Endura Hummvee Short (2008) - End of Life Update

Bought From: Chain Reaction Cycles

Price Paid: £35.99 (in 2008)

Note: The review refers to the short version of the 2008 Hummvee, not the 3/4 version.

On my commute, I quite often wear a pair of baggies over whatever bib 3/4s or bib shorts, largely for the pocket space, which is handy for stashing my train ticket, bike computer (whilst not riding) etc.

My last pair were Altura Ascent shorts, which were ok, but their pockets didn't survive scraping along the tarmac at 20 miles an hour, and so a replacement pair were needed. Having read around a bit, I decided to go for the Endura Hummvee, on the basis that they met my main requirement (lots of pockets, some of which can be closed by zips) very well.

First Impressions:

The fabric of the shorts is very nice indeed, and feels slightly nicer than the Ascent's swimming shorts like material (there is some of this stuff in the Humvees, but it seems to be on the back of the shorts. The Pocket arrangement is two zipped hip pockets, two velcro tabed rear pockets (large enough for a folded OS map), a key clip, a flap + velcro cargo type pocket on the left, and a zipped cargo pocket on the right. The cargo pockets aren't the cavernous size of the pockets on the Ascent short, but fit my ID card for work and train ticket in quite nicely.

You also get zips with mesh behind at the outside side of each thigh (open the zip to allow more airflow though the legs of the shorts) and velcro tabs on the short legs to close them up if things get a bit chilly. This last feature seems a bit superfluous to me, and probably of more use on a 3/4 short, but you never know...

The only reflectives on the shorts are a printed Endura logo on the belt tab, which seems a little pointess to me (it's covered by your jersey).

Also worth noting is the sizing, which seems more or less spot on. A year of cycling has seen my waist drop from 34" to 32", and the medium humvee (30-32) fits nicely (Altura's medium is far too large for me) - the belt on the shorts seems good too, not the overly thin, easily twisted afterthought that you get on Altura's Ascent short.

In Use:

I should preface these remarks by saying that I don't use the Hummvee's liner - that said, the "clickfast" system seems pretty good, and I would think it would hold the liner in place well if you did decide to use it.

The pockets seem to be well arranged, and I've not noticed any discomfort whilst riding (wallet in the hip pocket, train ticket in the right cargo pocket). I've not used the rear pockets as yet, and don't use the key clip - landing on hard, sharp things like keys if you do come off is no fun at all, and I'd suggest not carrying anything like this in shorts or jersey pockets.

Edit: Just rode in them for the first time in rain - that lovely soft touch fabric is not particularly good in the wet - it ends up holding a fair bit of water and feeling quite clammy. The shorts did dry out fairly quickly, but the way they felt when wet would put me off riding in the 3/4 length version in the rain. (Not too bad in the short version because the wet part is against whatever lycra you're wearing underneath).

In Summary:

Quite expensive (it seems to me) but well thought out, comfortable and practical baggies. The cargo pockets could be bigger, (if the ventilation zips were omitted) but they're adequate.

Update (March 2012):

I'm just about to retire these shorts, after nearly four years of daily commuting duty (2hrs per day, 28 miles in the saddle).  In that time, they've needed two repairs, both to a seam on the left leg that eventually (after three years plus) wore through.  My trying to make the second repair using wonder web, with an overly hot iron, put an irreparable hole in them.  Leg seam aside, the shorts have worn very well over the four or so years of use.

I still like the Hummvee, although I hope that Endura have improved the stitching of the velcro on the rear pockets, which had come adrift within a couple of weeks of using the shorts (a niggle really, I didn't use those much).  The shorts now retail at a slightly eyewatering £45, or about £11.25 - £15 per year of commuting, I suppose - they also come in a snappy camouflage "colourway".

There's nothing quite as good, pocket wise, as the Hummvee at a comparable price, although having to pay for a liner I never use has irked me to the point that their replacement will be a pair of 3/4 Zymes, at least initially.  Liner complaints aside, I can see myself getting another pair of Hummvee's at some point, they really are very good.

From Bike Commuters: DZR GMT-8 Urban Cycling Shoe review

Read More at Bike Commuters

An interesting looking bike shoe (SPD compatible!) reviewed over at Bike Commuters. Despite their assertions to the contrary, I'm not convinced that the laces won't be a problem, but these look like a decent bet for anyone that really wants to ride clipless pedals and have that sought after "regular shoe" look off the bike.

Posted via email from monkeyphoto's posterous

THE "GOOD" BIKE AS COMMUTER

The Giant SCR2.0 As Fast Commuter

Running an old chain too long on the Surly LHT has buggered the middle chainring on its triple (to the extent that is slips alarmingly when standing to climb, or sprint - suddenly finding you have no power and a load of impatient Audi drivers behind you is not my idea of fun). Whilst I wait for a replacement 39t chainring, the Giant is doing commuting duty.

The saddlebag is my Carradice Lowsadde Longflap, held on with ViVa bag loops on the rails of the Fizik Aliante saddle. There's always been a bracket on the seat stay for a Smart Superflash, so that's just switched over from the LHT - the other rear light (Blackburn Mars 4.0) is in the light loop on the Carradice. My M520 SPDs were put on (it's a very stop/start commute, and the usual SPD-SL would get annoying). My Knog Bullfrog goes up front as a flashing light, and a Dealextreme "flood to throw" torch goes on as the front steady light. This bike has always had a set of wheels with 23mm tyres (Aksiums and GP4000, currently) and one with 25mm tyres (handbuilts, DRC ST17 Elegant II rims on Tiagra hubs[1], with Pro Race 2 tyres) so the latter went on for the commute.

Since buying the LHT, I made some changes to the SCR2.0 - a 130mm stem as opposed to 110mm, FSA Wing Alloy bars, a 31.8mm seat post - all of which makes this a less practical, more leisure oriented bike, in theory. The sort of bike the Yehuda tendency would scoff at. (To be honest, even the solid, steel framed LHT is on thin ice with the Yehudas, on account of its 30/39/50 and 14-25 gearing - as any fule kno, you can't haul load with that sort of setup).

I shouldn't really be surprised, as I commuted on this bike for a couple of years, but I enjoyed today's commute a lot - the Giant is a lot more responsive than the LHT (although it needs watching far more around potholes & other imperfections in the road). Dry days, maybe I should treat myself to a fast commute more often.

[1] A really nice set of wheels, built by Paul Green of Rick Green Cycles. Highly recommended.

STUFFE

TOUR PODCASTS
The Velocast has gone daily for the duration of the tour - these are snappy little 15 minute or so 'casts reviewing the action of the day's stage, and are well worth a listen.

Also worthy of note is the latest Cyclingnews podcast, in which tour veteran (20 years!) Gary Imlach is interviewed. There are fantastic anecdotes and stories of the coverage and tour in this, and I highly recommend it.

NICE RACK
Bike Commuters reviews the Planet Bike K.O.K.O. rack - which looks nicely designed and well thought out - I particularly like the angled pannier supports, which taper in towards the seatpost from the rear. I'm not sure whether this serves a useful purpose, but it looks cool. More practically, the the rack struts will keep your panniers out of the wheel, and the light plate will come in handy for winter rides (Although I wish more manufacturers would drill these to allow the mounting of a couple of lights).

COMICS
Phil Plait looks at the work of Daryl Cunningham, who has a couple of interesting comics on his site examining Homeopathy, and the Anti-Vaccination movement. Well worth reading.

Less seriously, Nedroid.com looks at firework safety, through the medium of Reginald.

ASTEROIDS
Also from Phil Plait is a piece on Japan's Hayabusa mission, the first space flight to land successfully on an asteroid, and return to earth after doing so, an astonishing achievement, even without the trouble that plagued the mission.

MAD FIBER
Cozy Beehive has an excellent round up of links in his "Cycling Shorts" piece (see what he did there). It's very much better than this, (but includes fewer comics, so TAKE THAT, Mr. Bee). It includes, and expands on some of the misgivings I have about crabon myself, talking particularly about wheels.

THE MOST IMMORAL SPORT IN THE WORLD?
Sports Scientists have an opinion piece on this. His argument is that soccer lacks the redeeming aspects even of comprehensively tarnished sports like our own much beloved pro-cycling.

URBAN SKETCHERS
As interesting as ever, Urban Sketchers has a feature on Sports Illustrated artist Robert Weaver here. The link in the article takes you to a slideshow of Weaver's sketches. The pictures of the baseball players reminds me of the advice to "draw clear, not clean".

LE TOUR
Geraint Thomas is featured in Cycling News, sporting his new British National Champion's jersey. It looks great, and kudos to him and Sky for not doing anything wacky, or, for want of a better word, "Pippo" with it. Thomas has had a couple of good rides in his Tour debut so far, and deserves a hearty "chapeau".

Also from the Tour is the news that Mark Cavendish has been jeered by fans in Team Sky kit;

They yelled repeatedly, "Cavendish, you suck! Go home!"

With the reported arrival of the World Cup's Vuvuzelas at the Dutch stages of Le Tour, it appears some of the football fans' much admired attitude and "wit" has arrived too.

Bike Hugger, or David at Bike Hugger at least, is disillusioned with the tour. Whilst I appreciate that there are differences in the coverage between Eurosport & ITV4 here, and the seemingly very Armstrong centric Versus, I think his second point, about the doping coverage rings slightly less true with me. Although it's felt this way before (2008, anyone?) we do seem to be at something of a turning point towards a cleaner sport now. The fallout won't be pleasant, but it's fairly apparent that we can't continue looking the other way much longer.

SPACESUIT OF THE WEEK

Hunter Freeman is a photographer living and working in San Francisco. In an ongoing personal project, Freeman photographs astronauts exploring very pedestrian environments while fully dressed in Apollo Space Suits.

This, on Kitsune Noir is BRILLIANT.

MOVES
Pavé blog is now at http://www.pavepavepave.com/ , so update your bookmarks accordingly. (Oddly, feedly won't let me add the new site as a feed, must see if I can fix that that).

LOST
Lastly, Flowing Data brings us the Geography of Lost. Still no word on why I keep watching it though, sadly.

STUFFE

THE JOURNEY THAT SAVED CURIOUS GEORGE
I'm not sure how well known Curious George is in the UK - my daughter loves him, and had several of the books (and the dvd on repeat) when she was younger.

Urban Velo points us at "Curious George Saves the Day", an exhibition of the art of Curious George, and the history of his creators.

the authors who created him, Margaret and Hans A. Rey ... were German Jews living in Paris when they fled Nazi persecution on bicycles Hans fashioned from spare parts. Their journey is documented in Louise Borden’s 2005 picture book, The Journey That Saved Curious George.

It's odd to think of such a joyful, innocent character coming out of the horror of the second world war, something Rey mused on himself;

At such a time, Hans A. Rey wrote in a letter, “it feels ridiculous to be thinking about children’s books.” But that is what they were doing, prolifically, including a book about a monkey named Fifi, who later became known as Curious George.

To link back to cycling, anyone arriving at the exhibition (which is at the Jewish Museum in New York) will get a $2 discount on admission throughout June.

CYCLING INQUISITION
I'm surprised more people don't know about Cycling Inquisition - the writing is great, and his focus on Columbian cycling and cyclists is, as far as I know, rare in English language blogs.

Yesterday saw another good piece on Columbian Cycling culture, the race report that runs long because riders have to tell their mothers they've finished safely, the rider who works as a coal miner. It's great, and you should read it.

THE ELECTRIC TRAILER

Power assist can make a lot of sense for Cargo Bikes - but if you're not hauling stuff all the time, you end up with an e-bike whether you need the assist or not. So what about an electric trailer?

COMMUTING IN THE HEAT
Bikecommuters.com rounds up its posts on riding to work in the heat - if our hot spell continues here, this could be one to bookmark...

CLAMPDOWN
The Police in London began a crackdown on road users who disobey traffic law yesterday. Whilst I question slightly the implicit assumption that an equal risk is posed by all of them, enforcing traffic law can't be a bad thing. Cycling Weekly has more.

COMICS
Nedroid Picture Diary, and Savage Chickens both contain valuable life lessons in their latest comics.

TENNIS
Not a sport I follow, but the epic match between Mahut and Isner caught my interest. The Science of Sport blog deconstructs the match here.

WWII URBAN SKETCHER
Wonderful stuff from wartime artist William A. Smith, over at the Urban Sketchers Blog.

FARGO ADVENTURE RIDE
Great pictures of what looks like an awesome ride.

This ride is about fun, adventure, challenge and friendship. It could be argued that the routes and adventures are designed to highlight the versatile and capable Salsa Fargo, but I would argue the routes and adventures are planned to challenge folks and that the Fargo is simply the right tool for the job.

More detail, and a link to Gnat's flickr set of event photos at Salsa's Blog.

YORK CYCLE SHOW
A great piece at Velovision with lots of pictures. Look at the lugwork on the Hetchins, for one thing (third pic down).

THANKS
To those of you who made kind comments about "STUFFE" posts - it's appreciated. I'm still figuring out what the format should be (just links, some commentary) and you may have noticed it isn't daily any more. I'm playing it by ear, truth be told.

STUFFE

ENGINEERING CORNER
Cozy Beehive has an interesting piece on the forces experienced during a sprint crash.

Is that a lot of force? Depends whom you talk to and which industry they belong to. But for the Boy Racer, it would really seem he were getting slapped hard on his back by a Sumo wrestler applying 10 times the former's body weight in force, roughly about 6 Kilo newton or 1300 pounds.

You can read the article here.

THE DAUPHINE
Cosmo wonders in this piece whether it's time to re-examine the one week "tour tune up" races. I was a bit busy to follow the Dauphiné properly, but rather wish I'd made the time now.

REMINDER CORNER
Karl On Sea's Ironman is looming. He's doing this particular piece of lunacy (an Ironman is 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run) in aid of a fantastic cause, Macmillan Cancer Support, and you can sponsor him here.

SHARE THE JOY
A nice piece at the end of Cycling Inquisition's latest article, about remembering to tell the nice stories about your commute, as well as the horror stories too.

TRAILER CORNER

Burley have a guest post over at the bike trailer blog, with a bit of company history, and some information on their "Travoy" trailer. The idea of the Travoy is that it mounts to a seatpost hitch, and can be removed & wheeled with you when you get to your destination (a bit like a cool shopping trolley, if you can imagine such a thing). As they say;

Since you can take the new Burley inside with you, there’s no need to worry about locking up what’s in your pannier bag or leaving anything outside. And if you don’t want to stand the trailer up in your office or a restaurant, it folds down to briefcase-size to fit under your desk or in your cramped downtown apartment.

It's another neat solution in a growing number of neat solutions to carrying large things on a bike. How large? Well, there's a list in the post itself, but my favourite is pictured above...

STUFFE

THE VUVUZELA
Science of Sport today;

I was going to crack on with the science series, looking at fatigue, but something that I almost have to discuss is the controversy that is rapidly building momentum regarding the vuvuzela. This is the name of the traditional horn that South African football fans blow at football matches. If you have watched even one single minute of the action so far, you know exactly what it is. Either that, or you are concerned that every match is about to be halted by the world's largest swarm of bees.

I rather want one, to be honest. The Science of Sport blog article is here, and their other coverage is worth reading too.

UK ANTI-DOPING
Cycling weekly covers the new agency which is;

"responsible for ensuring sports bodies in the UK are compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code, running an education and information programme, managing intelligence and processing possible cases of anti-doping rule violations."

I must admit, I'd not heard about this, CW's articles on it are here and here.

BASIC SKILLS FOR BIKE COMMUTERS
The Bike Commuter blog is mulling a "Bike Commuting Basics" series - if you've anything you think they should feature, add to the comments in this post.

Also at Bike Commuters is this look at the Soma Double Cross (which is a nice looking bike). I have my doubts about mudguardless commuters, but that aside, their build looks like a practical, fun bike.

SURVIVING THE ETAPE
Via Gem at Bianchista is this excellent series of tips for riding the Etape du Tour - well worth looking at if you have this (or any other large event) in your sights.

FROM HARE KRISHNA, TO PUNK SINGER, TO DRUG DEALER, TO VEGAN CYCLIST
In fact, that hardly does John Joseph McGowan's story justice at all. A great interview over at Cycling Inquisition;

Back then, people I knew would ask "how much did you spend on that bike?", and I'd tell them...but then I'd tell them they could have bought three of those bikes with the money they spent on beer and cigarettes.

SCOTT PILGRIM'S WORLD OF PAIN

A preview of the upcoming Scott Pilgrim game. As one of the commenters points out, it's very reminiscent of classic side scrolling beat 'em ups like River City Ransom, Streets of Rage and others that consumed my early teenage years and I'm rather looking forward to it.

URBAN SKETCHERS
Introduced to me by the fabulous drawn.ca blog, I love urban sketchers.

STUFFE

LANDIS
This is old, but on the off chance that you've not seen it, it's well worth a read. The Science of Sport Blog reviews reaction to Floyd Landis' allegations (as of 27th May). It's full of good stuff;

However, the point is that cycling has slowed up, and while there are numerous factors (race situation, conditions etc.) that contribute to this, the suppression (not the removal) of doping is one strong possibility.

Lots of good commentary and links for further reading, highly recommended. Personally, I really like that they take the "So what?" attitude to the oft repeated "defence" of cycling that other sports have doping problems too (on which less harsh spotlights are cast).

For those of you who cross train, there's also a good piece on the Barefoot Running movement here.

MOTORISED DOPING
Two good debunkings of the allegations against Mr. Cancellara from Cosmo, and the Cozy Beehive (here, here and here).

BIKEHACKS "BECAUSE IT'S THERE" DEPT

Using a bike wheel to store your pans, and the MONSTER BIKE (strictly speaking, isn't it a trike?)

BIKE COMMUTING ESSENTIALS?
There's a nice post on the Utility Cycling blog about clothing for bike commuting. Predictably, it's brought out the hair shirt brigade, who balk at the very notion of bike specific clothing being thought of as essential.

Here's the thing. People are different - for me, anything up to about 5 miles is doable in my regular clothes (and I run errands of that sort of distance regularly on the Brompton without bike specific gear). Past that distance, sweat starts to make cotton uncomfortable, and the benefits of bike specific kit become more apparent. As Dave Moulton points out here, people didn't wear "racing" gear in the past because it was expensive, hard to care for and uncomfortable. That's no longer the case, and you have the choice, if you want it. As Dave says;

I would not dress up in Lycra for a short trip to the post-office or store, but if I am riding for an hour or more, I love it and would not go back to wearing regular clothes for a long ride. The modern clothes are so comfortable, and the great thing is, I can throw the shorts and jersey in the washing machine, they are almost dry after the spin cycle, and air dry in a few hours.

WOODCUT
Lines and Colors blog features these wonderful woodcuts by Canadian artist Lisa Brawn. There's something about the fairly modern subjects & colouration, rendered in a medium we associate with aged prints that's undeniably appealing. The commitment required to work in this way astonishes me too.

Also from Lines and Colors is this wonderful look at the backgrounds from animated films.

COMICS
A bumper harvest of three panel strips at "Hark! A Vagrant" demands your Lols.

Also, if you know me, you'll be unsurprised to learn that I was unable to resist the lure of Hyper Monkey Force.

STUFFE

ME


I've managed to get around to sorting out some photographs (from 2007!) - if you're interested, there are four more "new" ones in my flickr stream.

THE ENVIRONMENT
Or at least, that's HIS excuse. This comic from The System also features one of the neatest ways of representing pant-lessness iconographically I've seen.


BARBIE BARBIE
I knew about Plastic Peloton People, but somehow Barbie Barbie had entirely passed me by. It's

"a photo-comic inspired by cyclist Heinrich Haussler--nicknamed "Barbie"--featuring him, other members of the pro peloton, and Barbie doll herself. I created Barbie Barbie to help get through the last cycling off-season, and continue to produce episodes, although less frequently, now that the season is back in gear."

THE RAS
There's details of the first stage results of Ireland's FBD Ras over at Cycling Weekly, there are no second stage results because of a collision between riders and a jeep pulling onto the course which resulted in the stage being neutralised. The Ras' own site is here, including galleries from the current and previous editions, and a nice section "Stories of the Ras".

I'd also highly recommend Jack Thurston's Bikeshow programme about the Ras, which is here.

PSYCH COMMUTER BAG
Reviewed by bikecommuters.com, the Psych commuter bag is a different take on the frame bag. It's interesting, but is any solution for commuting luggage more elegant that Brooks + Carradice? I'm also fairly certain that my knees would rub the Psych bag and that would drive me crazy. I'm very jealous of the organiser pockets inside though, one of the few things I'd add to my Lowsaddle longflap, given the chance.

JAMES HINDLE
Drawn.ca featured "Little Wolves" on its site recently - click through to James' site and you can read his other stories - "Unsettled" in particular is a fantastic series.

JEALOUSY

"The Dirty Kanza takes place in a few weeks down in Emporia, Kansas. It is a 200-mile gravel grinder through an area called the Flint Hills. We're sending the Dirty Six...plus Lucky Seven...to take it on.

Each of these guys has his own motivations, and his own fears, for this event. Today they introduce themselves, their goals for the DK 200."

Which is all very interesting - however, what made me green with envy was the look at the setups the "Dirty Six" are riding - lovely stuff, the article is here, and the droolmaking pics begin down the page.

STUFFE

POSTER CABARET BICYCLE PRINTS
From Urban Velo, these lovely bicycle prints, produced by the Poster Cabaret company to celebrate Bike Month (May, in the USA).

RAPHA FOR LADIES
Gem at Bianchista has reviewed some of the new range from the big R.

Whatever you think of Rapha, they do little details extremely well - this should be how women's kit works, attention to stuff that matters rather than producing pink flowery versions of mens kit.

COME AS YOU ARE
A good piece for new commuters on the Bike Commuters blog, boiling down pretty much to not worrying too much about bikes, kit &c - just ride!

So, what should a potential new commuter do to give this thing a try? Here it is in a nutshell: find a reliable bike (it doesn’t need to be anything special), take a look at some maps to find an enjoyable route and GO FOR IT.

There's links in the piece to articles about changes to make if you need to carry things, and considerations like rainwear &c too. They also tackle one of my personal bugbears, the notion of the "perfect" commuting bike as a heavy, changuarded internally geared tank.

GIRO D'ITALIA
Yesterday's stage on the Zoncolan was a fantastic day's racing for fans, and Cyclingnews has rounded up some of the rider reaction in this piece here. Cadel Evans seemed to ride so far beyond the pain barrier that I began to wonder if he might just keel over - the World Champion's jersey seems to weigh heavy on him at times, although he's ridden a champion's race every time it's asked of him in this Giro. My favourite piece of commentary came from from the Velocast's John Galloway on twitter;

[J] I don't care if he looks like he's trying to strangle his bike, @CadelOfficial is a GREAT world champion.

I was also pleased to see Sastre put in an amazing ride to recover from being distanced at the bottom of the climb.

STUFFE

One panel from "One Day in July"

ONE DAY IN JULY
This piece will be in Rouleur 18, and is the work of Richard Mitchelson (find his blog here). It's a wonderful piece, and I love the way the panel reproduced here captures the colour and motion of the race. Richard continues to make Rouleur an essential purchase every time I decide I'm going to skip an issue, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of "One Day in July".

BICYCLE PORTRAITS SOUTH AFRICA
Covered on Urban Velo, "Bicycle Portraits South Africa" is the project of photographer Stan Engelbrecht and Nic Grobler. They've taken pictures of their fellow south African bike commuters with their rides, and hope to finance a book of the portraits via Kickstarter. As ever with this sort of work,a large part of the interest for me is in how the subjects choose to present themselves. You can see the photographs, and sign up to support the publication if you wish here.

VELO CLUB DON LOGAN
How can you not Rofl at this?

"I conjured my inner Belgian. Perhaps Filip Meirhaeghe (on or off the juice) or Bart Bretjens? (No, Bart's Dutch.) Tornado Tom on the cobbles or maybe even late-era Eddy? Alas, my inner Belgian would appear to have been standing on the first climb at Houffalize, eating frites, drinking beer and abusing other riders..."

From a race report in parts beginning with part one here.

GIRO D'ITALIA
Cosmo at Cyclocosm continues to bring it with his commentary - he looks over the momentous stage 11 in this post.

"I’ve heard riders complain about conditions before, but never in the terms that came up yesterday. The train of haggard human wreckage that trickled across the finish line on Stage 11 was enough, at least for a few hours, to inspire faith in clean bike racing."

THINGS I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SEE WRITTEN DOWN
From the Velo Orange Blog;

"I think white Pasela these tires look really cool, especially if you ride in a Panama hat."

FLOYD
I'm still getting my head around all this.

There's a good round up at the Cozy Beehive blog of the story so far, and the Velocast have recorded a special edition of their podcast covering the revelations so far. I'd recommend both.

STUFFE

6 MUSIC
The BBCs unorthodox "We're axing it" promotional campaign for excellent digital station 6 Music has paid dividends, with latest figures reporting an increase of 300,000 or so listeners to the station. That's 300,000 extra people who might shout "Just Coming!" back to your "Stephen" folks. This comes on top of the station winning two Sony Gold awards this year.

More (less flippant) detail at Love6Music.com. As well as details of what you can do to stand up for the diversity of content and choice that the threatened stations represent.

EXTREME HUMAN POWERED DELIVERY
The Oil-Drum has a piece on bikes being used to transport things, as opposed to just the rider;

"But also important for functioning cities is moving goods around, and most of the above options would seem to have severe limitations when one considers the variety of things that need to be moved. How does one carry a sheet of plywood across town? Surely not on a crowded subway. But a recent trip to China demonstrated for me that almost anything is possible."

Of course, it's not just China. This is a great video of moving the stone for an ornamental path by bike and trailer - old, but well worth a watch if you've not seen it.

"A lot of people say it's really hard to go shopping on your bike. I agree - NEVER shop for anything bigger than a sidewalk."

COMMUTING
Cycling Inquisition has been musing on commuting, prompted by spotting a Southern Comfort t-shirt, empty Budweiser bottle, and Aerosmith cassette at the side of the road. Either someone was cleaning out their car (onto the roadside, ccertainly common practice in Cheshire, judging by the amount of crap on the verges) or they have THE WORST parties where he rides.

FACEBOOK
From Information is Beautiful, this New York Times infographic breaks down Facebook's 170+ privacy options.

There's a useful step-by-step guide to getting some control over all this stuff on ZDnet, here.

I have to admit to being on the point of ditching Facebook - I use it less and less, and the issues around what they do with my photos and data are worrying, to say the least. The walkthrough above at least gives me a way to lock some of it down, and still stay in touch with the folk I know who use the site.

OH PIPPO!
Mr. Pozzato's desire to appear in ever more disturbing advertisements (exhibit one - the Sidi ad) continues with the pictured "Lego Head" ad for Lazer helmets. Another thing I'll never be able to unsee.

OH LANCE!
Compare this Mellow Johnny's jersey with the classic Molteni Arcore jersey. Homage, or Lésé majesté?

OH VALV.PITI!
Jesus god-dancing christ, can the saga of Valverde get any more ridiculous?

"We have a decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport confirming that it is his blood, that it contained EPO, and confirms that Valverde is a cheater. And, despite all this, he is still racing," said Olivier Niggli, WADA's legal director, to AFP. However, even if the anti-doping agencies win the CAS decision and Spain is forced to ban Valverde, he could be back to racing as early as 2011 if the sanction mirrors the two-year sentence which began in Italy in May, 2009."

LOCK YOUR BIKE
Barry Mason from Southwark cyclists features in this video (on Bikehugger) detailing common mistakes in bike locking.

See also; Sheldon Brown's Lock Strategy and MIT's Bike Theft Prevention advice.

STUFFE

FIRST THINGS FIRST
A somewhat redundant bit here, as if you know about The Velocast, you already know about their new team kit. But on the offchance that you don't, John and Scott have teamed up with Shutt Velo Rapide and Rocket Fuel Style to offer a sportwool jersey and hand made cycling cap respectively.

Quite a lot of shows and forums do kit, and it tends to be nice, but usually fairly run of the mill synthetic jerseys. I'm quite excited to see Velocast going for something as nice as the Shutt jerseys - sportwool is a really practical fabric for cycling. Merino (its main constituent) doesn't stink the way synthetics do, and manages your temperature much better. (Sometimes riding in synthetic jerseys you'll be forever donning & removing gilets &c to try & stay comfortable - that just doesn't seem necessary with merino). It's pricey (although Shutt's prices tend not to be that much more than a decent quality polyester team jersey) but nothing else is quite like it. If you've never owned a merino / sportwool jersey, this offer is a good opportunity to pick one up & give it a whirl. If you have owned one, you'll know already of course.

The other thing you should be excited about is the people they're using - I've spoken about Shutt before, they're good at what they do, and take a pride in it (they also source and manufacture here in Britain). Rocket Fuel have a similar attitude to their work, and have done really nice bespoke caps for cycling teams, as well as offering a range "pret a porter".

There's a page showing the proposed designs, and information on how to express your interest here.

(Oh, and if you don't know about the Velocast, and have the slightest interest in cycling, you can find the podcast, which will make you happier than a cyclist with a garage full of bicycles, here).

THE BIKESHOW PODCAST
Another Monkey favourite returns this week, Resonance FM's "The Bike Show", presented by Jack Thurston. OwenP (whose blog you should be following, it's better than this one) reviewed The Bike Show as part of his round up of cycling podcasts. For me, the joy of the Bike Show is its coverage of different topics within cycling, from bike jumbles, to camping out to follow the Tour of Flanders, to pressing issues like LGV safety in the capital. Jack's a great presenter and interviewer, and his show is well worth listening to.

GIRO D'ITALIA
Cosmo has an interesting take on the action so far, in this piece "Maybe all Grand Tours Should Start in the Netherlands";

"in real-world wind tunnels, cycling’s as much about Spider Sense as anything else. Finding your way onto the right wheel; anticipating nervous moments and getting a good position before the battle starts; knowing which splits will take care of themselves and which you should bury yourself closing—these are the elements that get Grand Tour champions through the first week."

Time will tell, I guess, but my personal take is that the Giro's organisers have made these first stages a little too chaotic. Whilst I'm no fan of the sort of "freeway" racing we sometimes see, there has to be some kind of middle ground that leaves the riders less susceptible to caprice than stage 2 and 3 seemed to.

Cyclingnews has this round up of the favourites' performances, from the Gazzetta Dello Sport. I can't help thinking that they're fundamentally underestimating Sastre. One of his qualities is the way he creeps up the GC seemingly without anyone noticing - added to which, he seems a thoroughly nice bloke. Whilst that latter quality isn't something that matters too much in racing, it's a quality that's endeared him to this monkey - I hope to see him do well once the race hits the mountains.

I was also gutted for Christian VandeVelde, who's out of this year's Giro following a crash (fortunately not as nasty as last year's). There's more detail over at Team Garmin-Transitions' site. I can't help thinking that I should stop picking VdV for my fantasy Giro team, as I seem to be jinxing him.

Whilst there's been a degree of outrage about a certain Mr. Vinokourov getting into the Maglia Rosa, he has, at least, served the full ban he was given, and no one's made any exceptions to get him a pro-tour ride ahead of time. I'm not sure it's reasonable of us as fans to expect the returning rider to be repentant and penitent as a condition of allowing them to race.

Which isn't to say that I wouldn't rather have seen someone else in pink, but the way people have been talking, you'd think Vino had an EPO drip attached to his bike, or something.

Sort of on the topic of the Giro, I'm finding it very difficult to become enthused abotut he Tour of California, in this first year that it runs at the same time as the Giro. Maybe it's different for folk in the 'States, but it looks a bit second string compared to a race with as long a history as the Corsa Rosa - hopefully I can get into the swing of things once racing starts.

REMEMBER THE CLASSICS
Pavé blog has a nice round up of stuff that they didn't have chance to post in the spring.

Not sure I agree with him about the new "trend" in cycling photography - personally, I'd call that underexposed, although it's of a piece with the "hipstamatic" iPhone app in that it fetishises the limitations of poor lenses and expired film stock. The irony of the B&W shot is that black and white film is so forgiving of hamfistedness that you'd have to try hard to underexpose as far as the example pic seems to. Ilford's HP5+, a monkey favourite, has to be seriously mishandled, or poorly scanned to lose so much shadow detail - knowing that makes the new style seem terribly affected, somehow.

FLORIDIANS!
Bike Commuter blog has a worrying piece about some local legislation being proposed, HB971 into which a provision has been inserted;

"Unbeknownst to Florida Bicycle Association, a mandatory bike lane use provision was included in the Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles bill. The bill also allows local governments to permit mopeds, golf-carts and other motorized vehicles on sidewalks and trails."

the thought of being forced by law to use some of the poorly thought out, even more poorly maintained and downright dangerous strips of green paint that pass for cycle infrastructure in the UK fills me with dread - unless that in Florida bucks this trend, this is a worrying development. The article provides a link for concerned Florida cyclists to contact their governor on the issue.

STUFFE

SKETCHING
Drawn.ca mentioned this great set of posts from Mark Kennedy. Titled "A Kick in the Head" they're intended as reminders for working artists, but work pretty well for those of us doing this for fun.

On a lighter note, wouldn't you like to know how to cure ANY weakness in your art in one easy step? SEE HERE!

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
I like NPR. But I have to wonder what they were thinking of here, specifically this section;

Riders beware, though: Urban cycling is not for the faint of heart. You respectfully share the road, of course, but you will be confronted by reckless drivers and the occasional angry pedestrian. But you're a warrior, so ride like one. Don't forget to bring your battle gear: a helmet, some LED lights and, of course, a dose of healthy aggression.

You aren't a warrior. You're someone on a bike, usually up against someone in (at least) a half tonne of metal. Claim your space on the road, ride predictably and considerately. No warring or aggression is required.

GET WELL SOON
Read on cyclingnews.com that one of my favourite riders, Sylvain Chavanel, will be out for 8 weeks after his crash in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Chavanel sustained a fracture to the base of his skull, potentially very nasty indeed. He's an exciting rider to watch, and I love his attitude to the sport;

You know, I just want to race! That may sound simplistic at first, but I'll explain: In this Tour, I get the impression that nobody really races. I mean, everybody is saving their energy for later, for the final week.
...
But I don't care about later... I don't care about a top 15 placing. That's not why I'm here. Cycling would be quite a sad affair if everybody was speculating like that. I mean, you shouldn't be afraid to take a blow. It's also much more exciting for the spectators: they want us to attack - and if we blow up on the next day, it doesn't matter! At least, we gave everything on the day we really went for it.

That's what cycling is really about in my opinion. We're not here to wait in an armchair for things to happen. I'm not here to win the Tour - those riders are in a different position. I just want to race and make things happen for me! Who cares if I suffer later... And I will, that's for sure. Today, I feel a bit more tired. I hit the pedals hard yesterday, and I was in a break already on Sunday, so there's no wonder.

(Excerpt from his Tour Diary on Cyclingnews, 2008). Get well soon, Sylvain.

PARIS-ROUBAIX - The Untold Story
From the cycling inquisition blog, comes this tale of what happens when you try to take a replica trophy (that is, essentially, a large rock) through airline security.

Without putting much thought into it, I told the TSA agent that the rock was part of a trophy for a bike race, which takes place on cobbled roads. "And you won the race then?", he asked. "Yes, yes I did", I told him. How else would I explain the fact that I have this weird trophy? Why would I actually pay for a replica of a rock/trophy? I had to tell him I had won, in order for him to believe me.

In essence, I had just told this guy I was Fabian Cancellara .... As soon as I said it, I imagined further interrogation in a dark room somewhere in a JFK basement. I imagined TSA agents comparing my face to pictures of Cancellara, and me being forced to stick out my jaw to match his brutal underbite.

INFOGRAPHIC
From flowing data comes this visualisation of US Tax Brackets over the past century. Now, for a non resident, that's not a matter of pressing interest, but the graphic produced is gorgeous.

A TALE OF TWO PODIUMS (PODIA?)
I'm really enjoying the commentary on Cyclocosm lately. This piece, on the reaction to the podium at the Giro Del Trentino is thought provoking.

I think it’s pretty clear that the real villains in this tale of two podiums are the fickle cycling fans and commentators, and I think more people need to adapt the attitude taken by Fleche Wallonne winner Cadel Evans: some athletes in every sport will always cheat to win, and no amount of wristbands, invasive testing, or draconian punishment is going to change that.

Mine's a Priscilla *BROOKS UPDATE!*

My New Secondhand B-17

As twittered a day or so ago, I made a recent impulse purchase of a used B-17 "Champion Standard" saddle. Having looked at the various ways of pressing a modern (bag loop-less) saddle into carrying a traditional Carradice saddlebag, it occurred to me that the weight of such an arrangement wouldn't be far off that of a Brooks. Buying second hand meant that the cost wasn't vastly different either.

Before I knew it, the eBay purchase was made, and the saddle arrived yesterday. Condition is pretty much ok, a bit scruffy, with some scuffs, but its probably a better option for me than paying £50+ on a new saddle for the purposes of trying out a Brooks. I'm one ride in, and starting to believe the hype about these saddles - although (obviously) the sit bone depressions are someone elses, the comfort is immediately apparent. It's quite different to the comfort offered by (say) an Arione, because of the movement in the top of the Brooks. The bag loops are a hugely better solution for the straps of the Carradice too.

I'm hoping that I get on with this saddle, as going back to the zipties to secure the bag doesn't seem very appealing at this point.


My New Secondhand B-17, with the Carradice Lowsaddle Mounted

I'm wondering quite where this slippery slope will take me next. Touring Bike, Carradice, Brooks Saddle. Are SPD sandals and a beard and pipe now unavoidable?

Review - Howies (Timbuk2) Messenger Bag (Medium)

Bought from Howies.co.uk
Price Paid: £30, shortly before they were reduced again to £24 :/

Addendum: Howies' collaboration with Timbuk2 seems to have ended, and they now offer two self branded messenger bags, the Chevron Bag, which is a really interesting idea (I'm not sure the reflectives are quite right for traffic behind though), and the gorgeous Hand Me Down bag, which costs a fair amount (to say the least) but is built to last forever.

The bag I review here is essentially the Timbuk2 meduim, so hopefully the information is still of use.

I ride a commute that consists of two cycling parts (2 and a bit miles, 12 and a bit miles), with a train journey in between. I'm generally carrying work clothes, something to read, waterproofs etc, and found the load space of a rucksack a bit inconvenient at times (essentially tall and narrow, meaning that if you packed the thing you want under the waterproof, a degree of unpacking is necessary).

The courier bag appealed because of the wide, shallow load space - in theory, this means I can get to things without unpacking other things. It struck me that it might also be a more convenient place for my train ticket etc, given the ability to access the bag while wearing it.

Timbuk2 messenger bags seem to be reasonably well regarded by commuters, and the chance to pick one up at a lower price than the somewhat eyewatering £80 RRP was too good to pass up, even though the Ltd edition one does look slightly like it's made out of '70s curtains. (Sorry Mr Oakley).

First Impressions:
The bag is very well made, and under the cotton duck outer is a solid looking waterproof liner. The main load space contains a good sized organiser pocket (more than enough room for spare tubes etc) that consists of pen slots, a large zipped pocket (which contains patch type pockets (I put my tubes in those), smaller zipped pocket, and a clear, id type pocket (which seems a bit useless to me, as asking someone to peer into your bag to see your license/security pass etc is, well, odd). On the outside, you have one decent sized zipped pocket (under the main flap when the bag is closed) which has a pocket without a closure behind (good for wet gloves, for example).

The bag arrived from Howies in good time, and ordering & delivery was straightforward, as it has been every time I've used them.

In use:
Well, the bag swallows up a deceptively large amount of stuff - I used it on a short shopping trip when it first arrived, and was able to cart a boxed DAB radio, and two boxes of washing powder home in it. My commuting gear goes in very easily, and I suspect I could carry a pair of shoes in addition to all that without really stretching the bag at all.

It is important to remember that the back of the bag is unpadded, and as such a degree of thought is needed to pack it so that you aren't tormented by stuff digging into your back throughout the ride. The main carrying compartment is one space too, so you need to give some thought to whether things will slide about in it.

It also may not be suited to the lower position of a racing bike - unless the bag is packed exactly right, it will inevitably slide one way or the other across your back, and seems to need constant readjustment. Again, the key to this is packing properly, but this particular pack is one I manage to do once a week at most, it seems. I suspect that a more upright riding position (on a flat bar bike, or the hoods of a drop bar bike) would make this far less of a problem. More burly riders may also find that less of a problem, as the stabilising strap may sit better for them. (I find it doesn't go quite high enough up the main strap, personally, and would be better if it could be fitted over the shoulder pad).

In Summary:
Solidly built, huge carrying capacity, but expensive at RRP, and may not be ideal if you ride head down a lot.