BIKETEST | CONTEMPORARY TOURERS

DAN JOYCE Bike test Cycle editor CONTEMPORARY TOURERS Editor Dan Joyce reviews two new tourers: the Cinelli HoBootleg and the Light Blue Darwin Twin Peak

HE BIKE industry is taking a growing Cyclocross heritage also shows up in the The Darwin is also chrome-moly steel: interest in adventure cycling, and not frame geometry. Not in the chainstays, which Reynolds 725. Narrower gauge tubes mean just the kind where bivvy bags are are long enough for . But it shows less metal and thus less frame weight than T strapped to gravel bikes. New touring in the seat angle, which is on the steep side the burlier HoBootleg. With lighter wheels too bikes are appearing. The Light Blue Darwin – for long days in saddle (although it didn’t (on which, more later), it saves well over a kilo available in various configurations – is new for bother me). And it shows in the front centres compared to the Cinelli, even factoring in the 2016, while Cinelli’s HoBootleg (an awkward measurement ( to front hub), latter’s racks and mudguards. That difference contraction of ‘hobo’ and ‘Bootleg’, Cinelli’s which is too short. I repeatedly caught my is moot if you’ll ride with heavy panniers but is urban and trekking range) is one I’ve seen at toes on the mudguard. I’m just tall enough worth considering if you’ll travel light, especially shows for a year or two. to ride the Large HoBootleg, given a shorter off-road with frame bags. Both have been sprinkled with some of . That would win 10-15mm of toe room, The Darwin’s seat angle is also, arguably, that magic bikepacking marketing dust. The which might be just enough… unless I wore steeper than it need be. Otherwise, the frame HoBootleg is ‘the bike that didn’t exist’ and ‘a my winter SPD boots? To get the same toe geometry is well thought out. It has the same fine blend of cyclocross and touring machine’. clearance as the Darwin, I’d need the XL saddle-to-handlebar-centre distance as the The Darwin’s name implies it’s an evolutionary HoBootleg, a bike that’s simply too big for me. HoBootleg, but achieves it with a significantly product, and the Twin Peak model tested is Front-end length aside, it’s a decent frame. longer top tube that opens up the front centres the bikepacking-ist of the lot, with a flared drop The steering limiter at the head tube is a distance; a shorter stem and a taller head bar and no mudguards or racks. It also has the nice touch, preventing the wheel from turning tube keep the handlebar in reach. If the rear lowest bottom gear in the Darwin range, which through more than 90 degrees. So even with triangle looks tight in the photo, it’s because is why I picked it. heavy front panniers, it won’t flop round when the wheel is as far forward as it will go in the you park the bike. It’s good to see a couple adjustable dropouts. FRAME AND FORK of spare included. They’re fitted to the The Cinelli HoBootleg has a sturdy Columbus drive-side chainstay, which makes removal Cromor chrome-moly steel frame with the fiddlier but will prevent a derailed chain gouging fittings you want for touring. Its cyclocross the stay. There’s clearance for tyres up to heritage is evident in the cables that run along about 38mm with mudguards; the HoBootleg the top tube. They make it more comfortable has both. If you removed the guards, there’s if you shoulder the bike but less comfortable if not much room for anything bigger between the you rest your backside on the top tube. chainstays but a 50mm tyre might fit the fork.

BAR-END SHIFTERS ARE NOT QUITE AS QUICK TO SHIFT, BUT FOR TOURING, SPEED

OF SHIFTING IS LESS IMPORTANT THAN Above: Toe overlap is more troublesome on a bike like the HoBootleg, which will often be used for slow-speed HAVING THE RIGHT GEARS TO SHIFT INTO meandering, than it is for a fast-riding road bike

64 CYCLE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016 CONTEMPORARY TOURERS | BIKETEST

C I N E L L I HOBOOTLEG Cyclocross frame influences undermine some shrewd spec choices

L I G H T B L U E DARWIN TWIN PEAK A versatile frame fitted with Sram Apex levers and a 2×10 mountain bike drivetrain

CYCLINGUK.ORG CYCLE 65 CONTEMPORARY TOURERS | BIKETEST

Left: The Darwin’s dropouts allow up to about 15mm of fore-aft movement. So the frame is and singlespeed compatible. The lower rack eyelets use stronger M6 bolts (which the borrowed Tubus rack accommodates)

Details

Bar-end shifters are simpler and probably more durable, and Tyre clearance is comparable to the frame’s 132.5mm rear triangle will accept this Microshift rear one can be HoBootleg. There’s room for 38mm rubber with either 130mm road or 135mm mountain bike switched to friction operation if mudguards or up to 45mm in the rear triangle hubs. I’d always pick the latter for a tourer, as the indexing goes out of whack without. At the front you might go slightly larger. it should build into a stronger wheel. Having said that, the distance between hub flanges EQUIPMENT is pretty much the same as the Darwin’s Halo Bar-end shifters, as fitted to the HoBootleg, are rear hub, which has to squeeze in a disc rotor, part of cyclocross history; cycle-touring’s too, and at least the HoBootleg’s wheels get 36 although for touring they’re still an excellent spokes apiece. alternative to brifters. They’re not quite as Mudguards and a rear rack are standard quick to shift, but for touring, speed of shifting equipment for a tourer; the HoBootleg gets is less important than having the right gears to a front one too. The mudguards aren’t great. shift into. With bar-end shifters, your drivetrain There’s no safety release for the front one, choices are wider – and the gear range can be. should anything get jammed by the tyre, and Cinelli have been conservative with the both could do with mudflaps. The racks HoBootleg, specifying a Sora front are top drawer: sturdy Tubus ones rated for and a trekking triple chainset. Bottom gear 40kg at the rear and 15kg up front. The Darwin’s drive-side isn’t bad at 21 inches, but could have been By contrast, the Darwin Twin Peak comes as seatstay separates, so it’s 18in with a 42-32-22 triple and a mountain a bare bike. Putting the Tubus racks and a set possible to fit a belt drive to this frame. But I think the Shand bike front mech. While that difference looks of mudguards on it would add about £200 to Drove (p14) and my own Carver small, it will be tangibly better with a heavy the price and 1.5kg to the weight. (Feb/Mar 16) do this neater load and another hill ahead. A smaller chainset Despite using only a double chainset, the would lose gears at the top end, which is no Darwin’s gears go as low as the HoBootleg’s. loss: I’ve no use for anything above about 90in That’s because it’s a super-compact double: a on a tourer let alone 122in. 42-28 mountain bike chainset driving an 11-36 The HoBootleg’s wheels use Sora for cassette. The shifters are Sram 10-speed Apex the hubs, a curious choice. Being steel, the road levers, which are compatible with Sram’s

OTHER OPTIONS

Dawes Coast to Genesis Tour de 1 Coast £999.99 2 Fer 20 £1299.99 Dawes’s roughstuff tourer Reynolds 725 tourer with gets 26×1.75in tyres, bar- Tubus racks, mudguards, end shifters, Alivio gears, and dynohub lighting. Flat and Shimano R517 disc bar allows full Deore gearing. brakes. dawescycles.com genesisbikes.co.uk

CYCLINGUK.ORG CYCLE 67 BIKETEST | CONTEMPORARY TOURERS

Tech Specs

Dimensions 640 in millimetres 535 and degrees 73.7˚ 800 56 530 708

48 595 445 132.5 622 71.4˚ 170 285 38 68 1032

CINELLI HOBOOTLEG

PRICE: £1249.99 11-34t 9-speed SIZES: XS (46), S cassette. Microshift (49), M (53, tested), BS-T09 bar-end L (56), XL (59), shifters, Shimano XXL (61) Sora front derailleur, WEIGHT: 14.43kg Shimano Deore rear. (no pedals) 27 ratios, 21-122in FRAME & FORK: BRAKING: Tektro Columbus Cromor RL340 levers and An uphanger improves Fitted to a flared drop, butted steel frame & Oryx cantilevers the front brake’s cable the Apex levers stick Cinelli chrome-moly STEERING routing – and its feel out vulnerably fork with fittings for & SEATING: mudguards, racks, 3 400×31.8mm bottles Cinelli Bootleg WHEELS: 40-622 handlebar, 110×6° DISC BRAKES ON A giving a good range of comfortable handholds. Vittoria Randonneur Cinelli Bootleg I’d wrap it in cork tape instead of the strange Trail tyres, Alex stem, Tange Terious DA16 rims, 36×3 threadless . rubbery tape specified. TOURER WILL DIVIDE spokes, Shimano Selle San Marco The Darwin’s ride feel is dominated by its Sora Hubs Bootleg saddle, OPINION, BUT I LIKE exceptionally wide flared drop bar. I never TRANSMISSION: no 27.2×350mm Cinelli really got used to it and would swap it out for pedals, FSA Alpha Bootleg BB7 ROAD ONES Drive Trekking EQUIPMENT: Tubus something narrower, possibly a standard drop. 26-36-48t 170mm, Logo Classic rear Even off-road, I never felt like I needed the square taper bottom rack, Tubus Tara 10-speed mountain bike , front as leverage of that 60cm width – I wasn’t riding bracket, KMC front, unbranded Z Narrow chain, mudguards well as rear. So you could retrofit an even technical terrain on it. On road, it just felt Shimano CS-HG50 chickencyclekit.co.uk smaller chainset – 38-24, perhaps? ungainly. Otherwise, the Darwin rides fine. The Darwin arrived with a bent gear hanger that needed some judicious bending before SUMMARY Dimensions 640 in millimetres 570 the rear derailleur indexed accurately. After The HoBootleg is a robust tourer compromised and degrees that, mis-shifts were down to the fact that I by two things. One is the tight front centres 73.5˚ 810 44+ 535 don’t often ride bikes with Sram’s double-tap distance – a consequence of its cyclocross 702 levers. You press the lever further in the same roots? The other is the road rear hub. Having 50 625 430+ 135 622 direction to shift the derailleur the opposite 132.5mm dropouts in a steel frame isn’t 71˚ 175 284 way. Given time, it’d become second nature. a bad idea; if your rear wheel fails on tour, 37 68 1050+ Disc brakes on a tourer will divide opinion. you’ve more options for replacement. But why I like these Avid BB7 Road brakes, however. not start with a stronger wheel on a 135mm LIGHT BLUE DARWIN You can adjust each piston independently so hub that’s less likely to fail in the first place? TWIN PEAK it’s easy to set them up to provide powerful, Top marks, however, for the Tubus racks, progressive braking without suffering from comfortable handlebar, and practical shifters. PRICE: £1399.99 cassette. SRAM SIZES: S, M Apex levers, Sram rubbing pads. Avid BB7 MTN callipers are The Darwin Twin Peak isn’t the Salsa Fargo (tested), L X5 front derailleur, better yet, the longer cable pull translating alternative I thought it might be: it has 29er WEIGHT: 11.54kg SRAM GX LC into improved brake feel. You can’t easily have wheels but not quite enough clearance for FRAME & FORK: 10-speed rear. Reynolds 725 steel 20 ratios, brifters then as you need linear-pull levers, the 29er tyres I’d prefer. If it’s a narrower- frame and chrome- 21-105in such as Tektro RL520. tyred roughstuffer or more traditional tourer moly steel fork with BRAKING: Avid BB7 The Darwin’s wheels are 29er mountain you’re after, this or one of the other models fittings for racks, Road mechanical mudguards, 3 disc with 160mm bike ones with rims wide enough for more (respectively) might suit. Or you could get just bottles rotors substantial tyres than will fit the frame or fork. the frameset (£549.99) and build it up yourself WHEELS: 40-622 STEERING Each has 32 spokes. I’d prefer 36 in the rear – to my mind the best option, given the keen Halo Twin Rail tyres, & SEATING: at least. The bikepackers that this model is prices of alternative off-the-peg touring bikes Halo Vapour MT 600×31.8mm wheels with 32×3 Genetic Digest bar, pitched at might carry less luggage but they’ll from Spa, Surly, Ridgeback, and others. spokes and Halo 90×7° Gusset Staff ride in rougher terrain. And four spokes is such hubs stem, threadless a small weight penalty. TRANSMISSION: 1 1/8in headset. no pedals, 175mm Gusset Black SRAM S1000 Jack saddle, RIDE GXP 42-28 double 27.2×400mm MORE REVIEWS When I wasn’t tangling with the front chainset, SRAM Genetic Syngenic ON THE WEBSITE mudguard, I enjoyed riding the HoBootleg. It’s GXP bottom seatpost. We’re adding more bike bracket, KMC X10 EQUIPMENT: 2 bottle sedate and surefooted. The handlebar is a reviews online. Visit bit.ly/ chain, SRAM 1020 cages more traditional drop but with a flattened top, cyclinguk-biketests 11-36T 10-speed thelightblue.co.uk

68 CYCLE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016