All posts tagged: cycling

A Professional Bike Fitting Will Make You Want to Ride Even More

A Professional Bike Fitting Will Make You Want to Ride Even More

Published by skeptic

I’ve been into cycling for decades—riding with grade-school buddies, kicking around in college, then city commuting in Boston, Paris, Barcelona, New York, and now Seattle. Somehow only in the last 10 years, when I became a volunteer mechanic at a bike-centric Seattle nonprofit, did I think about adjusting anything more than the seat height. Now I’m diligent about making sure I have the right bike and that it’s fit for my body and my riding style. I wish I could have figured that stuff out sooner, so for this story, I wanted to gather expert advice on the basics of what people should look for and what questions to ask when buying a bike. (My colleague Michael Venutolo-Mantovani has more advice if you’re going that route.) After that, I’d take my own bike to a professional fitter and go deep into the nitty-gritty of bike fit to find out what it means to have a tailored ride. I start with no bike at all. I walk to meet Rebekah Ko, the community resources director at …

Experts Reveal 20-Minute Cycling Habit That Can Improve Your Memory

Experts Reveal 20-Minute Cycling Habit That Can Improve Your Memory

Published by Sam Flores

Many will know that exercise seems to reduce dementia risk (a 2022 paper found that walking 3,800 steps a day may lower your likelihood of developing dementia by 25%, with increasing benefits up to 9,800 steps). Even when it’s not directly dementia-related, movement appears to improve memory and thinking skills which become more vital in later life. A recent paper, published in Brain Communications, has found that 20 minutes of cycling a day can create “ripples” in the brain that might help us to process and store information more efficiently. How did cycling seem to affect participants’ memory? The research involved 14 participants aged from 17-50. They tracked their brain activity before and after 20-minute stationary cycling sessions through an intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG). The iEEG measures electrical activity in the brain, which provides an added layer of detail. Previously, scientists had noticed “ripples” in the minds of rats, which were believed to improve their memories after exercise, though these had not been seen in humans before. But the iEEGs in this research saw similar results …

Infinite Machine Olto Review: A Tremendously Fun Ride

Infinite Machine Olto Review: A Tremendously Fun Ride

Published by skeptic

This is a 176-pound ebike, so you’re not going to carry it up your walk-up to keep it safe. Instead, you’ll have to live with the fact that you have to park the Olto on the curb or street; you can lock it up just like any other bike. Photograph: Julian Chokkattu But you don’t need to secure it, as there’s a lock for the motor and steering that’s automatically activated when the bike is turned off. There’s also a very sensitive alarm that roars to life if someone tries to tamper with the bike (it could stand to be louder), with a backup battery that can run for weeks, keeping the Olto’s GPS and alarm alive. If someone does manage to haul it away, you can track its location via the app. (This backup battery recharges itself when you pop the main battery back under the seat, but if you leave the Olto unattended long enough and it dies, you won’t be able to track the vehicle’s location.) I did a mix of both. …

Heybike Comfort Ranger 3.0 Pro Electric Bike Review: Tough Little Cargo Ebike

Heybike Comfort Ranger 3.0 Pro Electric Bike Review: Tough Little Cargo Ebike

Published by skeptic

It came in just a few pieces (seat, handlebars, front wheel, pedals), all of which I’ve already assembled and adjusted in my analog bikes. I still wrangled two friends for assistance, which proved helpful since it is somewhat unwieldy to wrestle the heavy frame in place with everything aligned. Unlike the other bike in this line, the Ranger S ($1,099), you don’t need the HeyBike app to use the Ranger Pro. The app lets you change the bike settings, update firmware, and track rides, but it’s not necessary to activate the bike. It charged to 100 percent in just three hours out of the box and has since taken around seven hours to fully charge in an AC outlet after running down the battery, which is on par with my full-size Radster Road. Photograph: Maggie Slepian I tested this bike during a chaotic spring here in Montana, which means muddy bike lanes, drizzle, sleet, and a lot of puddles. Unlike my full-size ebike, the Ranger Pro has a fully enclosed battery and has an IP65 …

Ready, set, ride! Everything you need to cycle with kids | Cycling

Ready, set, ride! Everything you need to cycle with kids | Cycling

Published by Sam Flores

In the least weird way possible, strapping children to bicycles is a longstanding tradition in my family. My grandparents used to haul their three kids around in a rickety wooden trailer hitched to the back of their tandem (see picture below), and some of my earliest memories involve being wedged into a bright red child seat with a gargantuan foam mushroom of a helmet obstructing my upper peripheral vision. Now that my son is old enough, it’s our turn to pick up the baton. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. Turns out, there are a lot of ways to strap a kid to a bike, and I’ve spent the past six months researching all the options to figure out what’s best. I’ve also spent lots of time using trailers and rear-mounted seats, as they were most appropriate for my son’s age and my bike setup. Safety is also a concern. Extensive research has been conducted in Germany into the safety of trailers, …

Wout van Aert wins Paris-Roubaix, stopping Tadej Pogacar from making history

Wout van Aert wins Paris-Roubaix, stopping Tadej Pogacar from making history

Published by Sam Flores

There are no mountains, let alone hills, on the route for Pogačar to exploit. However, finishing second on debut in 2025 showed he can be a contender. Mads Pedersen, Filippo Ganna and Wout van Aert are credible outsiders, but barring accident (highly possible in this risky crash-fest) or bad form, it is likely to be a duel between the two superstars. For the first time, the women’s edition will be held on the same day, finishing a couple of hours after the men. Defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and her Visma-Lease a Bike team-mate Marianne Vos are prime contenders, as is 2024 winner Lotte Kopecky. Briton Zoe Backstedt could challenge for the win too. It should be a dry edition with a slight tailwind. The men’s race starts in Paris Compiègne at 10.05 BST and is set to finish around 3.45pm. Feel free to send in your thoughts, predictions or favourites to me at andrew.mcgrath@telegraph.co.uk. Source link

Why Is It So Hard to Fix an Electric Bike? (2026)

Why Is It So Hard to Fix an Electric Bike? (2026)

Published by skeptic

If you Ask any bike shop owner or manager if they fix electric bikes, you get an interesting array of stories. “I know a guy who has lost a finger working on ebikes,” says MacKenzie Hardt, owner of Hardt Family Cyclery in Aurora, Colorado, and the former executive director of the nonprofit bike shop and community hub Bikes Together. Hardt has torn tendons in his own hand after accidentally triggering a cadence sensor that caused the wheel to spin out of control on the stand, even when the motor and battery were disconnected. He now has a message on the company voicemail that informs customers the shop will not repair any ebike without third-party UL 2849 certification, the gold standard that certifies that an ebike’s entire package, from electrical drive train to battery to charger system, has been thoroughly tested. (Check out our guide to How to Buy an Electric Bike for more info.) The Wild, Wild West A lot of the problem in fixing ebikes is related to the fact that a surprising number …

This Clever Bike Bell Can Even Be Heard by People Wearing Noise-Canceling Headphones

This Clever Bike Bell Can Even Be Heard by People Wearing Noise-Canceling Headphones

Published by skeptic

The unique Škoda DuoBell bicycle bell is a classic example of a completely analog solution to a problem caused by digital innovation. Its ringing sound bypasses the noise-canceling capabilities of modern headphones, which often isolate the wearer from outside noises all too well. People with headphones using active noise cancellation are often left in a perceptive bubble where they fail to react—or simply react too late—to imminent dangers on streets and sidewalks they can’t hear coming. The DuoBell’s mission is precisely to make itself heard even beyond the latest-generation barrier filters. Ring Bling To design the DuoBell’s ANC-defeating capabilities, researchers from the Czech brand—which coincidentally enough made its commercial debut in 1895 with a bicycle—worked closely with researchers at the University of Salford in the United Kingdom to verify whether there was a way to overcome active noise cancellation. ANC is now present in the vast majority of headphones and earphones, including low-cost models. It’s also a feature of software programs; it’s the tech that keeps your dog’s incessant barking from showing up in your …

Aventon Current ADV Electric Mountain Bike Review: Feels Just Like the Real Thing

Aventon Current ADV Electric Mountain Bike Review: Feels Just Like the Real Thing

Published by skeptic

While Aventon is known first and foremost as an ebike brand, the company started by making fixies in 2013. That gives it some bona fides when it comes to making enjoyable rides for experienced cyclists. (In addition to the Current ADV, there’s also a higher-end model, the Current EXP, with a more expensive carbon frame and better components.) Since its first venture into e-MTBs with the Ramblas in 2024, the company has continued to develop very nicely specced electric mountain bikes for the price. The designers behind the newest iterations did a masterful job. The Current ADV looks 100 percent the part of contemporary mountain bike. With its 6061 aluminum frame, SRAM Eagle groupset, tubeless-ready Maxxis Minion tires wrapping a pair of double-walled 29-inch wheels, a 170-mm X Fusion Manic dropper post, a Rockshox Psylo Gold front suspension that boasts 150 mm of travel, and a Rockshox Deluxe Select+, it’d be easy to confuse the Current ADV for a traditional analog mountain bike. Photograph: Michael Venutolo-Mantovani It’s worth noting that while the motor is proprietary …