Over half of specialist bike shops reported sales growth in excess of 20 per cent in April 2009 compared to April 2008. The cycle retail industry still has a little way to go to catch up with figures published by the booming food industry, with ASDA claiming a 41 per cent increase in sales and … Read more
Electronic wizards and bicycle fanatics Kraftwerk are expected to play songs from their album Tour de France in an appropriate setting this summer when they perform at the Manchester Velodrome just as the iconic race gets going across the Channel.The German group, whose 1983 hit Tour de France has been used as the theme track … Read more
Astana, the team that won last year’s Giro d’Italia and for whom seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador ride, has been given until May 31st to sort out its finances by world cycling’s governing body the UCI.The warning was apparently delivered to the Kazakh Cycling Federation which owns the team … Read more
Weighing in at a hernia-inducing 6.95kg the Protector 13mm chain isn’t something you’d want to carry around but for keeping your bikes secure in the shed or garage it’s an excellent last line of defence, especially when used with a ground anchor or Shed Shackle.13mm refers to the diameter of the chain links which are … Read more
Alessandro Petacchi (LPR Brakes) made it two wins on the trot today as Mark Cavendish (Columbia High Road) suffered a bad day at the office finishing over a minute down and surrendering the leader’s jersey to Petacchi.American Tyler Farrar finished second, despite riding the final kilometres with only one gear when the cable was ripped … Read more
We saw the new Decade Tripster from Kinesis UK at the CORE bike show back in February and we’ve been itching to get our hands on it since. Now we have.The Tripster is one of what seems to be a new brand of British designed bikes (Cotic’s Roadrat is another) ultra-versatile machines that can be … Read more
The SKS Airgun is a pump designed for riders who need to inflate their tyres in a hurry, and is particularly suited to race, time trial and triathlon riders who need to get moving again quickly.The Airgun comes complete with one cartridge – it takes the 16g threaded type CO2 cartridges – a bottle cage … Read more
Blackburn’s EX1 rear rack is a bit of a touring classic designed to be a one size fits all load-lugging solution. This has certainly been my experience, it’s easy to fit too, have had no trouble installing on a number of 700c and 26in wheeled bikes.My only one major gripe is that the 3mm hex … Read more
Chromate freshly oven cured, it’s time for the colour coat. Powder coating has come along immeasurably since the days of murky industrial or basic primary colours-these days you’re pretty much limited only by your imagination and choice of finisher.Much of this has been driven by the US, where traditional stoving enamels are comparatively rare but a … Read more
