About bikes, cycling and cycle to work - Tredz Blog

Specialized clothing 2008

Specialized have launched their 2008 range of clothing and accessories recently. As well as the customary range expansion we've come to expect from Spesh their also introducing some seriously cool features. Not least of which 'Cocona'. Carbonised coconut shells. Yeah thats right, coconut shells.

Check out our guide to the 2008 Specialized bicycle clothing and accessory range. We've explained our favourite new features and shown some typical products that hightlight these.

Specialized Roubaix for Shearer and Chiles

Whilst we're sure that you know by now of the Sport Relief event that Alan Shearer and Adrian Chiles are doing, we just got a press release from Specialized detailing what bikes they're going to be doing it on.
The jammy pair are riding Specialized Roubaix Experts on their 335 mile journey. Anyone familiar with the Roubaix Expert will know that their journey suddenly seems a lot less arduous. It's one of the very best endurance roads bicycles available.

They'll also have a great selection of Specialized 2008 accessories like Uracco glasses, 2D helmets and Equinox gloves to help them.

Still 335 miles in a day is a very impressive effort for two rookies, especially when you consider the furthest distance travelled in a day on the Tour de France is 149 miles.

SRAM components

There's a good article on the Business Week website about bicycle component manufacturers SRAM. It has some interesting comparisons between Campagnolo - the 'Ferrari' of the bike component world, Shimano - the 'Lexus' and SRAM - the 'Porsche'.
Best of all you get a glimpse behind the scenes of life working at SRAM, where most of the employers cycle to work, the manager works in the middle of an open plan office and there's a beer machine, where stressed employees can help themselves to a cold one after five.

You reading boss?

Essex MTB course too flat(!)

The mountain (or gentle incline) bike course for the London Olympics is "too flat to challenge the riders." Acording to the BBC cycling website, the International Cycling Union has asked for the the course, at Weald Country Park in the craggy heartland of Essex, to be moved.
Who knows who far they'll have to travel out of London, maybe it's time for an "Englishman who went up a hill and came down a mountain" type of scenario. Or they could always just pop up the M4 corridor to South Wales.

Singletrack reader awards 2007

The only major British awards that are chosen entirely by that great sordid mob, the MTB community, has picked out the super light, super fast Giant Anthem as the best new bike of 2007. Can't say we disagree. One of the fastest full suspension bikes we've ever ridden. Well done Giant!

650b Tyres are coming

If we were in California not Cardiff you’d probably see as many 29” wheeled bikes on our shop floor as 26”. Okay maybe not quite 50/50 but they’d definitely have more of a presence. I don’t think 29ers will ever really take off in this country.

If you’ve been to the states you’ll know that everything out there makes you feel like a midget. The cars, the motorhighway the food, the milk cartons, everything. They don’t do small. Petite isn’t on the agenda. So, bigger bike wheels? What else would expect from country that turned the Hummer into a road car.

Being a more pragmatic, retiring type of country (one that enjoys tea, apologising and floppy hair) we say that 26” is fine thanks, unless you're over 6’2” a 29er is gonna handle like a boat.

Well here comes a compromise between the greater control of the 26” and the more comfortable ride and better obstacle rollover of the 29”. A friend of ours from Panaracer showed us their 650b MTB tyre (up until now an obscure road tyre size) last week.

Cheap bikes vs human rights

Although you might not think it, our bikes are cheap (I mean every bike in every shop, although Tredz bikes are undoubtedly cheaper and more handsome than most), but could the days of cheap bikes and components be coming to an end?
Well if China continues on it’s, frankly unreasonable project of improving their human rights and labour regulations, than an end product might mean our bikes (not just ours, everyone’s, although ours will still be more handsome), begin to be priced at a more realistic rate.

When ‘Made in China’ is no longer a byword for cheaply produced bike goods you can safely assume that a lot of components will increase in price. More info can be found over at Bike Europe, but our advice? Buy! Quick!

Lance for President!

Nah not really, but on this slow Tuesday morning and in the midst of all the pre-pre presidential election palaver in the states, I thought I’d point you in the direction of this article in the Denton Record-Chronicle (yup, that slow) – where the Mayor of New York and Lance Armstrong compliment each other with ‘bright political future’ platitudes.
Couldn’t really ask for a better ready-made public image than Lance Armstrong could you?

Unprofessional Cycling

Pro racing has gone through another spurt of shooting itself in the cleat of late. Patrick Sinkewitz, after the obligatory denial period following his drugs test failure and sacking from T-Mobile, has finally come clean: "I felt guilty about it all." He said in a recent interview for German magazine Der Spiegal. Happy news as it is that Pat is feeling a little culpable over lying about his doping misadventures, it's been quickly followed by the announcement that Adidas, having clearly had enough of the never-ending scandal, are withdrawing their sponsorship of the T-Mobile team at the end of 2008. The T-Mobile suits  have themselves recently been publicly pondering whether or not the team will exist at all in the near future. Can you hear me sighing whilst I'm writing this?
But despite it all, we'll still be watching the Tour next year and the year after that. Then getting on our bikes afterwards in futile emulation. And here's why:

Hope that cheered you up as much as it did me.

High visibility pants

Making yourself visible at night during your bicycle commute might be about to get a whole lot easier, thanks to a new glow in the dark battery powered yarn that’s been developed by scientists at the University of Manchester. Even the most absent minded mobile phone abusing driver couldn’t fail to miss you day-gloing your merry way home wearing that get up. Not too sure about the glow in the dark pants mind, but the concept is undeniably brilliant.

2007 Cycle Show Review

As the sugary haze from all of the free jellybeans and protein bars on the weekend is slowly receding, we can look back and say that Tredz had a really productive and fun show. Good to catch up with a lot of people we usually only get to talk to on the phone and there were some really cool products on display... 

A day in the life of a mechanic

Being in the bike industry gives us access to stuff that isn’t widely available. Take the Scott magazine and catalogue for example. Whilst it's obviously on the sell (unlike the majority of commercial bike mags that are far more subtle), the quality of it is quite high. Interesting news, articles and plenty of the good bike porn you'd expect from an in-company magazine.

What took our eye was this article titled “A day in the pro tour.” It looks at a day in the life of a mechanic at Saunier Dubval Prodir, is written by Virginie Ducrot Geinoz and we’ve shamelessly nicked it and hand it to you here.

Bike friendly Britain?

Just as I was hoping for some Brit entrepreneurial copycats, I found out that there are some Velib stylee ventures already in place in the UK. Reading, Southampton and some boroughs of London are already using a similar project, with more to follow possibly in Manchester and Oxford (what odds can I get for Swansea being the last to take advantage?).
The projects in Britain are run by Oybikes, a British company, and if a keen sounding Ken Livingstone does decide to run out a bike rental scheme properly in London it’ll probably be either them or JC Decaux who run it. Either way a genuinely green transport plan could finally be on the way for some of Britains major cities.

Trek visit in pictures

Unable to get out of the office as much as I'd like, it was fun reading Guy Kawasaki's post about his recent visit to Trek. I never realised Trek had been so close to being called  'Kestrel' or 'Intrepid'.

The story is accompanied by a gallery of pictures including a shot of Lance Armstrong’s 2003 5900 broken drive side chain stay, the history and development of the Madone, OCLV frames and various 'insider' views such as the 'commuter garage' for employee bikes. Can't believe there's apparently a two-bike per employee limit. Imagine having to limit your staff's bike parking!

I'd say the only thing missing is any hint of how Guy got to be invited, which might have come in handy for my next trip to the States.
Posted by Caroline

Scott Ransoms get a holiday

Scott are offering a prize draw so that 3 riders get an all expenses paid riding trip to Switzerland. To qualify you need to buy a 2007 Scott Ransom between 1st April and 1st July.

If they pull your name out of the hat in the first week of July you’ll get return flights (you take your own bike), transport to the riding location (I’m not sure exactly where), accommodation and meals. They also throw in a local guide for the weekend’s trail hunting.

Specialized Stumpjumper grows 3" for 2008

The yanks have an annual event called the Sea Otter which is billed as “the largest outdoor cycling festival and tradeshow in the US.” This equates to a ton of races (MTB orientated) held over a week and the cycle trade turn up with their spangly new kit to show/sell to entrants and spectators.

Now, it's not even the summer but Sea Otter always fuels speculation as to what's coming bike-wise over the pond for next year. I have it from a very good (and hairy) source that the 29er revolution continues apace – see the 29” blog. This isn’t just for eccentrics like Gary Fisher, even Specialized look like they’ve been re-tooling the jigs to get an extra 3" of rubber in the dropouts (I know it’s not really 3”, don’t get all Blue Peter on me). And boy, check out that dropout; it’s bolted onto the seat stay, very different for Spesh. Can anyone confirm if this in their UK line up for ‘08? Perhaps I’ll finally have to change my ever-so-slightly-stubborn mind about 29” wheeled bikes.

Cardiff bike store opening

Exciting times, Tredz is expanding. We open our Cardiff bike shop very soon (signed the lease yesterday). Yippee!!

Many early mornings, late nights and zero riding hours will mean the doors should open by the end of May. (Apologies for the poor picture, but I was rushed. You get the idea though.)

Come and see us at: Unit 2, Penarth Road Retail Park, Penarth Road, Cardiff CF11 8EF

Get cycling back on track

I’ve pretty much copied this from a CTC article I found here. You’ll see why:

As Ministers prepare to set out a 30-year policy framework for Britain’s railways, CTC is launching a major campaign, urging all cyclists to lobby for the cycle-rail combination to be included in the Government’s plans.

CTC, the UK’s national cyclists’ organisation, has set up www.ctc.org.uk/cyclerail from which any cyclist can automatically email their MP, urging him or her to support better cycle-rail integration. This can be done in just two minutes.

CTC president and journalist [yes, him off the telly, Ed] Jon Snow, said:
“Cycling and rail travel are perfect partners. The combination provides a ‘doorstep-to-destination’ option for longer-distance journeys which might otherwise be possible only by car. It is also a really simple way to set about tackling a whole range of problems all in one go: obesity, air pollution, congestion and climate change to name but a few.”

Personal anecdotes about the problems (or examples of good practice) you have encountered will help them to impress on Ministers that this is an issue which really needs addressing.  Again www.ctc.org.uk/cyclerail

Giant's new spring bike range

Most cycling brands change ranges annually. That means every May they start to run out of bikes. ‘The trade’ usually get shown the new range at the launch in about August, and, if we're lucky, the new bikes are in stock with supplier X by the end of October. To be honest, it’s all pretty long winded and inefficient (not that most bike bosses think so).

Not so with Giant. They launch twice a year - road and kids bikes each spring; MTB full sus every autumn. But the best thing about Giant (for us and you) is they bring in the new bikes before the launch. Ingenious! That means they avoid the embarrassing problems that most of the big boys find themselves in every single year – a vacuum of stock.

The ‘new’ which we saw last week is perhaps more a refresh than a complete revamp. Well, if it aint broke... The full suspension line up is unchanged until autumn (and will be called the 2008 range, whereas as this latest catalogue is 2007.5) but the 'lifestyle' MTBs from the Rock to the Terrago disc get new paint and the odd spec change, although it’s mostly cosmetic.

One area which has benefited a great deal is the choice of ladies models. Like other top brands (Specialized and Trek to name just two), Giant are championing women’s bikes and now have over 32 models to chose from. This includes many first-time models like the Terrago disc and the XTC. I think they’ve done a great job on the colour ways and livery but I’m not sure I’m brave enough to call myself qualified to comment.

The ever-popular SCR racers are called ‘new’ again but only the saddle (from Giant to Selle Royal) and chainset upgrade (from FSA to TruVativ) is really different. That said, there's a new entry level in the SCR 4.0 at £350 with aluminium frame and cromo fork, and a gorgeous limited edition (pictured) at £650.

One of the highlights of the line up was Oli Beckingsale's Giant Anthem Advanced carbon fibre rig with 90mm of travel. Doesn’t it look full of pace, even with his hack training wheels on?

The new black

You think you’re ready for the spring season? With that bar and stem combo? You must be joking. Forget black, if you want to get noticed out there this season, you need to Pimp Your Ride to white - it’s the new black. Honestly.

These components in white are the hottest things to hit the market since Saun Palmer’s plimsoles. Not only do they look uber-cool, but it’s been scientifically proven that white components make you think your bike is lighter (well, debated in our workshop quite a bit). It’s started with this lot: Super strong bars and stems from Deity, a brand new prototype e13 bash ring, Crank Bros mallet pedals, Halo Tornado wheelsets and the Freek saddle from Fizik. But expect to see everyone and their dog producing white this year.

Specialized and Giant test bike days

We posted a while back about Specialized and Giant teaming up to offer Joe Public a range of test bikes in a non-race environment. Well, their promo site is now up and running so you can register here for any of the six venues (although their home page says five??).

Jan Ullrich retires from cycling

This guy must have a hard time shaving in the morning. I bet he sees a steamed up image of Lance Armstrong riding into the record books every day in his bathroom mirror.

Well, at least our German also-ran need never worry about training camp again, as he announced his retirement from pro-cycling yesterday. It was really effective as of last July when T-Mobile binned him thanks to the Spanish 'Operation Puerto' investigation. If you remember, Ullrich and his team mate, Oscar Sevilla, had tried to boost performance using banned substances. They were dropped on the eve of the Tour de France.

Don’t get me wrong I think Ullrich was a great cyclist. Lance certainly respected him as an athlete and that’s more than enough for me. But doping is a major question in pro cycling and could quite possibly ruin the whole damn thing – audience numbers will plummet should the SPORT continue in its low regard. The UCI and everyone else must take a hard line – perhaps even harder than they are now?

Of course, Jan insists his innocence, but Team Telekom also dropped him after testing positive for amphetamines in 2002. A professional athlete’s response to this? My ecstasy pill must’ve been spiked. Nice one, mate.

No, I’m sorry, I used to love the hard time he gave Lance every July; I respect his Tour win in ’97, his Olympic gold in 2000 and all his other titles, but he looks like he’s done the right thing here (although I doubt there’s any dignity to maintain).

Fabien Barel races Tredz rider

Tredz team downhill rider Julian often uses the uplift at Rheola but this week’s runs were a bit special. On his way to the course Jules’ good friend, Dirt Magazine's Steve Jones, called to invite him to ride with some professionals who were already on the mountain.

These weren’t any old hacks from the circuit; he was taking about two World Champions: Fabien Barel and Tracy Moseley! They were spending the day at Rheola hammering one of the best Welsh dh courses.

It’d be stating the obvious to say our guy was blown away by the riding ability of both the world champs, but he was more amazed at the level of technical knowledge they employ. Both of them apparently continue to tune and re-tune the bikes to get maximum performance for the specific terrain. Sure, we’d all expect to see their lackeys changing tyres and adjusting fork and shock pressures, but changing the actual linkage plates!? This really was World Cup Fettling.

Fabien was averaging a 3.11 descent, and our guy didn’t let the side down with a very respectable 3.17. All in all, an unbelievable day not to be forgotten - as Jules said “You wouldn’t see Beckham playing football with his fans”.

Orange bikes update web and offers

Orange have always offered customers the choice of upgrading parts on their bikes straight from the factory. This sometimes tricky-but-nice service is now available online. Even better, the lads in Halifax must be feeling pretty generous as they’re offering some upgrades as standard for February:

• any Five ordered in February will be fitted with a Fox Float RP23 shock, normally a £50 upgrade

• any Big-T S will get an upgrade package of Fox DHX 5.0 Shock, Hope Mono M4 brakes Custom Paint colour, worth £300, for Free!

Not all are listed on Tredz but give us a call on 01792 560650 and we can source for you (fully built and ready to ride, delivered to your door F.O.C.).

Who ordered pizza?

Simon’s words not mine, honest. Troy Lee Design helmets are synonymous with speed and grace the bonce of Steve Peat and other such esteemed downhillers. According to themselves, TLD products are for “The World’s Fastest Racers.” Top end carbon and pimped up paint jobs (they’d call it avant-garde) continues to be the norm with these guys.

This is the wicked new version of the classic D2 helmet (as in Daytona 2). It’s the D2 Open and comes with the Sniper Visor at £179.99. TLD are hoping it will transcend cycling and enter the snowboard market as well. The Open has four vent ports and removable padding. Roll up all you Battlestar Galatica extras...

New Cat Eye light line up

We joined a privileged group of dealers this week to see the new line up of Cat Eye cycle lights and computers. The bike technology specialist sent several boffins from Japan to the Zyro trade show in northern England.

There are new ever-slimmer computers, and lights that are bright enough to fit on a car’s bonnet (I jest, but you get the message). It didn’t stop there; the Cat Eye HR20 heart rate monitor gains cycle specific functions (similar to the Polar 700 range) for the summer. We also got a sneak preview of their first head torches. I went for a run with this prototype (one of two in Europe!) and can say its 200 candela was perfect for the coverage I needed and it’s not as heavy as it may look. They’ll be two versions: approx £35 and £45. TredzTalk plan on testing all the kit as it becomes available from Easter onwards.

Doctor Specialized

During Specialized’s 2007 equipment launch this week I got the chance to meet Andy Pruitt, the doctor who’s pretty much pioneered Specialized’s Body Geometry programme. He gave dealers one of the most informative talks I’ve ever heard at such events. He spoke about ‘rider comfort’ and a ‘neutral position’ on the bike. It all got quite scientific with the biomechanics of the pedal stroke and using a goniometer to measure the torso angle of a rider, but his overriding point was a simple one: the bike should fit the rider, not the rider fit the bike.

The purpose of his book, The Complete Medical Guide for Cyclists, is to “help riders train injury free, in comfortable and powerful positions, and heal from the inevitable injury faster.” Chris Carmichael writes the foreword, “If you want to ride and want to continue for your whole life, the information in this book is priceless.” I’ve seen what this guy can do first hand and trust me, he’s the cyclist’s friend. I got a freebie but Amazon has his book at £14 here.

Eco friendly bikes?

I just got a snazzy new laptop (actually it’s my second as the first wouldn’t work without the power lead, doh!). One of the stickers on the new office beast reads “superior computing capability with eco-friendly materials”. I can’t help thinking there’s no such claim in the bicycle world. Besides disposing of tyres responsibly, I wouldn’t say there’s a great deal of recycling within the bike trade. I certainly can’t name a manufacturer professing to Joe Public that they deliberately use eco-friendly materials.

Of course there’s Howies, but they’re a clothing firm – I’m thinking bikes and accessories. Suggestions/corrections on a postcard to info@tredzblog.co.uk.

2007 Specialized & Giant test days

The offline world of Tredz has been a real advocate of test riding days for many a year. These organised days give customers the opportunity to push the pedals on a top-class bike in its intended environment. Test bike riders often fall into three categories
a) those who ride the trails on a ‘lesser machine’ and want the opportunity to see what technology can really do (usually full suspension or disc brakes);
b) riders who aren’t sure what to buy next and need to try out a different brand/model/geometry;
c) novice riders who want to get more of idea of the trails and the bikes but rarely get the chance for either.

We’ve held over two dozen of these days in the past couple of years and got up to 100 bums on seats per day on mountain bikes from Specialized, Scott, Giant, Kona and Trek. This month the trade has started fighting its own corner with Giant and Specialized announcing that they’ve teamed up to create the 2007 Specialized Challenge Series. Sram and Magura have thrown their hat into the ring and will be giving technical support. Bike brands working together - who’d have thought it?

We’re not aware of any website to cover the series or if the brands intend promoting/running the days from their corporate URLs but we’ll keep you posted. Anyway, if you can get yourself along to one of these six venues you’ll get the chance to ride a 2007 Stumpjumper, FSR XC, Big Hit, Trance, Anthem or Reign in mud not just the car park.

2007 Specialized Challenge Series dates:
• 1st April - 7Stanes Trail Head, Dumfries
• 22nd April - Grisedale Forest Park, Cumbria
• 28th/29th April - Enduro 6, Catton Hall, Staffordshire
• 12th/13th May - Gwydyr Forest, Snowdonia
• 3rd June - Staunton Country Park, Hants
• 22 – 24th June - Mountain Mayhem 24, Ledbury, Hereford

Two World Champs choose Specialized

I found out a couple of days ago that Specialized have signed up with the QuickStep-Innergetic professional cycling team. They’ve got a nice team video on the Specialized website here.

Basically, the QuickStep team are the number one pro road cycling team in the world right now. In 2005 their top rider, Tom Boonen, won the world champs. In 2006 Boonen also held more one-day race wins in a season than any other rider. Although he didn't win the world champs last year, his team mate and current Olympic champion, Paolo Bettini, did instead.

Boonen (aka King of the Cobbles) is one of the favourites to win the Paris-Roubaix (the hell of the north) and this year he will be riding a Specialized Roubaix bike. Bettini's choice will be the S-Works Tarmac SL. Good luck fellas.

Specialized one-to-one

TredzTalk recently managed to interrupt the Sales Manager at one of the UK’s premier bike brands. Barnaby Postance of Specialized UK is famous for a minute.

How’s tricks?
I miss the summer, but I’m excellent thanks.

How long have you worked for Specialized?
12 years in all; 4 in my current role.

Describe Specialized UK to an outsider?
Small, there are only 20 employees. It sounds cheesy, but we really do make a good team. Although this can make recruiting a problem as outsiders sometimes find existing relationships intimidating, don’t they?

Breast Cancer Awareness Initiative

This year more than 1.2 million people around the world will be diagnosed with breast cancer. More than 400,000 will not survive the ravages of this terrible disease. While the numbers are bleak, there is reason to be hopeful. Thanks to the tireless efforts of researchers, breast cancer can be detected earlier and treated more successfully than ever before.

That’s why Jagwire, the brake and gear expert, is supporting this vital work with the Pink Cable Housing initiative. When you buy one of the new pink cable housing kits, Jagwire and its partner distributors will donate a portion of the profits to breast cancer research organizations. As they say in their press release "It’s one race we must win." Bravo Jagwire.

Marketing Kona bikes is a tough life

TredzTalk managed to pin down Kona’s European marketing main man Russell Carty to find out what goes on in his typical month:

This is supposed to be the “quiet” time of year, but not for me. We are already well through planning next year [Kona’s 2008 bikes] and it is going to be another busy one! The past few weeks I have also done some travelling too.

I was in Whistler a few weeks back. We organised a Bikepark meeting there and it was great. All our European parks came out and met with our North American parks and we had a great time. We were on the mountain, riding loads and we have some wild nights in the bar too - no more Snapps Leogang!

After Whistler I had a week to recover and then I collected Chopper (Grant Fielder), one of our Clump riders from Nice airport and we headed to Bergamo in Italy where Grant was one of the star riders. We had a fun weekend partying and loads of people showed even with all the rain.

2007 Cannondale bikes available

Cannondale bikes are returning to Tredz. When I started working for this firm (a very long time ago) I was madly in love with everything Cannondale. I thought their product line up was excellent, but their marketing was even better with Missy and Tinker – very go on, just get out and try it; very Nike. This resulted in me trading in several weeks’ holiday pay with my boss to buy my first and only Cannondale, a '97 M300. It was over priced and under spec’d, but it became my most prized possession that side of the millennium.

Well, after us saying Au Revior about six years ago, I'm delighted to say America’s most innovative bike producer is back in the Tredz fold. The product has never been a problem, but they’ve taken a while straightening up their warranty and backup systems so that we (and I guess lots of other dealers) could finally take them seriously. Our first order went in today and should be landing this month. While I still can’t quite my head ‘round the lefty, I’m itching to get my spuds on the 2007 line up. Some of the '07 range is listed on Tredz but don’t be put off if you don’t see the model you’re after, just call us on 01792 560651 or email info@tredzblog.co.uk to check availability.

Specialized join NASA to combat global warming

Specialized stated its support this week for the Sagan Center’s (not support Satan as I first read it) efforts to shed light on global warming and the investigation into the potential of life on other planets. Supported by the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NIA), the Sagan Center launches The High Lakes Project - First-Ever Expedition to Uncover Secrets about the Evolution of Life and its Adaptation to Climate Change.

Read the whole press release by clicking the Continue reading link below.

Cycle Show grows this year

Cycle, is the final bike show of the year is on this week in London’s ExCel. It’s open to the public from 6-8th October and is well worth a visit if you’re into your cycles and can get there without a 10 hour commute. We went to the trade day today and found it improved on last year despite not being any larger. Okay, it’s not as big or as jazzed up as the motor show but there are scores of bike brands doing their best to impress the public. Everyone from Specialized to the Sustrans are there.

The Cycle site says:

As well as getting close to hundreds of new bikes and accessories for the year ahead, the Cycle Show is a great chance to meet the teams from the leading bike magazines, chat to campaign groups, or book a cycling holiday. You'll also find plenty of experts willing to share their cycling knowledge, an all action fashion show, the cycling test track, an elite circuit race, an indoor duathlon race, a trials competition and much more.

If you go, head to the Specialized stand (by far the best there) and say hi to this fella. He's our rep Steve Cole. I took this yesturday on Mark's phone and found a great warping feature. My baby photos will never be the same.

Cycle light laws and regulations

LED cycle lights have been around for a long time now. The trouble is although most of us think they allow motorists to see cyclists more clearly, many were actually illegal. Well that law - the road vehicle lighting regulations or RVLR - changed in October 2005. Seeing as the nights are now looming in and many of you will be buying new bike lights, we thought it an appropriate time to reiterate what’s what with bike lights.

LEDs
The RVLR now allows a flashing light to be attached to a bike if it
(a) emits a minimum light output of four candela (i.e. the strength of four candles, queue the Two Ronnies); and,
(b) flashes at an equal and constant rate of between 60 and 240 flashes per minute.
To summarise: a not-too-bright steady pulsing LED is fine - out goes your Nightrider strobe.

Unfortunately the British Standard regulation for cycle lights has not as yet been updated. So you may have a light that complies with the RVLR which will not automatically comply with British Standard and visa versa.

The Law
You are riding legally if your front and rear lights meet either the RVLR and/or British Standard 6102-3. This means you can also mix standards between front and rear. For example:
Cycle 1: is legal because its front light in constant mode complies to British Standard and the rear complies to the RVLR in flashing mode.
Cycle 2: is legal because its front light complies to the RVLR in flashing mode and the rear complies to British Standard in constant mode.

Note: the RVLR was set considering the requirements for riding in areas with street lighting. Therefore, RVLR lights are not required to give any ‘beam of light’. This can mean they more useful at ensuring the cyclist can be seen by other road users. A four candela front cycle light would not be suitable for riding down a dark road, even if it’s technically legal to do so.

The following lights comply with RVLR when used in constant flashing mode:

Front lights: Cateye EL-320 £29.99, Cateye EL-410 £29.99, Cateye EL-220 £24.99, Cateye EL-135 £19.99, Cateye HL-LD270 £12.99, Cateye HL-LD150 £12.99, Cateye HL-LD130 £9.99

Rear lights: Cateye TL-LD 270 £12.99, Cateye TL-LD150 £9.99 , Cateye TL-LD130 £7.99

The following lights comply with British Standard when used in constant mode:

Front lights: Cateye EL-300 £28.99 , Cateye HL-500BS £12.99

Rear lights: Cateye TL-AU100 £14.49, Cateye TL-LD260BS £12.99

The Department of Transport’s Guidance about lights on pedal bicycles can be found here.

Specialized bikes and their history

Last weekend my boss asked me to read Specialized Stumpjumper 25 years of Mountain Biking. I admit I wasn’t too keen as I’d rather ride my bike than read about other people riding theirs. Having read the book I’ve changed my opinion.

Being pretty new to the MTB scene and getting told that ‘Specialized is the best company out there’ on all the forums and when I was riding my Hardrock I did start wondering why. This book helped solve that mystery.

It’s a book about the humble beginnings of Mike Sinyard  (a.k.a. Mr S) who went from ‘writing his catalogue on yellow legal paper and coaxing employees to sleep overnight cozyed up to piles of tyres that couldn’t fit into what little storage there was at Specialized world headquarters.’ to ‘struggling to hang on to the tiger’s tail, otherwise known as the Stumpjumper.’

Mr S broke the mould with the Stumpjumper and ran ads like: "IT’S NOT JUST A NEW BIKE, IT’S A NEW SPORT" and for the 1984 (personally one of my favourites) "IF YOU’RE ON A PINK BIKE, YOU BETTER BE FAST." They’d made one of the world’s most respected and well loved bikes out there.

This book shows the evolution from the 1981 Blue tig welded, 15 speed with golf club fork design through the 1994 Specialized S-works FSR and on to the 2006 S-Works FSR Carbon full suspension 27 speed demon that is the king of the market for 2006.

The best thing is this book gives you the history of Specialized AND it gives you the background of MTB, it’s beginnings and the stories of those who made the sport. This is a big must for anyone who rides, and an even bigger must for those who ride Specialized.

Buy the Stumpjumper book here.
Posted by Simon

New lifestyle magazine launched

A complimentary magazine has just landed on my desk and very nice it is too. We know the mag's founders and issue 1 of Beyond925 has been a long and difficult task for them so they must be well pleased to finally make their dream a reality. The 50 pages are eclectic mix of insights into adventure and endurance sports. Their Editor’s Bit reads:

Many of these sports can be very intimidating to the uninitiated, but this mag will act as gateway into the things that you have always wanted to try.

Tredz will be despatching complimentary copies with all orders but you can also get your hands on a FREE copy by sending a self addressed envelope (C5 or larger) to:

Tredz (nice guys)
Kingsway
Swansea West Ind. Est.
SWANSEA
SA5 4DL

Put your email address in and we'll add you to our mailing list for special offers.

2007 bike video from Euro bike show

We've posted recently about new bikes we've been viewing at the swish (and sometimes not so swish) bikes shows. The swishest of all bike shows and bible of every new is Interbike in Las Vegas. If you don't fancy the air fair and hours of queueing at customs in California then the next best thing is Eurobike. Get booking for September 2007.

Perhaps this short video will bring an end to us banging on about new 2007 things. Then again its unlikely.

Get a pony tail not a peek?

A friend pointed me to an article on the BBC from Monday (here) which discusses research that claims wearing a helmet on the road is more dangerous than not. How could I possibly have missed that!?

Dr Ian Walker published the research earlier this year. The gist of the findings insinuate that when drivers see a helmeted cyclist they presume the rider to be competent and safe and give him/her less room when overtaking. The Doc then tested his theory further by riding with a long wig rather than a lid and found that drivers gave him a wider birth. His future research will investigate why drivers are more cautious of (apparently) female cyclists, allowing them more room: because women cyclists are more erratic or because they are seen less often than men on the road. Don't shout at me, it's the Docs question.

Regardless of the sexist arguments I think my chances are a damn site better off if I'm underneath my Specialized Instinct than a pony tail, thank you very much.

Kona 2007 bikes change in part

The line up of Kona 2007 bike