Live blog: Britain’s favourite bike colour revealed (no, not that one either), Super veiny pro legs alert, New Wilier Cento, New Ubyk, Hackney transformation + snow and more

Wilier's polished copper Ramato finish is now available on their Cento10NDR road endurance bike. For those that don't know Ramato is to Wilier what Celeste is to Bianchi - it's their signature colour developed in the 1940s which graced all Wilier's racing bikes including the one ridden to victory in the 1948 Giro by Fiorenzo Magni. Unlike Bianchi though the nature of the colour - or to be more exact the process used to apply it meant that Wilier only ever used Ramato on their top end bikes – and indeed for a number of years when aluminium and then carbon replaced steel they didn't use it at all. They had to come up with a whole new painting process to replicate the finish on carbon.

As Ramato coloured bikes go, the Cento10NDR is unique (though possibly not for long) in also having accents of the colour on the stem and bars too. You can find out more here on the Wilier website. 

Huge improvements for people cycling on CS2 in Stratford over the past year pic.twitter.com/5m9jd6qaj4

— Hackney Cyclist (@Hackneycyclist) January 21, 2019

This part of the CS2 route in Stratford is now safer than ever for cyclists, with the bus stop removed to keep the lane segregated. 

Trabajando duro para intentar tener las mismas piernas que el año pasado / Working hard to try having the same legs as last year (Foto Sigfrid Eggers) pic.twitter.com/BF8T078iU6

— Enric Mas Nicolau (@EnricMasNicolau) January 21, 2019

With pro riders getting the hard yards in before grand tour season starts, training intensity will be nearing its highest and kg's will be starting to drop off after the festive break... and for athletes whose sole aim in life other than cycling is to weigh as little as possible, that also seems to mean horribly veiny legs. In the past couple of years we've seen eye-popping pin pics from the likes of Chris Froome (below) and Polish rider Pawel Poljanski, who was the inspiration behind our must-read 'Why are pro cyclists’ legs so veiny?' feature from 2017. Who do you think has the weirdest?    

Our man @chrisfroome is looking absolutely ripped ahead of #LBL on Sunday! (Photo: @michellecound) #VaVaFroome pic.twitter.com/UGePCkvwKU

— Team Sky (@TeamSky) April 23, 2014

...well this morning we do anyway - in fact a road.cc staffer who will remain anonymous took a tumble on some black ice this morning, before admitting defeat and deciding to work from home! You'll find our top tips for avoiding similar peril in our bumper Cycling Survival guide to riding through ice and snow. 

An Edinburgh veteran whose passion for cycling was halted by his sight loss has jumped back on the saddle for the first time in 20 yearshttps://t.co/XYerHrbthm

— Edinburgh News (@edinburghpaper) January 21, 2019

An 84-year-old former elite cyclist who was forced to quit riding due to his poor eyesight is now back in the saddle thanks to a collaboration between the Linburn Centre and Cycling UK’s tandem cycling club VIE Velo. VIE Velo was set up for those with visual impairments to get on their bikes again, and Edinburgh News report that it's given Bryce Campbell a new lease of life. Full story here. 

On Friday we asked you what your favourite bike colour is and your answer came back loud and clear. It's still black.

And it all looked so different on Friday, blue was in the lead for most of the day - we’d even dug out a really nice pic of a Mason just in case and had hopes that the result would confound expectations and the old bike industry cliche that Brits like black bikes best, but over the weekend your affinity for black bikes asserted itself and black romped home a clear winner**. Nobody’s ever totally explained why it is that British cyclists in particular seem to like black bikes but it is a KNOWN THING, for many years it was something of a running joke at Eurobike with bike brands including a black version of their high volume carbon bikes ‘especially for you Brits’ the marketing guy would say with a sigh . 

It has to be said the preference for black has always been more of a road bike phenomenon than an off-road one, which perhaps relates to one of the two big reasons cited as to why British road cyclists like black bikes –  you never have to worry about a bike/kit colour clash with a black bike – not such an issue if you and your mountain bike are going to be the same shade of mud five minutes in to the ride.

The other reason Brits are thought to favour black bikes? They look more expensive… yeah, maybe. Obviously the real reason is cos black bikes look cool. 

Those results in full:

Black - 23 %

Red - 16%

White - 7%

Blue/Celeste (if you think Celeste is blue) - 12%

Green/Celeste (if you think Celeste is green) - 10% 

Silver/grey - 5%

Another colour. Or all the colours - 27%

*Those British (and other) people who vote in road.cc Friday afternoon polls
**(okay Another colour got one per cent more but that doesn’t really count).

Looking cool, and looking an awful lot like the BTwin Ultra 900 recently crowned as road.cc's 2018/19 Bike of the Year and Road bike of the Year - basically because the first Van Rysel is a renamed Ultra. One big talking point was the lack of disc brakes – they'll have 'em in 2020 but that was a bit late for some of you. Read the full story here