Until recently I knew virtually nothing about ‘cross. Most of my opinions were based on a fantastic video clip of a 1950s race taking place in Yorkshire.  This was a tough sport, that involved throwing your bike in a river and then jumping in after it.  As unappealing as that sounds, I wasn’t going to be put off. Taking advantage of the Bike to Work scheme, I was soon the proud owner of a Cannondale CAADX.  Great though the bike was for commuting, it seemed wasted on tarmac and I started looking around for local races. Two events drew my attention – a couple of floodlit events at Beaumont Leys and the second race of the Supercross series, just down the road at Lutterworth.

Having bunged my entries in, I decided I perhaps ought to try and obtain some of the necessary skills. Fortunately, fellow Leicester Forest CC member Alan Bontoft, was willing to show me the ropes with a practice session at the Beaumont Leys course. After a bit of practice at dismounting, hurdling and remounting (an eye-wateringly troublesome manoeuvre for me), Alan took us round the course itself, taking in large sections of an old BMX track and some improbably steep banks. After a few laps I found myself grinning widely – this was the most fun I’d ever had on a drop barred bike.

Race night at Beaumont Leys arrived. The event had attracted a wide range of abilities from hardened veterans to complete newbies like me. Carbon fibre mixed with old steel mountain bikes as we gathered on the start-line at Leicester Speedway. The race would begin with 3 laps of the gravelly track before hitting the off road sections and heading out of the stadium. With 50 riders taking part, I was feeling nervous – my last attempt at a mass start circuit race had finished with me nursing 18 stitches in my chin and one less tooth. I was told that a fast start was vital in cyclocross, but was content to let the field go ahead, sit at the back and find my feet.

Racing out across the car park and onto the BMX track, I found it an entirely different beast under floodlights and I was glad of the chance to take it at my own pace. The first couple of hurdles went surprisingly smoothly, but I took the first tricky corner at a speed that would not have scared a granny on a mobility scooter and found myself well and truly last. Still, I got round in one piece and back into the stadium where I dared to overtake someone as I finished my first lap. I had a long way to go, cyclocross races last for a set duration – this one for 45 minutes.

Managing to stay rubber side down, I started to pick up the pace and cope with the occasional alarming front wheel slide on the varying surfaces. The laps ticked by and as fatigue set in, my remount “technique” provided light entertainment for the small group of spectators. Eventually, just when my legs were telling me enough was enough, the bell went for the last lap and I found a bit more to get me home. Forty five minutes had turned out to be exhausting, but exhilarating. I hadn’t fallen off, had all of my teeth and hadn’t come last! My cyclocross racing career was up and running and I was hooked.

Andy finished with all of his teeth!

I now can’t wait for the Supercross on the 27^th October. As much as I had enjoyed my first race, the atmosphere at the end was a bit flat as riders just packed up and went home. I’m told that this is in sharp contrast to the experience in Belgium and the US, where cyclocross races are seen as mini-festivals, attracting huge family crowds. Rapha are hoping to create the same feel, with live music, plenty of noise, cowbells, food, drink and silliness. I’ve entered the Vets category, but also fancy a stab at the “fun” race with its tequila corner and wall of foam. As well as mugs like me, some of the best elite riders in the country will also be racing, taking it a bit more seriously and giving me a chance to pick up some tips at close quarters. Entry is free to all spectators, so come on down, have some beer and frites and laugh at my comedy remount technique.

Andy's team-mates pretend not to notice the hay...

Follow Andy at http://twitter.com/awkwardcyclist

(Ed’s Note: Matt modestly plays his speed and fitness down here, but the 26 year-old bike coach has been riding for fourteen years, and placed first in last year’s Clic24 24-hour solo race. It’s worth bearing that in mind).

Cannondale Scalpel 3

If you read part one you’ll know the Scalpel had already surprised me during a day’s photoshoot at Afan – it’s quick, clever and a whole lot more fun than a serious racer has any right to be. I arranged to borrow the bike from What Mountain Bike and really put it to the test with laps of my home trails. How much quicker would this 23lb carbon racer be than my 28lb, 140mm trail bike?

As a mountain bike skills coach (www.pedalprogression.com), I’m all about technique and I genuinely believe that an improvement in technique will result in an improvement in speed and enjoyment. Skill should always come before fitness. If you’re riding regularly your fitness will develop itself, but fitness without skill is futile. Where am I going with this? Well, while I’m not unfit, I’m no gristly-legged, gel-popping race junkie either. However, a childhood in bicycle trials has gifted me with an arsenal of trail skills. Perhaps this goes some way to explaining why I lapped my local trails over two minutes faster on… the trail bike Zesty over the light and racy Cannondale.

The Zesty weighs in at 12.7kg (28lb) and with 140mm of travel is no XC racer, but it does inspire a confidence the Scalpel lacks. I can throw the Zesty into corners aggressively where the Scalpel begins to wash out. Saying that, the straightline speed of the Scalpel destroys the French lemon in less technical sections, but Ashton Court is a smooth, rock-armoured trail centre of a place. It doesn’t get much less technical than that – it’s interesting that even here, that extra straightline speed doesn’t pay off.

The 100mm Cannondale Lefty fork wasn't too troubled by the trails of Ashton Court

After riding with a RockShox Reverb for the last year, it’s a struggle ride a bike with a fixed post, as a dropper has radically changed the way I ride. A low seat allows greater body movement and helps massively in getting low into corners, as well as over the more technical sections. Adopting the most power-efficient seating position on the Scalpel made the technical sections difficult, but the flat-out singletrack even more rapid. The extra pound or so of a dropper post would almost certainly add real-world speed, rather than lessen it.

My conclusion in this little experiment is that Scalpel is simply too much bike for me to get the best out of right now, and though thoroughly enjoyable to ride, it’s not going to make anyone quicker just because its a race bike. I was slower in the corners on the Scalpel, and in theory should have made that time up on the faster sections, but my body wouldn’t allow me to sprint as I’d have liked! You’d really need fantastic fitness to make up that deficit, as so much of any trail is corner. There’s a lesson here for perhaps the majority of riders.

There’s no doubt the Scalpel is a rapid and fun race bike for the punter who has great bike skills and fitness combined. But until I feel fast enough to wear Lycra suits and obsess about leg hair, I’ll continue to beast the laps on my Zesty.

Matt Legg-Bagg, What Mountain Bike tester and Pedal Progression skills coach

You can see the 2012 Lappiere Zesty and the Cannondale Scalpel in an upcoming issue of What Mountain Bike, where they’ll be tested within an inch of their lives.

(Ed’s Note: Matt modestly plays his speed and fitness down here, but the 26 year-old bike coach has been riding for 14 years, and placed first in last year’s Clic24 24-hour solo race. It’s worth bearing that in mind).

Cannondale Scalpel 3

Having dabbled in cross-country (XC) racing last season I’d considered buying a race bike, but after testing various Scales, Flashes, Epics and Whippets I decided that carbon hardtails were uncomfortable and race bikes were boring! A blanket judgement I’m sure, but whether I’m racing or not I want a bike I can have fun riding, and in these models I hadn’t found one.

Then photographer Seb (Rogers) rocked up with a brace of bikes loaded on the Thule rack and Steve (editor of WMB) in the passenger seat. We were off to Afan to shoot a bike test and magazine cover. I was excited to see a Lapierre Zesty 514 on the back – along with a Ghost AMR and a bizarre-looking Cannondale. I ride a 2011 Zesty 514 and was keen to shred the newly evolved model, but my dream was shattered when Steve announced he’d be riding it, no matter how well my riding kit matched. I ended up with the Cannondale, the one bike I didn’t really want to ride…

It’s a Cannondale Scalpel 3 with a carbon frame, 100mm Lefty fork and DT Swiss wheelset – all specced out with a mixture of high-end SRAM and Shimano kit. One of the Scalpel’s main oddities is its lack of a main pivot. Instead the frame is made from a springy elastic carbon that allows the chainstays to flex, with the support of an 80mm RockShox Monarch shock.

Carbon frame makes for flex in the chainstays

Weighing in at 10.5kg (23lb) with M520 pedals, it’s an amateur XC racers dream. Once I’d got over the head-screw of a frame that bent 80mm as well as having half a fork missing, it occurred to me I was having a really good time. In fact, I was highly stoked! So stoked I decided to nab the bike for the following week to really put it through its paces. Was this the enjoyable, super-quick race bike I’d been looking for? This was now a proper experiment involving my local trails and timing equipment. The results were interesting…

Fast and fun

The day’s riding at Afan had got me buzzing. I felt like a Maths dropout who’d finally ‘got’ algebra; I’d found a race bike that was comfortable, responsive and pinned. Suddenly everything made sense and I couldn’t wait to get it back to Bristol for an Ashton Court loop… or five.

The Scalpel is built with some top kit including XT and X7 mechs, SLX shifters and a SRAM chainset with a big old BB30 bottom bracket. The mixed-make 2×10 shifting actually works a treat.

Although fast, the Schwalbe tyres appear to be made from soggy toilet paper with the rear ripping on my very first thrashing, leaving some kind of inner tube haemorrhoid popping out of the side wall! A quick Park tyre boot later and all was well.  The Lefty fork can pull the bike to one side when locked out, but when in its travel it’s effective and comfortable, and I was surprised at the lack of flex. I expected to get some sort of shudder when braking with just the front brake, but there was nothing. Impressive for such a light and flimsy-looking piece of kit.

While my peers were freaked out by the flexy stays, I was finding the benefits in this very clever technology. The carbon in this part of the bike is super-springy and adds an element of fun I’ve not found in any other bike. Over whoops and flowing corners you can carry speed by pumping the bike and flexing the stays, only for them to spring back, sending the back light and ready to be thrown into the next turn. The Scalpel has amazing agility and feels ready for anything. Surprisingly it also manuals incredibly well – I only wish I’d had time to take it to the pump track!

This is a super-fun and fast bike there’s no doubt, but could I keep it pinned enough to be quicker over a lap of Ashton Court? Check back in a couple of days, when all will be revealed!

 Matt Legg-Bagg, What Mountain Bike tester and Pedal Progression skills coach

Meanwhile myself and ‘just’ 799,999 others are telling ourselves that we’re special and clever and cerebral because we’re watching The Killing 2 on BBC4 with subtitles and everything. In TV blockbuster terms it’s not popular, but boy do we think it’s good. (Although not as good as the first one…) And then there’s me and Tom McRae. I think he’s good. Ever heard of him? No. He’s not popular. Not like that popular James Morrison who I think is rubbish. Popularity then – when we’re talking, ahem, culture –  is mainly down to taste and everyone has different tastes. But what about actual physical product, surely popular goods are popular simply because they good?

To answer this question we called in the best selling bikes from the six brands you tell us top the popularity charts for UK roadies. So, we ended up with the Giant Defy 2 (£799), Specialized Allez Elite (£900), Cube Peloton Race (£999), Boardman Team Carbon (£1299.99), Trek Madone 3.5 (£1800) and Cannondale Supersix 5 105 (£1999.99). First up, the price range is pretty interesting – from less than £800 to just shy of two grand. Popular obviously doesn’t have to mean cheap…

Best Selllers © Russell Burton/Cycling Plus

As these machines are so popular it means there’s a very good chance that you, or your riding mates, own one. So, going back to the popular culture analogy I’ve been painfully flogging, should you turn up your nose when a friend proudly shows you their Defy 2 or Madone 3.5 in much the same way you might if they asked you whether you voted for Jason Donovan or Robbie Savage on Strictly Come Dancing?

The answer is no – all six of Britain’s best sellers are excellent. As you’d expect, the more expensive machines on test – the Trek and Cannondale – are mightily impressive. In fact, both are serious contenders for our Bike of Year test. Perhaps more surprisingly the bikes at the other end of the price scale are also outstanding – the Specialized Allez Elite has, quite rightly, long been the benchmark for sub-£1000 race machines but the Giant Defy 2 is now a bona fide challenger to its crown. Obviously, I’m not going to reveal too much about the test – the magazine is on sale tomorrow – but suffice to say it proves that popular can mean good. Very good, in fact. And because these bikes are popular because you buy them it’s also reassured me that the great British public can show impeccable taste!

Cycling Plus January 2012 is on sale in all good newsagents and supermarkets from December 6. We’ve also got some fantastic Christmas subscription offers here. And don’t forget Cycling Plus is now available for Apple iPad and iPhone on Apple Newsstand!

The latest Cycling Plus yesterday

Click here to get £2 off the full ticket price of the The London Bike Show (the word ‘radar’ should show in the ‘discount code’ box). Offer expires on 25 December.

Enjoy!

Jez Avery

MBUK October 1991.

Ripping it up here at the Malvern Hills Classic on his Off Road Pro Flex, complete with rigid fork and Flexstem. Remember them? Oh my!

Check out the kit- Axo shoes, Elbow pads gloves, Etto adjustable size lid and a classic pair of Oakley Fire Iridium O Frame goggles. Class!

Jez Avery- pinned. With moustache.

The Malvern Hills Classic

This was the original and probably the best MTB festival back then- and possibly that there has ever been.

Everything was so new at the time, and the scene was so much fun.

I remember riding the 1991 Malvern’s on my dodgy old Muddy Fox Courier Mega- and riding everything accept the Lake Jump that year. I even got my first taste of decent air at the infamous Bombhole, which claimed many victims over the years.

Answer A-Tac stem

It’s funny how desirable a stem can be, and back then the A-Tac was the tubular stem of choice. Some may argue that the Ringle Zooke machined stem was nicer, but I’d stick with an A Tac any day of the week!

Answer Accu-trax forks

Another classic- super strong and classy looking, s well as coming in one inch threaded, and the bigger 11/4 Evolution size. Remember that?

Trek 9000

There’s not a lot you can really say about the early Trek 3000 that a rubber kebab instead of a shock and more sideways movement than up and down.

I’ll leave you with some key words that work well.

Bendy. Heavy. Feedback. Bouncy. Ugly. Wobbly. Shocking.

But somehow, it was highly desirable, and I’d love to have one for my collection!

It’s a good job that Trek has moved on though- their new bikes are simply amazing.

Trek’s two wheel steering bendy bouncer

Surely this must have been an April fool?

Someone trying to tell us that Uvex sky diving goggles are good for riding. Really?

Seriously, why?

I used to love the grey rubberised paint- it was seriously tough, but pretty heavy and wasn’t easy to clean.

I’d use it on a jump bike though, and it would go down well on the urban scene as it looks subtle.

Marin and that great grey paint…

This time on an Allsop Soft ride, but without the mega suspension stem they used to make.

The Softride thing’s not a bad concept, but never lasted on the MTB scene…

Hemming bags another cover.

When the craze was for having elevated chainstays, a guy named Paul Hudson doing flatland manoeuvres on Brighton sea front for MBUK on one of these. He had all the old skool flatland tricks down and sparked his own little movement.

Debatable.

Rumour has it that the titanium version of this that Tim Davis used to race was so flexible that a good stamp on the pedals could change gear up front without the need for a front mech…

But they looked bad-ass, especially in tiny sizes.

And they also made the T 26, a super low version with a boom down/top tube design to a Trimble.

Alpinestars Al Mega elevated. Horrible- but so nice!

JMC used to run Renthal Motocross bars back in the day for extra control. He knew the score…

Renthal MX bars- imagine the flex on that stem!

With a buzzing noise, the DCD made your bike instantly cool and didn’t do that much to keep your chain on that couldn’t be done by shortening your chain. But they were cool, which is all that counted.

I’ve got a hand painted original, as painted by Mr Crud Pete Tomkins himself. A nice piece of history…

My original DCD, with hand painted St Georges flag…

Dave’s Chain Device

You think Clarkson was original on Top Gear with their beach storm in the Ford Fiesta?

We reckon a few of the producers might just have read MBUK in the past…

Warner jumps in, the water jumps out…

It was full of elastomer and other stuff, and the black stanchions wore silver pretty rapidly- but what a lovely fork it was!

Mmmmmm Manitou…

This time on an old Rocky Mountain Speed unified design. Those that know will appreciate the fact he can ride a beach cruiser with flat tyre much the same as he can ride a modern DH bike.

The bike is no limitation for Will- just a challenge. Just look at the stem!

And Will’s one of the very best riders around. Period.

Longden doing what he does best!

Nice stem.

JMC was way ahead of his time- check this big one floot flattie on the little Stumpjumper that made the whole UK crave little XC frames for jumping.

And looks like he’d been tooling around on his Harley in shorts looking at the burn mark on his right calf…

RIP Jason, we miss your unmistakeable style.

Been riding your Harley in bare legs Jason?

One of the most iconic riders ever on one of his very best bikes- the custom painted stars and bars Intense M1. Check out the Magura HS33 hydraulic rim brakes! Seems odd seeing rim brakes on such a modern looking bike!

Shaun Palmer- radical

We only ever ran 3 issues of Rush as special editions, but they were pretty cool!

RUSH! In your face!

If not the first, the Fulcrum was certainly one of the first floating linkage bikes around, and had a jackshaft style double chain set up front to compensate for the fact that the bike was designed around a small 32 tooth chain ring. It allowed them to fit normal sized rings and reduce the pedal feedback- but at what weight penalty?

Cannondale’s Fulcrum- advanced as hell, but with a 6:1 leverage ratio on the tiny little shock!

This was, and still is a common occurrence. Rob Warner, injured.

Although Warner will refer to crashing on the ‘treaders’, those that know him will tell you just how many times he’s smashed himself up riding motocross, and probably doubt the amount of times he got injured on the treaders…

Captain loud mouth, wrecked again.

Not much to say here, other than this bike still makes me dribble.

Oh, and I can spot an NTi sticker on the top tube. NTi- Nicol Trading International were based in South Harrow, at the Arches and used to be distributors of Salsa and Rockshox amongst other things. I first met Chipps there in the early ‘90’s, as well as John Gledhill. That’s when I used to work ‘the BIKE shop’ in North Harrow.

If you’re ever over that way, say hi to Malcolm Fryer- top chap that can straighten any wheel. Literally.

Mmmmm, Merlin…

Look familiar?

I remember the days trying to find something to keep my chain on- and the rattly old Chaindog was one of the best. Although it was on the weighty side compared to the new E13 and MRP guides of the same type.

Chuck CR-FS.

Like a Turner Afterburner, but posh.

These things were stunning in the flesh, and were a premium product in the day when people loved rockers on their bikes. Infact, at the same time BETD made rockers to bump up the travel on various frames. I remember friends buggering shocks up on certain frames!

Four bar FS- trick, and very boutique..

This one belonged to Nigel ‘No Wage’ Page back in the day. Squint and you can see a Cannondale Super V…

And check the forks out- Marzocchi Bomber Super T’s- super plush, adjustable compression and rebound. Way ahead of their time, very expensive and hand made.

High, short and steep. British DH, mid ’90′s!

People laughed when Brent Foes made this long travel bike- they were all stuck in the 80mm long travel mode!

This thing packed a whopping 6in travel out back!

Although you might suffer in the wind with those wheels!

The Foes LTS. Check those disc wheels!

Brovedani ABS brakes

I for one never, ever, ever had a problem with cantilever brakes being too powerful. Ever.

Even with Scott Mathauser pads, and every possible set up, I could never get brakes strong enough. And I tried Dia Compe 986, 987, Onza HO and even Grafton.

Although maybe the ABS actually stands for Average Braking System?

I have to say though- Steve Worland, who has been doing this a lot longer than me said these things were pretty good on a tandem…

Average Braking System?

Fabien Barrel once said this bike was the best ever downhill bike. It was leagues ahead of its time.

37 and a bit pounds, 6in travel, modern geometry and damping far, far ahead of the available stuff then.

You can’t help but wonder if the Frenchies had a bit of an advantage. That and some pretty good riding on their doorstep…

Phew, well that’s me retro’d out for another week or so.

Until next time- mange tout!

My Dad always says ‘you get what you pay for’ usually just after a bargain I’ve found breaks. I’ve never found  those true either – especially when you’re buying a bike. So, just what can you expect to get as you move up through the road biking budget?

£300

£270 is pretty much the lowest you can go if you want a brand new road bike, with Decathlon offering the Sport 1 model. Spen £350 on the Viking Roma and, like the Sport 1, you’ll get a basic aluminium frame and steel fork combination with an 8-speed Shimano drivetrain, although components come from the Shimano 2300 range instead of the 2200 level kit of the Decathlon for slightly improved shift performance.

On budget bikes the rest of the components like stem and saddle, are compiled from a range of manufacturers in order to meet tight budgetary requirements. While many of these items function well it is worth checking reviews – if you can find them sites like Bikeradar – to weed out possible problem areas.

We chose to try out the Claud Butler Criterium as on paper it offers the best frame within this price bracket, with vibration damping curved seat stays a real bonus. Unfortunately the 7-speed Shimano gears are downgraded in order to squeeze the higher spec frame in on the £319.99 budget.

Claud Butler Criterium is a decent starter choice

A tall head tube means that the bars offer a high, distance friendly position and help inspire confidence in riders not used to aggressive ‘racy’ positions. As a result the Criterium feels smooth and stable most of the time, but when cornering at speed the rearward weight distribution and reasonably flexible wheels does mean that it suffers from noticeable understeer.

Press hard on the pedals and the combination of flexible chainstays and heavy 30mm deep alloy rims make progress feel slow. Pedal gently, though, and the lack of frame stiffness is not an issue. In that respect it represents a reasonable entry point for riders looking to make an inexpensive start on the road,  however improvers might out grow the Criteriums softly-softly character as their fitness improves.

Shifting gears with the centrally mounted levers does require moving your hands away from the brakes and releasing your grip on the bars which isn’t idea. Although gear shifts are faultless once the gear is selected, we feel not having the simultaneous access to both gears and brakes provided by integrated gear and brake levers (STIs)  is too large a price to pay for the better frame of the Criterium.

It’s easy to be snobby about £300 bikes but although the Criterium is a bit weighty at 11.6Kg it’s still fun to ride. However  if you want to test your mettle with harder efforts then it isn’t quite up to the task.

Now, for dedicated roadies it’s easy to be a little sniffy about electric bikes. Why on earth do we need a battery and a motor when we’ve got legs and lungs? (And, to be honest, in the recent past electric bikes haven’t exactly been objects of desire.) But with many big brands adding presentable e-bikes to their ranges, new companies making bikes that don’t look like mobility aids and high street giants like Halfords going electric, powered pedalling is on the up.

Ruben’s electric bike is pretty special – it’s a one off Storck Raddar Multiroad Carbon painted up in the colours of his Williams-Cosworth FW32. The road bike afficionados amongst you will, of course,  know German brand Storck because of it’s high end superbikes. And the Raddar is a high end e-bike –  it weighs less than 18kg, has a carbon fibre frame, advanced gear shift electronics,  hydraulic disc brakes and is powered by 250W sport specification Swiss-made electric motor.

Rubens Barrichello gets an electric shock!

The standard Raddar will be on sale in the UK soon and it will join an ever increasing number of e-bikes – including the bespoke electric bikes from GoCycle,  Ebco Eagle and A2B Metro. Huge companies including Trek are also going electric – the American giant has its Ride+ range which are essentially ordinary urban bikes with a power pack and motor. Giant too is powering it’s bikes with the Twist range. And my wife can’t speak highly enough of the power boost she gets when riding a Halfords Urban Mover Mounatin Bike up Bath’s steep hills. You can even power buy a powered sportive ride – although that might be considered cheating – by investing in a Cytronex powered Cannondale Supersix.

Ruben's Raddar in it's Williams-Cosworth colours

Finally remember the silly rumours about Fabian Cancellara and his ‘powered’ rides at this year’s Spring Classics? You could always fit a Gruber Assist motor for the ultimate in discreet power. It certainly looks as if electric bikes are on the up – there’s even a British Electric Bicycle Association – and if they’re good enough for a bloke with 11 GP wins to his names they’re good enough for us!

Look out for a test of the latest e-bikes in an upcoming issue of Cycling Plus.