Weird bars, weirder bikes, we’ve been fans of Jeff Jones for ages. Cool to see him talk about his designs and ripping trails too.

RAD RIDER XI by Sbccycles on Mixcloud

DJ Bobby Jumpers spun some tunes last night. He calls this set SEXY MYSTERY… Enjoy

We built this Surly Straggler for Andrew as a super comfortable solid commuter and potential tourer.

Raleigh True Built wheels
Panaracer Pasela 37c tyres
Shimano deore groupset
Avid BB5 disc brakes
brand x bars
Madison Flux saddle
Axiom rack
VP sealed pedals
Pit lock security skewers
Kryptonite mini Dlock

RAD RIDER X by Sbccycles on Mixcloud

Another Thursday Skull Beer Club mix. This week was a lonely Dj Skulls kept company by hypeman and mix assistant DJ Lay Z. An all 7″ Vinyl only mix of weird and brutal records from the SBC collection.

RAD RIDER IX by Sbccycles on Mixcloud

Latest installation of weird, vinyl only jams from the Skull Bike Club London Head Quarters. This time hosted by Alex Carmichaels and Andy Clydesdale…

RAD RIDER IIX by Sbccycles on Mixcloud

The latest installation of weird, vinyl only jams from Skull Bike Club London Head Quarters. This time hosted by Mikey from INTO THE VOID…

Can you believe this weather?

This will probably be the last weekend of dry trails out in Epping so were going to make the most of it. Last week was great with a few new faces and all types of bikes. Everyone had such a good time were gonna do it again.

Same deal as last time.
We’ll ride out along Lea Bridge Rd and take the trail in from Forest Rise. Should be about 20-30 mile round trip back around 4-5pm including a pub stop or two
Pace will be a relaxed no man/woman left behind.

Meet at the shop 41 Cropley St, N1 7HT

10.30am.

We will have a jet wash to clean the bikes at the shop after.

Bring:
An off road capable bike i.e knobbly tyres and brakes that work (cross is ok)
Lunch or money for Lunch
Money for the pub if you want a pint
Spare tube

Forest is friend!

A couple of weekends ago about 8 of us left the big smoke to go camp and go riding at Penshurst Off Road Cycling Trail Centre or PORC for short. We joined another 8 people there, so we had a good group for laughs and shredz.

We wrapped up work at 6pm and hopped on the train from London to Tonbridge. By the time we got there it was pitch black. We had no idea where we were going and most of us had less than adequate lights for the unknown surroundings. We were relying on Marks Garmin to lead the way. Needless to say it took us the most “friendly” route… Which just so happened to be a 5 Mile cross country ramble “cycle route” through boggy trails and fields littered with cows and dung in the pitch black, hoisting our bikes over numerous styles and farm gates… It was great fun none the less… Made even more hilarious by Peter (Dear Susan Bicycles) playing film soundtracks at full volume through a minirig speaker he’d rigged up on his Surly Krampus…

Imagine the scene: Eight out of place city dwellers on Mountain Bikes riding through farms with Star Wars Death March blasting out…

We eventually arrived after a ton of ridiculous, broken english phone calls regarding directions to the campsite from the Polish and Spanish friends we were trying to meet there… They already had a roaring fire going and were ready to cook up a storm. Peter had braised up a spit for a whole leg of lamb that morning and we had loads of veg to roast… Ales were drank, food was eaten… We dined like kings…

The trail centre is an ever evolving landscape of twists and turns on the side of a large hill owned by a guy called ‘Mike’. He has a general love for cycling of all kinds and creating a haven where he can host events and races on a regular basis as well as keep the trails open for anyone to use all year round… The camp site isn’t an official pay per night place. He just asks that if you camp or use the trails you donate a fiver to help cover the parks upkeep…

The dirt jumps there are insane and range from small table tops to huge kickers and step ups that’ll throw you over 10 feet in the air with ease… I think we’ll need a bit more practice before getting rad on those… The highlight of the day was seeing Matt bust over a step up on the least suitable bike in the whole park, his Surly Cross Check!

We smashed around a few trails and realised we’d lost Petor at some point. We later found out that he’d hit a jump wrong and bashed his head open and broken 2 ribs. Bummer. It knocked some sense in to the rest of us that were’t wearing helmets and we decided to call it a day… Heal up soon mate…

Here’s to many more shredz with solid dudes!

Thanks to Dear Susan Bicycles for the pics and Stuart, owner of Bike Fix for organising the trip and cooking up an absolute feast… We owe you one…

Were heading out to Epping from the shop again. Same deal as last time.
We’ll ride out along Lea Bridge Rd and take the trail in from Forest Rise. Should be about 30-40 mile round trip back around 5-6pm including a pub stop or two
Pace will be a relaxed no man/woman left behind.

Meet at the shop 41 Cropley St, N1 7HT

10.30am.

Bring:
An off road capable bike i.e knobbly tyres and brakes that work (cross is ok)
Lunch or money for Lunch
Money for the pub if you want a pint
Spare tube

Shred til dead!

Lets make the most of this Indian summer! Were heading out to Epping from the shop again. Same deal as last time.
We’ll ride out along Lea Bridge Rd and take the trail in from Forest Rise. Should be about 30-40 mile round trip back around 5-6pm including a pub stop or two
Pace will be a relaxed no man/woman left behind.

Meet at the shop 41 Cropley St, N1 7HT 10am.

Bring:
An off road capable bike i.e knobbly tyres and brakes that work (cross is ok)
Lunch or money for Lunch
Money for the pub if you want a pint
Spare tube

If you wanna meet us out there just send us an email, so we can coordinate.

Don’t fear the forest!

Were heading out to Epping from the shop again. Same deal as last time.
We’ll ride out along Lea Bridge Rd and take the trail in from Forest Rise. Should be about 30-40 mile round trip back around 6-7pm including a pub stop or two
Pace will be a relaxed no man/woman left behind.

Meet at the shop 41 Cropley St, N1 7HT 10am.

Bring:
An off road capable bike i.e knobbly tyres and brakes that work
Lunch or money for Lunch
Money for the pub if you want a pint
Spare tube

If you wanna meet us out there just send us an email, so we can coordinate.

Hope to see some new faces!

This is Bobby’s insane Chromed Surly Pugsley – Full bike check over at SKULL BIKE CLUB…

A week after Skulls finished the Straggler for me I took it for it’s first little test ride to the South Downs.

Day one was riding the London>Brighton off road route to the pub inflatable irish pub in Petworth for dinner and beers, then a quick blast out of town to some local woods to camp. Day 2 took us on a mix of roads and singletrack along to the New Forest for another sleep under the stars (rain). Great riding, lots of drinking and some “camp vibes”. The bike swallowed it all up no problem and with some tweaks over winter it’ll be ready for a longer trip on the Tour Divide route next summer.

Rides on Strava: Day 1 –  Day 2

A few pics from Sunday thanks to Dear Susan
Couple of beers, some snacks, few trails, some slingshot action, a tubeless puncture repair and bit of blood.
Good time had by all and back before it rained.
Fingers crossed we get some good weather for this Sunday.

We built this surly for Bleddyn a couple of months before opening the shop. Its already well used and looking nice and ratty.

We used his old wheels, Hope pro 2 to Hplus Archetype
His old cranks off his fixed gear, Raceface Decadence with a wide narrow 44T chainring.
His old seatpost and brooks saddle.
We sourced a old 25.4 thomson stem off ebay and used a xlt touring bar for a comfy bar position with odi lock on grips.
Tyres are our favourite tan wall 35c Panaracer Pasela and sks mudgaurds.
Avid V-brakes with Kool Stop Salmon pads.
Xpedo pedals.

Favourite part is the drive setup.
11-36 cassette with a Shimano Zee clutch mech and XT shifter. It gives you enough range for commuting and is lighter and looks cleaner than running a front mech or chainguide.

SEPTEMBER 13th – SWINLEY TRAIL CENTRE
Details below…

Meet at SBC Cycles at 9am Sunday Morning

From here everyone will ride to Paddington Station to catch the train to Martins Heron (Return journey will drop you off at Waterloo Station)

OFF-PEAK Day Return costs £14.50 and can be bought at the station

Trains leave every hour at 37 minutes past

From Martins Heron Station it’s 2.1 miles to the trails (All on cycle paths – No roads!) – See map below…

We will meet everyone at Swinley Bike Hub (The trail centre bike workshop) before heading out on the trails

Swinley is a well maintained trail centre which caters to all abilities of riding skill. Lots of fun to be had…

A few of us will be travelling by car, so if you bring picnic stuff we can ditch it in the car while we ride and come back later for food!
Also bring money for a beer in the pub afterwards

We aim to be back in London for 7pm so bring lights…

Things to bring…
Food
Water
Spare Tube/Repair Kit
Lights

See you sunday…

Jamie & Mark

The first official London Skull Bike Club ride!

We will head out to Epping Forest to show you some of our favourite trails

What’s involved:
We’ll ride out along Lea Bridge Rd and take the trail in from Forest Rise. Should be about 30-40 mile round trip back around 6-7pm including a pub stop or two
Pace will be a relaxed no man/woman left behind

Where to meet:
At the shop 41 Cropley St 10am Sunday 6th September.

What to bring:
An off road capable bike i.e knobbly tyres and brakes that work
Lunch or money for Lunch
Money for the pub if you want a pint
Spare tube

See you tomorrow!

Jamie & Mark

SBC Cycles – Rad Rider VIII by Sbccycles on Mixcloud

Four Hours, Four Minutes and Eighteen Seconds of PURE AWESOME (If you like the same weird stuff that we do…)

Another cool Surly Straggler build this week. This ones a bit more off road capable and a LOT bigger.

64cm Surly Straggler
Cane creek Forty Headset
XT Triple Chainset
XT Shifters and Mechs
XT Brakes with solid Hope Rotors
Hope Pro 2 Evo Hubs laced to H+Son Archetype with Sapim Race
Continental Race Sport Tyres – 29×2.0 Rear / 29×2.2 Front
Brooks B17 saddle
Gusset Seatpost
King Cage Bottle Cage and Cargo Cage
Time ATAC XC Pedals

The coolest part of this build is the bars. Nitto B903 Bullmoose imported from Fairweather Japan.
Gives a really nice vintage MTB look to the bike that works nice on a steel frame with a lugged fork like this.
Width:710mm
Extension:90mm
Back sweep:15°
Grip area size:22.2mm
1 1/8″ Ahead Stem

Andy will be doing some cool rides on this soon so you can follow him on instagram here.

And yes he is that tall.

We like forests and going fast… This is a beautiful example of that!