Surly?

This winter has been quite hard in the cycle trade with poor weather followed by poorer weather followed by unbeleivably poor weather. This puts off most people with a brain from riding a bike with any kind of regularity and means the shop is quieter than normal. The advantage from my point of view is it gives all of us the chance to cnsume huge amounts of tea/coffee and talk about how the shop develops further. Our store is not blessed with huge amounts of passing trade and having half the catchment area populated by fish is not a great help either. We need to offer a range of products that maybe aren't available in every store  but suit our customer base the modern term for this is a "destination store." So after many cups of tea and packets of biscuits we decieded that we were perfect and didn't need to do anything!

That was my conclusion but apparantly everyone else thought differently so after a bit of research and 500 miles of driving in 12 hours we are pleased to become SURLY dealers. They offer a wide range of touring, cross and mountain bikes that we can have as frame only or complete bikes. They come in a very wide range of sizes so that will allow us to offer a very custom fit. It also comes with the added advantage of matching the staff attitude :))

Folding is the future

As a forward looking company with our finger on the racing pulse of the cycle industry we were amazed to discover that you can buy a small wheel bike that folds up!! WOW.

Only joking we have thought long and hard about folding bikes over the past 2 years and have come to the conclusion that the lack of folding bike sales is directly linked to the fact we don't stock em! So with that in mind we are going to be DAHON dealers for the next couple of years. After looking at the choice of brands available to us they seem to have a great range of prices as well as models to suit different needs. As is common with all our brands we only stock something that is available, repairable, reliable and excites us. The saddle bag on the bike is actually a cover that fastens around the bike and allows you to carry it on the train or store it in the car/camper van/caravan as if it was a large holdall. Very cool and very well thought out.

Cyclefit London

I think my brain has finally stopped hurting after being down in London to learn from the bike fitting gurus at Cyclefit. I started doing bike fits about 10 years ago on a very basic level using a turbo in the corner of the shop. As the shop got busier and kids came along I just didnt have the time to fit the bike fitting in even though I enjoyed doing it and seemed to be resonably good at it. This winter I have completed a course (SICI) that has given me new understanding of bike fitting and the link between the body and contact areas (pedals/shoes, saddle and bars).

The last trip down was looking at the shoe/cleat set up and also the new technology of Dartfish motion analysis. With each trip my wish list of parts, tools and technology gets longer and longer! So what is the point of all this? Well....you will have to wait and see!

From old to new in 24 Hours

Yesterday we were making the finishing touches to a steel frame, single/fixed bike and today the first job was to unpack and build one of our demo bikes for this year. Most mountain bikers will be familiar with the award winning Giant Anthem XC bike from last year. Having ridden and raced one myself for most of last summer with its brill handling and fantastic climbing speed I couldn't see how giant could bring the design on for 2011. Here is their offering with a 29er built onto the Maestro suspension platform. It looks fantastic with brushed alloy frame and matt black Fox forks its the most fondled product in the shop so far. One customer has stood for five minutes staring at it occasionally rubbing the frame and sighing every 30 secs. Eventually we hung the bike on the wall otherwise he would have still been here at closing time. The idea with a 29er is the larger wheels (think hybrid wheels with geet big tyres) makes the bike roll faster on the climbs (about 8 inches further per pedal rev), handle bumps better and give better grip (larger tyre contact area). The 29er thing is a American concept which is gathering pace here and seems to be working in competition with a lot of the mountain bike teams using the this season. The photos don't do it justice but take a look next time you call in and we may even let you rub it!!

Gears, freewheel or fixed?

As the technology on bikes keeps pushing the boundaries with Sram XX 10speed mountain bike equipment,  plusher suspension travel and more bling being added every year we are seeing a return to simpler cycling. With the cost of chain and cassette rising more bikers are turning to single speed mountain bikes and hybrids for their winter miles. This week we have built a On One steel 29er as a single speed rear conversion with a difference. The rear hub (Hope Pro 2) has a single 18 tooth sprocket instead of a 9 speed cassette but in place of a disc on the other side is a fixed sprocket instead.

Fixed or freewheel you choose!!

Now having ridden fixed on the road for several years I am not sure how it will work off road but it definitely will be interesting to try. It might be wise to get the customer to sign a disclaimer on collection or get the video camera out.

Having ridden both the Demo Bikes with full suspension and lots of gears most of 2010 I have been drawn into the retro steel bike with single speed as well. Its much easier to maintain and when you get used to not being able to change gear and having to spin/grind depending on the terrain its actually quite good fun. There are plans for a club 24 hour mountain bike this year as a team of three so the single speed may get used in anger at Fort William.

My P7 in winter mode hub gears next and slick tyres for a touring holiday in scotland.

Bike Fit No 9.

Just had Dave Y round to the workshop so I can check his riding position on his lovely TCR Advanced with those fast, light and sexy Zipp 404s mmmmmmmm!
I am amazed how messy the workshop looks in the background but just wait till we open the fit studio next month it will look a lot better (I hope). Only 1 more fit to complete then the SICI qualification.

Virgin (blog and blogger)

Well its my honour to do the first ever Breeze Bike Blog (very imaginitive title!) but by doing the first post it probably means that its my job forever more!
We hope that the blog will be interesting and informative most of the time with a mix of shop ride reports, club rides and events as well as any stories from behind the counter and sometimes under the counter when a sales rep arrives. There will be photos of new products and hopefully some sneak peaks of products that won't be in the shop for some time (we take forward orders and deposits!!).