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Gord's Ski & Bike
2 Locations to serve you better!
[L1]
2 Donald St
Winnipeg, Manitoba
CANADA | 204.284.2952
Simply amazing movie series is just getting warmed up with part 9 .
PANORAMA!
Check out the 2007 Panorama recap video for our good friend and riding buddy Michelle A.
Here's how it unfolds: We got on a bus in Winnipeg on Friday night the 15th of August, we drove out to Panorama with a stopped in Calgary on Saturday the 16th for food and stragglers... We proceeded to ride our asses off for 6 days at some of the best damned mountain biking (and road biking) known to man and we came back to Winnipeg on the 24th completely exhausted yet nonetheless sporting the biggest grin ever known to man.
Panorama is so much fun we've been going back every year for the past five years... we just can't wait to go back. It's simply THAT much fun.
The greatest misconception about Panorama is that you need to be an expert rider to have fun. What IS true is that if you suffer from lack of common sense you stand a pretty good chance of getting hurt. Panorama is as tame or as difficult as you want to make it.
Some only come for hiking, some mix it up with rafting and laying in the sun by the sweet hot pools, there's something for everyone!
LEARN TO RIDE Want to learn how to mountain-bike? Join Gord's Bike club and we'll show you how! Every second Thursday Gord's Bike Club host "Thursday Night Ride Better Clinics" where members and guest coaches help each-other become better riders through instruction, drills and good old fashion peer pressure.
Learn more about our bike club, about how we do things, about why we ride, about why every year our membership grows and about why Gord's Bike Club is the one thing we're the most proud of. It's simple. Gord's Bike Club is a long standing extension of our values, of our way of life, of our culture.
We're already about 200 members strong, an inclusive bunch of men and women that ride for a challenge, for fun and for the camaraderie, we host and organize 4 rides a week. Something for every level of rider except perhaps hammerhead racers. Check out our Club page, learn about what we do then get off your butt and come riding with us!
CALL IT A LIFESTYLE CHANGE Dread the gym? Hate to diet? Welcome to the club. More than a few of our customers have taken a moment to share with us the many reasons for taking-up biking... As a simple, fun and liberating way to live a better life. Like John F. Kennedy once said "Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride".
As one customer so aptly put it as she purchased a wicked-cool Scott Contessa 40 mountain bike, a sweet Bell helmet and some matching Sombrio gloves "I've decided to make this a lifestyle change, I'm going to drag my family out so we can live a better, healthier life". That made us think... Maybe Kelly is on to something here, maybe we should all try a bit harder.
If you need some help in making that change, that shift towards a better life, don,t despair. We're here for you. From our friendly staff who can help you not only get geared-up but also help you with advice and education to Gord's renowned
Bike Club where we'll provide you with motivation, riding buddies, peer pressure and more than a few amazing rides to get you started... We're here to help.
GORD'S RACING The whole mess all started about a month ago with six girls who thought "hey, let's race together as a team" and poof! Just like that Gord's Girls Racing was created. Featuring Carmen, Leanne, Jenn1, Jenn2, Cat and Carolyn, their goal was simple, to crush all competitors without mercy (ok, maybe their goal was just to go out and have fun while pushing themselves to the limit... but the truth just didn't sound quite as awesome as the "crushing" thing) but you get the idea, it was all about flying the colors while getting some positive girl power together...
PERSONAL GEAR CONSULTANT Gord's "Personal Gear Consult" is something we thought up after our first of many busy weekends here at Gord's. We were wondering how to give those who take buying something like a bike seriously ... What to do for those of you requiring a bit more attention. Sure we do all we can (and then some) for those of you just walking into any of our stores... But sometimes it's frustrating for us, we get so busy, somewhat a victim of our success... and like it or not we sometimes miss details. So here we were, wondering how we could do things better, how we could give you 150% of the Gord's experience. So we thought of this.
WHAT DO YOU GET? It's always nice to get a little something for nothing and when you buy your bike at Gord's you get just that. It all starts with the way we build our bikes. We take great pride in taking our time to do it right. So much so that all our bikes are signed by the techs that built them. We follow that up with our unique way of looking at buying a bike: First off, we're NOT on commission ... That allows us to put the correct emphasis on style, comfort, performance and super important stuff like fun! We then follow it up with bike tune clinics and a few deals here and there on the coolest of accessories... But the kicker is Gord's exclusive New Bike Service Plan... Where we promise to care for your bike for not one but SIX years! It's a promise we take very seriously. For more details click the following link:
BIKES WE SELL In order to get the nuts and bolts out of the way so we can relax and enjoy the process of finding you a cool new bike, we first take very seriously the job of selecting the gear we put forth for your consideration. We take great care in selecting the right products, we test, we re-test, we do our homework, we research, we obsess, even... So go ahead, ask us why we do the bike brands we do... We'll tell you straight up it has little to do with hype and all to do with commitment to quality, value, comfort, performance and above all enjoyment.
Like the guy said; Nothing but the bestest. From the sweet line-up of Rocky Mountain bikes to the hyper edgy Commencal (it's pronounced Com-en-sahl). Every new bike we sell is covered by our unique Gord's Service Plan and
we don't just sell you a bike, we make sure you have every opportunity to enjoy said bike by doing a few things no-one else in the city dares do... Drop on by, check out the Gord's way of doing things. It's different. In a good way.
JF, pondering life with his Ellsworth Moment at McGillvary Falls : Photo Gavin Morrison
THE LOVE OF A GOOD BIKE A good bike. Some of us are lucky enough that we have one, some of us are still looking, a very few of us have several. What makes a good bike? Could it be the way it just 'fits'? Could it be the way it anticipates your every move, your every pedal stroke, your every directional desire?
A good bike is hard to find... and once you find it... Trust us, a good bike is a conduit for good things. Once you've experienced true bike love, things change, your priorities change, all of a sudden work doesn't matter so much anymore, all of a sudden rides become more fun, climbs a bit easier, km's go by faster, terrain flows that much smoother... and suddenly falling in love with aluminum and rubber doesn't seem so far-fetched.
If you aren't feeling the love from your current steed then check out the budget and consult the spousal unit (or better yet: don't). Get a bike you love. No one should have to settle for a so-so bike. Life's too short.
Drop by either of our two locations, let us know what you're looking for in a bike... We'll introduce you to a few, hopefully you'll like each other enough to go for a test ride or two... and who knows, maybe you'll find this love that we speak of. Go ahead, what have you got to lose? After all, it's for a good cause: You're health, your life, your sanity.
COMMENCAL BIKES Attention bike connoisseurs! Gord's Ski and Bike is very proud to announce that we'll be offering Commençal Bikes starting in 2008!
First things first: The name... Commençal It's pronounced "com-men-sahl''
simple... kinda. That little squiggly, it's called a cédille... The cédille ¸ (cedilla) is found only on the letter C. It changes a hard C sound (like K) into a soft C sound (like S), e.g., garçon. The cedilla is never placed in front of E or I, because C always sounds like an S in front of these vowels. There, now that we have French 101 out of the way, back to bikes.
Commençal Bikes is an extremely unique bike company, formed by Max Commencal in 1999, they have worked in conjunction with Frederic Bernard and Olivier Bossard (Formula 1 suspension designers BOS Engineering) to create some of the most efficient bikes on the market with the help of 11 time Downhill World Champion Anne Caroline Chausson and 5 time Cross Country World Champion and Olympic Gold Medallist Miguel Martinez. This combination of a high performance cycling legend, engineering geniuses and elite athletic skill give Commençal a vision for top performance coupled with simplicity and affordability
..
TRAIL BUILDING Nothing quite compares to the thrill of blazing new bike trails, to give back to our sport by providing fellow mountain bikers with somewhere to ride. It's part of our mission statement, part of our DNA.
It's also a BIG component of Gord's Bike Club and the reason every Gord's Bike Club member is also a member of IMBA (The International Mountain Bicycling Association). After all, where would we be without trails? Read more about our trailbuilding and trail maintenence efforts on our trailbuilding page here:
PICKING THE RIGHT BIKE GEAR From selecting the right pumps to computers to bike lights to 6 inch all-mountain bikes, Gord's long journey in seeking out the best stuff all starts with our annual trip to INTERBIKE in Vegas, gotta love the place... or hate it. Vegas has been where the bike industry gets together for the last dozen years or so. Love it or hate it it's where we go to check out the cool new stuff and the not-so-cool-new stuff. We spend 2 days in the desert at Bootleg Canyon testing out bikes followed by a winter of sorting out the best from the rest and follow up with a half dozen days of Industry trade Shows in Nevada and Montreal...
WHEN IN VEGAS... It's something we attend every September. The Annual INTERBIKE show in sunny Las Vegas. Although Vegas is curiously interesting we go there not by choice (I could think of a hundred and twenty eight or so places I'd rather go test mountain bikes than at Bootleg Canyon in the desert of Nevada)... We go there because for 5 days every year it's where the entire bike industry converges to show their wares for the upcoming season. It's where everyone who's serious about bikes goes to fill-up on bike knowledge and where we go to talk to those who have a say in what the bike industry pumps out. This year there are four of us going. All members of Gord's Bike Club. There's Catherine, Robbie, Vlad and JF and their impressions of the bikes we test and the product we sample will have a lot to do with what we offer you in 2008. For more on our little bike-test foray to INTERBIKE in the Nevada desert, check out our Vegas 2007 page by clicking HERE.
PANORAMAAAAAH!
We do this every year. Load up a bus, drive through Saskatchewan and Alberta and hit Panorama for 6 days of tremendous gravity-assisted mountain-biking with a pit-stop in Calgary at C.O.P. for a warm-up along the way. We take 30 or so of our best riding buddies and let it ride... It's the highlight of the season for many of us. Click HERE for more including sweet videos of our adventure.
GORDS DOES COMMENCAL Attention all bike lovers! Gord's is very proud to announce that we'll be offering Commencal Bikes starting in the summer of 2008! Commencal is a very cool, forward thinking niche bike company from Andorra. (they also happen to sponsor the ubiquitous Cedric Gracia)... Needless to say we're very excited about this news!
Here's how this came about: Robbie and I were in Vegas, testing our allotted complement of bikes... and since day two was simply overrun with testers, bike companies were struggling to keep up with demand for test bikes. During one lull in testing (while waiting for the Jamis Dakar XAM to become available) I glanced over to the Commencal booth only to see someone about to return a "Meta 5.5" in my size... And since Commencal bikes had always piqued my interest I decided to pounce on the poor guy who was holding said bike. When I rolled up to Catherine and Rob on the Commencal both looked at me puzzled, "but that's
not on our list..." I shrugged, made up some story involving the French and off we went onto our favorite loop or Bootleg Canyon.
Once in a while a bike rides so well that you HAVE to reconsider stuff... This was one of those bikes. Not unlike Intense bikes in 2006. These Commencal bikes were NICE. So nice, in fact, that both Robbie and I felt it necessary to include it onto our respective TOP 5 BIKES lists.
The next step is the percolation, the mulling over of, the scheming, the math, the strategizing... Trying to find a way to get these sexy bikes on our floor for 2008. Gladly, with the help of the very nice and helpful Peter Appleton from Commencal Canada, we found a way... And man, are we stoked!
LOWEST
PRICE POLICY
Of course you don't want to pay more
for the same stuff! Who would? We understand that when it comes to saving a dollar some of us can go a little overboard... spend more on gas than the actual difference in price... To help you out, we have this little thing called Gord's lowest price policy...
TEST IT
THEN
SELL IT
It's a simple principle by which we live and die: "Only sell what you yourself would buy". After all, life's too short to sell crap, life's too short to buy crap. To make sure we're crapless we go through much time and effort to ensure that everything we sell is up
to our lofty standards.
GORD'S PICKS UP SCOTT It just made way too much sense. The emergence of Scott Bikes as a clear front-runner in the bike market as Europe's largest bike brand and simply because its bikes are so chock-full of tangible technologies ... and the fact that they simply ride like stink... Like we said, it just made sense.
Scott has been in the bike business since day one. Building fun, sexy, technically superior bikes that convey a passion for excellence in design in a way very few bike companies can match. Sure, there are those companies that eat, sleep, and drink engineering, pushing concepts on folks that no-one ever asked for to begin with (lefty, anyone?)... Scott is different. In a good way. Starting with the people who look after Scott in Canada led by bike guru Andrew, you get a sense these people deeply care about doing it right.
Drop in, check out theses great mountain bikes... you'll surprised by just how affordable these bikes are and just how sweet they ride.
. THE RIDE We've said it before: It's all about the ride. The ride to Seven Eleven, the ride to your buddies house, the ride we call Ingolf, the ride at Panorama, Fernie, The Seine River, the ride through the monkey trails at Assiniboine Park, the ride with your 30 favorite buddies or the ride with your daughter.
Yes the bike is important. But more important than the bike is the smile on your face much like the smile on everyone's face at the last Gord's Bike Club Wednesday Night Ride. What a tremendous ride that was, what a tremendous group of people we have on our rides. If you haven't been on one yet... Now's the time.
So get off your butt, dust off your bike, throw on your helmet and come riding with us! For more information on how we can help get you out, click on the following link: