Reviews Leisure Archives - Page 4 of 8

Review – Shutt Velo Rapide Isobel Jersey

by Hayley Davies | Oct 22, 2014

Shutt Velo Rapide are fast become a household name in the peloton, known for their bold designs from British based designers. The lastest to their growing portfolio of women’s clothing, the Isobel jersey is exactly what you’d expect – colourful and eye catching.

On first appearance, the jersey is very well made with a heavier lycra suitable for chillier autumnal rides. Featuring a full-length reflective zip, mesh side panels, reinforced pocket design, a zipped fourth pocket for valuables and a reflective hem trim, the Isobel packs a lot of features.

Purple spotty design of the Isobel jersey makes for a bold statement

The bold design was well received by many a jealous rider as we set out for 100km hilly ride. If you like to hide in the middle of the peloton, then this jersey is definitely not for you. A warm purple colour with a spotty panel across the front and back, and a nifty spotty fold-down collar, the Isobel certainly helps you stand out from the standard blandness of blacks and reds of a social ride. By the end of the ride, it was the boys who were most envious of the bright and bold colours which are often not available to the the men.

As a petite (5ft2), but fairly curvy (size 8, 34/36cm bust) cyclist, I’m never surprised when a jersey doesn’t fit perfectly and unfortunately on this occasion the Isobel fell into the disappointing pool, hugging in the wrong places and baggy in the others. The length of the jersey was a little too long for me, and although the elasticated waist band is great at keeping the jersey in place whilst riding, it unfortunately gave too much fabric on the stomach creating a bulge (and if you’ve a bit of a bust like me, a white spotty panel may not be the best feature). Plus, the high foldable collar annoyed me slightly on a long hot ride, although it was pretty sharp on the eye when enjoying my cream tea.

Unlike many male cyclists with a broad back and pockets to match; packing for a ride needs military procession. The pockets on the Isobel are plentiful, with 3 open pockets across the back and an additional zipped pocket to keep the valuables in, providing many storage options. Unfortunately, the elastication on the pockets doesn’t provide a flat

collar

centre back zip pocket

finish which resulted in a baggy fit, especially on the middle pocket, which resulted in me leaving my pump at home and hoping one of the other riders would come to my rescue if I needed.

The weight of the lycra mentioned previously does mean you lose some heat control functionality on a hotter day, which also likes to hold on to the sweat produced on a tough ride (it also took more than one wash on my usual 30 degree kit wash to rid it of the smell too). That being said, this jersey is perfect for the ‘sunday social’ cyclist who wants to be seen at the local cycling coffee stop or out to a pub lunch; this jersey is full of style and all eyes will be on you alone.

As a social Sunday ride and coffee jersey Isobel scores 74%

As a race jersey Isobel scores 65%

Pros:

– Fabulous bold design

– Heavy weight quality lycra for chilly days

– Zipped pocket to keep hold of valuables

– Draws attention to the bust

Cons:

– Slightly long in the body for shorter riders

– Lacks breathability and took more than one wash clean

– Baggy pockets

– Lumpy zipper issue

– Draws attention to the bust

The Shutt VR Isonel Jersey retails at £79.00 and available from the Shutt VR website.

Hayley road tested a Shutt VR women’s size XS

Hayley Davies

Writer

Riding since Feb 2011 Hayley is a 30 year old female who loves adventures. If she’s not on one of her many bikes or in the water on a bodyboard/surfboard, then Hayley is probably out looking for something new to keep the adrenaline pumping!
Website: www.hjdonline.co.uk

Review – Kreis Clothing Range

by Heather Bamforth | Oct 2, 2014

Kreis is a relatively new brand to the UK market and comes at it with the angle of offering limited run Club orders. Their designs are very modern and striking and give an opportunity to have a coordinated wardrobe for not too much money. The clothing is made for them by Kalas, a Czech company that have enabled Kreis to bring their designs to the public.

The overall emphasis from Kreis is on creating your own statement and having them help you realise it. Most of the designs are size customisable too, offering a great deal of flexibility for every shape and size of cyclist. Emphasis is placed on the ‘pre-order’ stage of purchase where the details of what you need can be tailored to you.

Kreis Echelon-Gipfel Renntrikot Jersey

The design of this jersey and indeed all the kit we had for review certainly turned heads. This jersey was of simple construction with a lycra front and sleeves, and mesh panel rear. This gave a great amount of breathability from the rear portion and the modern aero design most riders now seek. It fitted very snuggly and was comfortable in the classic cyclist tuck, without any flapping. Importantly the three rear pockets were accessible and deep enough to carry usual cyclist needs. Renntrikot has a full length zip which worked easily and gave flexibility when venting is required in warmer temperatures. In long term testing it washed well, it’s light colours remaining clean.

Our Test model was sized ‘4’. This was in modern terms a ‘race fit’ i.e. tight and was in the realm of a small/medium. As with all brands your own size and fit differ from other manufactures sizes.

The Jersey is listed at £85

Jersey: 4.5/5

Kreis Echelon-Gipfel Tragerhose Shorts

Shorts are in modern terms one of the biggest areas of discussion amongst Cyclists of all persuasions. Each contact point with the bicycle has to be perfect or your ride is going to be very short indeed. Kreis offer gender specific inserts to provide the comfort and they actually are pretty comfy. Quite a few rides gave plenty of confidence in the chamois. Fit is the secondary area of comfort for shorts, any ruffles or bagginess will soon become a problem but the Tragerhose are made of a nice weight of lycra that is soft and solid enough to help their panelled structure to fit well. The only negative for us was that the leg ‘gripper’ arrangements were baggy on our test item. This is probably down to the simple fact that the test shorts were size 5, which equates to an XL on the Kreis sizing chart. The grippers have their silicon band cleverly embedded in the fabric itself, meaning that the old fashioned ‘just above knee elastic line’ is totally eradicated. A smaller size would have given a better fit here.

The shorts are listed also at £85

Shorts: 4/5

Kreis Echelon Accessories

We also tested the Echelon Armwarmers which are made of a ‘roubaix’ (brushed lycra on reverse). These proved to be lovely and snug in cooler conditions. They have a silicon top gripper to keep them in place and were longer than most modern styles giving less chance of a chilly gap at the top. At £20 these compliment the rest of the Echelon range nicely without breaking the bank and could be worn with other clothes as they are mostly black with just a few details.

A Radlerkappe was also sent for our enjoyment, that’s a cap to you and I, and although with helmets being solely the order of the day the cap was called into service on a couple of low sun evenings to prevent dappling light affecting the eyes. There is a functional mesh panel within its structure that prevents any overheating allowing a good point of ventilation.

The hat comes in three sizes and we tried the Medium which was perfect for a ‘normal’ head. £15 buys you the perfect piece to finish your pro-rider designer look.

The Armwarmers are listed at £20 and Cap at £15

Armwarmers: 5/5

Cap: 5/5

Summary

For someone on a modest budget this range could be ideal and with a bit of input even unique to you. A lot of modern riders wish to have their own identity in a crowd and this could help them get there.

CyclingShorts.cc gives the Kreis Range 93% and a star buy rating.

Range available from:

www.kreiscycling.bigcartel.com

Girona Gran Fondo – A Grand Affair

by Hayley Davies | Jul 9, 2014

Stepping out into the heart of the Catalan town in the northern region of Spain after a 2 hour direct flight from a London airport, it’s not hard to see why Girona is considered home and chosen training ground to a number of professional cyclists. Hidden in the maze of medieval buildings of buzzing restaurants and bars lies Bike Breaks Girona, a bike rental, cycling holidays and guided cycling center which quickly became my home for the week of the Girona Gran Fondo festival.

Being lead-out into the moutains by Neil ©HayleyDavies

With three packages to choose from, there was plenty to get involved in throughout the week. Daily rides from the shop lead by Neil Martin, ex-professional and Olympian, otherwise known as “Dan Martin’s Dad”, welcome dinner, a nocturne, timed hill-climb, massage, pasta party and the concluding 125km Gran Fondo, the Gold group was clearly the place to be.

I can’t say Girona would have been my first cycling holiday of choice, however I was quickly shown why it should be. Within 5 -10 minutes of cycling out from the shop, we were onto quiet, pot-hole-free rolling roads into the countryside. Ask for a ‘flat ride’ and you’ll get an evil chuckle back. Nestled halfway between the Pyrenees and the beaches of the Costa Brava, flat doesn’t exist here. Not much of a climber, it took me a day or so to find my legs, but it wasn’t long before I too was enjoying the 10km climbs. I can’t thank the ride guides enough for the support throughout with local road knowledge (warnings of climbs or how long before a coffee stop), motor pacing me back on when I was dropped on climbs, and helping me make the most of the descents at speed.

On our second shop ride, we were treated to some special guests, local professional riders Marc de Maar (UHC), Sharon Laws (UHC), Lucy Martin (Estado de Mexico), Carlee Taylor (Orica-AIS) and Loren Rowney (Specialized Lululemon) who were happy to share their training route to the coast. This wasn’t the last time we would see them either, volunteering their time to marshal the nocturne and the Gran Fondo.

‘You will see the angel!’

‘You will see the Angel!’ ©HayleyDavies

Unlike many cycling holidays or training camps, the festival also allowed some competitive battles. The timed hill climb on Thursday morning was a tough 11km climb up to Els Angels. The hottest day of the week so far, the ascent of 404m was tough… for those competing (yes, I chickened out!). But with a Tag Heuer watch on offer, there was a lot to compete for. Setting off in 2 minute intervals, the men’s winner Raul Castello Garcia (Bike Esplugues) beat local favourite and bike lead Neil Martin by 32 sceonds, finishing in an astounding 22 minutes and 16 seconds. Adel Tyson-Bloor, English national rider for Mulebar-Girl Sigma Sport was pipped to gold by Katrina Grove in 26 minutes and 2 seconds. Was it worth the climb? For the pasta party at the top over-looking the Pyrenees and the coast, it certainly was.

The rescheduled on Thursday night nocturne (postponed on Tuesday night due to a storm – thankfully reducing the humidity), was quite possibly one of the hardest things I’ve ridden. Not your usual nocturne format, only 300m of the 2.5km course was timed. However, this 300m section also happened to have an average gradient of 7.4% (with a steeper section of 12%). And as if that wasn’t challenging enough, it was cobbled! With recovery between timed sections riders were able to take the 10 laps at their own pace, although it wasn’t long before I was lapped. This was truly a unique experience, not only for the cyclists who took part, but the locals too, who had all taken to the streets, including Garmin-Sharp’s David Millar to cheer us on, and Lucy Martin, Sharon Laws and Loren Rowney handing out water and energy products as well as words of encouragement at the top of each timed section. I don’t think I would have completed the 10 climbs if it hadn’t have been for the cheers!

Enjoying the views from another false-flat ©HayleyDavies

The week came to a close on Saturday, following Friday night pre-race drinks, with the Gran Fondo. Along with 200 other cyclists all wearing the commemorative jerseys, we really were treated to a tour of the region. We were sent out into the Garrotxa region, famous for its prehistoric volcanic activity – this says it all – climbing a total of 2000m over 125km, majority of which happened in the first 60km, making it a tough start to the day. Once we’d broken the ascending barrier however, we were treated to corn and sunflower fields, panoramic views, woodlands and some fantastic winding descents, accompanied and guided by our very own police escort. Although it was a challenging route, the beauty and serenity of the area made it worth the exertion. Rolling across the finish line with two others after 5h20 in the saddle (just under 2 hours behind the fastest man, Neil Martin), we were treated to well-deserved medals, a BBQ and beers.

This had been a truly unique week. It’s not often you’re ride-guided by professionals, treated to some fun competitive events with lucrative prizes and get to meet and mingle with so many other cyclists in what is truly a beautiful area perfect for cycling. And although I write this with 500km and 7200m of climbing in my legs, I can’t wait to get back there next year.

To find out more and to keep an eye on dates for next year, check out http://www.gironagranfondo.com/ or follow @bikebreaks.

Our rides:

To the beach and back with some new and not so new pros (not my data – Garmin failed) on Strava

Girona Gran Fondo w/ Bike Breaks. What a day. What a ride! on Strava

Bike Breaks Shop Ride #1 on Strava

With thanks to:

BikeBox Online Windsor for rental of a BikeBox Alan

The Windsor Bike Company for loan of a Garmin bike computer

Osmo Nutrition for fueling me through the week

Hayley Davies

Writer

Review – Hiplok-D Bike Lock

by Hayley Davies | Jun 12, 2014

Hiplok are an award winning lock company who strive to balance ergonomic design and security.

Newest to a growing portfolio of security products is the Hiplok-D. Designed on the classic, sturdy D lock that many will find heavy and bulky to carry, the Hiplok-D has been designed conveniently smaller. Plus, the unique clip feature (available in a choice of colours) allows you to easily attach the lock to a bag strap or belt making it a lot easier to transport when using your bike.

Although smaller, the 13mm hardened steel shackle, hardened steel body casing and tough nylon outer shell still delivers a Secure Silver Award, so there’s no worrying that it won’t be as secure as other bulkier locks. Delivered with 3 distinctive keys, there’s no worry of losing a key and never being able to unlock your pride and joy again!

I lent the D to a local Windsor cyclist who commutes daily to his job as a teacher. He was enthused at the idea of the size of the lock and the ability to carry it easily with his work bag. Although small, the lock is still weights in at 1kg, a factor he found limited the security of carrying the lock on his bag strap. After losing it to a number of road junctions, he eventually had to resort to carrying the lock in his bag. That aside, the 13.5cm x 7cm internal area proved big enough to secure a bike frame to something fixed; although you’d struggle if you wanted to lock your frame and wheel in the same instance (along with larger top tube bikes).

Anna’s (CS Editor) thoughts… ‘This Lock is probably not suited to smaller riders to carry on their waistband as you are carrying all the weight in one place. If you’re a smaller rider you may prefer the Hiplok V1.50, Lite or POP as they evenly distribute the weight around your waist or body. The price is slightly more than your average D lock at £59.99, but not the priciest on the market by a long way, remember when buying a lock you need to compare like with like on the Security Award ratings.’

You can find more out about the Hiplok range at their website: www.hiplok.com

Cycling Shorts gives the Hiplok-D 76% rating.

Pros:

– Small and compact

– Easy to use

– Easy to carry

– Highly secure

Cons:

– Still pretty weighty

– Clip feature isn’t 100% secure

– Limited locking space

Hayley Davies

Writer

Review – One Man And His Bike by Mike Carter

by Paul Harris | Apr 16, 2014

One Man And His Bike

A life-changing journey all the way around the coast of Britain

by Mike Carter

I must confess, I didn’t pick up this book with a great degree of enthusiasm – I’ve read motorcycle-based travel books before and found some can go on long after they run out of interesting things to say. So imagine my surprise when I picked up One Man And His Bike and was almost instantly drawn in – the tagline is simple enough (“what would happen if you were cycling to the office and just kept on pedalling”?), but it’s the execution that makes it fantastic. You can almost see it – a man desperate for escape, for change; he’s cycling to work and reaches a junction. One way – towards work is; traffic jams, road works, blowing horns and exhaust fumes – the other runs alongside the Thames, and onwards out to the sea. Who wouldn’t be intrigued at the possibility, the promise? It’s almost poetic.

Well, Mike Carter was, for one. Instead of heading to Argentina, he decided to load up the bike and follow that road to the sea, and the result is an amazing, epic travelogue, 5000 miles around the coast. It’s not written as a travel guide, or a “how to do your own epic ride”, it’s purely Mike’s story – as a consequence, he doesn’t get bogged down in detail and the narrative fair dances across the page. If you’re looking for his in-depth thoughts on your coastal town, or want a useful guide to an interesting seaside destination, you won’t find it here. But what you WILL find are 350 pages of the most wonderful snapshots, of places, landscapes, history, cycling, beer, cakes, camping, and most of all, people – Mike will clearly speak to anyone, and it’s his encounters with the broadest variety of the populace that really bring the book to life. On almost every page, it seems, there’s an artful vignette of a meeting between any kind of random person you can think of, and some bloke on a bike.

What makes this a stand out book is that Mike is first and foremost a writer, rather than a cycling enthusiast. His prose is wonderfully measured and efficient, a deftly-wielded artist’s brush picking out beautiful detail rather than a housepainter’s roller covering everything in stodge, so it races along, but it still leaves you with strong impressions of the many things he saw and did, so you get a wonderful sense of the country and its people in a nutshell. And it’s funny, too – proper laugh-out-loud-in-public funny, as well as wistful, insightful and informative.

If you’re a hardcore racer who’s only interested on the inside story from the peloton, this may not be the book for you. But if you’ve a love of cycling in general and you’re looking for a good read, whether it’s to pass the time whilst winter rages outside, in a hammock on your summer holidays, or even (dare I suggest) on a cycle tour round the country, I highly recommend it. This is a book that has the power to inspire.

Title:
One Man And His Bike

Author: Mike Carter

Published by Ebury Press

Available in Paperback & eBook

Price:
RRP £7.99 (Paperback), RRP £7.99 (eBook)

Review – Purple Harry Bike Wash & Polish Mitt

by Darren Collard | Apr 11, 2014

Following my high scoring reviews of the Bike Floss (90%) and the Bike Polish & Frame Protector (100%) from UK Company Purple Harry, I now turn to their Wash & Polish Mitt.

It is made from good quality microfibre material and shaped into a three fingered ‘lobster claw’ glove, which according to their website “has been ergonomically designed with the bike’s shape and contours in mind – allowing access to difficult areas whilst avoiding catching on the drive train and snagging in components”.

For this review I will be comparing this mitt with my usual cleaning materials; standard square shaped microfibre cloths bought from my local Pound store!

The Mitt costs at least SIX times more than the cloths I have been using for many years for cleaning and polishing duties, but is it worth the extra expense?

I hit a problem with the Mitt straight away; I couldn’t get it onto my hand.

My hands are not excessively large, but I struggled for a while before having to resort to using scissors to cut the black narrow cuff stitched into the Mitt to allow my hand in. Due to the Lobster claw shape your second and third fingers are forced apart, which felt uncomfortable to start with, but overtime became less troublesome.

Also while working on the bike, because you have two pairs of fingers held together, it restricts how well you can get into those small little gaps and crevices that need to be reached while cleaning or polishing. My natural instinct is to use just the finger-tip of my index finger to get to those more intricate areas, something you can’t do very successfully with this Mitt as the combined width of two fingers stops you reaching as far as you would like.

Also with my normal square cloth I can easily reach every corner on the frame by using it in a flossing action by just pulling one corner into the tight spot, for example cleaning between the rear wheel and chain stays, the gap is far too narrow to get my finger in between.

Another disadvantage of using the Mitt is that the actual area of material that you can use for cleaning/polishing is very limited; meaning that it quickly becomes too dirty or clogged. You have the whole Mitt but in reality can only effectively use the finger tips for finer work and the length of your fingers for working on the more accessible areas.

To use the other side you will need to take the Mitt off and put it on your other hand. This means that it might become too dirty to finish the job, you will have to wash it after every use or you will need to buy a couple more!

My way of working is that I currently have several microfibre cloths in use, each one is given a different task depending on how dirty it is; brand new ones are used for dusting and polishing only, but once they become clogged or a little dirty they then move onto drying or light cleaning duties and the previous one used for this purpose is ‘downgraded’ to more dirty tasks and so on until the very last one is used exclusively for chain cleaning work – and once this is oil soaked it is binned and another trip to the Pound shop is made to buy a fresh one to start the process again.

These cloths can be washed too, but as they cost as little as 99p for three it is not worth the effort. As they are square shaped you can use every inch of the cloth, both sides included, and by wrapping your index finger in the cloth with the remainder held in the palm of your hand you can reach those smaller awkward places with a clean patch of fabric every time unlike the Mitt.

From the picture above; in the bottom left is a new cloth, and each one in a clockwise direction becomes progressively dirtier.

So, as you can gather from my comments, I would not recommend that you pay £5.99 for this Mitt, instead buy six standard cloths and use a rotation system similar to mine, you will get much more value for money and they’ll do a better job too!

Left, is a comparison of cleaning area between the Mitt and cloths for the same price. Unfortunately I am awarding my lowest score so far, all the effort that has gone into cutting out the shape, stitching it together and attention to detail like adding the cuff and Purple Harry label has not only cost a lot to do, it has also severely restricted its usefulness, which is reflected in my score below:

Sorry to the Guys at Purple Harry, I can only give the Mitt a paltry score of 17%.

Review – Shutt Velo Rapide Isobel Jersey

Hayley Davies

Review – Kreis Clothing Range

Girona Gran Fondo – A Grand Affair

Hayley Davies

Review – Hiplok-D Bike Lock

Hayley Davies

Review – One Man And His Bike by Mike Carter

One Man And His Bike

Review – Purple Harry Bike Wash & Polish Mitt

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