Author: Sean Leckey

WOW. ONE HECK OF A WEEK.

We’ve just landed back from an amazing week spent with Trek USA at their global HQ in Waterloo, Wisconsin. We’d been invited out with a small team of key retailers to from the UK, US and Europe to look at the future direction of bike design.

As you would expect from Trek their design and direction team were world-class and their hospitality fantastic.

The week was topped off with being invited for a beer in front of a roaring fire in John Burke’s house, the President of Trek.

Here’s a few pics from the trip but it was NO PHOTO on the really juicy stuff. For the full gallery check out our Facebook page.

Take a look at the complete Trek range on our dedicated brand page.

Looking for a great gift for the cyclist in your life this Christmas? 

We’ve currently got 20% off a selection of fantastic Muc-Off cleaning kits.

Muc Off 8-In-One Bike Cleaning Kit – Was £39.99 Now £31.99

The Muc-Off 8-In-One Bicycle Cleaning Kit is perfect for any lover of bikes. Complete with Nano Tech Bike Cleaner, Expanding Microcell Sponge, Soft Washing Brush, Detailing Brush, Claw Brush, Two Prong Brush, Bike Spray and Storage Tub this kit has pretty much everything you need to keep your bike looking nice and tidy. It makes a great Christmas or Birthday gift for your bicycle obsessed friends and family.

This kit isn’t style specific either. No matter if you’re into Road, MTB, Cyclocross or just getting from A to B, our 8 in 1 kit solves even the most annoying bike cleaning problems!

Muc-Off Bicycle Essentials Kit – Was £26.99 Now £21.59

This kit contains all the basic elements you need to be able to look after your bicycle. The kit contains the following awesome Muc-Off products; Nano Tech Bike Cleaner, Bike Protector, Micro Cell Sponge, Wheel and component brush and a handy carrying tote.

Muc-Off Wash, Protect and Lube Kit – Was £16.49 Now £13.19

The Muc-Off Wash Protect and Lube kit contains the three essential items you need to look after your bicycle. First up is the Biodegradable Bike Cleaner for a post-ride wash, follow that up with the application of the MO94 Maintenance Spray to disperse any moisture from your components and finally apply a touch of Wet Lube to your chain to keep that drivetrain running smoothly. This kit makes a great stocking filling for the conscientious cyclist!

Kendal Mountain Festival delivered another inspiring celebration of films, talks and events over this past weekend.

We were delighted to be a part of so many excellent events as a supporter of the festival and this was our busiest year yet.

Our festival kicked off in style on Friday evening with the Trek Bike Night presented by Rob Warner and Tracy Moseley. Kendal Leisure Centre was packed full of MTB fans who were treated to a collection of exhilarating films and special guest speakers. Father and son Rich and Tom Seipp got the evening underway with tales from their incredible adventure bikepacking The Great Divide which runs from Canada to the Mexican border, covering over 3000 miles of off-road terrain. There was a stacked lineup of Trek Factory Racing athletes on stage for the evening, taking questions from the presenters and offering insights into their 2019 racing seasons. Katy Winton, Evie Richards and Reece Wilson were in Kendal for Bike Night and the World Premiere of their film’Going In’, a year in the life of the Trek Factory Racing team.

We were up early Saturday morning to team up with Kendal Cycle Club and Rapha for the KMF club ride to Grange. There were 85 keen roadies who arrived for the ride and headed out from Kendal Leisure Centre on mostly flat roads towards Grange and returned in time for the afternoon Rapha Road Bike session.

The Leisure Centre was once again the venue for the afternoon Road Bike Session with Rapha starring Australian Pro Lachlan Morton from EF Education First alongside Transcontinental winner and ultra endurance cyclist Emily Chappell. The session was hosted by Harry Dowdney from the Rapha marketing team and featured the EF Gone Racing film from this year’s Three Peaks Cyclocross Race in which Lachlan took part for the first time. There was talk about this year’s ‘Alternative Calendar’ – a programme which saw Lachlan and some of his EF teammates take on races and events beyond the traditional World Tour with the aim of bridging the divide between Pro Cycling and amateur bike riders. A programme which has proved to be highly successful and inspiring. Emily Chappell’s story is very different to that of a World Tour pro – from humble beginnings as a London bike courier to becoming the fastest female finisher at the Transcontinental Race, she spoke with great humour and insight about the extremes and challenges of ultra endurance cycling.

Saturday afternoon at the Mountain Festival saw the world premiere of Going In, presented by Trek. A feature film about the highs and lows of training and racing as a Trek Factory Racing athlete.  The Trek Factory riders then hot-footed it to our Lake District super store for a group ride in the Kentmere valley with a host of friends and great post ride beers in Hawkshead Brewery at the KMF ‘After Show Ride’.

Photography from Dan Monaghan of Cadence Images and James Vincent.

Cannondale’s legendary race bike goes electric.

An e-bike that’s built to fly, the SuperSix EVO Neo is for the discerning road rider that wants an extra boost. Cannondale has taken its timeless road bike and amplified it.

The all-new SuperSix EVO Neo retains the racy geometry of Cannondale’s premier road bike along with the recently innovated aerodynamic tube profiles but with the addition of a lightweight and discreet ebikemotion drive unit and battery, offering riders 250wh of additional power when they need it. The top of the range Shimano Dura Ace Di2 equipped model weighs in at a slight 11.3kg (56cm) and features the HollowGram KNØT stem and SAVE handlebar, bringing aero gains to power assisted pedalling.

SuperSix EVO Neo features ebikemotion’s lightweight Mahle X35 drive system. Having the drive unit built into the rear hub and with an internal battery that is seamless and lightweight allowed Cannondale to turn the SuperSix from manual to assisted bike with minimal disruption to the frame’s aesthetics. The charging point for the integrated battery is hidden neatly within the bottom bracket shell and the battery can cover up to 75km on one charge, depending on running modes.

Each model comes with 28mm tyres as standard but there’s ample room to go up 32mm, potentially even wider depending on the rider’s desire. Cannondale have released three models within the Supersix EVO Neo range.

The Bikes

Cannondale SuperSix EVO Neo 1 Dura-Ace – £7,999.99

Cannondale SuperSix EVO Neo 2 Ultegra – £4,999.99

Cannondale SuperSix EVO Neo 3 105 – £3,599.99

 

FREE COFFEE on this weekend’s Kendal Cycle Club Saturday morning ride! 

As part of Kendal Mountain Festival we’ll be supporting this weekend’s club ride with Kendal Cycle Club. We’re supporting the ride along with Rapha, who will be bringing their awesome Citroen Coffee Van for a FREE coffee mid-ride.

The Rapha coffee van will be parked in Grange, so, instead of post-ride coffee, the club can have a mid-ride coffee! The location will be the Park Road Gardens/Millennium Gardens band stand. As with regular Kendal Cycle Club rides, the plan is to arrive at Kendal Leisure Centre for 9:20am for a 9:30am depart. The usual club setup will apply and riders will set off in various groups towards Grange.

This should be a great day of cycling with the ride being followed by the much-anticipated Rapha Road Bike Session at Kendal Leisure Centre. Guest speakers will include cycling superstar Lachlan Morton and bike courier-turned-adventure cyclist Emily Chappell. The all-new event will celebrate everything we love about dropped bars, paved roads, byways and gravel track adventures. Tickets are still available for the session on the KMF site.

It’s that time of year when we’ve resigned our favourite summer bike to turbo trainer use only. It’s time to bring out the old winter hack in anticipation of the wet, gritty miles ahead. Or is it? There’s an alternative and it’s a bargain.

The Cannondale Synapse Dura Ace is the perfect winter bike for UK riding. With a smooth, responsive ride, Shimano’s powerful hydraulic disc brakes and the seamless shifting of the latest Dura Ace groupset, the Synapse is tailor made for covering countless miles in cold, wet UK conditions.

The bike comes with 28c tyres but has room to go up to 32c wide for ultimate reliability and comfort on damp, bumpy roads. Cannondale’s SAVE micro-suspension in the frame, fork and seatpost keeps vibrations at bay while the frame also offers an impressive level of stiffness that means you can still sprint for the town signs on the winter club run. There’s also mounts for full length mudguards (available to buy separately) and a generous range of gears with a compact chainset and 11-30 cassette.

Key Features

• Designed for full length mudguards with stays
• Carbon frame and fork with Cannondale S.A.V.E comfort technology
• Shimano Dura Ace disc brake groupset
• 28c tyres
• 50-34 and 11-30 ratios
• Double sealed wheel bearings
• Available in two colourways

 

 

 

 

 

Complete protection from the rain while maintaining breath-ability is a lofty goal: GORE-TEX SHAKEDRY™ achieves it.

There is no other fabric that comes close SHAKEDRY when it comes to protection from the wet.

Take advantage of our huge reductions and grab one of these revolutionary jackets while limited stocks last. We’re currently offering a 40% saving on the R7, C5 and C7 SHAKEDRY Jackets.

Gore R7 Gore-Tex Shakedry Hooded Jacket – Was £259.99 Now £156.00

 

A performance item for serious runners who need to get on with their training in all weather. Also ideal for mountain biking, hill walking and commuting in the rain.

PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS

• Durably Waterproof
• Extremely breathable
• Designed for cool weather
• Engineered for Running
• Also ideal for XC Ski
• Lightweight
• Packable

Gore C7 Gore-Tex Shakedry Jacket Was £239.99 Now £144.00

 

Your rides are demanding: this jacket will keep you performing at the highest level in all weather. With ultimate breathability and a durable beading surface, the jacket can accompany you on hard rides in variable conditions, including heavy rain. This jacket is comes in a performance fit so may run a bit smaller than is standard.

PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS

• Durably Waterproof
• Extremely breathable
• Designed for cool weather
• Engineered for Cycling
• Lightweight
• Packable

Gore C7 Womens Gore-Tex Shakedry Viz Jacket Was £239.99 Now £144.00

Training to compete at the highest level requires total commitment, whatever time of day your training happens. This jacket has been engineered to keep you visible and totally dry when you have to ride in less than desirable weather conditions.

PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS

• Durably Waterproof
• Extremely breathable
• Designed for cool weather
• Engineered for Cycling
• Lightweight
• Packable

Gore C5 Gore-Tex Shakedry 1985 Jacket Was £250.00 Now £150.00

 

Your rides are demanding: this jacket will keep you performing at the highest level in all weather. With ultimate breathability and a durable beading surface, the jacket can accompany you on hard rides in variable conditions, including heavy rain.

PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS

• Durably Waterproof
• Extremely breathable
• Designed for cool weather
• Engineered for Cycling
• Lightweight
• Packable

Pinarello have marked the return to racing of Grand Tour winner Chris Froome with a special edition Dogma F12 X-Light

The Briton returned to racing at the recent Saitama Criterium in Japan only 14 weeks after a career threatening crash. To celebrate Froome’s comeback Pinarello have launched the brand-new Dogma F12 X-Light in a special edition colourway, with the paintwork marking each of the Grand Tour victories by the Team Ineos rider.

After first successfully testing the bike in competition in the prestigious World Tour races in June, the latest evolution of the F12 model is now available for the public market. As with previous models of the X-light collections, Pinarello have worked on the materials of the frame while maintaining the stiffness and aerodynamics, to significantly reduce weight.

Thanks to the special process of creating the Torayca T1100G UD material, much different from the traditional T1000 1K, this comes from using different resin content and the unidirectional texture of the fibre. Also using specially made moulds and a slower and more controlled production process, Pinarello were able to achieve a weight reduction of over 60g on the frame kit in the rim and disc version.

The main features of the new Dogma F12 X-light remain unchanged compared to the traditional model: more aero asymmetrical frame, total integration cables (TiCR) for improved aerodynamics, reinforced rear stays to increase responsiveness, Italian thread bottom bracket, and Headset Drop In with 1 “1/2 (upper) and 1” 1/2 (lower) bearings. These different solutions combined with the new integrated handlebar, the Most Talon Ultra, lead to an estimated savings of around 8 Watts.

Bikes and frames will be available to order in all 11 sizes in both rim and disc brake versions.

FOR LOVERS OF DROPPED BARS, PAVED ROADS, BYWAYS AND GRAVEL TRACK ADVENTURES.

We’re delighted to be supporting the Rapha Road Bike Session along with Cannondale at this year’s Kendal Mountain Festival. On the back of the success of the long established (Mountain) Bike Night, KMF have launched this dedicated road session with new partner Rapha for the 2019 Mountain Festival.

Headlined by guest speaker Lachlan Morton (World Tour Pro with EF Education First) and with a special guest appearance from Emily Chappell (ultra-endurance cyclist), the session will be presented by Harry Dowdney from Rapha. Lachlan will be talking about his experiences racing an ‘Alternative Calendar’ in 2019, which included taking part in events such as GDDuro, Dirty Kanza and the 3 Peaks Cyclocross race in Yorkshire. Emily’s second book ‘Where There’s A Will’ is due for release in early November and we’ll receive an insight into the world of ultra endurance racing and how she went from London cycle courier to winning The Transcontinental – a self-supported endurance race across Europe.

The session gets underway at 14:15 on Saturday 16th November at Kendal Leisure Centre and tickets are now available. There will also be a special ride out from the Leisure Centre on the morning of the event which we’ll be supporting along with Cannondale and Rapha, who’ll be bringing their specialist coffee van.

Images from Dan Monaghan, Cadence Images.

BBC Apprentice Series 15: Episode 4

So did you spot our Wheelbase Cycles guys on The Apprentice last night on BBC One? They were looking at the candidates eBikes and some rather bright and fruity SupaCaz jerseys on this prime time show!

Colin from our store team at Wheelbase Yorkshire, Stu from our Mail Order team and director and co-owner Toby Dalton all took the trip down to The Apprentice this May to film the episode across two venues in central London along with other industry players.

It was the second time Toby had been on the Apprentice after being on Series 12 : Episode 12 back in 2016 – ‘Cycling Crowdfunding.’