German Bling

Alan Hartley (author of the Sportident timing software AutoDownload) and I go back a few years, first meeting in the Pludds village hall when I was 10 at a South West Junior Orienteering squad training weekend. Since we shared a house together as students in Cardiff we have often ridden together (with me chasing his tail technically) and watched each other fall off many times over the years – well mainly Alan watching me, ask him about Bedwas! For the last few years we have both been riding Giant XTCs and for various reasons we have both ended up with new race bikes at the same time. And both German.
Alan has a Cube Reaction XT and I have the Corratec Bow. The spec of them is very similar, XT groupset, Elixer CR brakes and alloy frame. The standard wheels on the Cube are slightly better and it comes with a Fox fork as opposed to the Bow’s Reba.
What both bikes also have in common is the style-thing that European bikes tend to have: bling frame graphics.
Both of us like our new bikes and will be racing them on Saturday down at the Military Challenge in Aldershot. Achtung everybody, the Germans are coming !