An awesome Z1 to end the year

We're certainly ending the year on a high, with this fantastic range-topping Parlee Z1. If you're going for a Z1 there's no point in half measures, and so this understated bike is kitted out with only the best components, including Lightweight Meilenstein wheels and subtly debadged Enve stem and seatpost.

Handmade, lugged custom carbon at it's best. And just check out that Tune saddle - the icing on the cake of this superlight machine:

Bespoke Training - uniquely comprehensive coaching plans

Bespoke Training is here! We've partnered with the coaching and nutrition specialists at palmarès to offer a complete range of services to help you achieve your goals in 2014 and beyond.

Our in-house cycle fitting expertise, supported by our workshop, enables us to deliver the "Bespoke Advantage" - a fully integrated program that addresses every aspect of you and your bike to maximise your potential.

You'll be supported at every step by palmarès and Bespoke experts, using the latest research and technology to deliver a highly personalised training plan that's truly effective, yet clear and easy to understand.

Read more at www.bespokecycling.com/training

The new Assos T.equipe_S7 bibshorts - in stock now

Look what's just arrived:

The eagerly awaited replacement for the ever-popular Fi.Mille - these are the new Assos T.équipe_S7 bibshorts. Seem them here first - they're not even officially launched until the 13th of December, but we already have the first batch right here in the shop, available to buy now.

This is the latest version of Assos's "long distance/comfort" bibs. Designed for a snug race fit, with just the right balance between compression and stretch. The new S7 pad has four-way stretch for the ultimate in comfort, and the three layer pad contains a waffled middle layer for extra cushioning without unnecessary bulk. A couple of memory foam pads sit underneath the chamois, making these the best shorts yet for long days in the saddle.

 

Recent builds

We've had a great selection of new bikes going out recently, there really isn't a quiet time of year at Bespoke. Here's just a selection:

 Mick's Parlee Z5 SLi in glorious candy blue:

Classic cockpit - Enve contact points and Di2 shifting.

 Such a great paint scheme - real depth and 'pop'... it'll look even better when the sun comes out again.

 Aidan's Parlee Z-Zero is equipped with a Record groupset and has a beautiful but understated high gloss finish:

Scott's Z5 SLi is a real speed machine with a set of the super Lightweight Meilenstein wheels:

 A really lightweight rig, but immensely practical.

Of course it's not all Parlee - we were also pleased to receive the first 2014 Ultegra Ui2 to reach the UK, and even happier when we got to build it up onto this classic Colnago C59:

And this S-Works Venge is looking very stealthy with ENVE wheels and the new Bontrager aero bars:

 

Get in shape for 2014 - A guest post by Dr Garry Palmer

At Bespoke we're pleased to offer the physiological testing services of Dr Garry Palmer, one of the UK's leading sports physiologists. Read more about Sportstest here: bespokecycling.com/sportstest. Garry is already looking ahead to next season, and has written this guest blog to highlight some things to consider:

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2014 Starts here!

Well, as the season is coming to a close (unless you are brave enough to be racing ‘cross), the nights are drawing in, and the weather has got decidedly chillier, many riders are thinking about hanging up their wheels for a well-earned rest, but is that really what you should be planning?

Now should be a time for reflection.  Did you achieve the goals you were aiming for in 2013?  If so, great, but could you have bettered those performances?  If not, you perhaps need to reassess those goals, or more importantly review your preparation.  Now is the time to start planning for 2014!

The first thing you should do is have one (or possibly two similar) goals to focus on for next season.  In this way you can focus your training to ensure that you have the correct fitness needs to meet your goals.  In doing this you should list all your strengths and weaknesses with key areas of your riding (this is something we do with all of our clients), and this should be matched to your performance target.  Where you are weak in key areas, this is where you should focus your training (this is also where our fitness assessments play a vital role, as we can accurately detect your threshold and riding efficiency, something that cannot be done without a physiological assessment).  This should lead you to a clear understanding of your training (and possibly nutritional) priorities.

Many cyclists confuse their priorities, spending more time, money and thought on their bikes, rather than their bodies:

Once you have identified you both your performance goals, and your training needs, you should start to think about training phases (Again, we are better able to do this from a physiological perspective as a part of your Sportstest) .  In a training year where there is just one major goal, at Sportstest we would use a simple three phase system.

Initially the training would be BASE training, to put down the underlying cardio-vascular fitness needed to carry you through the season, but in some events, this is also critical to ensure you complete the event.  Typically the BASE training phase would last somewhere between 3 and 9 months, to ensure maximum developments in cardio-vascular fitness and increased riding efficiency (and of course the all-important fat burning!).  On common mistake many riders make over the winter period is that their BASE training is done at too high an intensity, or the training is done in a group scenario, and not effectively focused to their specific needs and intensity.  A Sportstest will help determine what the correct training zones are for you as an individual, with your current fitness level, and will ensure you get the most of your valuable training time.

Once the BASE phase is complete, a phase of 8 to 12 weeks of race pace or THRESHOLD training would be undertaken.  This would aim to ensure you can cope with the speed demands of the event, and would also look to enhance your THRESHOLD ability (this is what allows you to maintain your pace in a 10 or 25 mile time trial, or climbing those cols in the major European sportives!).

The final phase to ensure you reach your chosen event in peak fitness would be a SPEED & POWER phase.  This basically ensures you have the “icing on the cake”, and can cope with rapid changes in pace, or very heavy efforts of climbing short sharp hills.  This phase could last anywhere between 4 and 12 weeks depending on the nature of your event, but for most riders ~6 weeks is usually adequate.

So with this in mind for any of you looking to peak for around May (10 & 25 mile time trial championships), or July for the major European sportives such as the Etape or Marmotte, you better get you bike out, because you should now be working towards building a fitness base that will ensure you meet your goals!

Look out 2014, here we come!!!

Garry

Beginner Track Riding Day with Bespoke.

Picture yourself on a bike at the top of a 25m, 45 degree wooden wall. Your brain is shouting at you that this shouldn't be possible. You turn the bike to the left and you are almost in free fall. You accelerate from 15mph to 35mph in the space of 15m. You're leaning over so far you feel like you're almost perpendicular to the ground to get round the corner. It's like a cycling roller-coaster. It's the most fun you can have on two wheels.

Jono: Bespoke's mechanic in action

At Bespoke, we are very passionate about track racing and have a wealth of experience. Our mechanic Jono is a former Kiwi international sprinter and our lead fitter Ben also represented his country in many different endurance events. The racing at the velodrome was one of the highlights from the London Olympics and next spring they are finally opening it to the public. To ride there, you'll have to complete a four part accreditation process run by the Lee Valley VeloPark. Having prior track riding experience will be very helpful to feel comfortable straight away at these accreditation session. Therefore, Bespoke is putting together a track experience day for our customers at Calshot Velodrome on the 1st and 2nd of March.

Calshot Velodrome

Calshot is a great track to learn on as it's very small (only 142m round) with very steep bankings (45 degrees). This creates a lot of g-force even at low speed and "sticks" you to the banking. Check out the video of a flying lap.

To give you the best possible head start, Bespoke is teaming up with a pair of world class coaches: Dave Le Grys and Pete Mitchell.

Dave Le Grys

Dave's resume both as an athlete and a coach could fill the whole of this blog. In the 70's and 80's he represented Great Britain at 6 world championship and won 40 national medals. He coached at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as well as being National Coach (and coached a certain Ben Hallam to his national pursuit championship). As a masters rider, I think he has lost count of the number of World, European and National gold medals that he has won.

Pete Mitchell

  

Pete Mitchell may be young, but he has an equally impressive resume. In 2007 he was crowned Junior World Team Sprint Champion, represented his country at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and won multiple World and European medals. He is now bringing that wealth of experience to his coaching.  

To launch our venture into the wonderful world of track riding, we are going to be running a seminar evening on 10th December at 18:30. We'll talk you through the differences between road bikes and track bikes, have some examples of top end track equipment and Dave Le Grys will be doing a short seminar about his experiences and a Q and A for you to be able to ask any question you may have. This evening will be a free event, simply RSVP to events@bespokecycling.com

The Calshot banking is sure to get the adrenaline going 

The beginner experience days will be running two sessions, one on Saturday 1st March from 1-5pm and the other on Sunday 2nd March 9am-1pm. The session will cost £100 include bike hire, 4 hours of track time and personal coaching from Dave and Pete. During the session, Dave and Pete will progress you through getting to know the bikes, getting onto the track and then safely riding at greater speeds and with other riders on track. To keep the coach standard high, there will be limited places available so if you're interested, book early. To confirm your place, contact Dave Le Grys on dlgmastercoach@googlemail.com

Ben Hallam in his heyday 

We look forward to seeing you on the 10th of December for the seminar.  

Parlee ESX - Worldwide Launch here at Bespoke

 Tonight we were proud to host the worldwide launch event for the new Parlee ESX.

This fantastic new frameset combines great aerodynamic performance with real "use it every day" rideability. Bob and Tom talked a crowd of avid cyclists through the rigorous design process that went into the creation of this unique bike.

Loads more photos and a detailed look at this awesome frame to come... We've had four different ESXs in the Bespoke photo studio today
(the matt grey below is my personal favourite).

In the meantime here's a couple of shots to whet your appetite. And check out this week's Cycling Weekly magazine for a double-page feature on the ESX, including the story of how it got it's name (and no, it's not an anagram).

Bespoke Triathlon Seminar

Bespoke Triathlon Seminar

The evenings are getting dark and cold, which can only mean that the triathlon season is drawing to an end. Now is the time for you to start thinking about your 2014 goals.

Bespoke Cycling would like to help you by inviting you to a free seminar on Thursday 21st November at 18:30. The seminar evening will consist of three talks and give your members a chance to pick the brains of our triathlon experts. We will have presentations on triathlon specific bike set up by our lead fitter Ben Hallam and training presentations by former Kona competitors Cat Benger and Ben Webeck from ABCpure. 

Cat and Ben have “been there, done that and got the T shirt”. They have both qualified for and raced at the Ironman world championship which allows them to offer clients a wealth of invaluable knowledge, insight and information. They are firm believers that the multisport nature of triathlon cannot be mistaken for just swim, bike and run.

Therefore their approach is centred around one sport with three disciplines and an emphasis on consistency, sustainability and quality taking priority over quantity. They established ABCpure Triathlon Coaching with the aim of providing a bespoke triathlon coaching service to athletes of any age, at any level and competing over any distance from sprint to ironman.

Bespoke Cycling is a boutique cycling shop based in Farringdon, central London, focused on improving performance through a multi-disciplinary approach to the bike and the body. Our fitters are not just triathletes themselves; they also have Sports Rehabilitation degrees giving them graduate level knowledge of the biomechanics of the body, sports injury and how the maximise an athlete’s potential.

Ben Hallam is a former international road and track cyclist who has turned his hand to triathlon. Ben jumped straight in at the deep end completed the Mallorca 70.3 in 5:09 with a bike split not far off the pros.

Helena Kvepa is one of a few female bike fitters in the country. Her combination of qualifications and triathlon experience puts her in an unrivalled position to advise customers on the unique demands for female triathletes.

Please RSVP to events@bespokecycling if you, or any of your club members, would like to attend our triathlon evening. We look forward to seeing you on the 21st of November! If you have any questions please just drop us a line.

A very special Parlee evening at Bespoke

 Bespoke are proud to be hosting the worldwide launch of an exciting new Parlee road bike - right here at our London store, this Thursday, 14th November.

Bob Parlee and Tom Rodi will be joining us again to unveil the new model and talk about their design process and ethos. Our launch of the flagship Z-Zero last year was a huge success, and we're looking forward to another great evening of bikes, chat and drinks.

Spaces are strictly limited - if you'd like to attend please email events@bespokecycling.com and we'll get back to you asap.

Germain Burton Graduates to the Olympic Academy Program

Back in February, Olympic Development Program (GB Junior Squad) rider Germain Burton came to us after having most of his winter training destroyed with knee pain. You can read the blog about what we did HERE and his return trip to dial his TT position HERE.

Germain's season has had many ups and a few downs. After we got his knee problem sorted, he took a stage victory in the Junior Peace Race, part of the Junior Nations Cup, in the Czech Republic. 

He also represented Great Britain at the Junior World Championships in both the Team Pursuit (finishing 4th after doing monster 2 lap turns) as well as the Scratch Race. Unfortunately, Germain got taken down in the Scratch Race qualifiers and didn't make it to the final (where there are ups, there are often some downs). However, despite having a winter with consistent knee pain, we're really please to hear that following his trip to Bespoke, Germain had an injury free season.

Germain's hard work and consistent riding have paid off though as he has recently received the news that he will be one of only four riders who will graduated to the Olympic Academy Program (GB Under 23 Squad).
Before he headed up to Manchester to live the life of a full time professional rider under the tutelage of the best programme in the sport; Germain returned to Bespoke to get a second set of footbeds made and some cleats aligned on his new shoes.

Everyone here at Bespoke would like to congratulate Germain on this great achievement and wish him the best of luck for the coming 2014 season with the GB Squad.

Germain Burton, remember the name, you'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future.

Just arrived - Specialized Evade helmet

The new S-Works Evade helmet is now in stock. As seen winning stages on the head of a certain Mr Cavendish, amongst others, this is Specialized's newest and most innovative aero lid.

With much better ventilation than a traditional aero helmet, and less weight, we're sure this will be a huge success (it's also much closer in looks to a conventional road helmet, without the elongated tail of most aero models).

Yours for just £160 - not bad for cutting-edge technology, and the same price as the S-Works Prevail, giving you the choice of ultra-lightweight or super-aero. The white colourway (below) is in stock now, with more options coming later in the year:

Read more about the Evade here on the Specialized website.

New Trek Speed Concept 9 is here

The new top-of-the-range 9 series Trek Speed Concept is here, and yet again Trek have managed to take things up a notch, with even more clever aero features. We couldn't resist getting it into the photo studio:

The full-foil shape of the fork is incredibly aero, and the front brake is completely integrated to help reduce drag.

The new Speed Fin, mounted under the bottom bracket, increases the aero profile and improves braking performance as well as improving aerodynamics.

The latest one-piece bars are integrated into the frame, for an incredibly sleek profile, and are also very practical (and quite something to look at!).

Tube shapes have been further refined this year to make this the slipperiest, speediest Speed Concept yet (for example the bulge here at the junction of seat tube and top tube). Plus the Speed Storage box is back, providing useful space for stowing spares or food, and the bike is actually more aero with it fitted than without.

Available now, in off-the-peg or custom Project One configuration.