Just as the bike world is looking to rouse itself from its winter hibernation proper – the WorldTour season has properly kicked off, and my inbox is filling up with product launches happening in the near future – Geraint Thomas goes and drops the bombshell that he’s retiring this year.
OK, it’s no huge surprise, but it’s still sad to see one of Britain’s best ever riders leave the racing side of the sport. Ewan Wilson actually kicked off the week by posing the question of whether he was in fact the best rider we’ve produced, and he makes a compelling case for an answer in the affirmative.
The refresh of our Game Changer feature series is getting to the business end. We followed up last week’s ones with the Bell Biker helmet, Campagnolo’s Gran Sport derailleur, the Cervélo Soloist and Look’s clipless pedals. Look out for our article on the other tech that has got cycling to where it is today being published early next week.
Aside from important products we also brushed up some facts and figures, namely talking about a bike’s head angle, asking how geometry affects a bike and explaining how gear ratios work, before topping it off with our latest podcast with bike-fit guru, Phil Burt.
As ever with In the Drops, it’s a case of come for the content, stay for the kit, so without further ado, here is a selection of new stuff you should know about.
Related questions you can explore with Ask Cyclist, our new AI search engine.
Gobik Lancer bib shorts
With the nights starting to get shorter and (hopefully) the worst of the cold weather behind us, our thoughts can start to turn to this year’s fancy summer kit. It doesn’t look to get fancier than Gobik’s new Lancer bib shorts, which the brand says has been developed in partnership with one of its sponsored pro teams, Ineos Grenadiers, who have been racing in versions of the design for most of last season.
Given a hefty price and pro input, Gobik promises the Lancers offer the best of all worlds: while they are pretty lightweight and breathable, Gobik says thanks to minimal seams and a compressive fabric that extends lower than regular shorts, they also offer aerodynamic properties.
The ‘K12’ chamois has been made for Gobik by specialists Elastic Interface and contains that enigmatic substance graphene, which Gobik says offers better thermoregulation and antibacterial attributes.
Lazer cut panels, thermosealed hems and canny silicone dot grippers at the ends of the shorts aiming to create second skin-like fit to finish things off.
- To find out more about the Gobik Lancer bibshorts, visit gobik.com (€190)
Trek RSL Aero bottles and cages
At £90 per bottle and cage, Trek’s new RSL Aero setup won’t be considered by most as top priority as far as cost-effective upgrades go. However, this might be a price worth paying for those looking for extra free speed, as Trek says they will make any bike faster.
‘We can’t give exact figures as it’s dependent on the individual bike, but the system was launched with the Madone Gen 8 and imparts a 1.8 watt advantage at 35kmh on that bike,’ says John Davis, the Madone’s lead aerodynamicist.
The bottles help fair the bike’s main triangle, smoothing airflow across that area to achieve the advantage. While these aero gains depend on the RSL bottles being in place to work, thankfully the cages fit regular bottles as well, so practicality hasn’t been totally sacrificed for performance.
- To find out more about the Trek RSL Aero bottles and cages, visit trekbikes.com (£89.99)
Gravel Rides South West England by Katherine Moore
Full disclosure: Katherine is a regular contributor to Cyclist and I live in the South West, so I’m never not going to be able to consider this book dispassionately. Even so, if you’re after a comprehensive guide to the myriad tracks and trails in the West Country and beyond, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better resource.
Produced by Vertebrate Publishing, which offers cycling guidebooks for a number of other areas in the UK, Gravel Rides South West includes 24 routes, ranging from 16km pootles to 180km epics. Between them, they aim to show off the best the South West has to offer off-road.
As a local, it’s nice to see some popular routes given the exposure they deserve, but it’s equally great to learn more about rides basically on my doorstep that I had no idea about before rifling through Katherine’s book. It’s comprehensively written, beautifully shot and worth a read if you’re looking to explore the area on a gravel bike.
Hiplok Z-Lok Combo
Hiplok’s Z-Lok Combo is essentially what would result if you gave ChatGPT repeated prompts to design the humble zip-tie's ultimate form: make it zippier, make it tie-ier, etc.
The Z-Lok is a reusable zip-tie in concept but made from plastic coated steel, using a built-in three-digit combination lock to secure it. It’s small enough to fit in a back pocket (though also comes with a mount so it can be fixed in place of a bottle cage), but it's long enough to secure a frame tube to most poles/railings etc.
It won’t stand up to the concerted attack of a grinder, but equally, that isn’t what it’s designed for. What it is good at is dissuading opportunist thieves from simply walking off with a bike.
It should be an ideal product to bring along if you’re seeking extra peace of mind at a cafe stop, if you’re more like me, the pub.
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