Shop Tour - Specialized Concept Store (Petaling Jaya)

As the cycling culture in Malaysia continues to grow, one can only expect more and more bicycle shops to sprout up like mushrooms after the rain to cater to the ever growing demand for good hardware, equipment and service. Unfortunately, as a result of this rapid growth, there are parties out there looking to take advantage of the inexperienced among us solely to make some quick cash. In response to this, I thought it would be a good idea if I made posts on the various bicycle stores I visit, tell you a little bit about them, share pictures of gorgeous bicycles with you as well as my unbiased opinions on the store in general.

The first up is the Specialized Concept Store in Petaling Jaya. Here's a link to their Facebook page, Instagram page, their website and their location on Google Maps. Located in 10 Boulevard along Jalan PJU6A, along the SPRINT Highway, about 1-2 kilometers east of the Damansara Toll Plaza, the store sports a large array of some of the latest Specialized gears and bicycles. From the outside, there is a rather unassuming sign board in bold red with 'Specialized' on it but step inside, and you may lose yourself as your eyes are greeted by the rows of beautiful bicycles astride the entrance. 

The outside of the store

The store is very welcoming, greeting customers not only with it's wide array of bikes but also with a down-to-earth sort of feel thanks to it's furnishing.

Frames or trophies?

Frames galore

Beautiful row of Tarmacs

From the front > The latest 2017 Roubiax, a Tarmac and an S-Works Venge

Their wide range of road-specific apparel

Aero > Climbing > Endurance

Specialized Evade and Prevail 2.0 helmets.

Specialized is a giant as far as the global biking scene goes. They've had a hand in a good number of international race wins over the past decade and have sponsored the likes of Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan and Alberto Contador. For the 2016 Olympics, they wanted something a little special, more eye-catching for their athletes as well as to commemorate the great games. As a result, the released their range of bikes and gear with heat-sensitive paint. In a relatively cold environment, say an air-conditioned room, the paint remains orange. Once heat is applied, say from the palm of a human hand, the paint changes to a smiley-face yellow.

I was fortunate enough to play around a little with the paint on one of their Tarmacs.

Helmets and shoes (Evade and S-Works 6) in-keeping with the orange and yellow theme

The store organises a weekly group ride every Saturday morning at 7.15 am. There are no participation or registration fees whatsoever, just show up with your bicycle (preferably a road bike), bring a couple of spare tubes, tyre levers and a mini pump, bottles with water in them and last but by no means least, the most important piece of equipment you'll need, a helmet and you'll be good to go.

The route starts from their store, passes through Ara Damansara and eventually reaches the Subang Jaya Airport. From there, it's a few extra kilometers until the exit onto the Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE). Once on the GCE, we cycled northwards until just after the Lagong Toll Plaza where we made a U-turn to head back to the shop. All in, the route is just over 60 km.

I've had the opportunity of riding with them twice now. During both rides, I got to know a gentleman by the name of Jonathan who works at the store (name card at the bottom of the post). He manages the group and ensures nobody gets lost.

In the event you want to get a couple of extra miles done this week or would like to train yourself on how to cycle in a group, what better way than to join the party. Riders of all skill levels are welcomed.

Someone limited edition Peter Sagan S-Works Tarmac. What a beauty!

Gloves, handle bars, bar tape and other knick knacks

Muc-Off products and other bike cleaning equipment

Aero goodness

Overall my time spent in the store admiring the merchandise as well as talking to the staff was most favorable. They definitely know their stuff and are more than willing to help you out should you have any queries. This is definitely one of the better bike stores I've been to, especially in terms of customer service and PR.

The work station....

.....and the mini-fridge

Cabinet of Oakleys

They carry a wide range of Shimano groupsets for both road and mountain bikes

The current World Champion

Nobody climbs like Contador

More Sagan gear - Limited edition Peter Sagan S-Works 6

The following are a couple of pictures of the latest Roubaix and Venge (previous generation). 

The latest iteration of the Roubaix has a mini shock absorbers integrated into the stem. As the bike was designed to be an endurance bike, the shock absorber, in theory at least, should smoothen out the roads more and reduce the amount of fatigue experiences by the rider, especially in the wrists and shoulders. Shock absorbers have never been too popular on road bikes as they add extra weight and designs in the past have always hampered power transfer from the cyclist to the cranks as the absorbers of yesteryear were usually in integrated either into the front fork or the frame in some way and would compress upon regular to heavy pedalling, thus inhibiting optimal power transfer.

Specialized has claimed to have found a solution to that by integrating the shock into the stem. This keeps the frame stiff as well as maintains side-to-side stiffness for those race winning sprints while bestowing large amounts of comfort to the rider. Only time will tell if this is just another gimmick the bike industry is pitting out there or a pioneer design for future bikes.

Here we have the gorgeous S-Works Venge, which in my opinion, is the most beautiful bike in their entire line, trumped only by the soon to be released disc brake version. If you didn't know, Specialized gives the term 'S-Works' to all their top of the line models. So, in the event you're buying say a fully completed Venge that's an S-Works, it will come with a higher grade of carbon frame compared to the regular Venge, making it stiffer and lighter as well as groupsets (Dura-Ace) and wheels (usually Roval aero wheels) to match.

And that's about it. I hope you enjoyed the pictures, I know I enjoyed taking them. As the store deals exclusively with Specialized bicycles, they of course carry Specialized mounting bikes as well but those were located upstairs and at the time of my patronage, the store had just opened and the lights upstairs had not been switched on yet so I couldn't get any decent pictures. I'll update this post soon after I pay them a visit again with some more bicycles and gear. 

Here are a couple of business cards in the event you want to give them a call.

Jonathan, fixing a cup of coffee

Of course, what bicycle shop would be complete without a coffee machine. Specialized PJ was no exception. Did I mention it's free of charge? 

Pick your poison

My lovely cup of magic bean juice.

 I'll continue doing these small overviews of local bicycle shops as and when I'm fortunate enough to visit them. There are quite a number of them around where I stay so I don't think I'll be running out of shops to visit anytime soon. Stay tuned if you want more content.

Once again, thanks for reading. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the comment section down below and I'll be happy to respond. Until next time!

Current Equipment Setup - Pedals

This is the second entry in my 'Equipment Setup' series and it is on my current set of cycling pedals, my Crankbrothers Eggbeater pedals.

The ones I use are the cheapest in their eggbeater line, with a website price of $59.99. However, at the time of purchasing these, I had the misfortune of dealing with a rather deceitful bicycle shop in Damansara Utama that sold them to me for northwards of RM300 (that's about $75 according to todays exchange rates) and claimed it was their best price. After doing a decent amount of research, I was able to find many other stores selling them for around the RM150-180 price range, almost half of what I paid. Ever since then, I have never set foot in that store again and have dissuaded and cautioned many from doing business with such a shady group. Nonetheless, the damage has been done and I've taken it as a rather costly lesson, one that I hope many will learn from me rather than first hand.

Now that that's over, on to the pedals. Those of you with a decent amount of cycling knowledge may be familiar with this brand but if you're not, fret not as Crankbrothers are more established in the mountain biking scene. The main reason why I'm currently using these pedals is because before I became a roadie, I was an avid mountain biker and was looking for a decent pair of pedals then. As time went by, I grew an interest in road cycling and got my first road bicycle a little over a 18 months ago, I was never a fan of the 'standard' flat pedals that came with the bike so I interchange my Crankbrothers pedals in between both bikes regularly.

A quick run through of the specs (information taken from the Crankbrothers website):

eggbeater 1

4-sided entry / superior mud shedding.
customizable float and release angle.

• spindle material - forged scm435 chromoly steel 
• body material - stamped steel 
• wing material - stamped steel 
• spring material - 300 series stainless steel
• release angle - 15° / 20° 
• q-factor - 52mm 
• cleat - premium brass cleats with shims included 
• weight - 290g per pair 
• warranty - 2 years

Immediately out of the box, the pedals have a very minimalistic look to them and are significantly lighter compared to most flat pedals out there. In hand, the weight difference between one compared to a full carbon Dura Ace pedal is barely noticeable. The words 'crankbrothers' are laser etched on on inner surface of what is essentially the stepping platform, ie the part that makes contact with you shoe, while the Crankbrothers logo is on the outer surface.

The way these pedals work is essentially similar to most clipless pedals with the main difference being, as a result of the 4-sided entry mechanism, one would not have to spend too much time trying to orientate the pedal with the cleat of one's cycling shoe prior to clipping in as one would have to do with a conventional one-sided road pedal. This reduces clip-in time as well as reduces the risk of possibly embarrassing 'clip-in' problems. They're incredibly easy to use on the roads and become almost intuitive after 1 or 2 weeks of use but the trails are where these pedals truly shine as a mountain biker will require to clip in and out more frequently than a roadie and doing this smoothly and quickly could mean the difference between a sick run or toppling-over like an utter newbie because you couldn't unclip in time (lets face it, we've all done it before).

I've had my pedals for a little over 2 years now and the pictures below are about a day old at the time of writing this post.

As you can see, they're still in great shape with the exception of a few dings and scratches here and there, nothing out of the ordinary for a mountain bike pedal. The tension mechanism is just right in my opinion. With a decent pair of shoes, they offer a slight bit of float while still keeping you shoes stuck into them following drop-offs and jumps on mountain trails,

Despite they're relative lack of a large stepping area, I experienced no hotspots on the soles of my feet even after hours of riding, both on road and mountain. And taking into account the fact the soles of my shoe aren't even carbon, I'm confident these pedals will be reasonably comfortable for even the most pampered cyclist. 

Apart from that, these pedal are incredibly easy to clean due to their skeleton-like design. If you're on the trail and you get a little mud in them, a couple of taps with your shoes should get the job done. Plus, I've had my fair share of spills on my bike and a couple of those wipeout had these pedals striking hard rock and gravel. Despite all this, I've yet to heard a single creek or squeak coming from them.

Moving on to the cleats, as with most mountain biking pedals, the cleats these pedals come with are minimalistic in design so as to not obstruct the riders foot work and mobility when he or she has to dismount and push or carry his bike, while being sturdy enough to withstand gravel, rocks, mud and everything else nature throws at you, From the picture below, you will notice that the cleat on the right has 2 dots or indentations that are lacking in it's counterpart. The dots function as a marker because the cleat on the right is designed to disengage from the pedal sooner due to it's narrower release angle in comparison to the left cleat. So, in the event one is more right foot dominant, it would be wiser to attach the 2-dot cleat on the right shoe so as to allow the right foot to disengage faster and make contact with the ground sooner.

Picture taken from E-bay

Here are some recent pictures of the cleats on my relatively banged-up pair or Sidis. There is definitely a break-in period with the pedals, with the clip-in tension gradually reducing, making it easier to clip in and out, but after 1 or 2 weeks, the tension more or less remains the same.

A downside to these pedals to the best of my knowledge is that, in comparison to pedals from say Shimano, you can't adjust their clip-in tension. It's not really an issue to me but then again I've never experimented with adjustable pedals before and I'm sure a lack of tension adjustment would be an issue for some.

The aforementioned 2 dots

In short, these are a great pair of pedals and I would strongly recommend them to anyone looking to get their first clipless pedals, even roadies. I've yet to mention this and I'm sure this is almost blasphemous to some roadies but I'm not the type who buys too much into marketing, Even though I don't doubt a proper road specific pedal and shoe would allow me to transfer my precious Watts into the crank more efficiently, at the end of the day, I can't tour like Froome, sprint like Sagan or climb like Contador. I'm only mortal and I feel that the few seconds I would save per hour of cycling are not worth the convenience mountain bike shoes and pedals have to offer. Touring, getting groceries, stopping by a cafe, are all so much easier in mountain biking shoes. As a result of this, I don't know if I'll ever pick up a pair of road specific pedals and shoes once these guys die on me. Only time will tell.

Once again, thanks for reading! If you have any thoughts, or questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section down below and I'll try my best to answer.

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to the Malaysian Cyclist. I'm not a newcomer to the blogging platform, however it has never been a habit which I've adopted as a permanent part of my day to day dealings. I hope to change that with this blog as well as use it as a means to connect with more like-minded individuals while having an outlet to voice my opinions and thoughts on various topics of interest, cycling being the biggest.

As you may have already guessed from the title of the blog, I'm a relatively young (24 is decently young right?) and avid cyclist residing in Malaysia. Despite having learnt how to ride on 2 wheels at the meager age of 3 (according to my parents anyway), cycling had always taken a back seat to my running. Participating in runs and marathons and jogathons and a couple-of-other-thons was and still is a very passionate regularity in my life and finding ways to balance training with my studies makes the experience ever the more rewarding. Despite having countless 5ks, 10ks, half-marathons and 2 full-crippling-42k-marathons under my belt, I know the asphault and tarmac still have much to teach me.

Current bike:

Fuji SST 3.0

• 105 groupset
• Oval cranks and breaks
• Carbon frame, seat post, fork
• Selle Italia saddle
• Oval stem and handle bars.
• Oval concept 330 wheels
• Vittoria 23mm tyres

As this blog is still in its infancy, I welcome any and all suggestions as to how I can improve it so as to make it more 'reading-material' and less 'random-ramblings'. With time, I hope to cultivate this blog and grow it into a decent source of cycling-related content. Thank you for reading, until next time!