Rotorua bike shop Kiwibikes is the naming sponsor for the 2010 Singlespeed World Championships.
“That’s about as local as you can get,” says Dean Watson from Nduro Events. “It’s great to have this level of support for a global event from our own community.”
The Championships will be raced on the magnificent mountain bike trails in the Whakarewarewa Forest, south of Rotorua in the heartland of New Zealand’s North Island in October. Race day is Saturday October 23, with well over 500 entries already. It's the finale of a week-long Bike Festival, starting on Sunday October 17 with the Whaka 100 mountain bike classic.

Jeff Anderson from Kiwibikes is into his third decade in the bike business.
“Bikes and Rotorua are a great combination,” says Anderson, as he opens the shop for business on a warm summer morning. “The Rotorua Singlespeed Society did a fantastic job getting the Singlespeed Worlds to our town.”
For Jeff it was an easy decision to get behind the event.
“I’m really excited to be part of a fun event like this, that will bring a lot of riders and supporters from around New Zealand and overseas here for the week,” he adds.
Jeff is one of New Zealand’s very few bike builders with his Jeffson brand.
The Jeffson name is over twenty years old and shares a distinctive honour with some of the world’s biggest cycling manufacturers. In 1990, at the UCI Track Worlds in Japan, Kiwi rider Karen Holliday won the Points race on a Jeffson frame.
Because of that Jeff can put the UCI world champion rainbow stripes on any frame he builds.
“Seriously, how great is that,” says Graeme Simpson from the Singlespeed Worlds event team. “Talk about heritage.”
Jeffson offers a service that is unique in New Zealand and is quite rare anywhere in the world these days – having a bespoke frame built to your exact measurements.

Kiwibikes is part of a rich cycling tradition in Rotorua. The town has bike hire and guiding companies and seven bike shops.
“For a population of only 70 thousand people, that is an remarkable statistic,” says Dean Watson. “We have a couple of frame builders, Jeff and Graeme Pearson, a wheel builder by the name of Dave Fischer and world-class bike mechanics.”
Two of those mechanics are father and son act, Dale and Ryan Hollows, who are based at another Rotorua shop, Bike Vegas.
Over the years, Dale has wrenched for New Zealand riders, like Sarah Ulmer when she won Olympic gold and world championships on the track.
Ryan is part of the current BikeNZ management team working with BMX riders, like another Sarah (Walker), who is the current World Champion.
“Our town really is a very strong bike hub – pun intended,” says Dean, whose involvement in mountain biking and event management in Rotorua goes back twenty years.
“This is a great place to run mountain bike races,” he adds. “The trail network is an amazing resource and some of the best anywhere, the cycling infrastructure is great and we have excellent community support.”

• For all the latest information about the event – including updated entry lists
see the web site: http://www.sswc10nz.com
• SSWC10NZ Media – Graeme Simpson +64 21746538 or singlespeed@riderotorua.com

Lots of great local partners: Pig and Whistle is our official pub, Events and Venues Rotorua are on board, plus Bike Vegas, local photographer, Graeme Murray, and designer, Gaz Sullivan from Nzo dirtwear.

Thats nice of them to sponsor the euro's 🙂