Who says your next race can’t be a black tie event? With Twift Athletic’s tuxedo print jersey, you’ll look so sharp your cycling buddies might even overlook the fact that it’s actually a triathlon singlet. The only bricks you’ll be laying in this are the training ones we can’t stand hearing about. Not quite fancy enough for you? Check out more classy designs after the break…

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• Ray’s Mountain Bike Park is hosting two Women’s Weekends, one at Cleveland (Feb 17th) and one in Milwaukee (March 9). Both are FREE to attend for women and offer professional coaching and guidance from Leigh Donovan and others. It’s not only free of cost, it’ll be free of dudes, too. Full details at the links.
• The Tran-Sylvania Epic mountain bike stage race returns for year numero tres, scheduled for May 27 to June 2, 2012 in State College, PA. Sponsored by Stan’s NoTubes and Dirt Rag Magazine, the event will drop a few miles in order to up the fun quotient, says promoter Mike Kuhn. Full press release along with some choice event photos after the break (plus the one above!).
• Retailer registration for DealerCamp 2012, scheduled for July 24-26, is now open. All bicycle retailers are invited to register and attend this free event. You can even apply to have your trip subsidized or covered.
• Trek Bicycles has launched the Trek-ODI developmental DH racing team. Comprised of five juniors, they’ve put World Cup champion Aaron Gwin in charge of coaching the grooms (including US 16-and-under National Champion Logan Mulally, plus Jason Schroeder, Charlie Harrison, Matt Branney, and John Buckell) into international gravity stars. They’ll be racing the Session 88 decked out with Bontrager parts and rubber.
• Zym, one of our favorites among the effervescent electrolyte tabs, is celebrating five years on the market. Congrats, guys!

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While some builders focus on a particular type of bike, others, like Jeremy Sycip, build the gamut from road to cyclocross to full suspension mountain bikes. On occasion, they even build something wild. For Sycip, the latest big crazy project was the three-wheeled cargo bike  (and here, too) with integrated front lock he submitted and rode in last year’s Oregon Manifest Builder’s Challenge.

His creations for last year’s NAHBS included a mixte and a single speed disc brake cyclocross bike, among others. Here’s what he’s been up to since…

BIKERUMOR: What have you been working in since NAHBS last year?

JEREMY: I have started offering Inset 44mm headtubes as well as Pressfit BB options for all my bikes. I also did a collaboration with Fuse Project for the Oregon manifest. It’s a 3-wheel cargo bike. Might try to bring one for this years NAHBS. Also, I am trying out some new KVA stainless tubesets.

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Photo submitted by Matthew Davis, “First time on Zen Trail. What an AMAZING trail. A must ride!”

To see more Pics of the Day, click here, and to submit your own photo to be shown to the world, go here.

Set to unveil officially tomorrow, our friends at Niner Bikes gave us the exclusive first look at something big. Err, small, actually.

The recently released new EMD9 hardtail is their first bike to come in an XS (Extra Small) size, something one of their shorter employees has been pushing for a while. By the numbers, it’s:

• 22.5” toptube (over 1/2” shorter than the small)
• 14” seattube length (1–1/2” shorter than the small)
• 3.9” headtube (3/32” shorter than the small)
• Recommended height range 5’0” to 5’5” (minimum height varies based on standover/rider inseam)
• 27” standover, (1–1/4” lower than the small)

Like their other sizes and models, Niner kept the important bits of the geometry intact. They claim there’s no toe overlap, no seatstay bridge to hinder tire clearance and no limits on water bottle fit inside the front triangle. In fact, they even say the large 24oz Polar bottle will fit just fine!

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Yesterday rumors began to swirl after SRAM released images of what appeared to be a prototype derailleur with stabilization technology similar to the recently released Shimano Shadow system.   A closer look at the images reveals an unmarked caliper which appears to be four pot. SRAM may be annoucing some interesting new products come Sea Otter in April….

Check past the break for a close up.

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The new Vial frame let’s Germany’s AX-Lightness join the sub-800g club with Wilier, BH, Cervelo and Cannondale.

With carbon monocoque construction, the frame itself comes in at 745g.  The full frameset (including the tapered 3T Rigida Fork and Engage Revit seatpost) weighs in at 1203g by my calculation.  The asymmetrical rear stays, when coupled with the rectangular frame cross sections, promises for “direct and exact forward energy.”  The Vial frameset is scheduled for release in March of 2012.  Along with this blue and black paint job, AX-Lightness is also known for their crazy custom paint jobs at Eurobike.

More pictures of the Vial and some insane custom paint jobs from the big show in Germany after the break…

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New for 2012, the Northwave Extreme Tech road shoe replaces Bontrager as the footwear sponsor of Team RadioShack.

The tech: It has an entirely new “Ultralight Carbon” sole with a new airflow system to ventilate your feet. It’s designed for all types of pedals but comes with a Speedplay-specific adapter that’ll keep the stack height super low when using those pedals. The upper is entirely seamless and has no overlapping materials, which should make it pretty comfy and eliminate hot spots. It has both ventilation windows and perforations to help it breathe.

The closure system is new, too. The basic “Extreme” shoe gets three standard Velcro straps and is shown after the break. The Extreme Tech gets their new Speed Lace Winch (SLI – the acronym apparently got lost in translation), a cable system that allows “precise forefoot adjustment” using technology borrowed from durable sailing materials. Above that, it has their micro-adjust Step By Step buckle.

Pricing is $325 US and is available in the black/white shown here, a Team RadioShack black/white/red and an obnoxious Orange/Green, shown past the break…

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Lust doesn’t motivate the majority of my purchases with the exception of a recent upgrade. When I came across the first spy shots of Spanks new flats I knew they were destined for my bike. In a crowded segment this is one of the most unique looking pedals to be introduced within the past year. It’s an attractive design that comes without the burden of a boutique pedals price and it as as trendy as anything else on the market due to its light weight, “reduced Q factor,” chamfered edges, and thin platform. And they come in pretty colors.

Over the past few months of riding they have proven to be as useful as they are sexy… (more…)

Nitto has issued a recall on their model B259AA aluminum handlebars because they have been reported to break during use and cause riders to potentially fall or lose control.

Thus far, Nitto has received two reports of handlebar breakage, one break causing the rider to fall and cut their leg.  More than 2,000 of these handlebars were sold in North America from January of 2008 through July of 2011.

This model is manufactured in Japan and sold in red, blue, black, gold, green, pink, and silver; the brand “Nitto” and “B259” are printed at the edge of the handlebar.  Riders are warned to stop using the Nitto B259 handlebars and contact Euro Asia Imports to receive a free replacement.  For more information on the recall, visit Euro Asia Imports website or contact them at 888-662-1814.

Scapin is breaking into the fixie market with the 2012 release of the Eleanor. They weren’t looking toward the track with this one, instead developing it to handle the daily beat-down of the streets.

Riding a track bike on the road is like buying a Ferrari to drive to the grocery store.  I personally own a fixie and enjoy riding it around town, but feel like I need to be somewhat apologetic at times.  A fixie should, in my humble opinion, be a mixture of aesthetics and sport.  It needs to look great, feel great, and bring some wandering eyes to it when locked to the bike rack.  The Eleanor looks to hold of all of these traits.

I’ve noticed many 1980s-model Scapin road frames stripped down to nothing and converted into fixies. I take it Scapin finally caught onto the raging trend their old frames have been fueling with the production of the Eleanor. The Eleanor is forged with vintage-appeal in mind, the bike molded around a Columbus Spirit steel frame with chromium-plated lugs.  The complete bike is featured in a variety of colors (Black, Blue, Creamy White, and “Old” Green). More to come about the Eleanor and Scapin’s new 29er after the break.

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Winter gloves, it seems, are really hard to get right.  Too little insulation results in frozen fingers won’t let you think of anything else.  Too much and brakes and shifters become vague and remote.  Bad cuts bunch up in the palm or jam the fingers.  Some companies inexplicably forgo durable palms or a snot wipe. Others use boil-in-bag fabrics that leave hands to stew in their own juices.

Somehow managing to avoid all of these pitfalls are Castelli’s Chiro WS gloves.  More than a year after my initial review, the fancy white gloves have become my favorite cool weather gloves, hands down.  Hit the jump to find out what Castelli have done right…

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