Road Cycling Digest: The Best Derailleur Hanger Alignment Tool, Pablo Escobar’s Brother, Building Titanium Frames, & More

Jan 10, 2022 at 13:48
by Sarah Moore  



What's going on in the curly bar world? Road Cycling Digest showcases articles from our sister sites, CyclingTips, VeloNews and Peloton Magazine. In each installment, you might find endurance coverage, power-to-weight ratios, gravel bike tech and, of course, lycra.





The Best Derailleur Hanger Alignment Tool: 9 Tested
By: Dave Rome / CyclingTips

Sticking out in the wind, controlling your rear gears and just waiting to be bent, the rear derailleur sits in a precarious position. As a result, it’s the little hanger the derailleur’s bolted to that is commonly designed as a weak point. Best ruin a replaceable piece of aluminium than write off an expensive derailleur, or worse, the frame.

But because derailleur hangers are designed to be sacrificed, that also means they’re prone to bending. That manifests as dodgy and inconsistent shifting that no amount of cable-tension adjusting, limit-screw fiddling or chain cleaning will solve. A derailleur hanger alignment gauge tool is not only extremely useful for diagnosing that your hanger is, in fact, bent, but also for making it straight again.

(Read more.)
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Bikes of the Bunch: Santa Cruz Highball XC-Gravel Bike
By: Alex J. Wissmann / CyclingTips

I wanted to create a gravel bike for tackling both technical trails and long gravel rides. Living in Switzerland, at the edge of the Jura mountain range, I’m often riding gravel roads with sections of techy singletrack thrown in. A pure gravel bike feels a little too under-gunned on those technical trails, while the fixed hand position of a cross country mountain bike is lacking on long gravel rides.

My solution was to build a bike that blurs the lines between gravel and XC bikes both in terms of capability and components.

(Read more.)
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Sex And The City Just Torpedoed Peloton’s Share Price
By: Iain Treloar / CyclingTips

Sex and the City has a long history of ruffling feathers. After debuting in the late ’90s, the show became a cultural phenomenon with its lurid depictions of socialites rutting. Soon thereafter, the names of its main characters – Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, Samantha – became conversational shorthand, as they navigated their way through both sex, and the city.

Now, I – a total Charlotte – am a writer for a cycling website in the year 2021, so why am I telling you this? Great question and thank you.

It is certainly not because I like Sex and the City* (although I will admit to a morbid fascination). It is because of what happened to Mr Big at the end of the first episode of the new reboot, And Just Like That.

(Read more.)
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Pointlessly Shift Your Bike’s Electronic Gears Like A Manual Car
By: Dave Rome / CyclingTips

Sometimes we see homemade tech that truly solves a problem. It often doesn’t take long for those ideas to become something that makes someone money.

And then sometimes we come across tech that exists purely because it can, even when it makes no sense. This old Playstation remote and Di2 shifter mash-up is one such example. And you can add Japan-based maker Ryoichi Inoue to the list of tech-minded heroes making somewhat pointless things simply because their impressive skillset allows them to.

While Inoue’s creations aren’t anything that solve a problem or fulfil a wish, we still can’t help but be impressed by them.

(Read more.)
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Would You Just Look At These Absolute Maniacs
By: Iain Treloar / CyclingTips

It’s time we talk about the pros and cons of the Good Old Days.

In that more innocent age, did people flock to the streets in their thousands to watch dull things happen? Sure. Did people get their thrills in antiquated ways? Definitely.

But were people also doing stupid shit without thought for safety, and absolutely zero OH&S to speak of? Absolutely.

(Read more.)
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Revel Bikes Launches The Rover, Its Entry Into Gravel
By: Dave Rome / CyclingTips

Revel Bikes is still a relatively fresh face, but in just a few short years has made its mark in the mountain bike world with competitively-priced bikes offering an effective suspension linkage layout and a durable carbon fibre layup developed by the founder of Enve, Jason Schiers.

Since then, the company put its name to ‘FusionFibre’ wheels made with an automated thermoplastic composites technology, and more recently the company announced a gravel version of the carbon rim tech.

Now, the Colorado-based mountain bike company has officially launched its first gravel bike (well, sort of). In fact, it’s Revel’s first bike that isn’t a full-suspension mountain bike.

(Read more.)
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What’s Happening With The Long-Awaited Warburton MTB Park?
By: Matt De Neef / CyclingTips

It’s been over a decade now since local riders first posed the idea of a mountain bike network in and around Warburton, 75 km east of Melbourne. It took most of a decade of consultation and planning until $11.3 million of funding was secured in 2019, paving the way for Warburton to become a true world-class MTB destination.

Renowned trail designers World Trail were brought on board to design and start construction on the network, which will include some 177 km of trails when complete. The jewel in the crown: a 27 km trail from the top of Mt. Donna Buang all the way back down into Warburton.

(Read more.)
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Titanium In Tuscany: A Visit With Frame Builder Darren Crisp
By: Augustus Farmer / Peloton Magazine

What was slightly unusual for me about visiting Crisp Titanium to photograph the company’s bike-building process and try to understand the man behind it was that I already knew him. Usually when I visit someone in the cycling industry I often become friends as a result, but with Darren Crisp we were friends long before the call and opportunity came to photograph his workshop deep in the hills of Tuscany—a region I once knew so well but hadn’t revisited for decades.

(Read more.)
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In The Attic
By: James Startt / Peloton Magazine

I first met Lorenzo Savarino in 2017 when I was looking to repair my vintage Eddy Merckx steel frame at La Bicyclette, a Paris bike shop that specializes in vintage bicycles and equipment. The shop was resplendent with a wealth of classic machines and components, and I often wondered where Savarino harvested his rich stock. I found the answer this past spring.

(Read more.)
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The Shirt Whisperer: Stijn Dossche Designs Incredible Pro Cycling Team Jersey Concepts
By: Tim Schamber / Peloton Magazine

Just when you thought a particular pro team jersey was cool, along comes Stijn Dossche to throw you for a loop. He takes what exists and makes it better with a twist and a tweak or smashes and mashes multiple brands together to create a shirt that’s so far out, that it somehow makes sense. He’s truly a great designer because the response is often “Yep! that really works well.” He nails it every time in our book.

(Read more.)
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Solving The Puzzle Of The Secret Wheels
By: Brad Roe / Peloton Magazine

Most visitors don’t go to family-owned Mexican restaurants in Andorra. While there, few diners would order ceviche in an oversized goblet and even fewer would back that up with a brave order of nachos stacked with local chorizo. But this is how I met Gaëtan Goron. He’s a journalist from Paris who was covering his first Tour de France and found the driver who delivered the Princeton CarbonWorks to Mathieu van der Poel’s mechanic that helped the Dutch star keep the yellow jersey on the stage 5 time trial at the Tour. But that’s not really the story.

I was eating with Gaëtan and his colleagues when he told me how the secret delivery happened. It’s a story that is partly about sponsor dynamics, cycling and late-night deliveries by a Dutch hotelier in the Pyrénées (who I later met and interviewed). It’s also a story about his math savant brother, a socialist French newspaper started by Jean-Paul Sartre and the meditative task of making six crossword puzzles a week.

(Read more.)
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Places of Cycling: Majorca A Sanctuary for Cyclists and Poets Alike
By: Peloton Magazine

The road that follows Majorca’s north coast will be familiar to many cyclists. Its undulations connect the towns of Port de Pollenca and Soller, making it an essential part of many routes in the north of the island. Riding west past Soller the road hugs a steep forested hillside. The Balearic Sea rolls away to the horizon. And just before the village of Deià is La Casa de Robert Graves. This is the house where the English poet lived for 53 years, until his death in 1985. Built in 1932 from local stone at the instruction of Graves and his partner, the American poet Laura Riding, the two-story house has an air of peaceful creativity.

(Read more.)
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Pablo Escobar’s Brother: The ‘Narco’ Who Dreamed Of Racing The Tour De France
By: Andrew Hood / Velonews

Everyone knows Pablo Escobar, who ran the Medellín cartel until his death in 1993, was one the world’s most notorious “narcos.”

What’s lesser-known is how his older brother, Roberto Escobar, was once a top cyclist in Colombia who dreamed of racing the Tour de France before joining his brother in a life of crime.

The Spanish daily El País outlines the unlikely and ultimately violent story in a report on its website.

The story details Roberto Escobar’s cycling roots before he joined his younger brother, Pablo, and went on to run the financial side of the operation during the cartel’s rise and fall. Roberto was jailed for more than a decade and released in 2006.

(Read more.)
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11-time National Champion Track Cyclist Christina Birch Is Going To Become An Astronaut
By: Betsy Welch / Velonews

Before December 6, if you Google’d Christina Birch’s name, the first website that came up was the track cyclist’s USA Cycling “Meet the Athlete” page.

Now, however, her name brings up a different homepage – nasa.gov.

That’s because Birch, an 11-time track national champion, two-time Pan Am gold medalist, and Olympic long team member, is going to become an astronaut.

(Read more.)
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24 Gravel Tires Lab Tested For Speed
By: Lennard Zinn / Velonews

Getting off pavement brings freedom not found in traditional road riding. It also brings more rolling resistance; pedaling becomes heavier as soon as you roll off the asphalt and onto the dirt, robbing you of either energy or speed.

You have some options to minimize this energy cost. Adjusting tire pressure is the zero-cost method and can make a large difference in the power required to maintain a given speed. Changing to a different tire width can also reduce rolling resistance, as can switching to a different brand and model of tire that has a more supple tire casing, a more flexible puncture protection layer, and/or a tread compound with lower hysteresis (the lag in rebound following impact).

(Read more.)
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Off-season With Sepp: How Sepp Kuss Keeps His Cycling Stoke All Year Long
By: Jim Cotton / Velonews

The off-season means different things for different riders. For some, it’s six weeks of boxsets, bingeing and beers after a season of severe dieting and training toward burnout.

Not so for Sepp Kuss.

The Coloradan climbing sensation spends his early winter riding trails, hiking up mountains, and adventuring to Colombia.

So why no slouching on the sofa and hiding away the bike? Because Kuss keeps his stoke for cycling 12 months a year by embracing a little of everything in moderation.

(Read more.)
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Author Info:
sarahmoore avatar

Member since Mar 30, 2011
1,321 articles

60 Comments
  • 58 7
 Before all the butt-hurt posters arrive - these articles have been happening since March 2020
  • 22 2
 I think just reading the title is enough to trigger them.
  • 21 12
 In the world where every content is a good enough content, I think that they should throw in some naked girls. On bikes, of course. And since we are at it, some naked guys. Equality. I'm all for that.
And some crossword puzzles.
Sudoku, maybe?
  • 8 5
 So basically since content started to dry up due to covid. March 2020 is when the UK and many other countries first went into lockdown.
  • 1 0
 someone needs to make the Legs of Steel 'The Same Difference' of cycling
  • 4 0
 full disclosure i own a trek madone
  • 4 1
 @rbeach: content Dry up?

they run a water bottle article every week
  • 1 0
 In the world of internet content, any user interaction is good interaction.
  • 2 2
 @pakleni: NYC Fire Victim Charging Nine E-bike Batteries Before Blaze
  • 13 0
 MTBers when world cups and Rampage are over and its constantly snowing/raining/freezing cold/etc: (FURIOUSLY PACES PINKBIKE COMMENTS)

and/or poking PB with a stick... "Cmon... Do another BvsB or Field Test video"
  • 16 2
 Ooh Met my first Outside-paywall!
  • 1 0
 These articles are now designed to give you a taste ands prepare you for the future.
  • 1 0
 just disable javascript on the whole site
  • 15 5
 Some of the hardcore MTB'rs should try a road bike and go for a ride. It is a bit like meditation compared to MTB, and will give you better fitness (fitness increase it nothing like meditation, just long leisure rides)
  • 7 2
 Any so called MTBer that was interested in the other side bought a gravel bike in 2019 and now only eats vegetables.
  • 5 14
flag GlassGuy (Jan 11, 2022 at 6:26) (Below Threshold)
 or just ride your mtn bike...on road too. Why the need to buy a different bike? I bought a road bike for "training" but I'd rather know my main bike and it in any conditions. Road bike...sold
  • 9 2
 @GlassGuy:
Mtb ridden on tarmac is just terrible, and I personally can't se any benefit regarding skills when riding with low intensity on the road
  • 4 3
 First and primary bike is always the big heavy steel commuter with dynamo lights etc. You need to get to work, shops and all that anyway. The rest of the bikes are for hobby. What's the point of a dedicated "road bike"? I don't really see how a "sit and spin" approach would be better for fitness than other approaches that use bigger muscle groups. If one likes riding roads fast then sure, get a road race bike and enjoy that. But just to improve fitness, there are better and more effective ways to do that. Especially if you already have other bikes to ride.
  • 4 2
 @GlassGuy: Bought and then sold a road bike.

Everyone point and laugh.
  • 1 1
 @j0lsrud: Truth. These guys probably drive nails with the handle of an adjustable wrench, because you know, you could...kinda.
  • 2 0
 @GlassGuy: idk why you're getting downvotes, you are 100% correct. I ride my XC MTB on road+gravel all the time. bought and sold a gravel bike because of how much worse it was.
  • 1 2
 Love road biking. If I had to choose, I would probably choose road bikes over mountain bikes. So accessible, so much less bullshit. Get on the bike and ride from your house, come back when you please.
  • 2 0
 @TEAM-ROBOT: same is true for MTB, except you don't deal with teen drivers
  • 2 0
 @TEAM-ROBOT: people will lose their shit over this one...
  • 6 0
 Loved the article about those Past Absolute Maniacs. That picture of the guy descending the stairs on his "????" is so f*cking rad.
  • 1 0
 If people can ride down stairs on a unicycle, why keep the small wheel on the ground. Seems a lot more dangerous like that. Or was that the point? It's like someone trying to roll a Rampage canyon gap instead of jumping it. Yes it indeed is more difficult and dangerous like that, but is it worth it?
  • 1 0
 Real talk. You can't even read all the posted articles without paying? Got to the 5th article and got a pop up saying "Hope you enjoyed your free articles, sign up to read more". Great job Pinkbike, but Outside will get none of my money.
  • 1 0
 The Darren Crisp article promised so much and delivered so little. A quarter of the way in, and it was still the intro. As a reader, I want to know more about those weld sequences etc. The writer inserting himself into the article made it less interesting, IMHO.
  • 5 1
 That SC is just a drop bar XC bike isn’t it?
  • 1 1
 Yep.
  • 2 1
 It is, but it’s a very cool build, imo.
  • 3 1
 Yeah, a gravel bike.
  • 2 1
 Yeah. It’s completely pointless because dropbars, well, they suck.
  • 3 0
 Throw in some Road Cycling content - Be a dick about it... : (
  • 3 3
 I looked for a way to block these articles, but nada, zilch.

I'd love to block these articles and the ones about who is leaving/joining teams. I'm not a fantasy mountain biker, I prefer to ride a bike.
  • 1 0
 if you guys wanna read the article w/o the paywall, disable javascript on the whole site. they can either have SEO, or force you to pay for articles, not both
  • 5 4
 Ducking road bikes! next you're be telling me about the Outside+ Zwift colab.
  • 2 0
 Sex and the City:..."lurid depictions of socialites rutting". Ha-ha.
  • 2 1
 Was someone under the misimpression that a hanger alignment tool is only for road bikes??
  • 2 0
 Give it 5 years and the first 180mm road bike will be available
  • 1 0
 Just realized Cycling Tips has a paywall - had no idea. Guess we can expect that here soon.
  • 1 0
 I know roadies count grams. ...So I wonder how many grams of coke did it take Roberto to win a typical race?
  • 2 1
 10/10 would run a stick shift on my bike.
  • 1 0
 A bit behind on the entertainment news, I see.
  • 1 1
 If there are 9 derailleur hanger tools for roadies, I'm thinking they need Supre Drive more than they'll never know.
  • 2 2
 Oh yes I need to know about PABLO ESCOBARS brother
  • 1 2
 Guess I should have read it first LOL, commence down voting me!
  • 9 10
 I love this content! Be safe be well, Incognito Robin
  • 3 0
 Really getting your money's worth out of that one, eh?
  • 2 2
 Why? Does it generate income for you?
  • 4 3
 @nurseben: The more clickthroughs the better!

Be safe be well,
Incognito Robin
  • 2 3
 ROAD WEENIES. SUCKS TO BE THOSE NERDS
Below threshold threads are hidden







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