When you're on Twitter within an active community like cycling, you never quite know what the day will bring - a retweet, a link or amusing story, its a pretty nice place to hang out for a few minutes of every day. Just recently, we were surprised to receive a tweet from a fellow rider alerting us to a recent Muxu feature inside UK based magazine Cycling Plus.

Our fellow tweeter had very kindly posted a high resolution .pdf of the article, and on clicking through we were honoured to see that ther Muxu cycling jeans had been featured in the commuting section, and overwhelemed by the clear effort this Future Publishing title had put into getting a great shot of the product. 

A big thank you to Cycling Plus and to Matt Fantastic for the tweet and hosting of the .pdf!

view a .pdf of the article here >

see the jeans here >

Popular UK based gadgets, gear and technology website Stuff.tv were kind enough to include the Muxu Ride Shirt in their recently posted '10 of the best commuter cycling gear' feature.

Featured amongst a selection of wide ranging gear that included bikes as well as apparel within the top 10, Stuff praised the understated function of the Ride shirt, alongside its breathable fabric and tucked away rear pocket. 

We'd like to thank Stuff for their inclusion of our shirt, and make a quick note that our forthcoming water repellant jacket and shorts will be arriving shortly, of which more news soon!

Berlín, es la ciudad capital de la República Federal de Alemania y uno de los dieciséis Estados federados alemanes. Está localizada al noreste de Alemania, a escasos 70 km de la frontera con Polonia. Es atravesada por 4 ríos: Spree, Havel, Panke y Wuhle. Con una población de 3,4 millones de habitantes, Berlín es la ciudad más poblada del país, así como la quinta aglomeración urbana entre los países de la Unión Europea.

Berlín es una  ciudad cultural y artística de primer plan. Es una de las ciudades más influyentes en el ámbito político de la Unión Europea y en el 2006 fue elegida Ciudad Creativa por la Unesco. En 2009 la ciudad recibió el Premio Príncipe de Asturias de la Concordia.

Por estos, y muchos otros motivos,  es la ciudad a la que decidí ir a vivir hace un par de añitos, y la ciudad a la que me destinaron hace dos meses para trabajar. Primero de todo, debo destacar que si algún día tomáis la decisión de ir a vivir a Berlín, viajéis con la bici bajo el brazo (el precio de la facturación de la bici, ronda los 25 euros por trayecto). Una de las pegas que tiene ésta ciudad es el precio del transporte público, pero en contraposición podría decir que es la ciudad Europea más cómoda para circular en bici (al nivel de Amsterdam). En caso de que no queráis viajar con la bicicleta, tenéis infinidad de tiendas o mercadillos en los que podréis encontrar bicicletas de segunda mano a partir de 30 euros (el precio de una tarjeta de transporte público de una semana).
   

El frío y la lluvia, no parecen ser un obstáculo para la gente autóctona, y para los “Neukommende” (extranjeros), deja de ser un obstáculo el día que deciden ir al trabajo a dos ruedas a menos 15ºC de temperatura. A pesar de las bajas temperaturas, los servicios públicos se ocupan de mantener la calzada en buenas condiciones para evitar accidentes. Cabe destacar que en verano de multiplican los utilitarios de este medio de transporte alternativo, llenando los parques y orillas del río de ciclistas haciendo la fotosíntesis.   

Por otro lado, tengo que resaltar, que constantemente ves ir y venir mensajeros de diversas empresas que se dedican a la mensajería “verde”. Por este motivo, os invito a que en caso de que busquéis trabajo y tengáis ganas de conocer la ciudad, dejéis el currículo en cualquiera de estas empresas. Este movimiento constante de mensajeros, hace que en la ciudad se respire todo el tiempo cultura “fixed”. Si tenéis ganas de informaros de eventos fijeros, lo podéis hacer en “Keirin Cycle Culture Café” (www.keirinberlin.de/). Buen ambiente, buen café (1 euro) y un pequeño homenaje a los mensajeros y al ciclismo en pista.

Tampoco puedo olvidar la cantidad de clubs y bares que dan vida a la ciudad durante el día y la noche. La fiesta es uno de los rasgos característicos de la ciudad y uno de los motivos de visita de miles y miles de fanáticos de la música electrónica. En Berlín puedes encontrar a los mejores DJ's del panorama internacional y los mejores clubs del mundo: Berghain & Panorama Bar, Watergate, ARENA, Golden Gate, Kater Holzig, etc. son algunos de los lugares más emblemáticos de la ciudad para pegarte una buena fiesta.

Finalmente, solo me falta destacar la multitud de empresas de tours turísticos que se dedican a explicar la historia de la ciudad  en bicicleta por un módico precio, además de la gran variedad de tours dedicados al “underground” de la capital alemana.

En fin, si Berlín sigue siendo un destino pendiente, ¡no lo dudes más!, coge tu bicicleta y pedalea por el “Tiergarten”, pasando por la plaza de Brandenburgo, y sigue por “Unten den Linden”, con dirección a “Alexanderplatz” cruzando “Friedrichstrasse”. Después baja a “Jannowitzbrücke” y sigue hasta “Warschauerstr.”. Una vez allí, date una buena vuelta y busca el bar que más te guste. Si lo encuentras,  aparca y degusta una buena cervecita alemana respirando aire berlines. Disfruta de este gran momento. ¡SALUD y MUXU!

Being online means orders can come in from almost anywhere in the world, and it's always a surprise to be sending items sometimes so far afield. As a baromter of urban cycling's popularity, Canada seems to be one country that is pretty hot for Muxu right, as this photo from Stuart, a Muxu wearing customer hailing from Vancouver shows.

Stuart bought a pair of our Ride Jeans before Christmas, after which he very kindly sent us some shots of him riding and wearing in and around Vancouver. We like this one taken from the bike - nice bars.

We sent Stuart a little Muxu gift as thanks for his photos, so if you have a nice shot of your good self or friend wearing Muxu, pop it over to us for equal giftness!

A sudden burst of website traffic and some excited tweets alerted us to the release of the Guardian's Christmas Cycling Gift photo feature, of which the Muxu Japanese Denim Jeans were featured as the first gift for the cyclist in your life. 

Sitting alongside some other very nice gifts from the cycling world, the British newspaper took a liking to our cycling jeans, praising their 'anatomical design and stretch blend fabric' amongst other features.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Guardian and specifically the author of the feature, Matthew Wright, for featuring Muxu, and for their great use of our photo from the Barcelona jeans shoot. You have indeed made Jordi, the rider in the picture, a very happy man.

This week we were honoured to see our new Merino Jumper reviewed by Britishcycling.org, the website for the National Governing Body for cycling in Great Britain.

Noting the 'sumptuous, mid weight merino wool', the reviewer went on to praise the jumper's cycling friendly features, generously cut arms, and non-weird off the bike looks - all good things if you value quality and versatility in your apparel.

A big thanks goes out to Eddie at British Cycling for the review, which you can read in full if you follow the link below:

http://bit.ly/qkYM1M

see the jumper:

http://www.muxu.cc/muxu-ride-merino-wool-jumper.html

From one cycling city to another, Muxu headed up to Amsterdam a couple of weeks back, and what did we find? That the Dutch are born on bikes.

It hits you when you arrive at Amsterdam's well organised, time table friendly train central station - bikes are everywhere. Though the fact that the beloved bici is so immediately visible is not the most arresting thing about Amsterdam, it's the demographics of the users that really grabs you. From rubbing wheels with baguette wielding gents on a morning spin to the Westerkerk (pretty canals - check!), to navigating fun loving packs of girls as they ride to meet friends at one of Amsterdam's thriving hangout spots, it seems that everybody cycles in this picturesque city. 

Muxu took the time to explore Amsterdam over a weekend, and after kilometres of safe, truly enjoyable city cycling, left feeling that if any city in the world wanted to engender a culture of cycling amongst its residents, then Amsterdam is the place to emulate.

Now, if only they could make it rain just a touch less....

If you would like to rent a bike during your stay, check out iamsterdam.com below, which has some great links to hire companies in the central Amsterdam area:

http://bit.ly/p1816P

Having reviewed the Muxu 3/4 Shorts just over a year ago, and with a promise to send further items as they were available, we recently sent the new Muxu Merino jumper to Brian up at the washing machine post for a shakedown, Debbie's style.

Arriving at the qualities of this cosy piece via the tribulations of canned Peach retrieval (an afflication well known to Muxu), Brian goes on to reflect on the merits of 'jumper' versus 'sweater'.

Read the review here:

http://thewashingmachinepost.net/muxu/merino/

Eagle eyed fans of bicycle apparel will have probably noticed that Jordi - Muxu model // Giant of the Road, was rocking a pair of DZR District Shoes in the recent Muxu Cycling Jean photoshoot.

Based in San Francisco, but with solid roots in the Swiss Mountains, DZR Shoes are a new start up currently garnering a lot of attention for their city cycling shoes, which allow cyclists to transition from the bike and still walk properly away from two wheels.

DZR were kind enough to lend us a pair through our friends Always Riding for the shoot, and although we didn't make use of their integral SPD fixing, choosing instead to use the old school cages on Jordi's Bottecchia, they were still a big improvement on standard shoes, offering impressive power transfer, but not at the expense of comfort off the bike.

Searching for a Merino supplier is pretty easy. Searching for a great Merino supplier? Not so easy.

When we first decided that a Merino jumper would be a pretty cool addition to our Ride Apparel Collection for the urban cyclist, we took it upon ourselves to find the best merino fabric supplier in the world. Yet in doing so, we had no idea just how much we would find ourselves gambling on its success.

The fear any brand of course is, 'will our customers like it?', which of course translates into 'will it sell? For the Muxu Ride Jumper, we knew that cyclists loved Merino wool, yet we were taking a huge gamble that these same cyclists would be prepared to pay for the finest, most ecologically sound Merino wool on the planet; which in this case is MAPP Merino from New Zealand.

From leading animal welfare, land stewardship & socially responsible practices, all confirmed through Zque accreditation, through to biodegradable knitting practices, MAPP's Merino was the only choice for Muxu, and from that initial search comes the Muxu Merino Wool Jumper, designed for urban cyclists everywhere. 

see the Muxu Merino Wool jumper >

for more information on MAPP, view their website here >