Trek used Saturday’s Stage 7 Time Trial at the Amgen Tour of California to announce their all-new consumer-ready line of Speed Concept triathlon / time trial bikes.  Formerly only available to sponsored athletes like Lance Armstrong and Chris Lieto, Trek’s offerings for the Tri and TT crowd were comparatively weak.  No longer.

Trek will now offer three models, two in carbon, with a wide range of sizes and spec levels to suit just about any rider on any budget.  Starting with the top-end 9-series OCLV carbon models, there is also the 7-series with TCT carbon and 2-series with hydroformed Alpha Aluminum.  Here’s the official word:

PRESS RELEASE: Trek Bicycle, the world leader in bicycle technology and innovation, officially launched its highly anticipated Speed Concept line of Triathlon and Time Trial specific bicycles on Saturday against the backdrop of the Amgen Tour of California’s Stage 7 Time Trial in Los Angeles. With its unprecedented aerodynamic profile, a host of new integrated technologies, and the most adjustability of any triathlon bike available, the all new Trek Speed Concept establishes a new benchmark of performance for triathlon and time trial specific bicycles.

“This launch represents the culmination of more than three years of design, engineering, and development,” remarked John Burke, President of Trek Bicycle, to a crowd of more than 300 Trek retailers, international media, and industry VIPs. “The Speed Concept project is the most technologically advanced endeavor Trek has ever undertaken, and I’m proud to say it’s resulted in the most advanced bicycle we have ever made.”

Pivotal to the success of the Speed Concept line were three primary design parameters. “We set out to create the most aerodynamic bike ever designed, hide as much of the bike from the wind as possible, and make sure it fit the broadest range of athletes,” said Trek Road and Tri Product Manager Tyler Pilger.

“Trek thought of everything with this bike,” said two-time Ironman champion Chris Lieto. “Just looking at the bike you can tell it’s fast. Everything is hidden; cables, fuel, flat repair…everything I need to put up the best bike split on the course.”

“When I ride this bike, I feel like I’m cheating,” added World 70.3 Champion Julie Dibens. “It just doesn’t seem fair to the rest of the field that I have this bike.”

(more…)

PRESS RELEASE: SPEEDWAY, IN.–With the 2011 North American Handmade Bicycle Show scheduled for Austin, Texas, February 25-27, preparations are already underway, with significant members of the Austin cycling community – Mellow Johnny’s and the Bicycle Sport Shop – pledging their support for the world’s number one custom bicycles show. In addition, the Texas Handmade Bicycle Show has teamed up with NAHBS in a promotional partnership.

Show founder and president, Don Walker said, “We recently met with representatives from these companies on a site visit to Austin, and each is being very, very helpful with logistical support as well as helping us get the word out about the show.”

Agreements with the three businesses mentioned include distribution of NAHBS promotional materials and organizing extra-event social functions in the case of Mellow Johnny’s and the Bicycle Sport Shop, and liaising with the Texas framebuilding community in the case of the Texas Handmade Bicycle Show.

More after the break…

(more…)

“OldLaHonda” by heidi.swift. Check out her blog, Grit & Glimmer. Congrats to Heidi for making it to the top five Road Cycling Blogs on Crank’s World Cycling Blog Honors!

Voting is open until June 6th, so you can still vote for your favorite. (Don’t forget to vote for Bikerumor in the Lifestyle Biking category!)

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

Imagine going to your local park, hopping on a quadracycle (a 4 wheeled bike), and grabbing a good book off the shelf that you read to yourself while being whisked around the park. Sound like a bizarre dream you had after your last hard ride? Nope, just an innovative idea out of Minneapolis that attempts to bring the beauty of art and books together with the serenity of riding a bike in the outdoors.

Here’s the catch: the Reading Rickshaw is a proposed project on Kickstarter and needs your help.

Read on for the details.

(more…)

SEA OTTER CLASSIC 2010 – Chiru Bikes is a relatively new company named after the Himalayan antelope and is the brainchild of Pierre-Arnaud Le Magnan. Chiru’s line is all carbon fiber, and they’re designed specifically for endurance and adventure racing.

The full suspension Sonic mountain bike above weighed in right about 22 lbs, and they also have a 26″ hardtail called the Laktic and a currently unnamed and brand new 29er hardtail with stays designed to provide some vertical flex.  Le Magnan says he’s worked with carbon fiber in sports equipment for 20 years and has been building bikes for himself for five, and that his experience combined with the fact that carbon is trailside repairable (read this interview for an explanation of that one).

More pics, specs and pricing after the jump…

(more…)

Come show this poor Huffy who’s boss this weekend at the BURN 24 Hour Challenge!

The gang from Bikerumor is setting up camp in the expo area, racing and hosting the first official Huffy Toss!  Yes, an actual Huffy will be harmed in this event…this Huffy, in fact…but don’t worry, the frame’s not really safe anymore, and there’s a pretty good chance it’ll be in pieces by the time the winner is declared.

See you this weekend…we’ve got a box full of goodies to giveaway after the race, so stick around, toss a Huffy and say hey!  Big thanks to Re:Cycles for the Huff donation!

My dad sent these pics of a snake eating a Goanna Sand Monitor (aka giant freakin’ lizard).  His friends that live there said it took five hours for the snake to devour the entire lizard, and road crews put up the poles to keep it from getting run over.

This has little to do with cycling other than to serve as a warning for people who ride with small children in the middle of nowwhere.  Check out the entire carnivorous spectacle after the break…

(more…)

You love us, you really do, and thanks to all of your votes, Bikerumor made Cranklisted’s Top 5 Cycling Blogs! Now we need your vote one last little time.

From Cranklisted: On behalf of the cycling blogs that you nominated during the first stage of Crank, we’d like to say thank you.  Your nominations have helped send 5 great blogs into the voting round of their respective category.  The finalists have been selected and now it is time for you to choose who will be top dog.  Voting is now open and the polls will close on June 6th…..with the final results coming out on June 11th.

Vote for your favorite at Cranklisted.com, and as always thanks for voting for Bikerumor!

Video by Bryan Vaughan of Haymarket Bicycles / HomeVisit Cycling Team.

This is video of one of the many crashes at the Leonardtown Criterium caused by someone repeatedly throwing tacks on the road throughout the day, resulting in numerous injuries and bicycle damage.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Corporal M. Smolarsky at 301-475-4200 x 1960 or call Crime Solvers at 301-475-3333. Tipsters can also text their tips in to “TIP239” plus your message to “CRIMES” (274637). Callers and tipsters do not have to leave a name, just the information. If the information leads to the arrest and conviction, the caller/tipster may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000.

Full news story on this is here.  Hat tip to Sebastian and others for the links.

In Chris’ words: “Bit of a mix. Some footage from a recent trip to the states, then back home to ride some freshly build interesting Akriggfied lines with varying degrees of success, all aboard the Mongoose Fireball.”

If you’re pressed for time, just forward it to 3:39, though sadly it’s just a tease.

Check him out at chrisakrigg.com.

SEA OTTER CLASSIC 2010 – By moving the downhill oriented Code brake series to their Taperbore design, Avid managed to drop 39g from the top-end model, and 52g from the Code 5 (now called Code R).

Using the Taperbore design led to some feature improvements, too.  On the Code levers (silver, above), the reach adjustment gets a tool-free, indexed dial on the lever and the pad contact adjustment moves inline with the hose like their other Taperbore models.  The system (160mm rotor, front, post-mount) comes in at 410g.

The new Code R (gray) gets a more chiseled master cylinder body and loses the pad contact adjustment to come in at 395g for the set.  However, it now has a tool-free, indexed reach adjustment dial, which the outgoing Code 5 lacked.

Both models get new dual piston calipers with forged bodies. For the extra 15g, the Code packs in a lot of features that might just make up for the slight weight penalty, but there’s a price for the tech.  Details and more photos after the break…

(more…)

…and we’re not talking about Floyd Landis, either

This head tube makes me happy. It reminds me of the A-team and my youth.

“outed” by VertigoCycles. Check out Vertigo Cycles, and our recent post about their headset cup collaboration with Cane Creek that allows small bike builders to use straight tubes to build up a bike with tapered steerer forks.

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