Cheeky Transport

What’s everyone up to for New Years?

Dave and John and Paula and Sol and I are going to the

from dec 29 – jan 1

What are you doing?

Do we know how to party or what???

Wow, whata day! I was expecting about 6 people on the ride down to Pyrmont but about 30-40 people gathered at the front of the shop. It was so coool! Jake took some fantastic photos, especially of the fantastic Campbells food mobiles. Thankyou campbells. You are the best!  and here are my pics. Oh yeah did anyone find a black helmet?

Thankyou so much to everyone who came to our party. What a top bunch of people.

Mark, Nick and Kate, and everyone!

Shifty nearing the finish

A mystery handsome devil delivered the beer via Christiania trike

One foot down

Paddy brought his science teaching skills too

Kids corner

Bloody couriers

Australian road rep, Emma making a dacquari

Bobo bikes enginneering

Dave and Nick Mick and John – Thanks for your help

Bruce and Santa and moz. Yep, that’s a christmas tree trailer

The cocktails powered by the girls tasted the best. Thanks for the cake Paula!!

Lovely Kate

Come here you little raggamuffin

Brian is so good with Kids

Stacks on!

It was a big day!!!

Updated Cheeky VeloSocial Barbie/Party Sunday Dec 17 Pyrmont Point

Oh yeah, if it’s raining we’ll can the ride and party in the shop. Call adam on 0414 671 708 if in doubt.

 UPdate details. OK I have devised a cool kid/beginner/loadedtrailer route from the shop to the Park At Pyrmont. Check it out here 

Loose plan is

2pm leave Cheeky Transport with crazy bikes and kids (crazy or not) to ride a nice flat, low traffic, scenic ride to the park.

2:30-3pm Fish markets to pick up food supplies

3-4pm  Pyrmont Bottleshop for drinks supplies and then to the park to rellllllaaaxxxxx! Campari first I think. then out with the bicycle blender!!! Apparently John was know in certain parts of London for his cocktail;s

5pm   Food supplied by the amazing Campbells. BYO meat. There are barbies at the park to do your meat on.

8pm?  Watch the sun go down

Meet at Cheeky transport at 2pm for a convoyage to Pyrmont Point Park (3pm) for a vegan barbie (BYO meat. BYP kids. We will take the Christiania full of ice and beer and a bicycle powered blender for cocktails. There will be music of some kind and some prizes for outfits and some events like skids and trackstands and some other cool stuff.

Very low key, it’s a real nice spot to spend the afternoon and watch the sunset

All welcome as long as you come by bike.

Touring specialists

We get very jealous of people coming in telling us all their awesome travelling plans. BUt it is pretty cool, nonetheless. Inspiring. Hmm. So anyway, we have heaps of cool touring stuff.

The best not too loaded up/budget touring bike the Fuji Touring is BACK BABY! $1350 . Tip from the top. Get in quick if you want one. There has been a huge amount of demand, and there aren’t many available. Lovely bike.

We just became Vaude dealers and I am particularly impressed by their Roadmaster bags $100 for front $130 for rear. NIce attatchment system, raincover, pockets. Good value. They also do some very similar to the ortliebs (which should be back in stock in a couple of weeks).

more soon

Commuting specialists

We at Cheeky Transport are trying to be a shop for Commuting, Touring, Folding and Singlespeed specialists. So I thought I should showcase some of the cool stuff we have in these areas.

These are cool new Helmets from Netti – the Transit! Kind of like those skatie helmets, but with more vents and nicer pads and straps. ie more comfortable, especially in Summer. Also available with a visor, but I reckon they look cooler without. $50. What an absolute bargain.

We have just started stocking Vaude panniers (more on these in a touring post). One of their excellent products is this briefcase/laptop bag that attatches (maybe it’s an attache case, heh, heh) to your rear rack. The rack attatchments zip away so they don’t scrape you when you are carrying it by the shoulder strap. The Cambridge is $100 and a few customers have said they are awesome.

Comfy handlebar grips. It amazes me that people use narrow hard grips. Why would you when you can have nice soft comfy ones? My favourites are the new ones with a bit of a flat section out the back. We have them from $20 by BBB, Dufva and the original Ergons that bolt on.

Puncture proof tyres! Well as near to as possible, the Schwalbe Marathon Plus come in all sizes and have a gel layer, which has proved to be bloody fantastic for not getting punctures. And they have a highly effective reflective sidewall. $60 a tyre.

It is so annoying when you fit a rack to your bike, instantly making it more useful, but then can’t fit your rear light to it. We have found a great little light/reflector that actually mounts to the rear of your rack (nice and solid) so people can see you from behind even when you have stuff on your rack. $25 including the rack bracket.

Lots of people get their bikes stolen, or are afraid to ride a nice bike around because they think it might get stolen. But all you need to do is to get a decent lock. Steer clear of those cable locks. Get a d-lock of appropriate quality. Team it up with some wheel and seatpost locks ($35-$110) and you won’t get your bike nicked. Make sure you lock it to some immovable object. These Kryptonite Evo lock fit in your back pocket.

Big money, yep , but so convenient and environmentally friendly. The Schmidt dynamo hub generates power to run the Band M LED front light, which pumps out the light. It even has a sensor, so it turns itself on when you go thru tunnels etc. No, you can’t feel it when you are riding. About $500.  MOre info at our online catalogue

Highrise handlebars. Cheap ($20), makes riding around town a whole lot more pleasant. You can see easier. People can see you, your hands don’t hurt as much, and there’s less stress on your back. Like they do in Amsterdam!

Critical mass

Was Huge!!!!!!

 Will Leo Adam and Jake Boombox and bubbleboy

 Sol and Paula

A few things from Nick..

I’m now into my third month of working for Cheeky, and thought it was time to add some things to the blog..

• Travelling With Bicycles is a site that indexes a heap of tips and tricks for dealing with airports and airlines around the world when you’re travelling with your bike.
• Check out this video of a whole bunch of Christiania’s roaming free in their native environment. I got to ride ours down to Alexandria and back on Tuesday, and it was a little unnerving at first, but fantastic once I got the hang of it – have a look at some photos here.

That’s all for now.. Cheers.

on a lighter note

so the shop has quietened down a little after the spring cycle and gong ride. keeping busy with rohloff builds and surly trucker and cross check constructions. it is awesome to talk to people about how they can build the bike that they want and then we get to create it for them.
my ‘emotional breakdown’ was torturous but brief, lying in bed was sweet. probably just anemia from being vegan. it is good to be back in the shop though

i have to be quick because sol is on the boob and i have to go in and put him to sleep. other things…..
oh yeah, i bought a dt tensiometer. you might be thinking, ‘wanker’ or ‘what the hell is a tensiometer?’ you might be right but damn it is pretty cool. it measures how balanced the tension on your spokes are. (very important for long lasting wheel builds)

i was going to get another wheelsmith because they are so easy to use and our one was pretty old i wanted to check its cailbration and have my own tensiometer.

this cheeky party sounds pretty cool and the bike maintenance classes should be fun

just got the call.

bicycle maintenance classes

so, we are finally going to hold the long awaited mechanic classes many people have wanted for quite some time. The idea is to run them on Tuesday nights from 6:30pm till 9pm. Small classes, very hands on, with your bike and tools, so you can actually remember how to do it later. Cost for now will be $40 a night, which will need to be paid on booking over the phone or in person, to reserve your spot.

So, the preliminary timetable is

Tue 21 November Basics – wheel removal, how to fix a flat, looking after your bike and making it more comfortable and more useful

Tue 28 November Brakes and Gears – replacing cables and brakepads and adjusting

Tue 5 December Bearings – bearing servicing, and precision adjustments

Tue 12 December Basics – wheel removal, how to fix a flat, looking after your bike and making it more comfortable and more useful

Cheeky VeloSocial Bike Club Christmas Party Sunday Dec 17 at Pyrmont Point Park