BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Pure Racing
Making a debut of its own at the Cycle Show, Pure Racing introduced another previously unseen brand to the UK – Zimbabwe’s Faith race clothing brand.
Designed for BMX, 4X and downhill riders, Faith clothing has been tried and tested all year with the Pure Racing team who according to MD Rich Townsend: "Haven’t been able to put a single tear in the Duraflex garments, despite a few spills."
Both kid’s and adult’s sizes are available and shops could even custom-order Faith garments through Pure if a reasonable sized order was placed. Turnaround times are said to be "just a few weeks."
The race pants retail at £110 for the kid’s size and £120 for adults and both feature stretch panels that’ll ensure a snug fit around the rider’s contours. Lightweight jerseys and some casual garments are also available.
Ison
Gusset has made a bold move on the pedal front, going into battle with DMR’s Vault with the launch of the Nitro Pedal, available in black, blue, or red and costing £80. The 32-pin pedal weighs in at 383 grams, consisting of an extruded aluminium body and a half-bushed, half-sealed bearing set up. What’s more, the pins are flush mounted to the body around the base, preventing pins ripping out on tough hits.
Also new from the components brand comes the Boom V-brake, weighing in at just 150 grams and CNC machined from 7075 machined alloy. The brake’s body doubles up as a protective cage for the pad, enclosing much of the pad within. Again this unit will cost £80 and become available early in 2012.
On top of this, BMX racers should also look out for the new Krisis MX frame, carrying twin box stays, designed to be super-stiff out of the gate. Tapered tubing and overlapping seatstays add strength and rigidity where it’s needed. This sub four-pound frame will come in at around £300 and become available early in 2012.
Windwave
Holding claim to perhaps the most expensive bikes of the show, the Colnago Ferrari collaboration bike line, topping out at £12,999 with a model based largely around the C59, drew plenty of attention.
With just 200 of the limited edition Ferrari bikes built, not only is the bike supplied with Shimano’s Di2 electronic shifting, for the first time you’ll find it integrated into the frame’s seat tube. Though demand isn’t expected to be huge, Windwave will have a few in stock soon and interested dealers are encourage to get orders in early. For the city rider, the brand’s long-standing relationship with Colnago has produced a £2,999 ‘Colnago for Ferrari’ bike, which Windwave will also carry.
Cyclocross seemed to dominate the Cycle Show’s launch buzz, trumping the e-bike and 29er hype seen elsewhere this year. Windwave’s stand capitalised on this with the showing of a revised ‘best seller’ from last year – the Colnago CCX 3.0. Customers again have access to Ultegra Di2 for the £3,999 build, though cheaper 105 and Ultegra spec is also available.
Windwave’s Dan Jones told BikeBiz: "We’ve sold a lot of cyclocross-specific bikes this year, in fact, the UK-inspired World Cup CX bike at £1,549 was pre-sold long before any other in the 2012 range."
Urban Kreation
Slowly and steadily Urban Kreation is making a name for itself in a few of the more extreme niches within cycling. Having sponsored dirt jump star Sam Pilgrim and a number of big BMX names such as Isaac Lesser and Cycle Show ‘face of BMX’ Ben Hennon, Urban Kreation has been noticed.
The product itself is a bit out of the ordinary among the masses of casual wear typically sported by your average BMX rider. The ‘jeans’ are designed to fit with the trends – skinny jeans are catered for – though these are stretchy enough to accommodate knee and shin padding. The material has something in common with space travel too, having been used on the airbags that cushioned the Mars Probe craft landing. The reason for this is that the ‘Vectram’ material used is incredibly tear resistant. The military are looking into the material’s uses and Matt Hoffman’s stateside distribution firm carries stock, so it must be good.
Dealer enquiries can be made via Clive Robinson on 07905 611165.
Dare 2b
Now carried in 35 countries, Dare 2b has seemingly become a very big player in the cycle clothing market in a very short space of time.
The firm believes its success is all down to the garments it makes, an example of which is the Sprightly jacket for ladies and men’s counterpart the Diligent. Both garments were flagged up as being big sellers, much thanks to packing plenty into a reasonable price.
Boasting reflective piping, waterproof zips, a roll away hood, stretch panelling, a media pocket capable of holding phones or iPods, taped seams and a 10,000 hydrostatic water proofing rating, Dare 2b’s flagship jacket offers plenty for the customer seeking a multifunctional jacket at a good price.
Trade accounts can get in touch with Dare 2b on sales@dare2b.com, or via 01617491348.
RAW Bamboo Bikes
If Twitter is anything to go by, the Bamboo Bike was the talk of the show. Found on the test track, as well as among the stands, BikeBiz gave the bike a quick blast on the test track to see if the vibration-dampening properties of bamboo live up to the hype – and we’ll gladly report that smaller vibrations did indeed seem to be absorbed quite well.
Enough about journo-jollies, though. Back on the stand founder Rachel Hammond told us that each frame takes around two days to produce and costs £1,000 at retail. Built in Yorkshire using imported bamboo and flax fibre, the frame uses metal inserts in order to accept the rest of a bike’s components, though once these are inserted they won’t be coming back out. Cable guides are attached via a super-tough adhesive, as drilling into bamboo would cause fractures.
At present, the only retailer on the brands books is Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op, so there are opportunities to take on this unique brand across most of the UK. SLX and Deore-specced complete bikes are available at £2,000 and £1,750, respectively.
