About bikes, cycling and cycle to work - Tredz Blog

Saracen bikes - they're back!

Since being taken over by Madison, there's been a steady trickle of excitement over the future of Saracen bikes. 

They've gotten some great reviews from UK bike mags over the years, but we always felt they fell a little short in comparison to some of the competition, so we're getting excited, but we're certainly holding our breath till we actually get to see em.

The new holding site is very flash (in fact it consists entirely of flash), but it doesn't give anything away about the new bikes. Their blog has a couple of shots of the new Saracen Mantra up - but they're just teasers, all logo and paintjob, no components or frame shape. The big launch comes at the 2009 Cycle show. We're going and we can't wait to see what they've come up with.

Raceface Next SL Chainset

So it's not exactly new, but this is the first time we've had a reason (other than just being eager to pick one up) to get a few Raceface Next SL Chainsets as stock - so obviously we cracked open a box eager to see if it was that light.

Good God, this thing hardly weighs anything - it is outreagously light, the entire thing weighing 700 grams. All carbon with completely hollow crank arms, you'd think they give off the impression of not just being light, but being a bit, well, lightweight. But nope, it still feels both very stiff and very tough...

So, competition for the Shimano XTR? Apart from the comprable finish, the Next is certainly lighter. Looks divide the office between the flashy Race Face and the understated (but still very expensive looking) XTR. You pays the money and takes the choice. Quite a bit of money in this case, with the Race Face chainset setting you back £495 and the Shimano Chainset coming in at a paltry £439.99. Not cheap, but then if you're in the market for the best mountain bike chainset money can buy, you wouldn't expect them to be.

Giant 2010 bikes - even more photos

Our guys at the Giant 2010 launch were very trigger happy, but we weren't so quick at getting the photos up.

We've just managed to fangle the photos of the memory thingie* and have put em up on our Flickr site for your perusal. 

Interested in the 2010 Glory, Faith, or TCR? Or maybe the 'Chixie' (seriously we're not making it up), go check out our Giant 2010 bike photo set.

* Editors note, we're not all techno-phobes

TransWales, Phil Marland update

After his massive recent wipeout, Phil Marland (one of our riders training for next years Cape Epic) been in touch to let us know how he is...

Giant 2010 bike launch preview!

Official launch of the 2010 Giant range

New models and entire ranges are being launched thick and fast at this time of year and 23rd August (yes, a Sunday!) saw one of the biggest players in the game, Giant unveil their 2010 range. To the trade admittedly but that’s why people like me go along, not to talk sales figures and stocking levels (heaven forbid) but to wander about like a kid in a sweet shop cum tragic bike nerd and try and get a feel for what’s hot and what’s not for the coming season.

As you’d expect from a company as big as Giant (no pun intended, seriously) there was a lot to get excited about. There was everything from the Uber bling carbon exotica to clever commuters and everything in between.

 

This is a far from exhaustive account of the range as there are almost 160 bikes in the range, but hopefully there’ll be something here to get you thinking, “I need that bike!”

2009.5 Giant Talon 1 Review

We asked Chris F what he thought of the new Giant Talon 1. Hyped up as the UK specific entry level hardtail to beat all comers, what would the self confessed 'bike tart' make of the claim?

We sent him, a borrowed Talon 1 and camera to a local trail center and asked him for a review and some photos.

Well, one outta two aint' bad...

First off I’ll explain the Star Trek style date. If Giant release a bike mid season instead of referring to it by the following year’s date they call it a ‘.5’ thus the Talon 2009.5.

 

The Talons are described as a bike specifically designed for UK trail riding, I think Europe specific would be a little closer to the truth, but since it makes us feel special, we're not complaining... The given reasoning behind this statement is down to riding preferences apparently differing between the UK and the US; Americans like less technical riding in lovely weather, whereas us Brits like to chuck ourselves down technical single-track in stinking weather, apparently.

Back to School

It’s approaching ‘that’ time of year again, dreaded by some, welcomed by others. We hope to offer some inspiration/ideas to make the new term a time for positive change. First up is our two pence worth followed by some hopefully useful links to help you put that inspiration into practise.

TransWales - day 2

We got told yesterday that Phil suffered a serious injury of day 3 of this event... He sounds in good spirits though. We'll update you as soon as we have more news.

Yesterday Tony Ireland (one of our sponsored riders) told us about the run up to the Transwales event. Today he and Phil Marland, long term Tredz rider and grizzly (not a word we'd use to his face!) veteren of many marathon events are right in the thick of it. Here's they're take on day 2:

Brechfa test day cancelled...

Bad news folks, we've had to cull the Brechfa test day this Sunday.

We're not going to bore you with the excuses (they're multiple and petty), but we can confirm that we'll be back in Cwmcarn on September the 27th for our final test day of the year.

Last chance to test our range before they get sold off half price to a few lucky souls. If you wanna be one of them, or just want to join us in Cwmcarn - give our Swansea store a call on 01792 702555.

 

TransWales - how (not) to prepare

Breaking news: Phil took a massive tumble on day three of the event - here's Singletrackworld's take:

"Phil separated from his bike at speed on an open rocky descent on the special stage after colliding with some wire fencing. He went down extremely hard. The accident happened very close to a marshall point who called immediately for an ambulance as Phil was in intense pain. A fellow rider Tatjana Troll, a doctor from Bristol, stayed with him until the ambulance arrived. He was airlifted to hospital with suspected pelvis, lumbar spine, leg, arm and shoulder injuries." 

From what we've heard it's a broken coccyx and nothing else. Hospital bedside quote we got last night seems to suggest Phil in typically motivational (or punishing depending on where you sit) spirits: "I told Tony to keep going, he needs the miles." 

Get well soon Phil!

Phil Marland and Tony Ireland two of our sponsored riders are riding the TransWales event at the moment as they build up to compete in the Cape Epic next year. Yes that's right, they consider a 7 day, 344 mile event with 53,000 + feet of climbing to be 'training'.

Here Tony tells how his preparation went: