Riding or tiling?

I haven't been riding much lately as I'm having an extension built at home by an ace builder Andy Freeman (a downhiller of some repute). So I really need to get out tomorrow, but there's so much work to do if we are going to be in by Christmas. I really need a break from the smell of emulsion and grout so its off for a cheeky route through Brinscall woods and over Great Hill on Saturday, if its not too boggy, which it will be.

There's always the road bike, but its behind a pile of building crap in the garage so MTB its is.

Its also just occured to me that its been roughly 20 years now to this month since I started mountainbiking. Andy's been doing it since 1984! God I feel old.

Jeff

Behold the wonder of this feline killing machine as his owners document every grissly detail of dismembered animals that he regularly deposits on their doorstep.

http://www.whatjeffkilled.com

Commencal Demo bikes

Apart from my slightly gormless drunk looking expression, this Commencal Meta 4.2 looks pretty good no?

Well, its a demo bike and we also also have a Supreme. Both are available for the day to take away and try. If you're intersested drop us an email or ring Nigel the freeride fool in the shop on 01772 452864.

Its a baby wolf!

John brought his new dog Kodi in this morning. V. cute, he only pooh'd and wee'd once!

The rain, rain, rain, camedown, down, down

When the rain, rain, rain,came down, down, down

The rain, rain, rain, camedown, down, down

When the rain, rain, rain,came down, down, downThe rain, rain, rain, camedown, down, down

When the rain, rain, rain,came down, down, downThe rain, rain, rain, camedown, down, down

When the rain, rain, rain,came down, down, down

In his Autumn before the winter comes man's last mad surge of youth

Winter.

Oh well, its here, its muddy, windy grip upon our land.

The last golden splendour of the Beech Tree before it sheds its leaves.

The gentle squelch of the Trailraker as it drags its sorry way through the quagmire.

The long rainy dark evenings. Spring, summer, and fall fill us with hope; winter alone reminds us of the human condition.

But without winter what would be our summer? Does absence not make the heart grow fonder? That first feeling of a warm sun in March and the snowdrops poking through makes you feel alive once more and the relief that its finally all behind you once again. Lets look to that day when nature once again looks to the sky and shouts "GO!"

Free fruit

Well, we've been called a bunch of monkeys in our time, but this recent customer tip/gratuity takes the biscuit.

Taking the biscuit is what we normally like to do, preferably chocolate Hob-nobs and yes, we are grateful, it is a nice gesture, but beer is nicer, as are also cakes and money.

Nous aimons Commencal!!!

Ici chez Merlin, nous aimons des vélos de Commencal beaucoup. Il nous est agréable bon bas au fond de nos coeurs anglais de stocker cette grande marque des vélos français !

Toute la gamme est fournie, par le Suprême DH, par le Méta 5, le Méta 4, Supernormals et Absoluts. Il y a si bon qu'Andy ait acheté réellement une Méta 5 plutôt que d'essayer au scrounge un pour libre hors de l'importateur est qui ce qu'il fait normalement avec tout d'autre. Incroyable !

http://www.commencal.com

Caravanning

Andy has gone caravanning to the Lakes this week. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. He's calculated that by buying a caravan he will have saved 83 pence compared to the average cost of staying in B&B's over the next 15 years. Ace............

Anyway, he's been sighted by some our customers and they video'd him as he drove to the site: http://www.warwick.ac.uk/~cusxac/movies/caravan.mpg

Sunday Times

On Sunday, in addition to my toast, finest marmalade, orange juice and pot of tea brought to me in bed as is obviously customary at Peacock towers I was delighted to peruse that "Da Merlin" was featured in a short article on buying a Mountain bike. Here's the article on line: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2779-2413253,00.html
It was indeed a jolly good read and I thought we fared well, though I would take serious umbridge at their view that the Malt 1 frame is "unexceptional". That is frankly just nitpicking and I feel a prime example of sensationalist journalism at its worst. Back to the Sunday Sport from now on for me.........

Peep, peep

JP

Saturday ride

Andy and I went for a quick two hour blast around Tockholes and Darwen tower on Saturday. Am thinking that will probably have been our last non muddy ride of the season. Our bikes for the ride were sort of a Christ and Anti-Christ, one being a steel hardtail with 60mm travel SIDS and V brakes, the other a 5" travel Commencal Meta 5 with Magura Wotans.

It didn't matter what the bikes were though, just two old friends enjoying riding and having a chat. One in lycra, one in baggies. Obviously, I got dropped on the longer descents, but the Meta 5 seemed to climb just fine.

Hope you all had a good weekend.

Goofy

Ok, so is Goofy a dog or what? Mickey is a mouse, Donald is a duck, Chip and Dale are chipmunks, Pluto is obviously a dog. Goofy looks like a dog, but if he is a dog, then why is he friends with Mickey? This is a giant mouse who keeps one of Goofy's cousins (Pluto) on a lead in his back garden. Surely Goofy would have words with Mickey about this?

According to Disney and I quote: "Goofy is a dog! Good-natured but not that bright, this cartoon character made his first appearance, somewhat disguised, as a member of the audience in "Mickey's Revue" (1932) Goofy was created as a human character, as opposed to Pluto, who was a pet, so he walked upright and had a speaking voice"

Well, there you go then.................

It all makes sense.......................

Have a good weekend folks and happy riding!

New Arrivals

Three brand spanking new frames came in yesterday, a 2007 Iron Horse Sunday in pink, a Commencal VIP Supreme DH 6" and a Commencal VIP Meta 5 frame. All three very cool and sought after frames.

Customers bikes

Here's a picture that David Palmer from Barton on Sea sent in of his Tig Team SL on the Penhydd trail. If you'd like to see pictures of you and your bike on the Blog, please email us at sales@merlincycles.co.uk

Shimano

We got a huge Shimano delivery yesterday. As a bike manufacturer it comes to us as unpackaged components for bike assembly. So, one box will have front hubs in, one box will have just chains, another just right hand shifters etc, etc. Essentially, its a lot of boxes and the picture does'nt really do justice to the amount of stock that needed to be put away yesterday.

Its J.P's birthday today, so off for a curry tonight!

Here's a recipe for my favourite Mattar Paneer, or to translate it Peas Cheese:

450gms /1lb shelled Mutter (green peas) 250gms / 1/2lb Paneer cheese
medium onions (chopped) 6 cloves garlic (crushed)1 tbsp grated ginger2 green chilies (chopped)250gms / 1/2 lb tomatoes (peeled and sliced)Salt To Taste 1cup curd / plain yogurt 1 tsp turmeric powder 1 tbsp coriander seeds 4 bay leaves 2 cups water 1/2 cup ghee / vegetable oil To Garnish :Garam masala powder Chopped coriander leaves


Preparation:
Make a paste by grinding together half the onions, the garlic and coriander seeds.
Heat the ghee in a frying pan and cut the paneer into 2.5-cm/1-inch cubes. Fry the paneer to a light brown and remove to drain on a plate.
Add the remaining onion and the ginger to the ghee / oil in a pan and add the bay leaves and fry until the onion is golden brown.
Add the turmeric and the paste mixture and fry until the ghee starts to separate.
Add the paneer and mutter (peas) along with the yogurt, chili, tomato and salt. Stir for 5-6 minutes over low heat.
Pour in the water and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Serve the matar paneer sprinkled with garam masala and coriander.

Serve with pilau rice or Chapatis for maximum enjoyment. Lager obviously makes an ideal companion drink.

Lupine lights sale!!

For this weekend only we are doing Lupine lights with a 15% extra discount. Just go to the lights page of the website.

Sun is shining

"Sun is shining, the weather is sweet, yeah,

Make you wanna move your dancing feet now,

To the rescue, here I am,

Want you to know, y'all, can you understand?"

Well, looks like an Indian Summer for this weekend, so its time to make up for the miserable weather of the last few weeks. 21 degrees on Saturday and Sunday! Andy and Paul are off to Glentress, I'm off to Gisburn Forest (cold permitting) for some tame girlfriend friendly cycling, which should combine nicely with a few drinks in the Emporium in Clitheroe afterwards: http://www.theemporiumclitheroe.co.uk/

Malt 1 wins What Mountain Bike award

The Malt 1 has just won What Mountain Bike Magazine's bike of the year award for the best sub £600 bike. We've worked hard to get such a great value spec. together and we very much agree with their conclusion that "You don't need any more than this". For 2007 it will come specced with a Marzocchi MX Pro fork which makes it even better value! Pictured above is a Malt 1 in the new 13" size which is proving to be very popular with our lady customers. The Rock Lobster 853 also won 2nd place in the best £1000 hardtail category. So, thanks everyone at http://www.whatmtb.com/.

Birthday boy!

Nige is 50 today, he really doesn't look a day over 44 does he?

Still, he'll have to buy us all cakes for dinner, make mine a Vanilla Slice please Nigel.

Staff member of the day

Name: Brendan
Age: 30
Occupation: Mechanic, specialises in concrete joinery
Marital Status: Despite suffering a childhood gingery is happily married with two children.
Interests: Fords, Formula 1, Fords, Fords, also likes Fords, likes to talk about Fords, is a member of the Ford RS owners club.
Bikes: Rock Lobster road bike, Malt 1, ancient Peugot fixie.
Most likely to say: I just left foot outbraked an Impreza on the McDonald's roundabout.
Least likely to say: I've just scrapped that Ford rustbucket pile of cr*p I call my car.
Interesting fact: Corners in the wet on his road bike like its on rails, well that would be like a 3 year old riding a tricycle on some particularly sticky rails.

2007 bikes

2007 bike details are still yet to be fully finalised, but you can expect the usual high specification and value for money assembled in the U.K bikes from Rock Lobster and Merlin.

We have now moved to powder coating finishes on most of the range. This now gives us a super durable and tough finish. The Rock Lobster 853 continues to be stove enamelled and the Malt 1 is a clear coated polished and ball burnished finish.

We are particularly excited about the new range of 2007 Maguras. We've had early production examples of the Odur, Menja and Laurin and they are superb forks. We will be offering very attractively priced upgrades to these forks on all the range.

The 2007 Merlin range:

Again, we will be offering all the bikes as a standard spec. with a full Deore groupset, Magura Julies, our handbuilt wheels and an FSA finishing kit. The fork will be the 2007 Marzocchi MX Pro. Obviously, there will be lots of equipment and specification upgrades available. We trust the range will continue to build upon the success of last year.

The Malt 1 is Kinesis 7005 heat treated aluminium and is finished in ball burnished and laquered aluminium.

The Malt 2 is double butted 7005 aluminium and is now finished in powder coat Champagne Titanium.

Our flagship Malt 4 continues to use Kinesis hydroformed Knesium tubing and is finished in Diamond White.

The 2007 Rock lobster Range:

The spcification will continue to be very high with full XT groupset, Easton finishing kit, Hope brakes, Marzocchi MX Pro ETA forks within the standard specification. Again, we will be offering the customer a choice of component, fork and specification upgrades so that they can tailor the bike to their needs based on four frame options starting at £995:

Rock Lobster 853; We feel that steel frames continue to be very popular in the UK and our 853 is now something of a "classic" with the compliant, lively ride feel of Reynolds 853. Its a lovely Metallic Ruby Red.

Rock Lobster Tig Team SL; An Easton Ultralite frame finished either in a powder coat stealth black or ball burnished and polished aluminium.

Rock Lobster Team Titanium; Built from 3AL 2.5V titanium, a superb handling, value for money Ti frame.

Rock Lobster B52; A hardcore XC/All Mountain/Freeride do it all frame made from Easton RAD tubing and designed around a 130-150mm fork.

More Morzine Pics!

Andy's Morzine road jump!

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBOM1fl2Yr0

Morzine pictures

Morzine

Andy and Paul just got back from a long weekend in Morzine. http://www.morzine.com/ Both thought it was very cool. Andy was well pleased with his new Magura Wotans on his Commencal. Pictures and videos soon as soon as Alex emails them to us...........

Staffmember of the day

Name: Andy
Occupation: The manager
Age: 34
Marital status: Married to "me Jillsy", two children, Mondeo man personified
Bikes: Rock Lobster Tig Team SL, Commencal Meta 5
Interests: Motorbikes, Chicken Kievs, Cottage cheese, dieting,
Catchphrase: "Tight as cramp, hairy as hell"

Rock Lobster Scandium

Custom built Scandium frame from Paul Sadoff in the US. A sensible 3.3 lbs in weight and finished in Gun Metal powdercoat.

The end of summer?

Well, its started to rain again in Leyland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyland
I fear Summer has finally once again given way to the incessant raining that is the North West's climate. Apparently New York City receives more rain than Leyland and also bizarrely Rome has about the same. That really doesn't explain why the trails are turning to mud again. I can't imagine they sell many Panaracer Trailraker's in Western Italy, especially this time of year.

Anyway, Leyland rocks apparently and I'll tell you why. How can any town that produced the Austin Maxi, Morris Marina, Allegro, Montego and Princess ever be derided as not being a bastion of British manufacturing? In reality though, Leyland did produce some genuinely great cars, buses and trucks: Land Rover, the Mini, the MG Midget all hailed the company from this small Lancashire town. So, lets forget about the rain and repeat after me'; "Leyland, rocks!"

Staffmember of the day part 2

Name: John P, JP
Occupation: Mail Order, Phones, Emails, Source of amusement
Age: 37
Marital status: Despite being camper than the entire camping section of Millets he's very happily engaged to Tracey thanks.
Bikes: Rock Lobster 853, Cinelli road bike.
Interests: Playing guitar in bands, music, bikes, dogs, curry

Staffmember of the Day

Name: Nigel, or Nige
Occupation: Shop Manager, Freeride God
Marital status: Married, sorry Ladies
Age: As the hills
Bikes: Rock Lobster B52, Specialized Big Hit
Interests: Bikes, films, music, comics
Most likely to say: Did you see the pop I just got then on that dropoff?
Least Likely to say: Fancy doing 80 miles on the road bikes over the Trough lads?

Ok, final pictures of 2007 colours!

Tig Team SL in Stealth Black and Ball Burnished. Malt 4 in Diamond White. Malt 2 in Champagne Titanium.

Rock Lobster Singlespeed

Paul Sadoff from http://www.rocklobstercycles.com sent us this from the States recently, its one of his new singlespeed frames. This one is Tange Ultimate tubing with custom disc mounts from Paul. Immaculate welding and attantion to detail as usual. Whether we'll do a production version in the future or not I don't know.

New Shop

The new shop has been open now for about a month and is doing really well. Its much bigger than the old one and allows us to carry a much greater choice of stock both in the shop and in the extra room we've now got in the warehouse. We've also expanded the range of bikes we, and as well as Rock Lobster and Merlin we now stock Commencal: http://www.commencal.com and Iron Horse: http://www.ironhorsebikes.com

Opening hours are as follows:

Monday - 9-30am to 8pm (late night opening)
Tuesday - 9-30am to 5-30pm
Wednesday - 9-30am to 5-30pm
Thursday - 9-30am to 8pm (late night opening)
Friday - 9-30am to 5-30pm
Saturdays - We are only open the first Saturday in every month from 10am to 4pm.

Malt 2& Malt 4 2007

New colour Malt 2 in champagne titanium powder coat and Malt 4 in white powder coat!

New 2007 frames are in!!

The new 2007 colours for the Rock Lobster Tig team SL came in last week. Powder coat black and polished. The polished one looks nice and retro and the black should be a super-tough finish now its pwder coated. The frame otherwise remains unchanged though: Easton Ultralite aluminium for £299!

JP

First Post!!

Welcome to our blog!

Lots has been happening, so we thought we start this page to update customers with regular news, gossip and just general inane postings!

JP