Chris Hoy collaboration in Bikes Etc

If the British Cycling scene has changed a huge amount in the elite sphere, there has been almost as much of a revolution at grassrootes level. ‘I do still pinch myself when I see so many riders everywhere,’ admits Hoy. As if to prove the point, a gardener had earlier spotted Hoy and began discussing his love of bikes, in between trimming a hedge. This wasn’t always the case, even for the sport’s big stars. ‘Twenty years ago people might know Chris Boardman, that’s it. Now most people could easily name six cyclists.’

Today Hoy has also brought along a bespoke steel keirin bike built for him by Scottish bike-maker Shand. Hoy developed the geometry, Shand worked its magic, and the bike was completed with a Dura-Ace chainset, a Thompson stem and Nitto bars and post. Hoy’s name is printed in Japanese on the top tube – or so he thinks. ‘It might just say “Gullible Scotsman”,’ he laughs. As we chat, Hoy makes regular admiring glances at the bike propped up in the pub, alongside his impressive pimped up Sa Calobra. ‘Seeing that bike was genuinely my first “wow” for a long while,’ he says, clearly besotted. ‘I loved the design process because it got me back in love with bikes again. For a while, a bike became a tool to do my job on the track. It wasn’t a bike, it was just a series of components that were constantly replaced. Now I have that bond again. I remember as a kid stripping down a bike, leaving it spotless and then sitting on my bed looking at it. I have the same feeling now with my own bikes’. Hoy takes another proud peek at his bike. ‘It’s funny, isn’t it? That you become so attached to a lump of metal. But I love it.’