Hi we are very fortunate here to get a few products in to try to use and abuse and to generally evaluate long before they come to market, as well as a few items that are new but not unique,

First off is the excellent Castelli Body Paint bibshort, I was fortunately invited to the Castelli 24h race in Italy way back in June to race for there world team and Castelli kindly provided pre production samples of there latest designs for us to try (and keep)

So what can they do with a short you ask?? Well quite alot as it happens this short is as different as a short can be, to start with it is made of a single piece of engineered power stretch lyrca yes a single piece, it also includes integrated leg grippers, integrated so nothing bonded sewn injected or stuck on just a subtle increase in the amount of lycra content, But the real star is the pad, (ProgettoX2) this is a double skinned pad with a free floating pad next to the saddle and a fixed body hugging micro fleece next to the skin, There is a lot of science behind it , but you only need to know one thing, they work, they work very well in fact, they are by far the most comfortable short i have ever worn.

The nice people at Ritchey sent me one of there super logic seatpost to try. Now a seatpost is a pretty static thing so there is nothing to report (but that’s the highest praise going) it is light (approx 160g) hasn’t slipped , doesn’t creek there are optional heads available for oval rails (its supplied with ones for a round rail) and it is well finished, Its expensive but if you are after a premium seatpost you wont go wrong with it.

Ok a new product just in and yet to go on a bike is the New Look quartz pedal these appear to be a ideal compromise between Times simplicity , support and ruggedness and Crank bros weight, more news after the weekend.