In the name of the father: DeMarchi profiles il Campionissimo in new video

How do you approach a myth? How do you talk about one of the greatest champions of all time without being trivial?

More than sixty years after his untimely death, Fausto Coppi is still a huge presence in the memory of a nation and a sport, which in his time had begun to fly thanks to the feats of those who will be remembered forever as heroes. And Coppi, of those heroes was the greatest. (For context, suggest the William Fotheringham bio, Fallen Angel. A cracking read.)

Romantic hero, with that neorealist actor look. Style hero. Before him, cyclists were only rudimentary athletes. His grace, his ways and his precise ideas in terms of dressing and his presence even outside the competitions helped to create the collective consciousness of a people that began to spread its wings.

Few cycling brands straddle the knife’s edge of storied past and contemporary relevance quite like DeMarchi. Sure, most of their collection borrows heavily from the brand’s yesterday; the retro-modern jerseys one’s sees mostly at Eroica rides. And yet, its adherence to its distinctive past is what makes it interesting. The celebration of its core: the place it occupies in cycling legend.

From DeMarchi, a good 5 mins look at what it was like to grow up with Coppi as a dad, if only for a brief moment.

Drawing inspiration from within: Albion insulated jacket 2.0 review

Saturday 29 May 2021. While the Giro moves over the San Bernardino and Splügen Passes to Alpe Motta, we’re somewhere nearby in Switzerland on the Julier having just come over a snow-lined, car-free Albula. A thousand miles away in London, Charlie Stewart - one of the founders of Albion - is, on the same day, in a densely populated city, creating kit already well known for its versatility, quality, and manufacture from carefully-sourced materials.

Ironically and unlike many of his competitors, it’s not from idyllic scenes - the Splügen, the Albula, and others that dominate cycling narratives - from which Stewart and his team gather inspiration. Rather, they are committed to writing briefs where gritty, wet, unforgiving UK roads feature - conditions for which construction must be prioritized ahead of most other things.

For Stewart and Albion, their trajectory mimics UK cycling’s own which began in 2010, owing to Tour wins, big, aesthetically focused brands, and finally, a passion for riding that’s been nurtured ever since. Early in their careers, they were captivated by multi-layered scenes, first in Grand Tours and then in a broader cycling context.

Heritage-led brands carried less relevance in his mind, however. Along with his partners, Stewart saw room to create a brand cultivated from a domestic pallette.

Telling the story of British cycling Which brands tell the story of British cycling? The hill climb challenges, long rides on farm roads, the weather - the vastness of the domestic scene?

The earliest known name for the island of Britain used by ancient Greek geographers was in fact, Albion. Eventually the Romans explained it as referring to the cliffs at Dover, and it’s from here that the company took its name when they launched in 2016, initially with a collection consisting of a long sleeve jersey, a buff, a waterproof case, and a cap.

Not seen here: any product from Albion. Just a shot from the same test weekend on the Klausen pass. All walls. No cars.

“We had zero experience building a cycling brand, but all the passion to push through the complications and challenges of starting a brand from scratch,” he recalls over a Hangout. “The reality is that even now we’re still small, but there’s a graduation that needs to take place. We’re now a known brand with some room to grow.”

As the lines between kit and clothing blur across cycling, Albion appears to be positioned at a crossroads. The company sees itself as an outdoor brand first, motivated by exploration, adventure, and big days out. Relatable contexts that cyclists can see themselves within. What they are not is a brand obsessed with segments, racing, and a glorification of “a kind of cycling” that adheres rigidly to rules and norms.

Grahame Reaburn - the former lead designer at Rapha for over a decade - joined the company in May - a move Stewart expects will give the company added opportunity and credibility within the cycling community. More importantly, however, is that the kit becomes multi-dimensional. Not something that is singularly worn to do one thing, but capable of transitioning from bike to anything.

“We want people to wake up in the morning with Albion as a brand who gets you out the door, for the rides where you’re gonna go big. Where you know you’re going to come up against a certain amount of harshness.”

Insulated jacket 2.0 review You can always tailor products to specific cycling types. A windbreaker to descend for road riders. An insulated jacket for brevet-style rides and mountain biking. Segmentation for segmentation’s sake. But what if you could simplify that offering, limiting it to only versatile pieces best defined by users, not designers?

Albion sees itself within this context, anxious to push the usability of its products so that they are cycling-specific but not out of place off the bike, too.

To validate the concepts we discussed with Stewart, we had a chance to try Albion’s insulated jacket 2.0 in several different environments - first in the Swiss and French Alps, primarily worn during road descents in late spring and in cool weather, then locally, as a stashed piece of kit on a couple of mountain bike rides.

Making friends with the insulated jacket 2.0 on the Albula pass before a car-free descent. Tailored fit. Very warm. Exceptionally well made and littered with details.

Stewart is proud of it this jacket; it packs up so small and is so lightweight, there’s little reason to take anything else in most cases. The combination of warmth and weightlessness speaks for itself.

The fabric is sourced from a small mill in Japan, owned by carmaker Toyota; the insulation comes from the UK’s Clo, named Eco Vivo - a mill specializing in high-quality insulation from recycled content. “When you’re a small brand, you can confidently identify suppliers who are as focused on their product as we were on ours,” Stewart says about the jacket’s construction.

The jacket’s parts have clearly been cherry-picked. The fit - we’re 76kg and 185cm and wear an M - is tailored but not tight with an easy range of motion to descend in the drops while still staying in place and being exceptionally comfortable. Dual chest pockets, both zippered, carry gels, gloves, and keys, and a two-way zipper offers extra venting when needed.

What’s better than spending all day on your bike? This is one of the last things Stewart says to me during our conversation. An obsessive statement in a sport catering to obsessives. I can’t help but laugh.

While we cannot comment on the breadth of the entire Albion range - their road kit and other bits - if you are looking for one brevet, road, mtb layer to cut wind, keep you warm, look good and last a while, the insulated jacket 2.0 might be it. As a comparison, we’d liken its construction, quality, and aesthetic to another we reach for often: Search and State’s S1-J riding jacket - a “do anything” performer that is almost without peer. Almost.

We are supremely impressed with this piece. As you will be too. It carries the sense of quality that was once synonymous with British manufacturing - a torch carried by brands like Velobici, and now, Albion.

Full send: Rapha adds trail to the kit arsenal

To state the obvious, the big R is a juggernaut in cycling circles. The kit. The vids. The clubs and clubhouses. It’s some real evil, awesome empire kinda stuff.

Today the brand adds “trail kit maker” to the list of superlatives with the launch of the company’s first MTB-specific kit. A longer length review in the future perhaps. But for now, the imagery does the collection justice. Progressive fits and Rapha’s distinct style feature prominently. Happy Thursday out there.

REVIEW: Pirelli nails second generation P Zero road tire

QUICK SPECS Four years after the launch of the first P ZERO (the clincher that marked Pirelli's return to road riding), the company releases an updated version for 2021. The tires come with enhanced claimed grip, smoothness, and comfort and are aligned with modern sizing and compounds. The P ZERO Race clinchers (comes in an identical TL version) blend functionalized polymers with "intelligent" behavioral characteristics, each offering levels of performance on dry and wet surfaces and rolling resistances. Adapted for new ETRTO 19c rim standards (inner channel size). Available in 24, 26, 28, and 30 mm sizes in black or with para rubber sidewalls (Classic). $69.90 P ZERO RACE.

POINTS OF INTEREST Pirelli shipped the new Classic P Zero Race for this review. Upon opening the well-designed boxes, the stench of new rubber wafts into the nostrils, akin to coffee beans first thing in the morning. It is the unmistakable smell of speed. The box comes with a handy tire pressure guide (helpful if you aren’t already using this one). Kudos to Pirelli on this one. Not many manufacturers have gone through the pfaff of making it dead easy for all rider types to get tire pressure this dialed-in.

ROAD FEEL We’ve gotten intimate with the Pirelli’s over the last four weeks. Plenty of rides on mainly dry, exceptionally well-maintained mountain roads, mostly. No grit. No rain rides. This is Switzerland after all.

Aesthetically - because it matters - the P ZERO Race is a beautiful step away from traditional black sidewall tires. Classics as stated on the box. From Canyons to Scotts, the two bikes on which we had a chance to ride them, the visual appeal is that of good ol’ fashioned bike racing. Hard not to like.

As far as installation goes and perhaps due to their adherence to the ETRTO (European Tire and Rim Technical Organization) standards, the P ZERO Race tires are an absolute pleasure to work with. The beads are stiff but not tight; installed and inflated in five minutes. The tire carcass is also pretty thin to the touch - interesting given how seemingly durable the tire feels when on. So, are they worth the upgrade?

These are the performance version of the P ZEROs - the faster rolling, lower resistance version in the range. The ones you want if you race bikes or just enjoy top spec. Cornering. Smoothness. The complete package. Not surprisingly they are also not cheap at 70 euros each. Yet given that they are the primary contact point between bike and road, and capable of dishing out an incredibly smooth, supple, and fun to ride feel at a meager 225 grams each, the case can be made, which we’d support, that they’re worth it. No lab tests. No fancy side-by-side video comparisons. Just our POV about an awesome, fast-feeling road tire that fans of the Vittoria Corsa 2.0s and the like will love.

One part classic, one part modern. An appreciable contradiction that will make these very popular.

Stitches in Time: these jerseys have seen things

It is rather amazing how several stylized images of cycling jerseys can give one the feeling of sitting inside one of Rapha’s London-area clubhouses, drinking coffee and watching bike racing. Yet that is exactly the effect with Stitches in Time: a just-launched exhibit celebrating the reopening and doubling of its footprint of Rapha’s Soho hang out.

Some pay homage to cycling royalty. Some honour the grit of riding in cities and cols. No garment encapsulates the history of an entire sport however quite like it, and this first exhibit meditates on that rather unique fact. A curated exploration of the archive Londoners will love.

Stitches in Time. From 12 April 2021: https://www.rapha.cc/ch/de/raphalondon.

Stitches in Time. From 12 April 2021: https://www.rapha.cc/ch/de/raphalondon.