Friday, January 29, 2010

Tomorrow!



-Venue has been changed to The West Bottoms. Meet at the corner of Hickory and St. Louis. We all know how to use Google Maps, right?

-There will be an A and B race. They will be staggered by two minutes, and will run on the same course. It will be fairly obvious which one you should race, but we can help if you are torn.

-No grass. Lots of concrete, lots of gravel, stairs, loading docks, etc. If you have a cyclocross bike, bring it. Road bikes and mountain bikes will both do fine. Maybe extra prizes for someone who shows up on a recumbent?

-30 minute race. As many laps as you can do in that time.

-Bring tubes! The West Bottoms is a wonderland of glass and debris.

-Afterparty TBD. Possibly somewhere in the River Market.

Click here for more current, better information.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

We are in Love!

Jamis Dragon! Single Speed Single Speed 29er. Who could ask for more? Stock in comes with a lockout fork, but this customer got a little creative. As it sits, its 23 lbs., and new bars/stem/saddle is on the way to make is sub 22, with pedals! Modifications are, White Bros. Carbon fork, Fifteen G Cranks (30mm spindle), New Stan's Crest 29er Wheelset.

Possibly the coolest bike of 2010!




Stuff from Chrome showed up for the Street Cred Race coming up!


Thursday, January 21, 2010

13 lb. Xenith SL



Its not too hard building up a 13 lb. bike when you start with a 900 gram frame. Not only are these bikes light, but super stiff and comfortable too! On this build we have 3t carbon doric seatpost/bars, fizik antares carbon railed saddle, Full Sram Red drivetrain with K-Force Cranks, Ceramic BB, and force front derailleur(stiffer shifting).

Another new product is the Zero Gravity Negative GSL Brake. You can have these custom painted any way you like. Price is $399, which isn't a bad upgrade from Sram Red, Super Record, and Dura Ace, especially considering the weight savings...a set weighs 140 grams while the rest of them hover around 275 grams.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Power Meters

We get lots of questions about powertaps these days so we figured a little write up was in order. If you don't know what we are talking about, perhaps checking here for background info is a good idea.

In short, power meters offer cyclists a way to measure there performance consistently. There are many variables when you go out to ride. Tire pressure, tire size, wheels, road surface, temperature, and wind all are determiners in your ride. Power meters tell you exactly the effort you are making.

Currently there is only 1 type of power meter we encourage our customers to look at. It is the Cyclops Powertap. For as low as $600, you have a computer that tells you your cadence, power, torque, kljs, mph, everything! Get a wireless PT hub with ant+ and you can hook it straight into your garmin edge 500 or 705 so you get altitude as well as maps/gps.


If you are a competitive cyclist, thinking about power, but thinking you don't want to make the weight sacrifice, please read on. The Pro+ hub weighs in at 460 grams and the SL+ is 412 grams. A standard hub on any road wheel will weigh around 300 grams. We are talking about a 112-160 gram(1/3 of a lb.) weight penalty at the center of the wheel(the place where rotating weight does not effect the wheel speed as much the outer part of the rim). Now, look at the size of this hub, this thing has to be built huge to keep the computer inside it, so the flanges for the spokes are bigger too, thus making the wheel way stiffer than a standard hub.

You can get these hubs in almost any spoke combo for any wheel. 20 hole to 32 hole. zipp 404 to a mavic open pro.

I personally prefer a 24h kinlin 30mm aluminum rim. They are 460 grams and cost $55, so no worries if I crash. Other rims such as the open pro or dt swiss 1.1 make great clincher training wheels, but can also be raced as well.

I honestly do not like to use my powertap for racing, in fact, I don't like using any computers for racing, so I have a powertap for training only and do not care if there is a boat anchor on the back of my bike.


Training with power is a whole other story. The first two weeks felt like my legs hit a brick wall. It was extremely hard to get used to holding watt numbers and watching my heart rate go sky high, but eventually I adapted and got way faster. They definitely work and i am a subscriber.


Crank Power meters, means you do not have to worry about switching wheels, the power is measured through the cranks.
SRM, which retail for around $3000, we do not sell these.

Quarq, makes a sram power meter in both bb30 and regular gxp. Retail is $1900 but do not come with a computer, anything ant+ would work with it. We can order these in for you. The weight penalty is more with the quarq than with the pt hub. I recall 874 grams for a bb30 crank and 650 for a standard bb30 crank...so more than 200 grams.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Monday Rides are Back!

Ride leaves from Volker Bicycles at 6 today(Monday). Fun cruise through the city. Length ranges from 10-20 miles.

Ride ends at McCoy's for Pitchers of Beer.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Dogma!



We have a Dogma. Size is 55cm. Come in and ride it! Super Record 11 and Fulcrum 1 wheels.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Salsa Casseroll



Very cool bike. Lots of clearance for fat tires and fenders(comes with continental 37mm tires).

Surly flip/flop track hubs laced to bombproof delgado rims.

Capability to add lots of gears.

Tektro brakes, sugino cranks, sealed bearings, steel frame, salsa parts. Not 1 detail spared.


We have it complete as a single speed in a 55(fits like a 58) and we can get other sizes very quickly. Call for sale price, it is on sale!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010