book reviews

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show time

although, at the time of writing, the cycle show still had a day to go - and if you've been paying attention to cycling.tv some of the items and personalities present will have been brought to the screen on your own desktop or laptop. the post attended the trade/press day on thursday 5 october when wandering about the myriad of stands was seemingly a lot easier to do than on the public days.

much like the european and american shows, there was a preponderance of carbon fibre, and the strange upshot of this is that a number of manufacturers are starting to show the inside of their carbon as well as the woven/marbled exteriors. if you're going to spend £2500 on a colnago carbon frame, it doesn't seem too improper to wonder why there are some carbon frames retailing at just over a fifth of the colnago price. peter nisbet on the very colnago stand just mentioned, was able to show us the inside of a colnago carbon tube. we were both surprised by the fact that it looked better finished on the inside than the outside.

graeme freestone king on his eddy merckx/alan/vittoria stand pointed out that the latest merckx budget carbon frame was made in italy by a well known manufacturer, yet the frame and forks retail at less than £800. this in contrast to the taiwanese colnago clx which retails as a complete ultegra equipped bike at £2699. as the saying goes - you pays your money, you takes your choice.

and if it's money you want to spend, then the colnago 'forever' would have cheerfully have relieved you of £7500. colnago forever and then it would probably sit in the living room because you'd be too scared to ride it. mr diego colosio brought it over from cambiago as hand luggage.

but it wasn't all frighteningly expensive stuff. there were many stands promoting accessories (though some of those were a bit wallet loosening) and health products as well as italian cycling holidays, one of which thewashingmachinepost will probably be honour bound to undertake in 2007 purely to inform you the reader - it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

andrew, brian and james were having a busy time lining up and interviewing the everlasting list of celebrities and promotions people for the live cycling.tv cycle show programme. as i have mentioned elsewhere, i am very grateful to the guys for letting me in the studio while anthony interviewed rachel heal and bradley wiggins. the studio wasn't much larger than some hotel elevators, but furnished with a comfy chair (cardinal fang!) a sofa, two small remote cameras on tripods and a couple of chaps operating a laptop and a very neat little sony box that controlled the cameras, the station ident and showed them what was happening or about to. fascinating to watch.

i still have a fascination for the 'proper bikes', something displayed to great effect by velorbis and pashley. it might be a nice idea sometime to get a pashley up to islay and see how the stately approach works out in the sticks. not only did everything pashley have brooks seating arrangements, but as can be seen in the photo, there was a cylindrical brooks 'man bag' replacing the womens' wicker basket.

i'm afraid that, as a dyed in the merino wool roadie, i pretty much ignored the off-road stuff (apart from the muddy fox stand because i needed a carrier bag, and the colnago ibex carbon frame). but believe me, the mtb crowd were well catered for.

rapha had a bloke dressed in some rapha gear but made up to look like a statue, and who clouted mrs washingmachinepost on the head as we walked past. the rest of their stand, shared with condor cycles, rapha van had quantities of the coolest cycle clothing on the market. granted it's also just about the most expensive cycle clothing on the market, but if that's what it costs... i have a winter cap for test (and the weather looks like it's going to make it a cold, wet test) and a winter jersey due in the next few days. most bizarrely expensive item i saw (yes, it was on the rapha stand) was a leather bound 'rider's journal'. perhaps slightly smaller than a4 size, it was on their price list at £135. i was too scared to ask if it was a misprint.

people who weren't there really (but were there anyway) were mick and andy from prendas who have both been very supportive of the post and it was great to meet up and put faces to names. and after pestering the life out of some poor girl on the cycling weekly stand to find nigel wynn, i finally did. and believe me, it is good to know that the 'comic' is in such good hands, despite the appalling covers:-)

sir clive sinclair had his latest imposition on the cycle world there in quantity and available for test rides. while i didn't have a shot myself, there were plenty of folks precariously pedalling about the stands trying hard to look nonchalant and not fall off - neither of which appeared to be very easy to do. and just as an aside, bianchi shouldn't paint their bikes red

the show was great, more than worthwhile to attend, and i met lots of marvellous people and hopefully lined up some interesting stuff for future episodes of thewashingmachinepost. brian and gerry and i also met up with a great friend of mine, gerry bracken, who was garnering interest in his cycle brake light. we'll be back next year (oh, and the day before, i managed to view the cezanne exhibition at the national gallery.

now that really was wonderful.

...and i haven't washed my hand since

still reeling from the disappointment of being back on islay when eddy merckx will be at the excel cycle show (saturday 7th) and especially when graeme freestone king, the uk merckx bike importer offered a personal introduction (we are not worthy, we are not worthy), some degree of compensation was redeemed by shaking hands with the man on the right, who was at the show to help launch his new range of carbon/flax bikes. cobbles hero, johann museeuw, it was a pleasure.

the thrill of the chase

the post is back from the long journey south after attending the london cycle show (see article above) in the excel centre and many thanks to all those we met who treated us so well. you all know who you are.

and contrary to an earlier post, i was easily able to find a one inch chris king headset though, unfortunately, the importer doesn't bring in the one-inch version of the 'pretty in pink' headset. still, a colnago c40hp coupled with a chris king headset has future potential.

sadly, the quest to find a stem - carbon or alloy- that would fit a one-inch steerer failed miserably. best i could find was an adapter that allows a 1.125" to fit a 1". not ideal, but it seems that it's either that or a new colnago with a larger steerer. hmmmmm...

and many thanks to all at cycling.tv who gave studio access to take photos during the interview with bradley wiggins and tanya slater (see top picture).

as always, if you have any comments on this nonsense, please feel free to e-mail and thanks for reading.