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Stay safe in style

Now we’ve put the clocks back or gone onto daylight saving time as the call it in the US, it is more important than ever to visible on your bike.

If you ride a retro-styled or vintage bike it can be difficult to find lights that keep with the feel of you ride.

We’ve just started to stock vintage style front headlights made by leading European manufacturer Axa-Basto.

They are LED powered to ensure a brighter light that lasts longer.

Buy yours here and been seen on your bike.

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The Jersey Project Book

We spend hours (yes literally hours) looking at bicycle related products on the internet. Every now and again we find one that gets us really excited and this is one of those…

We buy and sell lots of jerseys. One thing that we notice is the way that they have evolved from a woollen top with flock lettering to a highly advanced piece of sportswear.

The Jersey Project catalogues this journey. Based on the Dutch book Koerstrui, the author Bill Humphreys who was the US National road coach and soigneur has translated the original works and added an additional 50 pages on US cycling. It would be impossible to show every team’s jersey but there’s a big selection and a tribute to some of the great cycling teams that no longer exist.

Lavishly illustrated, the Jersey Project is a classic in the making and is the type of book that is not read end to end but dipped into.

200 pages, hard cover. 250 x 175 mm

Unfortunately now out of print and unavailable. 

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Cycle Show 2012 Birmingham

We went down to the trade day at the Cycle Show at the NEC today.

After getting over our initial shock of paying £10 to park our car we headed off into the show in search of retro loveliness.

It did not take us long to find some.

It seems like steel is back in fashion with the old school established bike makers.

Our first stop was Chicken Cycles to have a look at their offerings. No Supercorsa or XCR but a lovely Gazzetta dela Strada. Speaking to one of the guys on the stand they sell about a dozen Supercorsas a year but with 12 different sizes and a dozen colours to choose from they are built to order and buying one is like buying an internet bride – you see the pictures, pay your money and wait for it to turn up.

Next stop was Colnago who had the 30th aniversary Master on display and then onto Pinarello.

Pinarello have a whole quiver of steel bikes on offer for 2013

I haven’t a clue who the guy in the GB top is in the background, but it’s a shame he spoilt my picture. (Sorry Sir Chris !).

It’s interesting that Pinarello have gone the whole hog and re-introduced downtube shifters.

Next stop was Raleigh.

They had a good selection of Steel bikes on display. It’s a shame that they do not sell the Raleigh USA models in the UK which are to a higher specification.

Other manufacturers of note that had steel frames on display included Condor, Swallow, Light Blue and even newcomers Ribble.

It’s great to see steel back in fashion as it’s a lot more individual than carbon and not everyone needs the lightest and fastest.

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Retro Caps Back in Stock

We’ve just had a fresh batch of cycling caps in from our supplier in Italy after their summer break.

As well as the old favourites, we’ve added a couple of new ones – a Giro Pink version of the classic Brooklyn cap and La Vie Claire as worn by the team containing Bernard Hinault and Greg Lemond. Check all our range out here: https://velotastic.co.uk/?s=retro+cap&post_type=product

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Our first custom design cap – the Polkadot

We are self confessed Strava addicts. I think it comes from living in the Derbyshire Peak District where there is plenty of up as the name implies.

We decided to have a go at designing our own cycling cap with a little help from our favourite Californian milliner Walz.

This is the end product. We’ve added our own little twist to the Tour design as it would be a little bit too much of a faff to contact and gain permission for the King of Mountains sponsor to have their name on the cap. We’ve had printed instead KOM Est 1933 which is when all of this competitive upness began in the Tour. (The polkadot design was not added until 1975).

To buy yours its for sale on this page: https://velotastic.co.uk/product/cycling-caps/walz-polkadot-moisture-wicking-cap/

 

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Every Jersey has a story – The Kitzhorn

As well as team and non team jerseys, we also sell a few jerseys that are souvenirs from races and challenge events.

One such is the Krone Kitzhorn Challenge Jersey we’ve got for sale at the moment.

Kitzbuhel is probably most famous for its ludicrously scary downhill ski race. There is also a ludicrous hill climb there too.

The climb gains 920 metres in just 7.5 km – an average of 12.5% with the steepest section at 22.3%.

From 1971 to 1995 the event attracted riders such as Lucien Van Impe. In 2005, after a 10 year break the event was re-introduced.

Since 2000 the finish has been used in the Tour of Austria. Stage winners have included Cadel Evans. The record for the climb on the Tour of Austria (a slightly shorter 7.1km and 865m) is 28:24 by Thomas Rohregger.

The jersey is available for sale here.

 

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Yet more caps in stock.


We’ve just received, hot from Italy, a consignment of cotton retro cycling caps.

There are four designs to choose from – Molteni, Clement, 7 Eleven, and Brooklyn. All classic teams from the 1970’s and 80’s.

We’ve also have had a shipment of another 150+ jerseys that we are currently working our way through and will be putting up for sale in the next few days.