Make no mistake, the road bike is back in the limelight. Why? One word: Lance. But there’s more to this skinny-tire renaissance. Like it or not, pavement is everywhere and mountain-bike trails aren’t. Even if your passion is mud, when you have a scant hour or two after work, nothing beats the convenience of a road bike. Road rides, after all, leave right from your front door no matter where you live. There’s also nothing quite like barreling down pavement at 35 miles per hour in a 20-rider peloton.

Like the rest of Western civilization, however, the road bike has benefited from its fat-tire brothers. Most road rigs now offer (or have as an option) a wide range of gears that let even adherents of the Dunkin’ Donuts fitness plan conquer steep hills. Other smart off-road borrowings include zero-maintenance sealed bearings and standard combination brake-shift levers that let you change gears with your hands firmly planted on the handlebars—which is nice when you’re drafting an 18-wheeler in traffic.


We rounded up and tested six of this year’s best bikes, along with a tasty smorgasbord of accessories that make an ancient rig ride like new. From entry-level to sky’s-the-limit, here are road bikes for all.

Road Bikes: The Fab Six, Part I

GIANT OCR 2 ($750; 23 lb.; 800-874-4268, )
I’ll fess up: I’m a bike snob. I hadn’t ridden a sub-$1,000 road bike in years, but the OCR 2 surprised me with its quick, nimble ride. A stiff, compact aluminum frame is largely responsible: The oversize pipes don’t yield under the thrashing, out-of-the-saddle sprints that my riding partner goads me into. Yet like modern Republicans, the bike has a gentle side—the triple chainring up front lets me spin easily up steep climbs. The Shimano Tiagra components all performed without a hitch, and my off-road shoes clicked right into the Shimano SPD pedals. To customize fit, the handlebar stem has an adjustable pivot—the bar can be lowered or raised with the turn of a wrench. Caveat: Tall, short, or oddly proportioned riders should make sure the bike fits before buying, since the frame comes in only three sizes.

JAMIS NOVA ($940; 23 lb.; 800-222-0570, )
Can’t decide between pavement and gravel? Try the Nova. It’s built for the rigors of cyclocross, an oddball sport that includes tarmac and trail alike. ‘Cross bikes need to have the lightweight, lithe traits of road-racing machines yet still be rugged and stable enough for the dirt. The steel-framed Nova delivers on both counts. The drop-style handlebars let me tuck down low and slice through a headwind on the road. Venturing onto my local network of hilly dirt roads, resplendent with washboard and spring runoff, I climbed and descended with aplomb. Credit part of the surefootedness to wider, 700×30 tires, which have shallow knobs that bite into dirt but don’t buzz noticeably on asphalt. A slightly longer wheelbase (about an inch) than a pure road bike’s also contributes to its assured handling, and it makes the Nova less twitchy on pavement.

MARIN VERONA ($1,200; 22.5 lb.; 800-222-7557, )
A modern version of the classic road bike, the Verona has a frame made from venerated Italian Columbus Thron steel tubing, which offers just the right blend of compliance and stoutness for years of performance riding—as long as you’re not trying to pad your savings account with prize money. To keep the bike affordable, that fancy steel is welded together in Taiwan, not Milan. Aluminum or carbon fiber might have a bit less heft, but a steel frame like the Verona’s remains the benchmark of ride quality. Which is not to say it’s a retro rig; the Shimano 105 components work crisply and offer a wide-ranging 27 speeds. Ritchey clipless pedals, with a single-sided design that saves weight and reduces the chances of striking pedal to pavement on sharp corners, are a nice touch in this price range. Indeed, the Verona was so smooth and felt so natural, I forgot about it and just rode—it was a familiarity that usually takes a few hundred miles on equal or lesser frames.

Road Bikes: The Fab Six, Part II

CANNONDALE SILK WARRIOR 700 ($1,653; 26 lb.; 800-245-3872, )
For those who prefer the upright posture of a mountain bike, this aluminum Cannondale, with its flat handlebars and ergonomically shaped bar-ends, is the sauce—the perfect rig for cruising paved bike trails or whipping down potholed streets on your commute to work. A suspension seatpost goes easy on your backside, and Cannondale’s HeadShok, a suspension fork with 25 millimeters of travel and the moving parts tucked inside the headtube, takes the bite out of ratty pavement and cobblestones. But give the black rubber lockout knob a twist and the fork turns rigid—perfect for no-bob climbing. Narrow, high-pressure 700×28 tires fly on pavement without the squirm and squish of knobbies, and road-bike gear ratios mean you won’t spin like an eggbeater, going nowhere fast.

TREK 5200 ($2,700; 18 lb.; 800-313-8735, )
We’ll cut to the chase: The 5200 uses the same frame Lance Armstrong rode to his first Tour de France victory (his current bikes are a tad lighter). The frame is built from carbon fiber, which gives the bike a supple ride unlike that of any metallic frame. Hit a bump on the 5200, and the composite transmits a quiet thud—instead of a painful twangy buzz that passes the shock directly to your spine. Unlike the champ’s bike, this one is dressed with Shimano Ultegra, which offers the same 18 gears (27 optional) as the company’s more upscale Dura Ace parts but carries a half-pound more heft. I certainly didn’t notice the weight, and mechanically everything was spot-on: The shifters let me fire through the gears, and the brakes let me feather speed on curvy descents and bring the bike to an abrupt halt even with my hands resting on top of the brake levers.

SEROTTA LEGEND TI ($5,575 built as shown; 17.5 lb.; 518-747-8620, )
It’s a fact: The lighter the bike, the heavier the cost. The Legend Ti (the “Ti” is for titanium), for example, weighs a half-pound less than the Trek 5200, but will cost you $2,875 more—ouch. To help justify that price difference beyond its weight, consider that the Serotta is custom-built to your measurements; the ride is as smooth as glass, quick and nimble; and the frame offers lifetime durability. The bike that was built for me was one of the best rides I’ve been on in 20 years of cycling and hundreds of bike tests. The titanium is quiet and forgiving for all-day comfort on a 100-mile ride, yet lightning-quick for jamming over hills and diving through switchbacks. The parts, of course, complement the $2,900 frameset—Campagnolo Chorus with 20 speeds, plus extravagances like a Serotta carbon-fiber seatpost and the company’s exclusive full carbon-fiber fork.

Blacktop Optional, Part I

Photograph by Eric Swanson

Photograph by Eric Swanson

Photograph by Eric Swanson

Assos T Bib Shorts ($130; 847-465-8200, )
The T Bib shorts from Assos use a luxurious, multidensity padded insert with tiny perforations that both babies your bottom and lets hot air out. The over-the-shoulder bib design keeps yer britches up without a tight waistband cramping your stomach.

Pearl Izumi Tempo Jersey ($75; 800-328-8488, )
Leave the baggy jerseys to the mountain bikers—roadies need snug tops that don’t flap around in the wind. Pearl Izumi’s formfitting Tempo jersey is made from Microsensor, a wispy fabric that lets air pass freely for maximum cooling. A traditional three-bay pocket out back lets you stash a windbreaker.
Giro Pneumo helmet ($160; 831-420-4010, )
All helmets meet the same safety standards, so you just need to think about fit and ventilation. Giro’s Pneumo is tops for both. The vents, big enough to stick your hand through, bathe your sweaty scalp in cool air. The strap system cinches to the back of your head and adjusts with the squeeze of a ratcheting buckle.

Ritchey Deep Section WCS wheels ($530; 650-368-4018, )
A fresh pair of wheels gets you the feel of a new bike without the cost of a whole new rig. These Ritchey hoops are light, strong, and fast. The weight savings comes from a low spoke count—16 in front, 20 for the rear. Strength comes via an offset rear rim that balances left and right spoke tensions equally for zero “dish,” the Achilles’ heel of other rear wheels. Fast indeed, the aerodynamic rim and bladed spokes slice through wind.

Blacktop Optional, Part II

Photograph by Eric Swanson

Photograph by Eric Swanson

Photograph by Eric Swanson

Speedplay Zero pedals ($195; 800-468-6694, )
Speedplay’s Zeros feature a dual-sided design that lets you click in without hunting around and unclip with a gentle twist. But it’s their unique retention mechanism that makes them special: No matter how hard you pull up on the pedals, you can’t pop out. This year’s model also lets you adjust float—turn two screws, and your heel can go from fixed to 15 degrees of wiggle.

Easton EC90 handlebars ($160; 831-394-7114, )
Easton’s carbon-fiber bars are astonishingly light—at 185 grams, they weigh about 35 grams less than most aluminum bars. But gram shaving isn’t the entire point: These bars eat chatter. Thanks to carbon’s natural vibration-damping properties, hands and shoulders feel noticeably fresher after two hours of coarse state-highway riding.
Reynolds Ouzo Pro FORK ($335; 760-798-8008, )
Road forks need to be stiff for precise handling, yet pliant so the road doesn’t shake the fillings out of your teeth. Reynolds Ouzo Pro fork strikes that elusive balance. Unlike metal, which can be a full pound heavier, carbon-fiber lets designers change the orientation of the material to make a fork that’s laterally rigid (for cornering) but forgiving fore and aft (for absorbing bumps)

Oakley Magnesium M-frame ($225; 800-336-3994, )
An incredible step forward in eyewear craftsmanship, the M-Frames unfold like the blades of a Swiss Army knife—they pop open with a precise, dutiful feel. The magnesium frame is lighter than titanium or aluminum, and stronger than plastic. On your face, the fit is firm but comfortable, the optics amazingly crisp.

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Our Mountain Bike Built for Eleven has a crowded rear seat, but it must be so: Lots of people helped with the original brainstorm. The charge was led by an early-seventies conglomerate of bored road racers in Marin County, California: Otis Guy, Charlie Kelly, Joe Breeze, and Gary Fisher. Guy, Breeze, and Fisher built and sold early mountain bikes; Kelly started the first mountain-bike magazine, The Fat Tire Flyer.
In 1973, Gary Klein built two aluminum frames for a student project at MIT, and steel started to lose its shine. In ’75, he hired a race-car welder and formed Klein bicycles, the first company to mass-produce fat-tube mountain bikes. Until only 20 years ago, bike clothes were made of wool—that undeniably loose, saggy, scratchy natural fiber. In 1977, Toni Maier Moussa, president of Swiss bike-clothing maker Assos, sewed the first pair of Lycra-spandex shorts. The second skin proved essential for mountain bikers, a group all too familiar with the pain of chafing.


Early mountain-bike wheels were strong enough to withstand off-road punishment, but so heavy that riding uphill was virtually impossible. Unsatisfied, itinerant bike mechanic Keith Bontrager cut lightweight road-bike wheels down to mountain-bike size, and coupled them with low-pressure knobby tires. His 1984 prototypes endured jagged rocks, weighed about as much as skinny wheels, and formed the hub of Bontrager Wheelworks and Components.


In 1985, Georgena Terry, a mechanical engineer based in Rochester, New York, started torching steel into custom frames with short top tubes to accommodate women’s shorter torsos. She now owns Terry Precision Cycling, a femme-specific catalog business with $6 million in annual sales.


Until the 1980s, bicycle helmets came in two varieties: flimsy leather hair nets or thick-shelled brain buckets. Jim Gentes recognized that it isn’t the hard outer shell of a bike helmet that saves your head, it’s the polystyrene inner layer. His first-generation domes, sold in 1986 under the name Giro, consisted of a fabric cover placed over high-tech Styrofoam, which meant they were feathery-light and saved your skull.


A college dropout, former Aerosmith roadie, and welder for Fat City Cycles, Gary Helfrich experimented with titanium in 1984, figuring that Ti’s impressive strength-to-weight ratio would make a dream ride. Fat City insisted there was no market for tubing that cost up to $20 per foot, but after a local bike messenger raved about Helfrich’s prototype, Helfrich and two partners formed Merlin Metalworks, the first Ti framemaker, in 1987.


Paul Turner, a motorcycle engineer from Honda, was the first to realize that front shocks didn’t have to make a bike ride like a pogo stick. He built early models in his garage, and formed RockShox with his wife and a friend in 1989. Turner now runs Maverick American, a small design shop that licenses his suspension system and sells limited quantities of really cool bikes.

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LAST SEPTEMBER, ON THE FINAL DAY of the three-week, 1,851-mile Vuelta a España, 28-year-old Montana native Levi Leipheimer lived out the secret fantasy of every lowly support rider. Leipheimer, a U.S. Postal Service team member at the time, was riding for reigning Vuelta champion Roberto Heras of Spain, but after 20 days of inspired pedaling he sat in fifth place—just two spots behind Heras—with only a 24-mile time trial remaining.

Quick study: Leipheimer in Spain

“It was a bit awkward,” Leipheimer recalls. “Roberto was the defending champion, but I wasn't going to hold back.” He certainly didn't. His second-place time trial put Heras in fifth and sealed a third-place finish overall, the best ever by an American in the world's third most prestigious stage race. “Levi has always been a very good time trialist,” says USPS operations director Dan Osipow, “but defeating the defending Vuelta champion was not something we were expecting.” Three months later, Leipheimer inked a lucrative two-year deal with Dutch powerhouse Rabobank, which means that on July 6 he'll be leading one of cycling's top squads.
Of course, American success on hallowed European pavement doesn't turn heads the way it used to. This season, longtime Lance Armstrong lieutenant Tyler Hamilton rides for Dutch team CSC Tiscali; Kevin Livingston and Bobby Julich are the main support riders for German team Deutsche Telecom; and George Hincapie and Fred Rodriguez have both been ranked in the World Cup top ten. Levi just adds to the American firepower.

So does Leipheimer stand a chance in his first Tour? Perhaps. He took fourth in October's world time-trial championship in Lisbon, Portugal, and his Vuelta performance displayed the relentless consistency of past cycling greats. But his real challenge, says Julich, will be transforming from garçon to The Man. “It's different when the pressure of leading a team is on your shoulders.” Especially if you have a team full of young guns ready to pull a Leipheimer.

Radio Flyers

Like any good military op, the Tour depends on communications

Think driving with a Big Mac and a cell phone is dangerous? Try taking the wheel of a Tour de France team car. During Le Tour, Johan Bruyneel, the USPS squad's field manager, shares a silver Volkswagen Passat with nearly as much communications gear as a 747. While piloting the four-wheel command center around tight corners and over mountain passes, the 37-year-old Belgian listens to play-by-play race reports on the radio, eyes live coverage on a six-inch television screen, chats in four languages on his cell, and sends instructions to the riders—each of whom carries a credit-card-size two-way radio and has a tiny microphone clipped to his jersey. Though Bruyneel putters along just behind the peloton, he's able to keep tabs on more than 180 competitors and deploy his guys accordingly.

“Everybody depends on communication now,” he says. “It's changed the races.” Case in point: During the 130-mile L'Alpe d'Huez stage of last year's Tour, Bruyneel radioed Lance Armstrong and instructed him to play possum for the cameras. “I knew the other teams were watching and listening to interviews,” he says. “I told French TV I was worried because Lance didn't look good at all.” Sure enough, as Armstrong appeared to fade, rival team Telekom radioed their riders, sending three to the front to increase the pace. Only when Armstrong turned on the gas for the final climb—to win the stage with a two-minute lead—did they realize that Bruyneel had beaten them at their own high-tech game.

Go Postal

Lance Armstrong stood alone atop the podium after his last three Tour wins, but his victories were built on the backs of a team of world-class riders expected to chase down breakaways instead of chasing the maillot jaune. While some teams, like Spain's Kelme, stack the deck with pure climbers, and others, like Belgium's Domo, bank on their sprinters, the U.S. Postal Service team plays a delicate balancing game to give Armstrong a full range of defenses. But putting together a winning team isn't cheap—Armstrong has a history of handing over his Tour winnings to his teammates ($337,00) and reportedly dishes out another $250,000 from his own pocket. Here's a guide to the riders pushing for an Armstrong four-peat.

THE GENERAL
Wispy Roberto Heras (1), from Bejar, Spain, is a mountain climber par excellence. He'll be the last teammate to stay with Armstrong in the Alps and Pyrenees, going on the offensive to make the opposition waste energy catching up. Should Armstrong get sick or injured, 28-year-old Heras takes over as team leader.

THE MAN
As team leader, Lance Armstrong (2) has the job of doing as little work as possible in the flat stages, while staying on guard for splits in the pack that could cost him time if he gets stuck in the slow half. The 30-year-old Texan has to save himself for when it counts: the grueling climbs and time trials, where he can clinch a win.
THE CAPTAINS
The role of Spainiard José; Luis Rubiera (3) is simple—blow apart the lead pack on uphill climbs. Expect him to take the offensive on stage 14's Mont Ventoux. George Hincapie (5), the strapping, 6-foot-3, 170-pounder out of Greenville, South Carolina, is master of the flats, reeling in all who escape the peloton.

THE FOOT SOLDIERS
The remaining five (4, 6, 7, 8, and 9) are the sacrificial lambs—they'll fetch water bottles and help pace Lance back into the peloton if he gets a flat. Twenty-six-year-old Floyd Landis, of San Diego, a powerful climber with strong time trial skills who finished second at the Dauphiné; Libé;ré; in June, will pace the posse of Colombian Victor Hugo Peñ;a, Benoît Joachim of Luxembourg, Czech Pavel Padrnos, and Viatcheslav Ekimov of Russia.

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Want to sound like a real Tour de France pundit? After all, with three consecutive wins by American Lance Armstrong, le Tour is now chit-chat at everything from group rides to cocktail parties. As most of us couldn’t watch the live TV coverage each morning or otherwise follow all the subtleties of the world’s biggest bike race, we offer the following instructions for talking the talk about what went down in France this summer.

A real insider might open the Tour discussion by talking about a different event entirely: the Tour of Switzerland, a ten-day race in June that’s sort of a Tour de France preview. One Swiss stage (it was an individual mountain time trial) mirrored a key Tour stage. Though not gunning for the overall win in Switzerland, Armstrong used the day to check his legs: He was fastest by 1:25— enough to matter-of-factly give him the overall win for the ten-day race. Armstrong flatly told the press the main reason he had come to the race was to practice for the Tour de France. The Swiss win showed Armstrong’s phenomenal fitness, but naysayers wondered if he might be peaking too early.
Next, describe how Tour de France kingpin Jean Marie LeBlanc potentially monkey-wrenched cycling’s biggest race with his team selections. Foreign teams like that of 1998 Tour winner Marco Pantani were passed-over in favor of much lower-ranked French squads. With fewer strong teams to control the pack, breakaway artists might slip away to big leads in the early, flat stages. And that’s just what happened: stage eight saw a group of about a dozen no-names ride away to a enormous 36 minute gap. This put Armstrong back in 24th place, more than half an hour behind the maillot jaune (yellow jersey) of the race leader.


Here, give credit that Armstrong and his US Postal Service teammates knew just how to handle the situation. Once the mountains came, Armstrong would be punching the tickets of those mavericks, but his real competition would be Jan Ullrich, the German who won the 1997 Tour and finished second in each of his three other Tour starts. Indeed, on the first big mountain stage, Armstrong rode at the tail end of the lead pack. He let Ullrich’s Telekom team set the pace and burn their reserves, while the Texan feigned a suffering look to the TV cameras. Other riders— and team directors watching the TV links— thought Armstrong was redlined.


Now, throw up your arms and say that this is where the whole Tour changed. Entering the final climb of the day up the storied Alpe d’Huez, Armstrong stamped his authority on the race, leaving all challengers— namely Ullrich— gasping in his wake. He’d win the stage by two minutes over the German. Once unleashed, Armstrong was unstoppable: he stormed to three more stage wins, never once showing any signs of cracking. He took over the race lead on stage 14— a day in which he waited for Ullrich when the German overshot a turn and crash-landed (unharmed) in a ditch. Armstrong let his rival cross the finish line just in front of him. It was the final day in the mountains, and with a five minute lead on the overall classification, Armstrong had the Tour in the bag. Ullrich knew it, and held out his left hand to the race leader— a gesture of concession.


After 22 days and 2141 miles, Armstrong rode into Paris to wrap-up his third consecutive Tour win. Your pick all along, non?

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Think there’s an energy crisis? Consider the calories burned covering one mile by car—1,000; and by bike—30. Swapping regular unleaded for Pop-Tarts, a bicyclist gets the equivalent of 900 miles per gallon of gas. One hundred million Americans, however, commute by car—84 million of us in single-occupancy vehicles. Stack that up against the paltry half-million (only 0.4 percent of U.S. workers) who commute by bike, and the numbers are even more startling. Altogether, car commuters consume 6,000 times as much energy as bike commuters per mile. Someone please tell Dick Cheney there’s a bike shortage.

If you love the smell of diesel smoke in the morning, though, and just can’t seem to burn enough oil, then consider something more dear to you, like, say, your personal well-being. Integrating a workout into your daily commute is a marvelously time-efficient way to achieve a superior level of fitness. Maintain a fast tempo to build speed on Monday. Bolster endurance with a longer route home on Wednesday. Throw in hills or intervals to increase power on Friday. All the while snickering as the huddled masses drone away in stale health-club air, pedaling nowhere, feigning interest as indefatigably chirpy Spin-class instructors yell out for more RPMs.
Of course, cycling instead of driving isn’t just a boon to body and earth. Urban bike messengers have given two-wheeled transport a hip-hop cachet that you can emulate while perfecting bike-handling reflexes and a sprinter’s speed off the line. Ripped calves and buff quads aren’t tough to take either. OK, bike commuting isn’t practical for everyone, but it is doable for many, provided you have the right setup. On the following pages, we outfit three different styles of commuters: the ride-every-day long-distance hammerhead; the smooth-rolling luxury-cruiser; and the edgy inner-city-messenger type. Whatever your style, for the price of three car payments you can completely kit yourself out. And the only insurance you’ll need to buy is a solid lock—which, incidentally, we’ve also reviewed along with the year’s best accessories. Enjoy the ride.

Big-City Speed Dream

LeMond Poprad l $990


Credit the arcane sport of cyclocross—a wintertime racing endeavor that covers dirt, snow, mud, and pavement alike—for a rig as versatile as the Poprad. At first glance, it looks like a road bike, with drop handlebars and relatively skinny tires. But a closer inspection reveals its burly side: The Bontrager Jones tires have grippy knobs that bite into dirt, the Shimano clipless pedals were built for mountain bikers, and the Avid cantilever brakes have stopping power to spare.


One compromise: The Poprad’s Reynolds 853 steel frame is top-drawer, but the trade-off comes with more economical Shimano Sora derailleurs and cranks that may wear out over time. While the setup is perfect for dashing through mud bogs, the Poprad is equally suited to commuters who face everyday treacheries like jagged potholes, errant sewer grates, and slush-covered streets. Sure, a mountain bike can gobble up road detritus better, but you’ll roll along at road-bike speeds on the Poprad—the 700×35 tires are narrow enough not to flex and waste energy like fatties, and you can tuck down low in a headwind with the road-style bars. Try to resist the temptation to draft behind tractor trailers on the interstate.


Dress Up Your Wheels: Pearl Izumi’s Microsensor tights ($110) are brushed inside, sleek outside, and comfortable over a wide temperature range. Ìý•ÌýLower-tech but no less functional, the Performance Rain Jacket’s ($20) thick vinyl makes it shower-curtain waterproof, while mesh side panels ventilate. Ìý•ÌýLouis Garneau’s Wings helmet ($75) has an easy-to-adjust strap that snugs to the back of your head to keep the lid from squirming around. Ìý•ÌýThe Italian-made Rudy Project Skeey glasses ($110) sport vented, interchangeable lenses and malleable earpieces for a solid fit. Ìý•ÌýSidi’s Rampa 2 shoes ($119) are cut from synthetic leather and mesh that hold up to road and trail filth; lugged soles make for easy walking.

Cruising for Glory

Cannondale Bad Boy Ultra l $1,625


Think of the Bad Boy as a jeep shod with racing slicks. While an oil-damped front shock lets you hop curbs and feel only a gentle nudge to your back and arms instead of a neck-wrenching whack, its smooth-rolling road-bike hoops and racy Continental 700×23 rubber make for stability and grace at road-racing speeds. The Magura hydraulic disc brakes bring you to a tire-scrubbing stop with a gentle two-finger tug to the levers. Even nicer, the disc setup lets you convert the bike to trail duty in a flash if you buy a spare set of off-road wheels (a viable option, given that the aluminum CAAD4 frame is the same as that used in Cannondale’s line of front-suspension mountain bikes). Casual riders will love the Bad Boy’s flat handlebars, which put you in a comfortable, upright position. Ditto for the 18-speed drivetrain with a 29×34 low gear that suits even San Franciscans. And we’d be amiss not to mention the stealth motif: Right down to the spokes, the bike is flat black, for the full understated urban-chic ninja look.

Dressing up your wheels: In nasty weather, reach for SmartWool’s long-sleeve crew top ($60), an itch-free wool base layer that won’t stink when it’s left hanging in your office. Ìý•ÌýThe Bernoulli cycling jacket from MEC ($149) uses Gore-Tex for waterproof breathability, but in case it’s not breathing fast enough, zippered flaps keep you ventilated. Ìý•Ìý MEC’s Venturi tights ($52) put water-resistant front panels on traditional spandex tights. Ìý•ÌýWith 24 vents, the Eclipse helmet from Giro ($100) keeps your noggin cool, though your hair will get wet in the rain. Ìý•Ìý Smith’s Toaster Sliders ($99) sunglasses are street stylish and feature interchangeable lenses. Ìý•ÌýThanks to their three-quarter height, Shimano’s SH-M058 shoes ($100) are perfect for quick hikes or supermarket strolls.

Divine Messenger

Surly Steamroller l $800


Sure, Lance Armstrong puts in long days in the saddle, but he doesn’t have to thread the needle between cabbies who treat you like roadkill and harried execs multitasking behind the wheel. So what’s the bike messenger’s tool of choice? Typically, a fixed-gear bike like the Surly Steamroller. Single-speeders are low-tech. Like turn-of-the-century bikes, there’s no freewheel, which means that when the wheels are moving, so are your feet. With no derailleurs, only one brake—a hand brake on the front wheel for oncoming-Mack-truck insurance—and no geegaws like suspension, the Surly is almost a zero-maintenance machine. The bottom bracket and hub bearings are sealed and the wheels are built with 36 spokes for durability, so there’s no upkeep other than pumping up the tires and oiling the chain. Plus, the fixed gear lets you apply extra body English to the 19-pound bike, which makes the Surly extremely agile when snaking down tight city streets. Quick-steering frame geometry adds to the bike’s razor-sharp handling. It’s a perfect for fit commuters who aspire to a life of minimalism: That one 42×17 gear is a quad-pumping grind uphill and spins you senseless downhill. Antitheft aesthetics: The poop-brown color won’t catch the eye of bolt-cutting thieves. Antitheft mechanics: If it gets stolen, the uninitiated filcher will break his neck trying to coast.


Dressing up your wheels: Zoic’s Pintee jersey ($30) has T-shirt styling but uses wicking polyester to avoid the sweat-soaked look. Ìý•ÌýWith their relaxed cut you’d never guess Sugoi’s Conrad Radial shorts ($90) have a chamois liner to baby your derriere. Ìý•ÌýThe X-Ray Pro ($100) is Bell’s flagship helmet, and includes a snap-off visor and easy-to-adjust pads and straps. Ìý•ÌýVans Mental shoes ($90) use a high-top inside cuff to protect ankles from errant chainrings, and despite their skate-shoe look, they’re compatible with clipless pedals. Ìý•ÌýSpinning through Little Italy? With eyes shielded behind the black iridium lenses of your Oakley Straight Jackets ($130), you won’t hear, “Hey, what are you lookin’ at?”

Street Fleet

Ìý•ÌýOnce reserved for the genuine $5-per-delivery crowd, messenger bags have gone mainstream. But thanks to Timbuk2’s custom bag service, yours can still stand out. Create your bag online, selecting colors, fabric, size, and features. We built our Commuter Bag ($112; shown in four color schemes, top photo center and top, bottom photo center and bottom) in Mogwai (aka medium) size, and included a removable divider in the main pouch.

Ìý•ÌýMore corporate-friendly, Ortlieb’s Office Bag ($120; top photo, bottom) is a waterproof briefcase that can be carried or attached to a rack.

Ìý•ÌýIf you prefer that the beast, instead of the rider, carry the load consider Topeak’s QUICK TRACK SUPER Trunk Bag and Rack ($99 also sold separately; bottom photo, top). The light aluminum rack clamps to a seatpost with a quick-release bracket and includes a bungee cord for securing payloads up to 20 pounds. The 1,300-cubic-inch bag mates to the rack and has room for lunch, clean office clothes, or a six-pack (it’s insulated).

Ìý•ÌýNew from Kryptonite, the New York 3000 ($75; top photo, bottom) is the strongest U-lock going. Made from solid 5/8-inch-thick heat-treated steel, it weighs an imposing 3.7 pounds (great for swinging into the teeth of pursuing pit bulls). Its sheer bulk thwarts bolt cutters and saws, while the flat, grooved key makes picking or drilling the cylinder nearly impossible. It’s so tough, in fact, it’s guaranteed in Gotham (up to $3,000 for bike theft).

Ìý•ÌýDie-hard racer types may find fenders nerdy, but arriving at work with a wet stripe of mud up your back won’t exactly win points with your boss. The SKS X-3 X-tra Dry Rear Fender ($14; top photo, bottom right) clips to any seatpost in a New York second.

Ìý•ÌýA mechanical breakdown is no excuse for missing the 9 a.m. staff meeting. Ritchey’s CPR 14 tool ($25; bottom photo, in pouch) includes all the usual bike bits to get you out of a jam, like 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-mm hex wrenches, flat and Phillips-head screwdrivers, a chain breaker, and even a bottle opener for after work.

Ìý•ÌýSpecialized’s PVO ($25; bottom photo, bottom) is a gizmo-free pump that fits only the presta valves found on better bikes. Forget your spare tube? There’s a compartment with peel-and-stick patches.

Ìý•ÌýThe Fireballs Sport Light ($179; left photo, top) from Specialized uses swiveling dual eyeball beams for easy aiming. A water-bottle-style nicad battery pack powers the 6- and 12-watt bulbs.

Ìý•ÌýWith two battery packs that work in tandem with two separate dual headlight pods, Vistalite’s Nightstick Code 20 ($185; bottom photo, bottom left) offers maximum flexibility: Use the complete 20-watt bulb and baton setup for pitch-black roads, or save weight and pare down to a single beam and battery for short hops around the block.



Where to Find It: Bell Sports, 800-776-5677, ; Cannondale, 800-245-3872, ; Giro, 800-776-5677, ; Kryptonite, 800-729-5625, ; LeMond, 800-313-8735, ; Louis Garneau, 800-448-1984, ; MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-Op), 800-663-2667, ; Oakley, 800-336-3994, ; Ortlieb, 800-649-1763, ; Pearl Izumi, 800-328-8488, ; Performance, 800-727-2453, ; Ritchey, 800-748-2439, ; Rudy Project, 888-860-7597, ; Shimano, 800-423–2420, ; Sidi, 800-991-0070, ; SKS, 618-395-2400, ; SmartWool, 800-550-9665, ; Smith, 800-635-4401, ; Specialized, 801-886-2453, ; Sugoi, 604-875-0887, ; Surly, 877-743-3191, ; Timbuk2, 888-846-2852, ; Topeak, 800-213-4561, ; Vans, 800-826-7800, ; VistaLite, 800-456-2355, ; Zoic, 800-241-9327,

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