Cycling

We've just got our hands on a titanium 29er from Pipedream Cycle – it's called the Skookum and is a singlespeed, belt drive hardtail retailing for £2,699, or £1,175 for the frame only.Belt drives aren't new in terms of technology; they use the same principles and manufacturing techniques that car cam belts employ. But with chain-driven transmissions being the dominant force when it comes to two wheels, a belt drive makes for an interesting bike.The titanium frame is intriguing because, for obvious reasons, you can’t split a belt to fit it round the chainstay. Therefore, you need to be able to separate the frame – temporarily – so the belt can be fitted. That's why the Skookum's chassis features a threaded coupling part-way up the driveside seatstay. A tool is supplied to loosen or tighten the coupling – once unscrewed, the frame can spring apart just enough to pop the belt in or out.The driveside seatstay comes apart hereThe Skookum is essentially the same as the well established, 26in-wheeled Pipedream Sirius hardtail, but with 29in wheels and a shorter fork travel – it’s designed to work with an 80-100mm fork, in this case a 100mm X-Fusion Slide 29 air unit. The wheels are Halo Vapours wrapped in the same brand's Choir Master tyres, stopped by Hope Tech Evo X2 brakes.You can spec a variety of other options, including an eccentric bottom bracket and cable routing for a geared Shimano or Rohloff hub. It can be built with a standard chain transmission, too. Our test model's 44mm head tube, belt coupling and sliding dropouts pushed the bare frame price from £989 to £1,175.Gusset parts make up the cockpitPipedream's belt drive of choice is the Gates Carbon Drive 22T singlespeed. Claimed weight for a typical Gates belt is under 100g, against more than 200g for a chain. To stop the belt slipping off, Pipedream’s setup uses the CenterTrack system, with a single central raised ridge on the sprocket and chainring that mates with a slot running the length of the belt. Cranks are Truvativ X9s, with Gusset providing the bar, stem, and saddle. The dropper seatpost is by X-Fusion.A full review of the Pipedream Skookum is coming up in issue 149 of What Mountain Bike, on sale 4 June. For more information on Pipedream bikes see www.pipedreamcycles.com.

Photos from Nick Crumpton of Crumpton Cycles. Closeup after the break. If you think you know what this...

B’Twin are the house brand of the Decathlon chain of sporting goods shops, and these bibs offer many features of more expensive shorts at a fraction of the price. The mesh and Lycra-edged straps are a cooling highlight, although the seam between the back and front isn’t stitched flat and can rub. The multi-panel construction means the fit is very good, although again the lack of flatlock seams across the back can be felt under a pack from time to time and the sizing is very European – the medium size fitting tighter than most smalls.The multi-thickness chamois with gel inserts does a sterling job of cutting out shocks from the saddle, though we found it bunched a bit at the nose and was noticeably sweatier than others.This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

The Mavic Cosmic Carbone CXR series of wheels – aimed at road racers, time triallists and triathletes – represents a step forward in aerodynamics for the French manufacturers. We had a chance to test ride a set of CXR 60 Ts, the tubular versions of the 60mm deep wheels that Mavic launched in Geneva recently.The 75km undulating group ride around Lac du Bourget near Aix-les-Bains, France, was a wet and relatively windless affair – hardly ideal for testing the stability characteristics of the wheels, which we hope to do at a later date. With that in mind, here are our first impressions of Mavic's latest aero wheels.Ride & handling: Fast, but we need more wind!Our test rig was a Cervelo S5 with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, and we were wearing light winter kit with a long sleeve jersey, gilet and knee warmers. We only mention this because it was hard to tell whether the aero benefits of the bike were cancelled out by the bulkier clothing.Our Cervelo S5 test rigOur Mavic CXR 60 test ride started at a sedate pace, led out by top triathlete Frederik Van Lierde. At 19mph (30km/h) in a group with not much wind blowing across us, the wheels felt perfectly manageable and it was easy to maintain that pace. The only incident of note came when five riders crashed on a set of slippery and angled train tracks. We were told this was an improvement on last year, when nine cyclists came down in similar conditions. We did tackle some short climbs with not-too-steep gradients. Here, the effects of gravity started to come into play and the wheels' claimed weight of 1,600g per pair didn't do them a lot of favours. Aerodynamics are still important when climbing, however, and we didn't feel bogged down in any way.Where they really shine is on longer descents and flatter sections, where they held their speed very well – a good sign that the aero properties were working as they should. We were most impressed when we put in a solo effort at threshold for a few kilometres on the flat, pleasantly surprised to be bowling along at a sustainable 44-45km/h. On normal wheels we'd typically be at 40-41km/h. Testing the Mavic CXR 60 Ts around Lac du Bourget, near Aix-les-Bains, FranceWe weren't able to test the wheels in the wind, unfortunately, and we'd definitely like to do this before making a call on stability. On the plus side, there was little movement when trucks passed us going the opposite way. We've ridden wheels where we were blown across the road by this in otherwise low wind conditions.We have tested the deeper CXR 80s in the wind, though. We found those to be better than expected in crosswinds – they certainly moved around but they didn't scare us. That said, they wouldn't be our wheel of choice for all conditions.We were able to test braking with the CXR 60s quite often, and this was surprisingly good. The carbon brake tracks don't have the Mavic Exalith treatment used on the clincher versions, nor do they have the new surface used on the CC40s. But when they were combined with Mavic pads (made by Swisstop) we didn't have to perform much rim cleaning and there was no grab from the brakes. Nevertheless, we hope Mavic will improve this aspect with their newer technology in future.We found the lateral stiffness of the wheels to be lacking a little, and noticed a small amount of rear brake rub when the brakes were close set. It wasn't just in our wheels – we detected it in other riders' too. This is another area for improvement, albeit a small one.Tyre performance: Aero wins over rolling resistanceMavic's Yksion GripLink and PowerLink tyres have a special tread pattern to help reduce dragMavic's new aero wheelsets are designed to run with the company's Yksion tyres and CX01 blades for best aero performance, which is why they're dubbed WTS (Wheel Tyre System). The tyres, blades and rim combine into one shape that's been designed to be more aero at the leading and trailing edges than normal profile tyres. The tyres even incorp

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Italian recovers after struggling in the cold

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Race Report Race Results Tour of California (2013) - Stage 8 San Francisco to Santa Rosa (132km) 19 May 2013 Stage 8 | Stage 7 | Stage 6 (ITT) | Stage 5 | Stage 4 | Stage 3 | Stage 2 | Stage 1 Stage Position Name Nationality Team Time 1 SAGAN, Peter SVK Cannondale Pro Cycling 3:04:07 2 SCHORN, Daniel AUT TEAM NETAPP - ENDURA 0 3 FARRAR, Tyler USA Garmin-Sharp 4 HUSHOVD, Thor NOR BMC RACING   5 MEERSMAN, Gianni BEL OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP 0 6 HANSON, Ken USA TEAM OPTUM PRESENTED BY KELLY BENEDIT STRATEGIES 7 MATTHEWS, Michael AUS ORICA-GREENEDGE 8 KEOUGH, Jacobe USA UNITEDHEALTHCARE 9 CHAVANEL, Sylvain FRA OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP 10 BRAMMEIER, Matt IRL CHAMPION SYSTEM 11 FLECHA, Juan Antonio ESP VACANSOLEIL-DCM 12 STUYVEN, Jasper BEL BONTRAGER LIVESTRONG TEAM 13 PIPP, Frank Kevin USA BISSELL CYCLING 14 VENNELL, Jeremy NZL BISSELL CYCLING 15 ACEVEDO COLLE, Javier Alexis COL JAMIS - SUTTER HOME 16 DEIGNAN, Philip IRL UNITEDHEALTHCARE 17 ROMERO AMARAN, Luis CUB JAMIS - SUTTER HOME 18 MEYER, Cameron AUS ORICA-GREENEDGE 19 ROGERS, Michael AUS Saxo Tinkoff 20 DEMPSTER, Zakkari AUS TEAM NETAPP - ENDURA 21 VAN KEIRSBULCK, Guillaume BEL OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP 22 MANCEBO PEREZ, Francisco ESP KENDA - 5-HOUR ENERGY 23 HAGA, Chad USA TEAM OPTUM PRESENTED BY KELLY BENEDIT STRATEGIES 24 DIDIER, Laurent LUX Radioshack Leopard 25 CRADDOCK, Lawson USA BONTRAGER LIVESTRONG TEAM 26 VOSS, Paul GER TEAM NETAPP - ENDURA 27 SWEETING, Robert USA KENDA - 5-HOUR ENERGY 28 DE MAAR, Marc AHO UNITEDHEALTHCARE 29 DOCKER, Mitchell AUS ORICA-GREENEDGE 30 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay USA BMC RACING   31 ZAUGG, Oliver SUI Saxo Tinkoff 0 32 VAN POPPEL, Boy NED VACANSOLEIL-DCM 33 WESTRA, Lieuwe NED VACANSOLEIL-DCM 34 HUZARSKI, Bartosz POL TEAM NETAPP - ENDURA 35 SOLADAY, Thomas USA TEAM OPTUM PRESENTED BY KELLY BENEDIT STRATEGIES 36 JUNGELS, Bob LUX Radioshack Leopard 37 JONES, Carter USA BISSELL CYCLING 38 BEYER, Chad USA CHAMPION SYSTEM 39 BUSCHE, Matthew USA Radioshack Leopard 40 ZWIZANSKI, Scott USA TEAM OPTUM PRESENTED BY KELLY BENEDIT STRATEGIES 41 JACQUES-MAYNES, Ben USA JAMIS - SUTTER HOME 42 VOIGT, Jens GER Radioshack Leopard 43 IRIZAR ARANBURU, Markel ESP Radioshack Leopard 44 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar ESP Radioshack Leopard 45 KONIG, Leopold CZE TEAM NETAPP - ENDURA 46 EUSER, Lucas USA UNITEDHEALTHCARE 47 SCHLECK, Andy LUX Radioshack Leopard 48 MANNION, Gavin USA BONTRAGER LIVESTRONG TEAM 49 BOIVIN, Guillaume CAN Cannondale Pro Cycling 50 DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO, David ESP TEAM NETAPP - ENDURA 51 CANDELARIO, Alexander USA TEAM OPTUM PRESENTED BY KELLY BENEDIT STRATEGIES 14 52 SULZBERGER, Wesley AUS ORICA-GREENEDGE 16 53 JENKINS, Max USA KENDA - 5-HOUR ENERGY 54 KREDER, Wesley NED VACANSOLEIL-DCM 55 STEMPER, James USA

Glava title perfectly timed ahead of Tour de France

Vincenzo Nibali loves to attack, and he still wants a stage win. Photo: Graham Watson | www.grahamwatson.comVALLOIRE, France (VN) — Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) is on cruise control going into the final week of the 93rd Giro d’Italia. Though the hardest climbs of the Giro still loom in the closing week, the stars are lining up in favor for Nibali to claim his first Giro victory. As one pre-race favorite after another has folded, either by abandons (Sky’s Bradley Wiggins; Garmin-Sharp’s Ryder Hesjedal), or by underperforming (Lampre-Merida’s Michele Scarponi), Nibali has emerged after two brutal weeks of racing as the master of the Giro universe. Two grueling days in horrendous weather conditions across the Alps established Nibali as the man to beat, securing a slender, but convincing 1:26 lead to Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) going into the Giro’s decisive final week. With just six stages left to go, the 93rd Giro is Nibali’s to lose. “The hardest part of the Giro is still to come. We cannot anything yet,” Nibali said. “We must remain prudent. Evans and [Rigoberto] Urán are still close and they are dangerous rivals.” Still, several factors are stacking up in Nibali’s favor as the Giro hits the homestretch. First and most important, Nibali is simply a step above his rivals. So far, other than the individual time trial in stage 8, no direct GC rivals have taken time on him. Urán (Sky) took time on Nibali up Montasio, but Astana let him ride away because he was further back on GC at that point. Now a direct threat, Urán has been kept under close guard. “I came to this Giro with the highest ambitions,” Nibali said. “It’s a continuation of last year at the Tour, when I was also strong, but the Tour course wasn’t good for me. This year’s Giro course is much better suited for my capabilities.” It shouldn’t come as a complete surprise to see Nibali dominate this Giro. Last July, he was the only rider strong enough to challenge the Sky juggernaut. Already a winner of the 2010 Vuelta, Nibali has emerged as Italy’s most consistent grand-tour rider. Of the past five grand tours he’s started, he’s won or been on the podium in four. His long hiccup was seventh in the 2011 Vuelta after riding to third in the Giro that May, a result that was bumped to second after Alberto Contador was disqualified as part of his 2010 clenbuterol case. A surprising Evans has been steady, but unable to pose any serious threat to Nibali when the road has gone up. The 2011 Tour champ lost time Saturday that he couldn’t afford, but he stayed with the moves Sunday. The big question remains: Will the Australian will have the legs to seriously challenge Nibali in the closing week come crunch time on Tre Cime and Val Martello? Another key factor helping Nibali will be that riders and teams will now start shifting into defending their positions in the overall rather than directly attacking the pink jersey. Riders are starting to show fatigue after 15 brutal stages, so teams will look to consolidate their gains. Few are willing to risk a daring do-or-die attack on the pink jersey. Instead, riders tend to play it safe and defend what they already have. But the battle for the podium remains very much up for grabs, something Nibali and Astana can exploit to their advantage. Nibali can ride defensively against the podium moves, forcing his opponents to start attacking each other to try to make gains. “We are already seeing a bit of that,” Nibali said. “I cannot forget about Evans or Urán, but the others will be fighting for the podium. It’s always better to have an advantage.” At 2:46 back, Urán’s grip on third is tenuous at best. A few days ago, the Colombian was dreaming of taking it to Nibali. Two days in the Alps proved that he’s no fan of cold weather and that he lacks the spark to seriously push Niba