Cycling Plus

Cycling Plus is the manual for the modern road cyclist. Whether you're cycling weekly, an occasional new rider or a Tour de France fan you’ll find everything you need. Each issue is packed with buying advice and tests of essential cycling gear - everything from bikes to bags! Cycling Plus is the place to find training advice, nutrition secrets and practical tips guaranteed to improve your bicycling. It's also full of inspirational rides, real-life cycling stories and entertaining riding-related features.

WELCOME

HIGHLIGHTS…

THE BIG PICTURE SONDER WINTER GRAVEL SERIES

THE SPIN ON TRIAL • Chris Froome wonders whether we should do away with specialised TT bikes in time trials

WHY YOU WANT… WERA BICYCLE SET 3 • £83.99 A workshop in your saddle pack

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE ABERYSTWYTH • Head to west Wales to enjoy remote, rugged beauty

LIFE CYCLE TALK CYCLING • Active Travel England, the new cycling and walking body, can bring sanity, says Rob Ainsley

VIB Bianchi Specialissima CV Disc • €11,206 The Specialissima lives up to its name

CAKE STOP RAPHA LONDON • Coffee, snacks and clothing for discerning urban customers

WALLET-FRIENDLY ROAD WARRIORS • Four road bikes with a top price under £700 – but which is our inflation-busting two-wheeled star?

WIZARD SPARK 2.7 DISC • £489.99 (RRP £649.99) Aero-influenced, disc-braked entry-level road bike

BOARDMAN SLR 8.6 • £550 The award-winning SLR 8.9’s little brother – and just half the price

TRIBAN RC500 • £649.99 Decathlon’s understated wide-tyre-friendly all-rounder

MANGO OG 2X8 • £669.99 Northern Ireland’s Mango is a colourful all-steel machine

AND THE WINNER IS… TRIBAN RC500 • Value-packed all-rounder for road and beyond…

BIG GAIN HUNTING • Team Sky’s marginal gains concept became a byword for being the best version of you. But, says a man at the heart of it, you should go straight for bigger wins…

The Joy of CX • Live action on the Beeb, a new generation of superstars and major races set in the UK. Cyclo-cross is on the rise. But is ’cross really escaping its niche status? And just how accessible is it? We hit our local CX circuit to find out…

EIGHT STEPS TO CX SUCCESS • Top-10 finisher Heidi Blunden of Parallel Cycle Coaching (parallelcyclecoaching.co.uk) offers her proven CX advice

’CROSS EVENTS • The UK’s key cyclo-cross calendar runs from September to February. Here are some events to get you in the mood for CX…

LET ME BE FRANK • A new biography of vaunted ’90s rider Frank Vandenbroucke shines a stark light on the darkest period in professional cycling’s history

BLACK STARS: FURTHER READING ON A TORTURED ERA

TAKE YOUR MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDING TO THE NEXT LEVEL

NEW BIKES & GEAR • THE UK’S BEST TESTS FOR OVER 30 YEARS

FIRST RIDE

Quick commuter Bianchi Impulso E-Allroad TRK • £2749 Flat-bar commuting speedster from Italy

DT SWISS ERC11OO DICUT 45 • £2300 A go-fast wheelset for real roads

LAKE MX332 HELCOR SCOTT GRAVEL TUNED

LIMAR AIR STRATOS • £79.95 Gravel-targeted lid from leading Italians

BRYTON S500 • £260 Proves bike computers don’t need to be complex

HOPE RX4+ DISC CALLIPERS • £100 each Solid road and ’cross 4-piston callipers

SPORTFUL GRAVEL OUTFIT

MEDIUM SEATPACKS • £49.99 - £159.99 Packs for race days and long days

BUYER’S GUIDE SADDLES • We round up eight of today’s top saddles from £50 to see which one’s best for you…

A YEAR OF SMOOTH SHIFTING • Senior tech ed Warren has been running SRAM’s most affordable wireless road group for over a year now. Here’s how it’s fared through rain and shine…

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