Tuesday Treats 88: Ace Components

Your once a week dose of retail therapy from Singletrack’s Premier Dealers, stockists and advertisers, Tuesday Treats gives you a quality serving of independent bike retailing and a chance to win big in this week’s prize draw.

This week, we’re exclusively introducing: Ace Components

Tuesday Treats is handing the controls over to Chris Lawson and the fresher-than-spring guys at Ace Components, to talk to us about their company launch and the exciting plans ahead…

We are Ace Components, a new mountain bike company based in the North West, supplying products aimed at modern trail riding and the enduro race scene.

How did this joint-venture start out?

As joint owners and riders, Jonny Calvert and myself actually became friends through Singletrack’s website, tackling a VERY windy Snowdon ride that had been arranged on the forum last year. The ride was less than successful; the weather resulting in little riding being done on the way up, and one wrong turn on the decsent resulting in a 50 quid cab fare back to the cars!

Still, we realised we had a similar focus in the riding we enjoyed and over the following months, riding our local North Wales trails, the conversation turned to current products on the market, and the companies that supply them. We realised we could do things differently and Ace Components was born.

Tell us about the products and what marks you guys as different?

We are very much focussed on components born out of the recent evolution of the trail bike and so we supply narrow/wide chainrings, our ‘Dinner Plate’ 40T and 42T rear sprockets, a really nice set of wide, hookless carbon rims (in all three size flavours) and these offer improved tyre retention, all the obvious weight and rolling resistence gains.

Lots of other products are on the way which are born out of the same conversations, namely “Does that really have to be that expensive?” and “I wish I could get one of those that didn’t do that!” and so on.

Where we really think we can be a benefit to the mountain bike community is by being your local online retailer. We are happy to talk about our product range and which of our products are most suitable for your style of riding, locality and fitness as a start.

It wasn’t so long ago we were all riding around on a triple chainset and losing two front rings can seem pretty daunting, even to more experienced riders. We’d like to offer riders the opportunity to drop us a line and we’ll offer you honest, objective advice.

What else is in the production and service pipeline?

We have also produced a mini 1×10 groupset which consists of our narrow/wide chainring, a 10 speed chain, shorty chainring bolts and our dinner plate rear sprocket. We will customise the ratios to your needs so it all works together nicely. A one stop shop for 1×10 drivtrains! The future.

We also offer a wheel build service on our carbon rims. There is a lot of myth and mystery surrounding wheels and wheel building so we can offer sound advice on spoke/nipple/hub arrangements and hopefully debunk some of those myths. On the service side, you can send us your old wheels (or drop them off and have a nice cup of coffee) and we will rebuild your existing hubs and spokes (if they are the right size and condition) onto new rims and tape them up, so you can go tubeless and we’ll send them back to you.

Are you involved in any competitive events?

We are both keen on the Enduro racing scene too, it’s great to have a format of racing that closely mirrors what we would be doing when we ride with mates anyway. Ace Components will be heavily involved in the race scene too. We will be at Enduro races throughout the country with a trade stand and also offering technical support to riders using our parts.

How best can we keep up to date with developments?

We will be a continually growing our product range in the near future (new bars/stems, including ultra short lengths and our new chain guides for starters) and with ideas for future clothing and accessories ranges, we’d love to keep you in the loop via Facebook and Twitter . We love talking bikes, so call us for a chat on: 07960 525 589.

What’s the local riding like on your doorstep?

We both live in the grand city of Chester and tend to ride North Wales regularly. I’m Cumbria born and bred, so often get to ride the Lake District and also love annual trips to the Alps. We’ll ride anywhere to be honest, its always good to ride new trails and offers of from local guides are happily accepted!

Tuesday Treats Prize Draw

Click here to win this week’s prize!

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