Latest inline skate/landboarding vids..

This amazing video has just popped up on YouTube & we thought it was well worth looking at!




And we must give a nod to an excellent chap from America, Pat Hinch, who has grabbed my fancy by combining two favourite hobbies, landboarding & skating (although he appears to be a lot better at both than I ever was). Just click on the link below to be whisked to his video:



And sticking with landboarding for a few minutes...




Good eh?!!! When I needed replacement bearings for my board I got rubber sealed bearings & had them re-greased with water-resistant, free running grease so that they turned easily but kept all of the beach nasties out! Just a little pointer for landboard bearing maintenance - if you brush your wheels to get the sand off them after a landboaring sesh at the beach, be careful not to brush the seals that cover the bearings as you might actually be pushing grit into the bearings, eventually making them much harder to turn.

xx

RC Plane landing... how not to!

Thanks to http://thefishingguy.blogspot.com for this great image, captured whilst out on the lake for the Ravenna Thunderbirds annual water fly show in the US. The crash apparently occurred because of a loss of a part on take-off. Fishingguy jokes "It is a good thing I got this shot for the FAA to determine cause of the crash!"

Should your rc model suffer from a similar disaster (WE DO HOPE NOT!), we can supply high quality replacement bearings for you** - we don't have a minimum so you can order as few as you like.

**Did you know, most manufacturers supply their models fitted with the cheapest Chinese bearings? These bearings are ok for low-tech, low-spec applications but aren't suited to most models, so they tend to fail very quickly. We can offer high qualtiy Chinese bearings (mid-range in price terms) or the high quality Japanese bearings (usually branded, so they tend to cost more), both of which are smoother running, machined to a higher tolerance & last longer under the pressures that most models are subjected to.

Overheard at the Bike Shop...

Courtesy of http://ditmcyclingclub.blogspot.com/ we have this fabulous little snippet...

"One of our regulars is in the bike store. He's blind and is the stoker on a tandem. He has his dog next to him as he's trying on helmets. When he leaves, one of the "higher education" students asks the guy behind the counter how a blind guy can ride a bike. The guy behind the counter says that "he rides on the back of a tandem"..... The girl accepts that, but then starts to look really confused. After a minute she leans over the counter and quietly asks the salesman in all sincerity, "how does the dog steer the bike?"

Do you ever wonder how some people manage to breathe & stand upright at the same time?!

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Essential Fishing Gear...

We just loved this post from Lunker Hunt's blog http://lunkerhunt.blogspot.com/. Let it be a salutory reminder to those of us who tend to suffer from the occasional 'senior moments'...!!

"As a seasoned angler, I've learned a few things. Preparation is key to a good trip, and I always check (and double check) my gear before hitting the road.

Imagine my surprise when we arrived at the Mackinaw River put in spot last Saturday, only to discover that my friend Dave forgot the single piece of gear any angler can't do without - his rod.

Amateur."

You'll be pleased to know, dear reader, that Dave did eventually retrieve his rod & had a good day's fishing.

Schaeffer's latest video (with bad ass moves)

Schaeffer - you are the best & we are very proud to be your sponsors. If you're this good now, just imagine how awesome you'll be when you're really old... like six!! ;0)

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Gadget Show's Pick of the Bikes

For those of you who haven't seen it - Channel Five's "Gadget Show" is a techie's Nirvana, jam-packed with all the latest gadgets, gizmos & amazingly cool stuff that you just never knew you needed. You can find out more at http://fwd.five.tv/gadget-show & also watch online.

We love it!

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Fishing reel bearings...

We've been working closely with a fishing reel manufacturer recently & are proud to show you the the fruits of our labour - a super smooth-running reel, fitted with corrosion resistant bearings, GPL202 lubricated to be free-running, hassle free & have a long bearing life. We can help you out in the same way, even if you just need one or two replacement bearings.

And they're shiny & come in a very nice box...!!

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Tour of Britain 2009 (12.09.09 - 19.09.09)

Cycling fans rejoice - it's back!

This weekend sees the start of the 2009 Tour of Britain, once again taking place over eight days, beginning in North Lincolnshire on Saturday 12th September and finishing at the heart of London on Saturday 19th September.
Eight exciting stages will once again provide close and spectacular racing, ensuring that a worthy winner is crowned in London after the final day's action.
A combination of familiar venues and regions, as well as new exciting additions will mark the route of this year's Tour of Britain, which will begin with a Grand Depart in Scunthorpe for the first stage, which finishes in York.
Subsequent stages will re-visit the North East as The Tour once again travels from Darlington to NewcastleGateshead on Stage Two, while Stage Three will see the northern most point of the race, as The Tour heads to Scotland and takes in the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.
The Tour of Britain then heads south, with Stage Four featuring the North West of England and Blackpool, with Stage Five both starting and finishing in Stoke-on-Trent, with a hard days racing in store through the scenic North Staffordshire countryside.
The South West, scene of some of the races biggest crowds in 2008, has two stages in 2009, with Stage Six taking the riders across Exmoor as the pass from Somerset into Devon, on their journey from Frome to Bideford.
The penultimate day of the race then sees the peloton retrace its steps, from Hatherleigh in Devon to Yeovil in Somerset, on a stage that could decide the winner of this year's race.
A spectacular final day of racing will round out the 2009 Tour, as riders tackle the iconic London circuit that opened last year's race.
For the second year running there will be full coverage of the race on ITV, with viewers able to once again enjoy an hour long nightly highlights show of all the action on ITV4, between 7pm – 8pm, with repeats the following day, so if you can't make it out to your nearest stage, you won't miss out on any of the battle to win the 2009 Tour of Britain.

For more details & up to the minute news, visit http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/default.asp

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Schaeffer goes to Olliewood!

The Olliewood competition took place recently in & around Bristol, where teams of 3 must record, edit & show a 2-minute short film -all in less than 40 hours!

The film featuring our very own 5 year old Schaeffer Mclean came in at a very respectable ninth place. To see more about the Olliewood event visit http://www.olliewood.tv/index.php.

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Please, please, please check out...

... Matt's Enormous Transamerica Bike Ride blog, it is hysterical! http://enormousbikeride.blogspot.com/

I bow down at Matt's greatness & give you just one example:

"I'm not saying Americans can be fat, but they have weight limits on their toilets..."

Congratulations Schaeffer!

Latest news from Schaeffer Mclean, our sponsored skater -

"3rd Place Hengrove skate comp yesterday!! Mood: stoked"

Well done Schaeffer! You're a legend in the making.

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F1 in Schools Update

We've had a lovely update from Elliot, of the Mach1 Team at Lutterworth College, who we are sponsoring in this year's F1 in Schools event.


"We are back off of our school holidays now and the regional finals are only two months away so now we are going to start work on our portfolio and presentation. The car has been designed and the school now has a 3d printer so we can make custom wheels to fit your bearings and we can make the aerofoils using the 3d printer to make it lighter. The car improved drastically timewise in our tests with your bearings. We are making two cars for the regionals and through previous bearing with motors and various other things small bearings can be quite delicate. So please could we have 12 more bearings for the regional finals?!"

Thanks Elliot - your bearings are now being relubricated with something to make them go extra-fast, they'll actually be diamond encrusted!

We use Diamond Nanolube to coat the bearings - thousands of tiny diamond particles, suspended in a carrier oil, coat the surfaces of the bearing & float between the metal parts of the bearing to keep surfaces apart (it will still work even if the carrier oil is gone):

• preventing metal to metal contact
• prolonging bearing life
• reducing friction
• preventing galling, gouging & scoring
• preventing heat build-up

We're glad you've had some good results so far Mach1 Team, keep up the good work!

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