Our production frames are shaping up nicely and although we’ve been too busy preparing for Bespoked Bristol to properly update the website, we thought we’d share some shots of the Stooshie and Stoater cross and all road frames here – with more pics of the Stooshie to be found on our Flickr pages.

Well get more information and photographs online next week (along with an online order form), but if you’re interested in making a preorder, just drop us a line.

Here’s a quick sneaky look at our production cyclocross frame ready for paint. Excuse the crappy camera-phone pics.

All production frames are configurable for any braze-ons. This one’s getting a single bottle cage mount (I know!) and routing for a 1×10 drive train. Twist our arm and we’ll put cantis on it instead of disks.

We’re officially launching these at Bespoked Bristol but we’re taking pre-orders now. Call or email for more details.

It never got above zero all day, but boy, what a day – blue skies, crisp snow and frost covered trails.

Simon’s plan (Simon Kirkness from the Edinburgh Tri Centre) was to set off from Ronde in Edinburgh with the plan to follow a circular route around the city on cross bikes using as much off-road as possible – linking trails through the Pentland hills to the South of Edinburgh.

After downing a coffee in Ronde (to be recommended at any time), we hit the tails by following the Water of Leith and straight away encountered the challenge for the day – ice. Off-road trails through cities are great, but as they follow the more hidden parts of the city they’re usually in the shade and untreated. The water of Leith was no exception and kept us locked in cold until we climbed its banks to head up Poets Glen and onto Red Moss using some great link trails though natural woodland.

From here we followed the reservoirs with low sun making the iceier patches in the snow difficult to see, and once onto the hill proper it was a slog along the drove road with deeper snow making progress difficult. At the col between West Kip and Cap Law, we headed down the farm track in deep snow with brakes so frozen as to be useless (discs were definitely the way to go today), but nerves were soothed with a wee nip at the farm before slithering down the remainder of the road. Reaching the A702 it was bitterly cold (and snow free) so we pressed on hard through wooded trails in John Cark’s estate and then to the disused railway line leading from Penicuik to Dalkeith. On reaching Bonnyrigg, we decided to cut the route short due to fading light and head back by road to Edinburgh (rather than continue to Musselburgh and back along the innocent railway through Arthur’s Seat).

All, in all, a brilliant day out and a fantastic way to end the Scottish Cyclocross series – and only a few of us ended up on the deck! Thanks to Colin ‘single speed’ May for the pic and if you’re interested in some video of the day and the Scottish CX scene in general, check out Dave and John’s Dig in! channel on YouTube.

Well, despite its good intentions, #Hurricanebawbag didn’t ruin a weekend of racing on Mull, although it did for an unfortunate few who had accident heading to Oban in Friday night’s blizzard – luckily with no injuries.

On arriving in Mull, there was a power cut at Craignure, and when we got to the north of the island Craigmore Castle was in the dark too – although, after a quick trip to Tobermory for a bite to eat and a pint, the power was on when we got back, along with snow piling up nicely outside.

Come morning the snow had all but disappeared, resulting in two days of fantastic racing with a technical mud on Saturday and a fast blast with a bit of climbing on Sunday. Both days made for an exciting finish to the series with a spectacular backdrop over the sea to Moidart and the Islands beyond. A good effort put into the Santa costumes too with nearly everyone dressed in red adding to the atmosphere of the weekend. Surreal!

Final results for the series and the weekend are on the SCX website, but a big thank you should go to Davie Graham and everyone who helped and took part during the series – it was a hoot and I for one cannae wait till next year!

It was cold and sometimes wet, but we had fun at Auchentoshan making this short film. Originally we had two cameras, but the battery on the first was dead before we started… and the other ran out part way through. However, a mobile phone came to the rescue and with some subtle editing and black and white treatment we just about get away with it! Enjoy.

Rain on the bedroom window at 7:30am suggested it was going to be a wet Sunday and a wet start to the 2011 Scottish Cyclocross series in Irvine. However, by the time we’d driven West, the sky had brightened and there was even views up the coast to Adrossan and across to the Isle of Arran.

At £12, the entry fee is a bargain and the course is a cracker with undulating loops around the Marine Drive beach park next to the sea. The course was a mix of grass, gravel paths and moorland singletrack, but the real kicker is a 200m sandy trail through a small band of dunes next to the beach.

After the first practice lap it was clear the sand was hard going, but the worst part was the protest from the oily bits that sounded like sand and mud had been poured over finely tuned drivetrain – which of course it had… The only course of action was to ignore it and pretend that it was time for new shiny bits anyway.

As it happened, the sand wasn’t actually that hard and it ended up being the part of the course you could catch your breath on.

Having not done any speed work in a while, a good beating was anticipated, but as it happened ended up mid-field and enjoyed some close battles on the course – even coming off at one point as a rider cut in front too soon. John McCaffery won the Vets with Craig Hardie coming first in the Seniors and Genevieve Whitson in the Female category.

If you’ve not tried it before, cyclocross is definitely worth a go. Walkers Cycling Club put on a good day and there was a real mix of abilities and the Scottish series has a great family-friendly atmosphere. The junior race was well attended too with the kids having just as much fun as the adults.

The next race is at Plean, near Stirling with full details on the Scottish Cyclocross website.