Cycling

Toddler saved in the nick of time near Reading read more

Former world champion finished 77th in Belgium ITT

“James” a very enigmatic man who has taken it upon himself to collect one bicycle from each developmental epoch for future generations to enjoy, a kind of time capsule if you will.

Olatunji Adeyanju, 17, was killed in Deptford, South East London read more

This article was originally published on Cycling Plus.On a damp and murky day in late October 2012 I was invited to join a select bunch of riders to take part in a highly secretive recce ride of the Surrey section of the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 route.I’m usually useless at keeping secrets – and I have to admit that the ride enigmatically titled Surrey Hills on my Strava feed might be the one – but four months on I can finally reveal that the bit of the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 that goes through my home county is a belter! If you’re a London or Home Counties based roadie – or you sat glued to the Olympic Road Race – then you’ll be familiar with many of the route’s highlights – Box Hill, Newlands Corner, Leith Hill… And you’ll know that these are names not to be taken lightly. Strava-isters – they all tasty cat 4s!Undoubtedly it’ll be the zig-zag climb of Box Hill – tackled several times on the telly by the men and women at the Olympics – that’ll initially catch the eyes of those of you who got a place in the ride. With Rykers café at the bottom and a National Trust tea shop at the stop this 1.5 mile, roughly 5% and vaguely Alpine-feeling climb is a Surrey legend but to my mind – and according to my Garmin stats – it’s not the toughest on the route.Rob Spedding in his elementThe draggy mile or so up to Newlands Corner is Surrey’s first big challenge, but the honour of lung-bursting, leg-burning climb of the course goes to Leith Hill. This bad boy is the highest point in Surrey and would have made for a very different Olympic road race. Local club, Kingston Wheelers use it for a 0.9 mile hillclimb. That 0.9 miles averages eight percent. You will have already ridden 60 miles or so. It will hurt…For obvious, traffic-related, reasons we didn’t brave the central London part of the route. If you’ve ever run the Virgin London Marathon you’ll have some idea of just how incredible an experience it is to be on car-bus-lorry and taxi-free roads in the capital. And as a man who’s spent many a mile in Richmond and Bushy Parks, riding on closed-roads through these will be immense. I’ve a penchant for running as well as cycling and have first hand experience of just how good a brilliantly organised, mass participation event taking in landmarks usually seen from a bus, with an iconic finish on The Mall, can be for a sport. I don’t think I’m being over optimistic when I say that the Prudential Ride London-Surrey 100 has the potential to do for two wheels what the Virgin London Marathon – from the same organisation - has done for two legs since it’s humble beginnings in 1981.

Jeremiah Boobar, long travel product manager at RockShox, had a hand in developing the Reverb seatpost and new Pike forks. He spoke to What Mountain Bike about suspension tuning…On all-mountain bikes“It’s a very hot area of the market. These bikes are becoming so light and capable that you know you can take a 150-160mm travel bike and use that as your only bike very comfortably. You could build a 26lb [11.8kg] 160mm bike with a lot of frame platforms now. That’s a light bike and super capable of doing everything you want it to do. “I think the technology has gotten to a point where it’s very exciting for us within SRAM. It’s the type of bike we’re all riding to be honest, or the type of bike we wish we could ride, especially in Colorado Springs – it’s the perfect weapon there.” Please install Adobe Flash player to view this contentVideo: The groundbreaking RockShox Reverb seatpostOn suspension complexity“In my dream scenario you just get on the fork and it’s right for you, there isn’t a lot of tuning needed. That’s not realistic for every rider group, because for some the overall performance is such a key element that they’d rather have all the adjustments and learn how to use them. “You get to more all-mountain, trail and cross-country riders and there’s a certain set of [adjustment] features that are very important, and there are features we’re confident we can preset from the factory to work effectively for them. “For example, [in the new Charger damper] it’s pretty simple. We’ve got a mode knob on the top that goes from your open setting to your pedal setting to your locked setting. In the open setting you have a low-speed compression fine-tuning adjuster. Then there’s a rebound knob, so it’s not overwhelming. The Charger damper uses a rubber bladder to prevent air and oil mixing“You get on the fork and there’s a couple of knobs; it might be a bit intimidating, but pedal around the car park and you realise it’s dead simple. It’s got all the features a trail rider really wants.” On development riders“You need pro rider feedback. They’re the fastest riders in the world and can push things harder than your average user. The balancing act is that, because they can push things further, their needs are a little bit different. If you err towards tuning for a pure professional, it will be stiffer and the fork will be firmer from a damping standpoint than what we would use for a standard rider. “If I set myself up with a tune for a downhill bike that one of our World Cup riders is using and go into the bike park with it, I might have fun for a lap but then I’d get a little bit of fatigue. I’m not fast enough to push hard enough for more than maybe a run to think it’s even fun. Even during that run I’m probably going to be pretty loose and wild, pinging off stuff. “Realistically, the tunes that are better for the more average rider like myself are backed off, they’re a little bit softer; the spring rates are a little bit lower. We have a pretty big crew of standard riders that we utilise to get our feedback from.” The new Pike fork was recently announcedOn the future of suspension“There’s a lot going on with electronics – look at the E.I system we partnered with Lapierre, Haibike and Ghost on. Being able to have this capable 150-160mm bike we were talking about, but then always have your rear shock in the perfect, most efficient setting for you without sacrificing any of the bump performance… That’s a real advantage to a lot of users. I think that’s one area where average people are really going to be able to benefit.” For more information on RockShox products see www.sram.com/rockshox. This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine, avai

Trek set out on an aggressive weight-saving campaign for the latest Superfly 100, and by all accounts its engineering team was largely successful. Even with a not-incredibly-light Shimano Deore XT group and mid-range wheels, our medium-size Superfly 100 Elite SL test bike weighs just 10.90kg (24.03lb) without pedals. The lack of mass is noticeable on the trail but, unfortunately, so is the lack of stiffness and so-so pedaling performance.Pros: Good high-speed geometry; lively rear suspension performance; light weightCons: Not very efficient; not very stiff; very long wheelbaseRide & handling: Lightweight with good suspension but lacking in efficiencyThe revamped Superfly 100 platform feels right at home on fast and flowy trails with lots of wide open, high speed sections. The long wheelbase and relatively low bottom bracket provide a very stable feel through sweeping corners. And even though it's lost 10mm of movement compared to its predecessor, the remaining 100mm of rear suspension is active and pleasantly progressive, impressively sucking up smaller trail chatter without bottoming out harshly on bigger impacts while maintaining a lively feel throughout. The rear end offers a good amount of pop for leaping out of berms and dips. And, as we've noted in the past, Trek's G2 geometry, with its increased-offset fork crown, goes a long way towards neutralizing both the big feel of 29in wheels and its unusually long wheelbase. Steering feels light and natural without requiring much in the way of excessive rider input, and it's usually only in very tight switchbacks that you notice the Superfly 100 Elite SL's considerable overall length.Like the Giant Anthem X Advanced 29er we tested last year, though, the Superfly 100's chain stays are still a little long at 452mm. Therefore, it's not the most natural bike to manual or wheelie. Carbon fiber seat stays but aluminum chain staysSuch handling traits would generally be no big deal in the Superfly 100's intended context of cross-country racing, where speeds are usually higher and there often aren't as many technical features as in general trail riding or enduro. However, the Superfly also doesn't pedal that efficiently, either.Switching the Fox Float CTD rear shock to its middle Trail setting is a must nearly any time pedaling is required, and we frequently resorted to the firmest Climb position even on short sections of fireroad. We saved the fully open Descend setting for extended downhills only. Otherwise, there's far too much movement and a somewhat dull feel under power, particularly when you're hammering along in the big ring.Nor did we find the Superfly 100 Elite SL's new carbon fiber frame particularly rigid. Front triangle stiffness is admittedly quite good, with the large diameter, nominally round main frame cross-sections and tapered head tube. That's largely squandered out back, though, with an appreciable amount of out-of-plane flex, particularly in high-load situations such as bermed corners or excessively rough sections of trail. Here, instead of the rear wheel tracking precisely behind the front one, we repeatedly noticed the rear loading up – only to spring back when unloaded, which occasionally sent us off-line.One simple test verified our suspicions, too: stand beside the Superfly 100 Elite SL with one hand atop the rear tire and the other on the saddle, push forward on one side while pulling back on the other, and you can see the top of the seat stays moving side to side relative to the seat tube more easily than one would expect from a bike of this caliber. We should note that two BikeRadar testers independently came to identical conclusions on two separate test samples. Naturally, Trek has expressed concern over our findings."We're going to be testing that bike to evaluate stiffness testing," said Trek mountain bike brand manager Travis Ott. "I trust you felt what you experienced. Numerous sessions with pros and test riders haven’t exposed any weakness

Company says critics miss the point of what its product is actually designed to do read more

Dutch organizers still awaiting explanation of decision

Rock Creek Velohttp://gwadzilla.blogspot.com/search?q=rock+creek+velo