We've got Genesis's old school adventure bike in for test this week. With a round tubed steel frame and fork and straight-through headtube it's a bit different. You get mounts for mudguards and racks too, if you want to go further than just round the cross course for an hour.
And the spec includes the latest Shimano Tiagra groupset and TRP HyRd hydraulic/mechanical hybrid disc brakes too.
Rapha has upgraded the buff, with its merino blend winter collar. It’s shaped to fit that irritating gap at the top of your jacket and comes with a reflective front stripe, to add frontal visibility.
Just what we need for the dark, cold commutes into work.
We’ve previously reviewed a collection of Bellroy’s pocketable cycling wallets and phone cases. Now it’s the turn of the brand’s 17 litre commuting backpack.
Bellroy says that the Classic Backpack will take a 15 inch laptop and of course, being Bellroy, there is a range of smaller pockets both inside and on the exterior of the pack for odds and ends too.
There’s a tyre for pretty much every condition that winter is likely to throw at us in this collection from Specialized, along with 25mm and 28mm widths to keep us comfortable on longer rides.
The Armadillo Elite is claimed to be the most flat-resistant tyre available – now there’s a challenge for us to test.
Proving that smart doesn’t mean you need to take your back wheel off, the Japanese-made Minoura Kagura is a wheel on trainer with a built-in motorised resistance unit, which Minoura says has a very realistic ride feel.
It can also be operated without mains power, so you can cart it off for pre-event warm-ups too.
Yet more cold weather gear, the Santini Coral jersey is made of thermal fleece, has integrated elastic which should stop those irritating draughts and reflective trimming. We’ll be testing out the two extra side pockets, in addition to the standard three rear ones, to stash away extra gels for our long winter rides.
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Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.
He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.
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