Anyone out there fast enough for winged trouser clips?
I’m definitely not nearly quick enough to wear them, and would undoubtedly look like a bit of a weirdo, but I still think they’re a great stocking filler.
Archive for the 'Kit' Category
I just came across Save Our Soles, a fab looking sock company based in Colorado (why are none of these sort of people ever based in the UK?). They do a whole range of wool socks for cycling and other sweaty pursuits, including the rather nifty Argyll/hockey stick ones above.
Anyway, check them out – at $11.95 a pair they are pretty cheap for wool socks, although probably less so once shipping is factored in. Our favourites include Boneshaker, Retro Pedals and Movie Buff.
Having arguably helped to spark the glorious comeback of tweed (which we have reported on time and again) for the modern urban cyclist with the subtle, but popular, tweed detailing on their shorts:
Rapha have gone all the way and produced a limited edition tweed softshell jacket. Like many things Rapha, I both wonder if the world really needs, for example, a £50 silk cycling scarf, but also really, really want one. The jacket:
beautiful as it is (proper pictures here) just doesn’t quite do it for me – I’m more of a traditionalist when it comes to tweed, and would have preferred a classic green or brown, as opposed to what looks to me much more like a business suit check. In any case, none of this matters since, at £450 (which looks even worse from my vantage point on the Western edge of the Atlantic) I’m not going to be able to afford one. Ever.
But I still want it.
Courtesy of Mr. Crud, we’ve been testing a couple of prototypes of the 2009 Raceguard.
The first Raceguard was invented in 1994, an innovative seatpost-mounted rear mudguard, and it rapidly became the market leader among mountain bikers and commuters alike as the simplest and best-looking way to avoid that “wet stripe” up the back of your clothes. It was a great design, simple to fit (although to do so you had to remove the seatpost and slide shims on and off), easy to adjust and once fitted it stayed in place and was hard to break. I bought one in ‘95 and it’s been in intermittent use since then and is still going strong.
For 2009 Mr. Crud’s been challenged to redesign it, chiefly so you don’t have to remove the seatpost to fit it. Other manufacturers (SKS, Topeak, Cycraguard) have recognised the Raceguard’s popularity and produced similar offerings, some of which fitted straight around the seatpost, so after 11 years it was time for an update.
So what’s new? As you can see from the photo above, the mudguard itself keeps the familiar (and very effective) shape of the recent “RacePak” incarnation, but the main thing that has changed is the clamp. It can now be fitted straight around the seatpost and with a very British, very CRUD-like conciseness of design.
The pack contains two rubber shims, one seatpost clamp, one nut and bolt, the arm and the mudguard. It’s all made out of flexible plastic that feels pliable but hard to break. It weighs a lot less than it looks like it should. It’s very simple to fit in less than a minute. The shims mean it will suit seatposts from 25-33mm and, once everything’s in the right place, a few turns of the one bolt mean it’ll all stay put.
…and that’s just what it did. Over lumpy rattly stuff and in soggy mud and rain, it kept our backs (and saddles) dry and free from The Stripe. Neither branches nor not-going-to-make-it faceplants managed to shift it. We’re impressed. I’m sure that the 2009 redesign will be even more popular as its predecessor.
Mine’s going to stay on my bike.
http://springwise.com/weekly/2008-08-06.htm#trekstop
I can’t decide whether this is a great idea, or a really terrible one.
While round-the-clock parts availability is a Good Thing, I can foresee drawbacks. I can just imagine the typical phone call I’m going to get at 2am from some random hipster who’s snakebite-punctured his brakeless fixie slamming it into a kerb as he’s failed to stop in time; he’s dug out enough change for an inner tube and an energy gel and now, drunken but buzzing as the sugary caffeine kicks in, he decides to slur his way through asking me why the inner tube didn’t come with instructions…
