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Dauphiné Libéré
Photo ©: Sirotti


New Arrivals – March 9, 2005

Edited by John Stevenson

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Welcome to New Arrivals, a section showcasing the latest equipment that's landed on the Cyclingnews tech desk. Look out for reviews over the next few months when we've clocked up some saddle time with this stuff.

Canari custom kit
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Canari custom clothing

Want custom clothing for your club or team? Clothing maker Canari offers semi-custom logo gear based on a number of patterns and a wide range of standard or custom colours. The jerseys are made from DRYCore fabric, a wicking micro filament polyester and use Canari's Pro Fit cut for maximum comfort with raglan sleeves and 14in exposed zip.

The accompanying shorts and bib shorts are made from 8.5 oz Lycra with 1in grippers. The shorts use seven-panel construction to provide a space for a logo across the top of your bum.

More info: www.canari.com

 

Tours of the World
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Tours of the World by Paolo Pellizzari

There's a style of photography of bike races that we're all familiar with: the up close and personal, right in the action technique that fills bike magazines and websites. Generally, it's what we want to see: our sport's heroes battling mightily against each other and the terrain, with the finish line their sole goal.

Paolo Pellizzari's is not that style of photography, and it's all the better for it. Pellizzari spent three years travelling the world photographing stage races in locations as diverse as Guatemala, the Golan, Malaysia, China, Australia, Italy and Eritrea. His stunning, wide-format images put the races in a local context, reflecting the political and cultural aspects of their hosts. Racing is racing, the world over, but there's more than a few thousand miles separating the Tour de France from the Tour of Qinghai Lake and Pellizzari captures these contrasts.

The UCI helped fund Pellizzari's travels and the book kicks off with some flannel about the new Continental tour structure, but don't let that put you off - the images here are well worth the price of admission.

More info and to order: www.amazon.com

 

FSA K-Force MegaExo
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FSA K-Force MegaExo chainset

The K-Force MegaExo is the top model in FSA's 2005 line of integrated-axle chainsets. It features a monocoque right hand crankarm and spider with 24mm, splined, integrated chromoly axle and FSA's MegaExo bottom bracket with bearings mounted outboard of the frame in the style pioneered a couple of years ago by Shimano's XTR cranks. However, unlike Shimano's pinch bolt, FSA mounts the left hand crank with a self-extracting bolt into the axle itself, for sleeker and more conventional lines.

The 53/39 7075 alloy chainrings are pinned and ramped for shifting precision and mounted with 7075 aluminium Torx bolts, which should be far less likely to round out. A Torx spanner is supplied. The K-Force MegaExo is available in 170, 172.5 and 175mm crank lengths and FSA claims a weight of 740g; our 172.5mm set weighed 800g including the left crank bolt.

Weight: 800g
More info: www.fullspeedahead.com

 

DT Swiss 240s single-speed
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DT Swiss 240s single-speed hub

For the single-speeder who has everything, here's DT Swiss's high-zoot one-gear hub, complete with mounting for a Shimano Center Lock disc rotor. The 240s is available in two versions, with either a standard hollow axle for a quick release or DT Swiss's very nifty bolt-up axle, which uses 10mm bolts that screw straight into the hollow axle.

The 240s comes with an alloy lockring for its alloy freehub body and a full complement of spacers so you can get the chainline just so. An adapter is available for non-Center Lock rotors.

Weights: bolt-up/quick-release: 330/270g
More info: www.dtswiss.com

 

Giro E2 helmet
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Giro E2

With its line of road helmets now all traditionally styled, the E2 mountain bike helmet is Giro's top-of-the-line helmet that will take a peak for keeping the sun and rain off your glasses and out of your eyes. Now, I realise I'm out of step with just about everyone else who rides road bikes, but I like helmets peaks for those functions, though I know some folks find they get in the way in the less upright head position of a mountain bike.

The E2 boasts Giro's Roc Loc 4 occipital cradle (the strapping that grabs the back of your head), has 24 vents and comes in three sizes, S, M and L and five colours: red/white, blue/white, white/silver, pewter and lavender/white.

MSRP: $124.99
Weight: 350g
More info: www.giro.com

 

Shimano 2005 Ultegra pedals
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Shimano Ultegra PD-6610 pedals

The 2005 Ultegra version of the 'Lance pedal' replaces last year's PL-SL600, though you practically have to take a magnifying class to them to spot the differences. The 2005 version has slightly sleeker lines to match the styling of the new Ultegra group, and the surround for the tension indicator window is now black instead of silver. Weight has gone up a tiny bit, but what's a couple of grams between friends?

The PD-6610 comes with Shimano cleats and a spare set of plastic inserts for the tops of the pedals.

Weight: 315g (cleats & hardware: 70g)
More info: www.shimano.com

 

Selle Italia C64
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Selle Italia C64 saddle

Egg on face time at the tech desk. We missed this saddle when we featured three other Selle Italia seats a couple of weeks ago, because it's so light and minimal we, er, failed to notice it in the packing materials. Yes, we're blushing, and feeling very lucky that we did notice it before we threw away the bubblewrap it was wrapped in.

We think, however, that we can be forgiven for overlooking a saddle that weighs just 80g. Did we say minimal? The C64 is so minimal it's barely there. Selle Italia achieves this extreme low weight by constructing the C64 entirely from carbon fiber. There's a pair of carbon rails, a carbon hull and that's your lot. No padding, no leather cover. Clearly, then, this is a seat for special purposes such as prologues, hill climb time trials and low-weight project bikes for trade shows.

Weight: 80g
More info: www.selleitalia.com