About bikes, cycling and cycle to work - Tredz Blog

Bike shops in Cardiff plus 1

Cardiff’s latest cycle shop has been open since 25th May but this Saturday was our ‘official launch’. Princes Harry and William were otherwise engaged so we asked the MAD team to step up and please the crowds instead. It wasn’t quite like the queues for Wimbledon or the iPhone but a couple of hundred people turned out to see what a good bike shop looks like.

I owe a big hat-tip to all the staff who worked so hard on making that good first impression and to Anthony from Felt and Ritchie at Rocky Mountain for braving the weather and mucking in.

Gower Bike Ride cancelled

Due to the bleak weather forecast the Gower Bike Ride has had to be cancelled for this Sunday. The organisers expect to announce the rescheduled date in the next few days, the new date is likely to be Sunday July 8th but this needs to be confirmed.

Tour de France in the UK - 6-9 July

Le Tour de France -the world's most watched sporting event - is taking in some of the English landscape (although it's debateable whether the riders will have much opportunity to appreciate the 'Garden of England') on the first leg of the race.   

The Grand Depart, which will decide who wears this year's first yellow jersey, consists of three events:

• Friday 6 July, the start of the Tour will be marked with an opening ceremony in London's Trafalgar Square when the teams and their riders will be presented to the crowds;
• Saturday 7 July, the Tour will open with a Prologue Time Trial to decide which cyclist will wear the famous yellow jersey on the first day of racing;
• Sunday 8th July the race leaves London for the first road stage, which finishes in Canterbury.

What a chance to see some of the worlds best riders in action in Britain! To help with (spectator) planning, the CTC website has a handy 'Tour the France in the UK' guide to what's happening where and the official UK Tour site provides more general Tour information.

Bizarre...

The fascinating information one comes across as part of cycling-related Web surfing.... Margaret Marks shares this possibly little known piece of legal information on her German-English legal translation blog :

"Under German law, you can cycle on the wrong side of the road at night holding an umbrella. But if you cycle in slippers, especially if you're over seventy, you have to wear a helmet."

Prosit!

'Grand Depart' cyclo sportive

On Juliy 1st, the Sunday before the UK start of the Tour de France, a major UK cyclosportive will follow the route of the historic UK Grand Depart. Up to 5000 riders will cycle the 120 mile journey from Greenwich out of London and through the Kent countryside to finish in Canterbury.

Route: Greenwich - Woolwich - Dartford - Gravesend - Rochester - Aylsford - Tonbridge - Royal Tunbridge Wells - Horsmonden - Sissinghurst - Tenterden – Stubb’s Cross - Port Lympne - Farthing Common - Canterbury

Gower bike ride reminder - July 1st

As we're well into plugging local events, here's a reminder for next Sunday's Gower Bike Ride. Not only a pleasant ride in a great location, you raise money for the Heart Foundation as well for anyone visiting or living in the area.

There's still time to register online for £10, which is cheaper and will also save you time and hassle on the day itself when it's likely to be busy. For more info phone 0800 783 6970.

Dragon Ride round-up

A thank you to the weather gods for providing good riding conditions for the brave cyclists who took part in the Dragon Ride cyclo sportive yesterday. Despite the bad weather forecast and the initial threat of rain, the day remained dry till almost the end, with little wind and perfect cycling temperatures (12-17C).

Cyclists started to arrive a 6am at Bridgend leisure centre where fresh strong coffee, organic burgers and Tredz mechanics were at hand providing free repairs and last minute cycle spares besides breakfast.

It was impressive to see 1500+ male and female cyclists setting off and even more so to see them arriving back later in the day, having successfully conquered several of the most gruelling hill climbs in south Wales. I can only hope the beautiful surroundings will have provided some relief as the circuit did not leave much opportunity for the cyclists to relax.

While there are certainly aspects that can be improved for next year's Dragon Ride (our list is on its way to the organisers!), participants did comment on the generally well-organised nature of the event, the tolerance of other road users and the fantastic views along the way.

We've posted more Dragon Ride pictures on Flickr.

Weekend cycling events

This weekend sees some big cycling events such as the Dragon Ride cyclo sportive in south Wales and the T-Mobile/Giant Mountain Mayhem mountain bike festival/endurance race at Eastnor Castle in Ledbury (Herefordshire).

While these are perhaps some of the better known, don't forget there are still some 188 other Bike Week events taking place across the UK on Saturday and 214 on Sunday in places ranging from Irtlingborough to Poclington. Happy cycling!

Dragon Ride cyclo sportive

Just a reminder that the Dragon Ride, the UK's largest cyclo sportive is taking place this Sunday, 24th June. 2300 cyclists have entered their name to take part and will be departing from Bridgend early Sunday morning to face the challenge of the 135km Medio Fondo or the 200km Gran Fondo (non competitive) road cycle  ride over some of the steepest South Wales' hills.

This year is the fourth occasion this endurance event has been held with entrant numbers having almost doubled each year.

The 2007 route takes in two classic UK category 1 climbs as used in the past on the Tour of Britain. The ride winds its way along the former mining valleys of South Wales, (Afan, Rhondda Neath and Ogmore) and the longer route loops into the heart of the stunning Brecon Beacons National Park.

Route information:
135km Medio Fondo Route
Start Bridgend Recreation Centre, from 08.00am, West on the A473, B4622, A48, to Port Talbot, A4107 Afan Valley, Bwlch mountain road (feed station), A4061 Rhondda Valley, Rhigos mountain road. Hirwaun (200km split, see Gran Fondo), B4242 to Glynneath (feed station), /A4109/ A4230 (Neath), B4287 Cimla, Pontrydyfen, A4107 Afan Valley, Bwlch mountain road.

200km Gran Fondo Route
As above route plus 65km additional loop. A4059 Penderyn, A470 (Storey Arms), A4215 Defynnog (feed station), A4067 (Cray Reservoir), Abercraf, A4221/A4109, Rejoin above route at Glynneath.

Viewing the ride
The ride starts at 8.00am with 2300 riders which will be an amazing sight. During the ride, good viewing positions are at the major climbs: the Bwlch and the Rhigos (see route map) where several laybys offer the opportunity to see the riders making their way up the mountain and, depending on your location, starting their descend.
Posted by Caroline

Happy cycling customers

I know we've said it before, but we're still impressed when customers make the effort to let us know they're happy with our products and service! Thanks Simon, Rob and Tom for letting us know.

Just thought I'd drop you a quick thank-you, my Giant 2007 XTC has been such an improvement on the heap I took back to a well known car spares supplier! I have been recommending you to friends.
simon

Bike turned up this morning in perfect condition. Just wanted to say thanks for a great service, I'm sure you'll be getting my custom again.
Kind regards
Rob

Hi, Just a wee thankyou, bike arrived as promised on Monday morning, perfect condition.... Cheers
Tom

Tredz bike shop in Cardiff

Tredz are an established cycle retailer dating back to 1989. We opened our latest shop in Penarth, Cardiff (south Wales) in May 2007. Most of Tredz online is available in the Cardiff store.

That said, our online bike shop has over 6,000 products featured. Displaying that lot would make for a pretty cramped store so we’ve picked key lines and tackled the main areas of modern cycling: mountain bikes (hardtail and full suspension), jump bikes, road bikes, BMX, commuting and hybrid bikes.

There’s also a healthy range of bikes for women and for the junior cyclist. We’re catering for everything to do with cycling in 4,500 square feet – for instance our clothing range is on its own mezzanine floor.

However, if you can’t find it in store but it's listed on tredz.co.uk you have two options:

1. order the item online and have it delivered in store to collect; 

or

2. order the item online and have it delivered to your home and bring it in for us to fit the pedals and turn the handlebars which is all you need to do on receipt (see the video of how to do this).

The shop has first-class workshop facilities, download the bicycle workshop pricelist 2008 PDF here.

Where are we?

Tredz, Penarth Road Retail Park, Cardiff CF11 8EF T: 02920 702229 E: Cardiff@tredz.co.uk

When are we open?
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 18:00
Saturday 9:00 – 18:00
Sunday 10:30 – 16:30

How do I get there?

1. Take junction 33 off the M4 (Cardiff West services) and join the A4232 dual carriageway towards Cardiff Bay for 6 miles;
2. Take the second available exit from A4232, sign posted Leckwith (also Ninian Park & athletic stadium);
3. At the roundabout take the 2nd exit for Hatfield Road (signed the docks) and follow to lights at the end;
4. At traffic lights turn right onto Penarth Road (A4160);
5. Continue on Penarth Road for 1 mile to a mini roundabout;
6. We are on your right, opposite the Porsche garage.

Parking is available at the front and also behind the store.

Fancy knowing more about us? Read more on our imaginatively named ‘About Us’ page.

Here's a 'virtual impression' of some of our shop - but as I'm not the world's best photographer it looks far better in reality!

Pedal power at Goodwood's Festival of Speed

Visitors to this year’s Festival of Speed – to be held in the grounds of Goodwood House from 22-24 June – can look forward to the unfamiliar sight of top motor racing stars in lycra, pedalling up the demanding 1.16 mile Goodwood hill climb, paired up with some of the world’s best professional cyclists in a thrilling bicycle race.

Read the full story on the British Cycling website

Lakeside 'Le Mans'

Another local Bike Week event, the Lakeside Le Mans is a charity ride around the picturesque Fendrod lake on Swansea Enterprise Zone on Thursday 21st June.

At any time of the day riders are sponsored to cycle as many laps as they can around the lake. Local bike shop CycleWorld is providing bikes and helmets, refreshments are provided by the Ramada Hotel start/finish point on Phoenix Way.

Riders are requested to pre-register for the all-day event on tel: 01792 637645 or email nicola.parkinson@swansea.gov.uk

Routeslip bike trail mapping

I love discovering new things, especially if they're fun as well as useful! Came across a website that offers both: RouteSlip lets you discover existing routes or create your own routes (map based), upload these to the web and manage your routes as part of a training programme.

There's a load of other features: the option to interact with other cyclists, create elevation profiles and print route slips. Great tool if you're organising a ride. The site is American but UK routes have been uploaded by users.
Posted by Caroline

Test Bike day comes round again

As part of the National Bike Week (16-24 June), Tredz will be running another Test Bike day in Afan Argoed (Afan Forest Park) on Sunday 17th June. Your chance to try the latest full sus mountain bikes from Giant, Kona, Specialized etc. for FREE and without even having to clean the bike afterwards!

Remember you can watch our Afan video if you'd like a flavour of this 'pukka singletrack'.

There are events held throughout the UK for next week's Bike Week, if you want to find out about events are happening near you, enter your postcode on the National Bike Week website for details.

Diamondback Sabbath test day

If we needed an excuse for a day out in Cwmcarn, an invite to preview and test ride the new Diamondback Sabbath 2008 was just the ticket. After seeing Diamondback's Sabbath's prototype at the National Bike Show it was great to get our bums on the bikes. The new Sabbath gearbox bike (g-boxx) for 2008 is an awesome bike with a low center of gravity, very slick shifting and no chain rattle  or noise. Perfect for muddy UK downhill courses.

The day was spent trying out several of the new Diamondback range which included some suprisingly affordable and competent bikes. Diamondback may have been overshadowed by some of the other makes in the past years but they are reclaiming ground with some brilliant new bikes and innovative engineering.

The production models are expected to be available later this year (around September) we'll be posting some more in-depth reviews before then.

Cardiff bike shop makes Scottish weekend

Our first bike-buying customer at our new Cardiff store emailed us to show her new Scott Scale wasn't a garage ornament:

"Hey All,

Thanks for all of your help last minute on Friday.  We finally left for Scotland (7 Stanes) at about 8.30pm and arrived at a truely evil 3.30am!

Armed with my new bike I found I actually enjoyed mtbing - I grinned whilst riding off road, something I thought I would never do! Steve was chuffed because usually he just gets abuse from me wishing I was on my road bike instead.  The bike made a huge difference, I can't believe the ride compared to my old Specialized - it was soooo much fun!

Anyway, I've attached a few photos, they're not brilliant, I think we were having too much fun to keep stopping to take piccies.  I'm not sure exactly where they were taken, over the four days we did the red routes at Dalbeattie, Mabie and Ae and the red and black (!!!) route at Kirroughtree.   

Thanks again for your help and patience last thing on a Friday, the bike made the weekend!" - Becky

McLaren don’t do bikes, but they do do winning

Sorry to go off-topic again but my beloved Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team (yep, cars not bikes, I know) are celebrating the first victory of super rookie Lewis Hamilton tonight. Lewis entered F1 by finishing 3rd and followed it with four 2nd places, but got the inevitable win in Montreal today!

In the chaos and mistakes of most in the race he managed to make it all look so easy (and the experienced boys look like amateurs in comparison). He’s done that for six races now. What must it feel like to be the new Tiger Woods?

Trek launches new Madone

Trek have launched their new Madone on June 1st, which has a complete new look as well as having undegone several major design changes.

The Madone originally shot to fame when Lance Armstrong won his Tour de France races with this design.

The new Madone offers riders a choice of three fit options, all sharing the same 'ProTour-proven geometry' so riders can have the performance they're looking for  with the best fitting riding position.

Cycling Plus has pictures and a brief preview summarising the changes in design between the new Madone and the original frame:

• The 90mm bottom bracket shell with integrated bearings sitting directly inside the carbon bottom bracket shell.
• A new carbon E2 fork features oversized 1 1/2in integrated bearings at the bottom crown race.
• The standard seatpost has been swapped for an adjustable seatmast for improved strength and comfort.

Check out the Madone website for further details.

If you're interested in fine detail, Wired Magazine's article spells out the finer details of Armstrong's kit for an insight into attempting virtual weightlessness.
Posted by Caroline

Ritchey Bristol Bikefest 2007

This weekend sees the 5th Ritchey Bristol Bikefest, one of the UK's main endurance events. Action kicks off on Friday evening and carries on till Sunday evening at Ashton Court, just outside Bristol.

There's a twelve hour solo and team event on Saturday (9th June) and the UK Single Speed Championships take place on the Sunday morning(10th June) before the start of the six hour solo and team endurance event at 11am.

As well as the races, there's a great musical line-up with live music and DJs running from early evening late into the night on Friday and Saturday. On top of that there's a broad selection of the latest bikes and kit which will be available for testing over the weekend.

Entries are still open for September's Kona Cheddar Bikefest, formerly the 'Cheddar Challenge' which looks like a good event to round off the racing season. After running for 20 years, it was cancelled in 2006 but now revived:

"expect a relaxed atmosphere,   a great course with all the old favourites, excellent camping facilities and   lots of new gear to check out."

Thanks to my ex-colleague James, I'm reminded to suggest an alternative destination if you can't make Bristol this weekend. If you're looking for something unusual this weekend then I'd like to alert you to the World Naked Bike ride taking place on the 8th and 9th of June in London, Brighton, York, Southampton and Manchester as well as some 65 other cities worldwide.

As well as making a statement against our dependency on oil:

"The ride draws attention to the elegant simplicity of the bicycle, highlights the vulnerability of riders in traffic and celebrates the power and individuality of our bodies."

Posted by Caroline

Olympic taste test?

I’m a big fan of Lord Coe. The guy won four Olympic medals (two gold), smashed 12 world records and brought the Olympic Games to London rather than losing to hot favourites Madrid and Paris. This British hero unveiled the logo for 2012 London Games this week. Unfortunately LC went on a media course too many beforehand:

"This is the vision at the very heart of our brand. It will define the venues we build and the Games we hold and act as a reminder of our promise to use the Olympic spirit to inspire everyone and reach out to young people around the world. It is an invitation to take part and be involved." Eh?

As marketer/author/business guru Seth Godin said, "If you are paying money to someone who talks like this, may I suggest you stop? And if you work for someone who talks like this, time to look for a new gig."

Bicycles meet the aspirational new urbanist

Intrigued by this title, the cycle-related post on Whisky Prajer's blog alerted me to the launch of a new trendy UK publication.

'Monocle' is not only a new magazine, but one celebrating its launch by bringing out a bespoke 'Skeppshult Monocle' bicycle, built by the Swedish firm of the same name, see illustration. (£600, in case you wondered.)

Obviously, this "five-geared classic" roused Whisky Prajer's bike design upmanship (and his display of knowledge of obscure continental bicycles) by announcing his own preferred choice:

"I'd go straight to the authority — Batavus — and purchase their no-nonsense Personal Bike Delivery. And I wouldn't mount it unless I was smoking hand-rolled Drum tobacco."

And yes, that is the name of the bike.

By the way, has it ever crossed your mind that international architects might be involved in bringing us the latest cup cakes? Guess where I read this...
Posted by Caroline

Cyclists allowed on the road - it's official.

There's a positive update to the concerns expressed by Matt Seaton in the Guardian’s ‘On two Wheels’ a few weeks ago about the wording regards cycling in the new Highway Code.

Last year, cyclists voiced their concerns about terms used in the proposed new Highway Code (no less than 70% of all responses during the Public Consultation were from cyclists and cycling organisations).

The main contention was the wording of the new Code which seemed to indicate that it was now mandatory for cyclists to use cycle facilities such as cycle lanes, advanced stop lines and cycle boxes rather than if it made sense based on the cyclists’ judgement. Given the state of many of these ‘facilities’ it’s rather important for cyclists to decide whether it is practical to use them. (For more amazing images of cycling facilities see the Cambridge Cycle Campaign website by the way.)

The wording also lead other road users to believe that cyclists were legally obliged to use these facilities at all times, thus expecting cyclists to use them wherever available, rather than by free choice and dependent on conditions. This then raised the issue of liability if cyclists did not use the facilities and a road traffic incident occurred.

I'm not a fan of official documents, but it was interesting to read through pages 7 and 8 of the consultation response document, which summarises the objections.

All the hard work the CTC and other cycling organisations have put in has paid off. It was announced last week that the government have agreed to reword or change more than 40 rules, basically making it clear that cyclists have every right to cycle on the road:

The new version makes clear that cyclists have every right to cycle on the road. Rules 61 and 63 state that cycle lanes and cycle facilities, are "not compulsory" and the decision to use them "will depend on your experience and skills".

To support the campaign, the CTC asks cyclists to sign the petition supporting the amended cycling section of the Highway Code.
Posted by Caroline

Cycling hospitality - Warm Showers

Fancy some occasional company? Not sure where to go in the summer? Here's a great idea for both: the Warm Showers list.

Warm Showers is a world-wide directory of Internet cyclists who offer their hospitality towards touring cyclists. Whether this is just a  patch of grass to pitch a tent or extends to a shower, a meal and a bed all depends on what the host is able or willing to provide.

As well as the UK, there are hosts all around the world, I've copied some places at random:

• Buenos Aires, B
• Curitiba, PR
• Florianopolis, SC
• Bragança Paulista, SP
• São José (Florianopolis), SC
• Santiago, RM
• San Miguel de Tucuman, T

...and that's just from clicking on South America! I suggest you may like to log into the site to find out where these are exactly, unless your geography is better than mine, and to see where the remaining 3845 members are based.

If you would like to volunteer hospitality for touring cyclists, you can register yourself on the site. There is plenty of info explaining how it works. What an excellent way to meet fellow cyclists.
Posted by Caroline