Suffolk cycling humour
I found these gems in a book of Suffolk Humour published in 1976. We were having lunch at The Steamboat Tavern, which is full of all sorts of interesting bits and bobs like this. One of the aspects of this book that really intrigued me is that every person who had written into the publication with…
Velocipedia – Extreme Cycle Art
If Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) had drawn bikes I’m sure they would look something like this guy’s Gianluca Gimini. (Above: The five physical bikes built by Fikas Bikes of Australia for the exhibition) Gianluca was born in 1983, in Italy but has lived in Los Angeles and Shanghai. As well designing the bikes, as a graphic designer he…
Clip-in, Strap-on
As that well known saying goes: once you go clipless, you can’t go back … less. Being clipped into a bike gives the the rider many benefits, including a feeling of more control and connectedness to the bike, and efficiency when going up hills. However, a problem many find with clipless pedals is the choice…
Mounting Ventoux, fuelled by pies and ale
This coming Sunday (27/07/14) those who will be mourning the end of the Tour de France but finding themselves at a loose end in France could do worse than heading to Le Mont Ventoux. The sight that will greet them will not be the wire-thin frames of pro racers flying up the mountain like it is…
Dunwich Dynamo, portrait of a serial nutter
Tonight at around 8pm I will leave Hackney on my bicycle, joining me will be an estimated 3000 other cyclists. We’re heading for Dunwich in Suffolk, we’ll probably get there between 5 am and 11 am. But why? Dunwich Dynamo – phwaaaat? The Dunwich Dynamo (a.k.a the ‘Dun Run’) is an entirely unplanned, unofficial, unsupported…
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Frog Bikes Survey Shows Parents Tend to Opt for In-Home Bike Maintenance
Earlier this week, bikeradar.com reported on a survey performed by youth bike maker Frog Bikes, which showed that most parents do not take the time to have professional mechanics perform safety checks on their children’s bicycles. The survey of over 2,000 UK parents showed that most parents prefer to perform safety checks and maintenance themselves,…
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Corndogs the power-bite for cyclists
Cycling is no walk in the park. It is a sweat drenching, energy draining and physical challenging sport. Therefore, cyclists need to be oozing energy all the times. They need to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed regardless of the unforgiving terrains. This is where Corndog swings into to the rescue like a medieval knight with majestic…
Rumours of a shock-absorbing Time machine
Framemaker Time managed to get some gearheads salivating earlier this week when the front page of their website was replaced by the simple image of an X-ray of a human arm and the tagline “New sensations are coming soon.” The image seems to confirm previous speculation that Time would soon release a new fork meant…
Pippa Middleton’s Bottom joins race
If you have read the ‘Red-Tops’ this week you will be aware that Pippa Middleton’s bottom is taking part in a three thousand mile relay race across America. If you managed to get as far as the third paragraph in most of the papers you will have realised that it is not as miraculous as…
Bicycle bondage storage system
Stumbling into the ‘did it need to be done?’ category of bike gear design we have a giant stretchy skater belt that claims to be able to hold your groceries safely on your bike. We’re possibly being a little unkind, if there’s one thing that bikes always benefit from it’s a bit of free-thinking. We’ve…
A “Nutt” From Rotherham is Looking to Ride into History
….Ricky Nutt, that is. The cyclist from Britain is smashing asphalt whenever he can. June is the perfect month to do so, and Nutt is using the month’s extra sun time to bike himself into a world record. In essence, he is Rotherham’s version of Forrest Gump. The only difference is he chooses not to…
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Thank you, BMX stunt Boris!
When the scheme for the Barclays Cycle Hire was announced, critics all over London hi-fived each other. It was seen as game-changing and people pointed and laughed at those silly 4-wheeled vehicles that took up most of the road. “Cars? Those things are soooo 2009.” This bright idea was going to change the way Londoners…
Le Tour de France explained
Millions of people worldwide are transfixed each and every year as the annual Tour de France is run. In case you aren’t one of these people, and you don’t really get what the fuss is about, or maybe you just don’t understand the rules and terminology, here is a quick primer so that you can…
Noah Granigan wins race, licks tarmac
We’re not the sort of people who laugh at the misfortune of others, especially not when it comes to smearing flesh across tarmac. The main reason we don’t point and laugh when cyclists polish their lycra on the road is that without fail all writers at VeloBalls have done much the same thing at some…
Bombtrack bikes review
The Bombtrack bikes stand was the first exhibition stand that really smacked us between the eyes when we visited the SPIN London show a few weeks ago. This may have been the case because it was the second stand we came to after walking through the door, it may have been because we cycled across…
How to find bikes on ebay to convert to fixies or singlespeed bikes
Fixed wheel and SingleSpeed bikes are more popular now than ever before, and there are a lot of really nice ready-built single cog bikes on the market, but the very coolest fixies are conversions. The bikes I really love are almost always built onto old steel frames. So if you want a truly cool fixie…
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