Bristol... and Hello

Good luck riding up Park St & St Michaels Hill...they are right buggers.

Muddock is good, Rollapaluza may well be running a race there soon. Get out on a MTB there are some great rides in the surrounding area. Some quite accessible from Muddock too.

Saw a lycrad up fixed guy monster up park yesterday, and about 50 others pushing bikes up it, time to give up the smokes I think..

First buy is a mtb or a 'crosser - the fixed was easier to haul about.

Not much help in terms of bristol, but was in bath at the weekend saw 4 fixed gear bikes which is brave as bath has monster hills on almost every side. 1 v interesting one with pink flowers on but a bloke riding it! maybe its the cider round there!

bike shops are pretty good there, johns bikes is immense, will bend over backwards to get you anything you need, thats where i got my nice carbon forks from!

They are beginning to cater for fixed gear bikes, now have a lemonf fillimore and a surly steamroller sitting by the front door. and some hubs, cogs chains and lockrings etc

15 miles or so from bristol, can be done by the Sustrans Bike path, canal or via main roads.

I'm onto that one if the sun ever comes out... Who am I kidding, best just buy a jacket I guess.

I spent 6 years in Bristol. Park St was a nightmare going up on a bmx , esp as I lived at the top and all the good spots such Lloyds were at the bottom. Always good fun going down though. I used to hang around with crazy legs Wainwright , he would skate down Park St...I think he stills runs his shop 50/50 on Park Row.

If you are after mtb action there used to be some trails and jumps in Ashton Court ( 5 mins across the suspension bridge).

Loads of cool people in the Brizzle and plently of top places , if I leave London it will be to head back there.

Big big thanks for the welcome and the info, who needs lonely planet..

The publishers and all who work for them.

Even the lying writers?

Especially them.

Just realised your original question was about bike shops in Bristol. Fred baker on Cheltenham Road used to have a good rep for road bikes, Bike on Embassy Av always seemed to be staffed by school kids who were into mtb,Bike Workshop was a sort of co-op place which i think is always cheap for repairs and stuff. There was a place south of the river that I used to go to which had a good workshop , I think it was on North St. There probaly load new ones since i was there but the best bike in Bristol which you have to go to just for the experience is Overburys.

Overburys is a family run place , located in St Pauls. Its a bizarre place as the all the family work there and really know their stuff. I think they even used to make their own frames. What made it an experience is its location , as you would have to battle your way past all the rude boys outside trying to sell you weed. I just remember being served by this woman- probably Mrs Overbury, who seemed to know everything about brazing steel frames, whilst telling the rude boys to get outta her shop. No idea whether its still there or what its like nowadays.But its the kind of place that would have some rare bottom bracket sitting in a box behind the counter. Next door used to be the best fashion shop you will ever see- think ghetto pimp snoop doggy style and you are not even close!

One word of advice if you do ride into St Pauls , watch your wheels. I used to live there , its a cool place but you do need to be careful.

I am sure there will be someone actually from Bristol on here somewhere who can help you with a bit more up to date info.

Cheers d.mac, thats a veritable wealth of information. Overburuys sounds like quite the spot, ive been given the heads up bout St Pauls, but it sounds like its worth the reach, bike shops - the more eccentric the better!! I found an evans today and its like tesco with bike bits..

on thursday i rode from temple meads up to the suspension bridge: up park street, left around the triangle, then up that really steep hill that takes you out by pizza express in clifton.

did that in 44:15, which is 77 inches.

Would possibly have been easier on a 70", but there you go.

http://www.argoscycles.com/ based in bristol, very nice frames, bit out of my price range to be honest though!

Are you from Frome?

Apparently Pee Wee Ellis lives there. Wierd.

My gf is from Frome ill ask about pee wee ellis.... would be good to get some stone cold funk whilst in the west country, do you think he's got the accent yet "ooo arrrr take to the bridge"

i'm bristol based too (for the last 11 years). i ride 48x18 which gets me up most stuff here.

not much fixed gear stuff in the bike shops round here though, although there are some good shops for other types of riding. lots of reasonable off-road trails and some decent long road rides to be had round here.

50-50 will be stocking Fixed mag very soon. There's a scene growing quite quickly down there, I hear. Danny Wainwright and Joe Habgood (both skaters) have bikes and lots of the guys who work for Shiner (skate distro) are riding now as well. It's going to blow up!

I went to Bristol one time and ended up getting handcuffed to a bed with a naked brazen hussy trying to force feed me cocaine whilst smacking me wth a paddle.

Wildest night of my life.

meh, sounds like a regular friday night to me...

:p

If it is then we need to hang out on a Friday!

i'm moving on the 1st august.

i'll bring the noise.

i got a fucken house to rent for the same price as my cupboard in peckham

Are you from Frome?

Apparently Pee Wee Ellis lives there. Wierd.

He does. I had to organise a NYE ball in Frome 2 years ago, and we had Pee Wee Ellis play at the ball. He's a cool bloke.

I met two guys form fixed Bristol....nice chaps without a doubt!

one was probably me.ha ha. or maybe not. however i am in bristol and there are a few riders around . check out fixedbristol and email the guys, alternatively pm me and i'll pass your details on. we a have a ride coming up end of july but are open to ideas. mostly an older crowd (older than me) but a good bunch. just like riding in our own ways really. there are some other folk i havent met yet, and to be honest, up until about 4 moinths ago i had seen onlt two fixeed riders in the last two years but now the fuckers are everywhere. we rode out last week and a man on a brown slangster didnt even nod when 5 of us went by, two waved to say hello... so make sure you say hello. i ride a bare metal frame with words on, a brooks saddle, risers and thomson layback, i nearly always have a short peak brown chord cap on and a brown/white bag. if you see me, shout. or head down to the old duke of an evening, nice jazz pub, free livemusic every night. i'm there mostly.

as for ratios, 42-16 for fun play bike, soon to change to 17 for moref fun, but my other bike will roll albeit slower up park street etc on 42-14 which i think is 80 inch. rugged.

oh and i ride rickshaws some weekends nights on whiteladies road. swing by to introduce yourself.

apologies for the shite spelling and typing, my keyboard is half fucked.

bugger knew i forgot something. bike shops... great road shop, new open ,nice guy called mike runs it with his wife. its called strada. down on north street i think in bedminster, southville end. for mountain bikes my local choiceis psyclewerx on abbotsford road in cotham. bristol bike works on colston street is good. lots of 2nd hand stuff, they are selling more and more fixed stuff as thistrend is getting bigger. evans arent bad if you like shiney shops. fred baker alright too. good independants around. or alernativly folks on here have 2nd hand stuff as do some folks on bristol fixed so if you want something particular try these place first perhaps. plenty people got plenty stuff kicking around.

and anyone else in bristol.. say hello yea.

i'll bring the noise.

bring it

not sure if it's old men or hipsters.

shit. are they my only two options? im not over thirty and i hope im not a hipster. what am i? WHAT AM I????

sorry. last post in a row.

1st Post....Been lurking a while, I'm in Bristol commute on my FG most days. Surly Steamroller.Seen one person recently at the bottom of colston av. recently and a few around kingsdown.

Ha cool. Think that was me at bottom of Colston Ave, riding a fixed tricross. Maybe this should be in the spotted part! Anyway been lurking on here for a while checking out the bike porn. Started commuting out to Hartcliffe most days. Riding a 42-16 seems to work on most hills round here. Playing in the traffic rules!