Author: Sean Leckey

Chapeau to all of the 2,300 riders, 250 marshals, event organisers, supporters and crowds who took part in the Fred Whitton Challenge on Sunday. The event, run by Human Race, was once again an outstanding success as riders took on the gruelling 113 mile route around the Lake District national park.

Setting off from Grasmere early Sunday morning the riders knew they were in for a big day in what is widely renowned as one of Europe’s toughest sportives. Taking in all of the Lake District’s major passes, including the 25-30% ramps on Hardknott and Honister, plus many more uncategorised lumps along the way, the Fred Whitton is a bucket-list ride for all keen road cyclists. The event is run in memory of Fred Whitton, who was an integral part of the North West cycling community until his untimely death in 1998.

Baked in sun, the Lakes scenery provided a stunning backdrop to what is ultimately a very tough day on the bike. Volunteer marshals guided the riders around the course and provided food and drinks at the two feed stations on route. There were fantastic crowds along the way, shouting encouragement and cheering riders as they passed through villages and over climbs. As always, the 2018 Fred Whitton turned out to be an epic day for all those involved.

Photos courtesy of Steven Barber.

More than 200 riders headed out from Wheelbase Lake District on Saturday morning for the 2018 Jenn Ride, a two-wheeled bikepacking adventure in memory of local rider Jenn Hill. With a choice of three route options, riders took to the trails of the South Lakes from 6:30am on Saturday morning to take on the 50 mile, the 100 mile or the 200km course. Some riders go for one all-out push and complete the course as fast as they can, some take a more leisurely pace and enjoy the stunning scenery of the national park and others are somewhere in between.

As riders gather at the start there’s the obligatory checking out of fellow riders bikes, how they’re loaded and what they’re packing. This year we had a real eclectic mix of riders, bikes and setups, all geared up for a sunny adventure.

Before the Jenn Ride got underway we had an evening of adventure on Friday night with guest speakers showing films and talking to a packed out crowd of more than 150 adventure enthusiasts. The store was at full capacity to here tales of bikepacking and touring adventures from Fi Massey and Paul Horabin, Barry Godin and Lee Craigie and Rickie Cotter. Fuel for the night was provided by Firebelle UK, serving up some delicious wood-fired pizzas in their mobile van and Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery brought the beers. Some lucky folks went away with raffle prizes, which were generously donated by Lyon Equipment, with all money raised going to the Adventure Syndicate Project. A good time was had by all and excitement was high for the weekend to follow.

 

New to Wheelbase for 2018, German-Taiwanese brand Merida bring an award-winning collection of eBikes with the eONE SIXTY being one of the standout models. Dirt Magazine dubbed the eONE SIXTY ‘the highest scoring e-bike‘ they’d ever ridden and it’s easy to see why.

The eONE SIXTY is a thoroughbred enduro machine, with 160mm front and rear travel and an agile and playful geometry, it guarantees a good time on the trails. The super light and compact Shimano Steps E8000 motor gives a powerful but natural riding feel and with a 500wh battery you’ll get a shuttle style service to the top of every climb.

Boost Standard wheels equipped with 650b+ tyres and a fun-focused agile and playful geometry (reach for a M frame is 440 mm), the  eONE-SIXTY is a thoroughbred enduro and scores as highly as the non-powered ONE-SIXTY when it comes to trail fun. From now on, pedalling to the top and ordering a shuttle service will be the same.

Merida eOne-Sixty 800

Spec:

Rear Shock : Rock Shox Super Deluxe R-A2

Fork : Rock Shox Yari RC B Boost

Brakes : Shimano SLX hydraulic disc brakes

Gears : Shimano XT

Battery/ Motor : 500wh Shimano Steps E8000

 

Merida eOne-Sixty 900E

Spec:

Rear Shock : Fox Factory Float X2

Fork : FOX Float 36 with Boost 15mm X 110mm bolt through HSC, LSC, Kashima coating

Brakes : Shimano Saint hydraulic disc brakes

Gears : Shimano XT Di2

Battery/ Motor : 500wh Shimano Steps E8000

 

The SB5 range is everything a trail bike should be – nimble on the climbs and dominant on the downhills. Available in multiple flavours; Carbon or Turq-Series, Plus or Standard, stock specification or factory special “Lunch Ride”, the range has a bike to suit everyone’s taste.

SB5

Last year Yeti redesigned the SB5 with an all-new geometry and design – the seat tube steepened to optimise pedalling position and the heat tube angle made a bit slacker to make it even more capable going downhill. Already an incredibly capable trail bike, the new tweaks to the geometry make clearing technical climbs even more straightforward and descending more playful and speedy than ever before. Plus the Switch Infinity suspension platform and the metric FOX suspension keep things planted and stable.

SB5 Lunch Ride

Yeti Cycles shut down their Colorado factory on a daily basis and head out on a ride, but it’s not just for a jaunt, it’s a proving ground for spec and product decisions. Their love of and commitment to riding shines through in their product, trying new things and constantly thinking has lead to the development of the SB5 Lunch Ride. With a FOX 36 160mm fork for extra travel and stiffness upfront and DPX2 at the rear for ripping descents, the SB5 LR is a bike with a range of capabilities.

SB5+

The SB5+ is a plus-sized dedicated bike that takes on muck, loose gravel and varied trail conditions with ease. It stands on its own in a burgeoning category, due in part to the elevated chainstay and its ability to run 3″ tyres. The geometry is slacker and longer than the SB5, it’s a dedicated plus-sized bike that takes on loose gravel and varied trail conditions with ease.

 

What a day we had! On Friday we officially opened our new store in Ilkley, West Yorkshire and it’s safe to say we had a great time. The store was packed out for most of the day and those who came along managed to put away 500 beers from the Ilkley Brewery as well as 300 hot sandwiches on a day when the fantastic Tour de Yorkshire staged it’s first ever summit finish on the Cow and Calf climb.

The party got underway in the early afternoon as we had two big screen TVs showing live coverage of first the women’s race, where American Megan Guarnier put in a devastating attack on the Cow and Calf to take the stage and the overall win, and then the men’s race with Magnus Court Neilsen of Astana taking the stage victory on the same climb up to Ilkley Moor. Once the racing was done the party came into full swing outside our store with cycling enthusiasts enjoying the local beer and great food on offer while taking in the awesome atmosphere and meeting our store team. We ran a ‘Win a Cannondale’ competition on the day and the lucky winner of a Cannondale SuperSix 105 was Gill Arnett.

We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who came along and contributed to an amazing day and we hope you all had a great time, we sure did!

Exceptional photography from Dan Monaghan, Cadence Images, who also thoroughly enjoyed the beer!

Taking place this weekend, the Specialized Trail Days promises to be the MTB festival of the year. Set in the stunning Grizedale Forest, with some of the best Lake District trails, the 3-day event will be action packed from start to finish. There’ll be a plethora of MTB stars in attendance such as Ned Overend, Hannah Barnes and Martin Söderström and there’ll be locally sourced food, beer and coffee. There’s camping, live music and Specialized will be bringing a fleet of demo bikes to test out in the forest.

Trail Days is all about riding, so head to Grizedale and take the Specialized bike of your dreams for a spin. This will be the first opportunity for anyone in the UK to test ride the all-new Stumpjumper! As well as the brand-new Stumpjumper, there’ll be the Enduro, Turbo Levo and Turbo Kenevo to demo. Plus there’ll be skills clinics with the experts – Hannah Barnes and Katy Curd will be demonstrating and advising all. There’ll be Riprocks for kids to ride around in a child-specific arena and there’ll be an Airbag for those wanting to score some big air and a pumptrack to test out your skills.

The annual Bike of the Year issue of Cycling Plus magazine hit the shops last week and we’ve picked out some of the winners and contenders from the selection of great bikes featured.

Cannondale SuperSix Evo Dura-Ace

The bike of our elite road race team, Wheelbase Castelli MGD, the SuperSix Dura-Ace is a fine race machine and deservedly took the accolade for the Cycling Plus ‘Race Bike of the Year’. Described as ‘One of the most exciting and compelling pure race bikes..’, the SuperSix Evo strikes a perfect blend of lightweight, stiffness, aerodynamics and compliance that make it ‘the perfect road bike’.

Spec:

Frame: SuperSix EVO, BallisTec Carbon

Fork: SuperSix EVO, BallisTec Carbon

Gears: Shimano Dura-Ace 9100

Wheels: Cannondale HollowGram Si Carbon Clincher

Weight: 6.64kg (58cm tested)

Specialized Roubaix Comp 

Winner of the Best Endurance Bike of the Year was the Specialized Roubaix Comp, the same bike that last year took the overall title of Bike of the Year. With its Future Shock Suspension system, the Roubaix dampens the discomfort of riding over rough roads and is ‘blissfully comfortable so you feel like you can ride for days’. But far from an endurance only bike, the Roubaix is backed with race-winning pedigree. The bike was ridden by World Champion Peter Sagan as he took the victory at this years Paris-Roubaix.

Spec:

Frame: Specialized FACT 10r carbon, Endurance Geometry

Fork: Specialized FACT carbon

Gears: Shimano Ultegra 8000

Wheels: Roval SLX 24 Disc

Weight: 8.81kg (58cm tested)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trek Domane SL 6 Disc Women’s

The Domane SL 6 Disc from Trek is a superb all-round road bike with a lightweight carbon frame and front and rear ISOspeed for riding over rough roads. Hydraulic disc brakes provide ultimate stopping power and the latest Shimano Ultegra 8000 groupset is slick and faultless. The overall winner of Women’s Bike of the Year, the Domane SL 6 Disc is ‘the holy grail of endurance bikes’.

Spec:

Frame: 500 Series OCLV Carbon

Fork: Domane carbon

Gears: Shimano Ultegra 8000

Wheels: Bontrager Paradigm Disc tubeless ready

Weight: 8.45kg (54cm tested)

In addition to the three category winners we’ve featured above, there were also great reviews for many of our other bikes, with four of our bikes featured in the ‘final five’ overall. The Specialized Roubaix Comp made the cut for the final five, featuring again as a previous winner. Another former winner is the Cannondale CAAD12 Ultegra, which is one of our best selling bikes and has been for many years over its various iterations. The ultralight Trek Emonda SL6 Pro is an awesome bike at phenomenal value – with carbon wheels, full Ultegra groupset and Trek’s 500 series carbon frame all for under £3000. The final one of our bikes to feature in the top five is the Cervelo R3 Disc Ultegra which has been redesigned for 2018 with a lighter, racier frame and the option of two colourways including a striking fluorescent yellow. The R3 has been ridden by World Tour team Dimension Data at many of the Spring Classics this year, meaning it’s a bike with real race pedigree.

 

The Big Demo is back. Road. Gravel. eBike. Everyone is welcome from beginners to seasoned experts.

Our big demo day is back for 2018 and this year we have a huge selection of bikes to try out. Whether you’re looking to ride road, venture onto gravel or have a blast on an eBike, we’ll have a bike for you. We’ll have bikes from 10 of the world’s leading brands – 3T, Cannondale, Cervelo, Colnago, Cube, Focus, Genesis, Kinesis, Trek and Whyte.

To book your place head over to our Big Demo site.

Date: Saturday 19th May 2018

Location: Wheelbase Lake District

Ride times will be 9.30am, 11.00am, 12.30pm, 2.30pm.

Adventure Night with Lee Craigie

Friday 11 May 2018 from 7pm
Venue: WHEELBASE Lake District
Staveley Mill Yard, Kendal
Cumbria LA8 9LR
Directions: https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/about-us/our-stores/wheelbase-lake-district/

WHEELBASE Adventure Night with Lee Craigie, Barry Godin Fi Massey and Paul Horabin – part of the #JennRide Weekend

Lee is showing her New film Divide and will be talking about the Adventure syndicates Inspiring, Encouraging & Enabling Schools Project.

Barry will be talking about his recent trips bike packing.

Fi & Paul are showing slide and talking about the Arizona Trail they recently completed.

Entry is free on the night, charitable donations on the night will be gladly received.

We will be raising funds for the The Adventure Syndicate project and St Gemma’s Hospice.

Lyon Equipment have kindly donated several prizes which we will be giving away in a raffle on the night. The prizes include an Exped SynMat, a selection of TrekN’Eat evening meals and a set of Exped Ultralight Drybags.

We will also have a Mobile Woodfire Pizza oven selling fresh pizza! Firebelle https://www.facebook.com/firebelleUK/

German brand Cube have launched an all-new race-ready enduro 29er in the Stereo 150. Three models are available, all with carbon frames. Cube say the new bike is ‘incredibly light, superbly stable on descents, agile and responsive on climbs and with suspension kinematics tuned to maximise traction and control, it’s the mountain-conquering competitive advantage you’ve been looking for.’

With 150mm travel at the front and 160mm rear the new Stereo 150 sits neatly between the shorter travel Stereo 140 and the 27.5″ Stereo 160. The Stereo 150 comes with an all carbon frame in either a C:62 version or the higher quality C:68. There is BOOST spacing front and rear and the option to fit a front derailleur for a 2X setup. Short (435mm) chainstays and a slacker head angle (66°) offer agile handling while a 75.5° seat tube angle makes for an ultra-efficient climbing position.

Cube Stereo 150 C:62 Race 29 – £2999

Key Features:

• Fox 36 (160mm) and DPX2 Shock provide massive control in any situation.
• Race Face Affect Crank for easy 1X conversion.
• Cube-Specific tyre combo with new Speedgrip Hans Dampf rear tyre.

Spec:

• Fox 36/ DPX2 Performance
• Shimano XT 2X11/ Race Face Affect
• Shimano XT BR-M8000 Brakes
• Newmen Evolution SL A.30 Wheels
• Cube Dropper Post

Cube Stereo 150 C:62 SL 29 – £3499

Key Features:

• RS Super Deluxe RC3 with Debonair Technology.
• 29″ 160mm Lyrik RCT3 paves every rock garden.
• Eagle groupset including 1X carbon crank.
• Enduro-specific Raceface Turbine R 780mm handlebar.
• MRP 1X CS chain retention.

Spec:

• Rockshox Lyrik RCT3/ Super Deluxe RC3
• Sram GX Eagle/ 1X carbon crank
• Sram Code R brakes
• Newmen Evolution SL A.30 wheels
• Cube Dropper Post

Cube Stereo 150 C:68 TM 29 – £3999

Key Features

• Full Fox Factory Kashima Spec.
• Eagle groupset including 1X carbon crank.
• Enduro-specific Raceface Next R 780mm handlebar.
• 100% chain control with MRP’s SXG guide.

Spec:

• Fox 36 HSC/ Float X2 Factory
• Sram GX Eagle/ 1X carbon crank
• Sram Code R brakes
• Newmen Evolution SL A.30 wheels
• Fox Transfer Kashima