Tech of the week: a hot pink Bianchi, £870 brakes, Simpsons kit and more
This week we’ve had news of Bianchi’s custom colour options, some rather expensive carbon components and shoes, along with summer clothing options, track bikes, children’s balance bikes and more.
If you’ve always dreamed of owning a hot pink Bianchi with yellow accents, Bianchi now lets you choose your own colour scheme for its Oltre XR4 via its web configurator app. This week we’ve also tested the Oltre XR4 in its more traditional celeste if you want to know how your custom pink bike will ride.
If you feel the need to upgrade your £8000 Bianchi, you can always fit some of THM Carbones’s parts. A 78 gram carbon stem will set you back £350 while a 240 gram carbon brakeset comes in at £871 (pads and shipping extra). We’ve also asked the Col Collective's Mike Cotty whether we need carbon wheels.
"Game changing" Mavic Comete Ultimate shoes. A snip at £900
Once you've bought your new Bianchi and THM components, you'll need some nice shoes to go with them. Mavic's new £900 Comete Ultimate should do nicely. They come with a carbon shell sole and upper along with swappable hot and wet weather inserts.
A whole bike from Ribble will cost you less than THM's brakes and stem
A bit cheaper than the Bianchi –and not a lot more money than THM’s brakes – is Ribble’s new disc braked Gran Fondo. With builds from £1200, the recommended Shimano 105 hydraulic machine will cost you just over £1500. Ribble says it's relaxed the bike's geometry for increased comfort on longer rides.
Summer round the corner?
Clothing brands are starting to break out their summer 2017 collections and we’ve had news of three different looks and ranges for hot weather riding from dhb as well as Café du Cycliste’s summer range. While if you’re a Simpsons fan you’ll like State Bicycle Co’s range of clothing, bikes and components featuring your favourite characters. Ekoi is less optimistic about the British summer weather; it’s just released its waterproof Primavera fleece-lined shorts and jersey.
The Simpsons come to your cycling jersey
If you need sartorial inspiration, you could do worse than take a look at our gallery of the 25 most stylish pro cyclists of all time. We’ve also had tips from the pros themselves on how to look more pro on your bike. And we’ve rounded up some nice bargains on Castelli spring and winter kit.
Track bikes explained in our buyer's guide
This week we’ve also busted nine cycling myths and given you a guide to track bikes. We've also continued our look at kids’ bikes with a guide to balance bikes, what to look for and our picks.
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Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.
He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.
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