HYPER-INFLATION: up close with Muc-Off's pocket pro inflator

Quick read: Piecing together a repair kit? The efficacy and easy of use of the Airmach Pro make this an in-ride essential.

I don’t know when I started obsessing over electric inflators, but at some point last month, my feed flooded with ads for the palm-size powerhouses. And owing to a little chance, and a little newfound motivation, I finally got the chance to scratch this strange but certain itch thanks to Muc-Off’s willingness to send out a test sample.

Why they’re having a moment became immediately clear.

“Electric pumps have definitely blown up in popularity,” explains Steve Fearn, Communications Director at Muc-Off, when asked why they’re suddenly a thing. “This one in particular shows real-time air pressure and battery level, going to 120psi in seconds. So it definitely has value for most people who spend time on the bike,” he added. Love them or label them kitsch, I’ve been riding around with the Airmach Pro in my pocket for the last 6 weeks; here are some thoughts.

Firstly, use cases. While electric inflators are marketed for flats, my thoughts upon receipt of one immediately turned to travel. The pain of having to forfeit - owing to space or flight restrictions - CO2 cartridges and floor pumps when you ride abroad is a pain which the Airmach immediately solves. Once packed, both are useless, as you can re-inflate both front and rear with precision and still have enough to cover a flat on a single charge on day one. (Time-to-full-charge is about 30 minutes.). Plug it in after your ride and one beer later, you’re ready to ride the rest of the week. Job done.

Secondly, flats. One remarks how easy it is to use the Airmach right out of the box. Hold to power on; toggle the plus and minus buttons together to go from Bars to PSI; set the desired number; open and secure over valve and hit the main power button again to fire it up.

Aircraft grade aluminum and lightweight at 142g, this thing holds four full inflation cycles up to a monstrous 120 psi.

Like all electric pumps (well, the two I’ve seen in use anyway), yes, it is a little loud while inflating. But that air has to come from somewhere, so this is a relatively minor annoyance at best, and no louder than a CO2 cartridge (and less wasteful), whilst being exponentially faster than any hand pump anywhere. And if you botch a cartridge (happens, right?) or don’t have the air flow working correctly, just stop, readjust, and try again. You’re rolling in minutes. Even if the worst happens - a double flat - and you have two tubes handy, the Airmach Pro easily saves you from having to call for backup.

Riding two 700 x 28c tires, you can get 3, 60-second inflations to 80 PSI (inflation amount is based on the tire volume you ride), which is more than enough for most and a nice bit of insurance to carry for a tiny weight penalty.

Final thoughts: Any minor gripe I’ve seen online about pocket inflators seems irrelevant when weighed against the Airmach’s reliability. CO2 is great but wasteful. And sometimes, finicky. Hand pumps, while tried and tested, are tiresome and rarely up to the task of a full inflation without a real struggle. A more practical, capable, and useful tool to have when you puncture, in my opinion, is pretty hard to find.

You could ride for hours in kit with big logos, ORNOT

Sorry. Couldn’t help it. ORNOT’s marketing is just too good. How they plant a subtle seed of doubt in every bit of brand, casting themselves against a cycling world that’s big on high vis logos and other flotsam, or not. I could not, after finally getting my hands on some of their kit myself (thanks, Devon!) (and having the chance to ride in it quite a bit) think of any other way to piggyback on this strong bit of marketing genius other than using the same formula for the title of this post. When something works well I guess, why not?

So, what’s in the bag? : the men’s grid thermal.

It’s been months now of riding with the brand’s grid thermal long sleeve - long enough to have developed some opinions on what makes it unique and why it’s prompted me to hover over a cart full of more kit in recent weeks (the only obstruction being a hefty European shipping fee and no local stockists).

So here are a bunch of first and longer term impressions: first up, out of the bag, the fit. Sublime. Truly. I stand 185 cm tall and weigh 168 pounds. The fit is comfortable and second skin (but not in a race fit kinda way). A perfect and detailed tailoring and attention to detail that is rarely so well executed in larger brands (who possibly have less oversight when it comes to production and factory finishes).

The jersey itself hits the sleeve cuff perfectly. I’ve been reaching for this one on nearly every cooler weather ride in Switzerland for two main reasons: the grid pattern fabric punches well above its weight. So much more air passes through it than a conventional uniform fabric, which, when the weather is hovering in that in-between state, means a lot more general comfort. The grid also adds a lot more dimensionality to it as a long sleeve: paired with a gilet, it proves very capable in cooler weather. And used as a mid layer in cooler months, which I did quite often, was again a reminder of how versatile a single piece of kit can be.

Secondly, and maybe one of the elements of the jersey that I liked most was the limited branding - a mainstay of the ORNOT product (that I’ve seen). Their brand identity (like another HNH favourite, Search and State) is curated more from fabric selection and manufacture than heavy word marks and logos.

Why is this good? Because, well, when you get tired of convention and you’re on the bike a lot, you want to stretch the stylistic boundaries of kit norms. And my grid fleece, in forest green, did just that, pairing smartly with other kit in the same general palate to keep things fresh when needed. I was also fortunate to ride in ORNOT’s cargo bib shorts. A brand staple for a reason. Yes, they are pretty good at carrying snacks, or not. But they are also exceptionally well designed pair of bibs for every kind of ride.

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.