Renovo x Glenmorangie Original bike preview: ‘As smooth as a dram of whisky’

Price: £5,300
Frame: whisky cask
Weight: 8.1kg
Gears: Shimano Ultegra

Glenmorangie owes much of its famously smooth drinking style to the years it spends maturing in casks of American oak. Now an Oregon bike company, Renovo, has found a way of harnessing some of the whisky’s complex character by turning its old casks into beautifully polished bicycles. Renovo has been building wooden bikes for the past decade because, as its founder Ken Wheeler says: ‘Wood’s superior abilities creates a much smoother ride.’ So this one really is going to slip down a treat. The staves used in each unique frame reflect the curvature of the casks, and craftsmen take more than 20 hours to perfect each one. The bike is then built to your exact specification. It’s not the first time Glenmorangie has found an unusual use for its old oak – last year it launched a range of wood-framed sunglasses. At £5,300 it’s not cheap, so maybe just go for a bottle of Glenmorangie instead. It’s a relative bargain at £36. Here’s tae us! (renovobikes.com)

Five of the best places to cycle in the world

View image in fullscreen

As Scottish adventure cyclist Mark Beaumont continues his bid to cycle round the world in 80 days, the Wiggle ambassador provides insight into the five best places to ride in the world. And he should know, having cycled across over 60 countries in the last decade.

1. West Coast of Norway If you go from Trondheim and head north up to the Arctic Circle – you can go to the peninsula called the Lofoten Isles. It’s just staggering, you’ve got mountains that drop into the ocean and beautiful roads that follow the Fjords. It’s pretty remote stuff but if you go in the middle of summer you’ve got 24hr daylight and you can get a cheap flight from Oslo and just ride your bike north and you’re in the middle of nowhere. The middle of summer is the best time to go. It’s just fairly remote so preparation is needed - some of the best scenery I’ve ever cycled through though so well worth it.

2. Tierra del Fuego It’s right down in the southern reaches of Argentina. If you go down through Argentina you’ve got the Pampas which is about 2,000 miles of grasslands which is some of the most boring cycling in the world and it’s relentlessly windy but you’re rewarded by getting down to Ushuaia across the island of Tierra del Fuego and you’ve got these glaciers that roll down into the ocean – it’s the only place in the world where glaciers come down to sea level. You’ve got the surrounding lakes and trees - the summer down there in Ushuaia where they call is the end of the world for a reason – it’s where the boats leave to go to Antarctica and it’s just the most beautiful place with great cuisine as well. You’ve got the king crab, the local wines, it’s a pretty special part of the world. Visit in December/January.

3. Iran Out of all the countries I’ve cycled through Iran was one of the most welcoming and interesting and beautiful places. It’s got such a rich history - it’s the place that is most different from what I expected it to be. OK, it’s a little bit tricky to get in, you need to get a letter of invitation and sort your VISAs out but once you’re in the people are extraordinarily welcoming and it’s just a place that’s worth seeing for yourself rather than what you read in the press. I slept in mosques most nights, it’s like cycling across England and knowing you can sleep in any church in the country. I love it because it reset my expectations to what the country was really like. It gets more deserted and arid as you go South but as cut down the South East border of Pakistan and Afghanistan it gets a bit more wild, though I wouldn’t recommend you cycle too close to those borders these days! Up in the North, you’ve got Tiran which is more mountainous, then in the North West it’s much more green and rolling and lush, but it’s still hot riding. It’s too hot to ride in the mid-summer

4. Northern Scotland A couple of years ago they branded the North coast 500 from Inverness to John O’Groats. The UK needed something different to Lands End – John O’Groats. I was asked a couple of years ago to ride the route and set a time on it. I rode the 520 miles in about 37 hours for a bit of a publicity stunt. It’s a punchy route, I wouldn’t necessarily try and do it non-stop, but it’s staggeringly beautiful. In the Western Isles, you’re looking over to Skye and the Outer Hebrides and all those islands, and you get to pick off all the iconic landmarks like John O’Groats. They are some of the quietest roads in the UK, so ideal for cycling. Time and time again, the Applecross Pass has been voted as the UK’s best climb and you get to tick that off your list as well if you’re a keen cyclist.

5. Apennine Mountains One of my favourite rides as a teenager, I rode my bike from Sicily to Innsbruck, which basically meant riding the length of the Apennines - essentially riding the length of Italy. If you’re someone who likes their food, culture adventure, with two completely different climate zones on offer, Italy has got it all. Starting off riding around Etna, it’s all pretty hot, then you start climbing up through Tuscany and Monte Cassino and all these beautiful places and finish with a beautiful climb over the Great St Bernard path over into Austria, it’s a staggering country to do from toe to top.

Lots of people ride Lands End to John O’Groats and I always say to people there are a lot more interesting 1,000 mile rides if you want to ride 1,000 miles. It’s about 1,300 miles to ride the length of Italy from Sicily. I do say to people, if they do have a couple of weeks spare, then do try to get yourself a cheap flight to somewhere in Europe and just imagine where you can go and sample the local wine and the culture and the foods.

Wiggle is proud to support Mark Beaumont’s bid to cycle round the world in 80 days.

Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166

^{This article contains affiliate links to products. Our journalism is independent and is never written to promote these products although we may earn a small commission if a reader makes a purchase.}