Specialized Turbo Vado SL 4.0, Pact Gran Fondo Espresso coffee

Specialised Turbo Vado SL 4.0, Pact Gran Fondo Espresso espresso 
With the 2020 Tour De France now nicely underway, we promptly posted our complete guide to the race together with a complete start list and recommendation on how to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the action.

Canyon shocked us initially of the week with its Future Mobility concept, an interesting tackle the way forward for city mobility within the type of a four-wheeled electrical recumbent. Rather less quirky was the announcement of two all-new electrical commuter bikes from the German model; the Commuter:On and Precede:On.

When you’re out there for a brand new water bottle then take a look at our latest tests on eight insulated and non-insulated designs.

Standout bike evaluations this week embody Marin’s HOTEBIKE ebike, which scored 4.5 stars throughout testing, and the ladies’s-specific Trek Domane SL5 street bike, which additionally got here away with excessive reward.

Specialised’s black paint is a deal with, whereas the reflective body graphics are one other good contact. Oli Woodman / Fast Media

Dropped stays and interesting tube shapes make for a sharp looking bike. Oli Woodman / Immediate Media

2021 Specialized battery display
The top tube control unit does a great job of communicating information on the motor and battery. Oli Woodman / Immediate Media

2021 Specialized motor
Specialized’s own-brand motor is considerably lighter than most other designs. Oli Woodman / Immediate Media

2021 Specialized
The rear light is neatly integrated into the Specialized Bridge Sport saddle. Oli Woodman / Immediate Media

2021 Specialized controller
No complicated displays just a simple four-button thumb remote. Oli Woodman / Immediate Media

Specialized’s latest generation motorised hybrid weighs 26kg
That’s a real achievement in our eyes and makes this bike light enough for most people to be able to lug up and down staircases with relative ease. It should also make for a bike that handles well and is lighter on its brakes than many of its competitors.

It’s an obvious choice for commuters, but Specialized is also keen to push this bike on those who want to ride for fitness and fun.

Glance at the top tube and you’ll see a neatly integrated control unit that also displays the battery level and which – if any – of the motor’s three assistance modes is active.

Spesh claims a range of up to 80 miles / 125km in the bike’s lowest eco assist mode.

This entry-level model comes well equipped with a 21-speed Shimano Deore transmission, Tektro hydraulic disc brakes and neatly integrated front and rear lights. Mixed tread 38mm Specialized Pathfinder tyres signal that there’s no need to stick to paved surfaces while heaps of clearance means mudguards won’t be an issue.

Our 2021 Turbo Vado SL range overview gives more information on the bikes and we’ll be reviewing this particular bike in the near future, so stay tuned for that.

Using what it calls ‘encapsulation technology’, the vegan friendly drink mix is claimed to use a patented mechanism of capturing microbubbles of oxygen, five hundred times thinner than a human hair, and delivering them to your bloodstream via the drink within four and a half minutes.

Avrox also claims an independent study by the Surrey Human Performance-Institute showed the drink delivered a 37 second time improvement over a 16km / 10 mile time trial, as well as 4 and 7.1 per cent average increases in mean and peak power output, respectively.

If you’re thinking all of that sounds too good to be true, we wouldn’t disagree, but we are intrigued. The oxygen microbubble technology might sound like science fiction, but it’s something that was originally developed for use in cancer therapy, so there could be something in it.

Avrox did also share the aforementioned study with us, and though we can confirm it shows the results quoted, it asked us not to share it publicly because the paper has yet to be officially published due to Covid-19 related delays.

It’s also worth noting that the drink mix contains 80mg of caffeine per serving, which may account for some of the performance benefits detected in the study.

The presence of multiple potential ergogenic aids also makes it difficult (if not impossible) to attribute any performance gains to the oxygen microbubble technology. Ideally, we’d like to see a study testing the efficacy of that tech on its own before drawing any conclusions.

Our in-house time trialist and performance guinea pig, Simon Bromley, took a sample as per the instructions before a recent 40km / 25 mile time trial, but doesn’t feel like he rode any better or worse than expected. He also described the taste as ‘bearable’.

Of course, that’s a sample size of one, in a very much uncontrolled, none-double blind scenario, so don’t take that experience as conclusive.

In summary, it’s perhaps too early to tell if oxygen microbubble technology will become the next beetroot juice or Ketone esters, but racers looking for the next legal edge might at least keep their ears to the ground.

Bookman Backup Lights

Bookman Block Gentle

The Block entrance gentle from Swedish firm Bookman. Bookman

This cheerful little gentle has a rubbery strap that’ll allow you to connect the surprisingly shiny LED unit to bars, forks and posts with ease. They’re good and small, so may be stashed in again pockets with out getting in the way in which, and the claimed 25 hour battery life, with a 2 hour USB-Mini cost, means you received’t consistently should be re-charging them.

Bookman Eclipse gentle

The weatherproof Eclipse gentle clips simply onto clothes equipment. Tom Marvin / Fast Media

You may cycle between entrance and rear gentle illumination settings. Tom Marvin / Fast Media

With a sprung clip on the again, the semi-circular triple LED within the Eclipse may be clipped to the entrance or rear of your jacket, or on a bag or pannier. There are 5 LEDs – three white, two pink, giving versatility. The 60 hour burn time means you’re unlikely to be caught brief (of battery…).

Pact Gran Fondo Espresso espresso

Pact Geraint Thomas espresso. George Scott

When you like your coffee and your bike racing, this one could be for you. Pact has launched a brand new espresso mix, developed together with Geraint Thomas.

The 2018 Tour de France champion has joined Pact as an envoy and the limited-edition mix has apparently been tailor-made to the 34-year-old’s style.

The Gran Fondo Espresso has a zesty profile, in response to Pact, and is balanced with a darkish chocolate flavour that provides it a stronger roast. The beans are grown on the Buenos Aires farm in Colombia and the Remera Washing Station farm in Rwanda, and the mix is finest served as a traditional Italian 5oz cappuccino.

Pact, in case you’re not acquainted, is a espresso subscription service; you possibly can both purchase by the bag or Nespresso-compatible pods. Geraint’s mix is accessible as a 250g bag of beans till the top of September.