Derby-based distributor Moore Large hosted their ‘Geared 2014’ house show last week, giving dealers and press a chance to see the latest products they will be offering for the forthcoming show.
We already brought you news of the new Moda bike models, including their first UK-made carbon fibre frame, and new tubeless and carbon wheels from American Classic, now it’s time for a roundup of new things that caught our attention from Lake, Forme, Jagwire, Dare2B, Proviz, Joe’s Sealant and Barracuda.
Forme is the Moore Large inhouse bike brand, it’s been going for a couple of years but a change of personnel in the brand manager looking after the range suggests there will be a bit of a refocus this year, especially since Moore Large now has Moda in their portfolio too.
Forme had some standout bikes at the show, but the one that really caught my eye was this Flash EPS model, using a Campagnolo Athena EPS 11-speed groupset. It’s competitively priced at £3,499 too. The Flash is the top-end all-carbon offering in the range, featuring a Torayca 800 uni-directional carbon frame with a claimed frame weight for a 54cm of 850g.
You can also buy the frame on its own for £1,799, or with a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset for £4,999. The frame, we should mention, is packed with contemporary details like a tapered head tube (1.5in-1 1/8in), PressFit86 bottom bracket so the down tube and chainstays can be oversized, and all cables are internally routed. Further weight is saved with carbon fibre dropouts. More at www.formebikes.co.uk
The CX401 (£399.99) is Lake’s range-topping shoe and they’re keen to promote the fact they can do pretty much any custom design or colour scheme you want, even including the Union flag like this. You’d have to be the confident sort to wear these we reckon. You can choose from eight colors and is available through 25 dealers. We’re told the uptake for the custom option has been quite considerable.
This is the mad, and not just because it’s orange, MX331 shoe. It’s a dedicated cyclo-cross shoes, which in itself makes it pretty rare, but it’s the huge studs around the front section that should ensure amazing traction when running up muddy banks. Because that’s part of the appeal of cyclo-cross isn’t it, running up muddy banks. We’ve already taken a good look at these shoes, in fact Jo has been testing a pair for a while. Should push him for his review...
Jagwire released these new Road Elite Link Shift and Road Elite Link Brake cable kits. While it’s not easy to get excited about the humble gear and brake cable, their performance can directly influence how nicely your bike rides. The USP behind these is the fully sealed design, much like the old Gore Ride-On cables, which are sadly no longer available.
They feature Teflon coated cables and slick-lube liners, so that should reduce friction by a factor of lots, and because they’re fully sealed there’s much less chance of water and grit getting in and leading to a deterioration in shift and brake performance. With riding conditions as mucky as they are in a typical British winter, they appear as a bit of a no-brainer.
So that’s a win straight away, but they also use a Nokon-style outer that uses lots of interlocking links, which is both compression-less and allows for tighter cable runs than regular cable outer. Ideal for some bikes with awkward cable routing.
Another benefit, the system is claimed to be 20% lighter than a regular cable setup. You get everything you need in the kit to do a full bike, gear or brake. The links are available in a choice of colours. The brake set costs £54.99 and the gear set £59.99, more expensive than regular cables, but these promise to last a lot longer. We’ll be getting some in to test soon.
We’re only just getting out of the clutches of the current winter, but Proviz is already planning new products for next autumn/winter. Firstly, they’ve updated the Triviz, the unique rectangular reflective lighting system that affixes to their own rucksacks. They’ve integrated the battery into the triangle so it’s less bulky, and it’s easier to switch on; you just tap anywhere in the triangle to activate the built-in LED. This backpack costs £44 and the Triviz costs £29.
There’s a new jacket as well, the Reflect 360. It’s constructed from a fabric that looks just like any regular fabric in daylight, but shine a light on it and the entire jacket is reflective.
Much like the Sugoi Zap jacket we featured on the site a little while ago. It’s still in the prototype stage at the moment, but you’re looking a a price of about £80. Looks ideal for the regular commuter to us.
Hold the front page, there’s a new bottle from SIS. This new bottle has a wider neck than the regular bottle, which should make it easier scooping energy powder into it and also cleaning it out after a ride. It costs the same as the regular bottle, £3.99.
There’s a lot of talk about the uptake of road tubeless in replacing the inner tube, which surely is something to confine to the history books by now? Joe’s No Flats is a company that has been specialising in tubeless sealant, the essential ingredient you need when ditching your inner tubes.
They have a couple of interesting products. The Yellow Gel Tube Sealant is designed to go directly into the inner tube and contains micro-fibres to deal with a hole in the tyre tread up to 3mm in size. It’s compatible with any inner tube with a removeable core. A 240ml bottle (pictured) costs £7.99.
The Super Sealant is their regular latex-based sealant for use in tubeless setups, but can equally be pumped into compatible inner tubes. It comes in various bottle sizes and costs from £5.99. The Eco Sealant is their latest product, and is completely free of latex, ammonium and protein. That means there’s no corrosion of the rim from long use and is fine for people with allergies to the usual ingredients of latex-based sealants. It’s been developed for the latest generation of tubeless-ready tyres, which aren’t 100% airtight and require a sealant. The company claims it can handle a hole size of up to 6mm in the tread. It’s available in three bottle sizes, the 125ml size costing £7.99 is enough for a pair of tyres.
Dare 2b is pushing into the popular casual cycling market with a new range of shirts, trousers, hoodies and jackets for 2014. They’re all made from technical fabrics so you can happily wear them on the bike for nipping out to the shops on the bike or commuting across town. They’re packed with thoughtful cycling-specific details, like lots of discrete reflective details that only appear when you roll up a trouser leg, or turn the collar up, or roll up the sleeves.
This is the Impassable jacket, it costs £100. Looks like the sort of thing you could happily wear about town doesn’t it, but it should cut it on the bike as well. There’s a new logo which features across this entire new range, it’s a little more stylish than the main logo used elsewhere.
There’s a range of shirts, with more colours coming soon. Available for men and women as well. It’s a treated cotton, so it should deal with a bit of perspiration and rain. They cost £40.
These trousers have a reinforced seat area with a d-lock belt loop and the ends fold up revealing little reflective details. They cost £50.
Back to the company’s more regular cycling range, and this is a new Momentum windshell jacket. Well, it’s actually more than just a jacket, the sleeves can be zipped off and it turns into a gilet.
It’s the sort of top that’s ideal for quickly changing conditions, or commuting when it’s warmer on the way home than it is in the morning on the way into work. It comes in a range of colours, including this hi-vis yellow option, and costs £50.
The Barracuda range has been updated for 2014 and we’ve picked out two bikes that represent the smart new direction the brand is taking. This is the cheapest offering, the Corvus I, and it costs just £299.95. It uses an alloy frame with a smart paint finish and decals, with a 14-speed groupset comprising a Shimano Tourney chainset and rear mech.
The most distinctive feature of the bike though is found on the handlebars, the Shimano A050 bar-mounted shifters. A050 is Shimano’s 7-speed shifting system, their cheapest groupset, and isn’t one we’re that used to seeing on the pages of road.cc.
For commuting and leisure cycling, there’s the Hydra range. This is the £399.95 Hydra 3 which comes with Promax mechanical disc brakes and a nice black understated paint finish. There’s plenty of standover clearance from the dramatically sloped top tube, and there are mounts for mudguards.
More on all these products at www.todayscyclist.co.uk.
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10 comments
I wonder if the Jagwire cables will have a Campag option, I tried to find some sealed Gore style cables for my Athena 11s build but didn't have much luck.
If you can afford to pay for the shoes then do so if you can't then don't. I could, did and I'm so glad as they're the best shoes I have ever owned.
Worth the money if there's a performance upgrade surely?
I love those shoes
'£60 for gear cable? Anyone Insane, stupid, or both?'
none of the above, but will be getting some.
Lake say the uptake of the custom 401's is good, do they? Not as good as it would be if the webapp or iphone app didn't demand current versions of everything (OS/browser/plugins etc) just to be able to function. That's just poor.
£60 for gear cable? Anyone Insane, stupid, or both?
It's about the same price as a similar Nokon cable set. Expensive yes it most certainly is, but if the performance and durability benefits are to be believed, it could be money well spent. We'll get a set in and test em and let you know what they're like. Though you've probably already made your mind abou them
Its cable! no cable should cost £60 unless it is hand weaved by Tibetan elf monks.
I've been riding 30+ years on 'standard cables' and recently ebay sourced. Never had a cable fail, my brakes work fine and my shifting is smooth. I replace every year and that is over cautious.....how durable does it need to be?
Clearly there is a market,
£400 for the lake shoes!