Baum Cycles

A few of the places that have seen my tyres of late, and influenced me to strongly believe that “all roads lead to yourself“.

With the re-appearance of an old face in Baumland, we need to make a belated welcome.

Ryan Moody rejoins the team, this time in the front of house applying his energy, knowledge of bikes and human physiology to the sometimes complicated process of choosing and fitting the perfect Baum.

You'll of course still see plenty of Ryan out on the race track, as well as working with the VIS women's race team along the way. He'll also likely be the person who picks up the phone when you call the Baum' Global HQ in Geelong or get in touch via the ether.

As we leave knee warmer season and head into leg warmer season, a fundamental question has arisen to divide friends and split families.

Should socks be worn over or under full length leg warmers?

Are they an undergarment that should resume it’s regular place with the introduction of a pant, or in the absence of exposed flesh the star of the leg show?

The details about when and why we started planning this trip are lost to both Steve and I, all we knew was we wanted to ride some back roads from Melbourne up and through the old gold mining region of Victoria. For years we'd discussed the possibility of jumping on road bikes with naught but credit cards and a will to see the roads less travelled, so when a weekend opened up we both grabbed at the idea with both hands and headed to google maps to decide a route.

The final plan was two be a two day adventure, first from Melbourne, out through the western suburbs, over Mt Macedon and on to Bendigo where we would spend the night in a dim motel room.

Take something, an idea, a notion, a concept, then boil it down and refine it until it is the purest essence of the original.

For cycling that essence is the track bike, seen recently beneath the heel of many a young dandy, and every four years brought fourth into the spotlight through the Olympics.

As I type this, the latest track bike to roll off the Baum line is winging it's way to NAHBS with Darren and Ryan, but that's not the bike I'm here to discuss. This last year I've spent a lot of time on my own titanium beast, all with the aim of riding it for less time.

Perhaps I should back up a bit, a mate has been in my ear for ages, about an idea (a notion if you will), that I should take my track bike and ride it for 1 solitary kilometre. It's a simple idea, one that's been refined into what many simply refer to as "the kilo". The world record for it was set over a decade ago by a Frenchman with legs big enough to house several umbrella collections, that record is 58.875 seconds. On a modern indoor (wooden Olympic) velodrome that's 8 straights, 16 turns and more pain than you previously thought possible.

Sometimes we have a bike that manages to strike a chord, Brian's Corretto is one of those.

Ever since it made it up on our Flickr site it has been a huge hit. Appearing on multiple blogs including Velo Liberte, Tumblr and bike forums.

For the time being it'll be tearing up the roads in Malayasia, but soon will be back in Australia – with the owner keen to start racing. Given it looks fast standing still, I'd say the racers in Melbounre should consider themselves warned!

Congratulations Brian, may it continue to turn heads for years to come.

We were flicking through our copies of RIDE magazine with the morning coffee when we noticed something that looked a little familiar 

that's correct, our Turanti cyclocross bike is now ready to order. There will be a more in depth look at the Turanti in the coming weeks, however if you would like a read of the first review (and first ride in fact) of it then I highly recommend dropping by your local newsagent and grabbing a copy of the latest RIDE mag. 

However don't hope to grab this particular beauty now that the review is complete, it's already safely in the hands of its new owner and heading to twilight CX races in Adelaide in the coming weeks. Watch out!

Our UK dealer Prestige Cycles is pleased to announce their website is now live and looking great!

Now anyone in the UK considering a Baum for their next bike have one stop shop in place where they can both get their bike fit and order placed, all under the professional guidance of Stephen. Below is just one of the frames that Stephen has in his store.

with more shots of it here and the Prestige Ristretto can be seen here.

Even for those not looking for a new Baum, I still recommend taking a moment to have a stroll through the new site or even a trip down to Brighton for a visit to Stephen's shop and a chance to see some Baum's up close and personal. There's still a bit of Autumn sunshine remaining, maybe even ride there.

Unfortunately not all of customers are able to make it into Baumland for their fit, however we certainly do not let that preclude us from letting that create a dream bike for them. Below is an email we received from the owner of this Corretto, which left us flattered but reassured that our continual pursuit of excellence is appreciated by our customers.

Hope you and all at Baum land are fit and well. Sorry it’s taken an age to get back to you with some photos and a brief ride report, truth is I have taken every single spare moment to get out on the road and enjoy the Baum; and stunning it is. So, see below a few snaps, taken whilst out on a late summer century, I thought you’d like the carefully selected views of the English countryside.

 

Commissioning a hand build bike is no small task; you are faced with a vast range of choices in deciding on geometry, ride feel and components, and let’s be honest, if you’re spending a fair wedge of cash it also needs to look sweet. Now I am of course biased, but I am delighted with the outcome, the care and detail that has gone into the welds and paintwork is a true labor of love. The bike was build up by Barry and his team at Bespoke (thanks guys, faultless work), Matt the mechanic commented on the 20 tiny welds on each side of the cable stop on the chainstay and the overall quality of the build, per·fec·tion!

So to the ride, on commissioning the Corretto I asked for a ride that would be compliant, comfortable enough to spend hours in the saddle and snappy to respond to a jump when required. To be honest it has taken me this long to fully appreciate what I have on my hands, the Baum is a huge step up from my vintage steel frame, I selected components to respect the quality of the build (slight departure from financial reality required) and create something that would take me to the next level of ability and fitness, it is truly the sum of its parts. The Corretto is responsive without being jittery, compliant without being harsh and smooth as the finest Jersey butter. Weird as this may sound, the Baum has removed the mechanical element from my rides, I am locked in to position, feel fluid and have supreme confidence in the bike.

 

A big thank you to you all:

Nick for listening and allowing me to change direction several times often at the 11th hour

Daren for understanding my needs and building something truly unique (still can’t get over the 1in chainstays)

And Jared for pushing the boundaries of what is possible with paint 

Quite the finished build there, we are very impressed and certain there will be many, many happy miles in store for the owner.

Happy riding!

This month sees the exciting return of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, after a hiatus last year with the World Championships coming to Geelong (a year has gone already, frightening how quickly the time flies).

The final stage will again be a criterium race around the streets of Carlton, complete with the sights, sounds and fantastic tastes that Lygon street has to offer. The course is below

With the trade show running all day. 

So if you are coming in to town to watch the race please do not hesitate to drop in the stand and say hello. You might even be able to get a closer look at one of the new beauties we'll have on display. You can get a sneak peek below

Trust me, in real life it's even better!

Look forward to seeing you down there.