Welcome to FriYAY’s Live Blog with Liam Cahill (AM) and Simon MacMichael (PM)
- News
The Downfall of eBikes; WTF of the Day – Send your clips in; Bespoked handbuilt bike show postponed; Froome: Portal “is completely irreplaceable”; World’s priciest bidon (probably); & more
SUMMARY
HOW MUCH?!?


We come across some pretty hopeful prices on eBay for old tat, but this one takes the crown.
Ok, so it might be vintage and significant in the history of cycling (I wouldn’t know, I wasn’t around in 1985), but £443.83 for a used cycling bottle. Really?
If you really want to buy it, you can do so here.
Bora-Hansgohe say there's "no elevated risk for our riders" during Coronavirus outbreak
Statement: We trust the health authorities of the individual countries and will act according to their guidelines. Thus, we assume there is no elevated risk for our riders or staff competing in the upcoming races. We are evaluating this changeable situation as it progresses. pic.twitter.com/7lSxwt16Z7
— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) March 5, 2020
One team bucking the current trend of teams pulling out of races is German World Tour team Bora-Hansgrohe.
The team of Peter Sagan will be taking to the start line of Paris-Nice with the extra rider afforded to them after a number of big teams dropped out.
Mountain Mayhem venue Marston Lodge tease 24hr race
On Tuesday off-road.cc brought you the news that the first UK cycling race had been cancelled due to Coronavirus as the organisers struggled to take out cancellation insurance. Today, our eagle eyed Jo Burt spots an Instagram post from the race venue Marston Lodge teasing a 24-hour race on the same weekend – who’s keen?
CCC Team withdraws from Paris-Nice as well as Italian races due to coronavirus concerns
Following the postponement of Strade Bianche, CCC Team has withdrawn from Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico because of the coronavirus situation.
CCC’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Max Testa said: “Cycling is a unique sport with teams travelling from town to town on a daily basis at stage races, staying in different hotels every night, and coming into contact with the general public in a largely uncontrolled environment.
“The health of riders, staff, and the general public is the priority and with many unknowns around what protocols can viably be put in place at stage races, we believe our withdrawal is the right decision.
“At this point in the season, instances of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (URTI) and fever are high and it is inevitable that riders and staff will fall ill during the races. Without a detailed quarantine plan, and rapid testing protocol and delivery of results, teams are actively putting riders and staff at risk of exposure, transmission, and quarantine.
“We also need to think about the risk of quarantine for our riders and staff when they return to their home countries from these races. For these reasons, we have decided to withdraw from Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico.”
CCC Team President, Jim Ochowicz: “It was not a simple decision to withdraw from Paris-Nice, or Tirreno-Adriatico, which we expect to be officially cancelled in the wake of the cancellation of Strade Bianche.
“We are acting in the best interests of our riders and staff, and taking responsibly to reduce the risk of transmission at these stage races. The situation with COVID-19 is changing rapidly and we will continue to monitor the evolving situation and adjust our race calendar accordingly.
“We wish to express our ongoing support for both the ASO and RCS, however, we stand disappointed with the lack of direction by the UCI at this critical moment in the sport as all men’s and women’s teams have been left to fend for themselves.”
Teams allowed to field an extra rider at Paris-Nice
With Ineos, Astana, Mitchelton-Scott, CCC and UAE Team Emirates all sitting out Paris-Nice due to coronavirus concerns, organisers ASO have said that remaining teams will be allowed to field eight riders instead of seven.
Two teams from the UCI Pro Teams category – B&B Hotels-Vital Concept and Circus-Wanty Gobert – have also been invited to the race.
Stages launch power meter for gravel groupsets


Wondering how you were going to do your gravel intervals (grintervals)?
Well, Stages is now offering their G3 power meter on Shimano GRX left-hand cranks for $349.
If you’re based in the US then you can send your existing crank in for a factory fitting from $299. That makes this a reasonably cheap upgrade for your gravel bike.
Chris Froome: Portal "is completely irreplaceable"
The four-time Tour de France winner paid tribute to Nicolas Portal, the Team Ineos DS who passed away on Wednesday.
Portal had been in the DS role for all of Froome’s TdF wins and Froome says that ‘it’s hard to imagine where to go from here”.
Team Ineos decided yesterday to suspend their race programme until the Volta a Catalunya later this month. This is in part due to the shock of losing Portal and in part due to the ongoing confusion caused by the coronavirus.
Italian races now officially cancelled
Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-Sanremo, Giro di Siclia, Trofeo Binda and the Settimana Coppi e Bartali all scrapped in last 24 hours. No pro racing in Italy until the Tour of the Alps 20-24 April. Organisers hope to run all these races some point later this year
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) March 6, 2020
Following several days of rumours, some rather big races due to take place in Italy during March have been cancelled.
The organisers, RCS, have announced that Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan Sanremo will not take place, though they hope to run the race at a later date.
Also cancelled is the Coppi e Bartali, leaving a gap in the race calendar for many pros.
Bespoked postponed until October


The handbuilt bike show that always delivers some of the most interesting, wackiest and beautiful designs has set a new date later in the year due to coronavirus.
It’s the latest in an increasingly long line of trade shows to be cancelled after Sea Otter Classic was cancelled last night.
The new date for the show is October 16th – 18th with all presold entry tickets being carried forward to the new dates. Anyone seeking a refund can contact Ticket Line customer services
Video - Bombtrack Beyond Jnr. The Analog Kids
The Bombtrack Beyond Junior is ripe for some family bikepacking, the 24″ wheeled adventure bike is purpose-built for little people and specced so they can keep up with mum, dad and the siblings. The latest Bombtrack video will inspire some summer trips for sure, read more on off-road.cc
Jumbo-Visma pull out of Paris Nice
Based on medical advice Team Jumbo-Visma will withdraw from Paris-Nice.
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) March 6, 2020
Another team to put rider and staff safety first is Jumbo-Visma who, having announced that they wouldn’t be starting the Italian races, have now also pulled their team from Paris Nice.
Plan A ❌ Plan B ❌ Plan C ? 🤷🏼♂️
I want to thank my team for this brave decision. Health and family comes first! https://t.co/a7nurrcyNX— Wout van Aert (@WoutvanAert) March 6, 2020
The riders seem to be supportive of the decision, despite it being an early-season target with a lot of work gone into preparing for the race.
tough choices in crazy times. a huge amount of work went into this race as the first major goal of the year but the team has put rider welfare first. (hopefully) plenty more races to come. I’m glad they can think long term gains when I sometimes struggle to see past my nose. https://t.co/dbE2UzNszA
— George Bennett? (@georgenbennett) March 6, 2020
WTF of the day...
Well, we’ve thought of a new feature. First there was Near Miss of the Day, now we present to you WTF of the Day!
What happened here? Answers in the comments below. Socks for the funniest answer. Go.
WTF of the day - Send us your videos
We know that loads of you have cameras on your bike so if it happens to capture something mind-boggling then send it in for WTFotD.
It’ll be a bit like You’ve Been Framed, but we won’t give you £250, or coverage on ITV primetime.
We will be sending out T-shirts to the best contributors though.
You can email it through to info@road.cc
The Downfall of eBikes
It seems that Adolf has turned his ire towards eBikes.
This clip from the film Downfall has been re-subtitled for many amusing scenarios over the years and now it’s the turn of those dastardly motorised bicycles that people are using.
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I don't come to road.cc for podcasts. Where is the text version of this article? Or at least a simple transcript, please.
My convertible mtb uses a Chinese carbon version of the Surley corner bars. Needed a different stem to adjust the position (a smaller frame size would have worked better) converted to 2x from 1x to give a better range for the road. Using the same brakes and shifters makes it a quick simple swap.
@mctrials23 Hmm; Citing data that google suggests is from a single hospital... A hospital that looks to be in the middle of a city so will have a massively disproportionate chunk of said injuries and doesn't get the biggest cause of traumatic head injury (car crashes) because there are far easier to get to A&E departments... (Though will note that the data probably does support investigation, at least into mandatory helmets for children given high rate of beginners etc. Plausibly also supports offering training in schools and building better facilities)
@Mr Blackbird Hmm my goat is clad in carbon-based polymer and has the noted undercarriage certainly, but seems to be missing the jets and screens? Would the Old Billy still seize it do you think? If they find it among a herd of sheep how can I prove it's not being concealed but is a legal Electively Assorted Pally Caprid?
@chrisonabike Will you two please stop panda-ing to one another?
@kingleo They're only imposing the 18+ age limit, raised from 16, on escooters, not legal ebikes. There is no minimum age for riding an EPAC in Ireland.
I thought it was all about the gear ratios?
@chrisonabike These are polarising issues - anyone attending would have known there was trouble bruin.
@VIPcyclist Yes, the live coverage on S4C was a few stages at the beginning and a few at the end. Shame it wasn’t the whole lot. Stage 19 was particularly good live. Setting the record for the fastest time up the Alpe. He went a bit faster than I did a few years ago 😮. Amazing watching Pogačar hit the bottom of the hill with the breakaway over 3min ahead of him. S4C is available to watch again on the BBC iPlayer if you want to rewatch. The adverts seem to be stripped out too 👍🏻. S4C are looking forward to next year when some stages are here at home in Cymru 🙂. Non-welsh speakers can just watch the video I guess. I like it in my own language, but the iOS app ‘Tour Tracker’ is very very good too, especially for time trials. It’s also more ‘live’ than the live video. So, if it announces some sort of incident you can focus on the live feed to wait for it! (Cymraeg is one of the British Isles oldest living languages BTW.)
I paid for my month, first week off work so I wanted proper full day coverage. Enjoyed it, nice to be able to pause live coverage, but then they make you watch the adverts when trying to catch up. Channel 5 for when I was working, alright, less chat. Seemed to use the tnt virtual studio. Already cancelled, of course, but will be catching the TdF femmes until I'm booted off. Even though I could watch the commenwealth games I haven't, I hope the games have done well securing the rights because their viewing figures will be right down, such coverage benefits being on the BBC.
29 thoughts on “The Downfall of eBikes; WTF of the Day – Send your clips in; Bespoked handbuilt bike show postponed; Froome: Portal “is completely irreplaceable”; World’s priciest bidon (probably); & more”
£443.83 water bottle; don’t
£443.83 water bottle; don’t forget the postage “Shipping: £51.18 Standard
to anywhere in the world, arrives in 1-3 weeks.”
I wonder if they’ve got two to make a matching pair?
If you look at it as art /
If you look at it as art / art esoterica rather than cycling esoterica then it starts to make a lot more sense (potentially) given the slightly mad prices that even a limited edition print signed by *someone other than the artist* can go for… example:
Limited Edition Print: Lithograph
Size: 11×8 in | 28×20 cm
Edition: From the edition of 1000
Estate Signed: Signed By the Executor of Haring Estate, Julia Gruen
$3,900 New Listing
Haring was iconic in the mid
Haring was iconic in the mid to late 80s. Think Banksy or Shepard Fairey (OBEY). Depends on how many survive, that could be unique and therefore collectable. His stuff was everywhere for a time – album covers, ads, caps, t-shirts.
It’s going to get a bit
It’s going to get a bit scratched in my bottle cage.
Danny’s gone electric
Danny’s gone electric!
https://singletrackworld.com/2020/03/what-the-heck-danny-macaskill-rides-the-new-santa-cruz-e-mtb/
Well lets hope that we have
Well lets hope that we have great weather this coming Spring so that we can all get out there every weekend – because let’s face it there won’t be any bike racing to watch on TV!
I’ve watched the WTF a few
I’ve watched the WTF a few times. My first instinct was that the rider dived in front of the car deliberately, but it’s clearly *not* that. You can see that the front wheel stops dead to the obvious surprise of the rider so I can only conclude that something breaks – a spoke pinging into the brake disc and getting caught in the caliper would do it.
I’m thinking some actual
I’m thinking some actual evidence of the incredibly dangerous nature of disc brakes.
We were warned.
In respect of the ‘WTF
In respect of the ‘WTF happened here?’… looks like the protagonist got his foot stuck in between the forks and the tyre.
Reminds me of the time I rode straight into the back of a stationary car at some lights which had just gone green, in my attempt to maintain an average speed.
foot brake: i’ve done that on
foot brake: i’ve done that on a folding bike on the way back from the co-op with beers in a carrier bag on the handlebar. my foot slipped between the wheel and the downtube and stopped me dead. the result was much like the above but with added beer and broken glass, and a bent fork 😀
PRSboy wrote:
You know what, I was actually looking for a foot caught in the wheel and didn’t see it, but on reflection you’re right, his right leg gets caught up between wheel and top tube.
Did he? I thought he lost
Did he? I thought he lost balance trying to avoid the wing mirror and then caught the car wheel with the foot going onto the floor?
Might be a bit 50-50 on both I suppose.
A pair of socks as a prize?
A pair of socks as a prize? That is a bit mean; you would get 250 quid off Harry Hill for that.
‘Kin tyre kickers. Serves him
‘Kin tyre kickers. Serves him right.
‘WTF happened here?’
‘WTF happened here?’
new technology developed by “man who pays road tax” ensures cyclists stop dead at red lights, literally!
Smidsy
Smidsy
An XR stunt that he hopes
An XR stunt that he hopes will catch on.
Re. Wtf, Just need to wait
Re. Wtf, Just need to wait for the VAR decision on any infringement
WTF Happened Here…
WTF Happened Here…
Jedi driver.
On a selfish note, this means
On a selfish note, this means I’ll finally be able to go to Bespoked this year – normally clashes with family holiday.
Elliott’s bicycle-flying
Elliott’s bicycle-flying skills have really deteriorated since ET went home.
(It’s based on the cyclist in the video wearing a hoodie, as the boy did in the film, but if you have to explain it…)
WTF
WTF
So that’s what he meant when he reminded me to unclip at a junction…
WTF: Can’t quite see the face
WTF: Can’t quite see the face underneath the hood but I’m ruling out Danny Macaskill.
What happened here? That
What happened here? That blonde woman is HOT! Also – kind = first to go to the guy’s aid 😉
WTF: “I thought this bike was
WTF: “I thought this bike was a bloody Evade!”
WTF: Running into the back of
WTF: Running into the back of one of those invisible cyclists.
WTF: Honest… I only had 2
WTF: Honest… I only had 2 beers.
WTF – looked to me like he
WTF – looked to me like he got his jacket/something else caught on the wing mirror of the car.
WTF : See a penny pick it up
WTF : See a penny pick it up and all day long you’ll have good…..bollocks