A Second Race and a New Bike

Having survived and really rather enjoyed my first foray in to competitive cyclo-cross, I've been missing the races due to work or family commitments for a few weeks.

I've spoken to a lot of people about the race (including another appearance on the Bike Shop Show podcast, seriously, if you are not already listening to this, then go ... now... download... ) It was lovely to be featured in a CX exclusive edition, but sad that this included the news of the tragic death of US CX rider Amy Dombroski whilst out on a training ride.

Among those to whom I spoke was the ever helpful and brilliant Helen Wyman, Current European and multiple British CX champ, who mentioned to someone via Twitter that the bike she raced up till this season, the 2012 version of the Kona Major Jake, was seriously reduced at a particular online retailer. The Major Jake is a full carbon, Shimano Ultegra equipped, serious bit of kit. If I sold my current Cube Cross Race, it was actually rather affordable (£3k worth of bike for half price).... DONE....

The bike arrived last Friday (not cutting it fine for a Saturday race, no, not me) and I stripped and rebuilt it, then took it for a rather wet shakedown ride round the local area. It handled really well, very responsive to both steering and power input. The brakes (Avid Shorty Ultimates) were configured in the "wide" (mud clearing) mode on the front, so on Friday night (not too late, remember) I rebuilt them in the "narrow" (power) mode to improve the front end braking performance.

Fresh out of the box

Built (factory spec)

And Rebuilt (Panda spec, black tape, Selle Italia Diva Saddle) (note: this was before rebuilding front brake assy)

The race was on the Saturday, at Newbury showground. we arrived nice and early, I took the Cube as well as the new bike (henceforth : The Major) to allow for any mechanical problems, it was nice, if only this once, to have a full spare bike for a race, it makes you feel professional (small P) , a feeling that was going to quickly disappear.

Spare bike and Race bike, ready to be loaded on the car.

I went for a recce lap and the start felt great. Tarmac in to flat fast grass section on the end of the showground, into a gentle climb along a wooded path and a couple of sharp turns.. onto the 4X4 proving track ... rutted, sandy, steep and slippy.. I didn't attack the first ramp, so had to walk up it.. then gingerly roll down the other side..confidence -1, middle of the lap was OK apart from a bit of confusion as to where the Youth track and our track split, but resolved quickly enough, then into the return section.. narrow, twisty and rutted (back on the 4X4 track again) and I wasn't confident turning into a couple of sections which ended with the bike going over (front end tuck) and smacking my ankle on the chain set as I landed ... Confidence -5... remount and pick my way back to P, who was acting as Swanny once more (he's invaluable really)

I felt rubbish, the bike was pretty good (needed to tweak a couple of things, including headset spacing, so really glad I'd taken the Cube as I just swiped a 5mm spacer from that bike) but I wasn't..not a good start to the second race.

I had some food, and warmed up on the turbo, then rolled down to the start. we gridded up and the whistle blew... Race 2 .... GO!

I got a reasonable start and pushed hard on the fast flat section, only to get caught behind a couple of crashes going into the woodland and over that first ramp...damn... into the ruts and another crash in front... then someone stopped on a ramp right in front of me, swerving to avoid without falling. but I had to stop..I'm pretty much at the back of the field now (not good) but with space to ride (bonus) and put in a good push to catch a couple of guys before the last part of the lap.

What I hadn't seen/known was that the recce lap missed out a rather large and steep "sand dune". which came as a bit of a surprise.. never mind.. dismount and run it.. back on and push for the flat again.. I was struggling to clip in again after the sand and mud started to clog my cleat.. banging the shoe on the pedal helped a bit and the flat section was fast.....

In the first part of the second lap, after a couple of dismounts, I pretty much lost the ability to clip in either foot.. so from there to the end I had to ride with just the down stroke and my feet bouncing around on the pedals.. I did OK, I caught and passed a few more riders, aiming at another woman just up the course..but the lack of an "upstroke pull" made cresting the sharp ramps really difficult and I just couldn't catch her. My left cleat did briefly clip in though, just as I was about to dismount to run the big dune, which brought me down. nothing bad, just falling over at almost no speed.. I finished 10th in the women's race, and in front of several guys... looking at my Garmin data, I pushed a lot harder this race and was happy that I'd given my all..despite the worse result than race one.

The Major? he was brilliant.. I'm really impressed with the bike, and Kona have a great brand ambassador in Helen Wyman, who is pretty much the reason I chose their bike. (she is @CXHelen on twitter and well worth following, if you don't already)

Next race should be Basingstoke in a couple of weeks time.

In other news. The shop where I work is closing, I had already sorted out another job BEFORE the announcement... which I start next Monday.....

Can't quite say what yet... so... speak to you all soon....

My first CX race

I've been rather busy recently, so I still haven't written up our holiday in the lake district (where we rode Blaes Tarn (25%) and I "swannied"* for P when he rode Wrynose Pass (30%) )

But since getting back I took the plunge and after faffing about for a bit, I entered the Wessex Cyclo Cross league opener at Newbury.

For the last few weeks, I've been using what spare time I had around work (both at the shop and CycleSystems) and leading Sky Ride Locals to get out on the Cross bike. This included using it on a Sky Ride, a brief foray through the paths of Swinley Forest including the Devils Highway stretch which has sand, gravel, loose rocks and very very steep climbs and descents.

A couple of weeks ago, I upped the challenge a little and rather than just riding through, I took the cross bike out onto the Blue route of the Swinley Forest MTB singletrack trails. Great for confidence, bike handling and getting me to attack the ups and downs of an off road course much more than I've been used to.

My training effort (as it was) culminated last weekend with a half hour warm up of riding on grass, hitting short steep ramps and dismount/remount practice before attacking my CX training loop around Wildmoor Heath. The loop has a 1 mile stretch of technical CX terrain and then a 1.5 mile road section back to the start. The tech bit is as follows:

Ramp (run with bike)
Remount, short ride to stile, dismount/cross/remount then fast compacted gravel path to 90 degree left.
Dusty loose stretch (including gate) then 90 degree right into the last .5 mile which is basically a climb.
First part is a short sharp 13% ramp on loose needles/cones, down then up a 9% section up to gate (dismount/remount) then a steady light gradient through what can be a muddy path depending on weather.
 Sprint to end.
join the road and recover for 1.5 miles back to start - repeat until collapse

Even with being nice and accommodating to the walkers and dog owners, I set some good times.

I prepped the bike in the week and took it on the commute yesterday as a last shakedown.

Home, early night and get as much sleep as possible..... then....

Race Day (eek)

...........

After soliciting advice from lots of people much more knowledgeable than me (all the way up to the lovely and approachable 7 times British and current European CX champion, Helen Wyman) I actually felt relatively relaxed this morning. Breakfast and packing kit into and bike onto car, we set off with P acting as Swanny* for the day

We got there in plenty of time to park up, change and sign on before I took a slow recce lap of the course.. for a newbie it seemed quite tough and technical... and tiring. With a "playing field" start and finish through tape, a rather stiff hill (max 15-16 %). a short tarmac section onto steps (dismount) then up sharp little grass ramp (remember the training) up to a very loose gravel path curving back down toward the playing field section. The transition from the descent off the hill to the tarmac section dropped through a little gully of hardcore. then a hard 90 left. The gully was difficult as the bike really got loose under me and was capped off with "Beware of the Adders" signs (not just snakebite puncture risk then). The playing field section also included two crossings of the long jump pit (and a hairpin) which some were riding, but I felt faster dismounting and running a very tight line through it.

P had met up with a couple and their son (dad and son were competing, mum is recovering from a knee injury) who we ended up spending most of the day with and chatting too. I took Dave (the dad) on a recce lap (my third in total) and having dropped the pressure on my tyres. This made the snake death gully a little more bearable.

And then.... warm up done, we were being called to the start of the combined Junior/Vet/Women's race, the top riders being called forward and the rest of us forming up behind....

GO....

My start was not great, being near the back of the "grid" anyway, nerves and maybe not quite enough of a warm up meant that I felt that most of the field rode away, but not all..

I settled into a rhythm, trying to keep decent speed on the grass and tape sections, and digging in on the climb. Bizarrely for me (remember that hills are the natural enemy of pandas) the uphill section at the end of the playing field and the actual climb itself seemed to be the place where I was making up the most ground on riders ahead and I started to overtake and catch people. There was a group of three riders ahead, including another girl, that I set my sights on catching. I did catch her, and pass her on what was to be my last lap, but letting the leaders through at the end meant I lost a bit of speed and she passed me back cleanly before the end. I made sure I went straight over to her when we finished and thanked her for the motivation. It really helped.

At this point, the full results have not been posted, so I have no idea where I actually finished (EDIT- They have now...see below) . I was lapped by the leaders, who were all fantastic in calling out their line and passing cleanly without compromising themselves much at all. I will update the post when the results come in.

We watched all the races before and after mine. It was great to see first and third place in the under 12 race being taken by girls. The senior race got hit with rain halfway through, making a couple of points of the course rather treacherous. The tight corner on the tarmac section claimed one rider rather spectacularly, losing the front wheel and sliding through ( didn't see the crash, but P helped him at the end)

It was a friendly, open, well organised event (thanks to Newbury RC who hosted) on a good circuit and for me, it was a great intro to CX racing..

Will I do more ? I hope so, calendar and commitments allowing.

Thanks to everyone on twitter who offered advice and support. I achieved my pre race goals.
1) Finish the race (not everyone did)
2) Don't finish last (I wasn't)
and 2(b) Don't finish last in class....and I THINK I wasn't (Edit - I wasn't)

When I get time, I hope to do a more detailed report for the BikeShopShow podcast.

And professional pride dictates that I should report that the bike performed faultlessly throughout the race. So I have to thank my race mechanic for all the work she did on setting the bike up (yes, yes, I know, it was me) and thank P again for being super Swanny* for the day.

I might add a couple of photos later too....

LATEST EDIT - FULL results and report (with link to some photos) HERE

In summary:

I finished 6th in the Women's race (7th including juniors) 
82nd overall (note- the winner of the women's race was 41st overall) .

Happy with that


*Swanny - anglo corruption of Soigneur, who are assistants responsible for feeding, clothing, massaging, and escorting riders; from the French for the "one who provides care"

A Change Of Plan

Hi

I'm writing this having just watched the exciting climax of the Andorra UCI MTB XC World Cup on Red Bull TV online. Great race and I saw far more than if we'd been there as planned.

The July schedule with Max changed after I last wrote, instead of doing the GB National XC series, the weekend of the 6th July saw Max and I going to Exmoor for her to dip her toe in the Enduro scene and ride a more relaxed event at her coaches guidance. We were hosted by one of Max's sponsors Whackjob Clothing who had their own gazebo and inflatable sofa (and beer fridge) and were great company over the weekend. It was good to meet and chat to Joel and Joan (on Sunday) and chat.

(side note - I'd recommend checking out Whackjob's rider profile of Max : here (nuff said))

As a mechanic, Enduro events are far more relaxed too. After a long drive down windy roads, we rocked up at the event (the Mondraker Gravity Enduro) and I got the stand out and prepped Max's Orange enduro bike. Max is very good at looking after her kit, so, really it was more of a check over and a brief discussion on tyre pressures for the morning recce of a couple of the timed sections and then send Max and Joel off ... and then relax whilst they do all the hard riding stuff.

Not the worst spot to work

After the recce, it was just a case of checking with Max that she was happy with the pressures (small change) and then I gave the front end of Joel's bike a look over as he was concerned about headset movement. The main cause of the chatter was that his forks were in need of a good service, as there was definite movement in the lower legs.

After lunch, they were off again to do a couple of timed runs which we initially thought were for group seeding for the following day. Max wasn't too happy with the second section, thinking she could have pushed more. I got the bikes back, washed them down, checked them over and had a nice cold beer courtesy of the Whackjob fridge.

Rather than camping, we stayed in a local hotel so we had dinner in a pub and a little walk along Minehead seafront. Back to the hotel and we caught up with the days TDF stage before lights out.

Back at the site the following morning, I gave Max's bike a final check over before sending them off for the day.

Max getting ready to set off on Sunday

Joel before the off (note the discarded tutu (don't ask))

For me, the rest of the day was a relaxing time, reading a book and doing a bit of work on a bike that a friend of Max's, who had come along to support, had brought with him. Having got his bike working "a million times better" he went off on a ride and I chilled.

The wait for the riders to come back was broken slightly by one rider coming back in saying his friend had crashed and been airlifted (this is Exmoor after all) off from the first timed section. A short while later the worrying sight of two riders with three bikes heralded the return of the bike that had been left after the crash. I made sure the chap and his mate's bike were reunited.

Max's yellow helmet and shoes made her dead easy to spot, so when they rolled back in I took the bike, made sure nothing was broken and, after a brief chill out, we packed the kit back in the van and headed off home. 

...

A week or so ago, I had a chat with Max about the World Cup round in Andorra, and she and her coach felt that it might be best to miss this one *. So I've utilised the time I had booked off work to recce a couple of the Sky Ride Local routes on which I'm leading next month. This included a spin through Swinley Forest on the CX bike.. which was "interesting" (read : very difficult) with steep (20% +) rocky, gravelly, loose, sandy climbs and decents on the "Devil's Highway" stretch. On the CX bike, this was challenging. but a lot of fun. a few long stretches of sand were also great for "bike skills" training..

P and I popped out later and took a few pics of me on the CX bike (as I didn't have any) ...

Proof that the Panda occasionally IS indeed On A Bike

 Tomorrow, P is riding the London to Cambridge sportive with the president of the fledgling Girton College cycling club (of which more later) and I will be providing support.

* Note: subsequent to this chat, Max rode the National XC Champs at Cathkin Braes near Glasgow and finished a rather excellent 6th - very proud of her.

Project News - the new stuff

I've been working on a few things recently and I can finally let you know what is going on.

firstly,

I am now officially working for Cycle Systems Academy, where I did my mechanic training courses

I will be working there one day a week doing QA and internal verification work, although I'm still working 5 days a week at Holdsworth Cycles.

It's an interesting time to formally be part of the CSA family and I'm looking forward to developing the role over the next few months.

and Secondly,

I will be working as a mechanic on selected races for Maxine Filby , riding at British National Series and UCI Elite XC races this year.

Our current plan is for me to be at Margam Park for the GB series at the start of July and the UCI Elite World Cup round in Andorra at the end of the month. I'm really looking forward to working with Max (also a fellow SponserUK athlete) and will be reporting on the events here, and hopefully getting something down for a slot on the Bike Shop Show Podcast (with whom I've done a couple of things now) from the races too.

So there you go, busy busy Panda here, and with the Sky Ride Local programme in this area kicking off this weekend (for which I am a qualified Ride Leader) It is going to be a busy summer on and around bikes.

This makes me happy, this is good.

Funny what goes through your mind lying on a London Road.

A week ago last Friday (7th June) was a normal day on the commute. The traffic was maybe a little heavier than usual, but I was making reasonable progress. Coming up towards the junction of Upper Richmond Road and Priory Lane the traffic had come to a standstill. In the middle of the road there is a little island where pedestrians can cross.. I saw a family (mum, 2 boys and a buggy) run from the far side of the road to the middle.. I lost sight of them briefly as the cycle lane was clear and there was a van between me and them. I started braking just in case they popped out

Then he ran, the kid just sprinted for the kerb, didn't look, didn't stop. I shouted and grabbed the brakes hard. I had scrubbed off most of my forward momentum when I hit him. I had tried to steer for the gap, but it vanished. 

The bike pretty much just stopped and fell over, falling around the kid. As it fell left, I fell right onto my knee , elbow and back. And there I found myself, lying in the middle of a damp cycle lane on a main road in the rush hour.

Damn.

I looked back along the road…nothing close. Motorcycles use this cycle lane too, thankfully it wasn't one of them that hit the kid, and thankfully there wasn't one bearing down on me now. 

OK, mental inventory... I'm conscious, don't think head hit the ground. No searing pain. Ok...try and move.. Moving, this is good.. Try to stand…success.. As I stand, I pull my bike up too. The kid had crawled out from beneath the bike. I got onto the pavement and put the bike up against the wall. A brief check and the kid is standing with his mother, being shouted at, and being checked.. He looks fine, he's got a damp t shirt.

A kind person tells me she's from the house behind, and asks if I'm ok, if the bike is ok. If she can help. The mental inventory tells me I am basically OK, but can feel the adrenaline surge. Something's not quite right. Another lady says the mother has called the police. OK…unexpected. The family appear to be North African, her English is patchy at best. I ask if the police have been called and she tells me that they will be "a few minutes" . I don't want to be the bad person who just legs it. I try to explain that I'm first aid trained and offer to check the kid .. She doesn't understand. 

It turned out that she had given a confusing address to the emergency services. A friend of hers has turned up and speaks better English, she also says I cannot leave unless I leave my details. That's not going to happen, not with a "non official" person. So I wait...in the end I talk the ambulance crew in to our location.

The kid and mother go into the ambulance, his main thing at the moment is to scowl at me.  One of the crew asks how I am. The "not right" thing is now clear. My right knee took the main hit and twisted as I fell.. I get offered some pain relief and give them my details and the police arrive.  I give a statement , the key question the PC asked when I said the kid ran out was " wasn't the mother in control". Nope. They take a statement from the mother too and then tell me nothing more need come of it. Our statements match and the kid is basically fine. The police give me a lift the last little but to work and, 2 hours late, I get on with my day.

By Saturday , my knee was a balloon, I didn't ride in. I was back riding on Monday. It's not right. It still hurts, but I'm back into a normal routine commuting on the bike.

This Friday, I was riding up the same stretch of road... I spotted a family of four walking to the bus stop. No buggy this time and all of the kids holding hands in a little line. As I drew level,the kid on the end looked at me... It was "the kid" .. He seemed fine. He scowled at me…I smiled and waved. It looks as though they may have learned a lesson. I'm just glad it was a slowing me that hit the kid and not a scooter or motorbike.

-----

I've been doing the odd sketch for Sarah and Dan at ProWomen'sCycling.com including a "technical drawing" of a bike to help Sarah with her basic tech knowledge.

It seems to have been quite popular, to the point that someone asked if t shirts would be made available.. So, I set up a Zazzle shop and the "This Way Up" t shirt is now available here:

And, even more surprisingly… I've sold three !!! 

So yeah, fashion designer, crash test dummy, blogger, cyclist, mechanic, etc…

---

I think there will be another blog entry soon as there are one or two projects that look to be coming to fruition now... more to follow soon.. ;)

500 Miles on a Chameleon

When I sorted out my current job, it was on the understanding that I'd be able to cycle to a local station, get the train into London and then ride to the shop. Rail service restrictions mean that on weekdays, no full framed bikes are allowed during the times that I'd travel which meant I had to look at folding bikes.

I've always thought that with my size (panda, remember) that I'd end up looking a bit like a circus bear if I rode a Brompton, clever and small folding as they are. Lots of research online led me to find Airnimal Bikes , a small company based near Cambridge in the UK, that take a slightly different approach to the folding bike. For them "Bike" comes first and then "Folding", which means their bikes behave a lot more like a traditional road bike due to their choice of 24 or 20 inch wheel size.

A timely search on ebay turned up an Airnimal Chameleon, which is the "original" Airnimal design. The seller had used it for commuting and the previous owner had toured extensively on this bike, including twice touring round China.

We picked the bike up for around £850 and the seller actually dropped it off with us.

The bike came, as shown here, with mudguards (though the seller had replaced the front guard with a "Crudcatcher".) Shimano Ultegra groupset (but with a Deore XT Rapid Rise long cage rear mech) and Dura Ace bar end shifters that the touring owner preferred for reliability (though the original Ultegra brake lever/Shifters were also included).

My initial impressions were that the reach felt a little short compared to my road bike, but the basic handling was solid and sturdy; the carbon forks responding quite well to road bumps and the huge range of the gearing, with a 30 tooth "granny ring" and 34 tooth max on the rear, would allow it to cope with pretty much any incline up to almost vertical.

Initially, I made the following changes to the bike:

1) Removed the bar end shifters and refitted the Ultegra STi shifters, they are far more familiar to me and clean up the front end a lot. ( I also removed the heavy padding and retaped the bars)

2) Removed the mudguards to aid folding and clean the look of the bike.

3) Removed the bottle cage.

Having the Rapid Rise rear mech (this reverses the spring action from a normal rear mech meaning the spring actual pulls towards the easier gears making shifting "down" to easier gears smoother under load, ideal for laden touring setups) did make for slightly counter intuitive shifting forcing me to have to make a mental switch every time I changed bikes.

This led me to replace the Deore rear mech with an Ultegra 6700 GS (Long Cage) mech which fits better with the rest of the componentry on the bike and means that the gear shifting is now the same way round as on my other bikes.

The only other changes I have made since were to replace the saddle with the Selle Italia Diva Flow and change the tyres. The Diva Flow is a really comfortable saddle which I already favour on my road and cross bikes, and the Schwalbe Durano tyres are a great mix of strength and comfort without compromising ride quality.

Versatility

The Chameleon is an excellent commuting bike. It folds (Described by Airnimal as the "first fold") easily to get on the train. I use a couple of toe straps to hold things together when folded to make carrying on and off the train easier. The fold is done with the removal of the front wheel, splitting the frame in the middle which folds the rear wheel into the forks, and folding the seat tower down onto the frame. The design of the bike means that the drivetrain is not disturbed in any way by the fold. I've got this fold down to around 60 seconds including the toe straps to bind it together.

There is also the "Second Fold" which I've not needed to use, but really takes the airnimal to a different level. Removing both wheels (using a chain holder to keep tension in the drive train), the bars and the seat post allows you to fold the frame down to suitcase size which means that taking this bike on holiday by plane is a genuinely simple prospect.

Handling
The handling in both wet and dry is excellent. The combination of carbon forks and the Schwalbe Duranos with the 24 inch wheel size give a predictable and solid feel when cornering and responds well on rougher road surfaces. Whilst not as relaxed as a full frame road bike it is much steadier than it's smaller wheeled cousins and far less susceptible to the road surface flicking the steering out of your control. The Chameleon is stable at speed and will happily roll along at 20mph plus on the flat without being twitchy or terrifying the rider. I'm not sure I'd say the same on a Brompton, for example.

Componentry
Although the majority of the Ultegra components are from an older version of the range, the quality of the Shimano 2nd tier groupset is clear. With concise shifting and solid braking inspiring confidence and urging you to push on, it is easy to forget you are on a folding bike and mix it with the roadies on the daily commute.

Overall
The Chameleon is a fast, light and responsive bike that just happens to fold small enough to fit in a suitcase. It is distinctive enough to draw glances and comments from other cyclists when stopped at lights. On the odd occasion where the train service has failed me, the Chameleon is just as happy on a longer ride and I could easily see someone touring quite happily with this bike. The team at Airnimal are friendly and quick to respond to any problems or questions (I did have to replace the seat tower on this bike, but with the mileage that it will have previously done, this wasn't wholly unsurprising. The replacement tower was couriered to me the following day). It is genuinely fun to ride and it makes my daily commute both a pleasure and well spent ride time. We've now covered around 500 miles together and I'm looking forward to many, many more.

For more information, the Airnimal website is : Here

UPDATE
After posting this, I was asked by the lovely  @_Pigeons_ ,aka Sarah Connolly, how the bike folds down.
so here is the basic "first fold" that I use on the train. Done in about 60 seconds.

I don't rotate the handlebars as I find the rear wheel slots into the forks and can be held by closing the quick release on the front brake. With a single allen key, I could loosen the stem and rotate the bars, which reduces the folded size even more.


This second pic is a slightly tighter version of the fold, taking the seatpost out rather than just rotating it and folding the seat tower in closer.

Again, this could be reduced more by rotating the bars.

In both versions, strapping the loose front wheel to the head tube as shown also allows the bike to stand unsupported, which is useful.

A bit of a revamp

I've had a bit of a tidy up here and freshened things up to allow me to use this properly again.

I have a few ideas of pieces that I'd like to write up, soooo... 

In the meantime, here is an interview I did with Kirsty Medlock for Total Women's Cycling.

Five minutes with .... An interview for Totalwomenscycling.com

I really enjoyed the chat, and we were talking for a lot longer than five minutes, Thanks Kirsty.

A visit to the PinaHut - Halfords and Pinarello

I'm resurrecting the blog because I think I need a space to drop thoughts about cycling topics that won't fit in 140 characters and, well, I already have this cycling related blog thing all set up.

So. what has prompted this?

Back in January when I was on my Level 2 Mechanic course (of which, possibly more later) we heard the announcement that Halfords and Pinarello had agreed to stock the Italian bikes (now synonymous with Team Sky and British road success) from this year.

The intial response, both amongst the people with whom I was speaking and in the broader online world, was mostly one of derision and doubt. I shared some of the doubts but reserved judgement on the proviso that Halfords have done relatively well with the Boardman brand and if they were careful and actually controlled the staff who would be dealing with these bikes, then the potentially random and varied skill (or otherwise) set of a nationwide workforce could be mitigated.

Yesterday I saw the online announcement that the bikes have now gone into stores and are available online.

As previously announced, the range only goes up to the ROKH (105) so no Dogmas for sale to the budding Wiggo, but the road range is as follows:
FP Uno - Aluminium (mix of 105 shifters and Tiagra drive train)
FP Uno - Carbon (Campag Veloce, which stands out somewhat from the Shimano ubiquity of the others)
FP Due - Carbon (105 throughought 24HM carbon frame)
FP Quatro - Carbon (105 throughout 30HM carbon frame) and the
ROKH - Carbon (105 throughout 30HM carbon frame)

There is also the Catena "vintage" style single speed (flip flop single speed/fixie), the "Only the Brave" single speed (likely to be a real "marmite" bike) and the Treviso flat bar city bike

There is also the FP ZERO kids road bike.

The first notable thing is that they have only put the bikes into a very small number of stores (3) and the Farnborough store, a few miles from me, was one of the chosen sites. I thought I'd go and have a look.

Before doing so, I had a quick look at the website as they are also available online. A couple of noticeable things are the Catena is shown as a flat bar (the instore version is drop barred) and the Rokh and FP Quatro photographs don't match the published spec (the ROKH photo is on Campag and the FP Quatro is on Shimano Ultegra).

I wanted to go with an open mind and see what the point of sale setup, staff and general "experience" would be like.

On arrival at the store, there is nothing on the outside to mention the new range, nor on the inside before one goes up stairs to the BikeHut area. It is notable that they have completely restructured the store upstairs with a more structured display for their "name" brands and a more light and open feel to the whole area. in the far corner of the store is a big yellow display with a huge picture of Sir Bradley and the Pinarello range on display. There was one of each of the bikes noted above (apart from the FPZero which is also not showing on the website after the front page)

Obviously the store was fairly quiet on a Febraury Tuesday at 11 am, but within a few moments of starting to look at the range I was asked if I needed any help by the sales manager. He was friendly and helpful, answering questions on the spec and differences between what look like very similar bikes (the top 3 on the range all being 105 throughout, 2 being FP derived and 2 being 30HM frames), was keen to point out that as well as the displayed range and colourways, they would be able to order in other versions/colours directly from Pinarello although he also explained the possible delays.

Talking a little more technically, he mentioned that he'd just been on the Cytech 3 road course with some of his colleagues and explained that with himself, permanent and semi-permanent staff they had a total of 9 Cytech 3 level mechanics on staff to support the Pinarello venture (and obviously this will also benefit the general level of service for any customer). I did get the "campag wears in when other groupsets wear out" comment when we were discussing the Veloce gruppo on the FP Uno.

He wasn't aware of the geared version of the Catena, but quickly went off to look it up for me and was friendly, helpful and engaged me in relevant conversation (asking what bikes and styles of riding I did).

So, Halfords have invested in the staff that are handling the Pinarello brand in store.
They are controlling the number of outlets which will minimise potentially variable service levels
The staff are qualified mechanics and, the manager at least, had a good knowledge of the range.

I know that simply by being Halfords, many cyclists wouldn't go near the place, but I genuienly think a degree of thought and effort has been put into this venture and, for the person in the street who wants to "ride a bike like Bradley", they should get a level of knowledgeable service that shouldn't damage the Pinarello brand by being badly built or set up. By being selective on the range (nothing above 105) that they are stocking, it is also clear that the more serious and informed cyclist would always be directed to more specialist resellers.

Oh, and the Catena really is rather pretty in the flesh too....