OK, so as promised, here’s the interview:

FRED (F)- Hi Sean, so I’m gonna blast out a series of 10 questions, and I want you to keep the answers PG-13, ‘cuz of our audience… you ready?

SEAN (SB) - yeah…uh ok… shoot!

F - Complete name?

SB - Sean Patrick Barron. People tend to call me “Red”

F- What are you riding this year?

SB- A Santa Cruz V10, 2009, in red, with 2010 Boxxer teams, in white.  (Ed’s note: its also got an RS Vivid rear shock, Sram XO shifter and rear derailleur, Avid Code brakes, Chris King headset, Mavic 823 tubeless wheels, SDG seat & post, E13 LG-1 chainguide.  FYI, the Marzocchi shown in the pic was replaced following that race…)

I also ride road so I’m presently riding a Specialized Tarmac with SRAM Force & Reynolds carbon wheels

And when I ride the DJ’s or the BMX track, I boot around on a DMR trailstar, with a RS Reba, XO shifting, and a Mavic tubless wheelset

F - Do you race?

SB - YUP, in the Masters Expert 30-39 category… racing Quebec cups this year, with some other events I may hit up….

F- Would you rather be able to fly or to have x-ray vision?

SB- Fly, so I could jump all the big jumps without crashing…..

F- How do you feel about fenders?

SB- Fenders rule!!! They are going to make a come back!!!!!

F- Tires of choice for all-around DHing?

SB - Maxxis Highroller front & back.. no doubt about it.

F- Pre-race rituals?

SB - Fresh googles & spinning and talking to freinds.

F- Last time you rode a road bike?

SB - Today…. 50 km training ride (ed’s note: that was on june 12th…)

FB - In your walkman right now?

SB - Its an iPOD with 80 albums but I am listening to Nickleback & AC/DC…

FB - Last words?

SB - Ride your bikes more and have fun on your bike!! Support your local bike shops !!!

——-

So there you have it, the first in a series of rider interviews that will be periodically updated.  The idea is to get a cross-section of the people, characters, dirtbags, roadies, townies, fixies coming through the shop on a daily basis.

Stay tuned… (S2)

For More info / pour plus d’ information

blubericycling@gmail.com

     With the constant evolution of mountain biking and the rise in popularity of the sport among beginners and veterans, the need for better protection came rather quickly as trails became gnarlier and riders more daring.

Leatt is a small company that developped a neck brace preventing Hyper flexion,  lateral hyper flexion, Hyper extension, axial loading and posterior hypertranslation during impact. Initially, these were created for MX use only. Only recently has the mountain bike industry seen the benefits from the use of this “neck helmet”.

For more information on how the Leatt braces work, check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLwwb7hwAwU

or come by the store and try one out!

Martin Swiss Cycles is the first Bicycle shop in Montreal to retail Leatt products. The first shipment of braces has now arrived.

Here are a couple of shots of the GPX club brace demo’ed on Hank the dummy.

With a lower budget in mind, we will also be bringing in the adventure model as soon as Leatt receives their stock and ships them out around the end of June.

 http://www.leatt-brace.com/

In the meantime, wear your helmet and keep the rubber side up.

-Alex

The mountain bike race season started last weekend with Canada Cup No 1, in the lovely mountain resort of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.  Martin Swiss Cycles was on hand with the service trailer and tents to offer the team racers a place to keep their bikes running smoothly.

Fielding a team composed of good mix of veterans and new-comers , five (5) downhill racers represented Martin Swiss Cycles in four different catergories: Sean “Red” Barron and Fred Belanger in the Master Expert category, Justin “the Hobbit” Spagnoli in Senior Sport, Richard Scott in Senior Expert, and in his first race, Will Biname in Cadet.

The course, composed of steep, technical sections and wide open pedally stretches started at the top of the “Flying Mile” lift, running down the south side of the mountain, to finish in the village.

The first of the Martin Swiss racers to come down the mountain was Will Biname, who had encountered the ground on two (2) seperate occassions, and to add insult to injury, a flat rear tire. Needless to say, he rounded out his day in the bottom of the field locking down 32nd place.

The next Martin Swiss  racer down the hill was Justin Spagnoli (with one “L”).  While making heads turn on his hardtail, Justin locked down the 15th spot in Senior Sport with a time just over the 5:30 mark. Richard Scott, in Senior Expert finished 20th with a time just ove the 5:05 mark aboard his SantaCruz VP-Free.

Finally, in the Master Expert category, Sean “Red” Barron was the first of the Martin Swiss racers to get below the 5 minute mark, with a final time of 4:53:89, ending up in 6th place.  Fred Belanger ended his race in 2nd place, securing a podium spot with a time of 4:39:65.

The best time of the day goes out to Hans Lambert, of the Norco Factory Team, racing in the Pro/Elite category, who topped the podium with a blazing time of 4:03:78.

Next stop for the Martin Swiss Cycles Team is Camp Fortune at the end of the month of June.  Should you see us at the races, stop by our tents to borrow an allen key, buy a tube or a tire, or just to say hi. We’ll be happy to help you out!

We are now on our 7/7 summer schedule

Monday - Wednesday : 10:00 - 5:30

Thursday - Friday:         10:00 - 7:00

Saturday:                         10:00- 5:00

Sunday:                            12:00 - 5:00

We’re proud here at Martin Swiss cycles to say that we think about the environment as much as possible. That is why we have recently renewed our recycling policy and added options to our regular bike tune ups including washes with our new Bio-Circle parts washer & degreaser.

Bio-Circle is a German well-established German company that designs quality products with the earth in mind. The latest addition to our mechanic’s workshop is the Bio-circle Parts washer& degreaser.

“Bio-Circle is a proven alternative to traditional solvent cleaners, with thousands of industrial users having adopted this new method. It is the safes, most effective replacement for hazardous mineral solvents in parts cleaning applications eliminating health and safety risks as well as frequent waste disposal.“

The best part about this new machine is that we rarely have to replace the liquid. That’s right, it recycles itself within the system avoiding regular lengthy maintenance procedures. It also smells like apples which is a real nice treat to the previous collection of death-trap solvents that we used before.

For more information on Bio-Circle and how the system works, please visit: http://www.biocircle.com/

Ladies! Gentlemen! It has arrived!

Successor to the ever-so-famous Cervelo P3, the P4 is Cervelo’s finest and latest addition to the fleet. The P4 is the fastest bike to ever be tested in a wind tunnel with its integrated bottle and rear brake caliper. Oh, and it’s UCI legal too! If you’re in it to win it, this is THE ULTIMATE Time Trial bike!

This is the first one of a limited quantity to arrive at Martin’s. Come check it out!

Check out the Cervelo website for more info, and do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions

It is getting awfully nice out there and most of us have either hung up our car keys or decided not to purchase an STM pass any longer. That’s right boys and girls, its spring time!

Ride on down to Martin Swiss cycles and we will show you our new fleet of Cervelo’s, Specialized and Trek Bicyles. All of the 2009 models we are carrying are now built on our sales floor and we would be more than glad to show you a thing or two about’em.

We have also received all of our new spring and summer clothing line ups from Specialized, Craft, Capo Forma, Troy Lee Designs and Sombrio. All of our clothing from previous years is hugely discounted so don’t miss out!

If your bike needs a little bit of love, we would also be more than glad to help you out, though you should bring your bike sooner rather than later in order to take advantage of the warm sunny days to come.