Tech Roundup: Featuring Lightweight, SIS, Tortec, howies, Gevenalle, Victory Chimp, B’Twin, RRP and more

Another busy week for Tech Roundup, in this edition we've got cycling prints, clothing, bike mounts, lights, shifters, mudguards, custom cycle clothing, nutrition... and a carbon fibre phone case. 

Lightweight Schutzschild carbon fibre smartphone case

This press release clearly landed too late for the Christmas gift guide articles we ran last year for this one. If your budget can’t quite stretch to a pair of Lightweight wheels, how about an all-carbon case for your smartphone instead?

The Schutzschild, as it’s snappily named, is available for iPhone 5, 6 and 6 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S5 and S4. It’s produced in Germany and the 0.5mm thick carbon shell weighs just 7g. It’s adorned with the Lightweight logo and has ‘perfect edge protection’.

https://lightweight.info/gb/en/

RRP release Rearguard mudguard

Mudguards are pretty much essential this time of year if you want to keep road spray and muck off your bum and back. The diminutive Ass Saver has been popular with many cyclists, as a light and easy to fit alternative that provides a useful amount, if not total, protection.

The new Rearguard from British company RRP (RapidRacerProducts) looks to imitate the design. It however uses two Velcro straps to secure the mudguard to the underside of the saddle, clamping around the saddle rails. The company claim it’s more secure than other mudguards like the aforementioned Ass Saver, with multiple fitting slots in the front to accommodate a wide range of saddles and setups.

Says the company, “The Rearguard copes very well fitting much more securely and being more level than any other whilst still offering great protection, this opens up these convenient mudguards for those who haven’t been able to benefit from them before.”

It costs £8.99 and comes in black or white.

www.rapidracerproducts.com

howies Hoot weather resistant hoody

howies have done a splendid job of producing well-designed and well-priced cycling clothing in the past couple of years, but they also do some nice crossover clothing, the sort that could be worn when riding around town, dashing to the shops on the bike or even for shorter commutes. The Hoot is a weather resistant hoody that is described as a halfway house between a sweatshirt and jacket.

It’s made from 100% recycled polyester with an insulated fleece liner and a weather resistant outer shell. It’s a classic cut, with a ribbed hem and cuff to provide a snug fit. There are two hand pockets and zipped pockets. Though it’s not expressly designed for cycling, we can see it appealing to many cyclists for those occasions when they don’t want to break out the Lyrca and dedicated cycling clothing.

It’s available in a men and women’s version and costs £59.

www.howies.co.uk

Gevenalle GX Shifter, allows you to use MTB drivetrain on a road bike

Gevenalle is a company that specialises in cyclo-cross components and they’ve just released the GX Shifter, which uses a customised Microshift lever on a special mount and and allows you to run a Shimano mountain bike drivetrain on your road bike. The cable pull of Shimano road and mountain bike derailleurs is different, hence Gevenalle’s solution.

The new shift lever is compatible with Shimano ShadowPlus 10-speed rear mechs, which have a cassette capacity of 36t, much larger than any road groupset. For the growing number of adventure bikes, or for plain old touring bikes, such a setup could be quite appealing. The brake lever features an adjustable leverage point so it is compatible with most cable braking systems. You could pair it with a road caliper rim brake, a cantilever, V-brakes or even a mechanical disc brake. 

The GX Shifter is manufactured in Portland, US, including all the machining of mounts, anodising, laser engraving, brake lever machining and assembly of the brake levers with upgraded pivot bushings. They’re sold as a complete pair, and the left shift lever is removable if you want to run lose your front mech and run a 1x drivetrain.

A pair costs $219 from www.gevenalle.com/store/products/gx-version/

OnYerBikeSeat set to offer custom cycle clothing

Better known for their natty saddle covers, OnYerBikeSeat are branching out and now offer a range of custom cycle clothing.

The company will offer three jersey styles (short and long sleeve, plus gilet) with three different fits,  with a choice of summer and winter jerseys in me and women’s sizes. There are reflective details, silicon strips at the waist band and three regular pockets. They’ll offer bib shorts too.

They’re offering a minimum order quantity of 10 pieces which will be appealing to the smaller clubs, or small teams that want to produce their own, matching kit for riding and racing.

Find out more at www.onyerbikeseat.com

Victory Chimp cycling prints

Ryan O’Reilly is a designer and illustrator based in Northern Ireland. He’s also a cyclist, and he’s combined his work with his hobby to produce a range of cycling-inspired prints. The Cycling Legends series includes badges, t-shirts, musettes, postcards and posters. Let’s show you a couple of examples.

This is the Fausto Coppi: Il Campionissmo, a 30x40cm fine art Giclee print on 270gsm Turquoise Colorplan stock, and limited to a run of just 50 prints, each being signed and numbered. It costs £20.

Here’s the Chimpeur Organic Cotton T-shirt. It features a print design of the Chimpeur, the same as a Grimpeur (a pure climber) but with more bananas. It’s printer on ethically made, Climate Neutral, 155g organic cotton and hand-printed in Belfast. It costs £25.

Check out all the products at www.victorychimp.com

Tortec Universal Wall Hook

The Tortec Universal Wall Hook is ideal if you need a secure way of hanging a road or mountain bike from the wall inside your garage.

The hooks are made from high-tensile steel and coated with a tough epoxy-based powder coat shell to provide a soft cover to protect the wheels of your bicycle. As its name suggests, the hook has been designed to be compatible with a wide range of bikes, from road bikes to fat tyred mountain bikers. A hook costs £14.99.

www.zyro.co.uk/tortec

B’Twin VIOO Clip video

Decathlon’s B’Twin have produced this slick video to demonstrate their VIOO Clip front and rear lights, which are available in six colours and cost just £8.50.

The light is charge via a USB port and lasts a claimed 4.30 hours in continuous mode, or 9 hours in flash mode. It’ll clip onto your belt or bag, or the rubber band can fix it to the seatpost or handlebars.

It’s light too at just 32g so you can take it everywhere, and never be caught short without a set of lights.

www.decathlon.co.uk/Buy/vioo+clip

Science in Sport expands range with new Whey Protein

Science in Sport (SIS have added Whey Protein their range, which sits in a new SIS Protein range alongside existing SIS GO and SIS Rego.

The Whey Protein provides “a source of rapidly digestible protein through a blend of high quality whey protein isolate and concentrate, with an amino acid profile which supports lean muscle growth and maintenance,” says SIS.

You can choose from four flavours (chocolate, strawberry, banana and vanilla)  and 1kg or 2kg tub sizes. A serving contains 22-23g of protein (dependent on flavour) and has a high leucine content, which SIS describes as an amino acid that increases the rate of muscle protein synthesis.

SiS Elite Consultant Sir Chris Hoy commented: “No matter what you are training for, nutrition is key to performance. You need a product you can trust, that’s why I use SiS. Throughout my career, protein has been a key element of my training regime and I’m pleased to work with SiS on the new SiS Protein range.” 

Luke Heeney, New Product Director at Science in Sport added: “Protein is such an important element of sports nutrition. SiS Whey Protein has been specifically designed to contribute to athletes’ lean muscle mass growth and maintenance, and we’re confident that its benefits will be experienced by both current and new SiS users.”

SIS Whey Protein is available now through www.scienceinsport.com and introductoary prices are £22.49 for a 1kg tub and £41.24 for 2kg size.