More shop pics...

We have finally gotten some decent pics of the new space
Enjoy......




This is the entrance (looking into the Assos room)



The main floor (looking backwards). To the very left is the club room and the service centre



The infamous Assos room !



This is downstairs - it was deliberately designed to be darker and more cosy than upstairs which has lovely high ceilings



Our 2XU/Newton/Bont concept room....

Robert's Z1 Pista with Kandy Apple tint

This was great fun to build!
Its a Z1 Pista custom with a Kandy Apple Tint through the clearcoat
On sunny days it really 'pops' in the light

Robert already has a wax carbon Parlee Cross bike which is super stealth, so we wanted to create something very different

We tried to play up the contrast between the frame and the silver components so went with a Campag Pista cranks, Athena Silver brakes and a Thomson Masterpiece

The wheels are my favourite part of the build: Phil Wood hubs, DT Spokes and Mavic Open Pro CD rims




Robert is a Vet and his company's logo is of a Merlin - so we added this touch on the seat tube

Jamie's Firefly

Here is our first (but certainly not our last) Firefly Ti bike
Jamie picked it up yesterday
He already has a Parlee Z3 so we took the SRAM force gruppo off of that and added some new Zipp 101 wheels

The frame really is a work of art - its also the lightest Ti bike we have built up which came as a surprise given the size of some of the tubing (the benefits of Press fit 30?)

Andrew's Z1 custom

Its hard to make big bikes look elegant but I think we have done it with this one
Its a Z1 custom (it needs to be with a saddle height of 87cm!)

It has Super Record (with the Ti Spindle), Mavic Ksyrium SLRs, Easton SLX3 bars and 3T Team stem and post (to bring the red out of the super record....)

Rich's Z5 SL

Speaking of stealth bombers, here is Rich's lovely Z5SL
The build is a mixture of my favourite things:
Record
3T post and stem
Easton SLX3 carbon bars

Duncan's Z1

This is not a new bike, but has been refreshed somewhat with some Carbone wheels (taken off another of Ducan's bikes)
We agreed that they overpower the frame somewhat so a set o Zipp's lovely 404 Firecrest wheels will be on their way

Once the decals have been removed it will look a proper stealth bomber !

New Assos Heritage kits are here....

And very nice they are too!

Giro's new shoes - Prolight SLX

I heard about these shoes last year and then saw them at a rad show in February.
I was really impressed, but gutted when I was told there would be no free stock until August (how does that help me !!)
Imagine my joy when my Giro rep came over to finally see the new shop and said he wanted Giro in here and would make it happen pronto tonto
A week later a small batch of the new top of the range Prolight SLXs arrived

I will be doing a full test on them when I have more miles on them, and a proper comparison against my current shoes (and the industry benchmark) the SIDI Ergo 2s

First impressions could not be more favoiurable though - they feel astonishingly light, and this is confirmed by the scales of truth

100gms (or 50% weight reduction) is a huge amount at this level

More to come !!

The boss's bike

Alas by boss I don't mean me!
This is from the 2002 Tour, LA had two made especially for the mountain stages, hence the use of only one STI lever which was done in an attempt to keep the weight down.

Legit Leopard bike in the house

This just arrived from Trek UK - uber cool !
Its so much nicer in the flesh
The Trek decals are in carbon, so pop in the light

It was originally made for Thomas Rohregger the Austria team member, but after training on the bike he decided to go with a larger frame size.

Just a shame its not my size either.....

Brad's Dogma

Always a sad day when a new Dogma leaves the shop....
This is Brad's new bike - its Bianca 536 and its a 57
Build kit is sweet - DA 7900 and DA carbon pedals, Reynolds Attack wheels and white Zero 100 bars (that way he can have white bars/black bar tape - a much more durable way for a bit of bling !)

A new era begins...

Very, very exciting

Fast standing still...

And other such cliches!

This is Simon's wonderbike - a Project One Speed Concept complete with Di2, a Quarq powermeter and Zipp 808s
We took this pic prior to the final fitting - 2 hours after this picture was taking we were fully dialed

I love fitting people to Speed Concepts as the front end is so adjustable, its a joy to work with and you can really dial someone's position

How clean is that front end to the wind.....

New long term test bike

This is mine to play with - it a Z5 SL in Large with a Tall HT (for maximum adjustability if people want to borrow for test rides)
Its got full Super Record except I decided to mix it up and put a dedicated BB30 crank on it, courtesy of a Cannondale Hollowgram

Its got some Reynolds Attack demo wheels on as well

Bespoke Team saddle, Dura Ace carbon pedals and my favourite EC90 bars complete the package

Looking forward to this !

Party time!

Why not all Ti is created equal....

In the early '90s I remember Titanium being this mythical material that only these exotic brands like Merlin were made out of
(I wanted an XLM so badly, and I think a part of the reason I founded Bespoke was so that I would never again be tortured by not being able to have my dream frame. Of course I could have gotten a normal job, earned far more money and then bought any bike I wanted but best not dwell on that......)

A decade ago having your frame made from Ti was a badge of honour, a guarantee of quality (and an eye wateringly high price tag)
Lately Ti has been devalued considerably, with lots of cheap Ti - there are loads of £700-1000 Ti frames now, so much so that people quite rightly ask what all the fuss is about with the boutique brands that we prefer to work with

Best let the experts do the talking.....

http://fireflybicycles.com/1112#more-1112

Nice shoes...

Giancarlo is moving into a new flat this week (his previous landlord convinced him that Dorking was only 25 mins way from EC1.....) and so he brought some of his clothes into work
These shoes stood out a mile away, and after some shop banter about Italians and their lack of style he told me they were made from Python skin and cost €1000
But the story gets even better.....

Mario Cippolini has a financial interest in luxury shoe shop (surprised?) and gave Giancarlo and some of the Saeco riders a pair of these when they were team mates at Saeco
How cool is that !

Form

A month ago I said to Dean that I don't know when I am in shape but I certainly now when I am out of it

In hindsight I dont think that is true
The recent bout of 4 day weekends has allowed me to get some serious mileage in, and the benefits are becoming apparent;

-when climbing its a lovely feeling to shift down a gear and dig a bit harder whenever the gradient eases off slightly - a month ago I would have just enjoyed the respite

-my bike position now feels 'high' in the drops, and I want to lower the front end by 5-10mm (remember the body does not exist in a vacuum, and your bike position should reflect the changes to your riding style and fitness)

-climbs are something to be enjoyed rather than feared - I love the 'burn' you get when pushing on, and knowing that what is hurting you is also hurting your riding buddies

-when you feel fit you are keen to go to the front and drive it on; when you are not, its vital to hide!

-when you are fit 3 hr rides are extended to 5hrs - whilst in the off season I often start with good intentions but 2 hrs in I am ready to go home.....

Hope you are all enjoying your cycling as well and heres to a successful summer for us all