race-pace.net: Bike Brands

Showing posts with label Bike Brands. Show all posts

Tuesday, 14 July 2015

Port Hardy Bags

Kickstarter contines to host a plethora of cool new businesses, with cycling start-ups taking their fair share of wallet and interest and challenging the big brands with boutique, specialised and interesting products.

One which recently caught my eye was Port Hardy bags. With a vintage look, luxurious leather construction and beautiful design, they stood out as a modern alternative to the coolest single speed, cruiser or city bike needing accessorising with a saddle bag, handlebar bag or crossbar bag.

Vintage bikes are having somewhat of a renaissance, events like Eroica Brittania are being swamped with riders keen to show off their waxed moustaches, tweed and sartorial elegance and shows like Bespoked in Bristol showing off the latest in hand built bikes from talents like Ricky Feather.

Attendees keen to differentiate themselves from the mass production market, with unique, hand-built steeds and matching accessories. In this market, Port Hardy are bound to do well, buyers look for quality and distinctiveness, something a little different, less seen and understated.

Coming out of Germany, the Kickstarter campaign kicks off today (14/7) if you want to get involved. Click on the the link to find out more. www.kickstarter.com

Photography below, you can find out more Port Hardy on their website. http://www.port-hardy.de

Friday, 3 February 2012

Onix Black Range

UK challenger road bike brand - Onix Bikes - today announce two new models for 2012.

Onix Black RH Bikes - Picture by James Maloney (Merseypics)

Named the Onix "Black" range, both models the RH and the RH Pro are painted in a stealthy black with either blue accents (RH) or red accents (RH Pro). It's the beginnning of another step in the journey of entrepreneur - Craig Middleton - who started the brand less than two years ago. Hear more about his story from the video below.

Onix have announced that Former World Champion - Rob Hayles - has agreed to be their chief tester, his signature can be found on the bike, hence the reference to RH. I think that is a major coup as Rob (also affectionately known as "killer") is one of the most respected guys out there and people value his opinion. He's got his name on these two framesets, so that's quite an endorsement.

Having seen both bikes in the flesh, I have to say they are both stunning with stealthy black paintjobs, offset by some nice black gloss accents and a either a striking blue (RH) or red (RH Pro) providing the main colour contrast.. Both are aimed at the second bike market, with prices starting from £1649 for a tiagra groupset equipped RH model, Shimano 105 starts from £1849, Ultegra from £2149.

The RH Pro is +£200 more than the RH, as it boasts performance geometry, integrated cabling and carbon drop outs. A Shimano 105 equipped model starts from £2099, Ultegra equipped from £2349.

Both bikes are very striking, with distinctive two tone paint schemes. They boast coloured inside forks and rear chainstays, the RH Pro has a distinctive bold red stripe down the toptube which has a lovely sense of modernity to it. Bikes can be built to specification using the Onix bike builder within the website, so let your imagination run free.

Onix Black RH

Tech Specs - Onix RH Frameset

Toray T700 3k carbon - weight 1030g (490mm frame without paint)
Taller head tube providing a less aggressive, more sportive riding position.
BB30 bottom bracket
Top tube internally cabled
Aluminum rear dropouts
FSA Orbit C40 integrated headset
Straight bladed full carbon fork with carbon steerer & carbon dropouts - weight 380g without paint.

Onix Black RH Pro

Tech Specs - Onix RH Pro Frameset

Toray T800 UDM Carbon. 70g lighter per frame than 12k/3k carbon - weight 960g (485mm frame without paint)
Wider Flow chainstay design. Chainstays flow out side the seat tube and into the down tube giving extra width to the BB area providing stiffness and stability to the ride.
Wider seatstays for extra stability
BB30 bottom bracket
Fully internally cabled
Carbon rear dropouts
FSA Orbit C40 integrated headset
Straight bladed full carbon fork with carbon steerer & carbon dropouts - weight 380g without paint

The bikes will be available from April 2011and Onix are offering a 10% discount for pre-orders, which effectively means you'll be able to get a better groupset if you're prepared to stump up your hard earned now and wait until then for delivery. Nice idea if you're in the market for a new bike for Spring (reaches for wallet).

I have to say it's hard to pick between them, however the RH Pro is simplicity itself, reminding me of the Specialized Venge in terms of paint job. Onix Chief tester - Rob Hayles - had nothing but praise for the way it performed in testing, I'm looking forward to riding one.

You can learn more about the whole story by reading the Onix blog here. As an entrepreneur trying to make it in the market, you have to tip your hat to Craig Middleton. He's designed a couple of beautiful bikes, got a big name as his front man and a crowd of people supporting him on social media. I think we'll all see a lot of these bikes in coming weeks and in the spring when deliveries start. More pics can be seen here.

Tuesday, 31 May 2011

NeilPryde 78° Alize SL TT Seat Post

Hong-Kong based NeilPryde Bikes have just introduced their new 78°
Alize SL TT seat post: a full-carbon, super-light seat post designed
to enable a 78° seat angle. The seat post can be combined with their
Alize bike to achieve a Triathlon/TT specific bike fit.

Alize 78 degree TT post

Specifications:

· Adjustable seat tube angle up to 78 degrees

· Ritchey saddle clamp on monorail design

· Length: 350 mm (long M, L, XL, XXL) and 320 mm (short S)

· Weight: 0.24kg (long M, L, XL, XXL) and 0.22kg (short S)

The New Post aboard a Neil Pryde Alize

NeilPryde are offering a 20% discount during the pre-order period (until early July). For further information, click here.

Monday, 11 April 2011

New Bike - Onix Azzuro

Here's a first peep at my new wheels I picked up this morning from UK on-line bike retailer Onix.

Onix is the brainchild of entrepreneur Craig Middleton, who resides in the Preston area of the North West of England. I'd heard of the brand before as they appeared on my list of road bike manufacturers, but confess to not knowing much about them.

It was only a week ago that I chatted to the MD of the agent that imports Bioracer kit - Ken Jones of Onimpex - and he extolled the virtues of the frame, it's stiffness and race handling, claiming it's one of the best bikes he's ever ridden.

Ken is a road racing vet of over 25 years and was riding the Paris-Roubaix last Saturday with Sean Kelly, so that was praise indeed and it stirred my interest in the brand, particularly given they are based here in the North West of England. The bike had a great write up from Road Cycling UK.

I got hold of Craig the next day on Twitter and here I am a week later with one of his bikes. The speed of business nowadays eh.

So Why Another Bike?

I'd been thinking of another bike for a few months. Primarily, I wanted to have a bike with a standard chainring on the front. My Dolan Ares has a compact and as I get faster, I'd like to see what top end speeds I can achieve. Opting for a full Ultegra groupie on this one with 53/39 front ring, I'll use this bike for the flatter sportives like the Cheshire 100 and the Ares for the hillier stuff.

First Impressions

The paint job is lovely. The photo's on the web don't really do it justice. The black parts of the frame are glorious Toray T1000 carbon weave and are beautifully offset in the high gloss white, think the bike would look awesome just in black on its own with that finish.

Build quality is good, it's got a large oversize bottom bracket and an interesting flared rear left chainstay, which Onix claim is the secret to the stiffness of the overall frameset. I'll get a proper review up when I've got some miles in on it.

The overall look of the bike is really nice and I think a real contender if you're in the second bike - £1500 budget category upwards. As Onix only sell on-line, they demonstrate excellent value as you get more bang for you buck and you can put better components on a very good carbon frame.

I'm really happy as I prefer to support niche bike brands, particularly if they are UK businesses. Like pretty much all bikes nowadays, the manfucturing for Onix is out in the Far East, with the design and build being done locally here in the UK. I wish more roadies would consider supporting start-ups and smaller brands, businesses like Onix, deserve our support.

Monday, 4 April 2011

Milani Seigiorni Track Bike


Milani Seigiorni Track Bike

You know when a bike sometimes catches your eye. Browsing on Wiggle earlier I came across this beautiful track bike - the Milani Seigiorni. Even more importanly it's got £650 off of it and is on sale at £999 in most sizes. I didn't even look at the spec, as I thought the bike looked so lovely. I guess that's the Italians for you.

I hadn't heard of Milani before, so dug about and came up with a little on their history.

"With the origins of the brand dating back as far as the 1920s, former racer Natale Milani fuelled his passion for cycling by making high quality, hand-built racing frames in Gallarate, 35km north of Milan. They soon gained legendary status among Italian frame builders.

After his death in the 1990s, the company became dormant and various Far Eastern companies offered to buy the name. Natale's son, Celeste, was determined to keep the heart and soul of his father's business alive and relaunched the brand.

Today, the exclusive bikes bearing his father's name retain many of the same features. They are still built in Gallarate with the meticulous attention to detail and high standards of craftsmanship with which his father founded the business."

If you want to be spinning round the velodrome or the streets of London with some panache, think this would do the trick. Sorely tempted.

Friday, 4 March 2011

New 2011 Boardman Road Bikes

Biking supremo Chris Boardman has unveiled his new range of 2011 bikes in London this week. Comprising of five bikes, ranging from £649.99 to £1799.99, Boardman is moving up the market, to take on the mid-market, with his latest Pro-Carbon bike.

Having a quick review of the specs (see table below), you can see that Boardman has focussed around groupsets and wheels to create the step-ups in the range (yellow shaded boxes indicate step-up from the previous model).

The cycle to work crew won't be able to obtain a sub £1000 carbon bike in the new line-up with the team carbon moving up to £1299.99 (although it may go on sale at key periods).

Comparison Chart of Boardman 2011 Bike Range

Geometry is shared between the Race & Comp, slightly smaller head tube on the Team and Team Carbon and the shortest head tube and integrated cabling on the Pro-Carbon with Ultegra components most of the way round.

What's most striking is a line-up of a further nine bikes in the new elite series, so there should be a good range of bikes to choose from. Boardman is clearly keen to press into the top end of the market. It will be interesting to see what the distribution strategy will be for elite range. Will they stick with Halfords stores or will we see a Planet X style web operation pop up?

Talking of which, the upper end of the market is quite crowded. Once you're talking over two grand for a bike, you have a lot of choice and quite a bit of bike snobbery, so we'll see whether the strength of the new range will stand up for itself in amongst some of the pedigree brands.

On-line brands like Planet-X and Ribble are raising the game, with good bikes equipped with high end groupsets under two grand, so they are capturing a good part of the market. The Planet-X SL Pro Carbon with SRAM Red stands out as good value at the minute, coming in at £1299.99. Arguably, that's a lot more bike for your money than the Boardman Team Carbon. Ribble's new Stealth bike with Ultegra starts around £1499, also worth consideration.

However, the Pro Carbon looks a decent bike. Good racing geometry, Shimano Ultegra groupset most of the way round, integrated cabling and dropping in at 17/6Ibs. I think they'll be quite a few riders who've owned the previous Team Carbon bikes that may well consider upgrading.

Boardman clearly has ambition to grow its share in the premium sector of the market and the new 2011 range is signalling a clear intent to get serious.

Monday, 28 February 2011

Boardman Road Pro Air 2011

This week sees the official press launch of the new 2011 road bike range from Chris Boardman. The darling of many a cycle to work rider, Boardman has established his range as a good value to money proposition in the sub £1000 category.

However, he's clearly seen an opportunity to move up the range with the introduction of two new models in the Elite range - the Road Pro AiR and the SLR. Makes sense, as there is a huge market around the £2,000 price category, with Specialized and many of the Italian brands clearing up.

Provional reviews that I've spotted about the Road Pro Air indicate an out and out race bike, with internal cable routing, flattened downtube and stiff frame. Initial reviews suggest an Ultegra groupset, Mavic Ksyrium Equipe wheels and the rest of the componentry being Boardman, finished off with a Fizik Arione saddle.

Pre-launch info suggests a £1799 price for the Road Pro Air, which will put it firmly in the category as a serious contender. Boardman has built a really solid brand with his existing 2010 range, he'll still get the usual grumbles about Halfords service and set-up, however this has to be balanced with the value of the bike, pound for pound. Bikes are expected to be in-store in the next few weeks.

Friday, 25 February 2011

Storck Scenero wins Bike of the Year 2011

Cycling Magazine Cycling Plus have named the Storck Scenero their coveted "Bike of the Year" award for 2011.

You don't see many Storck's out on the road in the UK, which is a shame as they are lovely bikes. Based in Bad Camberg, Germany, founder Markus Storck has been knocking around the bike business since the mid 80's and has been responsible for many beautiful bikes over the years.

It's up against tough competition in this category, amongst brands such as Cannondale, Pinarello and Specialized all competing with bikes like the superb Roubaix.

I'm pleased to see them get it. I think there are a lot of great bikes out there, if you look beyond the usual American and Italian manufacturers. I recently compiled a list of over 100 brands you can choose from if you want something a bit more distinctive. You won't go far wrong with the Storck, that's for sure and it's a hard won award, so chapeau to them.

Availability is not so common as the major brands. If you want some pricing idea, you can check on a number of builds here. If you want to upgrade the Shimano 105 to Ultegra, you'd be looking around £2600 for the bike right up to £4.2K with Dura Ace, so it's easy to see your cash disappear.

Saturday, 5 February 2011

List of Road Bike Brands & Manufacturers