You only have one handhold position
MARIN DESCRIBES ITS FAIRFAX range as 'built for the flat-bar fitness road rider'. It has a wide gear range, wide tyres for comfort and some rough-stuff aspirations, but perhaps most significantly, it has hydraulic disc brakes. You won't find a drop-bar road bike with hydraulic disc brakes at anything like this price, but this is one of two modestly priced 'hybrids' on test with hydraulic stoppers. And they make a world of difference.
The frameset, not surprisingly at this modest price, is an all-aluminium affair. But there's a bit of shaping going on with the flattened top-tube, and the semi-compact frame features dropped seatstays which, along with the 35mm tyres, promise a decent amount of comfort. I'm a big fan of fittings on budget road bikes, which might well be pressed into commuting or shopping duties, so it's great to see a full raft of bosses for front and rear mudguards and racks, including separate bosses for the lower rack strut and low-rider fittings on the front fork. You could argue that top-tube 'bento box' mounts would have rounded out things nicely, but that would just be the icing on the cake...
The hydraulic disc brakes are excellent
Generous gears
Esta historia es de la edición March 2023 de Cycling Plus UK.
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Esta historia es de la edición March 2023 de Cycling Plus UK.
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GANARY A COALMINE
The James Brown tune 'It's a Man's Man's Man's World' comes on the radio, filling the coach, and does nothing for my pre-event nerves as I sit surrounded by serious-looking, wiry, tanned men in Lycra. It's 6.30am, pitch black outside and I'm feeling very out of my depth as a relative newcomer to the world of clipless pedals and hurting for fun. Last night's stress dream involved being very unprepared to get married and being handed my great-grandmother-in-law-to-be's hideous silver dress with lace trim to wear minutes before the ceremony was due to start. I'll let you psychoanalyse that one.
BORDER PATROL
British travel writer Tim Wild heads on a pilgrimage to Arizona's gravel Mecca, and isn't disappointed
COLD SNAPS
Chris Lanaway dons the deepest winter thermals for the Abloc Winter Challenge in southern Sweden
Master Age-group racing
Tips to keep you on the race course as you get older
Guava Spot Force AXS
£4,950 Big-value, Barcelona-born bike that hits the spot for gravel riding
Seasonal disorder
Pinpointing the start of the cycling season is no easy task, writes Ned
Ride all winter
10 scientifically proven ways to bolster your immunity
Joined-up thinking
Connecting more rail stations to the NCN is long overdue
Castelli Gabba
Castelli’s breathable, close-fitting yet waterproof and windproof jacket marked a watershed in cycle clothing
Air Apparent - Pollution hasn't gone away. It's still there in every lungful, even if we can't see it in the air or on the news. But there are reasons to breathe easier, thanks to pioneering projects using cycling 'citizen scientists'. Rob Ainsley took part in one...
The toxic effects of pollution have been known about for years. 'Just two things of which you must beware: Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air!' sang 1960s satirist Tom Lehrer.Over recent decades, though, pollution has dropped down our list of things to worry about, thanks to ominously capitalised concerns such as Climate Change, AI, Global Conflict, Species Collapse, etc. That doesn't, unfortunately, mean the problem has expired. Air quality often exceeds safe limits, with far-reaching and crippling effects on our health.
