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June was frantic to say the least for RetroBike Riders. Mountain Mayhem being the focal point of the month with 50 RetroBikers taking to the track and 50 more fighting for the loud hailer trackside in the heckling tent. A full aftermath write up of the event can be found here, eleven pages of aftermath goes to show the fun that was had. As far as the National Rides Series goes, we now have the next round details posted. You may already have seen the MacRetro lads advertising their Drumlanrig ride in their signatures, but please sign up here if interested in attending. Click here to read full retrobike rides July 2011 newsletter.

The fourth issue of the rather lovely (and impressively door-stopping) Privateer magazine is about to reach the shops – subscribers have had theirs for a couple of weeks and have been using words like “gorgeous”, “sweet”, “giant peach” and of course “smell” to describe it. Inside you'll find columns from Charlie Kelly, Thomas Frischknecht and Will Longden alongside an array of expansive features from around the world. There's the amazing story of Hope, a day with World Downhill Champion Tracy Moseley, the gently unhinged world of 24 hour soloing and more. Nick Larsen looks at the dark art of marketing and concludes that hype is a force for good. There are glorious pictures, interesting words and stickmen. What more could you need...

It's a year on and due to popular demand (ok, two people but to me that's the height of popularity), the Herefordshire Road Ride returns for 2011. So get your classic steel frames gleaming polished up, shave your legs and don your fluro Bolles for Edition II on Saturday 23rd July 2011. What does it involve, I hear you cry? A stunning, scenic and undulating Sportive style 80 km ride on very quiet country roads with the option of a country pub lunch/stop. There's plenty of climbing but nothing super steep so with a compact and a bit of fitness all should be fine. As a flavour, here's last years Aftermath thread. Where is it happening? The ride will start and finish in Hampton Bishop, just outside of the cathedral city of Hereford...

The 2011 KLEIN meets KLEIN event (Kleintreffen) was once again a great success with 58 bikes and 35 participants. The event organiser Matthias has kindly sent over a link to their photo galleries - a must for all Klein fans. Full details in the forum :D

The June 2011 Photo of The Month (PoTM) contest was won by Hollister's 'It's Summer'. Now taking nominations for the July contest entitled 'Blue Sky Biking' here. Click here to see Hollister's shot in all it's glory 1. Hollister's 'It's Summer'

The The June 2011 Bike of The Month contest was taken jointly by chowi's 1992 Gilles Berthoud & JustKev's Yeti C-26. Both take a subscription to MBR Magazine. The full results is as follows 1. = chowi's 1992 Gilles Berthoud 1. = JustKev's Yeti C-26 3. wadsy's 1997 Kona Hei Hei Now taking nominations for the July 2011 'Euro Special' BoTM here. Click here for more details and full results The June 2011 Bike of The Month top three are as follows 1. = chowi's 1992 Gilles Berthoud Click here for full build thread. 1. = JustKev's Yeti C-26 Click here for full build thread. 3. wadsy's 1997 Kona Hei Hei Click here for full build thread.

Geoffrey Cleland Apps, the UK mountain bike pioneer has been once again nominated for the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame - hopefully this year he will be voted in and a glaring omission corrected. Mr Apps was riding bicycles off road in the mid 60s and his unique take on the 'mountain bike' pre dates the Marin County pioneers by several years. If you don't know about Geoff Apps I suggest you read up about him and his bicycles here on retrobike, here on wikipedia or here and here in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. Graham Wallace, long time Apps aficionado has made the nomination once again. What can you do? Simple. Click here to register for the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and vote for Geoff Apps! I know votes are closing soon so please be...

The June 2011 road Bike of The Month contest was taken by yo-Nate-y's 1981 Chris Chance Criterium. The full result is as follows 1. yo-Nate-y's 1981 Chris Chance Criterium 2. Mark34's 1989 TVT Lemond 3. RooKilo's 1985 Roy Cottingham Chronometro Now taking nominations for the July 2011 rBoTM contest. Click here for more details and full results The June 2011 road Bike of The Month top three are as follows 1. yo-Nate-y's 1981 Chris Chance Criterium Click here for full 1981 Chris Chance Criterium build thread 2. Mark34's 1989 TVT Lemond Click here for full TVT Lemond build thread. 3. RooKilo's 1985 Roy Cottingham Chronometro Click here for full 1985 Roy Cottingham Chronometro build thread.

Another excellent year at Mountain Mayhem for Retrobike. Big thanks to Bikefood for their excellent support once again. 48 riders and plenty of hangers on meant we had one of the biggest camps on site. Hope other riders enjoyed the 'encouragement' via the megaphone, 5 hour bear based DJ set and light show as they came past Retrobike HQ. The Friday night team presentation, BBQ and International Two Man Jenga tournament was also a classic. Think we might even have done some riding at some point too. Retrobike Mountain Mayhem aftermath thread now up, full report to follow soon (ish).

Selling out… Rather than the usual “goodbye” or “see you” for some reason I can’t help saying “keep it real” or “don’t sell out”. Hopefully I will stop it soon, but no doubt will move on to something equally annoying. Anyway, it started me thinking that it is actually a nice thing to do and while I don’t mean anything by it, maybe I should be taking my own candid advice. So, seeing as I race for Retrobike, I have the dilemma of riding old skool, whilst when it comes down to it, actually wanting to win. Perhaps this concept isn’t completely incompatible, but it could take some doing. So, to come clean right from the start and seeing as this is meant to be a race report, I do have a history of competing in quite a lot of mtb from...

On 11th and 12th June 2011, BespokedBristol hosted the inaugural UK Handmade Bicycle Show, with a nod to the well established North American Handmade Bike Show. Obviously the bikes featured would be handmade in the UK. On the evening of the 10th, The Guvnor and I, living the dream, went along to check it out. A few highlights included: -Milk Bikes -Lee Cooper Cycles / Alex Hatfield Concepts -Tokyo Fixed -Freshtripe -Brian Rourke -Feather -Enigma Full report and pictures of Bespoked Bristol 2011 can be found in the forum.

Traditionally Mountain Mayhem is Retrobike's biggest and best event of the year. This year will be no different! The weekend's schedule is now finalised. So whether you're racing solo or just coming along to hang out and heckle there will be something for you. Click here for full schedule. Highlights include • The Retrobike Concours Show • BBQ • Giant Jenga • Flea Market • DJ Bernard • Trackside heckle tent • Some racing (perhaps). See you at MM :D

The latest Coolwall vote has been declared! Cannondale is COOL. Big aluminium tubes and headshocks are judged to be cool by the retrobike users :D Next up on the vote is the Girvin Flexstem. Is the suspension stem which provided an inch of suspension travel via an elastomer cool? As ever you decide!

Summer is here and RetroBike Rides are occurring all over the British Isles. May was a particularly active month with the Forest of Dean witnessing one of RB’s finest events to date as it hosted Round 3 of our National Ride Series. June promises to be even more eventful with Mountain Mayhem highlighting the calendar. This year with have in the region of 50 riders taking part in the race, but also a Flea Market and concours event on the Friday night all in conjunction with the usual BBQ, beers and bizarrely the institution that is Jenga! So even if your not riding please come along and enjoy the party. Click here to read full retrobike rides June 2011 newsletter.

Retrobike member breezerfatty is completing the Lands End to John O'Groats ride for a good cause, Great Ormond Street Hospital. Here is what breezerfatty has to say (or read more in the forum). We are three cyclists (Graham Reeve, Graham Jackson, and Shane Taylor) taking on a huge challenge for a great cause. Four years ago the surgeons at Great Ormond Street removed a tumour the size of a tennis ball from the heart of Graham Reeve's daughter Beth. It was clear that if untreated Beth only had days to live. Now that she is well again, it's time to repay them by raising money to help them with their work. There are people all over this country who know what it’s like to have their children returned to them by the work done at Great...

This weekend sees the first running of Bespoked Bristol - the UK's first handmade bicycle show. The event is running on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th June at the Paintworks, Bristol, click here for full details > http://www.bespokedbristol.co.uk/. The show includes numerous frame builders, bike designers and small scale manufacturers of premium components, clothing and accessories. Retrobike will be there over the weekend, look in here for a report and pictures next week.

The The May 2011 road Bike of The Month contest was taken by Slotcar55's Galmozzi Super Competizione. The full results are as follows 1. Slotcar55's Galmozzi Super Competizione 2. Stedlock's Hetchins Magnum Bonun Scorpion 3= The Don's Klein Quantum Pro 3= Piperdave's Raleigh Cadet 12 'Panasonic' Now taking nominations for the June 2011 rBoTM contest. Click here for more details and full results The May 2011 road Bike of The Month top three are as follows 1. Slotcar55's Galmozzi Super Competizione 2. Stedlock's Hetchins Magnum Bonun Scorpion Click here for full Shorter build thread. 3. equal The Don's Klein Quantum Pro 3. equal Piperdave's Raleigh Cadet 12 'Panasonic'