It’s been quite a week. Sadly, we’re now back in lockdown here in the UK, which means no more group riding and lots more time cycling indoors for the next few weeks at least.
Luckily, as we’ve said before, indoor cycling has never been better. If you can get your hands on a smart trainer and a subscription to Zwift, RGT Cycling, The Sufferfest or the like, then we’d argue it can actually be quite fun.
- The best indoor cycling apps compared: which training app should you use?
- How cycling can help improve your mental health | 6 tips for the coronavirus lockdown
On that subject, my review of Elite’s latest high-end smart trainer, the Direto XR, went live this week. Overall, I was very impressed by its performance, so it could be a great option for anyone looking to upgrade their pain cave.
We also published Seb Stott’s in-depth investigation into how green cycling really is. This one is well worth a few minutes of your time – some of the findings might surprise you.
Back to cycling outdoors, we also featured Johnathan Shubert’s record-breaking Giant Trinity Advanced SL time-trial bike this week. For those who missed it, Shubert used this bike to break the Road Records Association’s prestigious 100-mile record, recording a time in under three hours.
Plus, our latest Bike of the Week feature saw us take a look at the Light Blue Newnham, a beautiful prototype steel road bike.
With all the latest news and reviews covered, let’s dive straight in to some of the hot swag that’s landed with us this past week.
NoPinz SubZero indoor cycling kit
Many will be aware of NoPinz for inventing the SpeedPocket, as well as its range of other aero kit, but it’s now branching out into indoor cycling kit.
The SubZero range is designed not just to bring increased ventilation, but to actively cool your body through the use of replaceable frozen gel packs. If you’ve ever seen professional racers stuffing bags of ice down their jersey’s during the Tour de France, this is essentially the same idea but much slicker.
As anyone who’s tried to train or race indoors can likely attest to, overheating is a massive barrier to optimum performance. Without any wind to cool you down, heat can quickly build up.
The range consists of heavily ventilated shorts and jerseys, for both men and women, as well as sweatbands and towels.
There’s also a rather skimpy, sleeveless race suit – think an indoor skinsuit – made for times when a top is required but you still want to maximise performance. I’m not sure I’ve personally got the figure to pull this one off, but it does genuinely look like it will help keep you cool.
I am, admittedly, not much of a Zwift racer yet, but I do take my indoor training seriously. I’m looking forward to hopefully being a lot more comfortable, and perhaps even a bit more powerful with this new kit.
- SubZero sweatbands: £29.99
- SubZero Training Towel: £12.49
- SubZero shorts: £109.99
- SubZero Eco-Jersey: £79.99
- SubZero suit: £109.99
- SubZero gel packs: £4.99 – £8.99
- NoPinz.com
Enve SES road tubeless tyres
Next we have a set of Enve’s recently launched SES tubeless tyres. As discussed when the news broke back in August, the key selling points for these tyres are their aerodynamic tread pattern and compatibility with hookless rims.
Beyond that, they promise a sensible balance of low rolling resistance and good puncture protection, and, crucially for fashionistas, they’re also available with tan coloured sidewalls.
This set of 25mm tyres weighs 494g for the pair, which, at 247g per tyre, means they come in just under the claimed weight of 255g per tyre.
This specific set is probably a bit racy for the oncoming winter, so I’ll likely save them for next spring, but it’s always great to see another tyre option come to market. Tyres are one of the key components in determining how your bike performs, so they’re not to be overlooked.
As with most things from Enve, they’re not the cheapest option out there, but their RRP is in line with other high-performance options on the market, so if they’re good performers out on the road then they could be worth the extra outlay.
- £70 / €75 / $70 per tyre
- Enve.com
DMR V11 flat pedals
The V11 is a new, value-packed flat pedal from DMR. Launched only a few days ago, it uses a composite body to bring costs down considerably versus DMR’s CNC’d alloy pedals, without compromising on performance.
The 105mm x 105mm pedal platforms feature a low, 19mm stack height and a concave middle section for increased grip and stability. There are also 11 pins on either side to increase grip even further. Our test set weighs 442g.
Perhaps more excitingly, they’re also available in eight different colours. Technical editor Alex Evans has got a black set and a red set in to test, and will be putting them through their paces in the near future.
- £50 / €49.99 / $59.99
- dmrbikes.com
