At the Taichung Bike Week, Funn mountain bike components unveiled a new-for-consumers custom graphics wrap on their components.  The program, which was used for OEM applications previously, will be available to consumers to upload their own custom graphics for a totally one-off look.

The “City Red” graphic shown above (yep, there are components in that photo if you look closely) are just one example.  Funn’s Justin Schwartz, who is also a pro U.S. mountain bike racer, says they’ll be affordable, but no specific pricing is set.  More pics and info on Bikeradar.com.  Photo: Daniel Carruthers.

“Wanaka Heli Bike” by FreerideNZ.com. Check out their website here.

Click ‘more’ for another awesome picture from the Wanaka Heli Bike tour…

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Spokiz Sunglasses have announced a new models, the 1unhinged. Like the Shelby, the 1unhinged will have hand molded aluminum frames, two lens options, POLARIZED Multi-layer Polycarbonate in both Smoke and Amber, adjustable nose pieces, and your choice of bike nipple color. All Spokiz Orbit Bandzare (the band that goes around the head, instead of standard arms) is made of specifically spun mono filament composite, and the ends are fastened by actual bike spoke nipples to ensure a comfortable fit. Both the 1unhinged and the Shelby are $86.60 USD.

Check out the Spokiz movie and another image below….

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Hold on… new information on Stuart O’Grady.

Apparently the Australian cyclist, Stuart O’Grady, has recovered from bacterial pneumonia and will ride in the Tour Down Under in January, race director Mike Turtur said Thursday.

O’Grady was admitted to hospital after arriving in Adelaide from his home in Monaco last week. He was later discharged and doctors reassessed his condition on Wednesday, when they gave him the all-clear to race.

The Jan. 17-24 Tour Down Under will feature seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong riding for his new RadioShack team as well as Australia’s world road cycling champion Cadel Evans.

O’Grady, who has ridden the Tour de France since 1998 and finished second four times, is a member of Team Saxo Bank. He and Graeme Brown won a gold medal for Australia in the Madison at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Just found some information on a adventure tour guide service in Peru. Fun Trail Cusco will take you through places like Machu Picchu, Maras Moray, Manu Ecological, and Lars Valley. You can rent bikes there, but they recommend that serious riders bring their own bikes. Trips can be as long as a week and include camping and some hiking along with lots of riding. They do offer english speaking tour guides.

“DSC_0683” by unclefuzzy_ss.

Unclefuzzy_ss has this to say about the wearer: Her name is Katy, and is a kick ass rider, and person to boot.

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

Entries are now open for the 2010 Alpine Epic multi-stage four-day mountain bike race to be held from Mt Somers to Lake Tekapo on February 24-27, 2010.

Limited at 100 teams for 2010, the event will see two-man teams pit their skills and endurance against rivals over 243km of untamed terrain through high-country stations and alpine passes from South Canterbury and into the Mackenzie Basin.

At the inaugural event last year Team RoadCraft’s Marcus Roy, of Invercargill, and Kashi Leuchs, of Dunedin, won four out of the five stages in a total time of 13hrs27min47sec. “The isolation is the unique factor in this race. You have this feeling of remoteness with just a couple of sheep tracks as guidance and knowing full well that the only people to venture up here are the musterers and us,” Leuchs said after the race in 2009.

More info and pics below…

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From VeloNation: As the year heads towards an end, Tour de France champion Alberto Contador has been reflecting on the 2009 season and looking ahead to 2010. It was a tough year for the Spaniard, but also a very rewarding one; he won his second Tour de France, of course, and thus his fourth Grand Tour, but also showed strongly in other races.

Proving he is a rider who can perform well from the start of the season, he collected a stage and the overall victory in the Volta ao Algarve, two stages in Paris-Nice, two stages and the general classification in the Vuelta al País Vasco, third in the Dauphiné Libéré, and finished the year as the number one in the UCI’s world ranking.

“It will be hard to match…I not only won the Tour, which was my goal, but I also was battling in every race in which I participated and got very good results,” the 27 year old told the Spanish newspaper AS. “This earned me the Velo d’Or and the UCI number one ranking. You can not ask for more. I think it was the best season of my career. And also the most difficult.”

More at VeloNation.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or maybe just Happy Friday.

If you find yourself with new cycling toys or tools this season and aren’t sure what to do with them or how to use them, check out the Park Tool Schools. Our local readers in Greensboro, NC have a Park Tool School happening at Cycles de Oro Tuesdays and Thursdays, Jan 12th, 14th, 19th, & 21st, 2010 7:30PM to 10:30PM. The class is limited to only 10 participants and is being taught by the main man himself, Dale Brown.

Check with Park Tool or your local bike shops for more info on Park Tool Schools in your area.

Christmas wreath spotted on the door at Cycles de Oro bike shop in Greensboro, NC. Hope all our readers have a terrific Christmas holiday. Cheers!

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

Cycling enthusiasts and fans are invited to participate in “The Breakaway Rides presented by Specialized”, two riding events held in conjunction with the upcoming 2010 Amgen Tour of California professional cycling race set for May 16-23, 2010. Both rides will be held in April 2010 (one month prior to the 2010 Amgen Tour of California) and will serve to raise awareness and funds for Breakaway from Cancer®, the signature initiative of Amgen and the Amgen Tour of California, which aims to raise awareness of the resources available to cancer patients from prevention and diagnosis through treatment and survivorship.

Each ‘Breakaway Ride’ will give cycling enthusiasts a chance to ride on the actual route of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California with three distances for each event to accommodate various skill and fitness levels. The longest distance covers an entire stage of the Amgen Tour of California, the same as will be ridden by the pros. Participants will be chip timed and fully supported, with a maximum of 3,500 riders per event.

The dates of the two Breakaway Rides are:
Sunday, April 25: Stage 2 route – Davis to Santa Rosa
Sunday, April 11: Stage 8 route – Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village/Agoura Hills

More Below…

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Salsa Cycles has signed on as the chief sponsor for the 2010 Dirty Kanza 200 (DK200), an ultra- endurance bike race held in Kansas. Leaving from Emporia, as many as 150 riders will race 200 miles of gravel, looping through the Flint Hills region of east-central Kansas. They’ll encounter big hills, rough roads, high temperatures and strong winds. In 2009, just 15 of 85 racers completed an especially difficult race. This sounds like the perfect debut for the 2010 Salsa Titanium 29er, the El Mariachi.

“The Dirty Kanza is one of the premier ultra-endurance gravel races in the United States and we are proud to be associated with it,” said Salsa marketing manager Mike Riemer. “It offers an extreme challenge for serious cyclists.”

The 2010 DK200 will be Saturday, June 5th. Registration will open Sunday, January 10, 2010, and will once again be conducted online at BikeReg.com. For 2010, the field has been expanded from 100 to 150 participants. Note… Last year’s limit of 100 participants was filled in just four days of registration. So don’t wait too long, if you plan to race in 2010.

Photo by imdesigngroup.com