Video: Koo Bikes Video

Sometime late last year Koo-bikes were approached by a couple of Film students looking to add to their portfolio of work and wanting to do a sort of 'profile' video of the up and coming online retailer Koo-bikes. Its basically an about us, what we're all about and who we are video. Koo-Bikes.com wouldn't be what it is today, either without its bricks and mortar shop Cogs-Bikes, so this was worth talking about as well, as Koo is the evolution of Cogs and a progression in retail. Anyways enough of the boring chat..
Here's the video!

Redline CX Final build.

Boom here it is, my complete bike, race ready all set up ready to go.
There have been quite a few changes to it since the first instalment so ill show and explain why I have changed those parts.
This is a list of everthing in this pic.
Redline CX frame
Alpina CX Carbon fibre forks wiht alloy steerer
Hope Pro 3 hubs
Stans no tubes ZTR alpha 340 rims 28h, DT swiss comp spokes
Stans no tubes tubeless sealant.
Vredstren premiato 700x30c tyres
Sram Rival Cx cranks 170mm 46-38t
Crank bros Egg beater pedals
Controltech 100mm stem -5deg rise
Shimano dura ace 7700 Shifters/brake levers
    "             "           "      Front mech
    "             "           "      Rear Mech Short cage

Zipp service course sl bars size 44cm with a short and shallow bend
Zipp service course CX bar tape
Selle italia Flight saddle
Did have an Easton EC70 carbon post but the set back (lay back)
   was too much so just got some no brand post on.

weighed the bike the other day and i have dropped a fair bit from the start weight.
it started off about 22.9 lbs
and is now 17.4 lbs which is pretty sweet!

heres some more pics...

The Sram Rival cranks that i changed to was only due to the other cranks , Shimano dura ace 7700 175mm, being too long for me.  I was doing a fair amount of rides and my knees started to really hurt. I tried lower saddle position and my knees hurt the same tried higher and my hips started to hurt as well so I figured that I really needed smaller cranks. since the swap, no aches or pains..well except from the usual cycling pains i.e jelly legs, sore legs, nausea...etc.

I choose these cranks because I don't like the look of the new shimano cranks, Ultegra, 105, in my price range. I obvoiusly wanted the shiny carbon Sram Force/Red cranks but slightly pricey and the thought of bashing carbon cranks on rocks and destroying them doesn't sound awesome.

Hope Pro 3s on Stans ZTR alpha rims were a pretty cool idea also. Hope hubs were a must for CX racing.
Iv used them in DH riding/racing and have known almost every person iv rode dh with to have used them and i haven't heard of anyone who has had any problems with hope hubs.. if they had it was quickly fixed due to the availability of spare parts and ease of assembly/disassembly. The seals in these bad boys are also dam good which is useful in muddy conditions. Alpha rims were chosen because of the tubeless tyre setup design and are pretty light..370g a rim.

Zipp bars because the older bars bent and flexed way too much for my likings. I also dropped from a 46cm to a 44cm. Not intentional,  but because i miss calculated the size of the other ones...the writing had rubbed off.  Still not 100% sure if i prefer them wider or narrower but i reckon that if i went wider again, it would feel weird.

And thats that...
Tune back tomorow to find out if i sucked or not!

Welcome to my bike blog

So this is my very first post. First things first. A welcome is in order. And thank you for taking your time reading what I have to say.

Let me introduce and tell you a bit about myself.

My name is Matthew noble and I am currently 22years old. I live in Plymouth , UK and have been cycling since I was about 2. Over that time I have raced xc, dh, bmx, cyclo cross and road. I have managed to become southwest champ in dh, cyclo cross and was close with bmx. I have never orientated myself as a type of rider ie rodie, downhiller. I like to think of myself as a cyclist who respects and enjoys every aspect of the sport. I find it very funny how people can have such a hatred or disregard for another type of cyclist. For instance a downhiller calling a roadie a fag because he wears Lycra....it does make a good laugh though! Despite me being a Lycra loving roadie at times.

I also work for an upcoming online bike company Koo-bikes.com. Worth a look if you've never heard of it. They are the only bike shop that weighs every single bike product, in house, on very accurate scales, to give riders more knowledge about the product. And if your anything like me, I want to ride the lightest stuff. Especially if Im trying to shed some bike weight.
I guess me working for the shop will make it easier to get hold of new products and review them and stuff. So it benefits the readers also. That's you by the way!

Ok why am I doing this when I could be out there riding. Well it's simple really. Firstly, There is only so much riding one man can do and what better than spending your spare time writing about bikes.
Secondly, I have started to weight train a lot recently and I have decided to put my fitness to the test and race the upcoming southwest cyclocross series and thought why not blog my progress.

Not many people know much about cyclo cross and there doesn't seem to be that many sites out there that gives it that much attention. Unless I'm missing something and haven't found one yet.

So I want to show what it takes to prepare for a season. What sort of bike you need, how much training I do (I have a full time job, so there will be levels of commitment and a limit to how much I can do) what I do to prepare for a race. What I think about before, during a race and after. And of course what I eat.

Over time I will blog about almost every single bike related thought I have, from dh riding right through the spectrum of cycling to fixies! Cus they are kool!
This is a list of what to expect:
- Southwest cyclo cross
- Training: hours- miles -diet
- Bike build: my bikes. Pic of new stuff and why I choose it over other kit.
- Race day bike pics ~ other peoples bikes
- Relevant info: news, races, websites.

Feel free to subscribe to my blog. It would also be very cool if people wanted to send me pics of there cx bikes for me to post them on here. And feel free to share my blog on fb or whatever.
The pic is a little giveaway of what is my number 1 cross bike. Guess if you can.

I'm off for a ride!