My regular cycling gear consists of Smartwool socks, and lightweight T shirt, padded underwear, Rapha fixed knickers, and sometimes a jacket. When it gets cold I just add a wool beanie, neck gaiter, gloves, an extra mid weight wool T shirt, Smartwool long underwear and pair of long wool socks and I’m good to go.

Let’s start with the head. I wear a combination of a Smartwool beanie and a neck gaiter. Together they make an adjustable balaclava. When it’s bitterly cold I pull the gaiter up over my ears and nose and pull the beanie down low so that there’s only a slit left for my eyes. This works really well and if it warms up it’s an easy matter to pull the gaiter down.

The hands are notoriously difficult to keep warm on the bike in cold weather. To date I’ve worn a pair of Pearl Izumi gloves, but they don’t work well in sub freezing weather so I plan to replace them with some Smartwool gloves soon. I’m sorry if this post is starting to sound a little repetitive, but Smartwool really is a great defense against winter cold.

On my body I add a layer of a mid weight wool T-shirt over my usual wool T-shirts and combined with a Rapha lightweight softshell I’ll stay nice and cozy.

Finally I keep my legs warm by wearing a par of Smartwool long underwear underneath some Rapha fixed knickers and my feet are kept toasty with some wool socks. I know all this wool sounds terribly old-fashioned and heavy, but modern merino wool products are soft and lightweight and better still they don’t smell after a long day in the saddle.

Broadway Bicycle School in Cambridge, MA

As a schoolboy I tinkered with bikes, and as a middle aged man I’ve continued my amateurish fiddling. My cheque book is now considerably larger so I can mess around with more bikes and buy bits and pieces for them, but I’ve never had any formal training as a bicycle mechanic and generally just use my experience as an engineer and some common sense to work things out. This works fine most of the time, but I’ve wanted to build my own wheels for a while now and to do that I thought that I should get some real training. So I looked for a suitable course and found that the “Broadway Bicycle School” in Cambridge offered one. There were two drawbacks though, a pre-requisite was their “Advanced Mechanic” course which also had a pre-requiste of the “Basic Mechanic” course. Well a little learning never hurt so I decided to take both courses to gain admittance to the inner sanctum of wheel building.

The Broadway Bicycle School is a full service bike shop in a quaint and cozy store with wheels hanging from the ceiling, a creaky wooden floor, an excellent collection of old chainrings and just enough space for a few bike stands. Get eight bikes and their owners in there along with an instructor and the space becomes even more intimate. But that’s really what this shop/school is all about. It’s friendly and a great place for the bike geek or interested newbie. It’s owned by the employees and they set out to not only fix and sell bikes, but also to teach people how to maintain them. For a small fee they even let you use the shop and it’s tools to work on your own bike. It’s definitely not a store for the lycra clad carbon riding racer, but it’s perfect for the city rider who loves their bike.

I’ve now completed two of five evening classes in the basic course and I can highly recommend them for both a complete novice and for someone who has a little knowledge, but wants to see how to do things properly. Our instructor, Kate, was bright, cheery and knowledgeable and took us through fixing a puncture in the first class with lots of show and tell and then we were set loose on our own bikes. For the second class we got to adjust a cup and cone hub and learned about headsets. I found this useful as it’s been a while since I adjusted an old style hub as I now buy hubs with sealed bearings. Next week it’s brakes………….

So you must have gathered that I don’t wear lycra shorts. For a few years I wore MTB shorts, but found the nylon material and bagginess to be off putting. The pockets were very useful when off the bike, but I generally just felt like a dork in them. Then Rapha came out with a pair of “Touring Shorts” so I bought them thinking that they would be just right for general riding AND touring.

http://www.rapha.cc/touring-shorts/

The name Touring Shorts is a little misleading as Rapha intends them to be used over regular cycling shorts so you can go into a cafe without scaring the female patrons. Even so I bought a pair to use on my ride from Boston to Montreal and was initially impressed by the soft and light material and the beautiful construction. The legs end just above the knee and there isn’t a pad, so I wear them over padded cycling underwear. They have some reflective piping on the sides and really nice silky hems so that the don’t catch or scratch your legs. There is a small key pocket at the front and an pocket suitable for a wallet on the back just below a rather unflattering stretchy waist band. The pocket openings both lie on seams and the small zip closures are wonderfully sewn into the shorts so that they are almost invisible when closed.

I tested the shorts out on a hot summer day and loved how they felt, nice and airy. So I set off on my tour happy to have my new shorts rather than the old MTB baggies. On the first evening I was washing the shorts and I was alarmed to see day light through the stitching in the rear seam, it was coming apart. Obviously these shorts were not up to the rigors of touring as only a couple of days in the saddle had done for the butt. I got my sewing kit out and did a blanket stitch to bring the seam back together. Once that was done I wrote an annoyed email to Rapha. Rapha were very good and got back to me the next day and offered a replacement, but I’m surprised that they would sell a garment with such a weak seam.

My repair worked well and I worn the shorts for the rest of my trip. But I discovered that the two small pockets aren’t really enough for touring, a couple of side pockets would be far more useful. Also the lightness of the material is nice for hot weather, but when it rains they quickly soak through and they provide little to no warmth.

So as a pair of touring shorts I’d give them 5 out of 10. For day rides in hot weather they are really good and I still wear them through the summer. I hear that the seam has been reinforced in the latest version, so if you’re thinking about ordering a pair check on that. But they are not a great touring short. For that I’d add some pockets and go with a slightly heavier fabric that was water repellent. In fact the Rapha Fixed Shorts (again a bad name as they are knickers or plus fours) have all those features and their wicking and soft yet tough material makes them perfect for touring, so I’ll review those next.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm

“The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. Likewise, if a company refers in an advertisement to the findings of a research organization that conducted research sponsored by the company, the advertisement must disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization. And a paid endorsement – like any other advertisement – is deceptive if it makes false or misleading claims.”

So, if Rapha were to send me some gear to wear and write about, then I’d have to disclose that in the review. This seems perfectly fair to me as I’d certainly think about down playing any negatives in a review in the hope of getting more free stuff.  We can all be tempted, which is why I have a policy of only reviewing stuff that I’ve bought with my own dollar. This doesn’t get over the inclination to review stuff well because to do otherwise would be an admission that I’d wasted my money, but I’m quite disciplined  and definitely not proud so if something sucks I’ll tell you.

Stainless Steel Expedition Bagman

The Bagman clamps to the parallel rails on your saddle so there has to be space behind the seat post clamp for it, you’ll need about 5/8″. The wonderful thing is just how simple the Bagman is to install, a single 6mm allen screw holds the clamp tight, although I would like to see a lock washer on that allen screw for some insurance against it loosening. It took me 20secs to get the aluminium clamp aligned with the rails and the screw tightened. Contrast this to the minutes of fiddling with screws, nuts and P-clamps required to install most racks. There have been some reports of the rack’s steel frame loosening from the block that attaches to the saddle rails as it is held in my a couple of set screws that can loosen over time. The Bagman I received has blue Loctite on those screws and I’ll keep a close eye on them. I also put a dab of superglue around where the frame enters the mounting block as some insurance. We’ll see how things go.

The Bagman attaches to the saddle rails with an aluminum clamp and a 6mm allen screw to

6mm allen screw under the saddle

Once the clamp is tightened the Bagman provides a very stable, minimalist platform for the saddlebag. The bag attaches to the saddle loops in the normal way and the bottom leather strap is buckled around the vertical section of the Bagman

The bag is held in a horizontal position well back from the saddle and when you stand back from the bike you can’t even see the Bagman giving the whole setup a wonderfully lightweight appearance. The bag is cantilevered out over the rear wheel and seems to float, I think we can all appreciate a good cantilever.

http://www.fallingwater.org/

The Bagman is not an all purpose rack as it doesn’t have places to attach straps and has a small platform. But it does one thing superbly and that is support a saddlebag. In fact it does this so well that you can’t even see it doing it’s job, now that’s stylish!

I got my touring gear together just to see how it would go on the bike without my normal small Nitto racks. Without the front rack I had to strap my sleeping pad and cooking equipment to the top of the saddlebag, but that was the only change. The bike rides very well as all the weight is close to the center of gravity ie me. I estimate using the Bagman will save me about a pound in the weight of my gear. Of course I could easily loose 20lbs myself so maybe I’ll work on that next.

No visible means of support

Shoes, shoes, shoes…..in my experience cyclists have almost as much of a fetish for shoes as Carrie Bradshaw. For Jimmy Choos substitute Dromarti and for Manolo Blahnik read Sidi. Are they stiff enough, light enough and how do they feel after 50 miles of pedalling? It’s an understandable obsession as riding in shoes that pinch your feet or produce hot spots is torture. The shoes I ride in must also be good for walking as I do some touring and my usual ride will involve some time off the bike in a bar or restaurant; I hate the clip clop of full on road shoes.

I recently bough a pair of MO76 Shimano MTB shoes and they are perfect for touring, commuting and club type rides. Shimano shoes always seem to run a size small for me. I wear a size 45 normal shoe, but found that the size 46 MO76s were right for me. They are lighter than the sneeker style shoes that some recreational cyclists wear, yet still have good grip and a well recessed SPD cleat for comfortable walking. The cleat is fully recessed so you can walk without sounding like a tap dancer. They are also rigid enough to make you feel efficient on the bike and the 3 velcro straps give good tightness adjustment. They come in a black and silver colour scheme with a black mesh section on the top of the shoe that gives good ventilation so they are best suited to riding in moderate to warm weather. I the rain and in the winter months I put a pair of XXL booties over them, being MTB shoes you have to get a big bootie to go over them. The body of the shoe is black and silver leather and the sole is a tough rubber material.

These shoes are widely available from most high street and online retailers for between $80 and $90. Overall these are a fantastic and practical pair of shoes. They won’t do it for the racers out there, but for most mortal cyclist they tick all the boxes, good off road, good on the road and good on the sidewalk too

The Exustar Commuting shoe is a traditionally styled cycling shoe with a soft leather upper and a rubber sole with a recessed SPD cleat. They are available from http://www.wiggle.co.uk for $130. The sole is quite narrow so they are a bit “tippy” from side to side when walking until you get used to them, but the cleat is well recessed and the sole provides good grip. The sizing is generous, particularly in the toe box. I bought the size 46, one up form my street shoe size, however, the 45 would probably have been a better fit, so I put an extra insole in the shoes to make the fit good. The shoes are fastened with laces, which is a nod towards tradition over function, and they don’t feel as rigid as the MO76. But the main thing about the Exustars is the way they look and feel. I use them around town, but would not recommend them for long rides or multi day tours. There is room for improvement in fit and the sole in these shoes, but I give Exustar credit for offering a traditionally style walkable shoe with a recessed cleat.

Here are the MO76 and Exustar Commuter shoes side by side. Both shoes are size 46. The Exustar looks smaller, yet they were a size too big for me, while the MO76 shoes fit me perfectly. I put this down to the lack of padding on the Exustars and you can also see their large toe box. Comparing the soles you can see the much larger walking area of the MO76. Obviously these shoes are vary different, but they both shoes have a place in my closet, the Exustars for style and the MO76 for function.

The Stowaway is a light weight water and wind resistant jacket. It’s most prominent specification is the price, which is an eye popping $290 putting it up with the the top of the line offerings from brands like Assos. It has one small front pocket, no hood and weighs 6oz. So a bit of maths and you come up with a cost of $800/lb. Am I convincing you to go out and buy one yet? Once over the price of this minimalist jacket the Stowaway shines as it actually performs better than Rapha’s marketing suggests. Rapha describes the jacket as water resistant rather than waterproof, so with that in mind I was pleasantly surprised at just how dry the jacket kept my core after an hour of riding in heavy rain. It performed fantastically on a recent ride across the North Yorkshire Moors in wind driven rain. Some water did penetrate through the seams in the sleeves, but I wasn’t soaked in sweat and the Stowaway kept the wind out and my body dry

Like most of Rapha’s products it’s very well made and beautifully styled so you just feel good wearing it. The fit is close to the body, so there’s no flapping of material, but not so snug that you feel restricted. There is an off center zip and the back is cut long as you’d expect. A nice touch are the adjustable pink elastic cords so you can tighten the back around your butt. The material is soft and stretchy and it feels great against the skin. Remember how those old PVC rain shells would stick to the skin, well there’s none of that with the Stowaway. Water beads on the surface of the jacket and just runs off. It’s important to keep the jacket clean as oil or dirt will compromise the water resistance.

The Stowaway folds down to an impressively small package, so I like it as part of my ultralight touring kit and it’s perfect for any long distance or day cyclist who wants rain gear that can fit into the back pocket of a jersey. It comes in a sophisticated black, a loud happy orange, or a lame misty blue. If you have some spare cash after tithing, paying the mortgage and putting food on the table consider getting a Stowaway. The price is ridiculous, but the jacket itself is fantastic.

Rapha Stowaway

I’ve long searched for the ideal handlebar bag. It needs to be small enough to be easily carried off the bike, but big enough to carry all the personal items that I won’t leave on my bike when lock it up and I go off for a meal or a few beers. Acorn makes 3 handlebar bags; a small bag similar to the Carradice zipped roll; a boxy rando bag that needs a front rack or decaleur and the medium sized handlebar bag that draws a lot of inspiration from Rivendell’s Hobo Bag.

I waited about 6 weeks for Acorn to make and deliver my bag and I was very please with it when it arrived. The stitching was neat, the leather was thick and the whole finish of the bag excellent. The bag has a main top zippered compartment that measures 3.5″x7″x11″, two rider facing pockets of 2″x3.5″x4″ and a front pouch suitable for documents and thin things that is 5″x11″. The bag mounts to the handlebars with two leather straps and there is a wooded dowel. al la Carradice, for support. There are two D-rings on the top of the bag for a shoulder strap and two on the bottom of the bag with cords that can be tightened around drop handlebars for lateral stability.

So far so good , but before I get too critical let me state that this is a great bag and it’s just right for my style of credit card and ultralight touring. So now I can complain. My first gripe came when I tried to mount the bag to my handlebars. The leather straps supplied are thick and have large buckles that make it difficult to tighten them sufficiently against the bars. So I took a couple of thinner Carradice straps and used them. The greater flexibility and smaller buckle of the Carradice straps was a great improvement. The pockets facing the rider have a nice rotating closure that makes them easy to open while riding, but I discovered that they are very unforgiving if you try to over stuff the pockets, they just won’t close. It’s not a big issue, but I think I’d prefer to have a leather strap and buckle arrangement or even some velcro. The cords for lateral stability work well 90% of the time, but I found that they would slip off my handlebars a couple of times each day when I was riding. However, even without them the bag didn’t sway too much.

So I have three issues with the bag, but I’m being hyper critical. The bag is great and can swallow a good amount of stuff so it’s now become my default handlebar bag. Here’s a list of what I packed in it on a recent trip.

Rider facing pockets

• Cannon camera,
• iPhone,
• chocolate bars,
• bandana,

Main Compartment

• eeePC,
• a bag with all my cables and power supplies,
• passports,
• notebook and pen,
• toilet bag,
• gloves,
• hat,
• wallet,
• umbrella,
• leatherman juice,
• maps and documents.

I take the bag with me whenever I leave the bike. It is small enough to sling over the shoulder and big enough to carry everything I need in an emergency. If I lost my bike and all my other luggage I’d be able to survive and get back home with what I have in my handlebar bag.

The brown straps are the originals from Acorn that I replaced with the gray straps from Carradice