Alleycat Update

Hey guys and gals, the alleycat is just under 2 weeks away now, we've had people pre-register from Manchester, London, Leeds, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Swansea, Warminster and DUBLIN!

If you are planning on coming please pre-register so that we have an idea on numbers, everyone that pre-registers gets a slightly snazzier spoke card too!

If you are in two-minds then please know that we have well over £1500 in prizes from these guys:

Bike Food / Cantgoslo / Charlie The Bikemonger / Cyclodelic / Exist / 14 Bike Co / Halo / Hell Yeah! / Howies / Hub Jub / Hunting Lodge / JOL Straps / Knog / Prendas / Re-Cycle / Schmoos / Skullcandy / Solder Gal / Tokyo Fixed Gear / Urban Hunter / Velo Solo

...so it is well worth coming down for.

Even if you think you don't have a chance of winning the race (does that really matter???) then there are prizes for longest skid, trackstand, footdown and hill climb as well as whatever else happens that is awesome.

The day isn't all about winning sweet product though, it's about meeting up with like minded people and having a laugh. After the riding is over we'll be heading to a secret location to watch videos and have some beer or pop.

See y'all on Oct 3rd, the checkpoints will be released next Saturday, stay tuned...<

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Alleycat Sponsor Profile: HUB JUB

I'm sure you've all heard of Hub Jub, how could you have not? Read:

"Hubjub launched in 2003, but the business really got started a couple of years earlier, when Will Meister dug out an old Maillard fixed gear hub and a set of cross tyres and started riding the bridleways around his parents' house on the South Downs. The idea is pretty simple: to bring the best fixed gear parts and tools from the US and other countries to UK street and offroad riders at prices as close to US standard as possible."

Hub Jub stock loads of high quality products like Nitto, Phil Wood and Sugino, if you are looking for quality then it's a good place to start. They also like to fulfil custom orders for hard to get stuff so if you are having trouble finding those hard to find Nitto horns give Will a call and he will try his best to hook you up. They have a whole load of NJS stamped parts which are the absolute best of the best in terms of quality. Hit up the photos below to see the rest of their gear...

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Alleycat Sponsor Profile: PRENDAS CICLISMO

Prendas Ciclicomo is a great online shop selling cycling clothing and other essentials, they say:

"We consider ourselves to be clothing specialists focusing on the unique, the stylish and the most practical items which will work for you, the rider, whether leisure, weekend warrior, commuter, clubman or racer.

All of the people involved in our organisation are keen experienced riders with a passion for the sport. We only sell items that we would be happy to use ourselves and consider it to be good value for money. "

I remember when I first found the Prendas website, I was looking for cycling caps and came upon the mother load. They must have the best selection of classic and new cotton caps available in the world. If you want a cap (and you should want one cause they are just the best thing ever) then just go to Prendas, don't waste your time Googling and forget about eBay, they have the cotton cap market on lock down, huh.

Below are some of my faves, they have millions more as well as jerseys, jackets, gloves, shoes, socks, sunnies and this calendar :-p Click the pix below to go to the site you crazy cats!

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Alleycat Sponsor Profile: CANTGOSLO

Cantgoslo is a clothing brand from Manchester (home of The Fall, the greatest band of all time!) aimed at fixed gear riders. Here's what they have say about themselves:

"chris drinks guinness and likes campy
nasty drinks sierra nevada and likes njs stuff

sometimes these guys help us out:
charlie tries his best to keep us on the straight and narrow and likes all bikes
dangeruss drinks lager beer and likes doing bar spins
dave10 drinks lambrini and likes riding very fast
liam og drinks lager beer too and likes riding on rollers

none of us can rollerblade"

I sure am glad to hear that they are non-rollerbladers cause I'd have to return their prizes if they were! At the mo they have 5 designs up for grabs including the awesome Love Park one. Click on any of the designs below to go to the new website...

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Alleycat Sponsor Profile: 14 BIKE CO.

14 Bike Co. is the hottest fixed gear shop in the UK, this place has all the gear you would need from nuts and bolts to full custom built bikes and everything in between. I was at the shop a couple of weeks ago and was really surprised by how nice all the staff were, not something I am used to in London! There's so much stuff in there I came out having really not looked at anything and as soon as I got home I wanted to go back there for a proper look!

The custom bikes they build are just perfection, words can't explain how awesome they are so check out their flickr stream: flickr.com/photos/shopfourteen and then click on any of the photos below to go their blog.

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Alleycat Sponsor Profile: KNOG

On their website Knog say this about themselves:

"knog is SEXY URBAN BIKE simple"

Knog are a bit like the Crumpler of cycling gear, they are wacky and instantly recognisable. The difference being that Crumpler stuff is quite expensive but Knog represents great, innovative design and awesome value for money. Their Frog range of LED's must be the most popular choice for fixie riders the world over, recently their other lights have been popping up on bars and seatposts all over town too and the buzz about their no-nonsense cycle computers is louder than an orgy of bees inside a traffic cone. I must insist that you support Knog (I'm sure you already do) as they have been very generous, whoop! Click the pix below to go to the official site...

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Alleycat Sponsor Profile: CHARLIE THE BIKEMONGER

Charlie Says:

"This corner of the internet is here to help people who want to singlespeed and ride fixed wheel. It provides solutions to the technical issues that fixed and singlespeed bikes throw up. Building a single speed or fixed is not always dead straight forward, so I am here to make it easy. You get free advice including "how to" movies and we can also sell you everything you need.

There are a few UK based online fixed gear specific shops and charliethebikemonger.com is definitely the one that screams out "I am like you!" more than any other. He clearly loves to ride and it comes through in his descriptions of the products he sells. From single half links to track frames via hip flask bottle cages there is something for everyone on his site. Go an have a looksie by clicking on any of the products below...

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