Alfa Romeo Reveals The 4C Bike

Italian carmanufacture Alfa Romeo has created a special type of bike to celebrate their new 4C sportscar. It got some neat details as any usual Italian car or bike, with the frame being a reversed "4" and a not so normal handlebar, being shaped as a "C", which makes it the Alfa Romeo 4C bike.

The weight of the bike will be 6,8 kg withouth pedals, and prices starts at a little more than 3000 euro's.

Written by René

Read more: http://www.cyclingtipsonline.com/news/alfa-romeo-bike/

Merida Scultura Comp 905 Test

When Merida makes a bike, they mass produce it for the riders who don't want to lose an arm and a leg before they get on their bike. The Scultura Comp 905 is no exception, and has become rather popular in the last twelve months, at least amongst the cyclists I ride with. This didn't happen by mistake, though, since it is a nice bike for its price. 

On the road
I've been riding the Scultura Comp 905 since July last year, after crashing my previous alloy Merida. I was already familiar with the brand, and even though I didn't have a lot to spend, I knew I wanted an upgrade from a heavier bike. For $2,599AUD, the Scultura Comp 905 offers an upgrade to an entry level carbon frame, as well as Shimano Ultegra gearing. Whilst Merida claims the RRP is $2,599, I have only ever seen this bike in stores with a price tag of $2,000 new, so I know that a bargain is available out there.

The wheels are the same entry level Fulcrum wheels as are on the Merida Ride 93, just that they have matching decals as the bikes colour scheme. They are aluminium, shallow rims, and will quickly leave you wanting a new set of wheels, especially if you want deep dish rims. But hey, for an entry level carbon bike with Ultegra gearing, you'd be looking at a near entry level pro bike with new wheels. At that price, you can't get everything, but that is a lot you already get.
   

The white handlebar tape that comes with the bike, is fancy, with the holes in the pattern. I admit, this was one of the reasons I originally liked the bike. Looks are everything for me. The handlebar tape is comfortable at first use, however, this handlebar tape does wear quickly, partly due to the design, and partly due to the colour. I recommend replacing it with a black handlebar tape of your choosing, since it doesn't wear anywhere near as fast as white.

Moving on, the seat fits with the design of the bike, but from other users, I have heard that it isn't as comfortable as other seats on the market. Personally, I just suck it up because I can't afford much else, and any seat is comfortable than none, however seats with a hint of black in them do make the mostly white standard design appear to be a sleek, speed machine.

The tyres are also matching to the colour scheme, with two red stripes running down the middle of the tyre. You will find that the standard tyres sold on the bike also wear quickly. I recommend replacing these with Schwalbe's. Schwalbe tyres last FOREVER, and whats more, they have a design very similar to the original tyres on the bike, just with slightly narrower red stripes, and different branding on the side. More on these Schwalbe tyres in another review.

The Verdict

In summary, the Scultura Comp 905 is a great entry level carbon bike, that also offers better gears than most other carbon bikes at the same price. It is very popular, having already seen at least a dozen of them on the road, not including my own. If you don't like fitting in with the bunch, you're looking at the wrong bike for you. But it's very popular, so maybe we're all onto something good by choosing this bike. It may be the Toyota compared to a Ferrari, but who is to say Toyota doesn't know how to make nice cars too? Merida has certainly made a nice bike that is available to us with shallower pockets.

My rating: 8/10
Specs: http://www.merida.com.au/2013-bikes/road/scultura-comp-905.htm

Written by Kieren Barnett 

Vittoria Zaffiro Pro Test

If you are using a hometrainer in the winterseason or on a rainy day, you probably have experienced how a normal roadbike tire is destroyed in a matter of 1000 km on such one. This is due to the high temperatures and resistance the wheel is experiencing. Therefore, you will need a reartire meant for only to be used on a hometrainer. Vittoria Zaffiro Pro is one of these hometrainer-tires, and I have been testing it on my Elite Mag Speed Alu hometrainer. They have been equipped since 2011, so this is the second Scandinavian winter coming up for this tire.

Testing

Look wise, they are completely red, which is due to the rubber being extra good for a hometrainer, but if you take it on real roads; you will find yourself punctured within a few km. They have absolutely no punctureresistance at all, so only use them on the hometrainer. Therefore, it can be a bit of a trouble if you only have one pair of wheels, and have to switch from your rear roadtire to the hometrainer-tires and back again before hitting the roads. However, believe me, in the end that is the best thing you can do. Hometrainers just kills normal roadtires. Therefore, if your fronttire is black or anything other than red, don’t worry, nobody will ever see your different tire colors.

I tried using my Continental Ultra Sport on the Elite Speed Mag Alu hometrainer, but that story did not last long, until the tire was close to been eaten up totally by the rollers. But the Vittoria’s are looking just as new as when I bought them. They are really taking the punches from the hometrainer great. The black/grey stuff on the tires on the picture below, is just powder from the cylinder of the hometrainer. A quick clean, and the tires looks good as new.

On the hometrainer is does a great job. It is silent and the grip is fine. Only on the highest resistance on the hometrainer I can make it do wheelspin if I accelerate, so it is more or less not a problem at all. I really cannot find anything bad about the Vittoria’s, they are doing a great job all around.

The verdict

The Vittoria Zaffiro Pro is a great tire for use on a hometrainer. It has a good grip, endurance, and is silent, so it will only help giving you a better experience on the hometrainer. In addition, it does not wear on your rear wheel’s roadtire, which means, that the extra money you spend on the hometrainer-tires now, you will have “earned” back again later. I simply see no reason not to buy a pair of tires for your hometrainer, and the Vittoria Zaffiro Pro will definitely be a good choice.

Written by René

Read more: http://www.cyclingtipsonline.com/news/vittoria-zaffiro-pro-review/

Elite Mag Speed Alu Hometrainer Test

For many, winter is equal with snow and therefore it is not safe to go out riding on a road bike. Others just do not like the cold weather often combined with a lot of wind, which is far from unusual on that part of the season in a lot of places around the world. The answer for those who can agree with the things above will often be a hometrainer or joining a gym. In the long run though, a hometrainer will be the least expensive by a big margin, so why not go for that? Here you have several opportunities. Some are cheap and basic, others are expensive, giving you the opportunity to ride up a virtual Alpe d’Huez via your TV, or compete against other riders on their expensive hometrainers on a given course or mountain.

The one I have been testing is the basic Elite Mag Speed Alu from Elite. It costs around 150 euro’s in the stores, and therefore does not have the possibility to plug it in your TV and ride up any mountains. No, it is just a standard hometrainer for those who does not need anything else. Along with it, you do get a training DVD with different exercises and a bottle, plus a sweatabsorber to install on your seatpost and handlebar. It is actually quite important since sweat is destructive for the paint, and you are gonna sweat A LOT more on a hometrainer than outdoor due to that there is no wind to cool you down.

Testing

I have been testing the Elite Mag Speed for 3 winters so far, with durations to maximum 1½ hours. It has been equipped with a Vittoria Zaffiro Pro reartire specially made for use on a hometrainer. It can give you 5 different resistance values, where 1 is equal to tailwind or downhill, and 5 is equal to either strong headwind or a tough climb. To simulate normal training speed (30 km/h +/-) I have been using the 2^nd level. For intervals I went a bit higher on the resistance level. The roller and the tires had a great grip with each other’s, and only under heavy accelerations in the higher resistance levels, was I able to create any wheelspin.

For me, the motivation of it is lacking. I find it “fun” in the first 5 minutes, and after that I try looking around in the room for something to think about. I started missing the fields passing by in the side along with the wind bursting at your face. A way to solve this for me though, was listening to music and/or watch a tv-program I like. I will not recommend programs which demands much attention, but just something where the pictures changes all the time so you have something different to look at all the time. I was actually missing a feature being able to achieve anything, like climbing Alpe d’Huez, or battleing against a 25-year-old Italian online on Mount Ventoux.

A kinda fun thing to that though, is that the earlier mentioned lack of motivation for riding on longer periods on the hometrainer, actually makes me do a lot more interval training than on normal roads. Therefore, it does give a lot extra strength compared to spending the same amount of time just riding in a steady pace on 80-90% of max heartrate. So I wouldn’t say I don’t get just as much out of the training as doing 3 hours rides on the roads. I think it is equally as good.

But all that depends on the kind of person and how motivated you are. When it is getting close to a new season start, and I know there won’t be long till the snow is away, I am logging a longer time on the hometrainer than I am doing in the early winter. Most people will probably do it the same way, because of a increased motication. But as a training tool, the Elite Mag Speed is great. You save a lot of money compared to a gym center, and you do not have to battle freezing temperatures. I have only been happy getting mine, because I am training a lot more in the wintertime than I would have been doing without it.

A problem I have noticed though was that at higher speeds, would the rollers start to vibrate so much, that it creates a noticeable sound. Therefore, I did try to keep it below that speed to stop it from making the noise. It did not matter what tires I tried, the noise would still occur. It is more or less just a bad balance on the rollers that triggers the vibrations, which maybe won’t occur on all Mag Speed’s.

Verdict

The Elite Mag Speed is a great hometrainer for the person who is just looking for a basic method of training when the weather does not give the best opportunity for going outside doing that. For me though it got quite boring pretty fast, unless I had music to listen to, or a TV-show to watch. Therefore, I will highly recommend doing that if you are going to buy any of the cheaper hometrainers without any fancy features like climbing Alpe d’Huez. Nevertheless, it made my do a lot more trainingsessions than if I had to go out in snow or bad weather, so it has definitely helped me becoming a better rider.

Written by René

Read more: http://www.cyclingtipsonline.com/news/elite-mag-speed-alu-hometrainer-review/

Rotor Q-rings Test

Background

If you have been following cycling the last few years you will have noticed that some riders use chainrings that are not round but oval. The general idea is to have a bigger gear where you can put the most power in the pedals and a lower gear when you have to pass the dead zone. It is not a new idea to make oval chainrings. In the 80'ies Shimano produced the oval Biopace rings. Lately Oval rings have been very successful with Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome both winning the Tour de France on O-Symmetric chainrings. This test is about another brand of oval chainrings, namely Rotor who makes Q-Rings. I have tested the 53/40 Q-Rings version for Campagnolo for 2 months and in that time I have ridden around 2500km in all kinds of terrain.

Test

Mounting the rings can be a bit tricky as the front derailleur has to be adjusted. The derailleur has to be moved up as the ring has a larger diameter than a normal round chainring. This caused some problems on my bike since it was not possible to get it high enough. It was solved by placing a small ring between the derailleur and the mount. This moved it a bit back so there was enough room for the chainring,

My first impression of riding with the rings was that it felt like the chain broke every time when passing the dead zone. After a few kilometers that feeling subsided and I noticed that my acceleration had increased a lot. It still felt a bit weird and it took several rides before I got really familiar with the rings. Shifting between the rings is even better than on the Stronglight rings I used before. I have not experienced any problems with the chain jumping off the rings, not even when riding a race with very uneven dirt roads. Other than the improved acceleration I have also noticed that I am less tired the day after a hard ride. In my opinion this is the biggest advantage.

The Verdict

I have been very satisfied with the Q-Rings. I am sure I will also get them for my next bike. The price is comparable to that of other high-end chainrings. I think they are worth the money but you have to take your time to get used to them.

Written by Andreas

Read more: http://www.cyclingtipsonline.com/news/rotor-q-rings-test/