By continuing to use this website, you consent to our use of these cookies.
Sign up for our newsletter
Well, nothing happened this week, right?
Other news aside, it’s actually been a fairly big week in bikes. Zwift did the inevitable and jumped ino the hardware market with the Zwift Hub smart trainer, BMC launched a very racy gravel bike called the Kaius, Canyon finally unveiled the new super-light Ultimate and we got full details of the new Trek Domane, first spotted at Roubaix in the spring.
We also chatted to Ned Boulting, traced the route of the Tour de France’s longest ever solo breakaway and published our guide to wheels that are compatible with Campagnolo’s N3W freehub standard.
Products included in our weekly round-up are independently selected by our editorial team. Cyclist may earn an affiliate commission if you make a purchase through a retailer link. Learn more.
Australian kit maker Maap has firmly established itself as a maker of nice and stylish things, and the latest delivery from the brand is no exception.
The Evade Pro Base Jersey is a lightweight, race-cut top with very pro looking longer sleeves. It’s designed for hot weather and the main fabric is SPF50+ rated, while the mesh sleeves add extra wicking ability and are said to be SPF15+.
Key features include reflective details and an ‘anti-sag’ back pocket, and Maap says the fabrics are Bluesign certified.
The Evolve Pro Air jersey offers a similar set of features and goes even further with the hot weather features, adding mesh side panels to the mix. It’s also, to my eyes, a lovely looking top.
Maap supplied its Team Bib Evo shorts and Path socks to make a full outfit, and these feel very premium too.
Made from a fabric that claims not to thin over time, the shorts feature an Elastic Interface ‘3D thermo moulded’ chamois and seamless bib straps, along with elastic leg hem bands that actually grip skinny pins like mine properly.
I wore Maap’s latest kit across a couple of hot days in the Swiss alps to shoot Cyclist magazine features, and I came away impressed. It’s genuinely lovely stuff that I’m looking forward to wearing more.
Incidentally, while I’ve only got the men’s kit here, it’s worth noting that Maap offers women’s-specific versions of all of these items.
Founded just last year, Udog was launched by Italian Alberto Fonte, formerly of Fizik.
The distinctive Tensione claims to be the first cycling shoe to ‘wrap your feet from the bottom to the top’ via the medium of a distinctive strap that runs under and around your feet, and adds a visual element reminiscent of a traditional toe strap.
The Tensiones weigh a very reasonable 582g on our scales for a pair of 44s (that’s 291g per shoe) and look very fetching in Artic White [sic]. There's also a black option if you can’t face the inevitable deterioration of a white shoe.
The sole is said to be a carbon and nylon composite and it features a ‘directed ventilation channel’ that I look forward to taping over come the winter.
Udog makes a point of highlighting the Tensione’s wide toe box and narrow heel cup, claiming it’s the result of hundreds of hours of prototyping and testing.
Refreshingly, the brand provides a comparison guide so you can check sizing against a number of other popular brands.
Full disclosure: Dynaplug tubeless repair kits aren’t really new at all, but these dropped through my door and they’re a handy reminder of a clever product that could save your ride one day.
Pictured here are the Dynaplugger (above) which weighs 35g, and the super-light and minimalist Carbon Racer which weighs just 14g, or 24g with its bike mount.
Both offer an all-in-one repair solution for tubeless punctures that takes up very little room in your jersey pocket or bar bag – the Carbon Racer is just 95mm long.
Dynaplug’s system uses sticky, metal-tipped plugs that you insert using the holder. I haven’t had occasion to wield one in anger yet, but tech ed Sam was a fan when he reviewed the metal version of the racer a couple of years back.
It seems ridiculous for someone who's been testing bikes and bits of bikes for as long as I have, but I’m somehow perpetually short of bottle cages.
Specifically, I always seem to lack matching pairs of black cages that look good in photos and don’t distract excessively from the bikes to which they’re fitted.
Cannondale UK has stepped in to help, and I present to you a choice of three cages from the brand’s range. Does the idea of putting Cannondale cages on a non-Cannondale bike offend you? Good.
A pleasingly utilitarian option that looks good on a gravel bike, the ReGrip is said to be made from recycled fishing nets. Weight on our scales? 40g.
The posh carbon option, these weigh 30g each including a neat little rubber bumper that surrounds the lower bolt.
A glossy nylon version of the one above, these are still pretty light at 41g each on our scales.
Here’s a photo of them looking like some sort of nightmarish spider. You’re welcome:
Would you let a couple of amateur decorators loose in your house under the guidance of a deranged maximalist with a penchant for MDF? Yeah, me neither.
The reboot of Channel 4’s batshit interior design programme Changing Rooms is brilliant TV however, even if the results... vary.
I never saw the original show (although the teapots disaster is the stuff of legend) but it’s safe to say it hasn’t got any more sensible for the 2020s.
Lead presenter Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is just so extra as are his co-hosts, and it’s a joy to watch the hapless participants being forced to pretend they actually like yellow and pink ‘granny chic’ abominations, shaved rugs and other nonsense. I can’t get enough of it.
Need some escapism? Go off grid with cycling’s original gravel riders, the Rough Stuff Fellowship
Maap kit photos: Patrik Lundin, all others by Matthew Loveridge except where noted
Do-it-all aluminium gravel bike has lots to offer but doesn’t stand out
Minegoestoeleven is sublime to ride thanks to wide tyres and innovative shifting, and punches well
Gonzalo Serrano declared the overall...
Latest generation of the German giant...
This week’s fresh load of bike gear
Sign up for Cyclist subscription here.
Shop the Cyclist merchandise here.
Sign up to the Cyclist newsletter here.
Gonzalo Serrano declared the overall winner as organisers cite reassignment of police resources as
Latest generation of the German giant’s flagship is better in all the right ways
Virtual training app maker makes a play for a share of the hardware market
Copyright © Diamond Publishing 2022. All rights reserved.