A small piece of the Great British outdoors in these uncertain times.
Log
A few weeks ago we headed to the Welsh borders with our friends at Fairlight bicycles to put builds of their two signature models, the Strael and the Secan, to the test on the lanes, gravel tracks and mountain roads that sit in the shadow of Twmpa.
Transmission #008 is a playlist by Camille McMillan, photographer and the man behind Further.
A new series of photographs from Gus Morton’s Coast to Coast ride last year.
The question I’m asked most often is ‘why’?
After all these years of flogging myself round the woods I am still no closer to the answer.
We’re excited to announce that this year we’ll be partnering with FURTHER, a new frontier in adventure cycling.
The soundtrack to our film Coast to Coast is now available to stream via Spotify, and purchase via Bandcamp.
To end the year we asked Rupert Hartley, one of our founders and the man behind the Albion lens, to pick a few of his favourite photos that tell a story of our 2019.
Kasper Asgreen had something of a breakout year in 2019.
When we sat down to plot the route for Coast to Coast, our idea was fairly simple.
500 kilometres. 10,000 metres of climbing. 28 hours, coast to coast.
We’re an outdoor company, ultimately. We believe that spending time outdoors, on your bike, is one of life’s greatest pleasures.
Shorter days shouldn’t mean shorter rides.
We’re heading back to the Raeburn Lab in London this November for a series of talks and workshops, as well as to retail our new A/W19 range.
The Albion Insulated Jacket.
Weatherproof gear, for any conditions.
It seems inappropriate to refer to the dust having settled on what was one of the wettest Road World Championships in recent memory in Yorkshire last week.
On the 7th of July 2019, with the air full of the sound of the bagpipes, a group of 100 riders rolled out of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.
The inaugural edition of the Pan Celtic Race had begun.
At the end of June we spent a few days following the Cent Cols Challenge through the Northern Alps of France.
At the end of May we spent a few days following the first Cent Cols Challenge of the year as they headed southeast through the Apennine range in central Italy.
One of our aims at Albion is to champion the great cycling Britain has to offer.
Each season, we head to different places in the British Isles to explore local roads and test our newest clothing and equipment.
A few weeks ago as part of an event in Bristol, we put on an evening of short films to showcase some of the places and the stories that have inspired us here at Albion.
This weekend on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th May, we’ll be heading back to the Raeburn Studio in London.
Phil Deeker’s hArdennes trip is an annual eight day riding event covering 1600 kilometres, with 29,000 metres of vertical ascent, in the Ardennes region of Northern Europe.
Transmission #007 is a mix of music by Cent Cols founder Phil Deeker.
Albion’s Spring/Summer 2019 range is inspired by colours found on Britain’s coastline, and is designed for long rides on the warmest days.
The advent of spring means one thing in cycling.
The cobbled classics.
Last weekend organisers of the Pan Celtic Race held a gathering in North Wales for riders to meet, recce some of the route, and get some training miles in ahead of the race itself in July.
Transmission #006 is a selection of music produced by British artists.
We’re excited to announce a partnership with the Pan Celtic Race, a new long distance cycling race around the Celtic nations.
Soft shell jersey for riding in deep winter and changeable weather conditions.
The Cent Cols Challenge has a near mythical aura and a fearsome reputation. Often described as one of the hardest amateur events in cycling, riders must pit themselves against the mountains of Europe’s great ranges, tackling 100 cols in just ten days.
Yorkshire. Land of the Dales, the Moors, and over 5000 miles of drystone walls.
Transmission #005 is an extended studio recording from Builder’s Tea.
Albion’s Autumn/Winter 2018 range is inspired by colours found in the great British outdoors, and the performance demanded of cycling clothing and equipment designed for long days in the saddle during the cold British winter.
Earlier in the summer British riders Jess Duffy and Josh Greet headed to Slovenia in Central Europe for a week of unsupported gravel riding and exploring.
On August 16th British riders Will Dunk and Tim France will fly to Kyrgyzstan to take part in the inaugural Silk Road Mountain Race, a fixed route, unsupported, single-stage 1700km cycling race through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan.
The Snowdonia National Park in North Wales is unusual for a National Park in that it has a hole in the middle, around the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Transmission #004 is a mix of music from Cathal Cully (Group Zero), member of Girls Names.
The soundtrack to our film Heading North is now available to stream in full via Spotify.
When you think of mountains, Great Britain might not be the first place that comes to mind.
Collaboration between Albion and data visualisation artist Owen Powell on a unique print of the Isle of Arran, rendered using 3D Lidar data.
Heading out when it’s dark and damp is something any cyclist can relate to in winter, particularly here in Britain.
The Lake District in the North of England is one of Britain’s 15 National Parks, and is the spiritual home of the outdoor community in the UK.
In November 2017 Albion collaborated with Rouleur on a limited edition run of our waterproof rider’s pouch, inspired by the colours of their CEC.I Collection.
A short film by Albion which tells the story of one man’s attempt to ride over 650 kilometres from London to Edinburgh in 24 hours.
Albion’s third season is inspired by the great British outdoors; by gear and equipment for exploration and adventure, and by the demanding nature of Britain’s weather and terrain.
The Monsal Hill Climb started as a couple of mates timing each other in a race up an unpaved hill at the end of the track season.
“We’re cycling from Turin to Nice” I try to explain in broken Italian and hand gestures to Sergio, who runs a bike rental shop at the bottom of the Col de Tende…
Albion is now available to buy at Four Boroughs, Crystal Palace.
The Galibier is a mythical mountain in cycling folklore.
At 2,642m above sea level, it was for a long time the undisputed highest point of the Tour de France.
Jojo Harper is a 29 year old photographer from St Agnes in Cornwall.
There’s a bike shop that sits near the top of East Hill in Wandsworth called Stratton Cycles.
It’s been there for nearly 100 years.
Transmission #003 is a selection of music produced by British artists.
You might not have heard of British photographer Gerry Cranham, and that wouldn’t bother him one bit. As it happens, he might be the most important sports photographer to ever pick up a camera.
It is said that to live on Skye you need to be resilient, inventive, humorous, tough, self-sufficient, waterproof, patient and lucky.
You could say the same of being a cyclist in Britain.
At Albion we make cycling gear for all sorts of weather.
For our first spring/summer range, we set out to create a small collection of versatile clothing and accessories to suit the changing British seasons, whilst also steadily evolving our colour palette.
Transmission #002 is a mix of music from Angus Morton.
Angus Morton is a professional bike racer for US Continental team Jelly Belly-Maxxis. He’s also one half of Thereabouts with his brother Lachlan, himself a professional bike racer for World Tour team Dimension Data.
We’ve teamed up with Thereabouts and Cycling Tips to put on a screening of the new Thereabouts film “Thereabouts 3: Discovering Colombia”, to raise money for Qhubeka.
Owen Powell is a data visualisation artist using open source mapping data to create beautifully detailed images and 3D terrain models.
We’ve collaborated with Owen on an original image and 3D terrain model of the Irfon Valley in Wales, a location that features prominently in the photography of Albion season 1.
Britain has a long and distinguished history of producing technical outdoor gear for the harshest environments.
Iconic brands like Berghaus, Rab, Rohan and Karrimor have been at the forefront of technical innovation in outdoor adventuring for many decades.
There is a red phone box on the mountain between Tregaron and Llanwrtyd at Nantymaen, where the Tregaron-Abergwesyn mountain road crosses the Camddwr valley.
A buoy of brilliant red in a vast ocean of muddy green and brown, this now defunct phone box is the only distinctive landmark for miles around.
Transmission #001 is a selection of music produced by British artists.
Every year on a Sunday in October, the British cycling community turns its gaze towards two short, steep hills a few kilometres apart in the farmlands on the borders of Surrey and Kent.
At Albion we make cycling gear for all sorts of weather.
For our first collection, we’ve launched with a small range of four products – a long sleeve jersey, a neck warmer, a waterproof rider’s pouch, and a cycling cap – for autumn and winter riding.