Hi PBK people,

Ok so the show seasons coming to a close and we are finaly getting out on our bikes again trying out some sweet new stuff and basically seeing if there is anything to tell you about??

1st off the nice people at Saddleback who supplied  Neutral support for the tour of Britain convinced me to try there  Vredestein tyres , like most people I hate change you settle with a tyre and never dare try anything else ,they are expensive , will the gamble pay, off what if I don’t like them, etc…

So with a new pair of Fortezza Tri Comps  http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=Y0049  fitted to the excellent (and in my opinion the best value/ performance balance ) Fulcrum Racing 3s I have been riding the rutted and damp lanes around Kendal made more perilous with the annual cyclist hell , hedge trimming. So  how do they perform?  Fitting was reasonable easy for those with strong thumbs the first suprise is the pressure these tyres can run at up to an impressive 145psi.

On the road they roll impressively with a easy win in the freewheel challenge against Chris, Thorns and potholes have failed to damage the tread no splits and no puncturs yet, so all good, the tyre features a SPL polyemer liner, hard wearing center tread but with soft shoulders that aid cornering grip.

All in all a excellent tyre for very fast training and racing on poor quality roads.

I have always had a problem with shoes for the Road bike finding Sidis too narrow and my favoured Nikes not being made for several years I have had to look elsewhere, Chatting to a few people I have been persuaded to try two brands both offering a wider and more comfortable fit

First of there are the Northwave Aerlite 5 with SBS http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=F6001 closure coming in just in time for a brief Indian summer these very bling shoes offer tremendous styling and a truly revoloutionary sole , featuring a wooden last that offers better heat protection and moulds to the shape of your foot over time for a great tailored fit , yes wood is old world but it really brings something to the racing shoe market the rest of the shoe is high tec with a carbon outsole for stiffness, power web foot support and Nortwaves sbs closure system that allows fine tuning while riding even in gloves?? Mega comfy and cool shoes for people who dont get on with Sidi and propably the best of the shelf shoe we sell….

Yes we will soon be selling custom Lake shoes that you can mould in the comfort of your own home (these are Carlos Sastra’s shoes of choice) these will be available in a massive range of sizes and the instep and heel can be custom fit at home and dont worry if you dont like the new shape you can re mould them, over and over they will be here soon ..but in the meantime im trying some lovely CX 235 Lake shoes these feature a carbon sub 50 sole Kangaroo upper and 3 velcro straps and are the cycling shoe equivellent of slippers hoping the 2010 range are as well made and comfortable when we get them in , in January.

I have just be pimping my MTB with PRO-BOLT titanium and alloy bolts look out for a full reveiw and a ever growing product portfolio in fact if you can think of a application for TI or alloy not currently available let us know we are looking at supplying component upgrade kits for all high end Shimano Sram and Campagnolo components as well as cleat bolts lockring chainring bolts seat collars and skewers.

One last thing some of team PBK racing team are off to Glen tress to play on MTBs and celabrate the end of the road season it will be a fine opurtunity to further test the Look Quartz pedals that seem to meet the holy grail of simplicity support and weight, first impressions are excellent just need to see what some serious abuse will do to them…

More from me soon

Enter for your chance to win a signed Bradley Wiggins Garmin Slipstream Jersey & a Garmin 705 GPS Computer with an RRP of £399.

This Competition Is Now Closed.

we are currently picking a winner so good luck everyone who entered.

Continuing the ever popular Track/Singlespeed theme at PBK and cycling in general we have just taken delivery of Evil USA’s new singlespeed bike:

Evil Resident

“Evil Bikes is an idea that has been a long time in the making. We are a family of riders, designers, and engineers gathering from a variety of action sports backgrounds. The sport of mountain biking and the desire to do something different is what we share in common. Drawing from out of industry inspiration and experience, Evil hopes to bring a youthful feel and creative look to the mountain bike industry. We are headed by people who ride, influenced by design, all with the goal to make the best bikes on the market.

Over the course of the coming year Evil will be releasing an expanded and re-branded bike line, including a wide range of suspension bikes featuring Dave Weagle’s latest suspension platform, the DELTA system. Thomas Vanderham is a critical part of the Evil design team and will be working hand-in-hand with Evil’s product managers and engineers to bring the products he needs to the trails you ride.”

This being their first single speed bike has allowed them to get the detailing spot on. From the shiny cable ties around the top tube to the super cool graphics and top spec hubs.

The graphics can be removed from this original and replaced with sticker sets which are being released every month by Evil and designed by a featured artist. So you’ll never be behind the times and if you have your own designs the bright white or lavender background will show them off well.

After riding the bike around the office and warehouse it comes across as easy to ride and very predictable. The brakes are US setup – don’t go attempting to skid with your left hand, the gearing is big enough to get a move on out on the streets (42/16) and the saddle is very comfy and looks great with its stainless springs on the back. The flat bar and dainty front fork look stylish, the hubs have replaceable cartridge bearings for easy maintenance.

It just needs a track sprocket and lockring ( Available here ) on the flip-flop hub to give a fixed gear bike; a great way to get around and quickly builds up strength in your legs. And a quick google search shows just how popular this type of cycling is (lfgss, fixed gear blog and fixed gear girls to mention a few).

On behalf of PBk we’d strongly recommend this bike if you need something for mainly urban riding and commuting, want to look cool (imagine seeing around your city centre) and also go out for the odd blast after work/ or treat your commute as a TT! The wheels should be bombproof and the drivetrain, being so simple is easy to maintain and fix. Also being able to alter your ratios so easily should give hours of testing fun on the road. Sizing wise the sizeguide is direct from Evil so should be accurate, I’ve been riding around on a small with about 4 inches of seatpost out to suit my 5″11 (6 foot if a girl asks) frame.

We’re now bracing ourselves and the servers for thousands of visits from people searching for the popular computer game!

Images available here

Our first ever lunch time ride took place this afternoon. After waiting for 12 o’clock with baited breath we were changed and ready in no time – except Dave who couldn’t find a pair of shoes to wear.

We headed out to Levens and into the flats of the valley before tackling the ‘Kendal Scar’ climb.

Todays ride was testing the PBK winter kit. Between us we had nearly everything in our range on, Fatty was tights and Winter Jacket, I was tights and gilet and Dave had Tights and gilet on. We kept warm on our blast along the bypass , good work Dave – dragging us along at 25mph for a couple of miles. The zips soon came down once the climbing started, but with the cruel wind there was never a chance of overheating.

Conversation along the way included discussions on the various climbing techniques,  Blackburns new range of lights for 2010 (which we are testing at the minute now the nights are drawing in) along with Fulcrums new 2010 range. Dave was on Shimano rs80′s which look good and according to him are “solid, good all round wheel with a light wheel for fast acceleration” and discretion prevents the male pole dancing conversation from appearing here – email Dave for more details.

The photo gallery is here: with the HD video to follow (definately this time now that Gareth has returned)

Happy staff

Arriving this week is the 2010 range of wheels from Fulcrum. We had the chance to see these wheels at the Eurobike show last month and were impressed.

2010 Fulcrum Racing 3	The Racing 3 is largely unchanged apart from the new Fulcrum skewer which can be seen in the first picture, weighing in at 1659g for the set they could well be the ideal training and racing wheel in one. The rim is 24mm deep with an oversize aluminium hub. Spoke count is 16 and 21 at the back which sticks with the 2:1 ratio, all bladed stainless steel spokes.
2010 Fulcrum Racing 3
2010 Fulcrum Racing 3

2010 Fulcrum Racing 5	The racing 5′s stats for 2010: Weight: 1760g. 20/24 bladed, variable section SS spokes. 24mm rim depth. The front hub is aluminium and oversize. Without the profile/machined rim of the racing 3′s the 5′s gain approx 100g.
2010 Racing 5's

Fulcrum 2010 Racing 7	The racing 7′s at just £159.99 rrp are set to become a winter favourite and will still perform well in a race or on the track.Keeping the 2:1 spoke ratio on the rear (20/24) they’ll be stiff enough and weighing in at 1930g they come in around the same as the competition.
Fulcrum 2010 Racing 7

Where do you visit if you have a bit of down time while at work?

Here are a few of our favourites, mainly bikes and people we know and like.

	Bike Radar is a great source for reviews, news and has a busy forum for all your questions/boredom
	A young photographer who’s helped us out a number of times and seems to have a flair for all things ‘camera’. If you need to contact him visit a Grantham watering hole
	Somewhere to escape to for five minutes, very funny although probably not for those easily offended.
	VeloNews: The American site full of news, reviews and a forum. Also covers all types of riding – road, cross, track, mtb…
	A great site for info, details and the ZedTech allows you to build a custom set of wheels – what could be more fun!

Hello PBK bloggers

We are about to embark on mid-week rides here at PBK towers this will have multiple uses, it allows us to test products to help you all make a informed choice, you can come along and join us meet the crew and ………….   well lets face it it gets us out the office during daylight now that the nights are drawing in.

As a precursa to our first event (Thursday 24th at 12am ) I thought I would give you a run down on Staff bikes and Staff members,

Fatty. PBK- Title; Head of  Purchasing. Type of rider; slogger. Bikes owned; PBK team bike with Campagnolo Mix, Cannondale CADD6 (BB30)with Campag mix, Cannondale Scalple with Sram, Cannondale Taurine XT (for sale ).

Chris. PBK- Title; Product Manager. Type of rider; sprinter. Bikes owned; ScottCR1 105 and Barracuda “road race” 7-speed Sora.

Dave; PBK- Title ; Vickys B###h . Type of rider; climber. Bikes owned; Cannondale CADD9 Sram Red, Cannondale CADD7 Dura Ace, Kona paddywaggon fixed.

Vicky; PBK- Title; Design Assistant /photography. Type of rider; Social. Bikes owned; Cannondale F5 “white and pink”, will accompany us with a Cannon EOS  5d MRK 2

We hope some of you will make it ? the regular time slot will be Wednesdays at 12,

PBK office trip

We are always sacrificing our time here at Probikekit towers trailing round the world getting the inside scoop for you our trusty friends and readers.

You may have seen the face book pictures of our trip to stoke for the tour of Britain??

Well I thought I would give you the low down on the behind the scenes activity, about the set up and what goes on at the event finish in the hours before the climax of the days stage.

Dawn its still dark and its very cold the men from the barrier suppliers are busy fencing off 3 KM of road for the run in to the finish, and the whole mobile village is setting up,

We have a finishing gantry across the line then to the left is the UCI timing and commenseurs offices, opposite we have the brooding mass of the Press box (a sinister looking big black glass box) Just down the hill is the VIP area for dignitaries official guests and freebie bagging scum (yep did you see us in there?) above the press cube is the doping control then we have the stage for the presentations. Just off the course was the Prostate cancer bicycle challenge watch the video !! (the Prostate Cancer Charity sponsor the Tour of Britain) Trade tents (thank you Saddleback and Soreen) and the ubiquitous burger vans.

We got to the finish area around 11 am and after driving the course and destroying the barriers parked up to have a nosey, a drink of coffee (i.e. beer and rose) and eat the buffet in the VIP area.

The official car park was full of the team buses, this is a great place to see what teams have the biggest budgets and clearly Rabobank and Katusha are winning the battle of bling with full 60Ft team buses parked up.

Back to the finish area and the early crowds where entertained by Joe Fisher (www.joefisher.biz) keeping a large crowd and a thousand school kids entertained is by far the hardest job in the village and Joe did it superbly by the end I reckon he had worked harder than the stage winner.

There was a GO bike event on for the local school children giving some early race action and Chris was soon out of breath and tongue tied after being intimidated by the beautiful Lauren Bason, one of two podium girls and also a cycle rider.

After the race has finished it really is all hands to the pump to disassemble the whole village and get it in the wagons for a 5 h drive to the next finish town, its quite something to see the team busses pulling out 10 mins after their riders have crossed the line.

The organisation really is impressive with upward of 40 police outriders, team cars, team vans, neutral service, press trade sponsors and hangers on arriving setting up, packing up and moving on all within 10 hours , it really is a case of the riders having the easy life sat in the eye of a storm they really can’t appreciate.

A massive thank you to Saddleback (suppliers of the Sram neutral service and the UK distributor for Sram, Zipp, Castelli and Felt) who where our congenial hosts and to the Tour of Britain organisation for unwittingly allowing us unrestricted access.

If you need a compare give Joe an email, if you need a podium girl get in touch with Lauren and for all other cycling related enquiries you know the place to visit: www.probikekit.com.

Oh and thank you M&S great travelling sweets them Percy Pigs, but can we have some for free please?

The photo gallery is here

Fatty

Just in today are a new set of design from the Sock Guy.

“SockGuy, the manufacturer of the most comfortable socks you’ll ever wear, is a thirteen-year-old San Diego-based company providing performance specialty socks that feature superior comfort, cool designs, and long lasting durability. SockGuy has hundreds of original sock designs to fit a variety of athletic activities that are sold in thousands of retail locations across the U.S. and are distributed internationally in over 20 countries. The company creates high end custom performance socks for events, clubs, shops, companies and schools, and can be found at large and small sporting events everywhere. SockGuy is also the most popular outsource manufacturer for major sports brands, so our socks are worn by top athletes and can be found in athletic stores around the world.”

Does what it says on the tin	First out of the box are the Wanker socks. A great present for your boss, cycling mate or a friend. Though not recommended for your Dad.As they claim Sock guy socks are amazingly comfortable and these are no different. The heels and toes are reinforced for many miles of happy wearing.
Wanker sock detail
Will pigs fly?	Another striking sock, if not so offensive is the Flying Pig Sock. Super bright pink toes and heel makes this sock stand out. Becoming the office favourite at the minute
Flying Pig
Large Cuff Fixie Sock	With its longer cuff this Fixie sock can be used on and off the bike with equal success. The 6″ cuff is ribbed and won’t slip down.
Fix Your Ride

Here are the pictures from yesterdays stage of the Tour of Britain in Stoke on Trent. The day started bright and warm with the cloud coming over towards the end of the race, no rain though which was nice. Bosen Hagen got the win, with a good sprint, after watching the highlights later on he went with quite a way to go. In the press pit he came across as a cool Norwegian guy who just likes riding his bike.

Photo Album here

Stage 5 Winner