gear and bike reviews

cyclocross gear and bike reviews

Getting SRAM Red 2012 Dirty in Cyclocross: First Impressions

20 September 12 • 8 comments

SRAM’s new 2012 Red Group, as ridden by Jeremy Powers has already captured the CrossVegas 2012 title, but what changes implemented in the new component group are relevant for cyclocrossers? In Issue 18, just off the printer, we did a quick round-up of the new drivetrains in “The Future of ’Cross Gear is Here,” including Shimano [...]
CrankBrothers Offers CXM Readers Exclusive 50% Discount Via Pedal Trade-in

15 August 12 • 14 comments

Here at Cyclocross Magazine, we enjoy hooking you up with offers that will save you some cha-ching. We figure, the more money we can save you, the more races you can enter, right? Even better—be a truly well-informed racer, and apply these savings to your very own subscription of our print or digital version (shameless [...]
How To: Craftsman Cordless Inflator Dials In PSI To Presta Tires With Minimal Conversion

16 July 12 • 14 comments

Check out a new use for the Craftsman Cordless Inflator: dial in your tire pressure to .1 PSI!
Product Review: Mad Alchemy LaFemme Chamois Crème

24 March 12 • 2 comments

by Molly Hurford When cyclocrossers think of the brand Mad Alchemy, they automatically think of embrocation. After all, embrocation to cyclocross is what … well, apple pie is to America. And while the brand may be best known for their product that should never, ever, go near a racer’s “nether-regions,” they do, in fact, offer [...]
Product Review: LEG LUBE® Shaving Gel

17 March 12 • 8 comments

by Molly Hurford When LEG LUBE® sent us their shave gel to review, I was a little skeptical. For one thing, I’ve never heard of a shave gel designed for athletes. Most of the men I know almost seem to get a kick out of rocking the women’s razors and shaving cream when attempting to [...]
NAHBS 2012: Shimano Unveils New CX75 Cyclocross Mechanical Disc Brake, Cyclocross Gearing and Wheels – Updated: More Specs, Exclusive Photos

3 March 12 • 1 comment

Update: Exclusive CX75 mechanical disc brake photos and specs added, price estimates for wheels updated. As seen with the introduction of the CX70 cyclocross component group in 2011 (reviewed in Issue 16), the Japanese component giant Shimano has started to take cyclocross seriously, and today at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) in Sacramento, [...]
Clothing Review: Rapha Women’s Classic Softshell Jacket

21 February 12 • 5 comments

by Molly Hurford When I first got into cyclocross, I heard whispers of a great brand of cycling apparel. Sure, it was expensive, but it was worth it, or so I heard. It seemed like all of the “cool kids” I was meeting had one thing in common: all sported some kind of article of [...]
Clothing Review: Louis Garneau Compress R Long Sleeved Baselayer

19 February 12 • 4 comments

by Brian Hancock In the fourteen years I’ve been cycling, clothing options have come a long, long way. And in cold weather ’cross, I don’t know if there is any other piece of clothing that can do as much work as a good baselayer. One way to help extend the temperature range of skinsuits is [...]
Clothing Review: Louis Garneau SF-2 Long Sleeved Plastron Baselayer

17 February 12 • 1 comment

by Brian Hancock In Michigan, the temperatures are dropping fast, so in an effort to figure out how to best stay warm during ’cross I’m putting a few baselayers to the test. Today, I’ll review the Louis Garneau SF-2 LS Plastron baselayer and will have a review of the Louis Garneau Compress R LS baselayer [...]
Vote Today! Cyclocross Magazine 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards

20 January 12 • 16 comments

As the 2011-2012 cyclocross season comes to an end, the editors of Cyclocross Magazine want to know what gear, racers and races you loved with our first-ever Cyclocross Magazine Readers’ Choice Awards. Who’s your favorite Euro star? Domestic racer? Your favorite brake? Tire? Have you adopted CXM Lab’s “Shimergo” drivetrain? What was the best tech [...]
A Bike Review and a Sneak Peek: 2012 Ritte Steeplechase and Steeplechase Disc

3 January 12 • 3 comments

by Josh Liberles We first spied Ritte Van Vlaanderen’s new 2012 mixed-material Steeplechase model at Interbike this year, as the prototype was being prepped for Katheryn Curi Mattis’ CrossVegas race. Ritte’s all-stainless-steel model evolved this year into a striking blend of stainless steel and carbon, and the Steeplechase joins Ritte’s carbon Crossberg in the company’s [...]
Service Spotlight and Review: Bike Flights Shipping Service

2 January 12 • 1 comment

by Andrew Yee With the 2012 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships and the 2012 UCI Masters Cyclocross World Championships approaching, many racers have resigned themselves to steep airline bike fees or paying full retail shipping rates to get their cyclocross bike or bikes to Madison, Wisconsin, or Louisville, Kentucky. There is another way as we’ve [...]
2011/2012 Cold Weather Offerings from Bellwether Clothing

26 December 11 • 9 comments

by Molly Hurford The best way to test cold weather gear is to, well, ride in the cold. So it’s taken us a while, with the mild East Coast weather this December, to get in some serious rides with Bellwether’s 2012 line up of cold weather gear. But when the cold finally hit, we were [...]
Cyclocross Gift Ideas & Reviews: Sports Nutrition and Energy Food

22 December 11 • 1 comment

The holidays are a perfect time to celebrate the gift of cyclocross, and what better way to whoop it up than to share some ’cross love with others? Our editors have reviewed, tested and hand-picked a plethora of last-minute gift suggestions. Today we bring you an array of nutrition products we’ve reviewed that might just [...]
Cyclocross Gift Ideas & Reviews: Warm Socks and Gloves

21 December 11 • 2 comments

The holidays are a perfect time to celebrate the gift of cyclocross, and what better way to whoop it up than to share some ’cross love with others? Give a teammate a must-have tool (that you can borrow), introduce a loved one to the sport, drop a hint by leaving this list out for a [...]