PROJECTONE ''What's it all about then ??'' You ask yourself. It's all about building your dream bike in the comfort of your own home. Quite simply pop in the shop to try a madone for size, then go home and design it online..............''Give it a go'' Experience Unmatched Ride Quality A total performance system. The Madone 6 Series is the most technologically advanced road bike ever made. All it took to get there was tens of thousands of hours of development, 70 designs and redesigns, and a refusal to accept anything less than perfection. Explore the technologies. OCLV2. The ultimate carbon. Nothing can beat the feel of OCLV Carbon. Nothing, that is, except OCLV2. The best carbon, taken to a whole new level. Learn more about OCLV2. A Perfect Fit Choose one of three fit options to get the performance you crave with the riding position that suits you best. Find your perfect fit. Perfection, personalized. The choice is yours when it comes to configuring your 6 Series Madone, down to the smallest detail. Frame, wheels, components, colors, paint scheme—your dream bike is yours to define, and perfectly built for even the most discriminating rider. Build your Madone 6 Series.

Yikes ??!!!

Without a doubt, this is the future of transportable transport !!

How Cool is this thing ??

Whats been going on..??

Well, to say we've been a bit busy recently is a bit of an understatement. We had some good ideas at the beginning of the year to improve the business, which have all had to be pushed aside coz we're too busy selling bikes.

• This week we're starting a charity drive called ''Cycle the world'' in partnership with sun fm. The idea is to get as many people as possible to chip in mileage to come to the total of the circumference of the world, 24900 miles, we'll have a couple of bikes in store to gather some miles, so get down and chip in, get your sponsorship form off the sun fm website.


• New 2010 trek models are drifting in as we speak new Trek 6000 and 6300 are to die for and coming soon 4300 and new road bikes...sub £500. Already we have the new 2010 defy3 and 4 models in stock.


• Stereo ..A new BMX range shall be arriving soon...hot new bikes for chrimbo.


• Workshop classes will hopefully start when things quieten down a bit please bear with us on this one..


• Not long now for the Great North ride, but we do it both ways dont forget, all are welcome to join us. Meet at cleadon 5.30 ride to sea houses then back to tynemouth..ouch!! not sure wether it's in my legs this year but will still give it a go..


• Foxes rides still happening thursday nights or any other night if anyone has any suggestions..!??

Keep riding hard back soon ....

WIGGO ROCKS

Go Bradley go !! nice performance in the time trial tonight keep it together for Ventoux me lad,
we'll see you on the podium if Paris

What a guy !

The chairman of Giant bikes has just completed an epic journey from Beijing to Shanghai by bike. Quite a feat considering he's a young 75 years old. Along the way he preached cycling to the masses along with his mountain bike gang all dressed in Giant colours. Oh! and all riding Giant bikes of course....nice one ''old boy !'' keep them legs a spinnin..

The Tour

Well well! what a week, those guys deserve their first rest day (and i bet they're still out riding)..What'll heppen next we all ask...will lance get into yellow ? will he be able to last till the end ? will contador steal it now or wait till the alps? will the cav get the green back ??
It's just too much.. roll on stage 10

BMX SALE

15% OFF all current 2009 models, get them quick before they all go..!!

Foxes mass

get yourselves along on a thursday night .. 6pm from the shop......for a nice even tempo ride round the doors...up river , inland or around the coast......all welcome

French madness

For gods sake leave the man alone, The latest drama in the Armstrong TDF build up enfolds. Check it out for yourselves.....outrageous

First ride

Cool first ride , turnout of 6 of the best, even gob fox turned up (lagged behind a bit but hey! the first ride of the year is always a teller). Headed down the coast to gypsies, pointing out to little Jim, on the way, that his rear mech was bent, he could do with some new shorts,and his helmet made him look like Nelson and then was accused of being opportunistic (if there is such a word ?).''Opportunistic'' as in:- forming a club to create new business...i don't think so !!!!!!! how dare you Jim !! anyway as i was saying down to Gypsies Green and then back. Me and Gob fox and woolley backing it up on the way back. Little jim and the leaders decided to take a detour up lizard lane, i sent woolley after them to give information about the forward meeting point ( as i was escorting gob fox) and you'll never guess??!! Jim's rear mech went into his wheel !. Gob fox and i waited a while (while Dr woolly fixed Jim's gears) and then back along the coast into the city centre to the end of a fab first ride..well done guys.. and thanks for the business Jim..Can't wait till next week ..heading inland...up river...ALL WELCOME C'MON!! GET YOURSELVES ALONG.HAVE A LAUGH !!!
Join ''The Foxes''
Fox Leader ''over and out''

Calling all Foxes

Foxes will reunite for the first off road jaunt of the new year..meet at the shop thursday night 6 o'clock kick off..

Mitts Yumo

New Giro Gloves are now in stock...bloody gorgeous they are.

Long finger and short, small and large, gloves for all occasions using the latest fabrics and Giro Super fit ergonomics for comfort and performance. Mositure wicking, 4 way stretch breathable uppers
Highly absorbent micro fibre wiping surface
low profile velcro closure
injected rubber pull tab

These gloves are totally the bo'//.ks...be quick very ltd stock.

$3000 Reward

Gt have put up a $3000 reward for the return of a limited edition Zaskar race bike.

GT's marketing man Robb Zbierski said: "The shipping label arrived in an envelope, but the bike did not. In addition to the flashy gold paint job on the frame, the bike also features a custom gold finish on the Shimano XTR drivetrain, Mavic Crossmax SLR wheels, and Ritchey bar and stem."

Keep your eyes peeled, this one will stand out, unless it gets brought up to Sunderland then it'll more than likely be sprayed with black hammerite in seconds and used by some scroat on his paper round, never to be seen again.

Lance crashes out of Castilla y Leon tour

"Sitting here with @johanbruyneel at his house. Glass of wine, cheese and crackers."
LA last night via Twitter

Hard to know what to say, apart from "get well really soon". With a clean break in the right place, a collarbone fracture can heal in six weeks. The Giro de Italia starts in ... six weeks. He'll probably make it, and defihnitely make the TdF in July, but will he be fit enough to win it?

More pics and a decent report at the Times.

Spring to life

New kit just arrived this week....Gary Fisher is back new models now in stock for 2009.
New Energize drink from powerbar in 2 sizes. Fresh designs for the summer from Altura , new design shorts and 3/4's in stock now..!

Tri-ing

Our Triathlon dept is coming on well, we have just taken delivery of the latest line in swimming kit..New pool and open water goggles and pool training aids to help develop upper body and leg technique. Our aqua sphere rep kindly brought along wet suits to a ''suncity tri'' swim session and let people try them. To get a good fit when buying a wet suit is not easy, by being able to try the different sizes we were able to determine the best size for all interested club members. I am hoping we can organise wet suit try sessions with aqua sphere and 2xu for any interested Tri Club, just give us a call ........

Ant trails for cyclists?

Image: Jessi Pervola/Gelardi

Hot contender for this year's daftest bike accessory idea, the concept behind design outfit Gelardi's Contrail Biking Community Tool is actually on the right lines, though it's hard to be certain whether it was chalk or some other powdery substance that got them enthused to the point of prototype... the mechanism is interesting enough: a small amount of chalk from a seattube-mounted container is brushed onto a felt wheel, which then transfers onto the rear tyre leaving a fine line on the road. As well as your chain, derailleur, rims... maybe.

So, er, why exactly would you want to do this? Well, the Big Idea is that getting enough road riders to use the device would make it colourfully clear to motorists that a lot of cyclists also use the roads these days. As more riders use the same route, it becomes a kind of collaborative DIY bike lane, all bonny colours an' that, reinforcing the presence of bikes, encouraging more riders to use the same route and so on, a bit like ant trails. Potentially, it reverses the vicious cycle of more cars present = more perceived danger = less bikes present, claiming the tarmac back for us less conspicuous two-wheelers. It's certainly caught the imagination of the tree huggers, anyway.

So is it a good idea or what? Will it reclaim the roads? Will it be deemed a hazard to other road users and get the rozzers all uptight? Will Top Gear retaliate with a car-based version? Will the roads become a slimy mess of chalk in the rain? More to the point, will it be so cheap people actually buy it in droves and actually use it so we can find out? Ay, there's the rub...

New FBC site is up

"Would you like some air on that, sir?"
Fit Bikes do dirt ramps in France with Chase Hawk and Justin Inman.

The new Fit Bike Co site is finally up & running, stacked full of Fit Team rider profiles, full parts catalogue, cool tees, sweats and hats, neat photography... you name it.

You can post up pics of your build to the riders bikes section at FBC Trust. Don't have one yet? Get yours here, or just rate the dozens already there. Best of all, you get to view their latest vids as they come out in all their insane glory.

Half blog & half website, it's been updated almost daily since its launch last week. Recommended.

Future Triathlon

Wehey !! Future publishing have added another mag to the stable aimed at those crazy swimmyrunnycycly types ''the triathletes''. Along with other top titles which include Cycling Plus, Procycling, What Mountain Bike, Mountain Biking UK, Bike Radar and Cycling News, they publish a mag for everyone.

The 148 page mag is scheduled for launch April 7th and will be produced in Future's Bath office and will be edited by Future veteran and consultant editor Mat Brett. Formerly editor of Mounting Biking UK and Cycling Plus, he is a keen triathlete himself.

Wacky saddle

This just popped up via The Scotsman. At first glance it looks like a joke, then its pure genius starts to dawn on you...

They're a creative bunch, the Scots, and even though their claims to inventing the rear-wheel-drive bicycle might be a bit dodgy, this one is very much for real and about to go into production after eight years' development.

Edinburgh-based Manta Design (slogan: No Fear for the Rear) reckon that once you try it your conventional saddle is the one that feels weird...

AND HE DOES IT AGAIN

Cavendish does it again, 2 stage wins 2 days in a row, pipping Boonen yet again, right on the line. This now puts him in the green jersey position. He dominates!! ..oh, ....Lance is still 4th

Go Mark Go !!!!

At last Mark Cavendish pulled it out the bag yesterday with a stage win in the tour of california. Boonen came a close second in what was literally a mass sprint for the line, with 100 riders sharing the same time of 4.42'38''. Armstrong came in strong and moved up the rankings to 4th...30 seconds behind the leader Levi Leipheimer.

Livestrong for your head

Just to continue the ''Lance is Back'' theme, Giro are releasing 4 ltd edition livestrong helmets.
Cool looking helmets ! and a percentage of the profit goes to the Livestrong Foundation. a worthy cause i'm sure you will all agree.

Breaking news as we speak is that 4 of the Astana team time trial bikes have been stolen from the team van during the tour of california, including Lance's. Good job they don't need them for the rest of the tour.......keep an eye on ebay!!

LA brings it on

Already sporting summer plumage; TDU 23rd Jan 2009

The Tour Down Under is into its penultimate stage and it's been a huge success by any measure: full of incidents and news, led by an Aussie rider, biggest crowds ever, international TV coverage, 7000-strong fun ride, etc etc. Oh, and Lance Armstrong happens to be there, having risen again. The best online coverage seems to be on AdelaideNow: short clips but you get the flavour of it.

You know you're famous when you can't fart without everyone wanting to know how it smells, your twitter feed has 40,000 followers and the tiniest detail of your bike is the subject of huge press speculation. Lance can certainly pull 'em in.

The big question – is he just doing it for Livestrong or is he going for an 8th TdF win? – now has an answer. He's riding with the hard men, turning in better-than-expected performances, looking as good as he ever did. It's turning into a huge year for Lance, his campaign and competitive cycling generally, and hard to recall a cycling calendar so charged as the 2009 one. If the Tour Down Under is owt to go by, the rewards are there for everyone.

For all LA fanboys who can't wait the few weeks til the start of the Tour of California, check out Liz Kreutz's site. (click "index" and go from there) She's the LA official photographer and the record she has of his comeback to date is awesome.

2009: Year of the Bike

pic: Mick Stephenson

You heard it here first – or maybe you didn't, but who's to say we didn't start it? – 2009 is going to be the Year of the Bike.

The Chinese have it marked down as the Year of the Ox, a time of prosperity through fortitude and hard work, among other things. Read into that what you like; the fact is, those same Chinese are shovelling billions into bike production and even supporting Taiwan's efforts to do the same. Shimano reckon their bike division is the main thing keeping them in profit through these perilous times. After decades of decline, bike use is on the up again and looks to be one of the very few global growth industries this year. Bike production has outstripped car production year-on-year since the late 70s and while big-name motor manufacturing dies an ugly death, big bike makers like Giant are forecasting increased profits for 2009 in the face of huge increases in metal stock prices.

The way I see it, we have the advent of mountain bikes to thank for the turnaround; as well as being totally cool they provide the freedom to ride wherever you like and pretty much however you like, away from increasingly lethal roads. Injecting new life blood into cycling, dirt riding gave way to BMX and street riding took off from there; meanwhile offroad cycle tracks joined up with suburban cycle lanes and brought cyclists back in to town and city centres. The other big factors – Green issues, health concerns, rising fuel costs – became bundled into government policy actively promoting bike use pretty much all over the developed world.

So are bikes back to reclaim the roads? Fat chance. But there is a definite trend in that direction. There's something about transporting ourselves around that follows a weird pattern: just as adding a lane to a motorway only increases traffic in proportion, so the more road space the government give to cyclists, the more bikes will magically appear to fill it. And the more cyclists there are on the roads, the safer those roads become to ride, which encourages more cyclists, and so on.

There's a definite movement here which has all come together in the last year or so; it's up to cyclists everywhere to seize the moment, get the old steed out of the shed and show the world a fresh pair of legs. Better still, mark the occasion in style: nothing inspires you to ride more than a new bike... it might not happen overnight, but the time to get on yer bike and be counted is NOW – the Year of the Bike is here.

How Times Change

Here's some pics from the archives i just found,, just had to scan them and share them with the world.

Race start at Whitley Bay. ''who wins the biggest helmet competition?''
Micksa on his treasured stumpjumper

Shop team at the start of the Harwood Hop 1996

SPOT THE SUSPENSION !!

Giant Cadex 1 1991. The first full XTR equipped carbon hardtail.

Chris Bell downhilling on purple anodized custom GT Zarkar (full rigid-indestructable) Alpinestars cromega 1- chromed---yum yum---with a black lx chainset that you could apply paint stripper to and buff up to make it all shiney like !

The Equinox cometh

We Believe in Speed
New Trek Equinox 09 in stock now..

You have one rival. It's not heat, a cross-breeze, or the rider behind you. It's time. But you have a secret weapon. Equinox uses advanced engineering and a solid pedigree to not only beat the clock, but pound it into submission.

NEW for 2009

WEIGHT WATCHERS.

We've just got some new Park digital scales for weighing random objects, which made us think "blummin heck, we should weigh our bikes and everyone else's as well, to see who are the weight kings like!" It's going well so far with some pretty strong categories – road, bmx, full suspension – lightest road bike currently held by Mr Mark Walt, but no one has beaten the sub-16lb barrier yet..the local bmx crews are jockeying for position and we have some strong contenders in the full suspension division...full score board coming soon..........

WORKSHOP CLASSES


At last! what everyone's been asking for, planned to commence in February....it's.........Doctor Woolley's Workshop of Wonder...
Dr Woolley.....The thought of it ! To be taught by a true master. People say he can wield a spanner with such speed, that only a samurai warrior can match his precision....Blow up a tyre to 120psi with a single breath.. He can hear what's wrong with your bike when you walk in the shop with it...they also say that when he comes across a problem bike he cannot fix, the bike becomes so petrified of the possible consequences, it fixes Itself... .........''Be Part Of It'' sign up for W.O.W. Now !!!!

The Cycleworld Bike Maintenance classes are being finalised as we speak and booking will be available on the website or instore... more news as we have it..