what can I expect from a review?

With the RideWell reviews I'm aiming to give a fair and unbiased overview of the equipment that will be blogged in the review headed features. The tests will encompass both Road and MTB products, just read the ones that interest you!

All of the components listed will have been thoroughly tested for a good time in order for me to give you a thorough overview of the product and the review piece will be a reflection of my time with the part - my aim being that once you have read the piece thoroughly you should feel as if you have used the product yourself!

The aim of the bulk of the review will be to be as in depth, opinionated and as technical (geeky) as possible, Bicycles are technical bits of kit these days after all, but I will give you the plus and minus points of the product in an overview that you will find at the bottom of the review if you don't have the time to read the whole article.

I want to get away from a points scoring system, we all know one mans XTR can be another mans XO and I want to keep the tests fair and unbiased - with the emphasis on the product quality and performance, not brand.

In the case of ride spots I will be recruiting the help of trusted others when the riding is beyond my capability - but I hope to be the test pilot for most posts. I will review the spot on ease of access, build quality, friendliness and facilities.

If you have a component or spot that you would like reviewed, or would like to be a reviewer, please get in touch with me via FaceBook.

Product test: Tacx Lumos lights

Commuting to work on your bike is a hazardous business at any time, but the winter months present the extra difficulties of inclemet conditions and increased hours of darkness.

Light technology has progressed a long way since the early days of the Ever Ready Night Rider type lights, but front lights have taken the spotlight (so to speak) leaving the rear lights behind them (I know! I can't believe the puns and I'm writing them!) You need to stand out on the roads, having a good bright rear light is important, the brighter the better in my opinion, but this comes at a cost - Hopes District rear light is epilepsy inducing in flash mode, retina tearingly bright, but also eye wateringly expensive.

They also don't give the following motorist an idea of the width of your bike. This is where the Lumos lights from Tacx come in, being located in the ends of your road bars. They also have a built in indicator function which I do use, but don't know how well it's seen by drivers so I always accompany it with a hand signal. The front of the bike gets a look in too with a forward facing set of LEDs which you won't be able to use to see by but do a good job of illuminating the edges of the road (and your water bottle). At a stocking filler friendly price of under £20 they are easily affordable and a cinch to fit, just remove the bar caps from the end of your bars, select the correct size o-ring for the width of bar you have (I found the one supplied fitted first time) unscrew the collar and remove the AA battery temporarily to allow you to locate the collar into the bars using the (supplied) 4mm allen key (it works using an expansion wedge fitting - but you may need to give it a gentle tap with a soft blow mallet) then re-install the battery and screw the main light body into the collar.

Plus points? Cheap, easy to install, give a good idea to the width of your bike, light (in both senses) waterproof.

Minus points? Lights don't naturally screw to a stop into the collars with a scary 'click' before it feels properly tightened. (they won't fall out - but I still don't like this) buttons are not defined enough to click well with winter gloves. They run out of battery quickly in cold weather and can sometimes freeze on if the conditions are cold enough or the batteries have become low.

Getting ready for the summer season of cycling.

I love the first warm ride of the year. It's a stand out occassion. I can look back over the years and remember the first day of the year where I could wear shorts, t-shirt and knee pads on dry dusty trails on the Mountain Bike or my summer lycra on the road bike.

Earlier than I expected I had my 'stand out ride' last Sunday. I was able to blow the cobwebs off of the 'fast bike' and enjoy some lovely dry roads and some unseasonable warmth. A far cry from a couple of weeks ago when I had my spiked marathon winters on and the temperature was -8 degrees!

I also don't like this time. The winter miles are hard, yes, but in general they are slow ploddy 'get the miles in' type of rides. Your challengers are the elements and the temptation of a warm mug of Cocoa and a slice of cake. But now the evenings are getting longer, the weather getting warmer, the faster bikes are being unleashed from the stable - and this means one thing - it's time for PAIN!

Now the challenge is other riders, events, Personal Bests (PB's) top speeds, average speeds, cadence, watts... PAIN!! Gone are the ploddy miles replaced by sharper harder sprints, decent hill climb work, fast technical decents and sitting on peoples wheels.

Lent is a time of year I try and use to get rid of a few unwanted pounds. this is difficult for me, I have a sweet tooth and have got used to having the odd chocolatey treat after tea. They say chocolate is as difficult to give up as cocaine and I guess like any addiction you need a goal, a want to break the addiction. My goal, my 'want' is to be faster than other riders, to be able to dance up the hills like Contador, to bash in sprints like Cav, yes, selfishly to be better than the next man.

I use this thought when the biscuit cupboard rears it's ugly head after tea and in the words of the great man Lance Armstrong - "sometimes you have to skip meals - to push yourself away from the Dinner Table, and it's not very fun, but the rewards on a 10km climb for losing those extra pounds can be minutes" Now that's going to make me better than the next man...

If you are going through this time of training, my thoughts are with you! Check out my other blog posts for hints and tips of how to prep you and your bike for your best season yet. Good Luck!

Welcome!

Thanks for taking the time to check out my Blog!

I'm aiming to make these posts a good read and to offer my opinions on all things bike. I want to cover things like maintenance tips, product reviews, shop overviews through to riding advice and top riding spots. I'll be covering Road and Mountain Bikes as they are my main focus of riding, but will also be dipping in and out of other styles to keep things fresh. I'll also be detailing my own riding experiences, trying things out on your behalf - learning the hard way so you don't have to if you like! My long term aim is to turn this into a useable website full of the above features, so if you'd like to have your product / shop / ride spot etc included here (and rated) please get in touch with me.


I'm going to draw on my experience first and foremost as a rider, but also with the experience I've built up whilst being in the trade, right through to my current career - training shop staff and keen enthusiasts in all levels of cycle tuning with the Cytech brand at ATG-training.

So a bit about me to get the ball rolling...


I've been riding bikes seriously since 1989. This makes me feel old! before then I rode because I enjoyed it (still do!) and I was better than my friends (maybe this was why I enjoyed it!) I have raced Mountain Bikes competitively in the early '90's (you'd call it XC nowadays) the odd DH race (certainly NOT competitively!) some urban street and recently spent a lot of hours pounding the blacktop on the skinny wheels - getting some good results in the odd sportive here and there.

I have been lucky enough to have my hobby as a profession and have worked in cycle shops for a good few years benefiting from meeting and learning from some really talented mechanics (you know who you are!) and hopefully have inspired some to take up a career in what is the coolest and 'in trend' sport of the moment.

I've had some downs as well as ups (both litteral and figurative!) a heavy fall on my left arm has left me with a distinguishing scar to the left forearm (two plates - twelve screws - skin graft and a stomach pump for good measure!) a couple of concussions and a hyper-extension of the neck with numerous abrasions from both the dirt and the tarmac. I've had times when I've run out of everything (bonked) during a ride and had to push the bike home, had stuff thrown at me and been called every name under the sun - although I'm still impressed with some drivers vocabularies and sure there are a few I haven't heard! I've had baffling mechanicals (yes I have!) and times where things just don't seem to go right.

All the above said though, a wise man once said "it's better to have a bad day on your bike than a good day at work". Although this doesn't really work for me now, does it?!


I hope you have fun reading through these Blogs, maybe learn a few things, get inspired and motivated or even visit somewhere new, whatever, make sure it's on two wheels!!