Thanks to http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/cycling-accessories/bike-apps-for-the-iphone/ you can also see a list of other useful i-Phone apps currently available - well worth a look we reckon!
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
New Bike App for the i-Phone
Thanks to http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/cycling-accessories/bike-apps-for-the-iphone/ you can also see a list of other useful i-Phone apps currently available - well worth a look we reckon!
Friday, 21 August 2009
White Air '09 Festival
From September 18th-20th this year, Brighton hosts the White Air Festival. They have some great bands & some amazing extreme sports on display & if you're in the area you'll be able to see & participate in:
Aero GP, Aquathlon, BMX, Bocking, Brush Boarding, Capoeira, FMXFreesports Park, Gliding, Graffiti, High Diving, Inline Skate, Jet Ski
Kayak, Kitesurfing, Land Windsurfing, Land Yachting, MMA Martial Arts, Motocross FMXMountain Biking, Mountain Boarding, Orb, Parachute RAF Falcons, Paragliding, Paramotoring, Parkour
Powerboat, Powerfan, Red Arrows and Falcons, Rollerskis, Ropeboarding, Running, Sailing, Sailing Dingy, Scuba Diving, Skate, Slackline, Stand Up Paddle board, Street Boarding
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Ways to use a bicycle...
For those of you who are secretly impressed, you can find out more from http://steamboatwilly.org/ !
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Twittering...

Friday, 14 August 2009
RC Models...

In my case I wanted to put my web site logo on my RC car. You can use any graphics editing software such as Photoshop, Corel, Illustrator, Pixelmator (Mac OSX), even MS Word. As long as you can print to a color printer you should be good. You can “gang up” as many logo’s or images you want on a single sheet of paper, just be sure to leave enough room to cut them out. In my case I used Adobe Illustrator to create my site logo and print my stickers. After you have settled on your art work the next thing you will need to do is get clear labels. Avery makes a clear label that works perfect for this. You can get them in full 8 1/2 X 11 sheets from Office Max or Staples or order them online. They come in Laser or Ink Jet printer style, make sure to get the correct one for the printer you are using.


Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Online store in development...


Friday, 31 July 2009
Ye Olde Fashioned Skating 1970's stylee...
Check out this uber-cool retro offering from 1978 :
Extreme fly-fishing..

Wednesday, 29 July 2009
BMX Star...


Thanks to Sam Johnson for the great link.
Monday, 27 July 2009
The UK's summer is a bit rubbish so far this year...
For those of you who might have missed the perils of ice fishing (as outlined in our first post devoted to the topic earlier in the year), this clip might prove beneficial...
NASS '09 Skate highlights
Our little skate-dude Schaeffer Mclean's sponsors, Route One, bring us some tasty highlights from NASS 2009 - enjoy!
Also coming up, we have the ESBC '09, which should be amazing, check out: http://www.skateboardeurope.com/ESC09/ for more details - isn't summer just great?!
Friday, 24 July 2009
Buying a bike (BSO) this weekend?
Here is Helen's review:
"Earlier this month, Asda boasted that it was to start selling "the cheapest
bicycle in the UK". Having bought into the notion that to get a half decent new bike you had to pay at least £300 for it, I was intrigued to find out what you'd get for less than a quarter of that amount – Asda's adult machines cost just £70.
Herein lies the first problem with buying what bike snobs refer to as a BSO (bike shaped object): you have to build it yourself. The Eagle comes in bits, meaning you have to attach the pedals, front wheel, handlebars and saddle to the frame. Asda's PR folks made mine, but the lesson is the same. Are you sure you know how to put it together properly? If not, you can either take it to your local bike dealer and hope they won't laugh you out of the shop when you ask them to do it for you (and if they oblige, you'll pay at least £20 for it). Or you can risk getting it wrong. The best-case scenario is that, like me, you end up walking home. Let's not contemplate the worst case.
The second problem was the grip-shift gears, which are operated by twisting the end of the handlebars. Very quickly I wished that British Eagle had concentrated on getting three gears right rather than making 18 substandard ones. Every time I went over a speed bump I changed gear; even on the flat there was always an irritating clicking sound which spoiled every ride. On the scale of annoyance, it was rather like being at the cinema and having someone kick the back of your seat all the way though the film.
To test the bike properly I decided to take it on a grand tour of north London's Three Peaks: Crouch Hill, Highgate Hill and Muswell Hill.
Yorkshire folk will no doubt dismiss these bourgeois mounds as mere hillocks, but tackling them on my weighty (18kg), graceless machine felt like I was scaling Pen-y-Ghent on a pedal-powered tractor. The good thing about mountain bikes is that they have super-low gears, but as the Purple Eagle could never stay in any gear for long, I may as well have been on a single speed.
After 40 miles or so of gentle bimbling, I took the bike into my local bike shop, Two Wheels Good, and got the owner, Jonathan Boyce, to give it a once over. He groaned as I wheeled it in – "We see these a couple of times a week and so often the repairs cost more than the bike," he said, adding that he gave me "four to six weeks" before the bike was too jiggered to ride. Jonathan's advice for those on a budget is to scrape together £100 to buy a decent secondhand bike rather than waste money on the Purple Eagle or any of its relatives.
Here are some of the flaws Jonathan noticed:
1. The Purple Eagle is a ladies' bike. So why the men's saddle?
2. The components are rubbish and made out of the biking equivalent of a supermarket own-brand. The derailleur, gear shifts and more are made by a brand that sounds like Shimano but isn't. It's even written in the same font.
3. The brakes are made from plastic, rather than more expensive aluminium, and so will flex and bend, wasting energy.
4. The handlebar stem is the old "quill" style (instead of attaching to a steerer tube it fits directly into the headset and screws onto the forks), rather than an a-head stem.
5. The rear derailleur is hooked onto the axle, rather than bolted straight to the frame, making it almost impossible to adjust the gears properly.
6. The cheap plastic pedals will "simply fall apart before long".
7. The rear wheel was badly out of true.
8. The front wheel wasn't round, and was wobbling about the place as if the bearings have already gone. Apparently this shouldn't happen on a decent bike until you've done at least 1,000 miles. (We can at least help you out on that one Helen! )
But the biggest problem I had with the Lumbering Eagle was that it was horrible to ride. Every time I was due to set out on it, I cast a jealous glance at my lovely, nimble racer and prepared myself for the unpleasant ride ahead. This is the real downer with cheap bikes: they put you off cycling."
Oh dear! And if that wasn't enough to put you off a budget purchase this weekend, then read what Real Cycling have to say about it, at:
http://realcycling.blogspot.com/2009/07/hangover-from-buying-cheap-bike.html
You have been warned... Happy shopping!!!
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Accidental Fishing...
I just love this...
Friday, 17 July 2009
Schaeffer's back!
Happy holidays little dude - we hope your summer is jam-packed with skateboarding!
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Bike Fishing...
A couple in America have had a pretty nifty idea folks.
They've designed a rather nice bike-rack for fishing rods, thus combining two of our favourite hobbies. How clever are they?!
See http://bikefisherman.com/ for more details...
***
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Tour de France
If you are excited to be following the Tour de France again this year, you really must visit their website (click on this post's title to take you straight there). This 3500km, 21 stage race has a mightily impressive field of international cyclists & teams, battling their way across France. They take on flat stages, mountain stages & time trials in a Herculean effort to take the yellow jersey, as they arrive in Paris on Sunday 26th July.
We may not have succeeded with Wimbledon & England cricket may be struggling (the men's game anyway - well done ladies!), but there are Brits storming up the leader board in this year's Tour - all hail Mark Cavendish & Bradley Wiggins.
You can watch live streaming of the event on the Tour site & also keep bang up to date with the results - come on Mark & Bradley!
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Roller blading heaven
Julian Bah Im Back from david amkhinich on Vimeo.
Any other roller-bladers or inline skaters who've immortalised themselves in video, we'd love to see you so give us a shout!
Monday, 13 July 2009
Think Decks...
Thanks to http://www.blackstork.com/ for the heads up!
For the ladies among us, this deck is possibly a bit more appealing:
Designed by Unkommon Kolor,
this deck is a real beauty & has just a wee cheeky dig at the boys... I want one!
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Roller babies
Our mistake was clearly to drink too much alcohol...
Monday, 6 July 2009
Photo of the week goes to...
Friday, 3 July 2009
Something for the weekend...
We at SMB Bearings really pride ourselves on bringing you the latest cutting edge innovations (that James Bond himself would be proud to be seen around town with) & we truly feel that we've found a cracker with this one.
From a range of products rather doom-ladenly entitled "Innovate or Die" we bring you the Bike-Yak, a fusion of sea kayak & bicycle, for those days when a flood of biblical proportions prevents you from reaching the corner shop any other way.
If you'd prefer a product designed for somewhat happier times, then why not try this one...
...It doesn't show you the elephantine proportions of your thigh muscles by the time you've reached Bognor though.
Happy weekend everyone!
**
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Skate news...

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We thought it might strike a bit of a chord with skate-nuts everywhere!
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Be our Guest... Introducing Glen's Fly Fishing Blog
Glen's tales of fishing around the Staffordshire & Derbyshire area are a real inspiration, which he then combines with some stunning photography to make a really entertaining blog.
We hope to bring you fresh posts from Glen soon, but for now he has kindly agreed to share his 'River Dove Salmon, My first 9lb 4oz' post with us. Over to you Glen...

I was Grayling fishing last saturday and whilst wading through a deep run i saw a salmon come clean out the water, this fish was around three ft away from me and scared the **** out of me, i was shocked to see how big this fish was, it was around three foot long and had a red glow down the bottom of its body. It seemed unreal to see a fish so big in a small river like the dove but it made me realise that these fish are coming back to the dove around a very good size.
The next day on sunday i went back to have another go at the grayling and hoping to see these salmon again, I took a friend with me who wanted to watch me fish, As the light started to go i flicked my nymph unpstream where i had seen the fish and when i started to retrieve the bug i saw a huge salmon come out the water again, i thought wow what a nice fish when my friend shouted from the bank 'its took your fly',I lifted into the fish and felt my rod tighten into the fish, i was using a 8ft 4 weight greys streamflex rod with 5 lb line and i knew i was in for some fun!!
The fish went absolutly nuts when it felt the hook set home and just run downstream, it went through a stong rapid a i could not stop it doing anything, its took me straight onto the backing so it was at least 40 yards down stream and still running, I knew the only way i would get this fish was to tire it out so i went running down the river to my friends amusement!! I cover at least 60 yards running down the river with the fish still going when my line got caught around the reel, everything went tight and i thought it was going snap but it turned from the pressure and came leaping out of the river making my heart jump, the sheer size of this fish had me shaking like a leaf, my friend was shouting 'dont lose this fish you ****'.
I was into a fish of a lifetime and eventually got it to start turning under full pressure, my rod was just doubled over all of the time,When the fish saw me it made four more big runs but it was starting to tire, After half a hour i had the fish in full view and she was lumping around like big fish do, so I had a small trout net on my back and there was no way it would fit in there so i when i got it close to me i threw me rod down and grabbed it with both hands!I took it onto the bank and me and my friend Micky were jumping up and down like we had won the lottery! Well to me it felt better than that!! The fish was a female Hen and was quite dark. the fish measured 34 iches long with a massive tail, i got the scales from my van and it weighed 9lb 14 ozIn fact it was the lenght of my foot to my waist.When i got home i told the mrs i had had the best night of my life and she said 'better than your first night of sex with me' and i said 'no not that good babe' but i am a great liar and if you are a fisherman you know what i mean!! "

Thanks Glen! If you'd like to read more tales from Glen, then check out his blog at http://glenpointon.blogspot.com/.
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Skate Monkey
Allow us to introduce you to one of the coolest creations that we have ever seen in blog-land...
Check out Skate Monkey doing a kick flip!
Skate Monkey & his paper friends are the creation of graphic designer Morgan Gleave, whose blog http://anywereamateurreportersclub.blogspot.com/ has been entertaining us for weeks.
Now you too can create your very own Skate Monkey - simply download your completed or blank templates (for your own creative juices to flow) free of charge from http://www.morgangleave.co.uk/toyshop.htm and start sticking! It's like Blue Peter but oh so much better (my yoghurt pots & loo rolls never ended up as Tracy Island... I am emotionally scarred to this day).
If you're brave enough to complete a blank template, we'd love to see a picture of it.
Thanks to Morgan for granting kind permission to feature his creations.
Friday, 12 June 2009
Naked Bike Ride...

... watch out for sunburn though, this weekend's meant to be a scorcher!
Monday, 8 June 2009
New this week...


Tuesday, 2 June 2009
F1 in Schools Challenge

Spanning age ranges of 9 to 19, F1 in Schools teams must raise sponsorship and manage budgets to fund research, travel and accommodation. The challenge inspires students to use IT to learn about physics, aerodynamics, design, manufacture, branding, graphics, sponsorship, marketing, leadership/teamwork, media skills and financial strategy, and apply them in a practical, imaginative, competitive and exciting way. The race is then on, literally! Completed cars race side-by-side along 20-metre straights. Teams are judged on car speed, as well as supporting evidence of their design, verbal presentation and marketing display stand in ‘‘the pits”. Teams compete regionally, nationally and internationally for the Bernie Ecclestone F1 in Schools World Championship trophy.
This year, we are proud to announce that we will be sponsoring Lutterworth College in Leicester & their Mach 1 team.
Watch this space for updates on their progress...
In the meantime, for more news on the team visit: http://www.lc.leics.sch.uk/C2/News/default.aspx
Monday, 1 June 2009
RC Helicopter Fishing
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Schaeffer Mclean - sponsored skater update
More Skateboarding >>
How cool is our little dude?!
If you didn't get the chance to meet him at the recent opening of the new Glastobury Skate Park & want to meet the mini miracle in person, Schaeffer will be at the NASS (National Action Sports Show) at the Bath and West Showground in July. He says "I am looking forward to skating the street course and ramps and as part of the Route One Riders Team".
Schaeffer's Mum has given us all a real boost, by telling us "He is always telling other kids about SMB bearings and they frequently ask to see his bearings in action. He usually kicks down on his wheels very hard and shows them how long they spin for. They even have competitions to see whose wheels spin the longest and his always win!! As you can imagine he is very proud of being sponsored by you."
A big thank you to you both, we're really pleased & proud to be your sponsors!
****
We want YOU! If you fish, that is...


If you're into your rigs & kit, then why not visit http://www.smbbearings.com/index.htm for information on our high spec reel bearings and our EMQ2 low vibration bearings, with oil lubrication, which spin freely and quietly.
We hope to hear from you soon!
Friday, 15 May 2009
Roller-blading, Southern style
Southern Motion Trailer #1 from David on Vimeo.
We found David's vid tagged on his blog & can't wait for the second helping, coming out soon.
See more about David at http://ideasforlions.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
SHOCKING! How to replace your bike's bearings


- Shock load (a sudden increase in load on a bearing, causing it to deform) from falling down a road-grille for example...
- Dirt - a bearing's nemesis.
- Over-enthusiastic jet washing of your pride & joy at the weekend - you know who you are!
- Poor fit - you hear that rattling noise? That's probably your bearings vibrating, before they collapse under the strain. As Mum said, just because it fits doesn't mean you should always wear it...
We can't fix road-planners or mud for you, but if you click on the title of this post it will take you to an article showing you how to replace your bearings in a jiffy!
Good luck & happy, safe cycling.