Another Something & Company

2013 will be a very good year for our friends at Rapha. It started magnificent in January with the news that they will outfit Bradley Wiggins’ Team Sky. And now they released, in their persistent elegant aesthetic fashion, a very appealing Training & Racing range for Spring/Summer 2013. Backdrop for this season’s range is Corsica, the island hosting the Grand Départ of the Tour de France for the first time this summer with the event celebrating it’s 100th edition. Corsica is the most mountainous island in the Mediterranean, and the last of the 27 ‘régions’ of France to be included in the Tour.  read more…

In For Thousands of Miles film maker Mike Ambs shares the story of a young man’s 6700 kilometer bicycle ride across the Northern United States. Larry McKurtis, at the age of 26, left for the Atlantic ocean, leaving behind the small town he had always known, in search of new experiences. A familiar story mostly ending as a life changing experience for the subject as the people he or she encountered. For Thousands of Miles tells a different story though. After 64 days, McKurtis reaches the Atlantic, an ocean he had never before seen, and just as quickly and quietly as his trip had begun, it was over. His bed was just the way he had left it, the small town he had spent all his life in hadn’t changed an inch, but everything and everyone around him felt foreign for the first time. What the young man never anticipated, was just how long his trip would go on after the road had come to an end.  read more…

An new essential for the road: The warm and lightweight Transfer Jacket by Rapha.

A while back I featured my own custom Eliancycles road bike here on Another Something. Since then, Elian worked on the bike he’d build more than two years ago, fine-tuning and re-engineering the frame and tech, resulting in the first two-wheeled bike that steers without a front fork. From the first time Elian showed me read more…

Yesterday Soigneur released its second issue. Another great magazine jam-packed with inspirational stories, lovely portraits and features on the highly needed products all for the love of road cycling. I was invited by Soigneur and Rapha to join them on the road less travelled – and got a chance to take a look behind the read more…

We love the wonderful initiative called Team Rwanda. In the East-African country Rwanda, most famous for the civil war and genocide of 1994, people living in rural areas tend to spend their lives within a day’s walking distance of their homes. And as cars are too expensive, the bicycle is the most common form of mechanized read more…

Recently we were introduced to the New York based Gage + DeSoto, a project in which founder Mike Spriggs combines his profound love (shared by me) of books and cycling. Mike, also a former collaborator with Rapha for the New York Cycle Club, recently opened a small storefront in Brooklyn which is open in the weekends and is doing business read more…

While on a short holiday in the Belgium Ardennes, sharing my time with the family and enjoying the hills on my bike, Rapha released a new Continental film: Bohemia. Invited by Soigneur and Rapha Europe we traveled all the way to the very north of the Czech Republic, a region called the Bohemian Switzerland, and read more…

While Bradley Wiggins will hit the first mountains during the 10th stage of the Tour de France, Fred Perry released this special collaboration. Cycling jerseys were standard mod-attire during the early 1960’s, and Wiggin’s collection is inspired by this unique relationship between the sport and Subculture. Initially, the collaboration will launch with one cotton pique, zip neck read more…

Just in time for the Tour de France and the spirit of the Olympics this Summer: The lovely Cyclepedia app we’ve featured before got a nice upgrade. Some new content and approved features are added with five new video clips with Sir Paul Smith discussing cycling culture, 85 recent and historic signed racing jerseys, 26 additional landmark racing read more…

A very stylish collaboration between two highly aesthetic Danish companies, Won Hundred and Cykelfabrikken. They’ve created a limited edition collection of three handcrafted leather bags that go with a customized bike. The scandinavian simplicity and classic cool meet some real functionality in the briefcase, the saddle bag and the lock bag that can be attached to read more…

This is most definitely the best video Rapha made. Beautiful images with a great feeling for aesthetics, the first Rapha Continental UK ride had had its share of weather – rain then sun then a bit of hail, then sun again – changing from one valley to the next, or as one storm cloud succeeded read more…

“When I started, the biggest problem was that in Grosetto there were no people who could work to give me a hand – I needed more people to increase production. I had to do it all myself, work the day and the night, weld and do everything. But I succeeded. At that time there were read more…

Yesterday a new Dutch magazine was launched called Soigneur, a stylish and beautifully made magazine dedicated to road cycling. Documenting the love for cycling and the world around in interviews, photo reports, and background stories the magazine is a welcome alternative to the boring industry magazines. Featured in this first issue are Tim Krabbé, Herman Brusselmans, Peter Winnen, read more…

A new and inspiring video from Rapha, shot by Ben Ingham in the Sierra Nevada, featuring the shoes they’ve released today. In collaboration with Giro, they’ve finally finished their outfit with the Rapha Grand Tour Shoes. I love this video, the sounds, the sweat, the views. As always, amazing!

Definitely the best images made of the Tour de France with no bikes at all are these two images by Robert Capa in Pleyben, Brittany, France, July 1939. The excited crowd watching the tour come by in front of the bicycle shop owned by Pierre Cloarec, one of the cyclists in the race. Enjoy the read more…

And more cycling news. Rapha released their new collection with this lovely teaser. The collection features exciting new products as well as updated specifications to existing classics and distinctive seasonal colourways. The range preview was photographed and filmed by Ben Ingham in the Sierra Nevada and I just instantly want to book my ticket to read more…

Of all the magazines we see there are always a few worth some extra attention. The Ride Journal is one of them. With their sixth issue counting nearly 200 pages it is getting some serious dimensions and we can’t wait to get our hands on it.  Philip Diprose, the editor of The Ride Journal explains: read more…

When I started road cycling a few years back I bought a simple bike, just to see if this was the thing I wanted to do. After the first km’s it felt like I was built for it! When I met Elian, a dutch craftsman building some amazing bicycles, a year ago, I instantly wanted a bike from him as my ‘official’ road bike. We did a little tour together with The Village from Utrecht to Antwerp and back, supported by Rapha, joint by Ajanaku a.o. and I got infected with the custom bicycle virus… We sat down, talked about steel frames, details, colors, old vs new techniques and we drew the first outlines of my new bike. More then 6 months later it is here, and it was so much worth the wait! read more…

Days away from riding my new custom build bike by Elian Cycles (later more on that) I found these images shot for the first issue of Curves Magazine. The magazine is dedicated to Route des Grandes Alpes. A route through the Alps to the Mediterranean, crossing 16 high alpine passes on the way. Nine of read more…

The book was already amazing, but with the iPad app they’ve gone next level. Cyclepedia, Michael Embacher’s book on the most extraordinary and rare bicycles is now interactive. With 360º spins of every bike, video features, original brochures, contemporary advertising, engineering drawings, rare illustrations and the ability to zoom into details up to 20x magnification read more…

Last week I got this lovely present from Deus, the 300 page hardbound picture book of Deus Ex Machina, ‘The House of Simple Pleasures’. We spotted the brand back in 2009 and since than, followed it all the way to Holland. The book is beautifully designed and illustrated by the multi-talented creative director of Deus, read more…

Together with 21st Avenue Bicycles, Portland, Draught Dry Goods made this amazing track drop wrapped in 2oz vegetable tanned leather. This one is a special one, tattooed by Draught Dry Goods owner Caesy Oney’s own tattoo artist in Portland, Oregon.

A really nice story from our friends at Rapha again. The Triple Crown is loosely defined as the summiting of Vancouver’s Seymour, Grouse and Cypress mountains in one effort. There’s no rule regarding in what order the climbs must be done, only that they have to be completed in one day. Would love to go read more…

While waiting for my new bike being build by Elian, making plans for La Marmotte and first rides on my new bike on the Vesuvius this november, Rapha comes in at the right moment again. A whole new range of autumn and winter ware featuring exciting new products, updated specifications to exisiting Rapha classics and read more…

Maybe it’s not for the lightweight junks on a carbon frame, but I really like this bike tool roll! Made of waxed canvas with leather trim and a leather toe strap to cinch the roll under your seat or drop into a bottle cage, this tool roll carry everything you need on your way up. read more…

As always, beautiful images by Rapha! This definitely feeds my idea of riding La Marmotte next year…

Another very inspirational movie from Rapha. Malcolm Powell, an Australian Cycling Historian and former racer narrates this beautiful film that comes from our friends down under. Take a look at the film and the fantastic marriage of history and the present day beauty of the Victorian Alps.

Rapha not only provide us with the best performance roadwear and stories from the hills, they are now inspiring us to celebrate our activity on the pedals with some bona fide cocktails. Enjoy (responsibly…)

Finally, my bike is fixed. Not fixed as in single speed, but the derailleur is on the right place, not between the spokes. The chain is straight instead of a weird kind of twisted like a washed denim and it looks like I can hit the road again. Time to warm up the mind for read more…