Having been banished to the mountains to jot down about MTB and Gravel bikes for sister website Bike Perfect, I returned to the Cyclingnews staff in October after a four-year-long hiatus. Although nearly all of my time away was spent sliding round on singletrack, I’ve nonetheless been clocking up loads of drop bar miles too, albeit with out the circulate of street bike goodies passing over my desk that I used to be as soon as accustomed to.
Riding has been a bit hit-and-miss this 12 months by way of mileage (thanks for reminding me Strava), but I’ve nonetheless managed to accrue loads of actually nice days on bikes. Insert “Quality not amount”, or “no dangerous days” or another boring adage, however in actuality the beginning of my 12 months was marred with a two-month niggling knee damage after a relatively bold self-imposed Festive 500 problem. What was meant to kick begin my 2024 left me chasing to compensate for health however these items occur and 2024 will nonetheless go down as a really memorable 12 months of driving for me for a lot of causes.
When the driving was good, it was actually good and here’s a checklist of issues that helped make my 2024 rides even higher.
1. Albion Ultralight Jacket
I began utilizing the Albion Ultralight Insulated Jacket final winter and it has turn out to be an indispensable piece of biking clothes since. At 99g and ultra-packable, it is a mid-layer that may simply be popped in a jersey pocket or handlebar bag and vastly will increase heat when on the bike far past its weight. The Ultralight Jacket is flexible too, it’s slim sufficient to suit beneath a water-resistant to lure cosy air holding you very cosy or worn over a jersey to take the sting off chilly summer season evenings. The minimal perforated insulation panels across the chest and shoulder sections are particularly tailor-made for driving which helps regulate temperature. It’s not going to maintain you very heat on mid-ride stops or post-ride hanging out however that is not likely what it is designed for.
It’s not low-cost however contemplating the way it appears to be the proper choice each time I attain for a mid-layer I feel the Ultralight is nicely well worth the funding. Fellow Cyclingnews tester Will Jones preferred the Albion Ultralight Insulated Jacket a lot when he reviewed it that he included it in the most effective winter biking jackets information.
2. Shimano RX801 footwear
I received a pair of Shimano RX801’s to switch my outdated, excessive mileage and relatively abused RX8s. The RX8’s have lengthy been one among my favourites in terms of the most effective gravel footwear for quick driving. Shimano’s newest RX801’s retain virtually precisely the identical design. There isn’t actually something new to say about these footwear, apart from the brand new silver fade color seems to be nice, however contemplating they’ve been on my toes for almost all of my gravel and street driving this 12 months I feel they deserve a shout-out on my gear of the 12 months.
3. Favero ASSIOMA PRO MX1 pedals
One of the the reason why I’ve worn the Shimano RX801’s a lot this 12 months is as a result of I invested in my first energy meter. I’ve used energy meters geared up on take a look at bikes previously however this may mark the primary constant stint of driving with energy. I opted for the two-bolt SPD Favero ASSIOMA PRO MX1 as I needed to make use of them for gravel and a few XC driving.
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Now I’m not going to say that driving and coaching with energy has been transformative to my expertise on the bike, however having the info available throughout and post-ride has definitely added one other dimension to my driving. I’m now in a position to higher tempo a giant journey, do some extra targeted coaching intervals and I’ve extra juicy stats to pour over post-ride.
Although driving with energy has been a “good to have” relatively than a necessity, the seamless integration of the Favero ASSIOMA PRO MX1 pedals is what has impressed me essentially the most. Setup was so simple as registering an account on the app, pairing all my units and becoming them to a motorbike. They are pedals so there aren’t any points utilizing them on all my bikes apart from often committing a pretend pas by sporting my gravel footwear on a street journey. Charging is equally simple, I don’t have to have a stash of coin batteries, I merely cost the battery utilizing the charging cable and a battery pack and it lasts for ages. Then comes the worth, the Favero ASSIOMA PRO MX1 pedals are significantly cheaper than different energy pedal choices. Undercutting the Garmin Rally XC and coming in considerably cheaper than the Look X-Track Power pedals, they had been tempting sufficient for this frugal bike tester to half together with his personal hard-earned money to get some.
4. Cargo pockets
Pockets are nothing new on bib shorts, coming from gravel the practicality has turn out to be a must have on any journey. Having amassed sufficient bib shorts to journey a full week after which some with pockets, and made a great dent in my winter wardrobe too, I merely discover it inconceivable to return to a non-cargo model. The mad factor is I don’t really use them that a lot.
Other than having my telephone able to fast draw for that spontaneous Instagram second on the transfer or shortly stashing a software or snack they continue to be virtually empty more often than not, and I not often use the rear ones both. With that stated I’ve turn out to be totally reliant on my helpful leg storage that I’m left feeling a bit bamboozled on the uncommon event I’m sporting a pair of shorts with out pockets. I’ve by no means skilled any discomfort, inconvenience or annoyance from pockets so why don’t all bib shorts and tights include cargo pockets?
Head over to our greatest cargo bib shorts information for all of your pocket wants.
5. MagicShine SeeMee 20 V2.0
I need to caveat this entry by saying Cyclingnews will not be a shill for Magicshine, it simply makes actually good lights. Will Jones examined the SEEMEE 300 as a part of the most effective bike lights information and hasn’t stopped speaking about that gentle since, even included it in his gear of the 12 months. He then misplaced it whereas commuting and preferred them a lot that he begged Magicshine for a alternative.
I’ve the smaller SeeMee 20 V2.0 which I purchased with my very own cash. It was a spontaneous buy with next-day supply when my outdated gentle broke mid-ride so I might be capable of journey once more the next day. It’s tremendous small and solely weighs 18g, the visibility angle is broad and 30 hours of runtime ought to stop me from getting caught out at nighttime. Although my first one continues to be going robust, I used to be so impressed I purchased a second backup gentle simply in case.
6. Dependable workhorse bikes (Privateer 161 enduro bike)
If you haven’t any curiosity in mountain biking then now’s the time to vary the channel. Admittedly Cyclingnews might be not the viewers that can get enthusiastic about an aggressive enduro bike however the causes I embody this in my Gear of the Year checklist have loads of parallels with the street and gravel world.
This 12 months I managed to wangle a giant chunk of summer season vacation and launched into a Canadian MTB street journey of a lifetime. With a packed itinerary, my good friend Joe and I travelled all through British Columbia protecting virtually 900km of driving and a whopping 70,000m of descending. Our MTB pilgrimage took us to legendary MTB spots like Whistler, Squamish, the North Shore, Vancouver Island, Sun Peaks, Silver Star and extra.
A visit of such magnitude would require some severely sturdy instruments and I pulled a few business strings and received my arms on Privateer’s 161 Gen 2 enduro bike. It’s pitched as an reasonably priced enduro race machine and it’s a brute of a motorbike. The stout alloy body has some very progressive geometry figures and the spec sheet is a listing of reliable efficiency equipment chosen by somebody with the fitting priorities. Instead of fancy carbon wheels, a gucci cockpit and a premium derailleur you get correctly aggressive MaxxGrip tyres, extremely adjustable Fox Performance suspension and Hayes A4’s that are among the finest brakes round. After 24 days of back-to-back driving on among the most difficult terrain throughout British Columbia, the Privateer was nonetheless charging arduous.
What’s this received to do with street and gravel bikes? Well, it is all too simple to get caught up with the most recent and best you neglect what makes a motorbike enjoyable to journey. Having the most effective street bike is good but when it ends in you not driving it to your full potential then what is the level? I’ve been fortunate sufficient to journey some superbikes with wanton disregard and so they have all carried out spectacularly nicely. That stated, if I had paid my very own cash for a type of machines I might completely be considering twice about taking it out on days with threatening climate forecasts or charging across the pot-hole-ridden streets in the identical method.
Based on Strava PR’s, one of many quickest bikes I examined throughout my first Cyclingnews stint was a BMC ALR which I received despatched because the testing platform for SRAM Rival eTap AXS when it was first launched. The bike itself was nicely geared up with entry-level digital shifting and base mannequin Zipp 303’s however not so costly that if one thing broke you would want to remortgage your home to restore it. The end result was a motorbike that inspired you to journey it flat out, on a regular basis and it was infinitely extra satisfying due to it.
So when you’re eyeing up a brand new bike in 2025, possibly take into consideration what the true priorities are. Is spending a load of money on absolutely the top-spec bike you possibly can really going to provide the finest driving expertise or do you have to get a motorbike that you may hammer day in and time out? I do know which one I might select.