Go Clipless

The Headless Bikeman

I'm going to start a new segment here on the old blog called CBQ or Cool Bike Quotes. We'll see where this goes, but when I read someone's story or blog post with a quote that catches my eye I'll link it up.

So the first installment comes from Freewheeling Spirit recanting the story of how a Headless Bikeman beared down on him last night.

Soon I began to hear a thumping noise. I knew it wasn't coming from my bike - I lube with Tri-flow.

Now there's a slogan fit for an ad campaign if I ever saw one. Ladies and gentlemen don't go getting any other ideas now.

Spinning fixies all Japanese anime, bubbly hip-hop style

(via MessNYC)

What's the real weight of your bike components?

Sick Lines, a freeride and downhill oriented Web site, has added a new feature to help readers find the real weight of common bicycle components.

So where is Sick Lines going to get all of this verified data? Why from you of course. The beauty of their approach is that they are asking readers to send a picture, name, and description of their component in an e-mail to the editor who will post it for all to see.

I for one, hope this takes off and is wildly successful. Perhaps it will help manufacturers to become more forthcoming about the weight of their frames and components.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know...lose five pounds of body weight and stop fretting about every gram of weight on your bike. Well easy for you to say...I could use all the help I can get.

Trail advocacy yields big dividends for the perception of mountain bikers

On yesterday's Weekend Edition, National Public Radio (NPR) did a piece on the changing perceptions of mountain bikers. The story acknowledges that at one point mountain bikers were seen by most trail users as analogous to motor bike riders, but now are more closely aligned with hikers and kayakers. This is in large part due to the shift in tactics regarding advocacy led by IMBA.

Through collaboration and partnership with other non-motorized trail user groups, IMBA has transformed the view that mountain bikers are a menace to mountain bikers as advocates. The NPR piece also alludes to the mounting and overwhelming body of evidence that the impact of mountain biking on dirt trails is less than that of all other trail user groups.

The NPR story ends with a quote from Pete Webber of IMBA, "be nice to the people that you meet on the trail." It's as simple as that. I always follow the advice of my grandmother who always says that it never hurts to say "hello" to someone. I'll add two more things to the list when it comes to trail diplomacy. Always say hi, offer assistance when it's needed, and thank those that yield to you.

The NPR story is less than five minutes in length and is well worth a listen.

(Via Squirell Girl on the MORE forums)

What will your bike be for halloween this year?

  DSC01124 
  Originally uploaded by Djundee.

U.S. Collegiate MTB Nationals

Did anyone even know that the Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals were run this past weekend? Did you even know that there is a collegiate mountain bike league?

USA Cycling (perhaps the most boring cycling web site I have ever seen - sorry, it has to be said) has announced the final results of this year's Collegiate MTB Nationals.

Here's the rundown:

Division I:

1. Fort Lewis College - Durango, CO
2. University of Colorado - Boulder, CO
3. Lees-McRae College - Banner Elk, NC
4. Colorado State University - Fort Collins, CO
5. Lindsey Wilson College - Columbia, KY

Division II:

1. Western State College - Gunnison, CO
2. Warren Wilson College - Asheville, NC
3. University of Montana - Missoula, MT
4. Union College - Barbourville, KY
5. Colorado School of Mines - Golden, CO

Clearly region plays heavily, with 50% of winners from Colorado, 20% North Carolina, 20% Kentucky, and 10% Montana. It's a good mix of both small and large schools. Nice to see some east coast teams up there as well.

"Sorry, we fu**ed up your delivery"

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  Originally uploaded by zeroun.

Sometimes I surf through random Flickr photostreams related to cycling. There are a lot of great individual photos, but once in a while you catch a set that seems to tell a story.

I saw this set which looked like stop motion photography of a messenger hit by a car during a delivery. Apparently it was staged for a postcard. I think this is the best candidate for the postcard, but it's worth a look at the other ten.

What's your fave?

A slide show will appear here shortly.

Full suspension 29er roundup

Thought I'd do a quick summary of the full suspension 29 inch bikes I rode at Interbike, as a follow up to the 'real deal' post from yesterday.

I rode six dual suspension 29ers that break out into two categories:

Cross-country race inspired

• Titus Racer X 29er
• Intense Spider 29
• Gary Fisher Supercaliber 29

Endurance or all-mountain style

• Niner R.I.P 9
• Ellsworth Evolve
• Turner Sultan

Read the reviews for the detail. A word of caution, however. They should be treated as 'first impressions' and not full on in depth reviews as I only rode a few miles on each bike.

Having said that, here are my stand outs in each category. In the cross country category, the Intense Spider 29 was the winner followed closely by the pre-production Titus Racer X 29er. The Supercaliber 29 would be the budget pick in this category.

In the endurance category, I have to go with the Ellsworth Evolve as the most inspired ride of the three. Although, the Niner R.I.P. 9 is an excellent choice and I really admire Niner and Chris Sugai (the founder) for their leadership in this category. The Turner Sultan is the only one of the six that I cannot fully recommend.

Full suspension 29ers are the real deal

There is no doubt in my mind that the tipping point for 29ers is near. All of the knocks against them are rapidly disappearing, while the advantages are obvious to those who ride them.

As I prepared for this year's Interbike I zeroed in on full suspension 29ers after several high profile announcements from manufacturers. While at the Outdoor Demo I rode six full suspension 29ers and a couple of hardtails, but my focus was most definitely on the dualies.

One of the big knocks against 29ers is that they lack the "flickability" of their smaller 26 inch cousins. This is largely due to the increased weight of the bikes as well as the longer wheel-based geometry of many of the early 29ers. It would appear that the niche manufacturers are listening, however, as they have really worked on the frame design and have paid particular attention to the geometry and it's impact on handling.

Guitar Ted and I talked about this at length...he said (and I paraphrase), "no longer are bike manufacturers simply taking a 26 inch frame and just lengthening the fork and stays. They are now building specific frames to take advantage of the unique handling characteristics of the 29er platform."

Nowhere was this more evident than in the new crop of full suspension 29ers that will become widely available in 2007. As I talked to the reps in their dusty booths before taking their new bikes for a loop, I heard over and over how they made the head angle steeper (as steep as 73 degrees) and was careful to keep the chain stay shorter (around 18 inches) and reduce the overall wheel-base. Some manufacturers went so far as to say that their goal for the bike was to make it handle similar to that of a 26er.

Just a few months ago (before I decided to head down the single speed route) I was dead set on a high performance dual suspension cross country machine. I rode the Specialized Epic, Cannondale Scalpel and Rush, and Trek Top Fuel; all very fast and light race bikes. But I have to tell you, after riding these 29ers they felt every bit as fast, while at the same time yielded the benefits (G-Ted - point me to the best post you have describing these - please - I don't want to reinvent the wheel, so to speak) of the 29 inch wheel.

I think the future is a 29 inch future. People say that there will always be a need or a market for both wheel platforms in mountain biking. I'm not so sure about that. The only thing that the 26er may have left over the 29er is weight...and for that it is only a matter of time as the technology continues to improve year after year. 29ers compared to 26ers is like Firefox to IE, Jet Blue to United, Target to Sears, or Toyota to GM.

Just some random stuff for the weekend

Here's a bunch of random stuff for you to chew on:

First up...the ConferenceBike. "It's not just a bike. It's a party on wheels."

Get yourself a blog branded 29er for cheap!

Could J-Vicious and Liz Vicious be related? Nahh couldn't be...the Vish doesn't have red hair...(caution...most definitely not suitable for work...but hey, I'm posting this on a Saturday ;-)

Banksy vs. The Streets video mashup.

Lily Allen vs. The Stone Roses - I like the idea but the execution is flawed. (via Between Thought and Expression)

Tower Records goes out of business. They deserve it because they squandered away so much potential, but I'll miss it as a favorite hangout during my lunch hour. I guess it's ok since there's not much exciting me lately in music. I picked up the new Killers and a couple of other cd's (check the lower right sidebar), but they haven't kept my interest long enough to give them a thorough listen.

My kids have been getting into music lately though (finally...they're eight and six). Both Jack and Claire seem to be enamored with All American Rejects. Given that, I picked up New Found Glory for Jack and gave Claire the new Killers. They don't yet realize that they are singing loudly for all to hear when they have their headphones on...it's very cute.

Meanwhile, between travel for business and kids after school and weekend activity, I've only been on a couple of rides with the new Monocog 29er in the few weeks. Just dying to get on it though...sometimes when I come home from work, I hop on it and ride around the neighborhood for about a minute or two just to make sure it won't miss me.