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Showing posts from August, 2012

Weekend Watch: Film Bond

FILM BOND from Mcipollini on Vimeo . Go to http://www.mcipollini.com/en/biciclette/bond for more details. Mario guards the project of the new BOND-ATOMLINK innovative construction system, original patent BO2012A000253, and protects it from the industrial imitators. The chasers, the false craftsmen, will use any means possible to obtain the Bond secret, but the true innovative Italian craftsmanship will always be one step ahead. “The number one secret: original ideas, which we patent (we don’t copy anyone). The second secret is the maniacal Italian craftsmanship (unlike the Asian industrial assembly line). The third secret is my endless pursuit of perfection. I guard these three secrets closely, but will grant them to you, enthusiasts like me”. Mario Cipollini

Race Report: Portsmouth CTL Circuits 29th August - Victory! With A Lot of 'Shut Up Legs!'

It's been a long time coming, but last night saw me take another top podium spot at Portsmouth Track during a hard but rewarding race. It had dried out nicely by the evening, after the day's torrential downpours, and whilst a strong wind promised to make for an interesting race, there was a full field of 40 riders present on the start line of what was to be my last 3.4 Category race. Several breaks went in the first part of the race; a few of them I was in, the rest the team and myself did a good job of chasing down and controlling. When a break I was in got reeled back in about 25 minutes into the 40 mins + 3 laps race I was just about ready to sit up and coast along in the pack for a bit. Fat chance! As the break was absorbed, I saw we had left one rider just off the front with a few metres gap. It was the same rider that had gone with me in the race a few months back when we had a successful two man break, and I had won and then been disqualified for celebrating ( Report

The Brooks Swift

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When I was first getting into cycling, I read Robert Penn's 'It's All About The Bike'. One of the most interesting and historical additions to his dream custom road build bike, was his Brooks England saddle. Since reading about the intricate, careful and unique process, which creates every Brooks saddle by hand in the Birmingham factory, I really began to see the beauty of them. Subsequently, Brooks England saddles have caught my eye adorning so many great bikes; from the Rapha film steeds, to B17s on famous round-the-world bikes. As a result, in the back of my mind, I developed a deep desire to own a Brooks at some point in my life. It was a desire that was amplified as I started doing longer miles and in particular when I saw how few saddle problems my touring companion Francis had with his Brooks compared to my standard saddle on our 1400 mile trip to France and Spain last year. So it was, that when my 21st Birthday approached this spring, and my parents wan

Review: Shimano SLX Disk Brakes

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When I bought my Whippet frame about 18 months ago, the intention was always to upgrade the components that I transferred from my original Gary Fisher, and with that build up a commuter bike. As you probably saw in one of my last photo blogs  the commuter bike is all built now. One of the key components to upgrade was the brakes. The previous bike had Deore M535 brakes on it, which largely I had always been very impressed by; due to their value, reliability, lack of maintenance and robustness. As a result when I started looking for upgrades, my mind was slightly in favour of a Shimano set up again. I was happy then when I put the question to the best forum in the world: 'Twitter', that Shimano brakes came up often as a recommendation for their easy maintenance and good performance. As is often the way it seems, the SLX version of this year's brakeset was almost identical to the XT version, just with a slightly different lever body design and a very slightly (just a

Coast Road Epic

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This time last week I was sat at the train station in Exeter having completed 128.1 miles in 8hrs 8mins of cycling from Sandown (Isle of Wight) to Exeter (Devon). Why?! I'm not quite sure, and my legs were asking the same question when I was going up and down the last few of the coastal villages along the Lyme Bay Coast Road, which is potentially one of the hilliest sections of road in the country; sporting back-to-back 15%+ inclines and declines for almost its whole duration. Having said that, I loved every minute of it; from the early wake up call and the first twenty miles across the Isle of Wight to catch the ferry, I was enjoying the unusual feeling that I was actually using my bike to get somewhere far away. Not just a training ride or a commute, but a marathon. Whilst there was mist and fog for the first few hours of riding around Poole and Bournemouth, by the time I had passed Weymouth the sun was shining and the coast road looking its beautiful self. When I arrive

Weekend Watch: Chris Akrigg 'Through The Mill'

Through the mill from chris akrigg on Vimeo . Well that was hard work!