always riding's cycling blog

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Always Riding
Always Riding

Established in April 2008 by two apparel obsessed friends, Always Riding exists to help you choose and wear the most comfortable, stylish, and technically advanced clothes available, whether you hit the trails or the tarmac. We'll give you a selection of the best brands, make it simple to take a look, and even easier to get them to your door.

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Bike Tart alwaysriding
 

Bicycles that double as art

Guitarists have been hanging their axes on the wall for years. Part instrument, part art, they look as good in the hands as they do mounted on a wall. Due in part to cycling's increase in popularity over the past decade, cyclist's have begun appropriating this trend, and now it's quite common to find a favourite steed artfully leant on a sofa, fixed on the wall, or casually slung from the ceiling in many a cyclist's house. 

In the spirit of bicycles as art, here's a few of our favourite selections that would not look out of place at home.

Sb_profile_crush

The sleek Crush from Sexy Bicycles

Blackjack_0

The refined FIXIE Inc Black Jack 

12gtath

The seductive Wilier Gran Turismo

Full40043

The 'replace girlfriend with' Bianchi Pista

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The adventurous Van Nicholas Pioneer (would look especially nice de-accessorised and sat between piles of National Geographic magazine)

That's 5 of our current favourites, so please add a comment with a link if you have some suggestions of your own. 

Tally ho. 
Posted by alwaysriding
 

Am I riding an electric bike, or mounted on a very fast suitcase?

Boxx-2012_fleet

Industry watchers have seen for some years now the electric bicycle gain traction amongst various manufacturers. Touted for innumerate reasons as the 'best new two wheeled thing ever' (just like the Segway was), the cycle industry seems to be increasingly lurching towards battery power as the 21st century alternative to our legs (remember those?) in a sort of gradual spiral of laziness that threatens to seal a Wall-E like future for us all. Whether we all end up in matching blue baby suits is for now at least, still an open question, but if companies like Boxx have their way, that reality will almost certainly be assured. 

As perhaps one of the most daring designs we have ever seen, the Boxx electric 'bicycle' certainly deserves some accolades for being different. There must of course be a market for this bike (whether that be one customer or 1000 remains to be seen), but for us, aside from the fact that we find the whole electric bike concept an affront to the simple motion and pleasure of cycling, does anyone really want to ride around on what basically amounts to a suitcase with wheels? Hey, maybe the makers are simply frustrated airline passengers, who in one fell swoop have both revolutionised the time consuming traverse of the airport, and invented a whole new sport of luggage riding.

We'd love to know your thoughts, but for now, we're just off to take the hoover for a spin.

Sources:

Posted by alwaysriding
 

Red Bull Hill Chasers returns Feb 18th

Let's not beat around the bush - there was no way a fixed bike, bmx or a mountain bike was ever going to win the 2011 Reb Bull Hill Chaser event held in Bristol, England last January. Yes cyclists, a road bke won - a svelte, smooth rolling multi geared bike designed to go faster than any other type of bike, hence its use in races like the Tour de France. Whilst we might dream of seeing Alberto Contador gamely trying to 'weeny pedal' his BMX past a looming Levi Leipheimer, it's just not going to happen.

All that being said, the annual Red Bull Hill Chasers event is still a fantastic evening of bike racing, and this year's event has seen the course shortened in order to try to equalise the disciplines, which is certainly a welcome step.

Bringing together a qualifying 16 amatuer and 16 elite riders in a frantic head to head knockout format that will halve the field until only two riders remain, Hill Chasers is set on a short, uphill section of Bristol's city centre (Park St), and is an apply online only event for amateur cyclists looking to participate. 

read more over at the Red Bull website >

Posted by alwaysriding
 

For Japanese city cyclists, gaman spirit rules the road

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"...it’s not that they don’t like their cars in Japan. It’s just that cycling makes sense." 

After Mikael Coville-Anderson of Copenhagenize (a very nice Bicycle Culture blog), ranked Japan as the world's third greatest cycling nation behind European heavyweights Netherlands and Denmark in a recent blog post, Tokyo by Bike took it upon themselves to provide some interesting information about why, despite the lack of dedicated lanes or pavements in some cases, cycling in Japan is booming and the gaman spirit rules the road. 

For city cyclists on this side of the world, it makes for an enlightening read, particularly for bike commuters in cities like London, where a workable city cycling infrastructure is still seemingly decades away. You can check it out here.
Posted by alwaysriding
 

Are naughty Tour riders moonlighting as flashers? Australia says yes

Tourdownunder

In a quite unintentionally hilarious article published this week at SBS.com.au, Tour Down Under organisers are reported to have had to issue formal apologies to a particular fan who accidentally caught site of a rider's 'little fellow' as he partook of some good old fashioned mid-race urination. 

 

 

In an interview with Seven News, the terribly upset spectator seemed to infer that the rider may have targeted her on purpose for a close up look at his little Popo: "I would like to believe it was an innocent mistake from him, but at the same time I dont see how he could not have seen us." Is this then the latest craze to sweep the peloton? Once racing hits full steam in July, can we look forward to more riders baptising the bitumen mid-crowd in a bid to compete for the most horrified spectator award? More worrying still - do professional riders not suffer that terrible long ride affliction, that bastion of embarrassment, the frightened turtle? 

Riders of the Tour - we salute you.
Posted by alwaysriding
 

City Cycling's Long Game

Cyclinginamsterdam

Not perhaps best known for their cycling features, nevertheless it was with interest that we read a revealing interview held by the Hindu Business Line with Mr Roelof Wittink, the Director of the Dutch Cycling Embassy. With India facing increasing urban space and climate pressures, it's unsurprising that they would look to the Netherlands as an example of what it takes to truly embed cycling at the core of urban life; yet what the article finds is that integrating cycling is a long game, and one that most cities have yet to join.

Here's the link to the article:

Posted by alwaysriding
 

Introducing the new Radioshack Nissan Trek Jersey

Music by Kraftwerk, jokes by Fabian, and a reassuring message from Chris Horner about the precise location of Luxembourg in the minds of his US compatriots - so went this week's Luxembourg launch of the new iteration of last year's Leopard Trek team, now known as Radioshack Nissan Trek, or just plain RSNT if you prefer. 

Having merged with Johan Bruyneel's Team Radioshack, the new RNST team takes some of the best elements from last year's Leopard Trek organisation, and introduces the leadership of the experienced Belgian along with selected riders from both teams and a larger US sponsor presence.

Of course, being Always Riding, our main concern is cycle apparel, and on that front, we are very pleased to see an update of the jersey that keeps last year's highly popular design as the main style, with the addition of well positioned Radioshack, Livestrong and Nissan logos. Our friends at Craft in Sweden are of course the producers of the jersey, of which we will be stocking the entire Radioshack Nissan Trek kit as it becomes available, along with selected off the bike wear pieces from the team. 

We'd love to hear your thoughts on the developed jersey design, we know a lot of Always Riding customers have a great eye for detail and design, so please let us know your opinion!
Posted by alwaysriding
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