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..