About bikes, cycling and cycle to work - Tredz Blog

Free Specialized Equipment

Sort of! Spend a grand or more on a Spesh bike and get 10% of the total cost in free Specialized equipment with their spring reward.

Example: Buy an FSR XC Expert worth £1299.99 and get £130 of free Specialized equipment. That's glasses, cycling shoes, cycle helmets, multi tools, tyres, cycle clothing... They do a massive range of stuff apart from bikes - you can pretty much get everything you need from the big 'S' apart from the kitchen sink.*

Valid from now till the end of April, the offer excludes all S-Works models (if you can afford one of those, you don't have my pity for missing out I'm afraid), and doesn't run with any other discounts.

* Rumored to be in development 

2010 Camelbak, the future's bright...

The new Camelbak stuff just landed and with the vivid new colourways, we weren't likely to miss them.

Camelbak are the accepted leaders of the hydration pack*. For as long as any of us can remember, if we wanted a new hydration bag, Camelbak were at the very least the first brand we thought of. The last couple of years however has seen a couple of well designed competitors breaking through.

Whilst you'd struggle to find a hydration bag as reliable as a Camelbak, you could certainly find one that looked a little more up-to-date.

Enter 2010, enter the Michael Corleone inspired all mountain/freeride hydration bags from Camelbak: The Consigliere, The Capo, and The Don. They couldn't look any more bang up to date, but the large range of paintjobs hide some very specific pieces of kit.  

Even the smallest (The Consigliere with 2 litres of liquid and 7.77 litres of extra carrying space), is designed to carry everything but the kitchen sink. The largest (The Don with 3 litres and 17.5 litres of luggage), is perfect for all day, all mountain adventures.

As with all Camelbaks they seem to fit all of us (from the prop customer service guy upstairs to our size zero roadies), are infinitely adjustable and look built to last.

*Sorry!

Cyclosportive novice - needs help!

Figuring I needed something to aim for and against all better judgement, I decided to enter my first cycling sportive this year.

And she's a beaut: The Devil Ride. Taking in some of the finest (I use the term in it’s most cyclespecific and masochistic sense obviously) riding available in this country. 100 miles of ridiculous gradients, on a sportive that’s quickly gained a reputation as the place to train for the likes of the Etape.

In fact it’s been said that the only place you can recreate not just the gradient, but the length the bloody thing lasts for, of the French Col, in the UK is deepest mid Wales.

So. A good place for a jolly, naïve and wobbly legged commuter like me to cut my teeth.

Whilst I start aiming at hitting my first century in preparation, I've got some advice for those in a similar boat. Don't wait for it, pick one and sign up now! Participation in cyclosportives has shot through the roof in the last few years, and as a result you will really need to get a move on. The best events are selling out in record time.

I've picked my event because it's close, because it'll likely make me much fitter/irretrievably break my will and because having something to aim for, whatever your level, can make cycling so much more fun. 

I am desperate for tips by the way, so if anybody has good advice (not the muffled giggles I've been getting so far from my roadie friends), get in touch!

Essential Six Nations cycling accessories

The Six Nations kicks off tomorrow and we've got an admission to make.

Whilst we're proud to have customers and friends around the UK, for the duration of the Six Nations we can't help but withdraw a little into our patriotic shells.

Of course we'll still be sending our goods around the country, we'll still offer the best advice we can and keep as many of our neighbours riding as possible, but don't be too surprised if we do so with a sour face should our line out let us down. 

Whoever wins this year (France has my money by the way – and since I've been wrong for about ten years in a row the odds back me), don't forget there are some items that will come in useful whether you're hitting the singletrack, the stands or the pub in the upcoming weekends.

Our guide to stuff that is unintentionally handy for cycling and rugby:

Exposure Spark

Frankly, when I first saw it, it seemed a bit of a hard sell to me. Normal batteries meant either expensive throw away batteries or making sure I can recharge some. It's light output is relatively small and it doesn't have the neat smart port that the rest of Exposures awesome cycling lights have.

Having said that the Exposure Spark is a unique light that's started finding it's way on to more and more of our set ups. 

Time for a closer look. 

Advice for women cyclists

My recent, completely unscientific study regarding why Specialized womens bikes are so great (using the: smiles ÷ hearsay - big frames = great bikes equation that male bike shop workers utilise when talking about womens bikes), neglected to offer any further resources for women cyclists.

Luckily, Bike Shop Girl (surely prime for a DC Comic adaptation?), has done the leg work for us. She's picked her favourite places to land for general girl shaped bicycle information, including some places where men just aren't welcome.

Thanks BSG! 

When you're there checkout my hypothesis that womens Specialized bikes are fantastic with people who've actually ridden them, rather than a theorising imposter.

Specialized for women new website

Specialized makes the most accessible, most thoughtful and best value womens bikes (mountain and road), in the world. 

Contentious?

Who am I to argue. Personally I've never ridden one (although I've had my fair share of Y-chromosomed Spesh bikes), so what do I know about riding a Specialized womens bike?

I've got three arguments here.

1. The mens bikes are consistently damn good. If they make separate bikes designed from the ground up for women to the same high standards, I'm willing to bet they ride as good.

2. We've sold many many Spesh women's bikes. We get so few complaints it's unreal. What we do get are women incredibly happy (a rarity for me!) on a bike that seems made for them. Seems to me, unlike some major manufacturers, they are. They make women's bikes for women, not mens bikes adjusted to fit womens (superior in every respect except average top tube reach) bodies.

3. The womens range at Specialized is actually headed by women. The marketing, design and yup, the funky websites are built for and by their intended users. Now that sounds to me like a pretty good idea. 

Oh, and while we're at it.

4. For some unknown and intensely irritating reason Specialized womens bikes just look better. Why won't you make me a bike that looks this good? 

(alternative) cycle insurance

Following straight on from our couldn't be any straighter, ever so slightly dull (short of using a CGI Meerkat, insurance is pretty dull) but ultimately sound bicycle insurance advice, we've got another slightly more colourful piece of advice.

Make your bike look less desirable. Yup. 'Ugly' your ride and not only will it looks less desirable to you, it'll also look a lot less desirable to potential thieves.

A tiny bit of reverse TLC and with any luck your bike might be forever ignored!

Disclaimer:

Think before you do anything to your bike. Making your bike look less valuable might be a great tool for making bike robbing scum ignore it, but it will also almost certainly void any warranty it might have!

Don't think an ugly bike isn't a target. It still needs to be locked!

Core bike show

Core bike show is one of the 'biggies' for the cycling industry. A chance for the suppliers and sellers to get together, schmooze, drink and generally just mess around on new bikes.

We wish... A five hour drive either side for us means little chance for hanging around. Our trade shows are planned with military precision, meaning the photos we snap at the events take on even more importance, giving us the chance to be bike geeks at a more leisurely pace when we get back.

Here's some of our Core Bike Show 2010 highlights...

Cycle insurance guide

You don't have to have insurance for your bike.  As it's not the law, the majority of people either don't consider it or just assume their house insurance will cover it.

If you fall into either category, or (like me), you have natural tendency to assume the best till the worst happens, it's really worth taking five minutes just to consider what might go wrong...

Giant Faith 0

The revamped Giant Faith has been causing waves. A massive gestation period (where it spent a lot of time being thrashed by Kurt Sorge) has created one of the lightest, most off the peg ride-and-affordable freeride bikes available today. 

They're now available to purchase in all sizes. If you're looking for a reason to make the purchase check out the video we got sent recently: 

Top 5 cyclocross commuting bikes

Cyclocross bikes have to cope with pretty specific demands placed on them in their discipline. The dropped handlebars and 700c tyres means they're extremely fast, whilst the knobbly tyres, strong brakes and better frame clearance (preventing mud from stopping play), mean that they can maintain that speed over mixed terrain.

They can go where road bikes can't, and at a speed mountain bikes can only dream of.

Hardly surprising then that they've been picked up by many astute commuters as the perfect cycle to work bike. Able to cope with a daily battering far better than most road bikes and quicker than a mountain bike on all but the most technical terrain (sadly most commutes don't include any rock gardens or sudden drop offs), cyclocross bikes are probably the ideal jack of all trades bike that would suit most cyclists on their ride to work, most of the time.

So in the spirit of the season, we're picking our five favourite cyclocross commuters. Since we want our bikes to be suitable for cycling to work, we're keeping them underneath the magic thousand pound mark (making them available on most cycle to work schemes).

Nalini Pro team clothing

The Tour down Under is in full swing, and frankly, it's about time. We've had enough of Lance tweeting about what he's eating for breakfast, we want to know what he's eating for breakfast on tour!*

Other side affects of the road season getting under way include our mounting desire to copy our heroes. For those of us eager to emulate those emaciated Gods, we're now accepting pre-orders of Nalini pro kits. The full shebang, from the jersey down to the socks.

Want to look like you ride for Astana and haven't got the ear of the Kazakh government? Or maybe you just show your support for your favourite Manxman, either way check out our full range of Nalini pro team clothing.

*The same apparently

Cycling jersey guide

What to look for in a winter cycling jersey? How about high wicking, windproof, shower resistant, good insulation and ventilation for a start. Oh, and since they'll likely be a top layer a lot of the time they've got to look sharp too.

Cyclists are picky beasts and we're picky cyclists! We've scoured the cycling world to pick our favourite mountain bike and road winter jerseys. 

Dirty Weekend review

A month late (thanks again e-mail gremlins!), but better late than never and a chance for us to relive the what must have been both the wettest weekend of and most aptly named event of the year: Mens Fitness Dirty Weekend.

Over to Ryan Evans. Course designer, Tredz sponsored rider and one of the fastest men we know on a mountain bike (especially in galoshes and walking boots...).

IMB issue three

It's free, it's better than many of it's real paper counterparts, it's got flashy adverts - yup, IMB is back for it's third issue.

We genuinely hope this mag gets the readers it deserves. Well produced with some great content every month.

It's really providing a viable alternative to just copying and pasting content onto a site. Naming no names...

Lapierre bikes

The most critically acclaimed, sought after bikes of the moment? Lapierre! 

The likes of the Zesty, the Froggy and the Spicy are literally selling quicker than they can be made at the moment but fear not! You too can own a little piece of Lapierre, regardless of availability or spare cash.

Lapierre wallpaper! It's almost as good as having your very own Spicy 916.

 Almost.

Globe Live

The new range of Specialized Globe bikes caused something of a stir when the pictures and specs were first released. With good reason. They looked drop dead gorgeous.

Months of being able to look and not touch was driving us crazy - so when our mechanics rolled out the our first shop ready Globe Live we had to run and cop a feel.

Trust us, this is built as well as it looks. The basket and mudguards are no after thought but integral and very well made. For the money, this is one hell of a stylish and practical bike. 

American Classic wheels

We love 'em. Although mostly, we just love looking at them. American Classic wheelsets are both things of beauty and high performance. Starting at around £300 and ending up at £1800, they are seriously sought after.

Don't take our word for it though. Pez Cycling (which is incidentally our favourite Pro cycling resource) have taken a pair of American Classic 420 road wheels to task. Their reviews are a little different to those you might be used to. For a start they cover EVERYTHING about the wheel, test it intensively and take photos of angles the designers never dreamed of. No two bit print copy shoe horned into a website is this...

Put simply, it's an exhaustive review from a very well respected site. Short version: They like!

Dragon Ride tickets

Sold out in record time! Thanks to Cycling Weekly readers for naming it their favourite Sportive event for the second year running and the likes of the Independent writing glowing reports, everbody wants a piece of the Welsh 'cols'.

Easy to get to, staggering scenery, perfect weather (well, possibly), this sportive has it all. The 2010 route is sticking very closely to that followed in 2009. The biggest change is the inclusion of a 40 km "Corto" route.

Best of all, it's not completely sold out! The 18th Jan will see 300 extra tickets being released on a first come, first served basis. Check the official site for more details.