BikeRumor.com

What better way to spend Labor Day weekend than thrashing yourself at the 2nd annual Steamboat Springs Stage Race in idyllic Steamboat Springs, Colorado? That’s what I intend to find out over the coming four day weekend. The event starts with Friday’s prologue, then features a 4.5 mile circuit race on Saturday, a road race on Sunday and crit on Monday. While not quite as daunting as say 6 days on your mountain bike in Breckenridge, Colorado, the race is sure to offer up it’s share of suffering. Read more about the event after the break. (more…)

Fizik's new R1 Uomo road cycling shoe uses kangaroo leather and synthetics uppers with sailcloth straps, carbon buckle and three-piece carbon sole. Photo ©James Huang/BikeRadar

First Giro, and now Fizik…lots of new options for keeping your tootsies happy on the bike.

Via BikeEurope’s Press Room: Today’s philosophy of saddle maker Selle Royal (fi’zi:k, Brooks, Selle Royal) is to create solutions for all the contact zones between the rider and the bike. In that philosophy is the development of a shoe a natural step, after creating a seatpost, grips and special tape for the handlebar.

The fi’zi:k team spent two years developing the new shoe range. True to their values of quality, comfort, design and innovation, they used only the finest materials, all handmade in Italy, most famous for its fashionable shoe design.

For the insole fi’zi:k sought partnership with the famous French orthopedic brand SIDAS to create a moldable insole. The range consists of 2 models, R1 and R3. R stands for Road. The missing R2 is probably filled in next season, and fi’zi:k is going to develop also a mountainbike model for 2012.

R1 is a elite shoe just for men. R3 is a premium shoe both for men and women. Features of the fi’zi:k road shoe:

• Uppers constructed from kangaroo leather or microfiber, trimmed with sail cloth straps and topped off by a carbon fiber or aluminum buckle.
• Revolutionary moldable insole, engineered in partnership with SIDAS technologies.
• Power transfer realized by the 3D flex mobius outsole.
• Light weight, R1 270 grams, R3 274 grams, R3 women 218 grams.
• Buckle from hex mc molded carbon fiber loading lever, aluminum release lever, stainless steel base – R3 model.
• Heel skid plate.
• Sail cloth closure  straps, lightweight, extremely strong and weather resistant sail cloth for the closure straps.

For all you fixed gear riders in smooth areas, rejoice, you now have a skinnier tire to match your skinnier jeans.

Fyxation’s new Session 700×23 size tires are now in stock and available on their website. Get it in green, white, pink, orange and black, and they’re all 120tpi with kevlar protection, pinch-flat-toughened sidewalls and a full wrap around tread. Oh, and they come in whitewalls, too, with either brown or black center tread, or colored sidewalls with black center tread. $49.95 each.

For 2011, Fixie Inc has gone disc-brake-only with their Pure Blood cyclocross bike, and made a few changes to drop weight in the frame and fork over the 2010 model.

Visually, the biggest change (other than the bright yellow color) is the movement of the rear caliper to the inside of the triangle, mounting it on the chainstay rather than the seatstay. Cable routing now runs under the downtube with full length housing to the brakes, which runs through the fork and chainstay tubes.

Component spec is SRAM Force’s black groupset and blacked out parts throughout. Frame material is custom drawn 4130 steel and a steel DiscO fork.

More pics behind the jump…

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ZYM will be unveiling their new flavor called Rival at Interbike.

With an Orange flavor, it has a couple of things to set it apart. First, it has no sugar and uses stevia to sweeten it. Second, it uses Rhodiola Rosea, an herb that purportedly boosts energy and reduces fatigue.

“Unlike other similar drink tabs, ZYM RIVAL is the first and only portable, naturally sweetened sports drink,” owner Brian Koff says. “Made from premium ingredients, RIVAL provides athletes with natural energy, fresh legs and enhanced performance. And its light, refreshing orange flavor quenches an athlete’s thirst with a clean finish and no sugary residue.”

RIVAL also contains essential electrolytes to maintain adequate hydration plus added vitamins.

Rotor’s pumping out the goods this fall with some hot new 3D Cranks and Q-Rings, plus several bottom brackets that let you run standard cranks in your BB30 frame or vice versa!

Shown above is the new 3D+ crank, based on the venerable 3D, updated with a 30mm axle. These cranks are fully compatible with BB30, BBright and any conventional  BSA threaded frame. For an ultra rigid crank their weight is impressive: just  470 grams for the compact version and  493 grams for the XC2 version (without BB/chainrings). These cranks are certified to the EN14781 standard, one of the most demanding tests in the market.

Modeled on the crankset above are the new Q-Rings with updated, bolder laser graphics, upgraded pins and revised teeth profiles to improved shifting precision and prevent chain sucks.

Check the rest after the break…

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Following on the heels of their pro-level Fluid DH rig (which debuted at Sea Otter), Foes has released a privateer downhill race bike that’s ready to ship now.

Dubbed the Foes Racing Hydro, it builds on Foes’ legendary downhill mountain biking history but adds new versatility by (for the first time for Foes) being designed to work with a wide variety of rear shocks.  While Foes will still recommend you run it with their in-house designed and U.S. made Curnutt shock, it’ll work with any 10.5″ x 3.5″ shock from Rockshox, Elka (shown above), Cane Creek, Fox, Marzocchi, etc.

On top of all that, it’s also the most affordable Foes DH bike ever, and it’s still handbuilt in Pasadena, CA, USA.

Jump past the break for specs, pricing, build options and more glorious photos…

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Here’s a press release we just received and, while we’re all for innovation and keep a pretty open mind, there are some glaring omissions that leave a lot of questions. Lack of price notwithstanding, there’s no mention of how this works with conventional seatposts. And there’s no image showing the artwork on the saddle cover, which is disappointing. Anywhoo, we’ll update if we can get some more info. In the meantime, wrap your noodle around it for a minute:

PRESS RELEASE: The Senso OneRelo features Velo’s new patented rail-less technology. By replacing the conventional two-rail system with a single-track that runs down the middle of the saddle, Velo is introducing a new way to connect saddles to the seat tube. The saddle employs an innovative easy-to-mount system, making it sturdy, flexible and also extremely lightweight. The mounting system gives this Senso performance saddle superior adjustability – the OneRelo can be secured at different points along its track and rotated forward or backward for better fine-tuning.

The Senso OneRelo features Velo’s natural feeling imcrofiber material, which is longer lasting and keeps the saddle’s temperature consistenht rtoughout the entire ride. The saddle’s stylish, sporty design is accentuated by a colorful artistic drawing etched into the top of the saddle, giving it a unique and trendy look.

This is Velo’s first aftermarket saddle that features the new single-track technology. The Senso line provides the highest quality saddles designed to deliver optimized performance and riding comfort. Developed for cycling enthusiasts and those looking for the ultimate outdoor challenge, Senso takes technology, quality and comfort to a whole new level.

The hotly awaited mountain bike film, Life Cycles, is very nearly here. Promising to shift people’s perceptions of mountain biking films, Life Cycles has been a long time coming. First the trailer was released, then it was withdrawn and now it has been released again! This first glimpse looks stunning and the final product will no doubt be worth the wait. Watch this space for more information or check out the Life Cycles Website.

The Ciclotte, a stationary exercise bike by Luca Schieppati inspired by his Ciclo concept bike that’s currently in permanent residence at the Milan Design Museum, actually makes art out of spin class.

Most stationary bikes aren’t something you’d gladly display in the open, which is why infomercials have long tried to sell us folding versions that slid ever so easily (ha!) under the bed. The Ciclotte, however, is made of steel and carbon- and glass fiber and as far as exercise equipment goes, is gorgeous. The internals ain’t bad, either. It uses an epicycloid transmission system, which is fancy talk for a set of eccentric gears that spin a magnetized main wheel to create resistance.

Yours for just $10,700.

“crazy shelters” by Philip Williamson, who says, “It takes about an hour and a half to bike to Endor from Oregon, which is a long time to hold your breath.”

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

File under better late than never, our man behind the scenes at Marin just sent over this photo of the new 2011 Marin Mount Vision XM, with this note:

“spotted in Downieville recently, the Marin van was in town with Ride Guide TV crew filming for an upcoming episode with this 2011 Mount Vision, now dubbed the XM. The staff gave a few details on the bike. They said they the bike has evolved to be a better all around trail bike, with travel going up to 140mm and with a tapered 1 1/8″-1.5″ headtube up front. major change was the new Quad linkage system, which now uses a Y link up front, which slims the linkage system way down- approx 67% narrower according to the Marin guys. They also stated that even with the jump in travel the frameset is lighter than the 2010 version!”

Perhaps we’ll see these guys at Interbike and see what else they’ve been up to.

Found this post over on Craft: on how to decorate your old bike helmet. Generating some ideas for halloween yet?

Drum roll please… and the new colors will be Kermit Green and Moondust Gray. If you’ve been pining for the Solid Gold and Root Beer colors from this year, better get on it, there’s only a handful left.  The new colors will also be available on their steel or carbon rigid forks, and complete build kits are now offered, too. All through your friendly local Niner dealer.

Serotta has introduced a line of prêt-à-porter semi-custom steel bikes with the hopes of introducing a new generation of folks to their brand.

Without dropping the coin to get the full custom Serotta fit and build experience, their new Colorado Ready Custom program builds up a bike for under $4,000 using one of 18 “ready custom” frame sizes developed from their 38 years of bike making experience.

Shown above is the Colorado with green trim. Check past the break for gray and a closeup of the headtube. Oh, and the full press release…

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