Wheelbase UK Ltd - The UK's largest cycle store

In one of the cycling industries major annual tests Cycling Plus magazine have named the Cannondale Six Carbon 105 as their Bike Of The Year for 2010. £1,799.

In a road bike shoot-out of 50 models every single bike was ridden by every member of the Cycling Plus’s 11-strong test team over varying terrain. The testers ranged from sponsored team racers to sportive riders and commuters and their views were then collated, with the aim of trimming the original list down to a top 10, then a top five and finally an overall winner!

The riders headed go out in groups, swapped bikes, then ride the same route on new bikes in order to compare them over the same steep climbs and sharp descents. The testers would then consult each other - which was the fastest, the most comfortable, had the best kit, the best wheels, was the lightest, the most stylish…etc. etc..

After many miles, and nearly as much arguing, they finally came to a decision as to which bike they thought would please most Cycling Plus readers - the UK’s most read road bike monthly magazine.

And the winner is? The 2010 Cannondale Six Carbon 105 £1,799 - a well deserved winner in our opinion.

Bike of the Year Test Winner: Cannondale Six Carbon 105
* Price: £1,799.99
* Groupset: Shimano 105
* Wheels: Mavic Aksium Race
* Weight: 8.32kg

CLICK HERE TO LINK TO THE BIKE

The 2010 Cannondale Six Carbon 105

Verdict: “A sublime blend of speed and comfort - a great all-rounder”

Review extracts:

“Superb, nimble… beautifully balanced, handles confidently. You could race this or do a sportive on it.”

“It’s hard to ignore the fact that is offers a sublime ride quality at £700 less than its rivals.”

“Every single rider on the test only had praise for the Cannondale. Mightly impressive frame that combines a superbly damped and compliant ride with all the performance you could want.”

2010 Bike of the Year - Cannondale Six Carbon 105!

Cannondale marketing manager and Team WHEELBASE.co.uk ride Mike Cotty said: “After weeks of waiting, to hear that the Six had been elected Bike Of The Year was just incredible … Although there is little difference aesthetically between the 2009 and 2010 frame, our engineers worked hard to refine the materials and carbon layup schedule to reduce the weight by over 100g.

“That’s not an easy task when you also want to try to improve stiffness and comfort all at the same time. The road is the ultimate test bed and fortunately the sum of these improvements has been confirmed by Cycling Plus and their elite test team. The Six Carbon 105. Bike Of The Year. Sorry, I had to end like that. I’ve been dreaming of saying it for weeks!”

For the full lowdown on all these machines, check out issue 234 of Cycling Plus.

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April sees the end of the Snowboarding season and our attention turns to dreams of blue skies, dusty trails and hot tarmac for another action packed summer on two wheels!

We have therefore slashed the prices of our entire snowboards range. Check it out!

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Save up to 50% on selected hard and soft goods!!! Be quick though - limited availability - when it’s gone, it’s gone.

Click here to check our sister site - FREERIDE SNOWBOARDS.com - hot bargains!

Breaking News: we’ve just finished a very productive meeting with Cervelo and are pleased to say that we are going to be a major new UK stockist of their amazing bikes for 2010 and beyond.

“Few brands invest as heavily in the Pro Tour Cycling as Cervelo. And it shows. The knowledge and real world experience their engineers receive from the Cervelo Test Team Pro Tour squad is self evident in the stunning line up of bicycles for 2010. Taking Cervelo on was a no brainer for us. The world’s best road cycling engineers producing the best framesets in the World. We’ll be very pleased to see them in store” Toby Dalton, WHEELBASE.co.uk

Breaking News: Cervelo comes to WHEELBASE for 2010

2010 Cervelo R3 £2,200 - Set to be a number one road bike for Lake District climbs and beyond

2010 Cervelo P2 - The ruling frameset of the Tri and TT scene. Set your PB's with industry geometry and construction

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE RANGE

Demo models:
Cervelo RS 54 Ultegra 6700 build, Shimano RW80 wheels
Cervelo S2 56 Ulegra 600 build, Shimano RW80 wheels

Call us on 01539 821443 or email info@wheelbase.co.uk to arrange your ultimate demo ride

The Elenith
305km Audax ride
Saturday April 17th 2010
Starting from: Wolverley, North of Kidderminster

Modest WHEELBASE staff man and all round nice guy Adrian is tackled ‘The Elenith’ this weekend. This event is a classic on the Audax calendar and is organised and promoted by Kidderminster CTC - Adrian’s home club.

Adrian Dunne, WHEELBASE.co.uk

Flat, quiet ‘A’ roads, and then on to the infamous road to Tregaron. This is the mountain road to Rhayader with the 25% Devil’s Staircase, Gammall and Cenglau passes. Before heading through rolling farmland and crosses the remotest area in Wales.

The Milk Race tackles the Devils Staircase

Adrian completed the 305km course in an amazing sub 14 hours on his trusty fixed wheel! He loved the riding getting the tough section of the route in the middle, leaving a rolling cruise through the Welsh countryside to the end.

Click here to see the route map

Rider account of The Elenith

The Irfon Valley towards The Devil's Staircase

Click here for Paris-Roubaix Photo Gallery

Paris-Roubaix or it’s more affectingly known as ‘Hell on the North’ proceeds spectacular racing - a 259km blast over the cobbled ‘Pave’ of Northern France.

The course is not only one of the most demanding on the Pro calendar for riders but also for equipment and each team has developed and refined their set up to cope with this brute of a route.

Double bar tape, 27c double walled tyres, traditionally laced wheels, taped up hands and jacked up cars are the order for every team but there a few teams that go one stage further and select bicycle frame specifically designed for both comfort and speed.

Pinarello KOBH 60.1 - Team Sky ProCycling

2010 Paris-Roubaix: Ridden to a third place by Juan Antonio Flecha

Click here to view the WHEELBASE Pinarello range

The KOBH 60.1 differs from the Dogma and all other Pinarello bikes with a new geometry developed expressly for the classic races of northern Europe. Dubbed CenturyRide, it is designed to provide more shock absorption and comfort thus delaying rider fatigue over long and rough courses.
The KOBH 60.1 achieves this without compromising its lateral stiffness which remains on par with that of the Dogma 60.1. This is accomplished by relaxing the seat and head tube angles, lengthening the head tube and increasing the fork rake. Wheel clearance has even been increased to accept 28mm tires.
The result is not only a bike that is optimal for races such as Paris-Roubaix but also one that offers increased comfort for riders seeking a more relaxed position on the bike.
Team Sky will have the new KOBH 60.1 bikes in action this weekend at the Paris-Roubaix while the bike will be offered to the public in two different versions, one that will accept any component groupset and a specific model with internal routing for the Shimano Di2 groupset. In Paris-Roubaix Team Sky used the multi-shifter benefits of Shimano Di2 and opted to mount a shift button on the top of the flat bar so gears can be selected while flying across the cobbles.

Pinarello KOBH 60.1 - the Paris-Roubaix bike of Team Sky ProCycling

Cervelo R3 - Cervelo Test Team

2010 Paris-Roubaix: Ridden to 2nd Thor Hushovd and 4th Roger Hammond

Click here to view the Cervelo range at WHEELBASE

The mainstay of Cervelo’s Roubaix equipment is the R3 frameset. As always, Cervélo provides its riders with stock frames featuring standard geometry and carbon lay-ups identical to what the consumer can buy at its retailers. The only exception for Paris-Roubaix is the 1cm-longer chainstays to allow for more mud clearance.

“Since the R-series was introduced, Cervélo has reached the podium of Paris-Roubaix every year, including three victories for the R3″ Gerard Vroomen, Co-founder of Cervélo.

Granted the R3 has not got the areo look and massive downtube decal of the S3 but the R3 frameset is much smoother and more compliant and more suitable for the cobbled roads of Roubiax and also the majorty of ‘Weekend Warrior’ road cyclists. We currently have a 54cm RS demo bike is stock - come an experience the ride for yourself.

Testing the Cervelo R3 for Paris-Roubaix 2010

Cannondale Synapse Hi Mod - Team Liquigas

Click here to view the best selling Cannondale Synapse range a WHEELBASE

The mainstead of Italian Pro Continental Team Liquigas is the awesome Cannondale Super Six Hi Mod elite race bike but for a number of years now the team completely switches to the Cannondale Synapse Hi Mod for the rough Spring Classics like Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix.

The Synapse line has earned accolades from testers and editors across the globe and was awarded ‘Sportive Bike of the Year’ by Cycling Weekly. The Synapse is designed to be light and efficient and uses ‘S.A.V.E.’ technology in the seatstays and a relaxed geometry so it’s beautifully comfortable for all-day rides, plus being light, agile and strong enough to blast across the cobbles of the Spring Classics.

Liquigas - Cannondale Synapses ready for the Paris Roubaix

THE WHEELBASE BIG DEMO WEEKEND 2010 Intro Video
13 & 14 March 2010
Filmed and edited by Dave Macfarlane