If you’re after some cycling specific skincare you should head over to the Veloskin website for their range that is designed exclusively for cyclists by cyclists.
Read MoreThe Perfect Car for Cyclists?
What sort of things do you look for in a car? What about a washing machine to clean your kit? Skoda polled 1,500 UK cyclists to find out what were the most important things they wanted from their drive before and after their ride. They took the results and came up with the Karoq Velo. And yes, it does indeed have a washing machine, a pressure washer to clean your bike and even a built-in drone station.
Read MoreRapha and Paul Smith Collaboration
Rapha have just released a new range of jerseys, bib shorts, base layer and T shirt in conjunction with Sir Paul Smith. They feature the legendary designer’s trademark stripes over a rather classy British racing green.
Read MoreAshmei's Festive Tipple
It’s not unususal for cyclists to enjoy a tipple or two after a hard ride, maybe even more so in the festive season. Perhaps with that in mind, premium cycling apparel brand ashmei have teamed up with the Puddingstone Distillery to create a second run of its popular cycle-oriented gin.
Read MoreAldi's Cycling Kit - it's Back and Better than Ever!
Discount brand Aldi is back with some super autumn cycling kit and it’s better than ever.
When Ride Velo tested out Aldi’s bike wear a couple of years ago we found it to be excellent value but a bit “Robocop” in styling. This time round Aldi designers have clearly been studying upmarket brands like Rapha and popular commuter marks like Endura and pared down their detailing to a much more wearable level. They’ve even included cyclists’ favourite merino wool in the mix.
Read MoreAshmei Merino Tested in the Tramuntana Mountains
September in Mallorca: it’s been too hot in recent months to get out on the bike much. But by now, if you set off bright and early it’s just edging above the 20 degree mark. Blue skies and only a gentle breeze make for perfect cycling conditions.
Ashmei have sent me their merino wool short sleeve jersey and a pair of bib shorts to try out. I may be cool now, but I know that I’ll be pretty hot and not a little sweaty after the 400m climb that awaits, so a good opportunity to try out its wicking qualities.
Read MoreYes! A Bike Friendly BBQ!
About this time two years ago we were inspired by a photograph on Twitter of a barbecue attached to the front rack of someone’s bike. It sparked a whole new yearning for a new kind of bike, a cargo bike. That dream was never realised although it did set us on the path to buying some touring bikes that opened up a whole new world for us.
Read MoreCrankalicious: Wipe The Weight Off Your bike!
Developed from scratch by a highly skilled team of engineers and scientists, Crankalicious, the handmade and high performance bike care and cleaning brand has today launched their revolutionary new product ‘Weight Wipes’.
Read MoreRapha Go Check
Rapha have always produced the best quality jerseys around. Their original and first ever product, the black Classic remains just that: a classic. It’s been its bestseller and at the very heart of its collection ever since its release way back in 2007. Recent years have seen them venture into all manner of colours and some purists weren’t too impressed. But we predict their new Check Classic jersey will, in years to come, become a staple of their collection.
Read MoreAbsoluteBLACK Oval Chainrings: Mechanical Aesthetic Beauty
Oval chainrings have drawn a fair amount of scepticism over the years. But then Bradley Wiggins won the 2012 Tour de France using them, and Chris Froome also has them on the Team Sky bike that has seen him, with the help of an inhaler or not, win five grand tours. What claims do the manufacturers make, and is it worth you making the change?
Read MoreREW Reynolds: British Cycling Shoes Crafted with Style and Passion
A good pair of cycling shoes are a must for any serious cyclist. They should be stiff, comfortable, light and stylish. Many professional cyclists (who are often superstitious) value their favourite shoes so highly that they won’t let them out of their sight in between races. But there are times when you’ll want something a little different from the flashy, garish, ultra light and Velcro-strapped footwear that we see in the pro peloton.
Read MoreThe Light Blue Darwin D Tour Review
We recently put The Light Blue Darwin D Tour through its paces on a bike tour of the south coast. We covered about 300 miles from Brighton to Exeter over a week and covered a wide range of terrain from flat, tarmac bike paths and hilly country lanes to some pretty serious off road tracks. Here’s what we thought.
Read MoreBrompton Review: Ugly Duckling to Design Icon
The first time I saw someone riding a Brompton back in the 90s I have to say that I thought it was a joke. It was the antithesis of the skinny steel road bikes that I loved. Tiny wheels, silly handlebars and an upright riding position went against all the aesthetics I thought I knew and loved.
But, while this eccentric looking folding bike has pretty much stayed the same since its invention in 1986, it’s no longer laughed at. In fact it’s become a design icon and no more so than in the Far East where a love for British design and innovation knows no bounds.
Read MoreTannus Solid Tyre Review
Last month we wrote about the new Tannus solid tyres that are currently being used on the Ukrainian track team’s training bikes. The pitch we got from the Korean company at the London Bike Show was that there have been vast improvements in solid tyre technology in recent years and that they would be good enough for a road bike. We took them at their word and tried a pair for a few weeks. Here’s our verdict.
Read MoreAltum: The Bike Multi-Tool That Works!
The Ride Velo household must have half a dozen bike multi-tools, none of which really work very well. I’ve cursed each one for not reaching the more inaccessible parts of the bike or for the way bits flop around uselessly. And none of them have an 8mm allen key to unscrew my Look Keo pedals.
However, the guys at Altum seem to have fixed all three of those problems with their Modual Tool System (MTS). It’s a very neat idea. Two decent quality tyre levers clip in either side of the handle and it has detachable 2, 2.5,3,4, 5, 6, and 8mm hex tool bits as well as a flat head and Phillips screwdriver tool bit. There are even 3.23, 3.3 and 3.45 spoke keys. In fact it has 14 functions in total.
Read MoreSolid Tyres: Good Riddance to Punctures?
Someone once told me that my bad luck when it came to getting punctures was God’s way of punishing me for past sins. Obviously they were catholic and, while I hold no truck with superstition, I often wonder why it is that it’s always me pulling up by the side of the road to curse and grapple tyre levers with numb fingers.
Clearly, my tyre replacement skills have never really been up there with the best. The last sportive I did I had three flats in quick succession all because of pinched inner tubes or from not cleaning debris from the tyre properly. With such bad luck and poor bike maintenance skills, the thought of solid tyres that don’t puncture has always been particularly appealing to me.
Read MoreWhich Turbo Trainer?
Winter miles make summer smiles, as the cycling saying goes. But as post-Christmas apathy sets in, along with an expanding waistline, motivation wanes. Adding bad weather and shorter days into the mix, getting out on the bike becomes less and less attractive. 'Tis the season of the turbo trainer...
Read MoreBest Cyclist's Christmas Stocking Fillers
Only 10 sleeps until Christmas, but it's not too late to fill your loved one's cycling stockings. Forget boring bike lights and unimaginative inner tubes, we give you our top selections from a year's hard graft trawling bike shows and reviewing the latest offerings from books to energy boosters. Here's Ride Velo's best little presents for 2016 which are guaranteed to delight the cyclist in your life.
Read MoreHalfbike Review: Feel Like a Kid Again
There was a time when the Australians said that us Brits were only any good at sports that involved sitting down, which explained our Olympic success at both rowing and cycling. I wonder how we’d fare then if there was a competition for the Halfbike because, get this, it doesn’t have a saddle.
The Halfbike is an invention created by a pair of architects called Mihail Klenov and Martin Angelov, both passionate cyclists who shared “a vision about urban mobility and how it can be applied to the contemporary city.” They launched it on Kickstarter in 2015 and raised a million dollars in funding. Wow!
Read MoreCafé du Cycliste Josette Jersey Review
When we went to Nice earlier this year for a bit of spring cycling in the sun we decided to pop into Café du Cycliste to meet their boss, Rémi Clermont. We’d been fans of the brand for sometime, but being able to see all of their products in one building certainly set the heart racing. As we composed wish lists of the Claudette and Francine jerseys, not to mention the very cool Antoinette blue and white striped bib shorts, I also came across the Josette jersey which looked rather different to any of the road wear stuff I’ve come across before.
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