So last week I put a post out about Martyn Ashton and his super amazing skills on the Pinarello Dogma 2. If you haven’t seen it then click here before reading on.
Well, since that video Martyn and his team have posted a second video of Road Bike Party – the Out-takes!
Enjoy!
For sale: 2011 Basso Astra (Black/Blue)
After moving to the UK over a decade ago and getting back into the world of cycling I said to myself that I should get a Basso again. Why? Well, in my last three years of racing as a junior all I rode on was a Basso Astra with Columbus EL OS (oversize) tubing. I have many fond memories of racing and training on that bike. So I wanted to rekindle those memories with a new Basso.
So in October 2010, off I went to Todays Cyclist and bought myself a new (well, actually a demo) Basso Astra (as you see it above). However, in November that year after entering a competition on Cyclingnews.com, I won for myself a brand new NeilPryde Diablo.
Over the coming months the poor Basso just stood in my study and gathered dust as I was now riding the NeilPryde. This was the main reason that last month I made the decision to sell the Basso. It was a hard decision for me to make, but it is something I had to do.
Now you have the chance to own this beautiful Italian racing machine! The total distance ridden on the bike comes to 300km’s. It did 200km while used as a demo bike for the 2011 range, and then I added 100km when the Diablo was in for a service at the bike shop. So it is mint condition and has been looked after.
The full specs for the bike (as it stands) are:
| Make | Basso |
| Model | Astra |
| Size | 53cm (seat tube, centre to top) |
| Colour | Black / Blue |
| Frame | Full carbon monocoque |
| Fork | Full carbon fibre |
| Groupset | Shimano Ultegra |
| Chainset | Shimano Ultegra 6750 10-speed 172.5 compact |
| Chain | KMC X10 Gold |
| Stem | MicroTech Race Black Carbon Bonded 110mm |
| Handlebar | MicroTech – Quantum Black – Carbon Monocoque 420mm |
| Headset | MicroTech |
| Rims | Mavic Ksyrium Elite |
| Hubs | Mavic Ksyrium Elite |
| Seatpost | Microtech Race Black Carbon Bonded |
| Saddle | Fizik Arione white |
| Additional | Comes with kevlar reinforced JagWire cabling |
| PRICE | £2000 ono |
If this interests you and you would like more information or have any questions, please give me a shout at: sweatngears [at] gmail.com (remember to replace the [at] with @). Now for the crème de la crème, the pictures:
NeilPryde Alize
For those who read my blog regularly will know that at the end of 2010 I became a NeilPryde Epic rider. What this meant was I could choose which NeilPryde bike to ride – Diablo or Alize – and then spend the next 12 months riding it, with the purpose of writing about it for the NeilPryde website. So for the past eight months I have been riding the Diablo and have loved every minute of it. An extremely stiff and aggressive bike that keeps wanting more from its rider.
At the start of last week, I took my Diablo in for a service at the local bike shop. Unfortunately I don’t have the specific tools required by Shimano to service its products, otherwise I would have completed the service myself. I had a ride on Sunday so six-days would be more than enough to get it serviced. Well, so I thought. Turns out they hadn’t even started on the service yet.
Not worrying too much about it as I have my Basso at home that I could ride, I let it be. So on Friday I was exchanging a few emails with Scott, the UK agent for NeilPryde, and we were talking about the weekend’s upcoming ride. I told him about the situation to which Scott then suggested I ride the Alize. Jumping at the chance to ride it we arranged to meet up the following day.
Diablo from NeilPryde Bikes
A few posts ago you saw me in a video as part of an entry process to become a NeilPryde Epic Rider. A few days later I was lucky to be informed that I was selected to become a NeilPryde Epic Rider. I even have my own page on the company’s website. For this, the company let’s me try out their bikes – the Diablo and the Alize – and provide my feedback on it, while at the same time telling you about it.
So the company goes out to to find a select few people who are passionate about cycling, give them each a bike, and let them spread the news about the company and its products. For a company breaking their way into the cycling market, I still feel this is a clever marketing tactic. No matter which way you look at it. Clever!
So, who or what is NeilPryde? Well, let me introduce NeilPryde to you – the condensed version:
So, wanting to break out into a new area, the company decided to speak to its customer base. After carefully listening to what their windsurfing customers had to say, they found that cycling was a very popular sport amongst their fans. And so NeilPryde Bikes was born.
I’ve included a video the company created that talks about how the two bikes the company currently produces – the Diablo and the Alize – came about through the partnership they have with BMW Group Designworks USA.
Since becoming an Epic Rider, I received the Diablo in matt carbon complete with Shimano Ultegra and Mavic Kyserium wheels. I’ll include some pictures of the bike in a different post but for now I’ll let you see how the bike was introduced to the world:
A pretty awesome way to launch a bike aptly named the Diablo. Not sure I would ever do that myself, but I think it does the trick. Last week the company went on to release a behind the scenes video of the ‘Pyromaniac on Wheels’. This is it:
The question is, how good are these bikes? Well, only time will really tell. Not to mention a lot of road testing from myself and the other Epic Riders. However, this morning the company announced it received an iF Product Design Award 2011 in the Leisure + Lifestyle section for both the Alize and the Diablo. For over 50 years the iF Design Award has served as a recognised trademark for outstanding design all over the world. So the company is onto something good here.
And if Procycling UK is anything to go by, then the Diablo looks set to make a remarkable impact upon the market. I, for one, am looking forward to it!
I attended the 2010 London Cycle Show with all the intention of getting some pictures of the new bikes we could be seeing on the roads in the UK. However, since then my life and work schedule has been super manic so these postings have been on the backburner for a while. Anyway, decided to start with a small set of pictures first and then work my way through the rest of them.
While at the Cycle Show, Mario Cipollini was there with his new bicycle and clothing range. I didn’t take picture of the clothing. If you want to see what it looks like, go check out Giordana, as they make all his clothing line.
As for the bike (and for all you tech heads out there), the general specs are:
Type: Monocoque
Frame Material: CARB. T1000 – M46J
Fork Material: CARB. T1000
Frame weight: 1050 gr (Size M)
B. Bracket: BB30
Sizes: XXS – XS – S – M – L – XL – XXL
If you’re looking for more detailed spec, then click here. Just way too many options to list here.
The MCipollini RB1000 in Naked Silver/Orange
The MCipollini RB1000
Nice curves on the MCipollini RB1000 with integrated seat post
From the front
Rear stays
ISD team issue RB1000
And here is Mario on his RB1000 in the Tuscan hills
Fabienne Heinzmann on the cover of Cyclepassion 2011
For those of you who are still wondering about what to get for xmas, or if you are the girlfriend of a cyclist and not sure what to get him, then look no further. The 2011 Cyclepassion calendar is by far the best cycling calendar in the time it has been around. Very tasetfully done, while showing off the top road and mountain biking women racers in a way we’ve never seen them before.
Well, here are some video trailers for the calendar, tastefully put together by Markus Neuert of Cyclefilm:
Calendar / DVD – 1 of 3
Calendar / DVD – 2 of 3
Calendar / DVD – 3 of 3
The 2011 Cyclepassion Athletes:
Willow Koerber (USA) – Trek/Subaru – MTB
Heather Irmiger (USA) – Trek/Subaru – MTB
Liz Hatch (USA) – Lotto Ladies Team – Road
Veronica Andreasson (Sweden) – Lotto Ladies Team – Road
Julie Krasniak – (France) Look – Road
Fabienne Heinzmann – (Switzerland) BMC – MTB
Mona Eiberweiser (Germany) – CentralPro – MTB
Hanka Kupfernagel (Germany) Road/Cross
So, what are you waiting for?!
Two decades after British cycling aces John Herety and Graham Jones vied with each other for the top world honours, the two legends recently joined forces to put The Prostate Cancer Charity Tour Rides in the South West to the test. Herety, now the manager of the Rapha Condor Sharp team, and Jones, The Tour of Britain Route Director and commentator, saddled up to try out the 175km route of the South West Tour Ride ahead of the sportive in September. Also in the video, Andy Verral (Rapha Condor Sharp Team Mechanic) offers advice on preparing your bike for the rides whilst Andy Evans (Rapha Condor Sharp Physio & Soigneur) offers diet tips for all riders.
Watch what happened here:
Fore more information on the Minehead to Teignmouth route in this video, click here. And if you would like to sign up for this challenge and help support a great cause, click here. Don’t forget that if the South West is a little too far for you to travel, then there are also rides available in Stoke-0n-Trent and London.
Nikki Harris
Last year I came across the Cycle Passion calendar and posted a blog on it as part of my xmas wish list. Now it seems this year that the calendar range has picked up in profile and in its fifth year of production is getting more media attention than before. I suppose a good thing, especially for the models who are helping to make the calendar what it is. And with all the publicity it is receiving, it makes me wonder if this calendar series is becoming the Pirelli calendar of the cycling world?
According to RoadCyclingUK:
Let’s not forget the origins of the calendar in the first place. Anke Wilken was the wife of a frenetic, obsessed cyclist who spent any and all of his free time on a bike. Anke felt she would sooner or later become a bike widow – fast losing ground to her husband’s love affair with the sport. The calendar was a response to this, initiating the first exclusive female cycle calendar and hoping to challenge her husband’s view and at the same time spicing up the cycling world with a female touch of beauty and passion. Sadly they’ve since split up. I wonder if the calendar was the cause…
Anyway, back to the current day and the latest 2010 calendar is another impressive collection of artfully and tastefully shot women cyclists not really wearing all that much clothing. There’s the odd bicycle or component in there as well but you won’t notice that for all the smouldering pouting and suggestive looks going on.
The 2010 calendar features Sabine Spitz (Germany), Lene Byberg (Norway), Julie Krasniak (France), Monia Baccaille (Italy), Anna Sanchis (Spain), Steffi Marth (Germany), Solveig Lindgren (Sweden) and our very own Nikki Harris (UK).
And here’s a taster of what you will get when you buy the calendar:
Sabine Spitz
Monia Baccaille
And for those of you that want to see some behind the scenes footage from the 2010 calendar, here are some YouTube clips of the girls:
Anna Sanchis
Sabine Spitz
A recent high court case in the UK where a cyclist and motorcyclist collided (Smith v Finch 2009), the judge ruled that the cyclist could have been found partly liable if wearing a helmet would have prevented or reduced his or her injuries. What this means is that cyclists who don’t wear helmets can be found guilty of contributory negligence if they are injured in a road accident in the UK. Ouch!
In an interview with BikeRadar, Richard Brooks from a UK law firm explained the ruling in that if you are injured and a cycle helmet could have reduced your injuries, you may not be able to recover full compensation.
He also added, “Cyclists who “expose themselves to a greater degree of injury” by not wearing a helmet can now be found to be negligent, even though it is not a legal requirement in the UK to wear head protection when cycling. However, for this to happen it would have to be proved – using medical and other evidence – that a helmet would have prevented all of their injuries or made them a good deal less severe.”
Interesting judgement this and one I’m sure will be opening up debates amongst cyclists. That said,I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts on this, so please leave a comment below.
Just came across this one on the news wires. Makes for some interesting reading. Am sure this will open the wound on the age old ‘helmet or no helmet’ debate:
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The number of bike-related deaths among children younger than 16 fell by more than half after a Canadian bike-helmet law went into effect, a new study shows.
The Ontario law, which came into force in October 1995, mandated that bicyclists younger than 18 wear a helmet.
Researchers found that in the seven years after the law went into effect, the number of bike-related deaths among children dropped by 52 percent. Between 1991 and 1995, there was an average of 13 such deaths per year; between 1996 and 2002, that number dropped to six.
In contrast, the researchers report in the journal Pediatrics, there was no reduction in deaths among bicyclists age 16 and up — including adults, who were not subject to the helmet law.
“These findings support promotion of helmet use, enforcement of the existing law, and extension of the law to adult bicyclists,” write the researchers, led by Dr. Patricia C. Parkin of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
It is well-known that bike helmets can cut the risk of dying in a cycling accident, but the extent to which helmet laws reduce death rates has been less clear.
The current findings, according to Parkin’s team, suggest that Ontario’s law made a “significant contribution” to the lower child death rates seen in the years since its introduction.
I wonder if I should send this onto the girl at Giro following the email she sent to me when I was looking for helmet safety stats?
