Over the years I've always brought bikes from bike shops. Sometimes this has been a great experience and others the "experts" have failed to deliver. The bike buying choices have changed a lot from when I first bought my own bikes you had no choice but to use bike stores and your choices were restricted to the brands that your local store provided. The internet has helped consumers have greater choice but undermined the bike shops ability to function profitably. I feel a sense of loyalty to my local bike stores but I often wonder if the feeling is mutual. The attention to detail and personal service seems to evaporate the moment the bike is wheeled out of the store. I bought a Specialized road bike two years ago from a local store and had a minor gear shift problem I popped back into the store and the problem was resolved. Roll forward a couple of months and I kept getting what appeared to be nylon stuck on the gear cable. I took the bike to another local store and th......

By Felouch Kotek - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68151314 The 2018 Paris-Roubaix, a challenging one day 257 km race was won this year by current World Champion Peter Sagan. Sadly during the race 23 year old professional cyclist Michael Goolaerts suffered a heart attack and subsequently died.   Peter Sagan was the first World Champion to win the Paris-Roubaix since Bernard Hinault's victory in 1981. Sagan had launched, in collaboration with Specialized, a gold coloured bike before the race. Ever the showman he rode the race on one of the golden bikes and won with a remarkable demonstration of strength and confidence. 55km from the finish line Sagan sped away from the main group forcing other riders to test themselves against this pace. The Swiss rider Silvan Diller and the Dutch rider Niki Terpstra rose to the challenge taking second and third place respectfully.   Queen of the Classics The Paris-Roubioux is one of the fiv......

Peter Sagan (three times World Champion) and Specialized have worked together to create a signature range of bikes, The Sagan Collection. The bikes come in a number of colour options but the most striking and perhaps the most "Sagan" is gold. The bikes are Specialized's S-Works Roubaix, a bike designed with the cobbled Classics in mind. The Sagan bikes are being launched just as Sagan prepares for the Paris-Roubiaix. Coming quickly after the Tour of Flanders a cobbled classic which test both Rider and bike. Would you want a gold bike is the question? Many cyclists like to wear extravgant colours and some love to ride bikes that are equally outlandish but Gold is a statement colour. It declares a confidence in not only your style but also your athletic prowess. I think these bikes are certainly a reflection of Peter Sagans personality, I wonder how many have the Chutzpah to carry off the look on a Saturday morning sportive....