My trip to Derby Cycles

nicklouse

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First visit to the out sales area.













then some test rides




Shimano were there


as was Sram

29ers


Urban
Belt drive







Raven



Black Forest



Fat boy?


Black hills

Highland Peak

Whistler


Kids


mixed





next Ladies.
HT




FS





back to the mixed
Super Bud








Thunder



Project




Mmm




Mares Cross


lots


shopping






FSL









Raven


Factory tour










the All day free Beer dispenser.



some detail pics

Post mount on Raven.



warning on Raven and FSL


BB30ps


drop out on the Urban bikes









Anti chain suck plate on the Raven













Saturday evening food










something odd


supper time



still promoting their wears.


still going when we left


Drunken story time


finally
some Video.

a quick walk about the Hall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye3flPV55KE

you may remember the rider
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fVOCX_uyiw

Every thing gets tested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeLi7wSeaDA

even the brakes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e_6aVDmQEI

Mmm Cow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuxfDFOoXEM

Anonymous

when did focus bike start looking good? some of those are fab looking.

nicklouse

hell yes and the Raven and the FSL are LIGHT.

may i say lighter than the lightest. both in single Kg numbers.

Mynameisdann

JEALOUS

i like the idea of the shock integrated into the toptube what did you think of that :X?

Anonymous

Oooh, looks nice. Focus have certainly upped the ante in the aesthetics department, and there's some very nice touches on those frames. I wonder if they'll break through as a mainstream UK brand soon?

I have to say though... there was all that cow being spit roasted, and you ate a CHILD? :shock:

nicklouse wrote:

supper time

Anonymous

nicklouse wrote:

hell yes and the Raven and the FSL are LIGHT.

may i say lighter than the lightest. both in single Kg numbers.

if they continue to be the top value they always have tended to be then they will be killer bikes.

nicklouse

they should be better speced and a lower/similar price to last year.

PS I like Belt drive.

Anonymous

nicklouse wrote:

they should be better speced and a lower/similar price to last year.

PS I like Belt drive.

So, Nick. (I want to call you BOOM BOOM Beaumont ) in all seriousness, as a child eating, Northener, engineer, what, in your opinion, are the real world advantages of a belt drive?

Anonymous

nicklouse wrote:

they should be better speced and a lower/similar price to last year.

PS I like Belt drive.

i like the idea of it, how does the frame come apart for fitting purposes

nicklouse

yeehaamcgee
well i was a total non person until i tried one on Friday and again on Saturday.

tight and silent. and by the looks of it fitted for life.

I will be dropping Gates a line as i need some bits for a new project.

belt drive/fixed/Tig welding and tubes.

Anonymous

Are you going for a belt drive on your pub singlespeed bike? I reckon the blue of that belt would look awesome with those wheels (but I still reckon the brown brookes looks horrendous, sorry)

Anonymous

by the way, this is the blue belt I meant. I realised after seeing so many things over a short space of time, it might not be as prominent in your memory as it was in mine.

nicklouse

it may use the same wheels.

Anonymous

One last quick question about belts, sorry to hijack your thread. Do you think they have a future in mountain biking, with some suitable tensioners to enable chain growth for suspension design?
I mean, hammershcmidt is starting to get more accepted, maybe in 5 or 10 years time things will be entirely different?

TheNorthernTrain

:shock:

Amazing looking bikes. Loving that white full suss near the end before the big feast!

Some truely fantastic desgins in there as well. Love the top tube suspension placement as well. Beautiful bikes. I'm gonna start saving my pennies for one of those!

nicklouse

hard to say.

yes but not in a way that we would think now.

current thinking limits it to HT or a no change in the chain length.

the tension on the belt was as much as i expected.

antfly

I take it this isn't in Derby?

supersonic

I used to sell Derby cycles.

nicklouse

antfly wrote:

I take it this isn't in Derby?

correct.

Northern Germany.

Anonymous

nicklouse wrote:

antfly wrote:

I take it this isn't in Derby?

correct.

Northern Germany.

you've been waiting all evening to answer that one havent you.

nicklouse

sheepsteeth
not really. as i thought most people knew there was F'all bike industry in the UK.

but the fun bit is they make Raleigh for the European market (no UK bikes), but they do do some Electric bikes for Raleigh UK.

and there were signs saying "Raleigh best of England"

they also make some "Italian" brands.

Anonymous

i liked the torture chamber vid, was it just for show or is that really how they get down to work?

how much of a batch is thrashed like that and do they test to destuction?

nicklouse

that is for real.

if it breaks it breaks.

even though the supplier will have already run their tests they then run theirs.

you know what the Germans are like. thorough.

what may have been missed is the Conti tyres. where id the Yellow Conti logo?

it is now silver for Focus.

there are quite a few specials for Focus, ranging from the tyres to the Push lock brackets.

Anonymous

if they ride as well as they look and are likely to be priced (as menitoned earlier focus tend to be good VFM) then it'll be interesting to see if they are more popular in the UK.

wonder if they will remain soley sold by wiggle.

nicklouse

sheepsteeth wrote:

.

wonder if they will remain soley sold by wiggle.

that i could not and would not comment on as I know nothing about the UK market or anything.

But our Little shop sold the most in Sweden.

Anonymous

If they could secure a larger base of outlets in the UK, but keep prices similar, I reckon it could bitch-slap some of the more UK-recognised brands to rethink their pricing.

nicklouse

Ok lets take this a step along the road.

do you think the Web only and pay up front, but with refund if not happy, is OK from Wiggle or does it need to be, as we often say, butts on leather?

if butts on leather, Halfords or IBD and Evans or just Evans.....

sorry being devils advocate but interested.

Anonymous

Personally, I always prefer butts on leather. I'm not loaded, and really REALLY like to actually see what I'm buying first. It means a lot to me to have a proper fiddle with the bike, and a test ride before buying.
And, you cannot really put a price on good shop staff, who'll talk without bias about what is best for you, not what would give them the best profit margin.

Anonymous

im happy enough with the old internet bike purchasing sketch, its pretty mcuh how i get down to work but i know what suits me typically.

i would say the best way for most would surely be to have the bikes available for purchase from a number of places, more folk will even know they exist if they see them in a place like halfords or evans and more would surely be sold.

would a wider dealer network increase prices some how?

Anonymous

Now, sheeps, I think it's fair to say that you earn quite a bit more than me, based on your bike collection.
Do you think maybe it's easier for people with more disposable income to splash out on a bike online?
See, I can't afford to splash out on a moose, hence my trepidation about spending the best part of 2 grand on something I haven't seen in the flesh.

I'm not sure if it's just me, or just less "flush" people in general.

Anonymous

the sensible thing to do regardless of welth is to buy in the flesh, or atleast physically find one in a shop before you make use of an online bargain.

i only get away with buying bikes "blind" because i know what i like.

if i fancied something like a focus or a cube which use a system i am not familiar with i would definately have to try one out first.

the wiggle method is quite good, you can get a refund if not happy but i wonder how they feel about bikes that have been damaged during a test ride which you decide you dont like and then return.

atleast a proper test bike is allowed to get properly used and returned.