Tech of the week: a hot pink Bianchi, £870 brakes, Simpsons kit and more

Expensive and not so expensive bikes and parts

If you’ve always dreamed of owning a hot pink Bianchi with yellow accents, Bianchi now lets you choose your own colour scheme for its Oltre XR4 via its web configurator app. This week we’ve also tested the Oltre XR4 in its more traditional celeste if you want to know how your custom pink bike will ride.

If you feel the need to upgrade your £8000 Bianchi, you can always fit some of THM Carbones’s parts. A 78 gram carbon stem will set you back £350 while a 240 gram carbon brakeset comes in at £871 (pads and shipping extra). We’ve also asked the Col Collective's Mike Cotty whether we need carbon wheels.

Once you've bought your new Bianchi and THM components, you'll need some nice shoes to go with them. Mavic's new £900 Comete Ultimate should do nicely. They come with a carbon shell sole and upper along with swappable hot and wet weather inserts.

A bit cheaper than the Bianchi –and not a lot more money than THM’s brakes – is Ribble’s new disc braked Gran Fondo. With builds from £1200, the recommended Shimano 105 hydraulic machine will cost you just over £1500. Ribble says it's relaxed the bike's geometry for increased comfort on longer rides.

Summer round the corner?

Clothing brands are starting to break out their summer 2017 collections and we’ve had news of three different looks and ranges for hot weather riding from dhb as well as Café du Cycliste’s summer range. While if you’re a Simpsons fan you’ll like State Bicycle Co’s range of clothing, bikes and components featuring your favourite characters. Ekoi is less optimistic about the British summer weather; it’s just released its waterproof Primavera fleece-lined shorts and jersey.

If you need sartorial inspiration, you could do worse than take a look at our gallery of the 25 most stylish pro cyclists of all time. We’ve also had tips from the pros themselves on how to look more pro on your bike. And we’ve rounded up some nice bargains on Castelli spring and winter kit.

This week we’ve also busted nine cycling myths and given you a guide to track bikes. We've also continued our look at kids’ bikes with a guide to balance bikes, what to look for and our picks.