Tech of the month: A September retrospective

As those of us in the northern hemisphere drift inexorably into Autumn, or Fall if you prefer, we here at Cyclingnews have on the one hand been trying to wring out the very last of the summer riding, and on the other get geared up for a winter of foul weather testing so we can bring you some properly thorough buying advice.

What's gone on this month then, and what can you look forward to in the coming weeks? Well, the launch of the new Canyon Ultimate seems a long time ago now, but it was still September; having a first ride in the scorching mountains behind Nice seems a far cry away from the current downpours going on as I write this. The risk of heatstroke has certainly dropped, but drowning now feels like a legitimate possibility.

Not to be outdone by its German rivals, Trek launched a new Domane, including the return of the Race Shop Limited model aimed squarely at the cobbled classics. Also from Trek we brought you the conclusion of a year long test of the Trek Checkpoint; it might be the only bike you ever need.

Interestingly this was more or less the same conclusion I came to in my shorter-term review of the Fairlight Secan, which I've been running since Spring, and will continue to use over the winter to see what it's like to live with long-term, and is the only bike I've given five stars to so far during my time here.

For those of us gearing up for spending the colder months glued to Zwift, we brought you good news from Wahoo in the form of new Wahoo Kickr turbo trainer and the Kickr bike, our first impressions of the turbo, along with an update to our perennial list of the best smart trainers in case you're either in need of an upgrade, or looking to embark upon an indoor cycling journey for the very first time. If the latter is the case be sure to check out our comprehensive guide to indoor cycling too. 

As well as some new bike reviews, those of us more into gravel than tarmac were treated to news of a hyper-racy new Factor Ostro Gravel, along with the conclusions of testing both the WTB Byway and Challenge Getaway tyres. 

In a more utilitarian vein, we dedicated a whole week to those hardy souls determined to commute by bike, with reviews of the Mission Workshop Rhake backpack, the Nutcase helmet, and bikes too from the sensible but very capable Boardman URB to the space age titanium Brompton. 

We didn't forget the roadies too, don't worry. Reviews of the Specialized Roubaix Expert, some very expensive Unique shoes from Q36.5, and news of new top-end race wheels from Specialized and Hunt round out what has been a busy month.

As always, though, we like to treat you to a sneak preview of what to expect in the coming weeks, highlighting products that have arrived through the ever-revolving door of Cyclingnews HQ, as well as items that we loved but haven't been able to cover in more depth.

Crankbrothers Eggbeater 3

Autumn, Winter, and a lot of spring too means mud for a great many of us in the more northerly bits of the northern hemisphere. Tyres, frames, derailleurs all get clogged up with the brown stuff and, in the case of pedals, this can actually stop you clipping back in after any amount of walking (particularly in muddy CX or XC races).

The Eggbeaters from Crankbrothers are a mainstay of our list of the best gravel bike pedals, particularly for the weight conscious, and they get around the issue of mud by ditching all but the most essential parts of the pedal, the clip-in mechanism, creating a system that can be entered from four sides. This means no more fumbling to make sure your pedals are the right way up. It also has the knock-on benefit of making them the lightest mountain bike pedals out there.

These will be going on my Fairlight gravel bike over winter to see how well they hold up to the grime and whether ditching any real pedal platform is a problem for things like comfort over longer rides and rough terrain.

Gevenalle Audax shifters

I love friction shifter and thumb shifters. My custom bike runs nine-speed friction with beautiful micro-ratcheted Dia-Compe shift levers, and it is nearly perfect for what it gets used for. The only issue I have is that when heading off-road or using my custom full-frame bag from Wizard Works, having the shifters mounted on the downtube is less than ideal. Sure, I get ultra-reliable shifting and never have to worry about indexing, but if I can't take my hands off the bars because I'm on rough ground then that's all academic.

That's where Gevenalle comes in, all the way from Portland, OR, with its Audax shifting system. In essence, it's a proto-STI, or if you're slightly more agriculturally minded it's a friction shifter bolted wholesale to the front of a cantilever-compatible brake lever. In any case, it's a rather novel solution to a niche problem, but in the few rides I've managed to get in, I'm really loving it. Longer term we'll see, and it's not without its drawbacks; primarily the additional hardware prevents the quick brake release function of the levers, but this can be worked around easily enough with an inline cable release if you're that way inclined.

Gevenalle doesn't just make shifters for luddite retrogrouches like myself. For the most part the company makes similar systems for cyclocross bikes, mating the reliability of indexed thumb shifters to both cable and hydraulic brake levers. If you race cross you'll know how hard it is on gear, so those systems are worth looking at, especially for those of you running older gear on your 'cross rigs. There are also cyclocross optimised front and rear derailleurs to nerd out over too!

For the curious, head to the Gevenalle website to find out more.

Tailfin bikepacking bags

If you've pored over the bike galleries from any ultra-distance race lately, or even gone bikepacking with some pals, you've probably seen the Tailfin system. In essence, it's a modular pannier setup for bikes that aren't necessarily designed with panniers in mind; carbon road bikes, racy gravel bikes and the like. 

Tailfin kitted me out with a full suite, including the alloy aeropack (a pannier rack with an integrated upper bag), some 5L mini panniers, fork bags, a downtube bag and enough cargo cages and straps to lash everything to my Fairlight Secan. 

I've already put close to 300km in with the bags, although for a two-day tour around the Lake District, I didn't need quite the entire setup. That being said I learned a lot about the system despite being utterly freezing and sleep-deprived thanks to some ill-advised sleeping equipment. 

The modularity, ease of setup, and quality of construction are all exceptional. The bags pack up, attach and detach with ease thanks to some clever design features and tricks like lockable air valves to help stuffing, all of which make for a pretty stress-free system when packing up camp with freezing hands. 

One thing I couldn't get right was the weight distribution; I had most of my weight rearwards, treating the rear as I would a normal pannier rack, but this resulted in some unnerving speed wobbles at the front. Further testing is underway to diagnose the issue, including running identical loads with rival systems (a teardrop seatpack and a carradice saddlebag), so stay tuned to not only find out if the Tailfin system is for you, but also how to set it up in the best possible way.

In the meantime there's always the Tailfin website to keep you going.

Cyclocross tyres

It's been many many years now since the best cyclo-cross bikes outsold the best gravel bikes, but that doesn't mean cyclo-cross has been consigned to obscurity here at Cyclingnews. Some of us even get more excited by the 'cross season than the road season, but don't shout that too loudly.

If there's one thing 'cross nerds love, it's tyres, and if you're just getting into the weird and wonderful world of riding round in circles in the mud, the reverence given to tyres can be a little hard to fathom. With this in mind, we'll be bringing you a totally comprehensive guide to everything you need to know about cyclo-cross tyres in October including tread suggestions for various conditions, notes on TPI and width, tyre pressures, sidewall construction, mud-shedding, tubes vs tubeless, and just why everyone gets so excited by green treads.

In the meantime though we can give you a sneak preview thanks to Challenge, who've sorted us out with a nearly full range of UCI-legal 'cross tyres, from the Chicaine for dry grass crits, through to the Limus for when it's so muddy it's probably faster to walk.

Buckle up, slap on that embrocation, and get ready to taste your lungs for an hour.

TyreWiz

Tyre tread is one thing, but cyclo-cross enthusiasts are also extremely in tune with their tyre pressures. Some are lucky enough to have well calibrated thumbs, able to tell rivals pressures to the nearest quarter of a PSI at the start line before offering a telling shake of the head to anyone who's gone too hard or too soft.

For us mere mortals there is either an accurate bike pump, or the TyreWiz, which takes the form of a wireless pressure gauge that replaces the valve cores currently in your tyres (either tubes, tubeless or tubulars - as long as they're Presta). With a pair of these installed one can monitor tyre pressure both front and rear directly from a head unit, and even set up alerts should the pressures stray outside of predetermined upper and lower limits.

Got a slow puncture, rear a little more squishy than you expected? These should at least take the guesswork out of things. I'll be running them over the winter with some different sized tyres to see what they can add to your riding, and how much tyre pressure really matters. What's more they will help me standardise testing when I go through the latest and greatest from the best bike pumps too.

A tidy cockpit, thanks to K-Edge & Exposure

Some may recall that I recently had the pleasure of enjoying enduring a 275km ride in the Swiss mountains when I was invited to ride Chasing Cancellara Zurich-Zermatt. It started at 1:30am, and I didn't trust my Specialized Flux 900 front light to be bright enough for the five hours that separated my departure time and sunrise, so I reached out to Exposure to borrow something. They sent their best bike light; the Strada SB MK 13 Aktiv. 

To cut a long story short, I really liked it so I stumped up the cash to turn the loan into a permanent purchase. The S-Works Tarmac SL6 I rode in Switzerland is fitted with round handlebars, and the standard bracket that comes with the Exposure light was a perfect match, but I also treated myself to a GoPro-style mount, for reasons that will become apparent momentarily.

The bike I'm using this winter for all my foul-weather riding is the Ridley Kanzo Fast, an Ekar equipped gravel bike with a one-piece aero cockpit. I'm a huge fan of it, but the aero cockpit is no good for a round light bracket, so I reached out to the one brand that I knew would have a solution, K-Edge. 

With the Exposure light, the GoPro-style bracket, and the K-Edge Combo mount, I now have 1600 lumens of illuminating goodness for all of my rides, and I can't wait to get out in 

The Tour de France maillot jaune

As you can probably guess, we hoped to have this one featured a couple of months ago but due to a number of factors, it only arrived with us in September. We deliberated: is it too late to include it? Should we just write it off as a failed endeavour? Possibly, but then this is the leader's jersey of the Tour de France. The Tour is the world's biggest bike race. Factor Bikes' CEO Rob Gitelis described it as "almost 50% of the whole year's value", and this jersey is the primary symbol of success in that jersey. In my opinion, that's pretty cool. 

The jersey itself is made by Santini. 2022 marked the first of a five-year period in which all jerseys in the race will be made by the brand. We have one of them, it's a size XS, and suggestions of what we do with it are welcome. Should we frame it at CN HQ? Give it away to a reader? Donate it to charity? Sell it and donate the funds? Answers in the comments below, please.