Category: Shop news

We’re having a bit of a Kinesis themed craze at the moment! So here’s a quick blog about some of the different models that have been chosen by customers, and us.

The Decade Tripster

This has proved to be very popular recently; and with good reason!

With it’s disc compatibility, ability to take rack, full mudguards and large knobly tyres the Tripster is perfect to use as a commuter, and can be built with flat handlebars if prefered. However, just because it’s practical doesn’t mean it’s not fast- it can take 23 mm tyres, and with it’s drop bars you can still use it as a weekend worker.

It’s a cyclocross frame at heart, with the geometry taken from the crosslight series, so can really handle anything you throw at it, however, a longer headtube provides a more relaxed ride.

Basically, this bike can be whatever you want it to be! That’s the joy of it- fancy doning your lycra and getting in the miles? Hitting the trails? Slinging on the jeans for a more casual jaunt? Or carrying loads like trailers and kids? This bike will do it all!

The one we have in the shop is the build kit from Kinesis, you can see the specs here.

(Road CC did a nice reveiw of it here)

Crosslight Pro 6

So on to my bike of choice.

I’ve wanted to try out a cross bike for a while, and the choices available from Kinesis always looked like some of the most attractive ones out there. Plus the idea of having disc brakes on the road, especially for the winter, seemed like such a sensible one.

You can now get the Pro 6 as a bike build kit, with 105 throughout, Tektro brakes and FSA chainset and components. It works out to be good value that way (£1399), however I was keen to get a 105 chainset and already have my own saddle, so went for getting the frame to build up how I wanted.

The Pro 6 is designed with racing in mind, so has a more aggresive geometry than the Tripster – a shorter headtube for getting low and tapered headtube for strength on off road lumps and bumps.

I’ve had a couple of rides out on it now and been really impressed. It feels strong and sturdy, yet is also agile and certainly no slow poke! The disc brakes are also amazing to use on the road, even for a mechanical, relatively inexpensive set. They have so much more strength then a calliper- you feel much more in control when going down hill, which around these parts is no bad thing!

(Reveiw from Road CC here and Bike radar here)

(Bike build info here)

Granfondo Ti – coming soon!

Tom’s next bike will be a Granfondo in titanium, he could get one now, but he’s waiting for some of the first of the second version to arrive!

In store Kinesis stock!

Currently we have:

Cross light 5T 54 cm

Racelight TK3 54 cm

Tripster 54 cm

Coming soon….

Racelight T2 51 cm (demo and rental bike)

Racelight T2 57 cm (demo and rental bike)

So there are plenty of different Kinesis bikes to try out – and all can be ordered in if a different size or colour are required.

Tom has been speaking highly of Bobike childseats for a long time- he used to use one with his own daughter. So when we found out that they would be available through our main supplier he leapt at the opportunity to get some in and on display.

They are a Dutch company with the seats being produced in the Netherlands, and have a strong emphasis on safety and their bio reads as such, “At Bobike, safety comes first. Our child seats meet the European safety standard EN 14344 and provide your child with optimum protection and seating comfort. A range of models lets you responsibly transport your child from the age of 9 months to 10 years on your bicycle. Bobike: you can rely on it!”

As well as being safety conscious they have a flair for style, with each seat coming in at least five colourways.

They also have a host of great features such as easily adjustable foot rests (with loops), secure harnesses, adjustable head rest, rear LED lights and reflectors, security locks, hand rests, storage compartments and easy on and off mounts.

We’ve already had a great deal of interest, especially from having them up at the Two Tunnels opening, but this last week one customer decided that they would not just fit one, but two to carry two children at the same time.

For Bobike we are offering free fitting on all seats, apart from the front fitting seats, which are only free to fit if bought in conjunction with a second.

A week on and the arrival of some new clothing display systems means the shop re-fit is complete!

Our range of Madison clothing now has a much more viewable layout, as do the Shimano shoes and pedals.

Since the weather seems to be refusing to turn we’ve kept out the winter gear- with jackets to suit any riding style or budget, gilets, waterproof trousers, arm warmers, leg warmers, over shoes, and full fingered gloves.

It’s been just over a year since our last shop refit, so we thought it was about time to do it all again!

That said, this time the changes are much less dramatic. Having already gotten rid of the huge counter last time this was more about “tweaking” the limited space.

So far we’ve fitted a fair few metres of slatwall for displaying clothing much more cleanly, and found a really nice 4 bike stand to show off our favorite bikes.

It’s now very nearly there! Just waiting for some new clothing displays and we’ll be all set, but feel free to pop in in the mean time and see the changes.

The Lapierre Sensium has been getting lots of attention in the shop, its pretty eye catching.  Its an all new model for 2013 with a totally new frame.  Its frame has gentle curves, not aggressively over styled which is nice.  Its also made from ‘high modulus’ unidirectional carbon fibre – in other words high quality which will absorb and soften the ride on rough roads.  Take a look at the picture below of the Sensium 300 equipped with SRAM Apex. Pop in to see the Shimano 105 equipped Sensium 200 in the shop, its very nice in the flesh!

Road.cc took a Sensium for an extended test ride for over a month and really loved the ride, read more about their experience on it here. Cycling Plus tested the 300 version as pictured above, read their write up here.

We have decided to stock a new brand of bike seats for children – Bobike! They offer traditional Dutch quality and place a huge emphasis on safety, whilst looking pretty funky, and being incredibly easy to fit!

http://www.bobike.nl/en/Bobike.htm?fluxmenu=m2

The Lapierre Audacio road bike that we are using as a demo bike comes with entry level Shimano R500 wheels, whilst these are fine I wanted some better wheels to really bring out the ride quality of the frame .  Specifically I wanted something stiffer and lighter that would transfer power better to the road.  I did a bit of research and Velocity make some pretty interesting rims, having made a name for themselves in the fixie scene.  Additionally many wheel builders now offer the Velocity A23 rim as a serious upgrade for cornering grip and cushioned long distance riding – more on this later.  The hubs I had decided on were to be Hope as they’re made in the UK, bombproof and engage power input brilliantly thanks to their 4 pawl 24 tooth engagement mechanism. They also come in some nice colours!

The Velocity A23 rim is pretty different to most road rims out there. It is, as the name suggests, 23mm wide between the rim walls, as opposed to the standard 19mm internal width on most road rims.  The concept behind this is that most 19mm road rims ‘pinch’ the tyre in at the bead so it bulges at the sides making the top of the tyre ‘flat’.  This means more tyre is in contact with the road in a straight line and less when cornering – the worst of all worlds.  Ideally you need ‘less’ tyre in contact on a straight line and more when cornering.  So the A23’s are supposed to smooth the ride, run at a slightly lower pressure and make cornering really grippy.  The A23’s have been said to be a ‘clinchular’ in that they ride more like a tubular tyre, which are rounder than a traditional tyre with a tube, and they therefore reduce road buzz and increase long distance comfort.

I’ve ridden the wheels I built up for a couple of weeks now and have to say the ride improvement was evident from the first few meters.  They feel about a million times smoother than the R500s and they seem to ‘glide’ especially uphill maybe thanks to the super smooth Hope stainless steel  cartridge bearings.  Its over a longer distance that they really come good.  WIth the slightly lower pressure (90psi) and 25mm wide Conti Ultragatorskins the road buzz is just not evident – even over potholes they seem better!  One big improvement over the R500s is that when standing up pedalling uphill the rim does not rub against the brake blocks, so they are a lot stiffer than the old wheels.

Our main bit of new news from the shop is that we’ve started to stock in Craft clothing!

They’re a company based in Sweden, so you can imagine that they certainly have some ideal conditions for testing their kit, with their bike range including everything from summer jerseys to thermal base layers.

Last year I happened to buy one of their women’s Performance Gilet tops, and it has to be one of the most useful pieces of kit- stops the wind perfectly, but breathable and amazingly light weight! Nice for casual cycling too!

They’ve got some really great reviews from others too, check out the following from Road CC for the Craft Zero Extreme Mens Crew Neck Base Layer, the Craft Zero Windstopper Hat, Craft Rain Bootie Cycling Shoe Cover, Craft Performance Storm Bib Tights, Craft Performance Bike Light jacket and the Craft Toe cover reviewed by Bikeradar.

As we *should* be moving into some less wintery weather we’ve started out be stocking clothing that’s great for changeable conditions. There’s a very cool convert jacket where the arms easily zip off in one, a super lightweight rain jacket and some base layers that are perfect for fair and cold conditions. We’ve got these and more online here, and there should be more to come!