by Jo Ann Carver | May 25, 2016
Spin London
Brick Lane, in the heart of London’s East End and formerly known as Whitechapel Lane has always been a vibrant melting pot of a place and the earliest known record of its existence was on a woodcut map that was printed sometime during the 16th Century. It has been home to many communities of immigrants throughout its colourful history. Always a staging post to upward mobility. That mobility sometimes being slow, sometimes quite rapid. It has been home to French Huguenots, Ashkenazi Jews, and then Eastern European and Russian Jews in the early 20th century. It has been an epicentre of changing small scale industries centred around the clothing industry. Weaving, Leather making, Exquisite tailoring and the sweatshops of the rag trade. Home to Fagin and Jack The Ripper. It still retains its flavour of an amalgam of the new and tentative amidst wide boy small entrepreneurs. Shops momentarily flourishing displaying “vintage” clothing….aka, overpriced elegantly displayed jumble sales. The earnest Guardian reading fashionistas leaving their tatty chic boutiques to browse scratched vinyl records and other vendors tatty chic furniture. 35mm cameras that will never be used and they buy their fabulous Indian sub continent, Eastern European and Far Eastern street food lunches in cheap and plentiful non eco friendly styrofoam boxes.
The Truman Brewery’s disused premises opened above a now drained well in 1863 are themselves a tatty chic exhibition space in keeping with the area and ideal therefore to house the show “SPIN” devoted to the urban cycling revolution taking place in London, with a nod here and there to the sporting and serious leisure cycling side of things enabling the hipsters their radical touch of the esoteric work of cycling.
Spin was a show for Hipsters. No doubt whatsoever about that. There was the very deliberate wearing of 20,30,50 year old continental race team kit. I saw one guy. Beard long enough to plait and use as a climbing rope in his Gan team kit, hanging on Chris Boardman’s every word and nodding sagely as he munched on his tofu burger before clattering away in an ancient pair of wooden soled track shoes, converted to take the cleats of a set of middle ‘80s Look Classic pedals. Yes, it really was that sort of occasion. The exhibition was a truly enjoyable reflection of Brick lane’s very nature on to the world of cycling. There was a plentiful amount of beautifully crafted clothing, hand built bespoke bicycles (in steel of course) and the feeling that rather like the place 100 yards down Brick Lane that has now ceased attempting to trade in contemporary Vietnamese Folding food, many of them, for all of their skill and genuine innovation would struggle to stay in business much beyond two years or so. That is a great pity, because in the reviews that will follow shortly, I am going to take you on a wander through the best of SPIN and introduce you to some of the start up businesses that are attempting to take root.
If you’d not seen Rollapaluzza before, you might have been forgiven for turning away before you entered the place. They’d set up their usually thriving space and were attracting their usually lengthy queues accompanied by music so loud and a commentary so unintelligible that you have to walk away or give in. We walked away and that was the point at which we recognised the advantage of this very solid old building, step into the next room and the sound that filled the entrance hall was all but eliminated by the purposeful 19th century walls. A moment to reflect on some art work, depicting some of the greats of our sport….up to the 1990s (yes that was the first indicator) Bartolli, Coppi, Simpson, Merckx, Rijs, Anquetil, LeMond, Hinault, Boardman, Obree, Yndurain, Abdujaporov, and my hero (shut up… its my article) the finest climber of all time Marco(Il Pirate) Pantani. None of them were particularly flattering, but at Brick Lane prices I wasn’t going to be hanging one in my shed anyway.
The whole feel of the show was not so much a display of products to do with the world of cycling, but products that were designed to fit lifestyle choices of which cycling is but a part. Cycling fits very nicely into the choices made by the eco friendly….correction, obsessively eco friendly and thats not necessarily a bad thing, but there is a pedantic quirkiness about almost every exhibitor that makes sense to some. Indeed, with the exception of one or two of cycling better known brands. Boardman Elite and Bianchi, most were at the end of the cycling spectrum that says commuter or courier rider that seek form over function. Indeed the more conventional the product on offer the more out of place it looked.
A number of the products quirky or not, really did impress and I shall review them and in some cases road test them too. There was the stuff that did interest me. The bespoke frame builders, some of whom were brazing but joint and brazed steel frames that are becoming popular again amongst some sections of the regular cycling community. Sadly when we were there these craftsmen were not drawing anywhere near as much attention as the stand selling those bloody ridiculous Dura Ace equipped Bamboo framed bikes…… yes, exactly what I thought!
As I say, there was a kind of studied pedantry to the wares on offer. Quill stems, rat trap pedals with old style toe clips barely a modern pedal on view. I fell in love with a gorgeous titanium framed bike… The frame was brand spanking new, but everything on it was a (admittedly beautifully done) restored and refurbished ‘80s item. The entire group and finishing kit was old style 5 speed friction shift Campagnolo record. It gleamed. It stunned….. its price tag made me wince……. no, trust me you don’t want to know.
When it comes to anything approaching regular bike choices these folk are cautious. Yes I want something that says serious cyclist, but I don’t feel comfortable going into my LBS, so I’ll stick my nose in the trough with names I recognise Boardman, Bianchi and Cinelli… We can’t be seen to be going into Halfords or Evans and buying something cheaper and far more appropriate to our needs, it has to say chic. It has to say, “at weekends my other bike is a Porsche and my winters are spent at Cortina or Chamonix”.
Yes it was a Hipsters show and if thats your thing, good on yer. You’re riding a bike and anyone who has read my drivel before, knows that this will always get my vote. I half begged to be given this assignment and I’m glad I went for the few products that were in my jaded opinion worthy of attention and for the wonderful (and well attended) interview and Q&A with my hero of the entire show, Martyn Ashton. Will I go again next year? No. But I love Brick Lane, the street food etc, the tiny record stalls and the markets. I even like the quirky nature of SPIN….it’s just that very little of it was for me.
by Holly Seear | May 5, 2016
“You should buy this kit; it’s called Fat Lad at the Back”
“These shorts would be great for you; they are called Fat Lass at the Back”
“This top would suit you; you can buy it from Fat Lad at the Back”
People of all shapes and sizes often ask me for kit recommendations, but I am not sure if I can say any of those sentences out loud without losing friends, clients or offending someone!
Fat Lad at The Back was the nickname of Richard Bye, the founder of the company, and is a term of endearment. The company admit it is a touchy subject having the marmite effect – either you love it or hate it, but they bravely persevered.
Fat Lad at the Back (FLAB) is a sportswear brand born in Yorkshire, with the clothing manufactured by a family-run company in Italy. The Fat Lad brand was originally created for what their website calls “Mr Averages, MAMIL’s with a 44” chest and a 38” waist”, but it quickly became apparent that there were bigger cyclists so it introduced larger sizes including a Spare Tyre range for the larger build. A women’s range was soon created, which took into consideration women’s curves and comfort.
A Twitter conversation the morning of The London Bike Show suggested I should speak to FLAB at the show after a discussion about the lack of kit for women who are not “a flat chested size 8-12” with one rider asking “how can these new brands be “women’s” when the biggest chest size they do it a 14” and another saying “it is a huge barrier to women coming into the sport”.
I spoke to several designers of women’s cycling clothing at the show and did indeed find the largest size, called XL, was only a UK14-16. One designer I spoke with said unfortunately they just can justify the additional expenses needed to design, produce and hold stock of the larger sizes which are less popular.
Instead of just sizing up the clothing the FLAB garments have been redesigned so they properly fit and flatter different sizes of rider. Some items state the name boldly in large text across the garments, other are more subtle with just a small logo. I have to confess that having ‘Fat Lass at the Back’ across my bottom was a great training inspiration as I pedalled furiously to disprove the label!
I tried the Flabularse Shorts (RRP £49.99) and the short sleeved ladies Lanterne Rouge Jersey (RRP 49.99) both available from size 8 to size 26.
The shorts fitted well and had some nice details including a draw string for the waist and a soft stretchy panel across the tummy allowing you to pull them right up over the belly area. I normally wear bib shorts and think generally bibs are more flattering with smoother lines, but agree shorts certainly make toilet stops easier and mean there is no need to remove a jersey, which some riders may feel self-conscious about, especially if having to go al fresco! Unfortunately as there was no knot tied in the draw string it had been lost in the waistband prior to me wearing, but with a bit of fiddling I retrieved it. The shorts are black with flattering seams, a large logo on the leg and across the lower back. The pad was comfortable on long road rides, the mountain bike and on the turbo.
The jersey is noticeably longer than my other jerseys, this is great for us ladies who like to pull things down over our hips and bottom and there is certainly no chance of any bare flesh when standing upright. The colour changes gradually down the top with the darker, more flattering colours over the lower torso and brighter colours across the bust and shoulders drawing the eye away from the areas we are usually more self conscious about. The sleeves are loose and long with no restrictive bands. A zipped pocket is handy for your valuables and a full length zip is always a plus in jerseys of this price range.
Both items washed well and I would happily recommend them if I could find a polite way of doing so!
Fat Lad at The Back has become a community, not just a brand, with riders involved in the development of new products and social media filled with riders’ photos, comments and inspirational rides. The company encourages everyone to have a go, have fun and enjoy their sport.
When former rugby player Alastair Little was forced to cut his 25-year career short after a life-changing neck injury, he was devastated and soon piled on weight as his life spiralled towards depression. He managed to turn his life around after discovering a love for cycling. Riding with friends at Fat Lad at the Back, Alastair took to the road and after a few months he started to see the results, losing more than five stone and dramatically boosting his confidence.
Alastair said: “It was the motivation and help I received from the guys at FLAB which really inspired me to stick at it and lose the weight and not only that, I enjoyed the social aspect to cycling, and suddenly sport was bringing me back to life again.”
FLAB introduced Alastair to other, likeminded riders who taught him that he wasn’t alone.
FLAB Sportive – 8th May 2016
In a bid to further welcome novice cyclists, FLAB has introduced a new 25-mile event alongside its 50 and 75-mile distance sportives, taking place on the Yorkshire roads in May and in the Chiltern Hills in October. Looking after riders will be experienced FLAMbassadors riding in the sportives to encourage and support riders on the journey.
Fat Lad in Charge Richard Bye, who has 20 years’ experience cycling many of Yorkshire’s most recognised routes, said: “This year we have added a 25 miler as we hope to inspire some new riders who may fancy a sportive, but have never thought they could!”
“The food stops are also legendary and include black pudding scotch eggs and lots of other stuff which our fat Lads and Lasses like, as well as the usual fruit and flapjack based options. We also have a BBQ afterwards which went down really well last year, this means people hang about and chat and share rather than just getting in their cars and leaving.”
Richard went on to say “Since founding FLAB we have been overwhelmed by how many people have come to us saying how much confidence they’ve gained with our support”
You can enter the sportive here and can find FLAB on the web http://fatladattheback.com/ on Facebook and on Twitter
by Anna Magrath | Apr 30, 2016
Words by Anna Magrath Images by Chris Maher
Record Crowds for Spectacular Day 2 of Tour de Yorkshire
Over one million spectators came out to cheer on the riders for the second day of the Tour de Yorkshire, as the county celebrated a ground breaking day for women’s cycling.
Glorious sunshine started the day in Otley for the hotly anticipated Asda Tour de Yorkshire Women’s Race where World Champion Lizzie Armitstead led the peloton out of her hometown.
Crowds bigger than those who witnessed the Grand Départ in Otley cheered on as 100 of the world’s best female riders took part including Rio hopeful Emma Pooley; Dani King and Lucy Garner from British squad Wiggle High5, Hitec Products brought one of the world’s strongest sprinters Kirsten Wild and Dame Sarah Storey took part – Great Britain’s most decorated female Paralympian in history.
Speaking before the start Lizzie Armitstead, racing in her World Champions jersey for the first time in the UK, paid tribute to her home town of Otley and the immense support she was receiving.
The 136km race was a game changer for women’s cycling in the UK as it took the same route as the men’s and offered over £50,000 (€63,623) – currently the biggest prize pot in women’s cycling.
The winner of the Asda Women’s Tour de Yorkshire was Kirsten Wild from Team Hitec Products who crossed the finish line in Doncaster before thousands of cheering fans.
Sir Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire said:
“Today has been an historic day for women’s cycling and it’s been a spectacular day of racing. The crowds were once again phenomenal and to see how the people of Yorkshire have taken this event to their hearts is just overwhelming. There was so much spirit and positivity in Yorkshire today it was magnificent to see. Clearly the one thing we would have changed if we could was the fact we had intermittent live TV coverage but I must stress that safety is paramount. Unfortunately there was a serious technical fault with the plane relaying the TV signal, the plane had to be grounded and the TV coverage could not continue for this reason.
“Fans and communities have continued their spectacular support for the Tour de Yorkshire not just from the routes but also digitally by sharing images, footage and updates to keep the public informed. Please keep tweeting and following @letouryorkshire and we will be putting highlights online tonight.
“We are now focussed on the day ahead tomorrow from Middlesbrough to Scarborough which promises to be an exhilarating race!”
Kirsten Wild: The plan was to let a little group go with one of us in the break, unfortunately that didn’t work out, the girls did a good chase and we caught them in the final, it was really good work. The sprint was hard, I started a bit too early, and I thought maybe not, there was a really strong headwind, so I let one girl pass and I could follow her and then pass her in the final again. There were a lot of people on the roadside it was really nice to have that support. It’s good to win here in Doncaster.
Lucy Garner: “I couldn’t quite get around Kirsten for the sprint, everyone know she’s an awesome sprinter, she’s definitely the one to beat here today in a sprint, actually for me I’ve not been 100% healthy coming into this race so I couldn’t have asked for more today, especially from my team Wiggle High-5, they did an awesome job to bring the three that were away back. It would have been great if we had a rider up in the break, so we did have to work hard to bring them back but there were other teams working with us who also wanted a sprint finish. We caught the back [of the train] with 4km to go and then it was just a case of focusing on the sprint finish. We knew we had to look out for Lizzie [Armitstead] she’s on great form this season and has won so many races, it’s just lucky for us her breakaway didn’t stay away.”
Lizzie Armitstead: “I wanted to put on an aggressive race and a bit of a show, it’s what it’s all about cycling, it’s a bit of an entertainment show at the end of the day. I wanted to be able to get stuck in and have a go. There were a couple of moments where I thought we could stay away [from the peloton] we were holding them at about a minute and the team car came up and they told us the organisation in the chase is not very good so just keep plugging away, but when we tried towards Doncaster and it was just a block headwind we weren’t getting above 45km per hour I thought, right they are going to be closing that gap pretty quickly.
By the time we were caught I’d burnt all my matches, I tried to get stuck in and help some of the younger girls on my team but actually they didn’t need it, they were quicker than me, so i was really proud of the way GB rode today, there are some young girls in the team and I think they have very bright futures. The course lived up to my expectations, in fact it was better, stating in Otley it was a goose pimple moment. All along the course there were people shouting so thank you to everyone who turned out.”
Jersey winners:
Overall, the winner of the blue Asda Women’s Tour de Yorkshire jersey was Kirsten Wild; her Hitech teammate Lauren Kitchen took the navy jersey of the Aunt Bessie’s sprint; Rossella Ratto of Cyclance Pro Cycling won the pink Mug Shot Queen of the Mountain jersey; the Howden’s Joinery/RNLI white jersey for best young newcomer went to Lucy Garner and the purple best team classification was awarded by Doncaster Sheffield Airport/Flybe to the Great Britain team.
More images and interviews from the race to come so watch this space!
by Anna Magrath | Apr 7, 2016
Aunt Bessie’s unveiled as sponsor of Queen of the Sprint jersey
Flybe and Doncaster Sheffield Airport unveiled as co-sponsors of the Team Classification jersey
Aunt Bessie’s has been announced as the sponsor of the Asda Tour de Yorkshire Women’s Race. The two-year deal will see Aunt Bessie’s secure exclusive rights of the race’s coveted Queen of the Sprint jersey.
There are two sprints at Scholes and Warmsworth during the 135km stage between Otley and Doncaster.
This is Aunt Bessie’s first sponsorship of a professional cycling race which came about after the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire in 2015 inspired a group of Aunt Bessie’s employees to cycle across the country for charity.
Aunt Bessie’s is part of 165-year-old family business, the William Jackson Food Group. They started making Yorkshire puddings for Butlin’s Holiday Camps in 1974 and has been based in Yorkshire ever since. Aunt Bessie’s has grown considerably and now offers a range of tasty food enjoyed by millions of people up and down the country every week.
Lorraine Rothwell, Marketing Director for Aunt Bessie’s, said:
“At Aunt Bessie’s we’re proud of our Yorkshire roots and of the food that we make. We were avid supporters of the first Tour de Yorkshire and we’re really excited to be sponsoring the Women’s Sprint this year in what will no doubt prove to be another fantastic cycling event.”
Following the news that Doncaster Sheffield Airport and Flybe have become the official airport and airline partner for Welcome to Yorkshire and the unveiling of a cycling themed plane, flying between Yorkshire and European destinations, the airport and airline have teamed up to sponsor the Team Classification jersey.
This jersey will be awarded to the women’s team with the highest ranking total team finish and was selected by Doncaster Sheffield Airport and Flybe to symbolise the fantastic partnership between the two companies that has resulted in an extra 42 flights per week departing from the airport. The one year deal will see Doncaster Sheffield Airport and Flybe secure exclusive rights of the Team Classification jersey.
Steve Gill, Managing Director of Doncaster Sheffield Airport, said:
“We are excited to be sponsoring the Team Classification jersey for the Women’s Race in the Tour De Yorkshire along with Flybe.
“This will be a fantastic event for Yorkshire and we are delighted to be further strengthening our relationship with Welcome to Yorkshire to provide our support to this event.
“We are really pleased that through our new Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam routes with Flybe, we can offer international spectators an easy way to come to watch the race and then hopefully stay on for a longer break in Yorkshire.”
Sir Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire said:
“We already know that the Asda Tour de Yorkshire Women’s Race is going to take professional women’s cycling in this country to another level and I am delighted to have signed up three more fantastic partners for the race.
“Aunt Bessie’s are a Yorkshire company that takes their community engagement extremely seriously and their new commitment to women’s cycling is an important part of that. The sprint classification will be decided over two challenging sprint sections and I’m sure Aunt Bessie’s will make their presence felt on that part of the race as they join the crowds to cheer on the riders.
“I am thrilled that we have been able to take our partnership with Doncaster Sheffield Airport and Flybe, which is already flying high, to the next level. Their commitment to the Team Classification means that we can showcase some of the superstars of tomorrow.”
Aunt Bessie’s and Doncaster Sheffield Airport/ Flybe will have a vehicle in the Tour de Yorkshire Caravan which will travel in between the women’s and men’s races on Saturday 30 April stopping in approximately six locations along the route, details of which will be announced shortly.
by Chris Maher | Apr 1, 2016
A cracking start on Easter Sunday for Fusion RT Fierlan’s Angela Hibbs at the MuleBar Tour of Northumberland 2016 Two Day event.
Sprinting up-to the line after a gruelling seventy-seven kilometre Circuit of Whalton four lap race. Angela had timed her effort to perfection to clinch the stage victory over Podium Ambition Pro Cycling p/b Club La Santa’s Amy Gornall and Team Vertex-pedalpowersport.com’s Karen Poole, picking up a five-second bonus too, with three for second and two for third.
The blustery winds and threat of torrential downpours all added to the drama as the race un-folded.
The race had set-off hard, but then brought to a halt a couple of miles after the official start that delayed the race for five minutes before re-starting neutralised. The women’s race had been incorporated with-in the third/fourth category race.
They set of again, but not as hard. Once they went up the first drag the group split, leaving many of the third/ forth Cat lads and most of the women in little groups behind.
The trio of women rode the rest of their race in a group of around thirty, rolling through and helping to drive the peloton along.
A couple of the lads went off the front of the group, but strong headwinds made it too difficult to try and bridge any gap alone. So stayed in the shelter of the main group.
As the final kilometre approached, the women were allowed to contest their finish and they looked at each other before Angela set about her final charge to the line. Amy and Karen were close behind, but didn’t have the power to reel her back-in.
Amy Gornall, “I’ll see how my legs feel. I’ll try and hang in as it’s a little hillier and a bit of a harder race tomorrow.”
Karen Poole, “I’ll re-evaluate my strategy for tomorrow, I could have done things better today. My legs are good, and I feel good.”
Angela Hibbs “With half a lap to go two guys went on the attack so I went with them. Then they sat-up and I though ahh! I kept going. When I looked behind, they were on my wheel dragging Amy and Karen along”.
The guys were asked hang back and let the Women contest their race unimpeded on the final run up-to the finish line.
“I didn’t want it to come down to a sprint, I wanted to avoid that at all costs! I just kept the pace high and the power high”, I got to the farm and just upped the pace and the power and hoped they wouldn’t come around”.
Stage One Results
1: Angela Hibbs Fusion RT Fierlan +00.05
2: Amy Gornall Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa +00.03
3: Karen Poole Team Vertex-pedalpowersport.com +00.02
4: Anna Turvey Tyneside Vagabonds
5: Rachel Crighton Team22 WRT
6: Sarah Bradford Team Jadan Weldtite
7: Charli Alston Team22 WRT
8: Gemma Sargent Aprire HSS Hire
9: Jennifer Batey Team Vertex-pedalpowersport.com
10: Hannah Farran Manilla Cycling
11: Libby Denby Team22 WRT
12: Katharine Broadbent GB Cycles.co.uk
13: Flora Gillies Team22 WRT
14: Nikki Metcalf Manilla Cycling
15: Jessica Millar Johnstone Wheelers CC
Stage Two Results
1: Angela Hibbs Fusion RT Fierlan +00.05
2: Karen Poole Team Vertex-pedalpowersport.com +00.03
3: Gemma Sargent Aprire HSS Hire +00.02
4: Anna Turvey Tyneside Vagabonds
5: Sarah Bradford Team Jadan
6: Rachel Crighton Team22 WRT
7: Hannah Farran Manilla Cycling
8: Charli Alston Team22 WRT
9: Jennifer Batey Team Vertex-pedalpowersport.com
10: Katharine Broadbent GB Cycles.co.uk
11: Nikki Metcalfe Manilla Cycling
12: Jessica MillarJohnstone Wheelers CC
General Classification
1: Angela Hibbs Fusion RT Fierlan
2: Karen Poole Team Vertex-pedalpowersport.com
3: Gemma Sargent Aprire HSS Hire
4: Anna Turvey Tyneside Vagabonds
5: Sarah Bradford Team Jadan
6: Rachel Crighton Team22 WRT
7: Charli Alston Team22 WRT
8: Jennifer Batey Team Vertex-pedalpowersport.com
9: Hannah Farran Manilla Cycling
10: Katharine Broadbent GB Cycles.co.uk
11: Nikki Metcalfe Manilla Cycling
12: Jessica MillarJohnstone Wheelers CC
A double win gives Fusion RT Fierlan’s Angela Hibb the General Classification Victory in the MuleBar Tour of Northumberland 2016. Riding safely within the main bunch on this testing course in the wind, Angela set her plan in motion and executing her move perfectly to add momentum to her early season programme. Angela will be tackling the Manx International GP Feminin Women’s Road Series Season opener, before returning to Northumberland and round two of the Women’s Road Series, the Alexandra Tour of the Reservoir.
Angela Hibbs “We had a similar set-up to yesterday, there were three of us [Angela, Karen & Gemma Sargent] in the main group, but we had Gemma this time. The men didn’t seem to have the power to go, and they came back straight away.
On the last lap I kind of knew when I wanted to go! Which was after the climb and you turn left. It was fast with a few up-to drags. I wanted to go with a mile and a half or two miles to go, same as yesterday. My “TT” legs felt good and I wanted to avoid the sprints, so I just went hard”.
“I’m dead chuffed” said Angela afterwards. “I’m doing the Isle of Man in two weeks and the Tour of the Reservoir after that”.
A great effort by Team Jadan Weldtite’s Sarah Bradford in race two sticking with the main bunch until a mechanical on the second lap climb, when her chain dropped hampering her progress. Quickly getting going, Sarah found a difficult head wind and her lower gearing working against her in her effort to catch the main bunch, eventually settling into a small group until the end.
“That was fun” she chuckled heading back to HQ after the race. Sarah had hoped for the weather to deteriorate a little, saying the she preferred slightly harsher conditions.
A good ride by the Team22WRT girls completing the two day event with some good miles in their legs, and practice for the Alexandra Women’s Tour of the Reservoir just along the road in a couple of weeks. That race has a full Women’s field and is part of the 2016 Women’s Road Series.
A great ride by Johnstone Wheelers CC Jess Millar completing her first big race, gaining valuable experience on this demanding course so early in the Season. Jess has also signed up for the Alexandra Women’s Tour of the Reservoir too!
Men’s Nat B Results
Stage One
1: Joshua Jones
2: Harry Tanfield Pedal Heaven
3: David Shackleton Wilsons Wheels Race Team
4: Adan Duggleby The NAB Racing
5: Steven Lawley
6: Martin Ford Planet X Northside Cycling
7: Carl Donaldson GS Metro
8: Richard Jones Planet X Northside Cycling
9: Ben Harrison Prima Team Racing
10: William Brown Planet X Northside Cycling
Stage Two
1: Steven Lawley
2: David Shackleton Wilsons Wheels Race Team
3: Martin Ford Planet X Northside Cycling
4: James Moss MTS Cycle Sport SCott RT
5: Russell Falder Mammoth Lifestyle Racing Team
6: Dominic Schils Massi Kuwait Cycling Project
7: Mark Robertson Army Cycling Race Team (ACRT)
8: Richard Jones Planet X Northside Cycling
9: Kieran Savage University of Sheffield
10: Freddie Jagger Muckle Cycle Club
General Classification
1: Steven Lawley
2: David Shackleton Wilsons Wheels Race Team
3: Martin Ford Planet X Northside Cycling
4: Dominic Schils Massi Kuwait Cycling Project
5: James Moss MTS Cycle Sport SCott RT
6: Joshua Jones
7: Richard Jones Planet X Northside Cycling
8: Benedict Spencer Loughborough Students CC
9: Timothy Holme Plant X Northside Cycling
10: Adan Duggleby The NAB Racing
Women’s Road Series 2016
Round One: 10 April, Manx International GP Feminin, 121 Kms
Round Two: April 16 2016, Alexandra Tour of the Reservoir
Round Three: May 15 2016, Lincoln GP
Round Four: May 29 2016, North Bucks Festival of Cycling
Round Five: June 11 & 12 2016, Essex Giro Two Day
Round Six: June 19 2016, Curlew Cup
Round Seven: June 29 2016, Otley GP
Round Eight: July 10 2016, Ryedale GP
by Holly Seear | Mar 21, 2016
Intelligent Lights
Established in 2013, a Northern-Irish based start up company called See.Sense, Kickstarter funded ICON intelligent lights.
I tested the rear ICON light which has two 95 lumen CREE LEDs and retails at £64.99.
The box contained 2 x rubber mounts, USB cable, the light and a simple, clear user guide.
The set of front and rear is £119.99 and the 30% brighter ICON+ is also available at £149.99 for the set.
ICON is primarily designed as a ‘to be seen’ light, giving up to 270 degrees of side visibility. This is ideal in urban environments. The front ICON has twin LED’s, one with a focused beam, and one with a dispersed beam. According to See.Sense 80% of accidents happen in daylight and the ICON is certainly bright enough to be visible in daylight.
So what is so clever about it…..?
Within 2 minutes of opening the package I had downloaded the app and connected the light with my iphone via Bluetooth. The app allows you to:
- Check your battery level
Change from flashing light to constant- Customise your lights to optimise your brightness/run-time using a simple slider
- Control multiple lights at once
- Set auto-on/off, which automatically turns off your light after 3 minutes of inactivity, or if you walk more than 3 metres from your light
- Turn on theft alert, the light will then send you an alert if anything or anyone disturbs your bike to a range of up to 15 metres
- Turn on crash alert, if you have a crash, ICON knows and will send a text to your nominated contact for help, which you can cancel if you are ok
- Download firmware and application updates as new features become available
The battery life is up to 15 hours (5hr charge) on flashing mode and on the light itself there is a mini LED to indicate battery level, green for 75%+ and red for less than 25%. The app gives a more accurate battery level and you can adjust the brightness of your light using the app, so it’s easy to maximise your battery life if you’re running low.
I am not sure I would ever adjust brightness/flashing with app myself, but it was fun initially dazzling the family!
See.Sense say the theft detection is ideal for the coffee stop, but would I leave my bike locked outside cafe with a £120 of lights still attached? And perhaps the alarm should be on the light, not the phone to scare away the thief? Having said that it worked and I did indeed get the alert when the light was moved.
I like the crash alert feature as I often ride alone, but the most impressive thing about the light is that it adapts to its environment, increasing its brightness and flash rate to keep you more visible in riskier situations such as junctions, roundabouts, filtering in traffic and to approaching car headlights. If you are in an urban setting, where there is a higher level of ambient lighting from street lighting and approaching cars at night, ICON will automatically adjust to be less bright. It is the only light in the world that can react to road junctions, filtering traffic, roundabouts and car headlights.
Even more intelligent is the fact that ICON will soon monitor your environment. It can monitor road surfaces, crashes, near-miss events, light levels, temperature levels and routes taken. With your permission data will be uploaded to the cloud and aggregated data can then be shared with councils to provide information for cycling infrastructure provision, pothole repairs and identify hot spot areas where there are a high frequency of ‘near-miss’ events and crashes.
Philip McAleese, CEO of See.Sense said, “It is our hope that ICON will help to ignite a cycling revolution. Not only does ICON enhance the cycling experience through improved safety and convenience, it also has the potential to empower cyclists to influence their cities through the use of highly accurate, crowd-sourced data. This can create smarter and better cities for everyone.”
It comes with a 12 month warranty and is weather sealed, the website actually shows it being dropped in a jug of water and mine has been soaked several times in winter rain and road spray with no adverse effects.
However after about 6 rides the on/off button became somewhat intermittent requiring a really hard press at an angle to switch the light on as if something is perhaps loose or out of alignment behind it.
The light itself is bulky and doesn’t have the aesthetic appeal of some of the other lights on the market; one rider even went so far as to call it ‘ugly’.
Overall it is bright, functional and easy to fit. It is certainly visible and I even received a couple of complaints about how bright it is! Gadget lovers will like the app and although I hope I never need it, I feel reassured by the crash alert. It will be interesting to see how much data See.Sense is able to collect in the future and how this is used, anything that improves the cycling infrastructure and safety must be a good thing.
Watch this space… Visit seesense.cc website.
You must be logged in to post a comment.