We’ve been around for a while now. We have a strong customer base and a steady stream of new riders rolling in through the workshop door here at TLS-HQ. Those who are familiar with us are, by default, familiar with our model, our standards, our processes and our sense of humour – and for that exact reason those clients most likely AREN’T browsing this site, reading blogs (except the end of year wrap up that gets shared on socials –…
It’s been an awesome year. How could it not be? We play with bikes for a living! BUT……and trust me, it’s a big but……my efforts are no longer anywhere NEAR as visible as they were a few short years ago. The devil is in the detail, and the sheer volume of work, planning, organising and investing that has to happen behind the scenes before a single spanner gets turned is beyond what I would have believed when I started. In…
The Situation I rode and raced dual suspension bikes for 14 years straight. Downhill, to cross country, to enduro. Multiple bikes, across several major generations of bike design, from the dusty pea-gravel strewn hills of Perth, to the south island of New Zealand and down the brain-bending slopes of the French Alps. My point being, I’ve ridden lots of bikes, on lots of terrain, and have a pretty good idea of what a capable bike is. For lots of…
Well….ok. It’s not really a review. A genuine review of the year would be 10,000 words long and utterly, utterly boring. So…..I’ve picked out a couple of insights and anecdotes to share. If you’re a regular at the shop or on the mobile roster, you’re sick of my stories already anyway 🙂 Another year has blown by, and we’ve all had to figure out how to best handle the peculiar circumstances thrown our way thanks to COVID, lockdowns, supply issues…
Bearings might just be the most benign, uninteresting part of a bike to the casual observer. You can’t see them, and unless they’re completely seized or so worn out they have excessive movement it’s unlikely that a car park test will reveal much about the bikes performance. And yet, I sell more bearings than any other consumable component, to people who are suddenly blown away by the fact that their bike has never come back from any other service, anywhere…
A guide to setting up your MTB Suspension! The following is an attempt to enlighten people who might be relatively new to mountain biking. Bear in mind that there is no ideal, universal setup. Suspension is 100% personal, and what works for someone else might be awful for you. What feels great in the carpark might make you crash on a tricky bit of trail. Be prepared to learn, unlearn, and relearn everything you think you know about your bike…
What does the future look like for cyclists? Although this is 100% speculative, and based only on personal experience and opinion, I think a fair few of the developments yet to come to cycling can be predicted with reasonable certainty. Some of them seem pretty obvious, some of them have already come true or are at least at protoype stage, and some of them might never happen. So without further ado and in no particular order, here are 10 of…
Norco Sight A1 Review I’ve spent most of the last decade riding Giant. 2013 and 2017 Reign 1 – both were the top specced aluminium models at the time (I was on an Anthem prior to the 2 Reigns). To keep things in perspective, I’ll make a lot of comparisons to the 2017 Reign as it subscribes to the modern “long, low & slack” design philosophy similar to the Sight. I know Giant’s Maestro link really well. I understand…
From the 1st of March 2011 to the 28th of April 2017 I was “employee 1” in a fledgling backup monitoring and management company called Probax (originally we were Corporate Backup) The opportunities to earn and learn were endless, I got to travel for work, meet great people, and work in an environment with (almost) no office politics. By all accounts, it was basically a dream job – definitely someone’s dream job, but not mine. People always ask me if…