BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
During September trade customers were invited to Madison’s Milton Keynes distribution centre to view the latest bikes from Commencal, Cervelo, Ridgeback, Genesis and Saracen – all of which have seen extensive work take place in the design department.
According to the firm’s MD, Dominic Langan, “retail response has been fantastic.” Most 2010 product is now available for order. Highlights include:
CERVELO
Cervelo has taken the ‘if it ain’t broke, no need to fix it’ approach this year, choosing to revamp just the colour schemes.
Technical details have been left alone, as to date the P4 is still winning races by the bucketload and shows no signs of slowing. As per recent years’ ranges, it’s framesets only for the UK as Madison believes 99 per cent of Cervélo customers have their own preferences when it comes to build kits and would prefer to customise their race rig.
GENESIS
Always popular with the dealers, Genesis once again takes British-made Reynolds tubing and turns it into super stylish bikes. This year the range has expanded and has been brave enough to introduce a genre-defying flat-barred singlespeed, as opposed to toying with the 29er market. The £499 ‘Day One’ comes in both flat-barred and drop-barred versions.
According to Genesis brand manager James Olsen: “The Day One is so much fun to ride and it beats most through singletrack due to its superb handling. Most dealers have clicked with the bike, so pre-orders have been high, despite the bike not fitting into a particular genre.”
Price points on the 2010 line are well spaced too. For example, the road range is made up of two aluminium and one steel build, costing £599, £799 and £999, respective of material choice and spec. Perhaps the highlight of the dealer previews came in the form of a titanium Altitude, which weighs in a pound and a half lighter than its steel counterpart.
The entire range is designed at Madison HQ and is specced to the UK market, utilising the shorter stems and wider fork choices popular with homegrown trail enthusiasts. Olsen also confirmed that a full-suspension build was being considered, though it “would have to be just right before hitting the market”.
RIDGEBACK
Titanium made an appearance within the Ridgeback range too, with a superlight Ultegra-specced Flight road bike taking centre stage among the more budget friendly commuter and kids’ catalogue that the brand is more known for. The Flight build on show during September came specced with a flat titanium Ora
handlebar, ten speed Ultegra gearing and a smattering of Ridgeback’s own product.
SARACEN
Despite having already been presented to dealers at a launch earlier this year, the Saracen range was on show. Having seen what was on display, BikeBiz dug a little deeper and discovered that brand manager Simon Wild was busy preparing the full-suspension Ariel ahead of the Earls Court Cycle Show. Wild also gave BikeBiz a sneak peak of the downhill model currently in the works, revealing only that “it would have an incredibly efficient transmission thanks to the precisely placed pivot points of the rear shock”.
COMMENCAL
Commencal had plenty of new product on show, including a super-limited titanium Absolut jump and four-cross frame, of which just six of each will appear in the UK. Having had design input from Dan Atherton, the geometry sticks to the race-proven geometries of his personal race bikes. When the frames land with Madison, retail price is anticipated to be £1,899.
The jump also frame carries what is perhaps a first in the MTB world – Fly Bikes’ patented ‘Spanish’ bottom bracket has been chosen.
Also of note within the Commencal stable, the Absolut SX builds were grabbing attention with the inclusion of a retrofitting dropout system for seasy change of use. The slopestyle geometry, along with the Fox 140mm rear shock make the SX ideal for “throwing down hills”. A frame, seatpost and saddle combo is available for £1,400, while the complete build will cost £2,200.
BELL AND GIRO
In a world first, Giro has come up with the first ‘potty’ style in-moulded helmet, which will retail for £39.99. BMX riders such as Toby Forte have been putting it through crash tests and have reported that, despite weighing a lot less than a conventional design, it’s good for protecting the rider’s head.
Bell also debuted the Jimbo Philips designed helmet collection, which spans seven helmets, including two graphics on the new Sequence helmet, two on the Variant, two on the Faction skate-style lid and one on the Drop full face helmet.
Langan concluded: “Obviously we are very excited about the new Saracen range, which will start arriving in stores this October. The team has been working flat out to make this happen on time. The new Madison clothing line is also exceeding all expectations and the new Genesis range is by far the best yet. The recent response from our retail customers has been fantastic.”
Madison: 0208 385 3385
