Cyclist
In the Drops: Kit from Colombia, super-fast bars, a fancy Prologo saddle and fun snacks
It has been quite a week for both pro racing and tech this week. We reflected on the result of a truly entertaining Giro d’Italia and then assessed how each individual team did in the race, but there was barely chance to catch our breath after that before an explosion of important tech.
Campagnolo looks to have turned a new leaf with the launch of the first mainstream 2×13 groupset, Super Record 13. Mere hours later, Shimano launched its long awaited XTR Di2 – mountain biking isn’t strictly our bag but news like this tends to transcend categories – then followed that immediately with one of its more left-field releases: a wireless, self-charging, auto-shifting system called Q’Auto.
Looks at the upcoming women’s Tour of Britain and the Critérium du Dauphiné rebalanced the books towards the end of the week, before another edition of In the Drops tips things back towards tech to finish. Read on to find out more about the latest kit to land with Cyclist.
Givelo kit
Self-professed new kid on the block, Givelo, makes its kit in Medellín, Colombia.
‘Here cycling is in our blood, entrepreneurship is embedded in the city culture, and to top it off we are a textile manufacturing hub. These three pillars led to the start of Givelo,’ says Steven Dennis, one of the brand’s three founders. ‘We search for the best fabrics in the world – sourcing from Italy, France and Japan – and apply them to our products, making everything in-house to keeping pricing competitive.’
That business model has resulted in products such as the Essntl Graphene jersey, which uses that enigmatic, claimed wonder material.
‘The jersey uses a fabric that’s infused with graphene fibres. Graphene is an amazing thermal conductor, so the jersey rapidly absorbs body heat and redistributes it, creating a larger surface area for heat loss. This will keep the rider cooler and feeling fresher,’ says Dennis. ‘This is the type of fabric we search for, so that Givelo stands out: features that act as an enhancement to what your body already naturally does.’
According to Dennis, the HD Pro bib shorts are made from recycled Italian yarns and aim to provide a compressive fit that supports the leg muscles, but ultimately are about minimalism – raw cut hems, few seams and lightweight bibstraps – so that the rider can forget they are wearing them.
‘They are bib shorts that other brands would charge well over £200 for, but due to how we operate, we can offer them at a much fairer price,’ says Dennis.
- For more information on the Givelo Essntl Graphene jersey, visit givelo.cc (£91)
- For more information on the Givelo HD Pro bibshorts, visit givelo.cc (£155)
Profile Design Canta Race bars
Since the UCI adjusted its rules around bar dimensions in 2023 – introducing a minimum 350mm width, but relaxing tube cross-section specs from a 3:1 ratio to simply a max depth of 80mm and minimum thickness of 10mm – designing a super-aero handlebar has been an tantalising proposition for specialist component makers such as Profile Design.
Its new Canta Race bars are pretty extreme, being available in narrow sizes and using deep, thin tops that sweep forward to create 90mm of reach. Typical bars only use 60-75mm of reach, so the Canta bars effectively make a bike’s fit longer, helping the rider to stretch lower to minimise their frontal area.
Helping in that regard is the inward cant to the tops-drops transition, which helps angle the shifters in to narrow the rider’s profile even further.
Prologo Nago R4 3DMSS saddle
Remember that octopus sucker-like rubber ‘CPC’ coating that Prologo patented in 2013 and liberally applied to its saddle covers and bar tape for a decade? The brand says the way it has adopted 3D printed padding in its new Nago R4 3DMSS saddle enhances the grip and vibration absorption advantages that original featured provided.
Look closely and you’ll see the padding is split into five sections, each with different structural arrangements. Prologo says each area provides differing balances of squish and support to match specific areas of the rider’s anatomy, having been informed by pressure data collected by Prologo’s proprietary mapping system.
The brand says the saddle isn’t just comfortable but the lightest 3D saddle on the market as well, at a claimed 155g. Which is just as well, as it’s one of the most expensive too.
Amacx Recovery bars
Amacx might not be a nutrition name you’ve come across before, but the brand already counts names such as Visma–Lease a Bike, EF Education–EasyPost and Q36.5 Pro Cycling among the pro teams it keeps fed and watered.
There’s the usual plethora of bars, powders and gels to keep athletes well fuelled pre-, mid- and post-ride, but Amacx also makes its nutrition in some more novel forms that should break up the monotony of ingesting a steady stream of energy.
Lovers of Fruit Pastilles might like the sound of the Energy Fruit Chews, which are similar to the popular sweet but larger and softer, making them easier to eat and more carb-dense as well. Amacx also offers something called ‘Energy Nougat’, which is worth trying for the name alone. It’s a little more substantial than the fruit chews, so best reserved for more relaxed period of riding where it doesn’t have to be wolfed down, but just as energy dense.
Then there’s the Fast bar, again a source of carbohydrate but thanks to the inclusion of almonds and soya protein isolate, it offers a more well-rounded nutritional option that contains fats and proteins so the body gets what it needs on truly long days out.
- For more information on Amacx Nutrition, visit amacx.com (£26 for sample bundle)
The post In the Drops: Kit from Colombia, super-fast bars, a fancy Prologo saddle and fun snacks appeared first on Cyclist.
