Sir Alan Sugar - Pinarello

Mettan

Good article in the Mail: Sir Alan, on his Pinarello:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... tone-.html

Bhima

Fantastic!

But, jeez, a 59t chainring? :shock: I've got a 60t but it's only useful for going 60mph downhill. What does he need that for, when there are no hills on is route? :shock:

chuckcork

Well, he did say he was 110% committed, maybe he thought that should apply to such things as gearing as well?

cyclingfury

Hmmm the phrase "all the gear and no idea" comes to mind.
The guys in the bike shop must have fell about laughing as Sugar walked out with not one, but three top of the range Pinarellos - one of which had a 59 tooth chain ring that they had probably been trying to get rid of for months!

mrushton

cyclingfury wrote:

Hmmm the phrase "all the gear and no idea" comes to mind.
The guys in the bike shop must have fell about laughing as Sugar walked out with not one, but three top of the range Pinarellos - one of which had a 59 tooth chain ring that they had probably been trying to get rid of for months!

i can't believe he bought Pinarellos! All that money and went custom. He could have gone for Serotta or Parlee or Guru or any number of Euro custom bikes and a 59 ring!!!! Cancellara prob. only goes to a 56 - still at least it's an article on cycling but it makes too much of a play about the cost and all the trick kit.

Mettan

Good to see someone high-profile, extremely wealthy, putting the miles in - genuinely seems interested and enjoys it, (in a similar manner to everyone else) - would be a bit like Bill Gates doing a spot of Cage Fighting on the weekend - effort, commitment, out of your comort zone, all good.

proto

Doesn't look like a 59t chainring to me. Journalist's licence?

chuckcork

Mettan wrote:

Would be a bit like Bill Gates doing a spot of Cage Fighting on the weekend

Kind of like Peter Parker without the spidey powers?

Sirius631

proto wrote:

Doesn't look like a 59t chainring to me. Journalist's licence?

It's probably a 53-39. The writer jumbles them up and says that he didn't use any digits that weren't already there, rather like they do with the order of words in a sentance. :twisted:

Bhima

Yes, it doesn't look that big - I have a 60t on one of my bikes and it is noticably gigantic.

PostieJohn

Blimey, I know it's difficult to get the Garmin kit to look good, but matching it with that bike colour. Jeez, it's a shame we haven't got a :violentlyill: smilie.

Bhima

PostieJohn wrote:

it's a shame we haven't got a :violentlyill: smilie.

Good smiley page: http://subvertcentral.com/smiliereposit ... sitory.htm

Anonymous

Fair play to him, good to see someone out on the bike, putting the miles in and getting really good results from it, cycling karma.

Wonder if hes ever had someone drop him on a ride and shout "youre fired" on the way past?

Sorry best I could do. Mind you i have helped him, I did have an Amstrad 128k when I was 14...

fast as fupp

good article but if i was him id rather be riding michelle dewberry :twisted:

Mettan

dmclite wrote:

Fair play to him, good to see someone out on the bike, putting the miles in and getting really good results from it, cycling karma..

Agreed - that's how I see it aswell.

synchronicity

If you're going to ride that "McDonalds livery" Prince, three things:

1) Please tilt those bars down a bit or else find a different bar that is more comfortable. :x
2) Never use the 53 / 25T gear combination... it wears out everything. :roll:
3) Know the difference between a 53T chainring and a 59T one.

Bhima

synchronicity wrote:

1) Please tilt those bars down a bit or else find a different bar that is more comfortable. :x
2) Never use the 53 / 25T gear combination... it wears out everything. :roll:

1) It doesn't look tilted to me...?
2) Not on some (more expensive) bikes!

CTML

Couldn't think of a better person to promote cycling to be honest has a rolls and a driver...but still decides to take the bike what a man!

Mettan

CTML wrote:

Couldn't think of a better person to promote cycling to be honest has a rolls and a driver...but still decides to take the bike what a man!

Yep, fully agreed - for a rich guy who has "everything", good to see him putting the miles in like everyone else.

Parsnip49

What is with the Valverde paint job and the garmin kit? Most un-Euro

Those bars are stupid - drops look un-usable, as do the hoods.

Parsnip49

Bhima wrote:

synchronicity wrote:

2) Never use the 53 / 25T gear combination... it wears out everything. :roll:

2) Not on some (more expensive) bikes!

Sorry, are you daft? The bike has nothing to do with it.

A 53/25 combo will knacker the whole drive train same way a 39/11 would do.

Remember kids, dont cross chain

mrushton

That's besides the strain on your knees and the wheels. I presume the 53-25 ascent was done on a cadence of +70rpm?

proto

I wonder if anyone has ever dared shout at him "pay your f**king road tax or get off the road"

Full marks to the bloke. He's out there doing it, getting the miles in like we all do. If only we had a few more high profile riders like him, the dreadful general attitude to cyclist might improve somewhat.

proto

cyclingfury wrote:

Hmmm the phrase "all the gear and no idea" comes to mind.
The guys in the bike shop must have fell about laughing as Sugar walked out with not one, but three top of the range Pinarellos - one of which had a 59 tooth chain ring that they had probably been trying to get rid of for months!

What a miserable comment, tad jealous are we? He's got the dosh and he spends it on decent bikes and kit. Good for him.

And as for your comment the bike shop staff rolling about laughing, that's pretty miserable too. I'd put money on it that any quality shop with decent staff would be more than happy to sell him three bikes. They'd have the same attitude to most on here - well done Sir Alan. And they's pobably hope he comes back next year to buy something a bit better, maybe a trio of Colnagos or LOOKs

synchronicity

Mettan wrote:

for a rich guy who has "everything", good to see him putting the miles in like everyone else.

One thing he doesn't have - youth. hehehe

Bassjunkieuk

proto wrote:

cyclingfury wrote:

Hmmm the phrase "all the gear and no idea" comes to mind.
The guys in the bike shop must have fell about laughing as Sugar walked out with not one, but three top of the range Pinarellos - one of which had a 59 tooth chain ring that they had probably been trying to get rid of for months!

What a miserable comment, tad jealous are we? He's got the dosh and he spends it on decent bikes and kit. Good for him.

And as for your comment the bike shop staff rolling about laughing, that's pretty miserable too. I'd put money on it that any quality shop with decent staff would be more than happy to sell him three bikes. They'd have the same attitude to most on here - well done Sir Alan. And they's pobably hope he comes back next year to buy something a bit better, maybe a trio of Colnagos or LOOKs

If you read the whole article it does say that he was so impressed with the Prince that he brought 3 so he could have 1 at each home - the one he used in the article was the one that was meant to be left with at the Florida home, meaning that he could use the 53/9t chainring to it's best and was having to put in some extra effort to deal with the hills!

Still as has been said it's excellent to see such a high profile celebrity who cycles and I bet it was awesome for the journo to go for a ride with him and almost be on the same level :-)

Moaner

One thing he doesn't have - youth.

So what?
Don't you see how sad you sound?

dilemna

proto wrote:

I'd put money on it that any quality shop with decent staff would be more than happy to sell him three bikes. They'd have the same attitude to most on here - well done Sir Alan. And they's pobably hope he comes back next year to buy something a bit better, maybe a trio of Colnagos or LOOKs

If they took the pi55 out of him trying to make him look like a monkey and didn't try very hard to sell him a bike or two then you can be sure SrAlan would say.......... "Your fired!"

snellgrove

Parsnip49 wrote:

What is with the Valverde paint job and the garmin kit? Most un-Euro

Those bars are stupid - drops look un-usable, as do the hoods.

Maybe to you, but he obviously finds it comfortable like that...

synchronicity wrote:

Mettan wrote:

for a rich guy who has "everything", good to see him putting the miles in like everyone else.

One thing he doesn't have - youth. hehehe

So he's older than you or I, but he does 50 - 70 miles, twice-a-week. So I think you've come up with a moot point there.

I don't know what all the fuss is about - he obviously just enjoys cycling and I know that if I had the cash I'd happily blow £7+ grand on a custom framed bike. You all probably would too!!

:roll:

pedylan

The one thing the guy isn't about is b*llsh*t. That was one good cycling article, distinguished by its rarity.

Imagine what benefits cycling would see if that article was just one of many.

Our often marginalised, seen as a nuisance activity, would be safer, less stressful and more enjoyable.

dilemna

I think Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones from Dragon's Den cycle as well so maybe another interview can be done with them. That would be really great for cycling to add to SrAlan's recent outing. Maybe a Dragon's Den/Apprentice team can be mobilised. Adrian Chiles rides as well although not sure to what extent, he did the E2E at the end of last year start of this year.