It’s over a week now since I arrived back from Sibiu in Romania. It’s a place that I love dearly, for its amazing history, the beautiful mountains nearby, and for its people – some of whom are like family. Riding up the Transfaragarasan Highway was one of my life moments – something that I’ll remember forever.
When you look at most bike boxes, the design, even of the newest models, often seems to follow the classic design from our own favourite brand – Bike Box Alan. Now, we’re based in Yorkshire too, so let’s get this out of the way immediately; yes, we see BBA as a partner, now and into the future. Why – well, simply because they cannot be beaten in terms of looking after your precious bike.
Described as probably the best road in the world, the Transfargarasan Highway is truly an epic climb. Thankfully you can now ride it as part of a unique closed road event once a year – so we went along 🙂
It’s a special place, my beautiful city of Sibiu. It’s where I grew up, went to university, and I know so many of the really good places, the best cycling routes, the best views in the city and the best views from the hills overlooking the city. Now, it has a world class cycling tour too, and you can ride the roads of the racers.
Before every ride I do the same things. Albeit that I’m 56 years of age, I seem to be no different from what I was racing track and field years ago, lining up my shoes, with the socks placed across them and a lucky jacket nearby.
SIGR are a relatively unknown brand outside of the Scandinavian countries. However, we first tested them last year and were extremely impressed, with both the design and the performance. When Sigr told us that they had some new designs for 2022, it was time for Larisa to take a look.
When the schwalbe pro one TT tan wall 25mm arrived here for a test, it was obvious that we needed to hand it onto a speed freak – thankfully Ben fits the bill, having a love of fixed gear urban riding and lo-pro bikes. This tyre however would be going onto his Giant TCR.
Schwalbe seem to sit in a select group of really sound tyre brands with consistently good products. Hutchinson and Panaracer occupy this space also. Well developed products that perform well. Time then to take a look at this tubeless offering.
The latest ladies summer kit from Rosti is super stylish and unique. Larisa has been testing it out in Transylvania and yes, she really likes it 🙂
Yes, I know that many riders set things up with a 2.4 at the rear and 2.2 at the front – and we might try that next- but this test was all about the Scorpion XC M 2.2 and how lively and fun a ride it provides – and boy is this an exciting tyre.
