About bikes, cycling and cycle to work - Tredz Blog

Fancy a ride in Cwmcarn?

Our first jolly to Cwmcarn with our fleet of test bikes is taking place this weekend.

We promise a great range of full suspension bikes and an awesome place to ride them. It even looks as if the weather is going to pretty good this bank holiday weekend too.

Interested? Get in touch with our Swansea store (01792 702555) and book the bike that most interests you. You could always just turn up on the day (check our bike demo day site to check what you'd need to take), but you might be disappointed if you wanted a specific bike.

And finally plllllease don't break the Stumpy. I want to borrow it next weekend.

Critical Mass Swansea

I keep getting badgered by the guys who run it so to buy myself some peace, here's a shout out to the Critical Mass Swansea branch.

192 members (on their Facebook page at any rate), and a healthy turnout at every meet (last Friday of every month in Castle Garden at 7pm), it is expanding very rapidly. Thanks in no small part to Tredz guys Chris (recently broken) and Joe (who's main method of persuasion to join is telling people the pub they cycle to serves bottled Rev James).

They're good guys, despite appearances and the ride is a an easy and picturesque one. Ride a bike and live nearby? Why not Come along for the ride.

The wanderer returns

Unbelievably Ferdie showed up towards the end of last week on time.

Battered, sun burnt (a proper pro cyclists red-neck style burn)  and looking, although we hate to say it, pretty fit.

That was ten hours a day on the bike for the best part of two weeks. With highlights include learning enough French to be able to ask for some Chamois cream in a small town pharmacy, his crank arm falling off and getting about four hours sleep a night.

He also told us (big mistake) the only thing that kept him going was a paperback copy of Twilight (an "electrifying tale of a young woman's love for a vampire" in case you were wondering).

If all the above doesn't put the fear of God into his opponents on the upcoming Mountain Mayhem we don't know what will. All we know if Ferdie's lean, mean and reading teenage vampire romance novels for motivation.

Specialized Globe helmet offer

Hot on the back of their Spring cycling offer (don't ask if you missed it. It was a fantastic deal and it ended a couple of days ago), Specialized are pushing their Globe brand of bikes with a brand new reward.

Hugely improved from last year, the Globe range now delivers three very different bikes that are taking practical cycling to new levels of sophistication. The Carmel, the Vienna and the San Francisco.

The clue to their intended use is in their names: The Carmel, is a relaxed fit for people who wanna take it easy and ride at their pace in complete comfort. The Vienna, an elegantly styled town bike that is perfect for day to day use and can cope with longer distances. The San Francisco is designed for the quick starts and stops of city life. Complete control in traffic on your cycle to work.

Very well designed and always popular with any one looking for a real world alternative to getting in the car, they are amongst our most popular bikes.

Anyhoo. Spesh are prodding customers toward them with the offer of a free helmet at 10% of the bike.

So an entry level Globe Vienna at £292.99 gets you a helmet worth 29 odd quid. Something like the ever popular Air Force 3 for free.

Buy any 2009 Globe between the 1st of May and the 30th of June and get a free helmet. Can't complain with that.

P.S. If you take advantage of this offer you also get put into a free prize draw that'll see the winner getting a free basket of fruit every week for a month. In all honesty we'd prefer Jaffa Cakes here, but it's a nice idea.

Broken Wow builds bike

Chris 'Wow' has come a cropper.

An experienced and valuable staff member. Not least for his ability to stun customers with his knowledge and passion about the differences between brands of tyre levers. Usually resulting in a sale, as the customer desperately buys the first thing they lay eyes on to simply make 'Wow' stop talking about structural flex...

Anyways. A big accident on the weekend left Chris with a broken collarbone (he'll be back next week just in case anyone wanted to pop in for a chat about differing viscosity's of chain lubes and their effect on chainset lifespans), and a lot of time on his hands.

So he had the time to finish off his new bike. A beautiful (but for your own sake don't tell Chris)  Decade Virtue singlespeed, send the picture to Kinesis, get on their news page (amazing what you can achieve with constant pestering) and start the ubiquitous Facebook Decade fan club.

What else is a total bike geek going to do when he can't ride his bike?

Get well soon mate!

Ride in Afan

Doing anything this Sunday? Fancy joining us for a ride on Penhydd in Afan?

Even if we do say so ourselves we've got an impressive range of bikes to pick from, and we can't think of anywhere better suited to take them for a test than the maybe sunny, always excellent singletrack of Afan Argoed.

Give our Swansea bike shop a call on 01792 702555 if you've got your eyes on a specific bike and want to reserve it.

If you're just planning on turning up on the day, please bring along all the usual stuff you'd take on a ride (helmet, tools, jaffa cakes etc). We'd also ask you to bring two forms of ID and a credit card. Just to prevent you going all fugitive on us with our Commencal Meta.

Snow problem

Being hardcore, we're not letting a little snow get in the way of a days work*.

Our boss got here at his usual silly o'clock in the morning to get this shot.

Sample quote:

The ride to work this morning was gorgeous: fewer cars, new views to appreciate and a little extra fun. Albeit a bit slower.

 

I even did dougnuts in the car park for five minutes like I was 10 again trying to burn through the rear tyre on my BMX.

*Actually we're just praying it snows a bit more so we can get sent home.

New opening hours

A consensus from staff, customers and management has led to new opening hours on a Sunday and an extra half an hour in bed. Yay!

You can now browse our fantastic Swansea and Cardiff bike stores on Sunday from:

10:30 - 4:30

Best of Tredz 2008

Continues with:

Best bike

This isn't going to be easy. We've ridden a lot of nice new bikes in the past year, taking advantage of one or two staff discounts in the process. Two bikes stand out though, especially since their both singlespeeds.

 Chris Hughes Specialized Langster Monaco and my Specialized Tricross Single have easily garnered the most attention. Not only have they not cost the earth, they've turned the morning commute into something of a speed freak blast. Only one speed and most of the time it isn't slow.

Except when you come to a hill. Luckily I live on a flat five mile commute. Chris unluckily (but hilariously) lives at the top of a thigh busting 2 mile hill. So credit to him for dragging his cappuccino bike up it almost every day.

Well, of course the winner is going to be the Tricross Single. It can go off road happily, it's light, it's tough and it's a piece of cake (and cheap!) to maintain. And most importantly, it's mine!

Best of Tredz 2008

It all over! Did you have a good 2008? Any good stories to tell? Let us know below. In the meantime, over the next couple of days, here's our ubiquitous 'best of'.

Best Rider

The obvious choice would be Jody Cundy. 2 Paralympic Gold medals and the East Midlands Disability Sports Personality of the Year means he should be a shoe in.

But no one who witnessed Gus riding like a man possessed with Lion face paint on would deny him this years' award. Well done Gus. Next time Jody, try it with face paint. Then we'll be impressed!