Category: Our Blog

Posted on by

It’s a mugs game

As well as riding our bikes we do enjoy a good brew (and piece of cake). We’ve designed and had made a couple of cycling themed mugs that celebrate a couple of our all time hero’s Eddy Meckx and Fausto Coppi.

The Merckx mug has Motleni Arcore on it – probably his most famous team and the Fausto Coppi mug has Il Campionissimo written on it and is in celeste blue.

They make an ideal gift or a good way to make your mug stand out from the crowd.

Both mugs have a 10 oz capacity and are ceramic. 1 single mug only supplied. Tea, coffee and digestive biscuits not included.

Buy yours here: https://velotastic.co.uk/product/books/retro-cycling-mug/

Posted on by

The Maglia Rosa

The Maglia Rosa has been GC leader of the Giro d’Italia since 1931.

Like the Tour’s yellow jersey the colour comes from the newspaper that used to sponsor the jersey  La Gazzetta dello Sport. There have been many manufacturers of the pink jersey including Asics, Fila, Castelli and the current manufacturer Santini.

Each year the jersey subtly changes. The version above was from the 84th edition of the race that was held in 2001.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about that race:

“The 2001 Giro d’Italia was the 84th edition of the Giro d’Italia, one of cycling’s Grand Tours. The Giro began with a 7 km (4 mi) prologue that went from to Pescara. The race came to a close on June 10 with a mass-start stage that ended in the Italian city of Milan.Twenty teams entered the race that was won by the ItalianGilberto Simoni of the Lampre-Daikin team.Second and third were the Spanish riders Abraham Olano and Italian Unai Osa”

Posted on by

Also in Pink

Walz Cycling Cap

We are big fans of the Giro d’Italia. It seems to be a peoples race and has that certain Italian flair.

To celebrate the Giro and because we think they look quite cool, we got our freinds at Walz to make up a batch of their best selling moisture wicking caps in black with a pink racing stripe.

Get yours here and stand out from the crowd.

Posted on by

Come and see us at the Manchester Bicycle Jumble

On January 20th we’re off to the velodrome at Manchester to the worlds largest indoor bicycle jumble sale.

As well as taking some of the stock that’s on our website , we’ve also got lots of other stuff that we’ve not got listed.

Everything will be at a very special price so come on down and grab a bargain.

You never know, but if you are lucky you may see one a famous rider or two whizzing round the track whilst you shop !

More details.

Posted on by

Tis the season….

Seasons Greetings from Velotastic. We hope you’ve had a good year and got plenty of miles under your belt.

As well as being Christmas time it’s that time of the year (in the UK) that we get invaded by potholes. I joked on a forum when it was revealed that Yorkshire had won the 2014 Grand Depart that we should not resurface the roads as the shocking state that they are is part of our heritage !

I’ve recently started using a site run by the CTC to report any potholes I notice. They then report them to the relevant authorities.

Heres a link to their website.

 

Posted on by

Grab a bargain at our Winter Sale !

It’s that time of year again – we’re having a winter sale !

Just spend £50 or more and enter the coupon code hiver12 at checkout and we’ll give you 10% off your order.

Don’t hang about as this offer ends on January 6th.

Have a great Christmas and New Year and keep cycling.

Terms and Conditions (the boring bit)

No discounts will be given retrospectively if you don’t put the code in. £50 minimum spend excludes the cost of shipping (which is free for UK orders over £20. A flat rate delivery charge of £5 applies to all international orders ).  Offer ends January 6th 2013.

Posted on by

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.

Posted on by

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. 

Posted on by

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.