On top of their own bikes, Raleigh also distribute certain brands in the UK. Here’s the best of the rest that was on offer in Nottingham…

Salsa Bikes

Raleigh have just taken on Salsa in the UK. Salsa are a company from Bloomington, Minnesota, in the US that specialise in all things off-road, from full suspension downhill mountain bikes, to an off-road tandem, to fat bikes and, finally, gravel bikes as well.

 

The ride they had on show in Nottingham is Salsa’s Warbird, their entry-level gravel racer. It comes in either an alloy (pictured here) and carbon frameset, and Raleigh say they’re going to offer the frames in a variety of builds.

This Warbird we saw was built up with SRAM Apex and mechanical disc brakes. There are also certain concessions to comfort. In addition to clearance for huge tyres up to 40mm or more, the seatstays are bowed in order to absorb road/trail buzz, aided by the lack of a seatstay bridge for mounting rim brakes, and form what Salsa call a Class 5 Vibration Reduction System.

Ass Saver

For anyone not familiar, the Ass Saver is basically a rear mudguard that mounts to your saddle rails and stops a bit of that road spray from your back wheel hitting your shorts and jersey/jacket – though it won’t save the riders behind you, naturally.

You might have spotted the Ass Saver in the pro peloton as the Spring Classics, or other races afflicted by bad weather, as it’s a simple way for pros to get a bit of protection.

The beauty of the Ass Saver is that it’s very light, easy to make and even easier to fit. In fact, you could make your own on the stand so we decided to have a go, choosing the most ridiculous colour on offer, naturally. Check out the gallery to see how we got on, and how to fit it to the bike.

Uvex

While their road helmet range hasn’t changed for this product year, one very smart little preview Uvex had came in the form of their latest sunglasses.

While you’ve likely heard of photochromic lenses that adapt to the light in 10-20secs, Uvex have taken that idea a little further and incorporated electronics into the equation.

Basically, the inside of the glasses have a small LCD screen coating which changes according to the light intensity measured by a sensor in the arms of the glasses. The prototype at the show only worked by pressing the button on the bottom of the left hand arm, but the sensor will change the tint of the glasses automatically in the production version. While current photochromic glasses can take up to 30secs to fully change, these will react within a fraction of second.

The sensor charges through a micro USB port on the bottom of the right-hand arm, and Uvex reckon you’ll get upwards of 60hrs riding time from a single charge.