Cycling News

Here at Tweeks Cycles we are firm believers that children should start riding bikes as soon as they are old enough. That's why we have teamed up with Raleigh UK to donate 10 bikes to a local pre-school.

Being a charity based school, Manley and Mouldsworth Pre-School rely heavily on fundraising and donations for any new equipment. When they reached out to us for any help with new bikes, we were more than happy to get involved. Being a Raleigh stockist for many years and knowing how good Raleigh kids bikes are,

As one of the biggest names in bicycle suspension, Rockshox product launches are always highly anticipated. The release of the electronic & wireless Flight Attendant system last year was incredible, but what about traditional forks? For 2023 the Pike, Lyrik and Zeb all take a step forward to bring you improved performance out on the trail. Let’s dive in and find out what makes these new forks even smoother operators than ever before!

Fork Chassis Changes

Starting from the outside, the Pike and Lyrik get a completely new chassis for 2023, while the Zeb

Oval chainrings are without question, one of the most hotly debated topics in cycling. 

Do they work? Do they make you faster? Is it just ‘marketing’? 

Surely if they were better than normal round chainrings, every bike would have them… right? 

It’s a debate that will likely rage forever more, but a quick informal poll in the office, a look at some footage of Wiggins at the 2012 Tour de France and some of our own real world testing means we have some conclusive opinions for battling Internet forumites. 

Here’s why we use them and why you should give them a go too!

This may sound a little crazy but as July approached, the
Tweeks Cycles team were already getting excited by the prospect of the 2020
bike launches that would be taking place throughout the month of July. Yes, a
full 5 months before the turn of the following year!

A favourite on the team calendar is the Scott Sports bike launch,
previously held in Lenzerheide, Switzerland; venue of the penultimate mountain
bike world cup series for 2019. It was all change for this year, though, with
the launch taking place at the all-new 60 million Swiss Franc Scott development
in Fribourg, Switzerland.

After a couple of early morning flights via Belgium, we arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, excited at the prospect of what lay ahead over the next few days (we won’t bore you with

Les Gets in the heart of the Alps has been a bucket-list
destination for mountain bikers for decades; and with thousands of miles of
epic and varied trails, stunning scenery along with events like Crankworx now
part of the yearly calendar, it’s easy to see why!

What has been missing from Les Gets schedule for the last
17 years is a UCI-sanctioned World Cup Mountain Bike event. It may have held
the World Championships in 2004, but after being a regular fixture on the World
Cup circuit since it started in the early 90’s, Les Gets dropped off the
calendar after the 2002 event and has not been back since.

That all changes

In 2019 the Tour de France celebrates its 106^th
edition and also the 100^th anniversary of the legendary maillot
jaune or Yellow Jersey; the ultimate prize in road cycling. This year’s edition
of the race covers 3,460 kilometres over 21 stages, starting in Brussels,
Belgium (a nod to five-time Tour de France Winner and cycling legend Eddy
Merckx) on Saturday 6^th July before finishing three weeks later on
Sunday 28^th July in Paris, where the riders will swarm the iconic
Champs-Elysees and the winner will be crowned.

Along the way riders will have to reach deep into the pain locker as they conquer infamous climbs as well as fast, flat stages that favour the world’s best sprinters and everything in between. In anticipation of what will hopefully be some incredible days of racing, let’s take a look at this year’s route and the riders hoping

The Giro d’Italia is one of world cycling’s three major
events alongside the Vuelta a Espana and the Tour de France, and the first in
the 2019 calendar. With more than 100 years of history the event takes in some
of Italy’s most famous sights and covers thousands of kilometres in the process
making it one of the most gruelling events on the UCI World Tour.

Featuring short sprints and lung-busting endurance rides
across the city streets and mountain road stages, this year’s Giro d’Italia
is set to be one of the most hotly contested in years with 22 teams consisting
of eight riders each – 176 individual riders – getting on their bikes and
covering the 21 stages as quickly as possible as they go in search of the
lucrative pink jersey and the title of champion. 

Stress is a condition that affects people from all walks
of life. It isn’t a genetic condition passed down from parents to children, and
it isn’t like a cold that can appear and last for a few days before
disappearing again. Instead, stress is a condition that develops over a period
of time. It may be a period of a few weeks – it may even be as long as a few
months or years with things building up and eventually coming to a head.

According to the Mental Health Foundation, around 74% of
UK adults have felt so stressed at some point in the last twelve months that
they have felt either completely overwhelmed or unable to cope with the various
factors mounting up and affecting how they feel.

Stress plays a crucial role in our mental health, often
resulting in issues with anxiety and depression, as well as

While many of us here at Tweeks Towers are keen Cyclists,
we’re often keener to chat about bikes and spend hours trawling the internet
looking at shiny new things we don’t need or can’t afford than actually turning
the legs and getting the miles in. Even resident mile cruncher Craig has let
his mileage slip! Every April though, that changes. For the last 5 years, a
collection of us have embarked on 30 Days of Biking. Yep, that is riding every
day, for a whole month!

What is 30 Days of Biking?

30 Days of Biking (http://30daysofbiking.com/pledge-2019)
is a pledge to ride your bike every day in April and share your adventures and
experiences online,

It appears that you no longer have to actually enter an event to be competitive. All you have to do nowadays is download a little app on your smart fandangled phone with its ultra HD 3D screen (yeah, we’re feeling old today), click the ‘Record Ride’ button, go for a blast, and Bob’s your uncle – you’ve just unknowingly made someone in your local area feel like a hero by failing to beat their record time! Strava sections (or ‘segments’ for those in the know!) have been causing some controversy recently to say the least – so we thought we’d have a look at the issues we’re facing here as cyclists (whether the tyres be skinny or whether the tyres be nobbly).

In the deepest, darkest corner of the Tweeks Web Office (AKA: The Cave) there is a swear jar. We’re not talking about your average swear jar here though mind. This badboy steals your money for the use of two words and two words only. Those dirty words are ‘Strava’ and ‘segment’.