The Treeshaker 12 Hour mountain bike race is this weekend (Saturday, October 4) at Anne Close Springs Greenway. Don’t let the “greenway” part of the name fool you, it’s 95% singletrack with both technical and swooping sections, plus a couple climbs thrown in there for good measure. Get a map of the park here, or check out Charlotte Sports Cycling’s website for all the details. There’s also a 6-hour race going on at the same time.
If you’re in the Greensboro NC area and want to help finish the sweet new Wild Turkey trail, get up with Dale Holder at 336-681-4968 or check out their website for time and meeting location. Picture at right shows the unfinished bridge that will connect the last bit of trail between this creek crossing and the dam, making the trail 100% rideable point to point. If you haven’t ridden this trail yet, it’s been smoothed in really well over the past few months and is really fun and pretty quick. There are some great technical features for the more advanced / daring rider, too.
Arantix unveiled their new road bike, the Ascend. It’s a 1.8 lb (817g for 56cm) road frame using their carbon/kevlar IsoTruss tubeset bonded to carbon fiber lugs. If you’re not sure whether you want to plunk down the $1,000 deposit to reserve your frame from the limited production run, read “more” to see some pics and our thoughts on the test ride of their mountain bike…
Yes, that’s a workstand built into the bike rack. But that’s not even the most amazing part about this new Kuat rack…this whole contraption, with built in bike stand, two bike carriers and integrated retracting cable lock…all of that…only weighs 35 lbs. My Saris two-bike rack is double that (at least) without having the extra goodies. But wait, there’s more!
The little black tool box you see underneath it (sitting on an angle) will be available as an option and mounts between the bikes. The bike stand is height adjustable, and there’s a nifty little knob at the end of the hitch part that you turn to expand the sleeve into the hitch on the car to keep the whole thing from wobbling back and forth. Close up pics, more details and additional models are all yours when you read “more”.
Straight from the press release: The return of Red Bull Rampage is drawing close and the world’s best riders are getting set to tackle a course that will be the ultimate test of their skills. Red Bull Rampage: The Evolution brings riders to a new venue just outside Virgin, Utah, offering the most challenging terrain mountain bike competition has ever seen. With a $10,000 first place prize, these riders are set to give whatever it takes to be on top – blood, sweat and maybe even some tears. In addition, the Utah Sports Commission will present a $5000 check for the best trick of the event.
Read “more” to see the full list…
The first thing that struck me was how wide the base of this trainer is. Then I saw someone riding on one and they were rocking back and forth, standing up and crankin’ it. That’s the secret of the Rock ‘n’ Roll fluid trainer from Kurt Kinetic, a $560 to $670 trainer that uses elastomers between the plates under the flywheel (read “more” for detail pics). There’s a lockout option to keep it stable like a traditional trainer, and you can buy just the base ($336) to if you already have a KK trainer. The legs are removeable for storage and it comes with a lifetime guarantee.
They also had a cool electric generator attachment that lets you generate power while you ride, read “more” for pics and deets…
Ashley from Zoic shows off their new eco-friendly line of men’s clothing. Shown here are the “lifestyle” shorts featuring a mix of bamboo and microfiber. These models have no liner, but the mountain bike shorts have removeable, very breathable, padded liners and are a mix of bamboo and cotton. They also have new women’s and childrens cycling clothing using bamboo…read “more” for pics and details.
The bamboo provides the clothing with anti-microbial, SPF and wicking properties, and it helps keep them relatively wrinkle free.
Feather Brakes was showing off their new color (pink) for their superlight road brakes. At only 199g, they give Zero Gravity a run for their money. The Feathers use an Aluminum body, Ti hardware and steel spring (with a Ti spring in the works). The 199g weight is with pads and carriers for the set (front and rear). What separates them from other calipers, besides the weight, is their rocker arm lever (the pink bit along the top arch) and the use of cartridge bearings for both the main pivot and the rocker arm. The rocker arm modulates the brake squeeze by amplifying the force of the cable pull in a progressive manner.
Read “more” for a little history of how these came about and some more pics…
Kim with Zoelle women’s clothing showed off some new styles for the ladies. It’s hard to see from this pic, but the jersey on the left (Kim’s right) has matching arm warmers. The jersey’s shown, Riviera Surfin (left) and Ritzel Bianco both retail for $89.90 and the arm warmers retail for $34.90. They’re repped by Ergon here in the states, so if your local bike shop needs to order some for you, point ‘em in the right direction.
Read “more” for a pic of their full range of colors and styles…
DT Swiss was showing off lots of lightweight goodies, like this carbon-rim mountain bike wheelset, weighing in at only 1250g w/o skewers. Sure, they carry a street price of at least $2,600 per set (that’s the lowest online price I found, MSRP is higher), but can you really put a price on winning races? They ship ready for CenterLock discs and include a 6-bolt adapter. At the moment, it looks like they’re only available in standard 9mm QR, but hopefully they have a 15mm version in the works.
(EDITOR’S UPDATE: Both the road and MTB Wheels in this post use Ceramic Bearings)
They’ve also got their 2009 EXC fork, a full carbon lower, single crown 6″ travel (150mm) bad boy that weighs only 3.67 lbs. That’s a lot of travel for a little weight. Pics and deets after the break…
Rooly Sunglasses is a brand I hadn’t heard of, but they’ve been around since 2000. Their frames are made of a lightweight plastic called Trinine that’s very flexible with some memory, so you can shape them (a little) to fit your noggin. The sport models, which is most of what’s shown here and when you read “more” all come with a hard case and one extra lense. The Prospect, shown above, is one of two models that use a single “entrapped” lense for a wide vision range. Besides their proprietary plastic, they use an iPola injected polarization technology rather than the typical laminating or sandwiching of the polarization on/in the lens.
Check out some other models and their superlight goggles with dual lenses to prevent fogging when you read “more”…
In a collaboration, Schwinn will use Toshiba’s Super Charge ion Battery (SCiB) in their new Tailwind eBike. The SCiB allows you to charge your bike’s battery in as little as 30 minutes with a standard charger, versus several hours for standard batteries on other electric bikes.
The technology also has a lifespan of 2,000 charge cycles, which they claim is twice as many as standard rechargeable batteries. The Tailwind comes with a 20,000 mile / 2 year warranty. A bigger story about this is here or on Schwinn’s website. The bike was unveiled at Interbike and will retail for $3,199 when it hits stores in early 2009.
Velocity was showing some sweet new rims with graphics and (say it in a leprachaun voice) all the colors of the rainbow, hoo hoo. The graphic rims are powder coated using brand new technology, then UV coated to prevent fading. No word on how long it lasts on the braking surface, though. They’ll be available sometime around late November, just in time for your holiday shopping. Hit the “more” link to see lots and lots of pictures of all the designs. Also, we’ll show you their superlight 29′er racing wheelset…
This is what we call the “low hanging fruit” post. It’s been a long day of walking Interbike, it’s late and this is an easy one-pic, one sentence post…here goes:
Here are the new colors from Oury for 2009: Lilac, Maroon and (in locking grips) Red.
Voodoo Cycles was out in the hot Boulder City sun showing off their bikes, some old, some new, but all pretty cool. Check the video to see their full suspension mountain bikes, Ti single speed Zaca, an all-new 28″ wheel townie bike and their prototype steel, single-speed ‘cross bike.
