About bikes, cycling and cycle to work - Tredz Blog

Motion for Women petition

Sustrans women's specific site, Bike Belles has a petition urging local governments to "to stop dragging their heels and to make it safer for more people, especially women, to cycle."

Here's the text of it:

We, the undersigned, want to be able to choose to cycle for many more of our daily journeys. To do this we need to feel safe when we cycle.

We demand that governments prioritise the creation of environments that encourage and support cycling, specifically this must include cycle paths separated from traffic, as a way of enabling many more women to travel by bike.

We couldn't agree more! Ladies, please sign and pass it on.

Blackburn AirStik SL Carbon

The basic AirStik SL pump too heavy for you, despite the fact it only weighs 59g?  Then you'll probably be glad to hear that Blackburn have shaved a further 8g off the weight off this pump!

Yup, you guessed it. The Blackburn AirStick pump: now suitable for carbon fetishists! 

Weighing in at a paltry 51 grams (smaller and lighter than most air canisters), it has the same pressure output of 160 psi. Although it's safe to say you'll need the sort of forearms that negate the weight gain of the pump by some way to actually achieve 160psi... 

This carbon barreled beauty is purely an emergency pump to throw on your frame and forget about it, and on those terms, it is at the top of it's class. 

We'll let you know the second they're on our site.

We the People trailer

My boss forwarded this We the People teaser video to me.

Knowing his psyche, I'm pretty sure he got his kicks watching the opening thirty seconds of people suffering... 

For the rest of us, the real action starts when they start nailing the tricks. This is an awesome trailer.

wethepeople : Interbike 2009 : from wethepeoplebikeco on Vimeo.

Altura Night Vision Evo

It's almost getting to the point now where I need lights to see on my cycle to work.

 Stands to reason it's time for the cars I share the road with to start needing to switch their lights on too. 

Enter the evolution of an old favourite: The Altura Night Vision Evo jacket, brand new for 2010. Waterproof, windproof and breathable, the Evo also ticks the all important visibility box better than just about any other cycling jacket around. 

This thing glows.

For proof, check out our model Joe (the most photogenic out of a decidedly unphotogenic lot), in full daylight with a dodgy flash on our camera. Now imagine this at night with a car's lights shining at you. A full 360 degrees of fantastic reflectivity and a free LED tab combine to give you a real sense of security when you're out on the road.

So perfect for commuting?

Apart from sticking out like a sore thumb, the perfect commuting jacket would also not just be totally waterproof, but breathable too. Cosy, without being heavy. The Evo seems to hit the target again. A high quality two layer fabric (rather than a showerproof one layer or a boil in the bag 3 layer) with taped seams and a couple of well placed vents. Soft to the touch but very durable too. A fleece layer inside the neck will no doubt be very welcome come winter, whilst the rest of the jacket is almost light enough to get away as a trail jacket. 

So, perfect for commuting.

The only complaint we've got is that at around a 90 quid retail (£20 more than the standard 2010 Nightvision jacket), this ain't the cheapest jacket. It certainly raises the game for it's class though.

International Mountain Bike Magazine

Another day, another bike magazine.

Not many are as good as 'IMB' though. Bouncy flash (makes even the ad's look cool!) and a lot of genuinely good content make this an online resource that is definitely worth checking out.

Free and available once every two months, it's very content heavy (unlike one or two paper mag's we can think of) with some very interesting interviews and articles. The reviews are a bit dated, but like we said: It's FREE!

Cateye Uno front light

Tis' the season for cycling lights, and we are getting flooded with high quality products.

Not least from the biggest bike light manufacturer in the world, Cateye. They've been round for yonks producing stuff that's pretty much de rigeur for your average commuter.

Seal of approval? Every commuter here at Tredz has at least one Cateye light on their ride this winter. They're constantly good value for money, typically easy to fit and deliver a high performance. 

Lately the Cateye Uno front light is demanding our attention. Despite the fact it's TINY, it's still a light you can actually 'see' with on the road.

Not fantastically, as in you're not going to hit the trail with just this thing - but if you're stuck out later than you thought, or need a back up, this is the light for you. 

60 hrs of runtime and a very nice understated design makes this light a new classic.

 

Cycleshow 2009

Coming up pretty soon is what is probably the biggest cycling event on the calendar in the UK, namely the Cycle Show at Earls court in London 8-11 October. 

Traditionally this show and others like it have been solely the domain of hopeless bike fanatics/nerds (like ourselves) and the shows have been largely geared toward this target audience. So why should normal, sensible people with an interest (not an obsession) in cycling be interested at all? 

Well the organisers of the Cycleshow aren’t blind to huge growth in popularity of cycling throughout the general (normal) public and have been careful ensure that the show isn’t only of interest to its traditional market but has broader appeal.

You only need to browse their website to see that this year the show has mass appeal. Not really into in BMX? What do you mean by that? I’m not really into circus skills but a circus is spectacular and entertaining. Anyway as their site shows, it’s not just BMX, all aspects of cycling are covered, there is particular attention paid to encouraging women to take up and get more involved in cycling.

The Cycle Show 2009 looks like it’s shaping up to be an event with something to keep everyone entertained.

We’ll be there, not working, but simply because we know it’ll be fun (and a good opportunity to try to eat our own body weight in granola), hopefully we'll see you there.   

Light and Motion Vega 200 Review

Like it or not if you commute to work by bike then the fact that it’s late September already means one thing, you’re going to needs lights pretty soon. 

Time to dig out those old lights and either fork out for new batteries or try in vain to remember where you last saw your charger. There is of course another option. Buy yourself a swanky new light. It’s not a luxury, it’s an essential piece of safety equipment, something that might save your life and in the case of this particular light, it’s a dammed swanky piece of kit.

The light in question is a new offering from Light and Motion, people who know a thing or two about high-end bicycle lighting systems (to use the correct jargon!). The Light and Motion Vega 200 is a commuter specific front light that costs £88.99 on Tredz. 

If you’re spluttering into your tea/coffee, that that’s an exorbitant price to pay for a light well, you’re about half wrong. 

2010 Bianchi Bikes

Our intrepid reporter just got back from Italy looking, decidedly pale. The reason, no time riding and a lot of time sitting in non-air conditioned rooms looking at Italian bikes. 

Bianchi 2010 full range launch

The good people at Cycleurope (Bianchi’s UK importers) whisked us (ok, just me) off to sunny Italy to get a look at the full 2010 range from Bianchi. It wasn’t so much a jolly as an endurance test of long motorway hours, early flights and sauna temperature hotel rooms. Sounds like moaning and probably is, but I’d rather be riding. Still we endure these trips to try and bring you some up to the minute news on the bikes that are going to be must haves for the year/years to come.

The view of Bianchi in the UK is that of a manufacturer interested solely in high end road bikes and it’s true that that is where their heart lies, they have a long and glorious history in the field of competitive road racing but they also produce the full gamut of bike styles and in Italy they are similar to Raleigh in the UK. For one reason and another only about 25% of their range is brought into the UK but as I was to discover this is probably a good thing, their BMX’s in particular were horrendous.

Anyway all we have to concern ourselves about are the stars in their range.

Forgive me if some of our Flickr album show the wrong colours or specifications, there were UK-only colours and in some cases complete bikes alongside Italy-only models and colours. Confusion was only stretched by the less than memorable names. The ‘2010 Bianchi Hors Category Nove Due Otto SL IASP Campagnolo Super Record Double Super Leggera' anyone?

What is sure is that the 2010 Bianchi range includes some of the best looking, most advanced and just plain stylish bikes available.

Specialized Enduro 2010 Review

Who better to test the new 2010 Enduro than a guy who's ridden every edition? We sent Chris to a very damp Welsh hillside to put it through it's paces...

2010 Specialized Enduro

A lot has changed since Specialized first introduced the Enduro, its crown has since slipped, have they been able to halt the slide?

The Specialized Enduro was something of a first when it was first released, as it was one of the first of a new breed of longer travel bikes designed to be happy on long all day rides and yet capable of mixing it up on the rough stuff. This style was a direct response to riders themselves, people were (are) experimenting with riding faster and over more technical terrain, rock drops and jumps were obstacles that the average rider wanted to be able to try their hands at, trips to the Alps became the norm and that involved true ‘big mountain’ riding. Short travel XC bikes weren’t up to the job and downhill bikes are just too specialist and heavy.

Specialized were the first of the big manufacturers to address this, the Enduro was born, and was a huge success.

Moving on to 2009/10 and things have changed, everybody has an ‘all mountain’ bike in their line up meaning there’s a lot of competition. Sadly, over the last couple of years the Enduro has lost it’s crown; well-intentioned changes to the Enduro have in all honesty not worked well, the bike lost its identity trying too hard to be a light XC/trail bike that climbs like a goat as apposed to being an all mountain bike that climbs and descends well and is capable over bigger terrain. The 2010 Enduro has a big past to live up to and a lot of ground to make up. So how have they done?