New Brooks Products for 2008

Brooks were at Interbike and had some new products to show along with their existing line up.

Their stand included a Pashley Moulton TSR 30 donned with leather bar tape and a Swift saddle.

New leather grips are available.

Each BROOKS Leather Grip is made with a stack of leather washers held together by 3 bicycle
spokes and 2 aluminium rings. This construction enables each of the 2 grips to be shortened
independently to the desired length.

The BROOKS leather grips fit all standard handlebars with a 22.2 mm diameter. They are
available in 4 colours: black, brown, aged (dark tan) and honey.

Download the grips brochure

Of much interest were the fold-up pannier bags. They are not waterproof and probably not much use on a Moulton. They do look good however...

They also announced a new wire basket...

made
of a metal structure, wooden base and a leather grip.
For the use on modern bikes this basket is equipped
with a modern KLICKfix® handlebar adapter

Also of possible interest was a new "Messenger" style bag. This is a waxed canvas bag...

featuring a shoulder belt which can
be easily secured around the waist while cycling.
The belt is the innovative part of this bag. Once
adjusted to the desired length, depending on the
height and waist of the cyclist, the belt can be
kept loose to carry the bag over or across the
shoulder while walking.
For increased stability during the ride, the belt
can be easily fastened around the waist simply
pulling the two ends of the belt and locking them
at the center with the “Sam Brown” fixing.

Other products to look out for in the near future are a laptop bag, a waterproof tote shopping bag (designed to fit perfectly into the wire basket), new handlebar bags and rear panniers.

The product section on Brooks' website has not yet been updated but the details (along with brochures) are available on the News/Press page.

Brooks 2008 Cycle Bags and Accoutrements Brochure

Brooks Leather Grips Brochure

New Garmin Edge

Garmin Edge's new killer apps for cyclists – wireless route sharing and SRM power compatibility - gizmag Article

The mapping capabilities on the Edge 605 and Edge 705 allow cyclists to truly get lost in their ride without losing their way. Both units come with turn-by-turn routing to destinations based on built-in maps and optional detailed street or topographical maps on preloaded data cards.

Altitude is recorded using a barometric altimeter for the Edge 705. This accurate altitude data makes it much easier for cyclists to match their altitude profile with their speed, cadence, and heart rate during post-ride analysis. The Edge 605 measures altitude through GPS positioning.

Moultonbuzz believes that for a truly transcendental ride, you should leave everything at home... except a pump and perhaps a few jaffa cakes. But if you must bring a gadget with you, then a GPS mapping gadget is an excellent choice.

The Garmin Edge 205 and 305 have been out for a while and they looked great. I haven't used one but I was told that it lacked the facility to tell you where you were. You could of course do the usual GPS stuff - navigate to waypoints, and create a log of where you had been. But if you were truly lost, and turned on the device, it would presumably know where you were, but it couldn't tell you.
There was also the issue of fitting the optional speed/cadence sensor to a Moulton, because of the larger distance between rear wheel and crank. For an excellent article on how to do this modification see Detlef Beyer's article.

Garmin Speed/Cadence Sensor modified to fit a Moulton

The new Garmin Edge 605 and Edge 705 have lots of mapping goodness so either could turn out to be a good replacement for my current hodge podge of GPS applications and hardware which usually sits at home while I go for a ride.

When used with Garmin Connect — Garmin’s new and improved online training site — the Edge’s benefits continue long after the workout. By pairing the Edge 705 or Edge 605 with Garmin Connect, users can join a worldwide network of cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts and log their workouts, track their totals, share workouts and participate in an online community. They can also search and download routes uploaded by other users.

Which is fine if you're doing it when you should be working, but not when you should be on your bike 🙂

Mondo NuVinci: CVT for bikes

It's being hailed as the first Continuously Variable Transmission that's light enough, and reliable enough for use on bicycles. If you call 4.2 kg light!

They're calling it a CVP or Continuously Variable Planetary Transmission.

The NuVinci transmission

The 350% range beats most 8 speed internally geared hubs, but is still a long way behind the range provided by a Rolhoff. It's equivalent to an 11-38 cassette.

The manufacturer expects the price to "be competitive with internally geared hubs currently on the market". I expect that means closer to Rohloff than Nexus.

For small wheels, the large flanges (150mm) present a challenge, with short spokes and big angles. I'm not a wheel builder, but I it looks like it's feasible.

The review on Bikehugger

The manufacturers site

Continuously Variable Transmission on Wikipedia