Christmas Presents for Cyclists 7

Words by Simon Whiten

Christmas Presents for Cyclists 7

Another complete cyclocross obssessive, Rob Allen starts off with expensive tastes as he’s looking for a pair of Zipp 303 disc brake tubular wheels. There’s a lot to these wheels with their very wide, 28.5mm at max, 45mm deep carbon rim and newly designed hub held together by 24 spokes front and back, in a 2-cross pattern at the front and virtual 3-cross at the rear. The front wheel weighs just 660g and the rear just 775g. On paper they look ideal for ‘cross racing and no doubt Rob is looking to put them to good use in his new Ridley X-Night.

Zipp Road 303 Disc Wheels

He then goes onto ask for some Challenge Chicane tubular tyres, which is a positive sign for the review of the Challenge Chicane clinchers which he is presently writing up. These tubs are UCI friendly 33mm width, made from 300 TPI superpoly casing, and hide a latex innnertube. On the outside they are similar to the Grifo XS, they feature a fast file tread centre but this is flanked by some much more serious looking knobs to provide extra cornering traction. The Chicanes are available from Paligap in the UK. Obviously priced at £72-00 each, these tubs are aimed at the serious cyclo-cross racer…

Challenge Chicane Tyres

Finally, despite the various connotations of cyclo-cross specific shoe that have been launched recently, Rob is convinced that the Pearl Izumi formula is correct and fancies a pair of the new Pearl Izumi Project X shoes. Rob is interested in these shoes as they should allow him to exert as much force through the pedal as with any full-carbon sole, but offer even better flexibility than a plastic soled shoe when running with the bike.