Thanks for that; I was sent a link to Ray Dobbins' website from Krhea:

http://www.raydobbins.com/index

And after seeing his penultimate photos done on the cheap, I got motivated to try some better shots this time. I made up a shooting area similar to his (he has a bike photo guide in his page) but I don't quite have powerful enough shop lights to really do the job right. Check out his stuff if you haven't seen it; he's the real deal.