The world of the bicycle is amazing, exciting and sometimes impenetrable in its complexity. There are so many brands and so much information flying at you from all quarters that sometimes it’s difficult to know what to believe and what to let go.

Enter the RCUK 100. The 100 is a celebration of the road bike and everything that makes the sport we love the most colourful, intense and difficult sport on the planet. And, better than that, a sport where you can ride in the same theatres as the pros, struggling your way over the same cobblestones as Tom Boonen, or grinding up the same climbs conquered by Alberto Contador.

But far from an elegy to the pros, the 100 focuses on the technology, the things you spend hours poring over on the internet or in your local bike shop, trying to decide whether to invest in this piece of kit or that. The 100 is our high-res road map with turn-by-turn instructions to what we think are the best bikes, components and kit on the market. These are the things we love, dressed to the nines in a studio and presented to you.

Enjoy.