..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
the waterproofing conundrum
there is a fundamental flaw in contemporary cycling, one that has nothing to do with the sponsorship model, nor with the endless technological progress, or even with professional riders having odd names like 'wout van aert', 'primoz roglic', or tadej pogacar. on a far more fundamental level, it is related to inclement weather, particularly that which afflicts scotland's west coast. though it's not something we only learned yesterday, sunday morning's galeforce wind and rain affected bike ride, served only to highlight the problem.
for years and years, the world's velocipedinal apparel purveyors have foisted upon us, all manner of protective clothing, no less particularly, that intended to keep our feet warm and dry. i recall having an extended and heated discussion with a representative of one garment specialist as to the description of their winter overshoes as 'waterproof'. i had no qualms about such a description relating to precipitation falling upon them from a great height, or even surface water splashing off the front tyre. however, since every pair of overshoes in the western world features a large hole in the sole to allow for the cleats, they can hardly be described as 100% waterproof.
said representative forwarded me a whole heap of technical data proving that the outer fabric could be submerged to several hundred metres and still repel water, as well as statistics showing the level of saturation that had to be reached before the waterproofing begins to fail. but that hole in the floor is bound to allow water to seep in at some point, rendering the claim to be fully waterproof as null and void.
however, that is a mere sideline to my contention that the fundamental flaw continues to exist, one that has been glaringly obvious for many a long day. if i might outline a scenario that pervades throughout the peloton; don a pair of dexshell waterproof socks, cover them with a pair of bibtights, put on the shoes with cleats that match the bike pedals, then encase everything in a pair of waterproof overshoes.
and then go out in the rain.
in a matter of minutes or hours, depending on the weather, the bib-tights will become saturated and gravity will begin to draw the water towards your feet, by-passing the overshoes and the waterproof socks, filling the inside of the latter as well as your footwear. so, no matter how waterproof all the above products claim to be, you're going to end up with wet feet. the only solution, demonstrated by a pair of fleece-lined, waterproof bibtights i own from many years past, is for the tights to own the ability to fit over the top of the overshoes. thus, the rainwater will simply roll-off onto the outer surface of the overshoes, avoiding any internal ingress altogether.
so how does this affect an appraisal of dexshell's excellent waterproof and thermal socks? well, in showery weather, as experienced over a stretch of several weekends' riding, they're all but perfection personified. in the absence of any form of overshoe, my feet remained dry, even if my footwear had to be stuffed with rolled up newspapers on return. on the occasions, as described above, when the rain has drained off my bibtights and inside everything, the dexshells were at least able to demonstrate the veracity of their constitution, by the fact that the inside of the socks were filled with water and it wasn't coming out through the fabric.
the fundamental problem really requires co-operation between parties, but ultimately, bibtights that can be fitted over a pair of overshoes would seem the most pragmatic solution. i'm trying hard to understand why that seems not to be the case from any of the major cycle clothing providers.
dexshell thermlite socks are available in black/orange or black/olive green in sizes small to xl at a retail price of £30.
monday 14 december 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................la course en tete: racing in the time of covid. youcaxton publications paperback 229pp illus. £12.99
at one time in the last century, britain's cycling aficionados relied greatly on either acquiring a copy of an italian or french newspaper to learn of continental racing, or perhaps the odd snippet in one of britain's mainstream press. either that, or wait until each thursday came to pass to eagerly rifle the pages of 'the comic'. later, in pre internet days, there were the monthlies, all of which would offer a precis of each part of the season in more general terms, unable to match the relative immediacy of their weekly competition.
however, with king of the mountains success in the tour de france from scotland's robert millar in 1984, along with ireland's sean kelly's green jerseys in '82 and '83, the recently constituted channel four, began a half-hour tour highlights programme in 1985. all the same, by the time we'd admired gary imlach's polo shirt du jour and watched the adverts, there wasn't a great deal of cycling to be seen. for newbies to the sport, it remained a mystery as to how millar could be first across the first two summits, yet be nowhere to be seen at stage end.
providing the explanation for the latter and other conundrums was left to the rise and rise of satellite television, bringing us eurosport and its subsequent televising of entire stages from the flag drop to crossing the line at stage finish. from that point onwards, british cycling fans could begin to equal the knowledge and appreciation of their european counterparts. the internet only added to that situation, with a wide range of websites offering every last nugget of information to satisfy the most obsessive of obsessives. suddenly the cycling magazines began to see their heyday slip from their grasp; by thursday, 'the comic' had been usurped in every way imaginable, and even the crumbs had little mileage left for the monthlies.
things are little different today. though thewashingmachinepost has recognised this situation by totally avoiding any mention of le tour during the regular three weeks in july (offering a refuge to those suffering from too much french racing), there are hundreds of alternatives should the racing game be your atom of delight. in which case, who on earth would think it a good idea to bring a book to publication, covering the very subject that has already been dissected in infinite detail in the press, on the telly box and on the interwebs?
that would be la course en tete.
this consists of a group of cycling journalists, to wit: oj borg, nick bull, peter cossins, william fotheringham, matt morris, sadhbh o'shea, sophie smith and jeremy whittle. an impressive bunch, you must admit. and if collectively they thought it a wizard wheeze to engage in a new publishing venture in the middle of a global pandemic, then who are we to argue? as author william fotheringham says in the introduction:
"...the idea of putting a website on line to bring cycling fans the best writing that a group of long-standing cycling journalists could provide had been kicking around my mind for a while."
as a commercial venture, you might think it had little going for it, but mr fotheringham later points out that america's peloton magazine engaged the services of la course en tete to provide them with coverage of the much delayed tour de france and giro d'italia. and now, there's this excellent book entitled 'racing in the time of covid', providing us with the sort of quality writing you just don't get anywhere else. and when you consider just how many words are currently expended on the competitive milieu, that's quite some achievement.
there are impressively short chapters on the lack of stages for pure sprinters, how covid affected the uae tour, sheltering mrs roglic and child in a press car during a hailstorm, and peter cossins on the old guard vs the young guns. "I started the day with my focus very much on the opening time-trial of the Giro d'Italia, but then it drifted. I can justifiably blame Mathieu van der Poel for this."
i'm well aware that i have an annoying habit of recommending books as being 'compulsory reading', a cliché i perhaps ought to make efforts to avoid. but then along comes a book like this, and it's hard to exclude just such a recommendation. i cannot pretend to be familar with the work of all the writers named above, but when will fotheringham e-mailed to ask if i'd like a review copy, based on his name alone, i replied that such was a question that scarcely needed to be asked.
the depth of cycling knowledge possesed by the contributors to la course en tete is surely without peer in the realm of velocipedinal journalism. there is something here for everyone, presented in commendably short chapters, which, combined, provide a series of snapshots of the much-delayed, yet highly engaging 2020 season. if you're like me, the 'wham, bam, thank you ma'am' racing, was hard to take-in. to be honest, i really needed someone (or several someones) to make sense of it all.
this book is the absolute shizzle.
sunday 13 december 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................say that again?
rumour has it that the name 'led zeppelin' was coined by who drummer, keith moon, to support his contention that the band of the same name would go down in similar manner to such a large, overweight flying machine. when i was a student at college and in several bands, the guitarist in one of them had a hardback notebook in which he'd written prospective band names whenever one suggested itself. thus, when we'd amassed enough material to fulfil a gig, there was no shortage of options from which to choose.
rapha founder, simon mottram, earned his living as a brand consultant before entering the arguably more satisfying world of cycling apparel, assisting corporate britain to present an attractive, consolidated face to its hopefully attracted customers. the veracity of his abilities in this direction can be shown by the fact that, only a matter of weeks after launching rapha in 2004, he was contacted by a gent who claimed to have been a fan of the clothing for many a long year, and was happy to see it available in the uk.
the percussive world, steeped in tradition as many of its marques are, offers bass drum display heads featuring well-crafted pictograms such as gretsch's drumset logo, or the immediately recognisable script logo of ludwig, made famous by ringo starr. others feature easily remembered names such as pearl, drum workshop, tama, and premier. those are augmented by differing lug designs, reminiscent of the variation in ornate lugwork on mid-century steel frames. all this is in the name of advertising an easily distinguished presence to an adoring public.
formula one motor racing has little problem in having its cars distinguished on the track, and even less if you're enough of an aficionado to dress in logo-emblazoned garmentry. ferrari, mercedes and renault are all well-known motor manufacturers, hoping to enhance their reputations by racing vehicles that bear scant resemblance to those found on the showroom floor. but also easily identifiable are sauber, williams, red bull and even alpha tauri. from a racing fan's perspective, there's reasonable confidence that the polo-shirts, jackets and podium caps sat in the wardrobe will last for a good few seasons, safe in the knowledge that the team is likely to be still called the same, come the following season.
some of the above branding pretty much suggests itself; for instance, i rather doubt that mercedes or mclaren ever considered calling themselves anything else, no matter the branding that features on the bodywork. and not that i suggest you watch an entire race, but cast a glance over the mclaren race car and you'll be hard-pressed to find the word mclaren. in fact, the mclaren branding is probably more visible on the jerseys of this season's bahrain mclaren cycle team. other teams have probably spent several hundred thousand engaging the services of brand consultants to ensure that the team name is particularly marketable across several continents and nations.
do we think that world tour cycling undertakes the same considerations? on current evidence, probably not.
it has long been suggested that professional cycling team names be those of the owners. thus ef procycling would be known as slipstream, a name that would persist no matter the sponsor name emblazoned on the jersey. for fans of the sport, that would mean that, while jerseys may alter year in, year out, at least they would remain supporters of slipstream, in the same way that glasgow rangers football supporters can be assured that the team will still be known by the same name twenty years from now, even if the logo on the front were to change every year.
but velocipedinal life simply isn't like that, where complexity upon complexity seems hellbent on obscuring the very branding that other sports seem to have taken in their stride. for starters, the sponsors seem mostly content simply to apply their logos to the jerseys, without much in the way of explanation of what they do. for instance, jumbo and visma are two completely different companies, yet the way that they have approached their co-sponsorship of what was once the rabobank team, would perhaps lead the uninitiated not to realise the jersey doesn't relate to a single entity.
there are many continental and pro continental teams that suffer from a plethora of small sponsors, all of whom require some real estate on jersey, shorts and team bus, as reward for their financial investment. and depending on the financial largesse under discussion, that sponsorship might demand a say in the team name as presented to the uci. cycling's sponsorship model has long been regarded as broken, though as of the present, it continues in the same disparaged format. but in a modern world, where marketing has become a science in all but name, cycling seems either content to remain outside the envelope, or simply happy to wear its discombobulation on the side of a team car.
how else can you explain a team named 'intermarché-wanty-gobert-matériaux'?
saturday 12 december 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................shiny trinkets
legend has it that explorers of the new world, over two centuries ago, took with them, piles of shiny trinkets to offer to the natives of lands discovered along the way. the assumption appears to have been that beads and bracelets would satisfy any acquisitive tendencies the natives might possess, and that their naivety would scarcely question the validity of the proffered gifts. of course, in at least a couple of occasions, the explorers were well wide of the mark and ended up as lunch or dinner, but overall, i believe the faux friendliness had a tendency to work, gaining them sovereignty over the newly discovered lands, before they subsequently decimated the population by way of germs and illnesses to which the natives had no natural defence.
to an extent, the subterfuge is still at play midst modern political and diplomatic strategies. it is intriguing to learn of the often odd value appended to gifts presented by visiting dignitaries to heads of state. for example, american presidents have been given a panda, a zebra and a lion, a burberry coat and even a robe of sheer white fabric. this is not to suggest that i view america's heads of state in the same light as indigenous natives of remote caribbean islands from two hundred years ago; well, not all of them.
unfortunately, it appears that either we, or the bicycle industry has not learned from history, intent as they appear to be in promulgating the procedures practised by our exploring ancestors. i base my conjecture on an e-mail received only yesterday from a well-known and respected saddle manufacturer. having designed and built a particularly successful bicycle seat, acceptably sold at an agreeable price point and an attractive augmentation to any bicycle, in order to help persuade us buy more, whether needed or otherwise, they have now announced its availability in new colours.
and it's not simply saddle manufacturers who attempt to entice us with bright, shiny colours (actually the colours are reasonably muted, but i'm sure you catch my drift). how often have you paid a visit to the website of a cycling apparel purveyor, only to discover the word new, applied to a jersey or jacket that you would have sworn has been available for quite some time? on closer examination, it transpires that there is nothing new about the garments, simply its reappearance in different hues.
and it's not only a trend applicable to the world of the velocipede. drum workshop, manufacturer of arguably the finest drum hardware in the business, brought their state of the art bass drum pedals to market several years past, originally available only in polished alloy. yet, only last week appeared a video online, featuring the inimitable thomas lang, playing a large array of these pedals in both blue and red anodised aluminium; no different from the original release, just differently coloured.
the comparison with coloured saddles is one i think perfectly valid, for, during any given bike ride, it's highly unlikely that anyone will catch sight of the upgraded saddle colour. similarly, when was the last time you sat in the audience at a jazz or rock concert and noticed the colour, make, or type of bass drum pedal played by the man or woman behind the kit?
exactly.
it has frequently been pointed out, in recent years, that the bicycle industry is, as ray davies once proclaimed, "a dedicated follower of fashion". but surely changing colours while appending the word 'new' is as low as it gets? in the absence of licence plates that alter every six months, it's quite possible that ever-changing colours will not only appease the natives, but allow the intrepid cyclist to adopt the sort of one-upmanship beloved of the average motorist with a new car in the driveway.
meantime, i can't make up my mind whether a blue or yellow saddle will look best atop the gunmetal grey of the ritchey's frameset.
friday 11 december 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................fangled
prior to moving to the hebrides, i owned a bright yellow citroen 2cv. aside from its endearing 'ugly duckling' looks, i bought it because the rear seat could be easily be removed to accept my drumset, ventilation could be achieved by opening flaps below the windscreen, and the front windows were hinged halfway to allow the lower half to be flipped upwards to open. and, with an air-cooled engine, the car would heat up within minutes of starting. and for someone who rarely drove above 40mph, its top speed of 70mph still left plenty of room for manouevre.
the other reasons for its purchase was because it was probably the closest thing to cycling that could be achieved on four wheels, and you could all but dismantle it completely with a screwdriver and an adjustable spanner.
an office colleague of mine owns a reasonably new motor car, which, in common with the majority available on showroom floors all across the country, has more features than seen on the space shuttle. but, as i discovered while owner of a more contemporary car model in the early 2000s, the more things a car purports to do, the more there is to go wrong. similar accusations have been levelled at land rover's replacement for their defender, probably with very good reason.
my colleague's motor vehicle suddenly displayed an array of warning lights on the dashboard display a few weeks past, which have proved all but impossible to de-luminate. the general consensus amongst authorised mechanics for this particular make of vehicle, is that ultimately, a sensor is to blame. however, there does seem to be some disagreement over which particular sensor might be responsible, and, until the vehicle can be attached to a computer specific to the manufacturer, there seems little likelihood of any progress in the matter.
the situation has not been helped by a display alerting her to the fact that, in 560 miles (and counting), the car will come to a complete halt. i'm sure i need not point out that, on an island bereft of an authorised dealer for this marque, she will have to endure the ferry trip to the mainland, followed by a lengthy drive to a dealer within a higher level covid region than that of islay. local motor engineers have replaced a couple of components in the past week or so, none of which have removed those illuminated warnings.
i'm pretty sure you can see where i'm going with this. already, sram have successfully brought to market a completely wireless gearset, and a double-chainset on which the chainrings are hewn from a single chunk of alloy, meaning replacement of the entire chainset, even if only one ring shows substantial wear. rumour has it that shimano's next version of dura-ace di2 will also be a wireless groupset, so one would imagine it won't be too long before vicenza follows suit. though i'm no engineer, i wouldn't think it's entirely outwith the bounds of velocipedinal ingenuity to develop a set of disc brakes that operate electronically and thus, wirelessly.
at worst, it would save all that messy hydraulic fluid.
of course, we're already partially inured to the vicissitudes of built-in obsolescence, through long term exposure to cartridge bottom brackets and the onset of external bb cups. several headsets occupy a similar state, with the factory-fit bearings being non-replaceable. it's therefore a case of removing it, throwing it away, and replacing with new.
in relative terms, the bicycle is already environmentally friendly, and certainly a brighter shade of green than the motor car. concerted moves towards remedying this situation with the enforced introduction of electric and hybrid vehicles could surely be enhanced by a return to more traditional values, where the local car mechanic could take a look under the bonnet/hood, diagnose the root of the problem and fix it with minimal fuss. our local car mechanics have found it necessary to acquire a whole slew of computers, each specific to a different model of automobile; parts can no longer be repaired, but must be replaced.
to my mind, that is heading in the opposite direction to that of becoming environmentally friendly. it concerns me slightly that the bicycle might be pedalling along the same route. i have no experience of sram's wireless setup, but what would happen were the little black boxes associated with di2 and eps, to be replaced with usb ports, and when the gears failed to shift correctly, a clunkingly erratic trip to an authorised bicycle dealer was required to have the problem annuled, or replaced?
i still have a couple of small polythene bags in the bikeshed, containing quarter-inch bearings. and whenever things get too much, i just stand and stare at them for a while.
thursday 10 december 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................all clogged up
just because i can, i'm about to list all the working distilleries on islay: ardbeg, lagavulin, laphroaig, bowmore, bruichladdich, kilchoman, caol ila, ardnahoe and bunnahabhain. if you have difficulty pronouncing some of those, you're not alone. if you promise not to tell, we occasionally snigger at the overheard pronunciations, but always behind their backs. and strictly speaking, caol ila isn't actually a working distillery at the moment, stranded as it is, in the middle of its 'johnniewalkerisation', but that's of no nevermind at the moment.
in addition to the above, and similarly stranded due to covid restrictions, is the rebuilding of port ellen distillery. closed in 1983, diageo announced last year that they were intent on bringing it back from the dead. the irony of that, is that one of the chaps responsible for its closure, is now on the working group for its resurrection. add all of those together, and you have a total of ten distilleries, surely enough for any small hebridean island? bear in mind that our neighbouring island of jura features a single distillery, as do mull and skye, while the isle of harris also has a single, recently created production facility.
but now, it seems we're about to gain an eleventh.
elixir spirits, a highly successful bottling company, submitted a planning application earlier this year to build a new distillery on the shore at farkin, midway between port ellen village and laphroaig distillery. for reasons with which you may sympathise, the planning application received a fair number of objections, some of which centred on employment (pre-covid, islay had only 1% unemployment), others on ferry capacity, but a sizeable number on the fragility of the island's road infrastructure.
the latter has suffered for many a year due to a european union directive issued at the turn of the century, preventing industrial units disposing of waste into the sea. sepa (scottish environmental protection agency) interpreted this to include distilleries (which were, in essence, simply industrial units before fandom intervened). subsequently, those distilleries without sea waste pipes over a pre-determined length, receive daily collections by tanker for disposal of the pot-ale into a large repository adjacent to caol ila village. this is then dispersed into the sound of islay, where the fast moving tide whisks it off into the north atlantic ocean.
in actual fact, the pot-ale is predominantly of organic composition, and on which all manner of sea-life fed quite safely. unfortunately, sepa's categorisation was a one-size-fits-all directive. considering the weight of a fully-loaded tanker, crossing roads originally designed by thomas telford and built for horses and bicycles, it will surprise you not that the road surfaces are disintegrating.
but it's not just the industrial-related traffic that gives cause for concern. for the last twenty years, in the last week of may, the island has hosted the annual fèis ìle or islay whisky festival. unsurprisingly, nine distilleries attract a large number of single-malt aficionados; the addition of two more distilleries is highly unlikely to reduce that number, potentially leading to more motor traffic, of which a growing percentage seems to be ever-larger motorhomes and camper vans. we have but one bona-fide campsite, which, at a stretch, can accommodate up to 30 motorhomes.
following the period of lockdown earlier this year, argyll and bute council, aided and abetted by calmac ferries, issued advice that only those with booked spaces on the island should attempt to take a motorhome or camper van to the island. this had some effect, but since it would apparently take a by-law to make this a legal prohibition, rather than simply advisory, it was hardly a blanket ban.
at present, i and my cohorts can ride pretty much anywhere on the island without fear of coming across any sort of traffic jam. the only congestion we're likely to find, is during the frequent, seasonal movements of sheep and cattle along some of the single track roads. this freedom to roam does become a tad more restricted from early may until late september, particularly on the singletrack roads leading to and from ardnahoe and bunnahabhain, or kilchoman on the west coast. in fact, along the latter route, we have initiated a game, guessing how many cars we'll meet on the seven kilometres from the distillery to the main road. even during covid travel restrictions, that topped out at fourteen; a mere drop in the ocean for mainland dwellers, but believe me, on a narrow, twisty, singletrack road, where no-one but us seems to comprehend the meaning of a passing place sign, it's a big deal.
on bruichladdich distillery's open day on the festival's opening weekend, there are cars parked nose to tail from one end of the village to the other, while whisky fans throng all across the road, carrying their misbegotten gains. it is islay's concession to congestion. it's probably worth my pointing out that public transport on islay is of a somewhat rudimentary constitution, and at least four of those distilleries are in locations outwith the island bus routes.
it's the congestion aspect that cycling uk contends could cripple britain's roads, and cost the economy up to £15 billion per year, if moves are not implemented to improve walking and cycling facilities, while curbing car use. apparently, post lockdown, only 43% of the public agree that they would be inclined to reduce their car use in a post-pandemic world if there was better public transport, 14% less than last year. that does not augur well for either the motoring public, and probably even less so for the cyclists amongst us. islay's problem is paltry in comparison to that faced by inner cities and urban regions of britain, yet nonetheless unique and of future concern to the hebridean cyclist, meaning that the seeping encroachment of the car journey at the expense of sustainable transport contiues unabated, pandemic or no pandemic.
unfortunately, edinburgh bicycle's slogan, 'the revolution will not be motorised' seems every bit as distant as ever it was.
wednesday 9 december 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................reinventing the wheel
grame obree claims that man's two greatest inventions are the bicycle and the duvet. the latter can trace its lineage back to the 16th century, when the vikings and those living on norway's northern coasts used covers of eider down to keep them warm at night. the bicycle, at its earliest, didn't surface until close to the mid nineteenth century, but it's hard to think that either of graeme's favourites are in need of being reinvented, both still fulfilling the functions for which they were invented.
but, at the risk of stating the glaringly obvious (once again), the bicycle makes use of a much earlier invention to allow its motive power to move it forwards, or, occasionally, backwards. i am, of course, referring to the wheel, the invention of which can surely be regarded as one of the pivotal moments in the history of humankind. it wouldn't take too many moments of contemplation to imagine quite what life would be like without the wheel.
it's an invention to which an exact time or place cannot be applied, mostly because the evidence that has been uncovered scarcely guarantees the existence of actual, wheeled transport. however, currently credit for bringing the wheel to fruition, seems to be aimed at the elamites, an ancient civilisation originating in the region of modern iraq. assuming that to be the case, it would indicate that round, wheely things could be bought from the local bike shop around 4500 years bc, though they may have borne far closer resemblance to those used by the village potter.
the phrase 'reinventing the wheel' has been in common parlance for an indeterminate length of time, generally referring to the duplication of methods already in use. it also bears a certain irony, given the fact that nobody actually seems to know just when the wheel was actually invented. therefore, the modern-day wheel as applicable to transportation of any style, could quite legitimately be considered having been a reinvention of its very own.
oddly enough, with particular reference to the wheel as a pragmatic object, there have been no end of attempts to reinvent it in a fashion designed to supersede the accustomed incarnation, none of which, as far as i'm aware, have succeeded in their attempts. however, hardly dissuaded by experience and previous failure, the designers of the reevo have made a pretty decent shot at offering something a bit different.
reevo is the brainchild of beno incorporated whose design and research and development departments are in seattle, north america, with manufacturing in penang, malaysia. a funding request on website indiegogo had, at the time of writing, raised over £1.5 million for an e-bike, sporting wheels on which the rims remain fixed to the front and rear forks, while the tyres revolve to allow forward motion. this has led to a spokeless and hubless wheel design, one that looks decidedly odd, but, if videos of the prototype are anything to go by, seems to work as designed. and the fact that the rims are stationary, allows not only for built-in lighting, but direction indicators too.
with delivery of the first machines expected in april next year, funders are being offered a bike of their own for just over $2,000, reduced from an expected retail cost of $3,349. in the process of reinventing the wheel, they seem also to have tinkered substantially with the aluminium/abs frame, providing something that doesn't look too dissimilar to the pinarello sword, famed by association with miguel indurain. the reevo purports to be virtually theft-proof, featuring a fingerprint sensor, integrated automatic lock and gps tracking. charging time is stated as three hours, and offering a maximum speed of 48kph across the pond and 25kph in the uk and europe.
of course, as with e-bikes that contain the motor in the rear hub, flexibility is not subsumed within its dna. rather obviously, should a wheel become damaged or require repair, it's not a simple matter of lifting one from any other bike you happen to have in the shed. it's not clear from the online brochure if the tyres are proprietary or not, but the wheels are most definitely not disc compatible.
perhaps the first indication that this particular reinvention has gained traction (pun intended), will be when julian alaphilippe appears on the startline, missing his hubs and spokes.
tuesday 8 december 2020
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