About bikes, cycling and cycle to work - Tredz Blog

Transport for London ad

Another cool video from TfL promoting cycling safety.

I didn't see it!

Autopilot Bike

When I fall off my bike it invariably lands on me. This guy's wants to win the race for him...

Cycling TV

Like to watch road cycling events?  Cycling TV offers live streaming of over 100 race days with on-demand re-runs available within 10 minutes of the race ending. The live events are available via Broadband TV.  Alternatively, for those of us with less viewing time, there's a choice of full or abridged highlights. 

Many events can be viewed free but the quality is not as good as with  the paid-for versions.

The site is relatively new and still seems to suffer from a few bugs - but when it works there's an awful lot of viewing to choose from. As a bonus, you get to see a lot of Belgium at the same time!

You may want to check out the full race information and the 'Inner Tube' community section with members' video uploads.

Caroline

Classic Lance

Idly surfing bike sites last night I stumbled on this classic Lance Armstrong Nike video. It's well worth skiving for 90 seconds to watch the great man ride with a special effects crew. [Shame Nike look like they’re binning cycling from their sports folio from 2008, gutted.]

IMBA has a blog

I didn’t realise that staff at the International Mountain Bicycling Association have an ‘official blog’.  It’s only been going for about three months but has loads of photos and plenty of riding talk. I hooked into this video of Nat Lopes from there. It’s worth watching to the end to see him bail on some big marble-looking stairs (too much "Dude" but hey, they're in Minnesota). I’m honestly thinking how we could set this up in our local hospital?

Scotty Cranmer's Felt ad video

I’ve made a conscious decision not to constantly post about great biking videos I’d discovered on YouTube etc., but Felt sent me a link to a MySpace video that you’ve got to check out. It’s a bit of behind the scenes footage of an ad shoot. I couldn’t download the vid from MySpace but the link is here, and I put this vid up to show you just how good this guy is.

Etape Du Tour 2007 Recce DVD

Riding L’Etape Du Tour this year? Wanna see the route? Watch this 3 minute ad that Carlton points us to. It’s a promo for the movie 'Road to Loudenvielle', produced by Cyclefilm. Amazingly, they’re going to air it in a dozen cinemas on March 11th.

Afan Argoed MTB video

The Afan Forest Park (aka Afan Argoed) and its four trails is constantly referred to as one of the best places to ride your bike in the world. Yep, the world! We thought we'd make a short video for anyone into mountain biking that's still not convinced the singletrack is up to par. Check out 5 mins on one of our local trails, Penhydd (there's 3 others just as good).

Don't follow us

Okay, this is damn sketchy – but fun. It’s some illegaly built north shore in local woodland at a secret location. Really not recommended (the idiots aren't even wearing lids!) but try telling these guys…

Separate bike lanes

Swansea, like most cities in the UK, is constantly changing its road layout. We've recently seen a massive overhaul around one of the city's busiest streets in order to accommodate the ultra-long 'bendy busses'.  You know the scene: all now one way streets, no roundabouts. But hey, we'€™ve got a metro lane. Am I in Paris, what the hell goes on there?

Anyway, the reason for my preamble is that many town/city planners are talking green but not necessarily living it. I was pointed to this video from a friend who reads the CommuterPage Blog. It'€™s about getting separated bike lanes in New York. I'd recommend everyone involved in transport planning take a look at some well structured arguments. As well as the obvious Amsterdam and Copenhagen examples, London gets a hat tip. Unfortunately Swansea's latest creation does not.

Yoga for cyclists

We received details of some new cycling DVDs this week. I confess to raising an eyebrow to Yoga for Cyclists. Their sales spiel goes:

Avid rider and yoga teacher Andria Baldovin brings you a set of exercises designed to strengthen and stretch the area of a cyclist’ body that need it most to improve your endurance and enjoyment on your bike!

If you’re more of a Disorder fan then this 3 minute trailer is more likely to float your boat...

Cannondale bikes available

As promised recently, Cannondale 2007 bikes are coming back to Tredz. Well, they've finally landed. I thought you might like to see one of them in action under Aaron Chase...

CAN is never followed by a T

Triathlon excellence? Maybe. Exceptional athleticism? Probably. Parental passion? Undoubtedly.
Watch this video (all 6 mins) and I promise you two things:

i) you’ll have a tear in your eye – regardless of how tough you are;
ii) any excuse you manufactured to stop you taking part in a triathlon will be declared null and void.

Bike building at Tredz

Unlike most of our online cousins, each and every Tredz bike is fully built. This is also known in the cycle trade as a pre-delivery inspection or PDI. We then place it in a large tailor-made box and despatch it to you. This is a big deal because bicycles arrive from manufacturers (regardless of who) only semi-assembled. Therefore many retailers, especially catalogue firms, simply receive bikes and ship straight to you without looking at, let alone building the bike.

Tredz have been ‘posting’ bicycles to customers in various guises since 1991. It’s taken a long time to master the technique and we’ve learnt a lot – usually the hard way. After our fully trained mechanics have built your bike, setting up the gears, brakes, etc., the pedals are removed and the handlebar is turned. We do this to better protect your bike in transit. On arrival, you only need a minute or two to screw in the pedals and adjust the handlebar before you’re on your way. Our three minute video above demonstrates how straightforward the process is.

Al Gore and his Inconvenient Truths

Saw this on a blog I like called Marketing Tom penned by Alun John. Without analysing the Kyoto Protocol's whys and wherefores, Mr Gore, the 'ex-next president of the United States', seems to be finally putting a reasonable, measured and hard hitting political voice to global warming. All the more reason to be gutted he didn't make it to the Oval Office then.

Over 2.3 million Americans have watched the documentary to date. Here's a clip to help you add your face to the UK turnout...

Buy a bike and be done with it

Stumbled across this on YouTube and couldn't stop myself thinking why? Its received over 200 posts from people debating whether or not its a wind up. If it is a practical joke they've gone to a lot of trouble. Then again, they are Americans so anything is possible - perhaps its the next big thing?