With winter approaching, keeping warm on the bike and figuring out what to buy the cyclist in your life move into focus. Fortunately, this week's roundup can assist on both accounts.
Rapha celebrates its 20th year of making cycling clobber with the release of a 400-page book that details the journey. While it's too hefty to fit in a stocking, it will sit nicely under a tree.
Elsewhere, we look at cold-weather kit from Universal Colours and Assos, along with two updated e-bikes from Cannondale.
Two Rapha books
Rapha’s impact on cycling over the last twenty years is undeniable. It went from a London-based upstart paying homage to the road aesthetic of days past to a global clothing brand, with its signature armband omnipresent in seemingly every group of cyclists you happened upon.
To mark its two decades Rapha has produced a 400-page book detailing its story. The Extra Mile is narrated by Rapha’s founder Simon Mottram and over thirty of its staff, friends and collaborators. Including images taken from the brand’s archive, it’s a stylish-looking affair that falls somewhere between a coffee table book and a shared memoir.
It's also published a second edition of Kings of Pain, a 240-page book of photographs celebrating the world’s greatest bike race, the Tour de France, through the ages.
Both titles are available now, with The Extra Mile offered in both soft and hardback bindings, while the Kings of Pain is hardback only.
Universal Colours all-weather collection
For many of us, it’s time to don the winter wardrobe, both on and off the bike. If your winter cycling kit has come out of hibernation looking a little shabby then the all-weather collection from Universal Colours should pique your interest.
Offered in both men’s and women’s styles it features a number of pieces that are designed to cope with falling temperatures as well as the accompanying wind and rain. New items include a Mono insulated Jacket and Mono Natural Dye Gilet, alongside fresh colours - blue, brown and red - for the PFAS-free Rain Jacket, and an updated Mono Long Sleeve Jersey. To keep your extremities warm, there’s also a beanie and gloves made from Polartec.
The gilet is perhaps the most interesting of the new additions. It uses a Japanese sustainable dying method called Onibegie that uses and combines ingredients extracted from onion skin, rice husks and bamboo charcoal. The gilet's colours are named accordingly: Bamboo Black, Rice Beige and Shoot Grey.
Assos Hashoogi S11 winter jacket
While the name might not roll off the tongue, the Hashoogi sounds the part. Designed to provide “exceptional protection and comfort for winter rides”, it uses the Swiss brand’s proprietary Airblock Evo fabric for the main body. This softshell material is both weather-resistant and breathable, as well as being more supple than previous materials Assos has used in its winter jackets.
Elsewhere the sleeves use NEOS Light softshell fabric on exposed areas and RX thermal textile on the inner arms, while a rear panel uses the RX Evo Plus material for additional breathability.
Other details include an insulating collar, reflective detailing on the pockets to aid visibility in low-light conditions, raw finish cuffs to better integrate with gloves and three rear pockets that feature flexible fabric panels designed to protect the contents from rain and road spray.
Available now, the Hashoogi winter jacket is priced at $335 / £265.
Refreshed e-bikes from Cannondale
Cannondale’s latest hybrid e-bikes might be best described as 'town and country'.
While the Mavero is aimed at those who’ve decided to ditch the car and instead navigate the city - whether it’s a commute to work or a trip to the store - the Tesoro is suited to a weekend spent exploring the wilds.
Both bikes are powered by Bosch’s Performance Line CX motor and Power Tube battery. The former delivers 85 Nm of torque and 600 watts of output, while the latter is offered in 600 or 800 wh capacity, which is said to be good for up to 185 km.
Similarly, both connect via Bluetooth to both the Cannondale and Bosch apps and have the same carrying capabilities - a 15kg load using the OutFront rack, while the RackLocK at the rear can manage up to 27 kg with either a child seat or via one of the compatible accessories.
The difference lies in their assumed application. To handle the city streets the Mavero has a rigid fork with HeadShok technology that moves using needle bearings inside the headtube. The Tesoro opts for a suspension fork with 100mm travel to help it deal with more rugged, off-road terrain.
There’s a difference in the shifting too. While both use a Gates carbon drive belt, the Mavero changes gear via either the Enviolo Trekking continuously variable transmission or a Shimano Nexus 5-speed internally geared hub. In contrast, the Tesoro uses Enviolo’s automatic shifting system, Automatiq.
Both e-bikes are offered as 'standard' and 'step-thru' models and are launching first in 'select European markets'. According to Cannondale, the UK may receive stock in spring 2025.
