With at least 10% off models, get yourself a new bike ready for the Spring and (hopefully) some warmer weather!

Madison cycles very kindly flew fifty of their UK Cervelo dealers to the Canary Islands and presented their new bikes to us in the sunshine, and then gave us the opportunity to ride them. More about this later.

What did I ride?

1.  Cervelo S5 Team with SRAM Red groupset and Mavic Cosmic SR wheels

2.  Cervelo R5 VWD with Campagnolo Super Record and Fulcrum wheels

3.  Cervelo S5 with Dura-ace Di2 and 3t carbon wheels

4.  Giant TCR composite with Ultegra (I stayed out for a couple of days extra, and this is the hire bikes that the hotel has.)

I could talk about the differences between all these bikes all day long, please pop into the Leatherhead store and ask me about them. I will summarise my thoughts about the groupsets here, but please realise that these are all very top end bikes, and all of them worked really nicely, choosing between them is a personal thing, and what I like may not be to everyone’s taste. I would be happy to own any of them (except the Giant:))

Ergonomics

This is the main thing that sets the groupset manufacturers apart, how the shifter fits into your hand. They are all really really similar, Shimano and SRAM feel quite large in the hand, and failry similar, Campy just ‘fits’ the way the horn is curved feels lovely to hold.

Method of Shifting

All the gears worked well and were indexed correctly. Both Shimano groupsets were the smoothest shift by far. The Di2 being the fastest and crispest. The SRAM Red up-shift was lovely and fast, but personally I really can’t get used to the double tap down shift, doesn’t feel intuitive and smooth to me, much more ‘clunky’. Campy Super record, fast, accurate, separate buttons to perform each shift, and you can really feel the chain snaking smoothly across the cassette into gear, just lovely gear shifting. Front mech shifting on the Shimano groupsets was sublime, far and away better than the others, with SRAM lagging way behind.

Braking

All the bikes were set up with the front brake on the left, wrong way round for me, so I wasn’t totally happy with the braking on any bike.

This is really highlighted when doing 75 kph with Canary Island side winds on deep carbon wheels! I felt that the SRAM brakes had great power but were a little wooden. The Shimano 105 brakes/Ultegra levers were lacking power, and I really dislike the brake lever swinging left and right as well as fore-aft. The dura-ace Di2 brakes and levers were really good, powerful and accurate (and the levers move in and out in one plane only). The Campy brakes were not as high power as the Shimano, but had loads of feel and modulation.

So what was my favourite? Can you guess? Campagnolo all the way. I love the feel of the gear shift, the ergonomics and the braking. Add to that the look and aesthetics of the groupset and I would feel happiest spending a lot of money on Super Record/Record/Chorus. A very close second is the Di2, precise and perfect shifting. SRAM, works well, but just not for me, Tom and Carl disagree with me, but as I said earlier, this is all my personal ride feelings. Ultegra, yes it is good, but not as good as the others, the top end groupsets really are better, you pays your money…you makes your choice.

Written by Dave Farmer

To give a bit of background first, Teva (pronounced “teh-vah” not “tee-vah” from the Hebrew word for “nature”) have been around since 1982 and started out making shoes for river sports such as kayaking that did not retain water and therefore dried far quicker than a pair of trainers. Fast forward to now and they’ve got an impressive portfolio of shoes and flip-flops for watersports, hiking and now- mountain biking.

The Links shoe is the result of a collaboration with Jeff Lenosky, a legendary figure on the North American freeride scene and holder of the bunny-hop world record at a staggering 1.15m!

I took a pair to France this year to see what they were all about and will categorically say that I won’t be using my Five-Tens ever again if I can help it. So what makes them so good? First of all, they’re actually slightly less grippy on the sole than Five-Tens. This means that if you need to move your feet on the pedals, you can do so without lifting off- something that’s quite helpful when you’re descending an Alp! The flip side of this could be disastrous, but I’m pleased to report that when I was concentrating on riding, my feet were stuck firmly to my Straitline pedals and I never once wished for more purchase on my (already sparsely pin’d) platforms.

The soles also felt really stiff and supportive and the reinforced, cushioned heel ‘stabiliser’ seemed to do its job well when cornering and landing, keeping your foot where you want it- in the middle of the shoe.

What absolutely sealed the deal for me was the ion-mask^TM (hydrophobic) treatment to the shoe’s uppers. The Links are not a waterproof shoe so you will get wet feet if you ride in all conditions. The difference with them is that due to the ion-mask^TM, they don’t retain any moisture and it just beads off the fabric. Get home with from a wet ride and these are good to go again in the morning, when all your mates are pulling wet newspaper out of their damp, cold, festering shoes.

Longevity seems pretty good too with my shoes showing no signs of wear as yet, helped by the rubberised toe section and leather uppers.

Overall Teva have produced a great product, and one that you’ll be seeing a lot more of on the UK scene. I’ll leave you with the promo video with Lenosky and friends shredding at some amazing looking trails wearing the Links. If it’s good enough for them…

The Links is available in two colours- Ultra-Violet (pictured), and Lunar-Rock (Grey/Yellow/Cyan), and priced at £84.99. All branches stock a full size range.

Tom (Petersfield)

With the 2012 bikes here, we’ve reduced many of our bikes. With stock of mountain bikes, hybrids, commuters and road bikes there’s something to suit everyone. Come in and grab a bargain!

Sale prices apply to cash and card sales,  Cyclescheme/finance purchases are subject to a 10% admin fee.

Orange

Leatherhead:
Pure 7 15”, was £999 - now £799!
G3  15” , was £850 - now £680!
G3  17”, was £850 - now £680!

Petersfield:
Orange ST4 18 Blue, was £3024- now £2419!
Orange R8 Pro 19, was £1924- now £1539!

Specialized

Leatherhead:
Ariel Sport Lge, was £499- now  £399!
Ariel Lge, was £399- now  £319!
Tricross 56, was £749- now  £600!
Tricross Sport 54cm, was £999- now  £799!
Tricross Sport 58cm, was £999- now  £799!
Epic Comp Carbon, was £2799- now £2239!
Stumpjumper FSR comp, was £1999- now £1599!
Allez Comp 56cm, was £1249.99- now £999!
Allez Elite 58cm, was £919- now £735!
Ruby elite 48cm, was £1649- now £1319!

Guildford:
Allez 16 56cm, was £559- now £448!

Petersfield:
Hardrock 2011 15, was £339- now  £279!
Hardrock Sport Disc White 15, was £459- now  £369!
Crosstrail LTD Lrg, was £1099- now  £880Vita L, was £350- now £279!
Vita Sport 51, was £450- now £359!
Tricross Comp 58, was £1399- now £1119!
Tricross 56cm £749.99-now £599.99
Vita M £349.99-now £279.99
Allez Comp 54cm, £1299.99-now £1039.99
Sirrus Pro XL, was £1399- now  £1119!
Allez Elite 58cm, was £950- now £735!
Dolce 54cm, was £650- now £519!

Haslemere:
Stumpjumper Elite Med, was £2549- now £2040!
Globe roll 1 medium was £469.99- now £359.99!
Hardrock sport disc red/blk 15.5” was £459.99- now £369.99!
Dolce elite 51 was £999.99- now £799.99!
Tricross sport 56 was £749.99- now £599.99!

Cervélo:

Petersfield:
P2 54cm, built with Ultegra 6700 and Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLe wheels£3647- now £2999!

Whyte

Leatherhead:
146 Lge, was £2999- now £2399!
T120 Med, was £1999- now £1599!

With registrations now open, you can set a goal for your new years’ training and you’ve no need to feel guilty for eating that extra mince pie or roast potato this Christmas!

Epic 100 miles, 7320ft of climbing

Challenge 59 miles, 4073ft

Sport 38 miles, 1970ft

For more information and to enter the event, please click the link below to be taken to the Little Lumpy website;

www.littlelumpy.co.uk

We have arranged with Mole-Valley crime reduction team that we can offer to register your bike on the national bike database.

The details can be found here www.bikeregister.com this is a service that is completely endorsed by the Police service, and all Police forces nationwide are easily able to use the database.

All you have to do is come into the Leatherhead store, and we can mark you bike with a subtle serial number, that will not affect your bike’s warranty, or rub off. then fill out a small form and your bike is registered.

In the event that your bike is stolen, then recovered by the Police, they can easily find out who owns it and return it to you.

Normally this will cost £15, but the local Police force and Cycleworks Leatherhead are offering this service free of charge.

The bike is a lovely finish, nude carbon with beautiful finishing touches that make the whole bike appear really well thought out.

29″ wheeled bikes are starting to appear from every brand that we sell, and they have really ‘come of age’. In the past they have been overly heavy, flexy and slightly sluggish feeling.

A few things have changed; Carbon frames/oversized BB’s/tapered forks/direct mount front mechs, all help to make the bike lighter and stiffer/sharper. also modern thinking about geometry has been worked out to make the bikes handle really well. Some of the above specs have allowed geometry changes, the front mech allows a really short chainstay, the tapered front allows a low bar height that doesn’t flex.

In the past I have made the decsion to use a full suspension bike for my race bike (usually a Specialized Epic). I now may re-think this, a 29″ wheeled bike really holds speed well, and helps the rider to feel less stressed and tired while riding the bike, all the reasons why I chose to ride full suspension rather than a hardtail in the past. A hardtail is also a simpler, and this day and age an important consideration is that a light hardtail is significantly less expensive than a full suspension bike. This bike is still a very expensive model (£2500), but it weighs only 23lbs, to get a 29″ wheeled full suspension bike that would weigh this little would cost nearly double!

I am amazed at how smoothly this bike rides over rough terrain, the big wheel, combined with the tiny seatstays really works to take the edge off bumps. This bike really feels like it has 0.5″ of suspension, and the big wheels really hold speed well.

Whyte design their bikes with a long front centre, this means that all their bikes have a fairly slack head angle and a lot of length in the top-tube, to use a short stem. This increases the stability of the bike, and gives the rider confidence descending, and it really works. If you were to jump off a £2500 23lb carbon hardtail with 26″ wheels, then on to this, the extra stability would be immediately noticable. BUT, the perception that a lot of people have is that 29″ bikes will be rubbish around tight corners, this is simply not true.

Pop into the shop any time and I can show you the bike, and arrange a test ride for you.

Dave Farmer

“I was searching for a lightweight jacket which would take the edge off of the winter cold and the Phantom jacket is a superb piece of clothing to have for the colder months of the year.

When i visited Cycleworks Petersfield to fill the void in my winter cycling wardrobe I was steered towards the Phantom Jacket and I must say honestly, I’m glad I parted with my cash, its WINDSTOPPER® construction is very good, clearly a well made item fit for purpose. It fits well and is comfortable to wear even on long rides, it has reflective patches to increase your visibility and three elasticated pockets on the rear for your bits and bobs.

I would advise if you wish to wear it for the really cold periods of the year, go a size up (theres not alot in it) so you have the option to layer up using technical base layers or fleeces. [The jacket] comes in h- vis and looks great in blue oh and I nearly forgot when it gets warmer you can zip the sleeves off- genius!!.”

So there you have it- Cycleworks recommended and customer approved, perfect.

Well done chaps, vive la Cycleworks présence dans le continent!