 |
 |
 |
 |
Something we’ve been working on behind the scenes here for a while now is finally ready and launched.
We now accept PayPal! so if you have some cash burning a hole in your, well… PayPal account give it a go.
We’ve also got two bikes to give away to anyone that pays for an order using PayPal before the 16th December, it’s retrospective too, so if you already have, you have inadvertently entered!
|
 |
|
Univega was Founded by American Ben Lawee In 1970. His now legendary Univega “Alpina Sport” was then serially manufactured in Japan. It replaced the 10-speed racing cycles dominating the scene at the time and was the beginning of the relocation of mass bicycle production to Asia.
Since 1990, the brand has been developed in Germany, during it’s early days it became obvious that Germany was an ideal market for the high quality bikes from the USA and it soon became the linchpin for the entire European business of the brand. When Univega founder Ben Lawee retired in 1997, the logical thing to do was completely move Univega to Germany.
Univega is a superb example of a modern, global enterprise. World-wide networks and business relations ensure for the fact that know-how, resources and synergies are optimally used: Product development and management is done in Switzerland, most of it’s modern manufacturing plants are in Germany and Asia, and it has distributors in 20 countries… The way things are done in the cycling industry may have changed over the years, but the Univega goal has always remained the same: building bikes which are innovative and aesthetic, guarantee riding pleasure, satisfy the thirst for adventure, thrills the nerves and offer security and comfort.
The Univega range now available at wiggle combines budget and entry level models and consists of hybrid bikes, road bikes, MTB’s and city bikes. Being a member of the same family as Focus and Raleigh the Univega brand carries the ingrained and uncompromising characteristics of quality, performance and above all, thanks to our direct import pricing structure, value.
 |
 |
 |
| Univega Alpina HT 550 MTB Bike | Univega Via Laser Road Bike | Univega Geo Seven City Bike |
Geo one and Geo one womens - £269.99
Geo seven - £299.99
Alpina HT 500 - £269.99
Alpina HT 510 - £329.99
Alpina HT 530 - £399.99
Alpina HT 550 - £524.99 (BARGAIN - Reba’s, Deore XT, Magura Julies…!)
Alpina HT Sport - £219.99
Terreno 200 & Terreno 200 Womens - £269.99
Terreno 300 & Terreno 300 Womens - £324.99
Terreno 400 & Terreno 400 Womens - £399.99
Via Laser - £524.99
Via Laser “Special edition” - Coming soon
You can get FREE delivery and 10% worth of free goods with any of these bikes too!
The same words are coming up again, ‘incredible value’, ‘unbeatable price’, ‘performance outweighs price’ etc etc… Well worth a read! Taken from Cycling Weekly - 9th November 2006;
“Focus designs its bikes in collaboration with its sponsored athletes, and on the cross side it boasts no less a
figure than 2005 world champion Hanka Kupfernagel. So there is the assurance that this frame has had serious development and has cross-specific features to match…The Focus Mares Cross does not look as substanial as the Crossbow but nonetheless responds well when accelerating and when clearing steep banks…the Mare’s lower centre of gravity did provide good stability at higher speed… The Mares has a short head tube, allowing a fair amount of adjustment especially with the brake hanger taking up the equivalent of 10mm of spacers, so the perfect position was achievable. Focus has stuck to the Shimano groupset on the Mares and fitted 105 hubs with an AT 450 Alex rim. Shimano is hard to fault for its hubs and the 105s offered excellent finish and performance. Built onto Alex rims the wheels stayed true for our test period…the Scwhalbe Racing Ralph on the Focus offered exceptional grip - not unlike the mtb version they’re modelled on, and were equally fast.”
Conclusion: Focus has created a name for itself in the UK with some good quality bikes at incredibly low prices, and the Mares Cross stays true to form. At a touch under £700 and featuring a Shimano 105 10-speed groupset, it looks to be incredible value. The Focus is undoubtedly good value for money and would make a great introduction to cyclo-cross racing and an excellent winter training bike. The Focus has an unbeatable price as it is only sold mail order and will therefore always win on value, but also has a performance that outweighs its price.
Check out the full spec and more pictures of the Focus Mares Cross now!
Here’s a cool little vid I got sent this afternoon, check out some of those curb landings!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2515315670131331281
Winter is basically here now, I know this for sure as I’ve just booked a cheeky weekend away in January and I’m starting to count down the days!
Holidays coming up soon mean 2 things…. 1. Need to get some new kit, 2. Need to get some practice in!
Luckily the first can be addresses straight away right here. On the hardware front we have recently added some cool Nitro Boards and Raiden Bindings (Which are made by Nitro) to the site as well as lots of Dakine stuff including Wax, bags, tuning kits etc… On the apparel side we’ve got a couple of L1 jackets (again by Nitro) , load of Base layers (an essential buy trust me!) and plenty of Dakine Gloves. That’s not all either, take a look at our full Snow range now!
Right and then for the practicing… One of my favourites for a winter warm up has to be Xscape at Milton Keynes. It’s got a nice wide slope with a few lumps and bumps to get some sneaky airs and they have the boarder only jams on a Saturday night, they could be well worth investigating. I have enjoyed trips up to Tamworth too but there’s no need for me to head that far north. Why are the only 2 decent slopes up there though? luckily the South is starting to kick back!
Take a look at Dorset Snowsport Centre - massive long slopes, a fun park and a jump zone! Looks quality and I cannot wait to get down their. I know it’s snowflex, which some of you might not of tried but my local slope has it and its great, soft on those big landings and doesn’t do much damage to your board, just make sure you keep using the silicon sprays provided to keep the base from drying out.
This got me googling a few more indoor slopes and I found a few more that are worth a mention… In the middle of the Dubai desert they have a huge indoor set up with Ski Dubai, it’s got 5 different runs, a free style zone and a quad chair lift! And that’s not all… The are building a whole resort out their for 2008! The Dubai Sunny Mountain Snow Dome. Unbelievable. No description needed by me, look at the picture.
Now I thought that couldn’t be beaten, but I found the ultimate, and it could end up right on our doorstep - a never ending indoor slope! In Wales they are planning on building a 13-storey high “Ski-Trac” which sits on an eletro-magnetic base and rotates. 
That means if you plod down it at a modest 30km/h you will never reach the end! I can’t find too much info on this except from a few articles in 2002 when they were applying for planning permission but with any luck it should be ready about now! I wish. Read the full article on it here
That’s all for now, don’t forget to check out our snow range and let me know if you can find out any more info on the Ski-Trac!
If you are anything like me or even marginally addicted to eBay you’ll love this… We’ve just thrown a load of discontinued and seconds gear onto eBay so if you’ve got a bit of cash left in your PayPal account take a quick look at our wiggle eBay shop and you can grab yourself and absolute bargain. There are some lights on there, shorts, swim costumes, ladies Race for Life gear and more!
Our eBay shop is run as a separate entity to our main site so read the auction details fully before bidding to avoid any mix-ups.
Its been a busy week in the warehouse with more and more bikes continuing to wheel their way in. We’ve just added a load of 2006 Giant bikes to the site with 25% off across the board! We’ve got XTC’s, SCR Composites, TCR Composites and even a load of kids bikes, perfect for Xmas!
Also we have had an eagerly anticapated arrival from Focus with the new 2007 Focus Cayo Road Bike in stock.
That’s not all either, here’s some more new gear;
The review for the Focus Mares Cross is in from cycling weekly too, I’ll let you know how it got on later this week!.
As you may have seen, there has been a lot of publicity in the media about credit card and general Internet fraud lately. We take security incredibly seriously here at wiggle and we are constantly evaluating and updating our systems. You may have noticed a small logo that has appeared at the bottom of each page on the site. We have gone through an external audit and are now authorised to show the “Hackersafe” logo on the site. “Hackersafe” are the world’s leading PCI (Payment Card Industry) security certification service. So now wiggle is checked every day by world leading website vulnerability scanning technology used at the White House!
It has been an incredibly busy last few months for wiggle and we go from strength to strength, mainly… thanks to you lot!
In fact we’ve been so busy we have just qualified for another Hitwise #1 Award for the quarter ending September 2006, the second quarter running since we entered the category!
During this period, we ranked No. 1 by visits in the Sports - Cycling category against other UK websites.
We also qualified for a Hitwise Top 10 Award for the quarter ending September 2006.
During this period, we ranked No. 5 by visits in the Shopping and Classifieds - Sport and Fitness category against other UK websites, only being beaten by M and M direct, JJB, Halfords and JD Sports!
Thanks to you, and a pat on the back for us!
Carrying on the subject of the Focus Cyclo cross bikes from yesterday, the German rider, Malte Urban, raced to victory last week in the 2nd round of the Cyclo Cross National Trophy held in Ipswich… on a Focus Cross Expert!
Here’s a slice of the review taken from the official British Cycling Cyclo-Cross site;
The appearance of German rider Malte Urban on the start line of the senior’s race certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons. Having ridden the World Cup race the day before in Tabor, finishing a creditable 17th place, Urban was still the man to beat. From the gun the pace was fierce with everyone giving it their all. Despite numerous attacks, Urban found it hard to shake off a following group containing Phil Dixon, Dan Booth, Jody Crawforth and Ian Bibby, with the rest of the field strung out behind as if secured by a piece of elastic as the German rider surged forward and eased up the pack seemed to concertina behind him. As the race progressed the European style of racing began to take its toll, as the pack disintegrated, leaving a core few trying to keep on terms with Urban. With just a few laps remaining the canny German attacked once more, this time opening a small gap that he managed to maintain as he crossed the line with the win under his belt. Meanwhile in Urban’s wake the race was on for 2nd and those all-important points. Another exciting sprint was on the cards for the crowds that lined the finishing straight as Jody Crawforth tried to hold off a determined Phil Dixon. Dixon just had the strength to pass the Evans rider, to once more push him into 3rd spot, whilst he took his second 2nd place in the series, whilst under 23 rider Ian Bibby just a second behind took 4th.
Read the full article here.
You are currently browsing the /">wiggle blog weblog archives for November, 2006.
