This is a brushed Ti frame with polished decals
It is a Di2 frame with the battery hidden in the Firefly Ti post
Will be sweet !
Saturday, 10 December 2011
And the Firefly frame is finished....
This is a brushed Ti frame with polished decals
It is a Di2 frame with the battery hidden in the Firefly Ti post
Will be sweet !
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
A new Firefly soon to be of this world
The guys at Firefly sent me a picture of Jamie welding Andy's new Ti winter bike
Will be a very cool build indeed!
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Bespoke vouchers are here
Without further pomp, here are is a mock-up of our Bespoke Cycling Gift Voucher.
We spent far too much getting them made, but I wanted them to look special.
Its a highly finished voucher with foil blocking on both sides of this duplexed heavy weight, high quality card. Delivered in a bespoke envelope, naturally. A ideal gift this christmas !!
Monday, 5 December 2011
Hutchison Fusion 3 (tubeless tyres) puncture report
I have been riding these tyres on the Dura Ace CL24 wheels since October now. To be honest, unlike some of my customers, I have not been blown away by any performance improvements since going tubeless. So no improvements in ride quality or decrease in rolling resistance (and yes I have played with tyre pressure, my favourite being 90/95psi front and rear).
People who say they ride as good as a tub, have not ridden a 'proper' tub!!
However they have been absolutely bombproof in terms of getting no punctures (I have been using Stans sealant).
On Sundays ride I did notice my rear tyre getting soft after we went through a particularly bad patch of road. Sure enough there was a decent sized hole, and air was escaping. I could see the sealant trying to do its job, but with no success. I pumped it up again but could hear the air escaping. I realised that if you pump the tyre up too quickly then the pressure is too high for the sealant to work.
Sure enough, we re-pumped the tyre to 85 psi and it was fine and we continued our ride with no issues.
This morning I checked the tyre and its still at 85 psi. Result !!
The Fusion 3s are marketed as a road racing tyre and have been cut up quite badly in the 3 months I have ridden them. So I will now take them off and put the heavier training version, the Intensive. That has a harder compound, but a better Kevlar puncture belt so will be perfect for the next 3 months.
I am sure that the sealant will go everywhere we I take it off - Matt will love me for that !
Assos Robocap 607 review
I have been wearing this for a number of weeks now, and it really came into its own on yesterday's (disgusting) ride. There was a real biting wind wherever we went and it cut through my clothes quite badly. My head stayed blissfully warm, but never overheated when we were climbing.
I am a big fan of warm hats; if I have a warm head, feet and hands I am a much happier rider!
Last year I wore the Assos Stinger cap, which was good but was quite big in volume. So much so that it really affected how you wore a helmet underneath.
This years Robocap is much slimmer, and even warmer. Its double thickness around the ears and forehead so its lovely and warm. But the real surprise is just how snug it is. I only need to widen my Giro helmet by one click to fit perfectly.
A nice touch is the reflective bands front and rear, and the hooks on the side that you are meant to thread your glasses through.
Downsides are mainly related to its looks- you either look like a WWII fighter pilot or (more disconcertingly) and extra from the first series of Blackadder.
Saturday, 3 December 2011
William's Z1 custom
I love wax Z1's, and the way they are just naturally beautiful. No fancy paint, no shaped tubes. Just beautiful carbon....
This bike is off to Hong Kong and is lovely
It has a Deda Zero 100 cockpit, the new Fizik curve saddle, Record Groupset and Mavic Kysrium SLR wheels
And yes I know a need a better camera - my iPhone 3 is not quite ready to do justice to the frames !
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Customer product test: Assos sV.blitzFeder
Many thanks to Simon (he of the bigger bike fleet than our entire shop....) for this review. Full marks for also testing the product in different countries and at different altitudes!
I warmly welcome as many contributions as possible and hope we can all benefit from our collective experiences.
It is of the SV. blitzfefer, which is an ultra-light 'gilet' that folds up into its own little pocket. I loved it and recommended it to as many riders as I could as its small size meant there was no opportunity cost for always having it on you, especially when doing epic rides when the conditions can be so variable.
Barry,
Hope all is well. Here is a contribution to your customer reviews project.
I bought this Assos blitzfeder vest from you in June. I have used it pretty extensively since then. In the Summer, it has been great for those cold morning starts because you can stuff it in your pocket when it warms up. I used it this Sunday, when it was a pretty chilly November morning, over the top of a standard long sleeve top to provide a bit of insulation. Again, absolutely fine.
It breathes really well, much better than most other shells. So you do not "boil in the bag". I think you can use it in a wide variety of temperatures, probably from 5 degrees to 25 degrees. It really is very versatile, and it genuinely packs away to nothing. You can always have it with you.
On the downside, it will provide only a modicum of rain protection, and (because it is so light) it is really difficult to put on when you are on the move. But this is just splitting hairs. Of course it is expensive for so little material, but you have to accept that with Assos. You are buying the best.
To show the vest in full use, here is a picture of me this "summer" on the climb from Tirano to Livigno on the Swiss/Italian border. It started off at 20 degrees at the foot of the climb, before the heavens opened.
The road became a stream. Temperatures plummeted as we neared the 2000m mark. The vest was the only extra clothing I had with me. It was fine on the way up, due to the climbing effort over the best part of 25km. I was cold on the way down, but by then I was truly soaked.
You can see from the photo that I was joined by Gesink and Barredo from Rabobank on a pre-Tour training ride. I say "joined" in the loosest sense - because while this picture gives the optical illusion that I am pulling away from them, the reality is that they absolutely rocketed past me and left me for dead!
Rgds
Simon
I warmly welcome as many contributions as possible and hope we can all benefit from our collective experiences.
It is of the SV. blitzfefer, which is an ultra-light 'gilet' that folds up into its own little pocket. I loved it and recommended it to as many riders as I could as its small size meant there was no opportunity cost for always having it on you, especially when doing epic rides when the conditions can be so variable.
Barry,
Hope all is well. Here is a contribution to your customer reviews project.
I bought this Assos blitzfeder vest from you in June. I have used it pretty extensively since then. In the Summer, it has been great for those cold morning starts because you can stuff it in your pocket when it warms up. I used it this Sunday, when it was a pretty chilly November morning, over the top of a standard long sleeve top to provide a bit of insulation. Again, absolutely fine.
It breathes really well, much better than most other shells. So you do not "boil in the bag". I think you can use it in a wide variety of temperatures, probably from 5 degrees to 25 degrees. It really is very versatile, and it genuinely packs away to nothing. You can always have it with you.
On the downside, it will provide only a modicum of rain protection, and (because it is so light) it is really difficult to put on when you are on the move. But this is just splitting hairs. Of course it is expensive for so little material, but you have to accept that with Assos. You are buying the best.
To show the vest in full use, here is a picture of me this "summer" on the climb from Tirano to Livigno on the Swiss/Italian border. It started off at 20 degrees at the foot of the climb, before the heavens opened.
The road became a stream. Temperatures plummeted as we neared the 2000m mark. The vest was the only extra clothing I had with me. It was fine on the way up, due to the climbing effort over the best part of 25km. I was cold on the way down, but by then I was truly soaked.
You can see from the photo that I was joined by Gesink and Barredo from Rabobank on a pre-Tour training ride. I say "joined" in the loosest sense - because while this picture gives the optical illusion that I am pulling away from them, the reality is that they absolutely rocketed past me and left me for dead!
Rgds
Simon
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