January/February 2010

Bike Shop Switzerland Opens !

The on-line shop is now open for business. Our goal is to promote cycling in Switzerland and brands related to Swiss cycling. All products are available for international shipping at reasonable rates right here. We’re starting out with two objectives.

1) To get the hard to find BMC clothing line into the hands of riders outside Switzerland.

2) American based Hincapie Sports is The BMC Racing Team’s sponsor and clothing provider and this means that Swiss and  European fans do not have easy access to the team’s new pro kit, and we hope to change this.

The shop also offers cycling maps of all 9 Swiss National Routes, and this Spring we will also be introducing our own Bike Switzerland product line. Visit the shop by clicking here.

Last call for the Winter Cycling Paradise !

Wow…I just got off a great weekend in Gran Canaria with Ray and the BMC marketing staff. We were all extremly impressed with the well-maintained roads, the suprisingly green landscape, the hotels, bikes…man, it was all good. And it all required SPF 15 or higher (75 degrees that weekend !). And listen, we’ve tweaked the tour a bit and managed to lower the price 100 Euros (which we’ll reimburse to those who have signed on already).

But get on board quick. You need to be on the island by February 20th and we’ll finish the tour on teh 28th. Just look for airport “LPA” on your favorite ticket search engine and get ready for some hard, warm riding and tall “après-bike” beers on the beach. More information at this link. And you can find pictures of my weekend at this link.

Electric Bike rentals at Bike Switzerland Rentals

We’d like to offer cycling to more ages and abilities by offering an electric assist option to our fleet of BMC Alpen Challenge bicycles . Nothing is perfect, but the new Canadian manufactured “Bionx” system is as close as it gets. We simply swap out your rear wheel, attach the light weight battery pack to either the frame our rack and you’re off ! The battery is rechargeable and good for around 80 km with an adjustable assist level which goes from 25% to 300 %. I think it will be ideal for couples who want to travel further with their children, spouses who would otherwise be at different levels, or for less experienced riders who are looking to do a rider that they could never consider otherwise. We’ll make an announcement when our rentals website has integrated the option. In the meantime, take a look at the Bionx website here.

New video of our “Lite Tour”

We put together video of our new “Lite Tour” . Our van driver and chef, David Cotting, is a band member of Tiger the Lion and we’ve set the video to their music. When we first did the video, we had a lot of text flashing across the screen to explain what you were seeing, but I thought it was too distracting and so removed it all. Just know that all the pictures are in the order that they appear on our itinerary. Come with us this summer and you’ll see it all on the trip…even more. I promise !

November/December Newsletter

Bicicleta Suiza !

Our new Spanish website is finally up and working. Our editors are going to be improving upon the text within the next couple of weeks, but all the pages have now been professionally translated and are accessible at www.bicicletasuiza.es

We’d appreciate it if you could forward this link to your Spanish-speaking biking buddies. Our next project is www.bikeswitzerland.ru which will be our Russian language site. It will be up in running within the next week.

The goal behind these translations is to attract a truly international group of riders for future tours. Of course, English will continue to be the common language of our tours, but we believe that potential riders need to be introduced to the concept of “Bike Switzerland” in their native language.

BMC in Grand Canary with us.

BMC liked our Grand Canary idea so much, that they’ve decided to join us. The BMC staff will be coming to the island to launch their 2010 product line and will be sharing our facilities in Las Tirajanas. Ray Leddy (Bike Switzerland’s man on the ground) is taking care of all the logistics. Our Canary Island riders will be able to try out the new BMC 2010 road bikes and have the chance to pick the minds of the best road bike designers in the world . Yet another reason to get on board: 8 spaces left, so hurry !

New Movie Page on Bike Switzerland World:

We’ve added a “movie” page to showcase our Grand Canaria Discovery tour. Follow this link and watch our host Ray Leddy biking our itineraries, see the hotels we’ll be staying at, or simply enjoy the scenery of this far-flung paradise that is Europe’s most southern island.

New Facebook Fan Page:

On the right-hand side of this page, you will see our Facebook “Fan Page Feed”. If you have a Facebook account, then please click on the link to go to our FAN PAGE and then “become a fan”. You’ll be able to see pictures of past tours, get the latest Bike Switzerland information in our status updates and be invited to participate in surveys and contests throughout the year. Please oh please, be our friend !

Bike Switzerland Shop:

We will be opening a Bike Switzerland on-line shop in the next 2 to 3 weeks. The shop will carry BMC gear, Swiss bicycle maps, Bike Switzerland clothing and the Klickfix baggage that we use on our bikes.

New Prices January 1st

Remember to pay your deposit before January 1st to reserve your 2009 tour price for our 2010 tours. Our web-designer has set up everything to switch over to Swiss francs beginning at midnight on December 31st (New York Time) and prices will be going up around 12%, so it definately pays to get your deposit in. Choose a date and sign up today.

Big news ahead…

We’ve got lots of things to announce in the weeks ahead, so be expecting another newsletter in your mailbox in the next ten days or so.

My best,

JOHN