You don’t need me to tell you that graphene is an allotrope of carbon in the form of a 2D atomic-scale lattice in which one atom forms each vertex. It’s a brilliantly malleable material that was only isolated in 2004 at the University of Manchester. They billed it then as the new carbon fibre. Donald Trump might call it carbon plus plus. It’s truly remarkable stuff – it’s 200 times stronger than steel and yet lighter than paper. But it’s taken until now for someone to make a bike with it. That someone is Stuart Abbott, founder of Dassi bikes. He’s a former Rolls-Royce engineer with a fascination for F1 who is also fanatical about bikes. His firm, based in Hampshire, is the only quality cycle maker in the UK to use all-British components. The graphene frame is a work of art and weighs in at an astonishing 700g – less than two cans of baked beans. It literally is featherweight. This bicycle, in Lamborghini orange, is currently the only graphene bike in the world, but Stuart is building 25 more, coloured and specced to your exact whim. He has orders for 16 already and I suspect the remainder will go as fast as hot mince pies. So if you fancy one have a word with Santa quick… (dassi.com)
Price: frame only £5,995, complete bike as tested £12,000
Frame: graphene
Gears: Campagnolo Super Record EPS
Wheels: Vittoria
When it rains…
They say pride comes before a fall. A fortnight ago I headed out into the Surrey hills with a friend who is new to cycling. The idea was that I’d show him the ropes and introduce him to the joys of a long ride followed by a decent pub lunch. It was a disaster. I slipped on leaves on a descent and came off the bike, snapping my front derailleur in the process which meant I was then jammed in the top set of gears for the rest of the ride. Later, purely for the sake of showing off, I also unzipped the sleeves of my expensive waterproof jacket – something I’ve never felt the need to do before. I tucked them into my back pocket and, you guessed it, arrived home with one missing.
Anyway, the upshot of this is that I have had the bike repaired and also had the perfect excuse to treat myself to a new rain jacket. This came in the form of the dhb Aeron Tempo waterproof jacket.
Dhb, the own-brand from Wiggle, has a great reputation for making tough, durable gear at affordable prices. And the Aeron is ideal for these changeable days. It is lightweight and packs neatly into a jersey pocket, weighing little more than 200g. It’s been designed for high tempo riding (hence the name) and its performance in wet weather is extremely impressive. In the week since I bought the jacket it has rained on four out of five morning commutes, so I’ve had plenty of time to test it out.
Its 100% polyamide fabric boasts a 20,000mm waterproof rating, and 15,000g/m2/24hrs breathability rating. Essentially this means it has 2.5 layers of waterproof fabric, yet it won’t leave you drenched in sweat. It hasn’t got a fleece lining; this jacket is a waterproof shell to keep you dry when you are a long way from home. And it is remarkably effective. Previous jackets I have owned have tended to feel more like a plastic bag than a garment you’d like to wear, but the Aeron’s fabric is tactile and soft. It was also the first ever cycling garment I’ve worn which hasn’t made my teenage daughters feel like retching – a middle-aged man in figure-hugging kit doesn’t tend to go down to well with the style police.
The jacket has fully taped internal seams to help keep water out and additional underarm vents for extra ventilation when you are working harder. A generous storm flap helps stop to much spray going up your back. And, you can’t unzip the sleeves, so you have no chance of losing them. So, weather-proof and idiot proof.
The jacket costs £80, comes in a blue, red or teaberry and a range of slim-cut sizes for both men and women. For more information, go to wiggle.com
10 Things cyclists wish drivers understood
This is a recent post from Cycle Scheme. It’s excellent and I am sure they won’t mind me sharing it with you…
1. We’re not meant to ride close to the kerb Cycling and motoring organisations alike advise cyclists to ride a good distance out from the kerb. In certain situations, sometimes to stop drivers trying to squeeze past when there isn’t room to overtake safely, cyclists will ‘take the lane’. That means riding in the centre of the lane. It’s not an attempt to wind you up. We’re trying to get to our destination safely. We’re not in the way of traffic riding like this. We are traffic!
2. Bike paths are optional There’s no obligation for cyclists to use cycle lanes (on road) or cycle tracks (separate from the carriageway), just as there’s no obligation for drivers to use motorways, which were built for them. That’s just as well: some bike paths aren’t fit for purpose. Cycle lanes can lure you into the gutter or the dangerous edge of roundabouts. Cycle tracks can be narrow, obstructed with street furniture (or parked cars!), or shared with pedestrians. Almost every cycle track gives way to every road it intersects, making progress slow. Where cycle facilities help our journey, we’ll use them. Let’s both ask the council to provide some good ones.
3. We do pay for the roads It’s a myth that ‘road tax’ pays for the roads. Roads are paid for out of general and local taxation, not Vehicle Excise Duty. Any cyclist who pays tax pays for the roads. As it happens, most adult cyclists in the UK have a car too.
4. Sometimes we wobble or swerve Another reason to give us room on the road is that sometimes we have no choice but to wobble or swerve. A bike has to be balanced and won’t always travel in a perfectly straight line. A sudden gust of wind, whether it’s a crosswind or the backdraft of a vehicle passing too close, can upset a cyclist’s steering. A pothole in our path might make us crash if we don’t jink around it.
5. We’re not telepathic Any road user could say this and cyclists are no different. Please, let’s just communicate with each other. Don’t force us to guess: use your indicators. (On a roundabout, by the way, that means signalling left before your exit, not continuing to indicate right.) When you’re stepping out of a car that’s stopped on the road, check behind before opening your car door. Too many cyclists have been ‘doored’. Mirror, signal, manoeuvre.
6. We’re moving faster than you think There probably isn’t time for you to pull out of that side road when we’re coming towards you on the main road. There definitely isn’t time for you to overtake us, brake, and turn left into a side road. Cyclists move faster than you think. Most of us commuting to work can comfortably do 15mph and fitter cyclists on road bikes can cruise at 20mph. Downhill we might be travelling at 40mph or more. Factor in this speed. If you wouldn’t attempt a manoeuvre when another car is that close, it’s probably not safe to attempt it when a cyclist is that close. You’re gambling with our safety.
7. Anger is often fear It’s frustrating when you’re driving and someone foolishly pulls out on you or cuts you up. Maybe you blare the horn to remonstrate. Imagine what it’s like when what’s at stake isn’t a dented bumper and your no-claims bonus but the very real risk that you’ll be heading to hospital in ambulance. In this high-risk situation, your body dumps adrenaline into your system, ready for fight or flight. That’s where a cyclist’s swearing and the gesticulating comes from. That flash of anger? It’s not road rage: it’s fear.
8. Close passes are dangerous Highway Code Rule 163 tells drives to ‘give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car’. Horse riders tend to be given space, with drivers passing wide and slow. Cyclists are often passed by cars close enough to touch… with an elbow. This is dangerous: one wobble by us or further misjudgement by you and we’re on the tarmac. It’s also very intimidating. To any driver who thinks it’s safe, try this: go to a railway station and stand inside the yellow line at the platform edge when a high-speed train is passing through. That’s what it’s like when someone in a car passes too close.
9. That cyclist who annoyed you? We’re not them Some road users are idiots. Some of those idiots drive cars, some of them ride bikes. It probably was annoying when you saw that cyclist jumping a red light. It’s equally annoying, with more serious potential consequences for others, when drivers exceed the speed limit. But all cyclists don’t jump red lights and all drivers don’t speed. Extrapolating from one bad apple creates an antagonistic us-and-them attitude that helps no one. Let us agree that bad road users are bad road users and do our best not to be one.
10. It’s other drivers that slow you down Waiting 10 seconds to overtake a cyclist will make no detectable impact on your journey time. Even a whole minute sitting behind us at 15mph won’t make you late – unless you left home late. What really slows you down is sitting stationary or near stationary in queues of other cars, when lots of other drivers (other drivers just like you!) are trying to funnel through a limited amount of road space. It might feel frustrating when cyclists blithely filter past, but every cyclist who does this instead of driving is one car fewer in the queue. Cyclists reduce traffic jams. You’re welcome.
Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166
