Dedicated solely to the exhilaration of road cycling, Cyclist is the very first magazine of its kind. A celebration of the rides, the travel and the latest gear – we'll show you how to get the best from your ride every time.
Where do you sit on the change spectrum? Some people love anything new; others hate change, like the reader who told us that featuring disc brakes meant we were in league with the Devil. Here at Cyclist, most of us are somewhere about halfway along that spectrum. We like things that are new and improved, but only if they are genuinely an improvement. Disc brakes are an interesting case in point. Anyone who has experienced the terror of descending in the wet while using rim brakes and carbon wheels will appreciate the more assured stopping power of disc brakes. But why do they have to squeak so much? And why is it so difficult to stop them from rubbing? The old-fashioned rim brake has a number of advantages over discs,…
Italian custom builder Sarto used to be the quality bike maker that no one had heard of. For decades the company made frames by hand at its factory near Venice, but for many of those years the names on the down tubes were mainly of other brands – some of them among the biggest and most respected of the Italian bike marques. Thus while Sarto’s high-quality frames were being appreciated around the world, its house brand went virtually unnoticed. Not anymore, though. Sarto stopped contract manufacturing two years ago to focus on building only its own custom bikes, and the rewards of that extra focus are starting to show. Traditional values, modern materials The Seta is Sarto’s most versatile bike, promising a balance of top-level performance features with plenty of…
When Specialized launched its S-Works 6 shoes back in 2015, a Sub6 lace-up version was released at the same time. They proved to be as popular, if not more so, than the Boa dial-equipped originals. So when Specialized revised the shoe and released the S-Works 7 in 2018, it would have been logical to assume a lace-up alternative would be hot on its heels. Not so. Specialized made fans wait for four years, and has only now released the S-Works 7 Lace. But it looks like it was worth the wait. The new model uses many of the same features and technologies as the original S-Works 7, such as the stiff Powerline carbon sole and Padlock heel cup, just with laces instead of Boas. From the tone of the marketing…
Wahoo changed the game with its Kickr 10 years ago and it continues to expand its smart trainer range, now targeting rollers. The Kickr Rollr gives riders the freedom to jump on their trainer without having to remove the rear wheel. It is said to give a more realistic sense to the stationary bike through that classic rollers feel. Traditionalists will lament that the front wheel is stationary and, unlike normal rollers, is braced firmly by the ‘safety gripper’ which can secure tyres up to 2.1” (53mm) thick. However, it’s clear this set-up will be suitable to more people than the number of those who bemoan it. Tech-wise, the key difference between the Rollr and other Kickrs from Wahoo (including Core and Snap) is it does not have a power…
Founded in Texas in 2013, Kogel has quickly become an alternative high-end brand for those who want to delve beyond stock set-ups. Its signature components are bottom brackets and jockey wheels, which feature its industry-leading ceramic bearings. Turning its attention to adding friction to a bike rather than removing it may seem like a vast change of direction for Kogel, but the new Kratos and Bia brake pads use a ceramic coating to assist with heat dissipation, so there’s a consistent ceramic narrative. The Kratos pads are for wet and intense braking environments; the Bia pads are a softer compound, better for dry conditions. (Kratos is the personification of strength in Greek mythology and Bia is the personification of force.) Pads are available for SRAM and Shimano’s road and mountain…
Lazer recently announced its KinetiCore safety technology, which it says is the new benchmark for lightweight, protective helmets. The technology is centred on built-in rotational=impact protection. What is rotational impact? Well, imagine you’ve stopped safely on a mountainous trail. A small rock dislodges from above and it’s heading towards you. If that rock were to strike you in the head, linear impact protection would reduce this high-impact force. Rotational impact, on the other hand, is likely to happen if you crash while moving and hit your head at an angle. Essentially, linear is the base level of protection, but for the best possible safety, a combination of both linear and rotational protection is required to improve the overall level of impact absorption. In recent times, rotational protection meant adding materials…
