BikeRumor.com

Over the holiday week I met Trek’s Southeast demo guy, Tom Jenkins, at the IMBA Epic Santos Trails in Ocala, FL, for a solid 3+ hour cross country test of the new 2009 Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL.

This course is an Epic for a reason.  There are more than 40 miles of singletrack, ranging from easy, flowing trail to tight, technical rocky sections that can trip you up pretty easily.  In other words, it’s the perfect place to test the race-worthiness of the new Top Fuel design.

This bike is equipped and built for world-cup-level XC racing, and it’s certainly fast enough and light enough.  The great thing is, the lightness does not come at the expense of stability, stiffness or control, which means you can focus on the trail rather than any quirks of the bike.  There are a lot of factors that come together to make this an excellent bike…just read “more” for the full review, a run down of the specs and some of the interesting changes from the Fuel EX…

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Well, we’re back after a little Thanksgiving hiatus. NO, it’s not cause we’re too full of Turkey to belly up to the computer…actually, we’ve been busy testing some new products, riding some new bikes and updating some of the back end stuff.

We’ve just added Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Utah bike shops to our US Bike Shop lists on the link pages.  If you’re a shop in those states, check the list and make sure you’re on there.  If you need to find a shop, check the links pages and click on a state…many of them are done, and the rest should be by week’s end.

Check back shortly, lots of new posts and reviews coming soon!

Got this from Paceline, a local shop offering to “Adult Sit” your cyclist while you get your Black Friday shopping done.  

Admittedly, I’m only on a few shops’ mailing lists, though, so if you’ve got a better one, send it to “tips (at) bikerumor.com” and we’ll post it.

Click on the pic to enlarge the image.

2008 Tour de Tryptophan flyer - click to enlarge

Perhaps the most relaxed (unorganized?) benefit ride ever will raise money for the SoCal High School Cycling League, but they don’t know that yet.

You can start at noon, or whenever, for the Fifth Annual Tour de Tryptophan/24 Hours of the Fullerton Loop.  Then, you can do one lap and go home, or try to beat the 17-lap record, or at least that’s what we think the record is.  If you participate, you might get a T-shirt (and a pretty cool looking one at that, click the more link to see the graphic!)

Presented by no one, this fund-raiser commences at noon on Friday and finishes at noon on Saturday. As it is a fun ride with no rules, you can start or finish at any time. Do one lap, go home for the evening and do another in the morning. Or ride your brains out for 24 Hours. Seventeen laps seems to be the reigning record.

If you’re in the Fullerton, CA, area, or you just want to see the shirt design, read “more“…

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Floyd Landis has been a busy, busy man these past few months.

He announced that he’s joining the OUCH presented by Maxxis professional cycling team, which is a revamp of the HealthNet Maxxis team from 2008.  Then, he challenges CAS’s (Court of Arbitration for Sports) ruling that stripped him of his Tour de France victory, stating that the system is inherently biased against the accused.

OUCH Sports Medical Center, the team’s new title sponsor, is the center that did Floyd’s hip resurfacing surgery in 2006, which will be using Floyd’s return as a showcase for what their medical team is capable of doing.  They’ve dubbed him the bionic man, so look for that theme to play through the marketing.

Most of HealthNet’s 2008 riders will carry over to the new team, including National Racing Calendar champion Rory Sutherland, Tim Johnson, Roman Kilun, Karl Menzies and John Murphy. The team is owned by Momentum Sports Group and will be managed by Mike Tamayo.

Click “more” for the rest of the story…

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This is sort of a random post, but figured some of you may be wondering what the Mona Vie tie in was with Cannondale.  Mona Vie is an Acai-based health drink that’s sold through independent distributors, ie. multi-level marketing, and comes in three varieties…”Original”, “Active” with glucosamine and “Pulse” with plant sterols.

The official looking team site is here, but oddly, there is absolutely no info on any of the pages.  The team’s blogged info is on the main Cannondale site here.

We’re testing a couple bottles and the gels that we received from a local rep in Charlotte, NC, and will be doing a full review in December.  For now, read “more” to see the team roster and specs for their team bikes…

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Sampson has relaunched their website with all 2009 offerings and a vastly improved layout.

If you liked what you saw on our earlier posts about their new Diablo SL or their Stratics SL road brakes, check out the site for more of their line.

See it at www.sampsonsports.com

XTRAi (extra eye, get it?) has a new roof rack remote sensor that mounts to any rack’s cross bar to monitor impending garage doors and drive-thru roofs.

The system uses an outside sensor that transmits a wireless warning to an interior monitor.  The monitor sounds an alarm if you’re coming too close to a low hanging obstacle or if you’re trying to get into a parking deck or garage that’s too low.  The sensor runs on three 9v batteries and the interior monitor plugs into any DC lighter socket.  MSRP is $299.

Click “more” for more pics and specs…

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Photo: Tinker’s blog

Tinker Juarez nailed a car door at about 22mph last week, yet didn’t break anything other than his new road bike.  Despite the bruises and pain, Tinker says in his blog that he’s ready to get back on the bike…except it has a 4-inch crack in the top tube.

Nothing is mentioned about who’s fault it was, but the driver said he initially thought a motorcycle hit the door, that it was bent.  The driver then apparently pulled Tinker from the road and drove him to his wife’s office, where they (and the bike) went to the emergency room.

Now, he just has to rest and recuperate before racing in the Sabie Experience stage race December 13 - 16. 

Gap has this sweet argyle graphic aluminum cruiser bike available for the holidays via online catalog.  Designed and built exclusively for Gap by Electra.  It comes 99% assembled and is spec’d with alloy rims, coaster brake, alloy 3-piece crank and alloy rack.  Fenders and chainguard are steel.  All in all, not a bad little package for a non-cycling retailer.  MSRP is $499.  I know, I know, you purists out there are scoffing at anyone that would ride this, but if some mom gets this for her husband or college kid and it gets them on a bike, I say it’s a happy holiday indeed.

Red Bull F1 driver Mark Webber was injured in a collision with a car while riding his mountain bike during a race in Tasmania, Australia.

Webber was airlifted out with a broken leg and other non-life-threatening injuries while competing in his own event, the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge, a 250 km event that includes mountain biking, kayaking and trekking throughout the island.

The accident means Webber will miss vital testing time for Red Bull ahead of the new season. The team’s next test is scheduled for Jerez in Spain on December 9th.

Besides having the coolest jerseys, now Rock Racing has added some serious experience added to their roster and management.

Rock Racing Owner Michael Ball announced the re-signing of U.S. National Champions Tyler Hamilton (Road), Rahsaan Bahati (Criterium) and Justin Williams (Under 23 Criterium) as well as stalwarts Oscar Sevilla, Fred Rodriguez and Victor Hugo Peña.

It further bolstered its ranks for 2009 by signing European specialists Baden Cooke, Francisco Mancebo and José Enrique Gutiérrez, as well as top domestic talents Ivan Dominquez, Glen Chadwick, Chris Baldwin and Caleb Manion. 

To top it off, they’ve hired Director Sportif Rudy Pevanage and Assistant Director Laurenzo LaPage.  Pevanage has previous management experience with T-Mobile and Coast/Bianchi, leading Jan Ulrich to a Tour de France victory in 1997.  LaPage was on staff with Discovery Channel team for two of Lance Armstrong’s wins (’03 and ‘04).

“Without a doubt, we have two of the most experienced director sportifs that cycling has produced in the last 20 years,” Rock Racing Team Owner Michael Ball said. “Rudy built a dynasty with the powerful Telekom and T-Mobile teams, while Laurenzo comes to us from Astana, a team that has won three of the past five Grand Tours.”

Perhaps more interesting is their anti-doping programs…que huh?  Read “mas“…

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Just a quick update, the site’s main link appears to be working now…the “Writing on the Wall” video premieres in about 12 hours.

http://www.nike.com/nke6/v4/writingonthewall/

Danskin will celebrate their 20th anniversary of the series in 2009, making it the largest and longest running multisport event in the world.  Open to females ages 14 and up, the series will consist of 8 events from May through September next year, racing in and around:

Orlando FL 
Austin, TX
LA Metro, CA
Denver, CO 
ChicagoLand
New England
Seattle, WA 
NYC/Sandy Hook, NJ

Dates will be set soon, and more than 25,000 women of all ages and backgrounds are expected to compete next year.  Each event is a sprint distance: 0.75k swim, 20k bike and 5k run.  More info on the series is available on their website.

Courtesy of Winter Park Ski Resort, the Ruby Hill Rail Yard on the west side of Denver will be getting a downhill mountain bike course in the inner city.

Planned as an extension of their popular ski and snowboard park (for which WInter Park provided the stunts), Winter Park will pay for the construction and maintenance of the bike course.  Initial details about the design are slim, but to get an idea of the passion for mountain biking that Winter Park has, watch the video above, which shows current and planned MTB offering at their Trestle Bike Park.

Since it’s winter, check the 2nd video of the ski/snowboard ramps, rails and jumps when you read “more“…

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