Flashback. Eight-thirty a.m. and the blue-haired seniors are chain-smoking their way through another tub of quarters at the Venetian slots. Dealers shuffle from foot to foot at their empty tables waiting for the action to pick up, or the world to end. In their ruddy brown uniforms they look sad, empty and in need of [...]

Bags packed, cameras charged and loaded I’m sitting at the gate in SFO waiting for the 7 am flight to Las Vegas and my first Interbike show. I’m looking forward to seeing friends and meeting some of the reps I’ve corresponded with through Velodramatic. Tonight the plan is to photograph Cross Vegas and tomorrow night [...]

The fall rut is upon us. With the scent of Eurobike still fresh in the air and Interbike peeking out from the desert scrub and slot machines, the annual cycle of bike lust is nearing it’s zenith. Can you feel it… it’s the quickening McCloud.

To put this in perspective, or perhaps to demonstrate how totally [...]

Following on the heels of the race-inspired Eleven Jersey and Bibs, Panache offers a dashing alternative for those training miles. The GS Training Jersey sports a classic houndstooth pattern with sharp Panache branding front and back. Ribbed polyester/Lycra cuffs and collar gives it a retro edge without sacrificing comfort. – Available direct from Panache for [...]

Last Monday I spent an hour on the phone with MotionBased co-founder and Garmin Connect Product Manager, Clark Weber. Given the tone of my last two MB-related posts, it was gracious of him to make what surely had the potential to be an uncomfortable call. He was candid about competing priorities and shed some light [...]

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Those of you who read Velodramatic regularly know I have a dark addiction to high-end cycling kit. I go one or two weeks without feeding the habit and my pedal stroke breaks down (more ankling [...]

My friend Brian Palmer who publishes the excellent and entertaining WashingMachinePost is well into a very thorough review of the new Garmin 705 hardware you should be reading. This morning he emailed me asking what all the MotionBased fuss was about… worried perhaps that I was headed towards the book repository with a sniper rifle. [...]

I received this today from Garmin.

Your MotionBased account status has been updated to MotionBased Lite. You may still login to MotionBased using your current username and password to access the features MotionBased Lite provides. Even though you’re limited to your 10 most recent activities with MotionBased Lite, your data will still be stored at MotionBased [...]

The Baum
Australia’s Baum Cycles designs and builds some of the most beautiful bikes on the planet. Their latest custom offering, a Graphite Corretto, is a must see. Elegant and refined, this black stunner is the bike I want to roll riderless behind my funeral cortège when I’ve finally unclipped for good.

If it were mine, I’d [...]

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Friday I spent the day behind the scenes at San Jose Trek photographing another meticulous bike build. This time it was owner Bill Ruffner putting together a beautiful 54cm 2008 Madone 5.2 for San Jose Trek’s inventory manager and race team member, Kelly. While I got set up with the [...]

Middle of the year and time to update the Top 10 Kit List. Rapha continues to dominate with seven of the ten positions; no surprise there. The Gilet, the rouleur of Rapha’s product lineup, is on the front of this breakaway doing the leadout for big guns like the Light Weight Jersey and Classic Softshell [...]

Strip away all the fancy layers we wrap ourselves in to get on our bikes, and what are you left with but the basics. Enter Rapha’s supremely comfortable 2008 Bibs and silky-soft merino Base Layer. OK, nobody said the basics couldn’t be fancy.

In 2007 I bought my first pair of Rapha bibs and loved the [...]

Australia’s Knog is probably best known for their tiny Frog LED lights; clever loops of silicon that wrap themselves around handlebars, seatstays, chainstays and in my case, the light loops of my Rapha Fixed Backpack.

Of course, Knog has a lot more to offer: powerful lights, urban bags, laptop bags and the subject of this [...]

For a moment, wearing Rapha’s Touring Shorts, I’m an Edinburgh schoolboy again. The Moray House uniform: shorts; shirt and tie; jacket and cap. That was the last time I wore shorts as beautifully tailored as these, though in a smaller size and much heavier fabric.

The touring shorts are cool, light and wonderfully constructed in the [...]

I swear I’ve not abandoned my beloved Specialized Trail 120s but I was immediately attracted by Jenson USA’s deal on the Lake MX400 shoes. The MX400 is a premium, full-carbon, customizable model that weighs in at a trim 350g. Originally priced somewhere north of $400 they were reduced to a more palatable $149. They’re [...]