Boris backs Biking Boroughs for capital

Whatever you think about the current mayor, it seems he is all for implementing more cycling infrastructure, which can only be a good thing!

He's now even following Charge Bikes on twitter!

Check out the full article at :- http://www.bikebiz.com/news/31662/Boris-backs-Biking-Boroughs-for-capital

12 Outer London boroughs have been selected as Biking Boroughs for the capital’s ‘Year of Cycling’.

London Mayor Boris Johnson and Transport for London (TfL) will work to encourage cycling in the 12 boroughs to help cyclists and would-be cyclists take advantage of the 2.4 million everyday ‘cycleable’ journeys in Outer London – most of which are currently made by car.

The boroughs – Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Croydon, Ealing, Haringey, Havering, Hilllingdon, Kingston, Merton and Redbridge – will receive extra support and expertise from TfL to boost bike numbers.

Each Biking Borough has applied for financial support from TfL to fund a local study to see how best cycling can be developed, potentially including measures such as working with schools, the NHS, Primary Care Trusts and local businesses to promote cycling, installing more secure cycle parking space or improving junction layouts to up safety for cyclists.

The Mayor of London's Transport Advisor Kulveer Ranger said: “2010 is set to be the year of cycling in the Capital, with the launch of London's Cycle Hire scheme and the first two Cycle Superhighways.

“However, it's in Outer London that the greatest scope exists to increase the number of people traveling by bicycle.

“It's staggering that half of all car trips in Outer London are less than two miles in length, a distance you can cover on a bike in around 10 minutes.

“The Biking Boroughs scheme aims to harness the huge appetite that already exists for cycling in Outer London, making it even easier to replace unnecessary short car trips with pedal power and delivering health benefits, better air quality and encouraging the use of local shops and town centres.”


Lets home Redbridge do some good with the money!

More Snow!

Whilst it's nowhere near as bad as the picture above, it always seems to affect everything. So, we're apologising in advance if there is any disruption to deliveries caused by today's flurry!

Has the novelty of the snow worn off for any one else?

Swobo Bikes now in at Triton Cycles!

Our first delivery of swobo bikes has now landed , We've had the Crosby and the Sanchez Galvanized delivered.




Here's what swobo say about the Crosby :-

Based on our cumulative 678.4 years of actual city and dirt riding, over many different types of terrain and distances, and in varied weather conditions, many of us at Swobo prefer the cross bike feel for banging around on trails, commuting and road riding. So it made sense that we design the ultimate two-wheeled version of the multi-tool….and to think that there’s not a single Swiss amongst us.

The result is the Crosby, an all-purpose road or cross bike. We started with a blank sheet of paper when we designed the versatile and convertible frame and fork, which means we didn’t try to adapt an existing frame, fork and dropouts to our design idea.

Fixed or free. Single-speed or geared. Cantilever or disc brake. Fenders and or/rack. Fat tires or skinny tires. Knobbies or slicks. Street or dirt. City or country. Touring or commuting. Racing or cruising. I think you get the picture.

The heart of the bike is the frame and our frame is shaped and butted aluminum with varied diameter and shapes to give it the optimum stiffness and compliance. Square-section top tube near the seat tube makes it easy to carry, if you are shouldering the bike for cross. The fork is carbon, designed to work with the frame. Frame and fork can accommodate cantilever brakes or disc brakes.

The ingenious SRAM Torpedo hub is designed to be either fixed or free, on the fly, with just 7 turns of a screwdriver. There is no need to flip the wheel, if you are riding fixed and decide you want to coast down the big hill you just climbed. Or vice versa. Put the screwdriver in the small hole, and seven turns later you go from track bike hero to single speed coasting casual..

Our custom forged dropouts allow for horizontal wheel movement to get proper chain tension when you are riding the bike as a single-speed. Wheel removal is simple and fast, as the wheel drops down, out of the dropouts. There is no need to push the wheel forward and drop the chain, as with traditional horizontal dropouts. An optional dropout can be swapped out, for use with a derailleur. Which is a French word we don’t use too often over here, but we’re open minded individuals over here.

The Crosby will be sold as you see it, as a free-wheeling single-speed with cantilevers, but the options are there to add gears or discs, fenders or a rack, tires with varied widths and tread patterns. On sizes 55cm and smaller, we use a seat tube clamp for the rear cantilever brake cable stop. Sizes 57cm and larger sport the welded cable stop.

The Sanchez :-

Take it and make it your own. We envisioned it as a whole, but if you want to chop it, or shave it, or slam it, or French it, or Brazilian it, go ahead.

We've replicated the exact look of our previous galvanized finish, but with paint. Quite possibly one of the tightest rides out there. Quite likely one of the cleanest chassis upon which to stamp your own mojo.

Rear hub can be flipped, if you want to run a fixed cog. Comes with a single-speed freewheel and front and rear brakes.

Swobo saddle, machined alloy handlebar end caps and dual-density grips are custom, as well as the white hubs, white machined rims, white handlebars, and white chain. Custom forged rear-entry dropouts with threaded adjuster screw, for proper wheel alignment.

We designed the 7 frame sizes with a proportional slope to the top tube. The smallest size, 46cm, has more slope than the largest size, 62cm, which is virtually flat.


The bikes can be found on our website here

A2Z of SWOBO

SWOBO Baxter (On display in Leisure Bikes » Hybrid - Rigid)
SWOBO Crosby (On display in Road Bikes » Cyclo-X Bikes)
SWOBO Del Norte (On display in Road Bikes » Singlespeed)
SWOBO Del Norte (On display in Road Bikes » Singlespeed)
SWOBO Sanchez (On display in Road Bikes » Singlespeed)
SWOBO Sanchez (On display in Road Bikes » Singlespeed)

Identiti Persona frame coming soon!

Identiti released some more details about its first jump into the fixed gear market this week. Here's what they had to say :-



We are stoked to announce that we have just finished the R&D on our new Fixed Gear Freestyle frame (the Persona) and we are now satisfied that it is exactly what we envisaged.

It should be available in Feb/March. In the meantime here are some sneek peek shots and details:

Freestyle Fixed Gear frame designed for the rigours of street riding.
BMX/MTB influenced lightweight and strong frame for the Fixed Gear Freestyle fraternity.

Identiti are already trusted the World over in the 4X and Jump bike markets and have the knowledge and ability to produce performance hardtail frames and forks for this evolving market sector.

Most frames currently available for Fixie use were designed as “Road” products, and will struggle to handle harder use, so we’ve used some of the stuff we’ve learnt over the years to provide a strong but not excessively heavy frame that can handle today’s progressive riding.
We’ve tweaked the classic fixie frame geometry to provide a little more space up front for bar spins etc, and a sloping top tube…to allow more room and manouverability. A downtube box gusset adds additional strength where it is needed most.

The Persona also features unique Taper-Lock CNC dropouts keep your chain tight without the need for chain tugs and is in keeping with the frames’ minimalist clean looks. With the Taperlock system, your wheel can never pull forwards under pedal torque.

Specs:
Sloping Top Tube.
Double butted TAF Cr-Moly tubing throughout.
19-15mm tapered seat stays.
Oval and tapered 410mm chainstays.
Taper-Lock CNC dropouts (no tugs required).
Open tail box downtube gusset.
Integrated headset (Campy type) included.
Sticker sheet included (non applied)

Weight : 2,305g (5.1 lbs).

Matte Black, Metallic Orange or Chrome Plate.

3 sizes: Small 49.4cm, Medium 51.4cm, Large 53.4cm.
Price around £275.00 including headset and seat clamp.

The Persona will also be available as a complete bike – full spec tba but they will definitely come with the superb Identiti FFX forks and Halo wheels. The attached images of the built up sample bike are pretty close to what will be the final specs.

Massive Charge Spoon re-stock!

We've had a big delivery from Charge bikes today which has seen us back up to good stocks of all colours of Charge spoon and as part of our January sale you can pick up a Charge Cromo spoon for just £19.99!

Our range of Spoons can be found here

Triton Cycles - Epping Forest Shop Rides

Epping Forest is one of Londons best MTB spots and its right on our doorstep. It offers miles and miles of great flowy singletrack.

As there's no set trails in Epping it can be a bit of a nightmare to find your way around and keep the trails linked up. So why not tag along on one of our Sunday morning rides and get the guided tour.

Our riding group are an easy going informal bunch of riders all there just for a good social ride. We cover anything between 10-15miles of singletrack on a Sunday morning ride at a leisurely pace. We stop for mechanicals and breaks along the way.

The route varies from ride to ride and will depend on who's out/trail conditions etc. We welcome riders of all abilitys and ages. Our riders typically age between 18-55. All we ask if your going to join us on a ride is you have a helmet and a spare inner tube. If you don't have these two items feel free to pop into the shop and we'll happily help you out.




Our Sunday morning rides normally start at 8:30-9am at High Beech (Google Map Link below) we meet by a Green Tea Hut at High Beech, there’s ample parking around and High Beech is one of the most central points of the forest. At this time in the morning there can be a lot of riding groups leaving the car park so if in doubt look our for the silver Triton van.

View High Beech in a larger map

If you'd like any more details drop an email to luke@tritoncycles.co.uk

Tips for riding Epping Forest

During the winter we'd recommend investing in some mud tyres, Epping is known for being a very muddy riding spot. Mud tyres will keep you upright and they'll also offer you better traction on the singletrack.

Hydration is key. A lot of riders will either run hydration packs or water bottles - whatever you choose, make sure you keep hydrated.

Hans Rey drops into Epping Forest

Hans Rey , MTB Legend and all round nice guy. Managed to make me one happy chappy last week. (For those of you who haven't heard of Hans head over to Hans Reys webite here.)



I was out riding with the guys from Hotwheels(GT Bikes Uk distributor) a few weeks ago. Blasting around Epping's great singletrack trails we got chatting about the GT team and how Hans Rey was currently in the uk. I casually mentioned to one of the guys from hotwheels how i'd always wanted to ride with Hans Rey, we finished the ride and i thought nothing more of it.

Fast forward a couple of days and i recieved a phone call from one of the lads at Hotwheels. Turned out Hans was heading over to Europe for a few Trials shows and to visit some of his other sponsers and would be up for a few hours hitting up the local Epping trails on Tuesday. I was speechless, not only was i going to go riding with hans but we were gonna ride my local trails!

Tuesday came round and we all arranged to meet at High Beech for 1:30pm. I rolled up fashionable(ok , not that fashionable just late) late at 1:45pm. Hans and the guys from hotwheels were already there. Hans has a killer motorhome he uses to travel around europe for Trials shows etc. its the same motorhome him and Steve Peat did their Ireland road trip in.

Hans showed me all the bikes he'd brought along for the trip his GT Zaskar Trials bike, His GT Marathon and GT Sanction. His bike of choice for Epping was the GT Marathon. We set off and headed south to Pole hill. I tryed to keep the trails interesting as hans is known for riding some crazy stuff , but Hans really liked the south trails mentioning that they had really good flow.

We then headed from pole hill down to connaught water and on to the loughton trails and back to high beech, Its was a good 2 hour blast with some amazing company. We decided to Finish the day off with a quick pint up at the Pub at High Beech before hans had to make a move to catch his ferry over to france.

Before hans set off he signed a few posters for me. A true ambassador for Cycling in all forms! Thanks Hans you really made my day!

Below is a picture of Han's Dad(who was along for the trip) , Hans Rey , Me and Dave from Hotwheels