Cyclist
In The Drops: Rapha Insulated Vest, edgy Le Col gravel kit, adaptable Tailfin bar bag, Safety-conscious Suunto headphones and the US of A
It’s not even Friday yet where I am, but due to the magic of the internet, I’m still able to deliver another In The Drops-shaped dispatch to tee up the weekend.
If the cycling season was the Wilhelm Scream, it would be almost silent now, disappearing with a final flail into a bottomless abyss. Luckily, Robyn Davidson and Ewan Wilson specialise in turning the frogs of the bottomless abyss into ravishing royalty so you’ve got a wealth of reading material to drown out the fading wails.
Robyn recapped the pro-cycling week that was in Pro Log while Ewan stared pensively through the cycling world’s sliding doors to imagine a world where Tadej Pogačar was merely a jumble of letters and question whether his 2024 season – back in the universe where he does exist – was better than the Cannibal’s best. Felix Lowe’s piece on the perpetual Ineos omnishambles – deepened by Pidders-gate – has been drawing intense debate over on our Facebook page. James and Will also chatted to the Peter Sagan about cycling real bikes and cycling imaginary bikes for the latest edition of the Cyclist Magazine Podcast.
In the more practical stakes, Katherine Moore has been running the rule over some new lights, with the Lezyne Micro Drive 800+, the Exposure Siriius Mk10 and the TraceR Mk3, Ravemen FR300 light sets all reviewed. Mildred Locke’s full review of the Hammerhead Karoo 3 is out, while we’ve updated our tubeless repair kit buyer’s guide, our best winter socks guide, our guide to the best all-road bikes in 2024, and – whether you want to think about it or not – our take on the best cycling overshoes.
Though I say so myself, it’s a pretty swell selection of clobber coming up so strap yourself in for an In The Drops from across the pond.
Tailfin Bar System
Few things are more satisfying in (bike) life than efficiently loading all your possessions onto a bike and wheeling out towards the sunrise. When I was about seven years old, on a family holiday on the Isle of Wight, I watched, open-mouthed, as two lads rolled up next to our campsite on their heavily laden bikes. Within a few minutes they were cooking food, drinking beers, and putting up a tent. I turned to my parents and said, ‘Can I do that?’
I can’t even imagine the kind of rudimentary pannier setup those lads were rocking back in the 90s, but boy could they have done with some Tailfin innovation. With its headquarters in Bristol, this bike luggage brand knows a thing or two about keeping your kit safe and dry when the elements are telling you that you’re eight metres below sea level.
The launch of the Tailfin Bar Bag System completes its bikepacking set, so you can tail to snout in Tailfin. It comes in four sizes (two each for drop or flat handlebars) and the focus is on stability, adjustability and speed of mounting, thanks in part to its WaveLock closure and X-Clamp attachment system.
The pictured bag extends from 4L to 9.1L, features a 1.6L expandable pocket, and Tailfin provides very specific instructions to ensure there is no head tube rubbing. It’s compatible with round handlebars, is 100% waterproof, and comes with additional mounts for bike computers, lights and cameras.
Full disclosure, the setup is like a miniature flatpack project, but thankfully you only need to do that once – plus I only swore four times in the process, which is my own little KOM. Once you’re up and running, the bag works brilliantly. The waterproofing is faultless and the wide entry point means accessing kit is easy. Plus, the additional pockets and attachments ensure that you don’t need to come up with some wizardry to keep your usual endurance accoutrements – namely head units, lights and charging points – still functioning.
- Buy now from Tailfin (£230)
Rapha Insulated Vest
Is it a bird, is it a plane? Is it a bike brand, is it a lifestyle brand? The industry waters are pretty murky right now if you’re looking for an answer to the latter, but that doesn’t mean that the off-bike kit – or maybe on-bike but pedalling a Lime Bike kind of on-bike – isn’t still good to have.
Rapha’s new insulated Vest is a versatile overlayer that – like not going outside at all – is seriously coming into its own in these shoulder months. As well as being stuffed with lightweight and 100% recycled Primaloft synthetic insulation, the surface of the vest has a DWR coating to brush off light showers so it’s pretty handy in the moderate to poor weather we Brits experience on a day-to-day basis. It packs down easily into a jacket pocket, meaning it’s useful when you aren’t quite sure how cold the atmosphere beneath that grey sky is going to be.
My favourite part is the cycling-centric two-way zip, so you can ambi-zip to your heart’s content.
- Buy now from Rapha (£140)
Suunto Sonic Headphones
The advent of bone-conducting technology means it’s now far safer to ride while listening to audio. The open-ear design allows wearers to be more aware of what’s happening on the road while also spicing up the more boring sections of a ride with the Cyclist Magazine Podcast. In honour of my own tiny violin, I live a 40-minute ride away from anything you could consider a country lane, so this is particularly good news.
Weighing just 31g, the Suunto Sonic headphones are packed with features that are particularly handy for endurance riding. The ten hours of battery life is decent and just a five-minute charge will give you a three-hour boost.
For protection from the elements, the Sonics have an IP55 waterproof rating and will work down to negative 20°C – though my legs definitely won’t. There are three buttons with which to skip through songs or pause audio, and making calls is made possible by their noise cancellation qualities.
- Buy now from Suunto (£129)
Le Col ARC Gravel Kit
The cycling gods’ decision to add pockets to bib shorts seemed to just add scope for me to hoard stuff while on the bike; sort of like moving into a bigger bedroom that initially seems to dwarf your meagre array of possessions. But then within a few weeks it’s bursting at the seams with an unthinkable array of crap. Be that as it may, I’m now a total convert to pocketed bibs as it essentially allows you to be less organised.
Gravel is here to stay – not that it ever wasn’t here – and British brand Le Col has decided to throw their off-road hat into the ring with the launch of its ARC range. The shining lights are the ARC Cargo Bib Shorts and the ARC Lightweight Rain Jacket, complete with helmet hood.
Having put them through their paces on a particularly flat, long and seated ride, I can ratify that the bib shorts are good for ten-hour days in the saddle and tally with Le Col’s claims of a long-distance comfort fit. Le Col says the chamois has impact absorption technology (as you’d expect) and features a bamboo-blend top sheet that is said to be quick drying. There are pockets for days – with the usual leg pouches for gels and Tabasco topped up by a pair of rear pockets above the derrière.
The ARC Lightweight Rain Jacket is made in partnership with laminate producer Pertex, using its PFAs-free membrane to provide waterproofing and breathability. Le Col claims the fabric weighs just a claimed 83g so it’s ideal for stuffing away in a pocket on longer rides. Its less-common feature is the hood, which is big enough to accommodate a helmet so you can keep your entire top half dry. Sure, it might not be the most aero or svelte look in the world, but staying dry is a decent payout.
- Buy now from Le Col (£210 and £280)
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What we’re into this week… Washington DC
For my sins, I’d never previously set foot in the United States of America (apparently, my three-hour transfer across Detroit’s gargantuan airport doesn’t seem to count). Girlfriend, daughter and I have now been here for over a week, which is plenty of time to get used to the bizarre brand of semi-recognisable normality the heartland of Western democracy is flogging these days.
With the leaves falling and October progressing, we’ve been spoiled with front yard Halloween facades that literally beggar belief. Whether it’s eight-foot-diameter spiders crawling on rigged-up house-height webs, skeleton dogs and human arms poking out of disturbed earth, or legions of ghosts swaying from the rafters of wood-planked porches – daring to leave just a poxy pumpkin on your doorstep looks like an unthinkable faux pas.
Despite this part of America being absurdly expensive – a single dish scourer costs $5 in a very average supermarket – luckily DC has perhaps the best array of free museums on the planet. While my partner was working last week and I was on leave, my daughter and I hit every single one, tapping up every soft play section on offer. And that’s before you’ve ticked off the conveyor belt of monuments that line the Mall or the general rubbernecking on offer from just pounding the ‘sidewalks’.
There’s not much in the way of decent riding, unless you include the hill loop a few unperturbed roadies were ploughing around the Capitol building, but we got hold of a fun e-trike rental that made the monument tour a whole lot speedier. All in all: a destination I would recommend.
The post In The Drops: Rapha Insulated Vest, edgy Le Col gravel kit, adaptable Tailfin bar bag, Safety-conscious Suunto headphones and the US of A appeared first on Cyclist.