Friday, February 19th, 2010 at
1:18 pm
All in praise of the retro cloth cycling cap say "aye".
AYE!
When you look back through the historic footage at the era of the great classics and Tours what is it that adds to the ultra cool look of the day? Is it the brake cables coming out of the levers and on display at the front of the bars? Is it the downtube gear shifters? The toeclips and straps? The fact that you can see the pain on the riders faces without them being obscured by large wraparound sunglasses or the incredibly stylish small peaked cycling cap that just about every other rider seems to be wearing?
Whether its on backwards with the peak down, backwards with the peak up, forwards peak up or down or under an old style banana crash hat the iconic retro cycling cap is the one piece of clothing that immediately says “bike racer”.
With the advent of the polystyrene helmet becoming mandatory in UCI sanctioned racing the cloth cycling cap became seen less and less. Teams would still take boxes of them out on the road for their riders to wear under their helmets if they wanted or for PR shoots in the start village or even to give to lucky fans who tried their luck but on the whole they would be seen less. Which makes it all the more interesting that the retro cloth cycling cap is now such a sought after fashion item, especially since the uber cool fixie surge. If you can get hold of an old team issue from the 70s or 80s you’ll be wearing your love of bikes for everyone to see and emulating the greats such as Moser, Merckx and Roche. Retro cycling caps are an inexpensive and stylish way to get the artwork and panache that was originally seen only on the racers team jerseys and to be able to mix and match with your ordinary going out clothes as a powerful fashion statement.
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Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at
10:57 pm
Fixed gear frames have become extremely popular lately due to their ease of maintenance, elegant construction and the beautiful ride they give. Experienced club riders have long since switched to riding a fixed gear through the winter as it gives them a more maintenance free ride when the weather is bad and makes them a better rider through developing souplesse.
Couriers have made fixed gears fashionable again for city and suburban riders with many opting to ride custom lightweight frames kitted out with some of the lightest aerodynamic components ever made.
If you want to put your own fixed gear bike for sale you've got several choices - buy one off the peg or get hold of a frame and spec your own components. We prefer the latter - get hold of your own fixed gear frame and either trawl ebay for cheap components or hunt out exotic rare components and make a bike that is both beautiful and unique.
There are four main frame materials you will be looking at - steel, aluminium, titanium and carbon. Our favourite is steel but each have there own pros and cons. Ideally the frame will have rear facing track ends where the rear wheel slots in and allows for adjustment to keep the chain tensioned. You can also use a frame with horizontal sloping dropouts but these can make it a bit harder to get the chain tension right.
Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at
2:30 pm
Spinergy wheels have been around since the early 90s and continue to outperform many other types of wheels in terms of acceleration and aerodynamics. Their RevX wheel was one of the most distinctive bicycle road and triathlon wheels ever made at a time when common thought recommended a disc wheel at the back and an aerospoke or trispoke at the front. With a pair of Spinergy RevX wheels a bike could be ridden fast in a cross wind and in a bunch quite safely.
Whereas Aerospoke wheels are currently as rare as hen's teeth there are a few Spinergy wheels around at the moment if you know where to track one down. They look great on Fixies, as either a front or as a pair and they still perform well in triathlons and time trials providing a cost effective way of getting a serious aero advantage over your rivals. And more importantly of all they look GOOD!
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Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at
5:15 pm
If you've been wondering what those fancy five spoke composite wheels that fixie riders have been sporting for the last few years are then wonder no more... welcome to the world of Aerospoke
Originally made in the 1990s and pitched at time trialers, triathletes and track riders Aerospoke wheels set the racing world alight with their light weight, high aerodynamic efficiency and comfort in a cross wind. Favoured by riders for being fast accelerating and having the unusual qualities of stiffness and comfort they are extremely sought after and hard to track down.
Rest assured - whenever there are any Aerospoke wheels available we will have them listed right here. Keep checking back to keep up with the latest Aerospoke wheels on offer.
If you can't find the Aerospoke wheel you want have you considered Spinergy?
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at
7:37 am
Welcome to the world of Retro Vintage Cycling. Over the coming months and hopefully even years I'll be delving deep into the history of classic cycling equipment and manufacturers resurrecting memories from an earlier time when bikes and their components were made from metal rather than that plastic stuff they call carbon fibre and reliability was a given.
We'll be looking at classic early groupsets from Shimano such as the 600EX and Sante as well as their Suntour equivalents from the time. And no website on cycling would be complete without the leading marque of all - Campagnolo and their offerings such as Nuovo Record and the aesthitcally, if not quite functionally perfect Delta brakes.
Hopefully we will get around to looking at early off road offerings too with a trip down memory lane on the frames that made mountainbiking such as Kona Cinder Cones, Specialized Stumpjumbers and for our UK readers the classic Muddy Fox Courier.
We'll also take a look back at our first bikes such as PK Ripper BMXs, Raleigh Choppers and a whole host of Schwinns.
If you want to join in the fun please subscibe to our RSS feed or if you would like to share your memories then please get in touch.
All the Best
John
