Ryan, Dan and Joe headed up Fort William this weekend for the UCI MTB World Cup.

Here’s a few pics they managed to send whilst sober.

Looking forward to them coming back to help me clear the workshop backlog!

Also, when are they going to prep for the Morecambe Midnight Ride on Saturday 15th June?!?

You in?

What!!

We see some shocking home mechanic bodges and this was no different. Need a new mech hanger? Cut it off the back of your mums old shopper and you’re off.

Went for a little ride around Rosedale on the last day of my holiday with Ryan and Dave. We were going to do Dalby but there was the Pickering Wartime Weekend and new shop opening at Dalby so we decided to avoid all the traffic and go up onto the moors.

The day started out nice and sunny but as the rain rolled in the jackets rolled out. The rain drove into the sides of our faces like lead shot so we went ‘off piste’ to find some shelter in the valley beneath the disused lead mines railway track.

Bad move. More rain, more falls, sense of humour fading – you’ve been there!

Then a miracle happened…we stumbled across Dale Head Farm

This little gem of a place served us hot tea (loose leaf don’t you know!) and cake and most importantly there was a wood burning stove on which to dry our gloves and bodies.

I can’t sing enough praises for this place – the lady who looked after us was brilliant and it gave us the lift we needed to get going again. We’ll certainly be back next year. You should go there too.

Closed for week. Back open on Saturday 13th October.

Yes I will have a good time – thank you.

Bazza

Thanks to Alan Cleaver for the pic.

Ok get your sleuthing caps on.

This old geezer turned up last week (the bike not the fella who brought it) and we’re having trouble identifying it in detail.

Click on the pic for some more.

We know it dates from 1940′s France when there were numerous small frame builders for the 1000′s of touriste riders in the country. The lugs in this picture have ‘Nervex 73′ cut into the top and bottom which denotes the angle in degrees of the head tube. It has Le Cyclo cranks, an Atax stem and a Radios front lamp. It’s had a makeover since new, probably two because the wheels are only a few years old, the front and rear callipers are different and the saddle is new.

Any information about this vintage bicycle would be greatly received.

Firth Cycles in France…well not quite. The limited edition (very limited) chainstay protector made it to France on the bike of Julie Jagger; a good friend of the shoppe and quality mountain biker.

Julie stayed in Chatel right near the France/Switzerland border. There were 7 of them in total all hailing from the excellent Rough Riders Mountain Bike Club and were guided by the good folks at www.holygrailmtb.com & went to take part in the event Passportes du Soleil.

Greetings all.

Check out this ultra rare Momo Dart we had in last summer. Yeah I know it takes me ages to get this stuff online but this one is about to come up for sale so watch this space for details.

I know what you’re thinking “Momo make steering wheels for racing cars don’t they?” Yes they do but this bicycle comes from MomoDesign the Italian design house set up after the steering wheel business was sold to the Americans a few years back (more on that story here).

I’ve tried to find more information on this bicycle but it’s not been easy. Luckily for us this Dart has a Sturmey Archer three speed hub which as you know has a date of manufacture on it (yeah you knew that right??). This one says 1995 on the shell.

The frame is steel with custom made swept back bars also in steel. You’ll notice the saddle, grips and seat clamp lever are a light beech colour and there’s a very good reason for that…

…the rims you’re looking at here are wooden.

Made by Cerchi Ghisallo in Italy they are beautifully made and you can really see the craftsmanship that goes into every pair. Getting the Schwalbe Delta Cruisers on them was a bugger though.

If you’ve got any more information on this bike or are interested in buying it please get in touch.

Happy days.

How nice is this?

click on the photo for more images

Mate of mine Mark Thurston (and custom tool maker for the shoppe) has built this beautiful cruiser for his missis to pootle around the VW shows they frequent. Parts have been sourced from a variety of places like Ridelow in Manchester, the internet and crucially some retired old 20″ wheeled shoppers from the 70′s – doing his bit for the environment there!

The wheels are a 72 hole radial spoke pattern, they were a 36 hole rim and hub but Mark being Mark he made himself a jig and drilled a few extra holes. Also on the back wheel you can see a retro fit cable disc brake with the cable housing running through the frame – this means no lugs anywhere on the frame – a nice touch.

Check out the pin striping on the mudguards with the chrome centre. All the cream pinstripes were done by hand!

The good news is that he’s got another one called the ‘Shopper Chopper’ and hopefully I’ll have some photo’s of that soon.

Hello.

It’s been a long time hasn’t it?

You well?

It was way back on the 31st May 2009 when the last post from me appeared and what a year it’s been since then. No excuses for not keeping up the blog I’m just busy and lazy – not a great combo for a blog as it turns out.

So what’s been going on?

First some sad news. A great friend of mine and the shop, Terry Stokes, sadly died last September at the Holme Valley Mountain Bike Challenge. The exact details are unclear but it appears that Terry came off his bike and hit the gable end of a house fracturing his skull causing internal bleeding. He died a week later at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary with his family by his side. He was 55. Terry loved his bikes and his biking. He had been riding since he was a young man from road racing to touring to the early days of MTB. He will be best remembered by me as the guy who could fix anything; whenever we had a stuck seatpost or a tricky job that needed some patience he would step in, take control and sort it out. Here’s a photo I found of him after he slid down a slippery track near Bolton Abbey – covered in mud but still smiling.

RIP Terry.

On to better news now and the birth of our son Alexander Michael Hanney Firth, born in the early hours on the 26th January 2010. Here’s a recent pic of him with his dad on his first holiday in Scotland. Not ready for his first bike yet but believe me when I say it’s in the pipeline – watch this space!

The shop is going well, getting busier every year and still getting some interesting bikes in for servicing. We have new signage, new windows upstairs and a new raised window display on the inside giving the shop a new look.

Hopefully another post soon, certainly not in 16 months time.

A new 4 legged addition to the team has arrived, our first shop dog.

Name: Meg
Age: 18 months
Star Sign: Sagittarius
Likes: Cheese, tennis balls, socks, leaping in the pond & chasing the cat
Dislikes: Lemons, bath time & Yorkshire Terriers

Ahhh what a cutie…but looks can be deceptive! Pop and say hello next time you’re about and maybe if you’re lucky she’ll chew your invoices and/or eat your Pyrex bowls too.