Where the hell are you guys getting the cash from? Seriously. It's the last week of Jan and personally I'm broke, but feck me, you guys have dug deep and bought some damn nice bikes this week .Thanks. Or really, the tax man should be saying thanks. For those of us who are effectively self employed our tax for 06/07 is due now, we were looking like coming up a bit short, as usual, but we just scrapped it by the skin of our cleats. Anyway, can't wait to see some of the bikes you lot have had on the trail :-)

More Macs? This week the constant threads on our MTB community site forum about Macs went into overdrive, so it was time for a dedicated Mac forum. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Check out the chaos at www.mtbrider.com

New brand? Hmm, we've been talking about this for ages. Lots of new bike brands are in the Uk for 08, and with the new shop opening and the workshop in the existing shop moving out the back we had the space for a third bike brand in Real Cycles. Only, well, I couldn't make a decision. They all had their strong points, and all had their potential issues. So I was stuck, postponing the decision until the very last moment. Then the last moment came and went and I still hadn't made a commitment. Then as I'm about to successfully convince myself that actually we didn't need a third brand after all, a new one comes up totally out the blue, totally unexpected, and totally so perfect for the shop, it's crazy that I didn't think of it in the first place. More on that one soon, very soon.

New shop stuff? Stevo, the elite rider from our DH team is also a joiner, a good joiner and he's done some bits for us, not a lot, but enough to let us dump the silver MDF monstrosity that TimH built in then ten minutes about 5 years ago (It'll do til we get something sorted new month!) and the horrible counter I picked up for £150 about a million years ago. The shop is looking almost, well, like a proper shop. Just wait til I get to Ikea and get some proper display cabinets, the shop will look... Well, like a shithole shop with some Ikea furniture in it!

Finally.....

New shop? OMG the rumour mill went bellistic after the post mentioning it a while back. I've been questioned like the spanish inquisition (cue Python renditions) about it. All I'm saying is it's gonna be in Belfast, it's gonna be good, and...... It's not called Real Cycles!!!!!! We've got the keys, we've started fitting, slowly, and it'll be open by Easter at the latest, maybe sooner, maybe later.

I think that's it for this week. Seeya.

Steve.

This week has been more about Macs than bikes for me, bit sad I guess, and a bit daft updating the blog with stuff that's non bike related, but hey, there really is nothing bikey worth talking about this week!

So, Macs. Well this week I started the long overdue revamp of the shop network, at the moment we have 2 Mac Minis and then my Macbook on top of that, and they all need to talk to each other. They do more or less but the network has been more a case of a collection of plasters than a proper bandage holding it all together. One week on it's still got a few plasters in there, but the bandage is getting bigger and soon the plasters will be gone, most likely to blockup the plug hole in the bath for a few weeks more, like all old plasters seem to do.

The final step in the network was getting the main shop Mini onto Leopard, which went smoothly enough, cept for Parallels, it just refused to work after the upgrade. Parallels! I hear you say, why on earth are you running Windows on a Mac??? (Parallels in a clever little application that enables Windows to run on a Mac in case you didn't know). Well, yes sadly we still need Windows, for one job, to complete our online finance agreements. Back Horse, our finance provider, has a special secure website for doing finance agreements online, only it's not Mac friendly, you must use Windows and IE, how crap is that! Anyway, after a few updates and yet more money spent Parallels is now happy and working again.

Al we have to do now to complete the network is drop in a few miles of cable, convince an access point to work for wireless internet and get a new coffee machine.

Coffee machine? Oh ya, the other reason for the new network is because in the next few weeks we're having a big shake up of the exisiting shop. The workshop, that has sat in the back half of the shop floor for the last 6 years is finally getting moved out to it's own location, we had to move it, we've totally run out of space in the shop. Once the work shop is relocated (don't panic, it's only into a new building out the back) the space will be turned over to some bike display space, a couple of sofas, a coffee table and coffee machine, and the play station will be making a welcome return.

It was always my plan to put a chill out zone with free wifi, a PS area and decent coffee into the shop, finally it's nearly a reality.

Gentleman, fill your mugs and start your engines :-)

Oh ya, bikes, great ain't they?

Into 08 with a bang here, normally we get to ease ourselves into the new year in relative calm but not this year, it started with a bang and it's not slowing down. Where the hell do you guys get the money to spend on top end MTB's in January? I've no idea, but I'm not complaining, thankyou :-)

So, what's new?

Well first up is new staffer Luke. He's in Real Cycles at present but will soon be moving over to head up our new shop (new shop?? more later in the year on that one), eventually he'll straddle both shops (ooer misses) but that won't be for ages. In the meantime he's getting his head around how our business works in the shop: fixing bikes, packing packages and making coffee. He's a cracking rider, ex roadie racer (he likes to keep that bit quiet) but now rides a DJish hardtail and a monster DH bike. If your a shop visitor demand a coffee from him next time your in if your a mail order client go easy on him, he's still getting his head around the gear we sell.

This morning a new mag/fanzine landed on my mat, it's called Distilled, as I recall it's produced by a NI guy who lives in NY. This is the 2nd issue we've had in, it's not bad, bit like Dirt, when Dirt was a decent read.



Printed on great quality paper with some great photos, it could go on to great things. Only if you lot buy it though, so hot foot it over to www.realcycles.com and buy a copy. Cover price is £3.00 and we'll do postage for free. Better still, buy anything from us over say £50, ask for a free copy in the comments section of the order and we'll throw in a freebie while stocks last.

Other than that, well we have loads going on, a few new brands due to appear pretty soon, a new look to the RC shop (once the other shop opens) and a riding trip back to Spain in May. That;'s purely for me and some mates and will not effect the shop at all, but hey I'm excited about it so I'm telling everyone.

Otherwise, happy new year and seeya all soon.

Steve