It’s hard to believe that the X2 could be outdone on weight/bulk – output ratio, but this X1 has just turned up and it’s the first bike light in the world to use the new Cree XM-L U3 emitter. Output is lower than that of its bigger brother, the X2, but with over 850 lumens output for a head unit weighing only 58grams (and that’s including mount), we’re liking the sounds of it as a head-torch combined with a bar-mounted main light. At that weight you’d hardly notice it!

The Gloworm X1 is the first bike light to make use of the super-powerful Cree XM-L U3 emitter. The head of that light is barely bigger than a 2 pence piece…

It’s only just come through the door, but we’re already seeing the Gloworm X1 as being a great head-torch. Especially if the X2 is anything to go by. Full test coming soon.

More info: Gloworm X1 light

An aluminium 29er has also been added to the range, which previously included only the 26-inch carbon Flux ridden by British elite racer Maxine Filby on World Cup and National XC Series courses all year.

Our XCP build will retail at £2,195

Our test model is the very first example to come out of the factory and so, while the stickered decals may look a little rough and ready, the final production models, which will hit the shops in December, will have fully anodised black and red graphics.

The Flux Alloy 26 is based around a triple-butted 7005 alloy frame and Velocite bill it as a fast cross-country trail bike, with a steep seattube (73.5° on our medium sample) and shortish wheelbase (1088mm), but the relaxed headtube angle (70.5°) looks to sure things up a little.

Otherwise, there’s a tapered headtube, which should stiffen things up at the front end, while the bow-shaped toptube flows into the curved seatstays, and the chunky chainstays promise plenty of power transfer.

The Flux Alloy 26 is available frame only for £550 or in two builds: the XC build will retail at £1,595, while our test machine, the XCP build, will cost £2,195.

Our test machine is equipped with Shimano XT shifters, crankset and front derailleur, and a XTR rear derailleur

On the XC build you get a SRAM S1000 chainset, SRAM X9 rear and X7 front derailleurs, X7 shifters, Magura MT2 brakes, Magura TS-8 R DLO fork, Fulcrum RP SL wheels, Truvativ Stylo T20 seatpost, stem and ‘bars, and a Prologo Kappa Pas saddle.

The XCP build gets upgraded Shimano XT shifters, chainset and front derailleur, XTR rear derailleur, Magura MT2 brakes (our test machine has XT as the MT2′s did not reach Velocite in time), Magura TS-8 R DLO fork, Fulcrum RP XL wheels, Velocite carbon TLC-S seatpost, Truvativ Stylo T30 stem and ‘bars, and a Prologo Scratch Pro saddle.

Maxxis Crossmarks tyres are specced front and rear on both builds but Velocite UK can change this to any Maxxis combination at no extra cost.

So that’s the tech spec – now we’re going to head out on the trails to see how it performs.

www.velocite-bikes.co.uk

The West Sussex-based company previously only offered full bikes based around their road and cyclo-cross frames, but have expanded the fleet to include mountain bikes.

Full bikes are now available for the Maxlight XC3, XCPro3, XC130 and female-specific KM22oL, with the Maxlight FF29 and a Crosslight Pro6 cyclo-cross bike to follow in 2013.

“We have worked hard on the build spec in order to get the best balance of function and value, and I really believe that we have managed to put together a package that reflects the spirit of the Maxlight frames, delivering high performance and custom looks,” said Kinesis chief Dom Mason.

All four frames are available in either SRAM X9 or X5 builds, with WTB wheels, X-Fusion forks and FSA finishing kit.

The SRAM X9-equipped Kinesis Maxlight XCPRO3 is the top-of-the-range machine at £1,649.99, based around a race-ready aluminium frame which we described as a “lightweight cross-country slayer that is about as quick as a mountain bike gets” when it formed the basis for Bikemagic’s Project Kinesis in 2011.

View the full range at www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/maxlight

SRAM X5 SPECIFICATION

FORK: Options: X-Fusion Enix RL 1 1/8th Black or X-Fusion Velvet RL2 15mm 1 1/8th White
CHAINSET: SRAM X-5 GXP 10S 175mm BTBLK 39/26
SHIFTERS: SRAM X5 2x10s
FRONT MECH: SRAM X-5 low clamp 2x10s
REAR MECH: SRAM X-5 Long Cage
CASSETTE: SRAM PG-1030 11-36
CHAIN: KMC X-10 114L
BRAKES: Tektro Draco 2 160mm Black Hydraulic Disc
WHEELS: WTB Speed TCS (Tubeless compatible System)
TYRES: WTB Bronson 2.1 TCS
SADDLE: WTB Volt Sport
SEAT POST: FSA SL280 27.2mm
BAR: FSA Comet 685mm low rise
STEM: FSA OS 190,31.8,90mm
GRIPS: WTB Weir Wolf
HEADSET: K-UK Sealed cartridge Bearing
SEAT CLAMP: Black Alloy Bolted 31.8

SRAM X9 SPECIFICATION

FORK – X-Fusion Velvet RL2 15mm 1 1/8th White
CHAINSET: SRAM X-9 GXP 10S 175mm BTBLK 39/26
SHIFTERS: SRAM X9 2x10s
FRONT MECH: SRAM X-9 low clamp 2x10s
REAR MECH: SRAM X-9 Long Cage
CASSETTE: SRAM PG-1050 11-36
CHAIN: KMC X-10 114L
BRAKES: Tektro Orion 160mm White Hydraulic Disc
WHEELS: WTB Speed TCS (Tubeless compatible System)
TYRES: WTB Bronson 2.1 TCS
SADDLE: WTB Volt Sport
SEAT POST: FSA SL280 27.2mm
BAR: FSA V-Drive 685mm low rise
STEM: FSA OS 190,31.8,90mm
GRIPS: WTB Weir Wolf
HEADSET: K-UK Sealed cartridge Bearing
SEAT CLAMP: Black Alloy Bolted 31.8

New stuff has been landing thick and fast in the top secret Bikemagic underground lair. Here’s just some of the pile threatening to engulf the office.

Shimano Accu 3D Unzen 10 litre drinking pack

Shimano’s new 10-litre drinking pack looks like a solid entry into the mountain biking bag fray.

We previewed Shimano’s hydration packs when they were first revealed back in February. This 10 litre bag is the first to land here at Bikemagic HQ, and it manages to pack a lot of well-thought-out detail into a lightweight package. With no water in its three-litre bladder the empty pack weighs just 660g.

Features include an adjustable-length back; external and internal organiser pockets; zips on both sides to get into the main compartment; hip belt pockets; lockable bite valve and a clip built into the buckle to capture the hose.

However, the most eye-catching part of the design is the X-shaped shoulder straps, intended to pull away from your arms so the pack doesn’t limit your movement on the bike.

Price: £89.99
More information: Madison Cycles

Brand X X-90 Pressure washer

We call it ‘The pressure washer of the fallen leaves’

It’s definitely the frequent bike washing season, so we’re hoping this beast will make the job easier. Brand X’s X-90 pressure washer gets its power from your car’s power outlet (that thing in the dash where people used to put a cigarette lighter) and holds 13 litres of water, which should be enough to clean a couple of bikes, or one very, very dirty one. 

Price: £94.99
More information: Hotlines

Gaerne G.Etna shoes

Gaerne G Etna shoes with Vibram soles for grip off the bike.

Now and then you have no choice but to get off and walk. Talk to any serious walker and when they’ve recovered from the realisation that you’re a) a mountain biker b) being nice to them, and you’ll find a favourite among the booted set is Vibram, long renowned for their durable, grippy soles.

The Gaerne G Etna shoes have a Vibram SPD sole that’s intended to provide the best of both worlds: clip-in riding security and walking traction.

The upper is made from a combination of leather and mesh with a simple closure: good old laces, covered by a Velcro strap.

Price: £89.99
More information: Hotlines

Specialized Andorra women’s helmet

Specialized Andorra is a women’s ‘all-mountain’ helmet with a hint of pink and a pony-tail friendly design.

The main difference between this helmet and the men’s equivalent Tactic II is Specialized’s ponytail-friendly HairPort SL Fit System which, as the name suggests, leaves room for long hair. It’s also a more subdued colour than the Tactic II, but that’s in part because we asked for a screaming green helmet when we got the Tactic II we recently featured and not because Specialized has decided that all male riders must be decorated in lairy Kermit shades.

Like the Tactic II, the Andorra is billed as an all-mountain helmet, which means the shell extends a bit further down the back of your head to guard against off-the-back landings. That sounds like a good idea for all types of mountain biking, not just throwing yourself off stuff.

Price: £55
More information: Specialized

Airwave Motion mini pump

Airwave Motion pump folds out into an easy-to-use baby track pump.

Mini-pumps are great: easy to carry so they’re always ready when you need them. Unfortunately, mini-pumps are rubbish: they move so little air that by the time you’ve changed a tube your riding buddies have died of exposure or given up and left you.

The solution is a portable track pump like this one from Airwave. The fold-out foot gives you something to stand on to hold it steady and the extensible hose isolates the pump from the valve so you’re less likely to damage the valve as you pump.

It’s short enough to fit in a typical backpack, and comes with a mount to attach to bottle cage bosses or anywheer else on your bike with the included releasable zp ties.

Price: £15.99
More information: Hotlines

Muc-Off Dirty Work wipes – pack of 15

Dirty Work wipes: textured for more sensation, er, we mean better cleaning.

Textured for scrubbing your skin clean, and with a combination of citrus cleaners and lanolin, these wipes come 15 to a resealable pack so you can carry them around for easy hand-cleaning after on-the-trail fettling.

More information: Muc-Off
Price: £3.00

Muc-Off C3 Ceramic Bike Lube

Muc-Off’s ultimate wet lube includes ceramics for persistent protection.

The idea of ‘ceramic’ lubes like Muc-Off C3 is that tiny particles of boron nitride, combined with fluoropolymers (think of the teflon that stops eggs sticking to your frying pan in the morning) build up into a low-friction coating on the metal surfaces of your chain.

That makes C3 great for wet conditions, according to Muc-Off, and it comes in a handy pipette bottle so you can put ‘just enough’ on your chain.

More information: Muc-Off
Price: £8.00

The steel Skookum 29er is available in blue, metallic or green colour schemes

The Skookum shares a number of the features found on its sibling, including a tapered headtube and sliding dropouts, which can accommodate a singlespeed or derailleur setup, and which allow riders to tune the wheelbase length. The drive-side dropout also has a coupling for a belt-drive system.

Pipedream expect most riders to run a 80-100mm fork, but the frame can support a fork up to 120mm. A 30.9mm seatpost diameter means the frame can be used with a dropper post, while cables are routed underneath the bottom bracket.

The gusset-free steel frame, which is made from Reynolds 853 DZB tubing, will cost £395, while the titanium version will set you back £989. Both are available in 16in, 18in and 20in sizes.

www.pipedreamcycles.com

For 2013, however, they’ve chopped the 26in Camber from the range: sales of 26in short-travel bikes have been on the decline in the US for a good few years so it was only a matter of time.

Camber goes fully 29 in 2013

That leaves us with just the Camber 29, which becomes a four-bike range with two alloy and two carbon models. The Camber is best described as filling the slim gap between the Epic and Stumpjumper, and uses the same tried-and-tested FSR suspension design with 110mm of travel front and rear.

Setting the rear suspension up couldn’t be any easier. The clever AutoSag technology carries over from last year, and features on every bike in the Camber range. The procedure requires inflating the shock to 300psi, sitting on the bike and releasing the excess air by activating the red AutoSag valve. Bingo, perfect shock pressure.

The Camber range start at £1,500 and we have our hands on the priciest £3,500 Camber Expert Carbon. It gets a custom tuned Fox Float CTD Evolution shock and Fox Float Performance Series 29 fork; both have Fox’s new CTD (climb, trail, descend) compression damping settings which replace the old numerical system for easier suspension tuning.

AutoSag valve makes shock setup a simple process

The frame is constructed from Specialized’s own FACT 9m carbon fibre with all the modern touches, including a tapered headtube, PressFit 30mm bottom bracket, direct mount front mech and internal dropper cable routing. The M5 alloy rear triangle has a 142mm bolt-thru axle, post disc mounts and replaceable mech hanger.

The groupset is a mix of SRAM X7 and X9, with a custom carbon SRAM S-2200 crankset, complete with a neat carbon bashguard and 36/22 chainrings. Brakes are Formula T1 S with MatchMaker mounts saving space on the bars and 180/160mm rotors. The rear mech is a Type 2 with a roller bearing clutch to eliminate the chain slapping about over rough terrain.

Roval Contrail Trail 29 wheels with 32 spokes front and rear are wrapped in Ground Control 2Bliss tyres: a 2.3in up front and 2.1in out back. Specialized haven’t given the Camber a 15mm bolt-thru front hub, instead opting for a traditional 9mm quick release but with oversized 28mm end caps on the front help helping to stiffen up the interface between hub and fork.

Command Post dropper post with 125mm of drop

A dropper post is mandatory on this type of bike and a Specialized Command Post Blacklite is fitted. It’s operated by a cable actuated remote handlebar lever and offers three positions with 125mm of total drop available.

Finishing kit all carries the Specialized logo. A 720mm-wide handlebar with 10mm rise and 10 degree backsweep combines with a 75mm 3D forged alloy stem to give a short and wide cockpit. The stem length is size specific, so there’s a 60mm stem on the small Camber and a 105mm on the XL and XXL. Saddle is a BodyGeometry Henge Comp.

Geometry is leaning towards the slacker end of the spectrum compared to the likes of the Epic but a 70° head angle on our medium still sounds quite steep. The other important numbers are a 71° seat angle, 447mm chainstays, a 1147mm wheelbase and a 336mm bottom bracket.

First ride

The big wheels and supple suspension roll up and over roots and rocks with effortless ease, making even the trickiest climbs a veritable walk in the park. On paper the geometry data suggests a steep bike but once out on the trail it just feels good. Precise handling and noticeably stable at high speeds and over rough ground, the Camber is plain good fun to ride.

FACT 9m carbon front triangle. There are two carbon frames in the range

Traction and bump absorption belies the relatively short travel. Out on the trail it doesn’t feel short changed compared to traditional long travel trail bikes. Specialized have been championing 29ers for a few years now and they really have dialled in the geometry to near perfection. Mountain bikes don’t get much better than this.

The Camber appears to occupy a very small gap, travel-wise, between the excellent Epic and Stumpjumper, but based on our first ride it appears to be a very well sorted bike with fun at the fore of its offering. We’ll report back with a full review once we’ve really got under the skin of the Camber.

Price: £3,500
From: www.specialized.com

The Super HPC carbon frame has gone on a diet, with excess resin material removed, and that makes for  a lightweight machine with an overall claimed weight of 9.1kg.

Cube say the Elite XX1 29 delivers the “optimum stiffness to weight ratio” thanks to a tapered headtube, oversized tube profiles and PressFit bottom bracket.

The Elite XX1 29 is, as the name suggests, equipped with SRAM’s new XX1 groupset, which has a 34-tooth single chainring working in partnership with a huge 10-42t cassette.

Otherwise the Elite XX1 29 is equipped with DT Swiss MA 2.0 29 wheels wrapped in Schwalbe Racing Ralph Kevlar 2.25 tyres, Formula R1R disc brakes, a RockShox SID RL 29 fork with 100mm of travel, a Syntace F109 stem and Selle Italia X1 saddle.

The Elite XX1 will retail for £3,499 when it becomes available in spring 2013.

www.cube.eu

We gave you a sneak preview of the collection back in July. Let’s take a closer look now it’s available in the shops.

Beckingsale, who admits he has “clothing equipment OCD”, has had a hand in developing and testing the range, and the cross country racer’s influence is obvious, with features pared down to the key essentials so there’s no extra bulk to slow you down when riding full throttle.

Beckingsale says the range is for “guys who are seriously into mountain biking, and who are riding – not neccessarily racing – for a long period of time, and who want solid kit that will back-up the experience”. You can find out more about the MTR collection’s development in the video below, or scroll down further for a closer look at each piece.

The MTR Baggy Shorts £59.99) and Bib Shorts (£79.99) are at the heart of the range. An anti-slip attachment system holds both items together and in place without snaps or Velcro.

The bib shorts, which come in an aggressive racing position cut, are made from a durable lycra and are also available with a waterproof softshell seat panel (£89.99) for extra protection from tyre spray. “Getting a soggy chamois doesn’t make anyone a happy bunny,” says Beckingsale.

The baggy shorts have a slimline fit, with a high crotch rise to help prevent saddle catch. A broad rear horizontal rib panel provides back stretch rise, while waist adjusters within the waistband channel allow for an individual fit. The baggy shorts also have hip zipped security pockets and a rear zipped and padded media pocket on the back of the waist.

Meanwhile, the MTR Emergency Shell Jacket (£89.99) does what it says on the tin and is designed to bring you home dry when surprised by a shower on a training ride. The jacket is made from a breathable and waterproof fabric which Endura say packs down to the length of a mini pump, so it should easily fit into a jersey pocket.

The jacket, which has an athletic cut, comes in orange or black, and details include stretch waterproof cuffs and sides, a high collar and reflective trim on hem and sleeve.

The MTR Windproof Long Sleeve Jersey (£69.99) has a windproof front, sides and arms to keep wind chill at bay, while the shoulders are reinforced to protect against wear from shoulder straps, and the back panel is made from a breathable fabric to help prevent a sweaty back when wearing a hydration pack.

There’s also three rear pockets and an additional waterproof zipped pocket, while reflective trim helps keep you visible when riding on the road. For spring/summer 2013 there will also be a short sleeved version.

Finally, the MTR Glove (£32.99) is described by Endura as a “simple, pared-down, great fitting glove with no superfluous extras”. It is made from four-way breathable stretch mesh, with a lightly padded pre-curved palm with Kevlar inset panels for protection.

An elasticated cuff makes the glove easy to pull on, while silicon grip prints on the palm and finger tips (index finger and fore finger) help ensure safe grip and precise handling of brake and shift levers.

The Hero 3 is 30 per cent smaller, 25 per cent lighter and, according to GoPro, more than twice as powerful as previous models. The top-of-the-range Hero 3 Black Edition can capture 4K video at 15fps.

The camera can also shoot 2.7K video at 30fps, 1080p 60fps, 1440p at 48fps, 960p at 100 fps and 720p at 120fps, and capture 12 megapixel still photographs at 30 fps.

The Hero 3 is GoPro’s first WiFi-enabled camera, which means you can live stream your images and video using the GoPro app, and the Black Edition camera comes with a WiFi remote, which give you control of up to 50 GoPro Wi-Fi-enabled cameras at up to 600 feet.

The Hero 3 Black Edition will cost $399.99 (UK price TBC).

GoPro have also announced the mid-range Silver Edition ($299.99) and entry-level White Edition ($199.99), which are essentially upgraded versions of the Hero 2 and original Hero respectively.

Both get the same smaller and lighter body as the Black Edition Hero 3, and are Wi-Fi-enabled but don’t come with a Wi-Fi remote (available separately). Both cameras offer 1080p video capture at 30 fps, 960p at 30 fps and 720p at 60 fps. The Silver Edition can capture 11MP stills at 10 fps, while the White Edition shoots 5MP photographs at 3 fps.

Hero 3 Black Edition trailer

So what does that all mean? GoPro have released this trailer to show what the Hero 3 Black Edition is capable of. They say it’s shot 100 per cent on the new Hero 3.

Pearl Izumi is looking to push mountain bike shoes into a new era with its X Project line. These new shoes are claimed to be high-performance, lightweight shoes that you can still walk in comfortably. Based on our first rides in the new shoes, that claim is spot on.

Mountain bike shoes usually come in one of two flavours. They’re either stiff-soled and light for racing and other high-performance applications, or they are broad and more flexible so that you can walk as well as ride in them. Walkable shoes are typically quite heavy and not as firm on the bike.

Pearl Izumi’s new X Project shoes are the fruit of a several-year-long project to develop a shoe that offers the best of both worlds: stiffness where it counts for power transfer, but grip and flexibility for walking.

Pearl Izumi cycling footwear product manager Tony Torrance shows off the range of X Project shoes.

According to Tony Torrance, Pearl Izumi’s product manager for cycling footwear another problem with stiff, high-performance mountain bike shoes is that the tread blocks are usually made from nylon rather than rubber. That means walking in them is made doubly tricky because the sole is slippery on wet surfaces.

Torrance is a mountain biker and dirt bike rider whose engineering background includes endurance testing cars for GM and coming up with Pearl Izumi’s 1:1 shoe insoles with interchangeable arch support and forefoot cant inserts. He’s clearly been living and breathing X Project shoes for a couple of years, and he’s been helped in the development by Pearl Izumi rider and living legend Brian Lopes.

Brian Lopes was heavily involved with the development of the X Project shoe.

The idea of the X Project shoes, was to create “a shoe that walks and hikes as well as it pedals,” said Torrance. He thinks Pearl Izumi has succeeded, and our first impressions are that he’s right.

So confident is Pearl Izumi that these new shoes are something special that Pearl Izumi Europe flew a group of mountain bike journalists from all over Europe to Sardinia over the weekend of October 13-14 so we could try them out.

Cutting up shoes

The first step in the development of the X Project was to hack up a bunch of shoes and find out which parts of the sole actually need to be stiff for efficient power transfer. Torrance worked with Ray Browning PhD, the director of the Colorado State University’s Physical Activity Energetics/Mechanics Lab to test new sole designs. This process involved hooking riders up to monitoring gear and having them ride at fairly high intensity while measuring their performance.

The new Pearl Izumi X Project 1.0 shoe.

They found that a stiffer sole is not always better. There are parts of the sole where you don’t transfer power, particularly the heel and toe areas. Pearl Izumi could safely make those areas flexible and improve the walkability of the sole without sacrificing power transfer. Torrance therefore designed a tapered carbon fibre sole plate that is flexible at the front and back, but stiff around the cleat.

The game was afoot, but the next stage of development took a year: making the sole both light and grippy. “Combining plastic lugs with rubber tips for light weight and traction was the hardest bit to develop,” says Torrance.

An X Project sole unit.

The problem is that you can’t just glue a bit of rubber to a plastic sole. It won’t stay attached as the sole is pulled sideways as you walk. The solution was to co-mould the rubber tips into the sole. Rather than using Pearl Izumi’s Chinese factory, Torrance had to go to Italy to find a company that could manufacture the sole.

Making the sole light was a challenge too. Big tread blocks are heavy, so to keep the gram count under control, the X Project sole has hollow blocks.

One feature that’s missing from the X Project is any sort of replaceable tread. Torrance said this had been considered and rejected on the grounds of weight; the idea for version one of the X Project was to make a very light shoe. Claimed weight is 320g. In the hand and on the foot, they certainly feel very light for a mountain bike shoe.

A layer of EVA foam in the heel absorbs shock.

Pearl izumi has form in making shoes that you can walk in as well as ride, so for te X Project, Torrance stole an idea from the X-Alp series and put a layer of EVA foam under the heel to absorb walking shock.

On the trail

After Tony Torrance’s shoe-and-tell we headed for Sardinia’s rocky trails to find out how the shoes worked in the field.

The executive summary is: they’re good. Our test samples were the very first ones from the factory to exactly follow the design of production shoes. That had one downside: this writer is a 43.5 in Pearl Izumi shoes, but only 43 and 44 were available. There will be half sizes in full production shoes, and when we can get 43.5s we’ll be able to say more about the details of the fit.

The X Project shoe in use.

But despite being slightly loose, the X Project 1.0 shoes we tested felt good, with firm support underfoot and a comfortable, moderately stiff upper that held our feet in place without being overly hard.

The top strap is quite low on the upper foot, so it doesn’t load all the sensitive ligaments over the tarsus. We tweaked the side-to-side position of the strap so that the padding sat in the middle of our feet and didn’t notice it at all after that.

In fact, on the bike, the X Project shoes feel almost exactly as you’d expect a pait of high-end mountain bike shoes to feel. They’re comfortable, the sole is stiff and the upper holds you in place whether you’re just cruising along or going hell-for-leather.

Pearl izumi X Project 1.0 and 2.0 shoes will come with this insert with interchangeable forefoot and arch supports.

When our ride turned into an impromptu race to the beach (for the hell of it) followed by a race back to the hotel to escape the gathering afternoon rainclouds, we weren’t thinking about the shoes so much as wondering whether we could keep up with Brian Lopes, who was putting the hurt on us all despite hardly breaking a sweat.

If you pay close attention, you can tell that the support is all in the mid-foot, from ball to the back of the arch, but it’s hard to be sure that’s not expectation bias.

The X Project 1.0 shoes use this shiny micro-adjustable buckle.

What we are sure of, though, is that the X Project shoes are definitely easier to walk in that your typical super-stiff shoes. You can feel the toe and heel flex as you walk and as a result you stay in contact with the ground rather than slipping around. If your rides typically involve any significant amount of walking, then the X Project is definitely worth considering.

The range

There will be three models of X Project shoe.

The full range of X Project shoes. From left: Men’s 3.0; women’s 3.0; women’s 2.0; men’s 2.0; 1.0

At the top is the model we have here, the X Project 1.0. This has the full X Project sole with an upper made from thermoplastic urethane and mesh for light weight and ventilation. A micro-adjust buckle makes it easy to slightly loosen or tighten the upper as you ride and there are three mounting points for the top strap so you can centre the padding on your foot. The X Project 1.0 will be available in January and will cost £229.99. The X Project 1.0 will be available in sizes 38-47, including half sizes, plus 48 and 49.

The X Project 2.0 will be a shade heavier and will be available in a women’s version with a narrower heel. The upper is made from synthetic leather rather than urethane and mesh, which Tony Torrance pointed out would probably make it more suitable for UK conditions than the X Project 1.0. The X Project 2.0 will use the same sole as the 1.0 but will have a standard ratchet buckle rather than the 1.0′s micro-adjust ratchet. The X Project 2.0 will cost £169.99 for both men’s and women’s versions and will be available in men’s sizes 39-47, including half sizes, plus 48 and 49 and women’s 36-43 including half sizes.

The X Project sole has hollow lugs with rubber tips. Damn clever, we think.

Finally, X Project 3.0 uses some fibreglass in place of carbon in the sole to save some cost. The upper combines mesh with synthetic leather and has slighty simpler consruction over all. The X Project 3.0 will cost £129.99 for both men’s and women’s versions and will be available in men’s sizes 39-47, including half sizes, plus 48 and 49 and women’s 36-43 including half sizes.

All three X Project men’s models are made on the same last as Pearl Izumi’s road shoes, as clear an indicator as there is of their performance intention. The women’s shoes are shaped on a new last that Torrance describes as “the evolution of our current women’s last”.

The X Project 1.0 and 2.0 come with the 1:1 insole system with interchangeable heel and forefoot inserts. 1:1 insoles are available separately or £34.99/pr.

More information: Pearl Izumi

Brian Lopes looks on in bemusement as a couple of British journalists take a dip.

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