Latex is the newest bike building material

The snazzy new Specialized-themed M Steel’s Cycles of Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, was officially opened last night by Toon footie legend Alan Shearer. Here’s my BikeBiz.com story on the bash.

The 2500 sq ft of open-plan retail space was chocka with carbon fibre, naturally, but latex stole the show. Two very clever balloon benders from Xtreme Entertainment UK of Co Durham kept kiddies entertained, including my own. My Burley trailer was stuffed to the gills with balloon-based bat wings, ladybirds, teddy bears, flowers and bracelets.

I’ve seen all those shapes before. I’ve never ever seen balloon bikes, though. Here’s a selection of . The balloon Ordinary was spectacular and was created because an Ordinary is part of the logo for M Steel Cycles.

The Alan-Shearer-on-a-bike effigy was pure genius. It even shows Alan’s trademark post-goal arm-in-air salute.