Road Bike Test Day

15/02/2012 14:03:36

Our road bike test day at Thruxton continues to grow as we can now confirm that Eddy Merckx bikes will also be available for customers to try. In addition Oakley UK have confirmed their attendance and will be on hand to offer advice as well as demonstrate some new models. This event is free for customers and is an opportunity that should not be missed.

Swinley 12th February

11/02/2012 10:31:26

Tomorrow’s ride at Swinley will not go ahead. It has been re-arranged for Sunday 19th February. This will be the first of our demo days where our fleet of demo bikes will be available for customer use. The bikes available are shown on our website. Customers interested in using a bike should contact the shop to make their reservation and they will also need to call into the store to get the bike set up beforehand. Behind The Bikeshed will transport the bike on the day.We do not charge for the use of the bike but customers will need to sign a disclaimer.

Friday 10th February

09/02/2012 11:13:18

Given the forecast for overnight snow we have decided to cancel the Ladies ride this Friday. At the moment we have left the ride on for next week, even though it is half-term.

4th and 5th February

03/02/2012 14:50:12

In view of the expected weather conditions for the weekend we have decided to cancel our Club rides planned for Saturday and Sunday.

Thruxton Test Day

27/01/2012 19:25:56

Apologies for a few gremlins encountered by those trying to register for our test day. Some could not get through and a number of blank forms were also been received. Could anyone that has registered please do so again. We can delete any duplicates but hopefully we will get the details missing from the ‘empty’ forms.

Sunday 29th January

27/01/2012 19:21:27

It has come to our attention that we were not showing a ride on the calendar for this Sunday. There will be a road ride meeting at Weyhill Church for 9.00am. Numbers have been down of late due to other commitments, so let’s try and get plenty of us out this week. The weather forecast is cool and dry, so no excuses there! We will aim for 50-60 steady miles, staying reasonably close to Andover. We should be done by 1pm.

Road Bike Demo Day–March 11th

20/01/2012 19:56:09

Our road bike demo day is confirmed for Sunday March 11th. We will start at 10.00am and expect to wrap things up around 2pm, though this may be extended if demand is there. We are pleased that Giant, Specialized and Look have all confirmed their attendance. This support is invaluable because, with the Bikeshed’s own demo bikes, we expect to have in excess of 40 bikes available on the day. Giant will have a full range of TCR Advanced,, TCR Advanced SL, Avail and Defy modes. Specialized will have Tarmac, Roubaix, Venge and Amira bikes on hand and we expect Look will bring 566, 586 and 695 bikes. You will see that Women Specific models are included and a number of the bikes will have Ui2 fitted. To have the opportunity to ride bikes likes this on Thruxton Circuit is not something that happens very often, so please try and support what we are doing. It would be especially helpful if our customers could circulate news of this event amongst their friends or to their Club. The more people that attend the more successful the day and the greater chance of it being repeated. Behind The Bikeshed will be offering special terms on any bike orders that follow on from the demonstration (terms & conditions will apply). The exact details of this will be announced on the day. It will be useful if those attending can pre-register using the link at the top of the home page.

Announcement of Road Demo Day

16/01/2012 17:15:40

We are pleased to announce that Behind The Bikeshed will be holding a road bike demo day at Thruxton Circuit on Sunday 11th March (10-2pm). With the support of Giant, Specialized and Look we will have around 40 carbon road bikes to try. This will include a number of women specific models and a few bikes fitted with Ui2. This event will be free for those that want to go, all we ask is that a registration form is completed. Photo ID will be required and a helmet must be worn. A big thank you to our suppliers for getting involved and to our friends at Thruxton Circuit for their help.

Friday 20th January

16/01/2012 17:11:09

An extra MTB ride has been added to the calendar for this week, Friday at 6.15pm from the shop. This will be route on the trails to the north of Andover.

January 2012

16/01/2012 17:09:47

Our first month in the new shop proved to be very busy. We are certainly seeing an increase in customers through the door. Some are surprised to find we have a car park – this is available for customer use. It is immediately behind the shop and is accessed from Shepherds Spring Lane. So far 2012 has been equally busy. Our second Cyclocross meeting of the year is this coming weekend and it is the finale of the Wessex League Season. Many of the categories have yet to be decided, so we are hoping for plenty of competitors and spectators . Our big news announced last week is that we have a Road Demo Day at Thruxton Circuit in March. Full details can be found elsewhere on the site. Anyone interested in a demo ride on a 29er MTB bike should contact the shop. Come with us to Swinley Forest and we will lend you a bike for the day to see for yourself what all the press coverage is about.

Ladies Only Road Ride

30/12/2011 13:23:26

We are going to run our Ladies only road ride again. It will take place on a Friday morning, meeting at the shop for 9.30am. This ride is aimed at all abilities and is particularly suitable for new riders. If weather conditions are poor then please ring the shop before setting off to make sure the ride is still on. The intention in that the ride returns to Andover by midday latest.

Revised Christmas Opening Hours

23/12/2011 17:22:02

A bit late in the day but we have made a couple of changes to our opening hours over the Christmas period. We will now close at 4.00pm pm on both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. We will be open on 28th-30th December 9.00am to 5.30pm as advertised.

Rides Over Christmas

23/12/2011 12:02:10

The rides over Christmas have been added to the Google calendar. Details are also on the Club page.

Club Rides For Christmas

23/12/2011 12:00:39

We have put the following rides on the Google calendar

Tuesday 27th – Swinley Forest MTB – meet in the car park at The Lookout at 10.30am.

Thursday 29th – Road ride from the shop at 10.30am – this ride is open for all levels, no racing, no big hills, we just want to get as many riders out as possible.

Saturday 31st December – Road ride from the shop at 10.30am – another open ride for all levels

Ride Update Sunday 18th December

18/12/2011 09:39:29

The overnight frost is worse than anticipated and, given the likely numbers going, today’s road ride is cancelled. Safety must be the first consideration and no-one wants a broken collar-bone a week before Christmas.

Sunday 18th December

17/12/2011 19:08:11

There is a sharp frost forecast overnight. The expected temperature at 9.00am is a max of 1 degree, rising to 4 degrees by midday. In the interest of safety the planned ride will now start at 11.00am from Weyhill Church. If we stay close to home and return through ‘The Valley’, riders have plenty of opportunities to peel off if they need to be back for lunchtime. Otherwise we will aim to be back at Weyhill for 2pm.

MTB Rides

06/12/2011 18:33:00

This Sunday’s ride is now back at Swinley. However it will be at a slightly later time of 9.30am. An additional MTB ride has been added for the evening of Friday 16th December.

Club Rides Update 4th December 2011

04/12/2011 16:40:18

The regular rides have been taken off the calendar over the Christmas period. However we plan to add a couple of rides (road and MTB), details will follow nearer the time. Keep an eye out for a road ride after Christmas when we hope all of our regulars will attend for a steady spin out to shed the Christmas pudding. This coming Sunday the MTB ride probably won’t be at Swinley. Keep an eye on the site as the final details will be posted later in the week.

Car Parking At The New Shop

02/12/2011 18:51:07

A number of our customers today did not realise that we have a car park of our own. We have eight car parking spaces available for customer use immediately behind the building – this can be accessed via Shepherds Spring Lane. If the car park is full do not use the public car park directly opposite the college as it is expensive. Park near the Church or better still, use the long stay car park that can be found by going in the other end of Shepherds Spring Lane (by Sainsburys)

Club Rides Update 1st December

01/12/2011 18:58:03

Just a note to confirm that the Club rides on Tuesdays and Saturdays will go from the new shop in Marlborough Street.

The New Shop Opens

01/12/2011 18:46:26

A new era began today for Behind The Bikeshed, with the opening of it’s new store in Marlborough Street, Andover. The new shop offers more space and a better shopping environment for our customers. We also have that all important free-parking directly behind the building. We have some new brands to go with the new store and we will have  a more extensive selection of bikes for 2012. We will also have a substantial fleet of demonstration bikes including several 29er MTB bikes and some Giant carbon road models.

The New Shop

27/11/2011 08:11:06

After 11 years trading in Charlton, Behind The Bikeshed closed it’s doors yesterday for the last time. Today the big move starts ahead of the new premises opening on Thursday 1st December. Any internet orders placed in the interim period will be processed as soon as we open. We apologise for the delay in dealing with orders for the next few days but hope our customers will appreciate the circumstances. Don’t forget the address of the new shop is

22a Marlborough Street, Andover, SP10 1DQ.

We have car parking immediately behind the building. Telephone, fax and e-mail details are all unchanged.

Rides Update

22/11/2011 19:59:00

A mountain bike ride has been added for Friday evening – details on the Calendar. Also, the Saturday lunchtime ride has reverted back to it’s old time of 1.00pm. Attendances have been pretty low for this ride – if the change of time does not increase attendance then we won’t run it. However the shop move takes place this weekend so numbers will be low this Saturday.

Tuesday 15th November

15/11/2011 14:07:07

At long last our BT problems have been sorted and we think our systems are now working normally. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

BT Update

14/11/2011 19:58:22

A few days on from the problems of last week and we are still have no Broadband in the shop. This means that stock levels shown on-line may be inaccurate, so best ring the shop first to check before placing an on-line order. Also, we are not immediately notified of an order being placed, so dispatch may be a bit longer than usual. Our apologies for the less than perfect service but it’s not of our doing and the remedial work needed is out of our hands.

Sunday 13th November

12/11/2011 17:58:42

Sorry to disappoint but there will not be a mountain bike ride tomorrow. The planned road ride will still go ahead.

URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT

10/11/2011 11:07:52

Having arranged our new BT connections to go live at the new shop in a few weeks time, we came in this morning to find that they had disconnected our existing lines three weeks ahead of schedule! Incoming telephone calls are being diverted to a mobile but we have lost our broadband connection and this cannot be reinstated until Friday. This means that we are unable to process card payments in store. However we will remain open, as we can still take cash payments and book in repairs.

New Shop Opening Date

26/10/2011 19:42:48

At long last we are able to confirm an opening date for the new shop. Behind The Bikeshed will close in Charlton on Saturday 26th November at 5.30pm. We will re-open in the new store on Thursday 1st December at 9.00am. We still have a lot of work to complete before this becomes a reality but we are sure it can be done. The move itself is sure to be a challenging few days but we aim to have the new shop looking fantastic when we let the first customers in. The website will be remain open for business whilst we move, though orders will be a few days late getting dispatched.

Cyclocross 2012

26/10/2011 19:23:51

Our first Cyclocross race of the season will be at Thruxton Circuit on Sunday 20th November. We are aiming to build on the success of our first attempts last season with a course that we think will be a challenge for everyone. Course building will start on Friday 18th, finishing off on Saturday 19th. Anyone available to give a hand will be welcome. We would also welcome any volunteers on race day itself to help with the marshalling and race administration. A number of last year’s volunteers are actually racing the event this time around, so they will not be able to help us throughout the day. Finally, we have urgent need of a qualified first aid person for this event. Please contact the shop if you can help in any way. We have also agreed to stage a further round of the Wessex Cyclocross League at the same venue on January 22nd 2012.

New Shop Update

07/10/2011 18:31:23

The work to the new shop is advancing at a good pace and we hope to be open at the end of November. It’s a bit later than we planned but one or two unforeseen issues had to be dealt with. The building is starting to look fantastic and we hope you will all find it’s been worth the wait.

Sunday 9th October

07/10/2011 18:26:18

Sorry to disappoint but we will not be going to Swinley this week. Likely numbers are low so we will save it for another day. There is still a road ride scheduled on the Club calendar. If an alternative MTB ride gets arranged it will be posted on the website on Saturday.

End Of Season

28/09/2011 08:11:01

Our first 2012 bikes are on their way to us and so that we can actually get them out of the boxes we need to clear the remaining 2011 bikes. All of the bikes we have left now have 25% off the RRP, offering some real bargains. Numbers are limited to the bikes on the shop floor, so don’t delay. We also have a number of demo bikes for sale which offer even better value. Contact the shop for details.

Club Rides Update

17/08/2011 19:25:55

The Google calendar has been updated for the coming months. The Saturday easy road ride will start again in September and a similar Sunday ride has been added for the 2nd Sunday of the month where other commitments allow. A regular night time MTB ride will be added shortly. Numbers have been quite strong in recent weeks, so we hope everyone will keep going through the winter months.

Sunday 7th August

01/08/2011 16:17:18

After a couple of longer Sunday rides, this week’s will be a bit easier and will return to Andover earlier than normal. We hope that it will suit our regular Sunday riders as well as those that would usually go on our easier road rides. The course is around 35-40 miles without any difficult climbs. The pace will be kept at a level to suit all that ride and we hope this will encourage as many of our club members as possible to come out for this event.

Road Bike Offer

28/07/2011 19:37:16

Our road bike promotion comes to an end this weekend. It’s been a great success but there are still bikes available and we’ve therefore got a special offer for our customers – for Friday 29th and Saturday 30th July only we are offering a further 10% off all current discounted road bike prices. For example the Giant Defy 1 which is currently on offer at £829.00 will reduced to £746 (or 19% off the RRP). These offers will end when the shop closes on Saturday, so now is the time to get that road bike you have always wanted.

Specialized Rockhopper & Hardrock Offer

27/07/2011 08:26:50

Specialized have launched a promotion on the remaining stock of Hardrock and Rockhopper bikes. See the News page for all of the details.

Specialized Hardrock & Rockhopper

27/07/2011 08:25:17

Specialized have launched a promotion on the remaining stock of Hardrock and Rockhopper bikes. The entry level Rockhopper and the Hardrock Pro are the real bargains here. Buy now as they won’t be around for long.

Road Ride Sunday 24th July

23/07/2011 18:35:03

This ride will leave Weyhill at 9.00am and return to Andover for lunchtime. The longer road ride will take place on Sunday 31st.

Monday 11th July MTB ride

11/07/2011 14:46:10

Monday’s MTB ride will meet at Collingbourne Woods as usual for 6.15pm. We will then ride over to Perham to have a play on the course that was raced at the weekend. Alternatively some riders will be going directly to Perham for 6.30pm. The meeting place will be where the race meeting set their arena up – turn off the main Perham/Tidworth road next to the white building that used to be the NAAFI store. Follow the road past the houses and the arena was on the grass area to the left.

Shop Progress July 5th

05/07/2011 12:58:19

After a short delay the structural repairs to the roof have been completed and the tiling is well underway. The insulation and finishing of the roof area will commence next week, following which we can finally remove the scaffold from within the building. Then progress should speed up as we install the new floor and start lining the walls. A September completion date is looking optimistic but we hope to be open during October.

Race Results

05/07/2011 12:52:12

Ludgershall Summer Series Round 2 – 6th June

3rd/4th Cat

Duncan Lancashire – 13th

Barry Plank – 17th

Ludgershall Summer series Round 3 – 13th June

3rd/4th Cat

Barry Plank – 34th

Southern XC Round 3 – Crowhill – 5th June

Open Male

Darren Chappell – 14th

Expert Male

Scott Chappell – 4th

Veteran Male

Julian Lye – 21st

Rampage Short Course MTB Round 3 – Checkendon – 19th June

Expert Male

Scott Chappell – 1st

National XC Series Round 4 - Margham – 26th June

Junior Female

Ruby Baker – 6th

Expert Male

Scott Chappell – 15th

Open Male

Darren Chappell – 8th

Rampage Short Course MTB Round 4 – Checkendon – 3rd July

Expert Male

Scott Chappell – 1st

MTB Ride–22nd June 2011

22/06/2011 13:37:57

This evening's MTB ride has been postponed - it's raining heavily now and is set to continue on and off for the rest of the afternoon. There will be a lot of surface water in the woods which will make conditions tricky. We’ll try again next Monday.

Solstice MTB Ride–Sunday 19th June

16/06/2011 13:39:51

We have our Solstice MTB ride this coming Sunday, which we have also listed as a Bike Week event. We estimate the distance to be around 30 miles and whilst it is quite a long ride, it is not technically difficult, there are no steep climbs and we will not be racing. Anyone with a good level of bike fitness will be able to complete this ride and we are hoping for a good turn out of riders. The meeting place is the car park behind Tesco in Tidworth. We would like to leave at 9.00am, so please arrive in time to be able to do this. Sunday’s weather forecast is not too bad but if we have the monsoon conditions of last Sunday then the ride would be cancelled. If this happens it will be posted on our Facebook page by 8.00am on Sunday.

Latest Race Results

13/06/2011 15:34:08

Some race results for the past few weeks

British XC Series Round 3 Wasing

Expert Male

Scott Chappell – 25th

Junior Female

Ruby Baker - 5th

Southern XC Round 3 Ringwood

Open Male

Darren Chappell – 14th

Expert Male

Scott Chappell – 4th

Southern XC Round 2 Wasing

Expert Male

Scott Chappell – 17th

Sport Female

Ruby Baker – 2nd

Ludgershall Summer Series Round 2

3/4

Duncan Lancashire - 13th

Barry Plank – 17th

Ludgershall Summer Series Round 1

E/1/2/3

Scott Chappell – 11th

Monday 13th June

13/06/2011 10:42:48

Tonight’s MTB ride will meet at Collingbourne Woods, not Tesco Tidworth as had been showing on the Google calendar

Monday 6th June

04/06/2011 08:36:37

Monday night’s easy MTB ride will meet in Collingbourne Woods at the usual place, 6.15pm.

Race News Update

30/05/2011 19:23:40

We are aware that race results have not been updated for a while. Could any team member out racing please let us know? We are not always aware of what meetings are on and who is actually competing. A call or e-mail to the shop would help us keep the team page up to date.

Look Bikes

30/05/2011 19:12:12

At long last we finally have all of our Look frames built up into display bikes. They are a real focal point in the shop and show just what is available at the very top end of the sport. We have 586, 586SL and 695 road frames built up along with a 986 hardtail MTB and a 996 full suspension bike. Fitted to these bikes are Sram’s XX, XO, Red and Force groupsets. Wheels are generally by Fulcrum but the 695 has Zipp 404 Firecrest wheels. Finishing gear is either Easton EC90 or 3T and they all have Fizik saddles. Well worth a visit if you have not already seen them. A reminder that Look frames are an in-store product only and, whilst they may be paid for on-line, the frames must be collected in person from the shop.

Test Valley Tour

30/05/2011 19:09:28

It was great to see so many of our club members out on the ride last week – I think we saw more Bikeshed shirts than any other club. The weather was not particularly kind but the course was excellent and everyone enjoyed the ride. Don’t forget we are also sponsoring the event numbers for the two further Test Valley Tours in the Autumn, hopefully we will see plenty of you out again.

Progress on the new shop

30/05/2011 19:06:44

Work has started on the new premises and already a significant amount has been done. The building has been completely stripped  back to the original shell. We have removed all of the roof tiles and this revealed the need for some extra work as we have to drag the roof structure back to plumb. A lack of wind-bracing when it was originally built has caused the roof to lean over and this needs to be rectified before we can proceed. In the meantime we are progressing with repairing the defective brickwork and procuring the following trades. We are still hopeful of a late September completion but the problem with the roof has resulted in a delay of around 3 weeks, so we will have to wait and see.

Monday Evening’s Ride

22/05/2011 21:22:42

Most of the riders that attend the Monday night ride have been out on the Test Valley Tour today. I think everyone is feeling a bit tired after the event and we have therefore decided to cancel this Monday’s ride.  It may be that this ride is re-scheduled for another evening later in the week, though may be at short notice – so keep an eye on the website for updates

Sunday 8th May

04/05/2011 19:18:47

In view of the problems at Swinley we will not be going there this Sunday. Therefore 9.30 meet at the bottom of Collingbourne Woods. Don't forget that the Test Valley Tour is 22nd May, so anyone doing it might want to get some practice in this weekend. I hope Swinley recovers soon. It’s the best riding in this area by far and it would be a shame if some of the trails have been lost.