10 OF THE BEST SADDLES RATED ROAD MODELS FOR MEN & WOMEN INSIDE P76

THE UK’S BESTTSELLINGSELLING CYCLINGCYC I MAGAZINE ISSUE 364 APRIL 2020

RIDDEN & RATEDATED NUTRITION RIDE FASTER MEAT- BEST FREE How cutting down won’t slow you down P70 STEEL No.1 FOR NEW BIKES Cervélo, Specialized, GT, Ribble, Devinci, BIKES Mason & more… THE OLDEST FUEL WITH BIKE MATERIAL PROVES IT REAL FOOD STILL HAS A FUTURE P3 6 PRO TIME TRIAL TIPS DO MARGINAL GAINS STILL MATTER? IS CYCLING AS GREEN AS WE THINK? Road bikes and road-biased all-rounders made of the oldest of bike-building materials...steel! PHOTOGRAPHY ROBERT SMITH

36 APRIL 2020 BIKERADAR.COM e’re a fifth of the way and tubeless tyres out of the box. Steel frames last a tubeless tyres handbuilt wheels. through the 21st The Vigorelli is a spin-off of Cinelli’s long time and can The Light Blue’s Darwin Two Way be recycled at end W century, so why are single speed frame and, while made of life, so are better Street is a steel frame/steel fork we testing five road of steel, it has a bang-up-to-date for the planet than affair with 105 hydraulic bikes made of steel, a SRAM 1x Apex groupset, albeit with you might think disc brakes that The Light Blue material thats use in bikes dates rim brakes. Both the Cinelli and All- describes as a road bike-cum-light back to the time of Queen Victoria? City the part, too. tourer, or a “street sports machine”. Well, steel can be built into It’s rim brakes again from Genesis comfortable, long-lasting and in its very road-biased Shimano reparable bikes that – in theory and 105-equipped Volare, but the avoiding catastrophic crashes – Volare’s Reynolds 853 is one of the

should outlast you and me. I gave my best steels out there. It’s Reynolds TESTER YOUR own 1984 steel Raleigh to a charity 725 for Spa Cycles’ all-black steel last year, and even with 40,000 , which I have in a twin SIMON WITHERS miles on the clock it had loads of life chainring configuration with a TECH WRITER left in it. wide range of gears to suit all riders, Simon reckons that the Our five test bikes are Shimano 105 disc brakes and All-City and The Light predominantly for the road but Blue mean that he has tested modern tastes are making their Steel can be built into bikes from 122 bike brands in presence felt with disc brakes, comfortable, long-lasting over 20 years of testing. He tubeless tyres and room for wider commutes 34 miles daily and tyres. The American company All- and reparable bikes that has ridden sportives, audax City calls its Zig Zag an “all-weather should outlast you and me events, time trials, duathlons endurance road bike” and it comes and has clocked up around with Shimano 105, hydraulic brakes 250,000 miles or so…

38 APRIL 2020 BIKERADAR.COM WHEELS OF STEEL THE BIKES ON TEST... CINELLI VIGORELLI £1499

Cinelli’s purple and chrome Vigorelli won’t necessarily appeal to everyone but they’ll certainly see you coming on this criterium-inspired bike. The Thron steel frame and full-carbon Futura fork are both from Cinelli’s partner company Columbus, and the striking combination promises speed as well as style. This is only one of two of our steel bikes that has rim braking. SPA CYCLES ELAN 275 £1999

The Reynolds steel Elan brings Shimano 105, hydraulic disc brakes and wheels built by Spa’s in-house spokemeister already set up in tubeless mode. Schwalbe’s G-One tyres should further ramp up the comfort and the chainset/cassette pairing provide a very impressive range of gears, both high and low. Gold details and Hope components nicely set off the predominantly black frame. THE LIGHT BLUE DARWIN TWO WAY STREET £2054.99

The Reynolds 725 chromoly steel frame is paired with a chromoly steel fork decked out with all the mounts you could ever require. Shimano’s 105 hydraulic groupset, Genetic cockpit, Halo White Line Disc wheels and Schwalbe’s 32mm Durano tyres complete the kit line-up for what The Light Blue calls a “light, quick, steel street bike”. THE RATINGS GENESIS VOLARE 853 EXPLAINED £2615

+++++ The Reynolds 853 steel used on this EXCEPTIONAL carbon-forked beauty is the “smaller brother of the 931” and is designed to offer a A GENUINE CLASS LEADER similar racy performance at a fraction of the budget. It’s available in disc- and rim-braked ++++ versions and I’m testing the latter for a more classic-looking steel bike. It comes as a VERY GOOD frameset for £899.99 and I got Shimano 105, ONE OF THE BEST YOU CAN BUY Shimano wheels and a Pro cockpit. +++ GOOD ALLCITY ZIG ZAG IT’LL DO THE JOB VERY WELL £2750 ++ BELOW AVERAGE My most expensive bike has the American company All-City’s own ACE FLAWED IN SOME WAY steel frame paired with a Whisky No 9 thru- axle fork. It’s the third of my contenders to + feature Shimano’s seemingly all-conquering 105 hydraulic groupset. Here, it’s joined by POOR Halo’s wide-rimmed Devaura wheels and SIMPLY PUT, DON’T BOTHER 30mm Schwalbe Pro One tyres already set up as tubeless.

BIKERADAR.COM APRIL 2020 39 03

01

02

WE SAY... It’s light, it’s quick, it’s plush, it’s versatile, it’s a commuter, tourer or even a bikepacker THE LIGHT BLUE DARWIN TWO WAY STREET £2054.99 Steel-framed, steel-forked, do-anything all-rounder

h, college quads, the Footlights, as ever, the wide-ranging gears offering slick, at Fenners… all things efficient changes and the brakes delivering easy, A Cambridge, where The Light Blue minimal-effort stopping. bikes were first produced in 1895. The frame material befits a Fast forward to 2020 and they’re brand with such an iconic British designed in the city by the founder’s grandson. SPECIFICATIONS name, coming in the form of Back in Victoria’s time, they would have been Weight 10.81kg Reynolds chromoly 725 steel. (S/M) made with lugged steel, rather than in this tidily Frame This is essentially a spin-off of TIG welded guise. As for the Darwin’s hydraulic Reynolds 725 Reynolds 531, the material that, brakes and 22 Shimano STI gears – 21 more than Fork Chromoly even today, has more Tour de Gears Shimano in 1895 – these would have been but a laudanum- 105 50/34, France victories to its name than induced dream, or perhaps a special delivery 11-34 any other. It’s a heat-treated steel, from HG Wells’s The Time Machine. Brakes which means it can be made with Shimano 105 The Light Blue describes the Darwin as a hydraulic discs narrower wall diameters, and “light, quick, steel street bike” that can Wheels Halo the tubes are butted – thicker encompass commuting, tackling towpaths and White Line Disc at the ends where more strength Finishing kit even lightweight touring. The standard black Genetic bar, is required (1). version starts at £1574.99 with Shimano 105 and stem and This ‘traditional’ frame TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes, but I 27.2mm material is paired here with a seatpost, upgraded to a galvanised frame with a full Passport chromoly steel fork complete TOP The Darwin’s chromoly steel Shimano 105 hydraulic disc groupset, taking the saddle, 32mm with lugged bottle-cage mounts fork has loads of tyre clearance Schwalbe cost up to £2054.99 (£1904.99 for black). Shimano ABOVE The sliding rear dropout lets and mudguard fittings. Both the Durano tyres 105 – to nobody’s great surprise – worked as well you use it fixed, geared or belt driven frame and fork have quick-

44 APRIL 2020 BIKERADAR.COM WHEELS OF STEEL

It’s best as a day-long rouleur, spinning you through country lanes at whatever speed you’re fit enough to achieve

The Light Blue can be run with derailleur, single speed and hub gear setups HIGHS Great release axles, rather than thru-axles, but this comfort, good sometime bikepacker with its didn’t seem to have any deleterious effect on the versatility and 32mm tyres. It’s steel, so it’ll last bike’s braking. a quality a lifetime. hydraulic The Light Blue ups the Darwin’s versatility groupset The one-to-one ratio bottom further with sliding rear dropouts, which allow gear keeps you in the saddle on the bike to be run with derailleur, single speed LOWS steeper climbs and I found this CONSIDER... ALSO FOR A LITTLE LESS and hub gear setups. It lets you tension the chain, felt at home wherever I took it. Quick-release DARWIN ONE BY and there’s a split in the right seatstay that allows rather than It’s probably best as a day-long £1749.99 you to fit long-lasting belts (2) such as the Gates thru-axles and rouleur, spinning you through Save yourself £300 and Carbon belt drive. Both the frame and fork have a slightly over- country lanes at whatever speed you’ll still get 1x SRAM Rival padded saddle room for 45mm tyres for gravel and off-road you’re fit enough to achieve. The and TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes for what The riding, or even pretty chunky 35mm tyres with BUY IF... flared handlebar comes into its Light Blue calls a ‘sport- mudguards for year-round riding on poor roads. You want a own on towpaths and the like, touring’ SUV. Numerous The result is a bike that in many ways is a versatile and and its very deep drop (3) means options include a flat bar, dynamo lighting and an successor to that much-loved 1984 Raleigh comfortable you can get down low if you cruiser that’ll upgrade to hydraulic brakes. Clubman 531. But the Darwin’s better in just last a lifetime want to crank it up. The Passport about every respect – evolution, I suppose, which saddle is a little too deeply is very apposite considering the Darwin name. padded for my taste but it was actually better The newer Light Blue bike is a fair bit lighter – than I expected. and that’s even with its not-exactly-light 2100g It may not be quite a first-class degree for this frame and 1050g fork. It’s also more comfortable, Light Blue but its Darwin Two Way Street is an FOR A LITTLE MORE and has stratospherically better braking. excellent all-round road machine with a wide- KINGS POTENZA Anybody criticising today’s hydraulic discs ranging appeal. wasn’t brought up on sidepull rim brakes that £2199.99 were ‘brakes’ in name only, especially in rain. For just a little extra, the THE VERDICT Kings Potenza has a Loads more gears and a much wider overall range Reynolds 853 frame with a provide both a higher top gear and lower bottom. Comfortable, versatile, all-day classic horizontal top tube, The list goes on. It’s light, it’s quick, it’s plush, it’s curved chromoly fork. The cruiser-cum-credit card tourer retro look is furthered by versatile. It’s a long-distance commuter, a light 11-speed Campagnolo tourer for weekends or longer away, or even a Potenza with rim brakes,

BIKERADAR.COM APRIL 2020 45