PRESS RELEASE: The historical bicycle manufacturer company will open its first brand concept store in Stockholm – Sweden: “Bianchi Café & Cycles”, on Saturday October 30th. Guests and customers will have the opportunity to enjoy the best from Italy – high quality bikes, tasty antipasti and refreshing espresso.

In its 125th anniversary year, the Bianchi brand, part of Salvatore Grimaldi’s successful cycling kingdom, will expand its activities by opening the new concept store around a showroom in combination with a Café Bar, in the center of Stockholm. The idea is that the new store will be a glamorous meeting point for cycling enthusiasts and fans, as well as guests of the Café Bar.

Sweden’s Nicklas Sigurdsson, a former Business Development manager at Grimaldi Industri AB, will be managing director of the “Bianchi’s Café&Cycles”. “This is an exciting investment as Sweden is the first country to have a Bianchi concept store. We have seen a growing interest for cycling among people in Stockholm and our ambition is to identify interesting markets and expand new concept stores around Europe”, Sigurdsson says.

If you ever get a chance to talk to the Stan, do it. He’s super excited about what he does, and it shows when he’s talking about his products and technology.

At Interbike, he was proudly showing off his new 3.30Ti hubs. The rear has a new titanium 30-tooth engagement pawl that saves about 7g over the standard engagement ring. Oddly, that’s the only ti bit used to create the “Ti” version. But, they’ve taken out about 20g more weight with a little further machining and reshaping of the spoke flanges to improve lateral stability, particularly when laced to a 29er rim.  Effective pretty much immediately, all new ZTR Race wheelsets will start shipping with the ti hubs.  And, yes, those are 15mm thru axle adapters on the table.

He’s also working on a new ZTR Race 29er rim that’s 25g lighter than the current model, bringing it down to 305g. It should be in production early spring and shipping on all new wheels by April.

Pics and weights after the break…

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Built to address the concerns of the common cyclist, the BOND (Built of Notorious Deterrents) Bike features a handlebar mounted flame thrower, ejector seat, deployable front ski and a rear caterpillar track.

It was built by Yannick Read of the Environmental Transport Association, who says of the bike:

“With the next James Bond film canned owing to a lack of cash, a new bicycle equipped with flamethrower and ejector seat could be the ideal way for a cash-strapped 007 to get to work.

“The flamethrower fitted in the handlebars prevents overtaking motorists getting too close. The ejector seat disposes of thieves who beat the padlock and chain. And the bike – which would make Bond’s gadget inventor, Q, proud – also boasts a caterpillar track for smooth riding over potholed roads.”

The bike will be display at Cycle Show 2010 at Earls Court, October 8-10, and ETA is giving you 30% off admission if you click here and enter discount code “ETA”. While you’re there, they may try to sell you cycle insurance. Photos after the break…

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LH Thomson’s working on a new Boxxer direct mount stem, shown above at left. It’ll have a 55mm length with slight drop available in January and a 30-35mm version with no drop will come out a month or two later. MSRP will be $99 at most, maybe less (fingers crossed).  The parts that you’ll get are just the two lighter black top pieces, they’re just mounted to a crown for display…and the black will be their super dark black when they’re ready to ship.

They also have some new 75mm and 95mm lengths for 1.5″ stems, which will be $99. The 95mm should be out in January, and the 75mm sometime later in the spring. Above right, you can see the 95mm setting next to their original shorty 1.5″ stem.

Not shown, they’re playing with some different Allen bolt head sizes for all of their stems to help keep home-based mechanics from over torquing the faceplate caps. They say what few warranty claims they have, most are related to over tightening of the bolts…and it’s also a safety issue, particularly with carbon handlebars since you can negatively affect the strength of the bar by overtightening.

Close up photos of the DM Boxxer stem after the break…

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Quarq debuted some prototype crank-mounted power meter systems for mountain bikes, plus a new diagnostic iPhone app to help you make sure your getting the right readings from your meter.

The MTB version of their power meter will be available in early 2011 for $1,495 plus the cost of the cranks. They’ll have versions for Cannondale’s Hollowgram cranks, SRAM X0 and X9 cranks, Rotor 3D and Specialized carbon cranks. Like their road systems, it works on ANT+ so it’ll send the data to any compatible cycling computer.

More pics and info after the break…

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It’s that time of year again, when a non-descript location in the Virgin Utah desert plays host to the world’s best freeriders, down hillers, and dirt jumpers.

Yes it’s time for the 2010 Red Bull Rampage, which will begin tomorrow October 1st and finish on Sunday the 3rd.

There has been a lot of talk already this year on the nature of the 2010 course. Known primarily for being a natural big mountain freeride event, the addition of more and more man made stunts is a hot topic for debate.

While many athletes may be drawn more to the natural elements Virgin has to offer, the addition of the wooden stunts will no doubt offer more variety to the lines available on the course.

Last Rampage’s 60 foot canyon gap with a wooden take-off was not hit by many, but the few who did left a lot of spectators talking and it provided for some pretty spectacular footage.

For this year’s rampage, Oakley stepped up to build the super secret Icon Sender: a huge booter with the possibility of over 30 foot out and over 30 foot down. The construction of the stunt is uniquely Oakley, and promises some mayhem for sure.

Check out the scale of the insane stunt after the jump!

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Yep, the Internet (well, mainly the cycling-related Internet) is abuzz with Contador’s recent positive test for Clenbuterol, a banned performance enhancing drug.

Clenbuterol is a non-steroidal Beta adrenergic agonist similar but more potent than epinephrine. It’s primary medical use is as a decongestant and bronchodilator (think asthma), however it’s more potent and longer lasting as a stimulant and thermogenic…meaning if used in “proper” amounts, it could help you breathe easier while letting you burn more fat for fuel…pretty much exactly what you’d want for endurance events like cycling.  As with anything like this, off-label prescriptions are reportedly growing to use it as a weight loss aid.

While Contador’s test amounts are far, far below that amount necessary to offer any performance benefit, undoubtedly this affair will remain as an asterisk on his 2010 Tour de France win, regardless of the final outcome. And if the flitter and twitter is any indication, it’s the topic of conversation amongst racers and fans alike. “Did he dope?” “Oh, that’s how he won.” And so forth and so on.

The backside of this story, of course, is that the drug in question seems to have come from meat he ate, yet no one seems to be alarmed or talking about how our food supply can possibly be tainted with such chemicals.

Personally, it freaks me out. Study after study has shown that hormones and steroids remain in the meat and pass through to us when we eat them. They also remain in the manure, which ends up dumping them (pun intended) into our water supply and vegetables. Sorry vegetarians.

I’d be willing to bet any one of us meat-a-tarians, whether strict or occasional, could fail that same test on any given day after we’ve enjoyed a nice steak (assuming it’s not organic free-range). Or Pork. Or show levels of some other contaminant from chicken or fish.

As Contador’s press release and conference mentioned, the use of Clenbuterol in animals intended for human consumption is illegal, so perhaps your local meat supply doesn’t have it. But it likely has any of the other six common (and FDA-approved) hormones: Oestradiol, Progesterone, Testosterone, Zeranol, Trenbolone and Melengestrol. The first three of these are naturally occurring, but synthetic versions are used to “beef up” the animals’ natural levels.

Should you be worried about this?

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The Caleb road bike frame, Organic Bikes‘ greenest offering so far, is hand-crafted in Vietnam by James Wolfe.  Made from natural stalk bamboo with aluminum lugs, the frame will be available in sizes ranging from 51cm to 59cm.  The frames are made just an hour away from where the hand harvested bamboo is assembled.  Options include a completely customizable build.  The Caleb frame, currently in production will be available early 2011 and will retail for $899.

Also new this year for Organic Bikes is the Edwin Town Bike (pictured above).  The cruiser will accompany the Dylan in the line of around the town bikes and features a NuVinci N360 Hub.  Also made from bamboo tubes and aluminum lugs, the Edwin will come equipped with bamboo fenders and a bamboo farmer’s market rear rack with holders for not one but two cups of coffee!  The Edwin also touts a full size run ranging from XS to XL.  James Beck of Organic Bikes expects this to be a hot seller combining eco-style with the simplicity of the internal NuVinci hub.  The Edwin will also be available at the beginning of 2011 and has a price tag of $1599.

The rumors are true, Chris King is now offering a split wedge compression system they have termed the Grip Lock. While somewhat similar in function to other set ups, in typical King fashion it is impeccably engineered and completely Chris King.

Grip Lock will currently be shipping only on the inset model headsets, or it will also be available as a conversion kit for any CK headset since 1991. King says that the bikes that will benefit the most are longer travel mountain bikes with slacker head tube angles, stating that it should improve durability and reliability.

My first impression upon seeing the system was to question the timing of the release, and I asked if it had anything to do with the fact that the Cane Creek Aheadset worldwide patent expired this month. I was surprised by their response, when King told me that actually after they produced a wedge style headset around 1992 (which they found to dig into the steerer tube and axed the project) they have paid into the patent ever since and simply saw no need for the design until now. They also feel that the nature of the new design is much better than current competitors on the market, and state that you no longer have to struggle with a super tight o-ring to install it.

Get the breakdown of the design after the break!

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Yesterday, news broke of Alberto Contador’s positive drug test for Clenbuterol, a banned substance that aids weight loss and breathing, and is used to improve muscle to fat ratios…a purpose some cattle farmers illegally take advantage of to improve meat yields. Today, the UCI has placed Contador under a provisional ban pending further investigation.

“It’s a case of food contamination to which I was the victim,” Contador said in news conference in his hometown of Pinto, outside Madrid, Spain.

Contador said he ingested the tiny amount of clenbuterol in meat that had eaten both the day before and the day of the control. He also said the meat came from Spain, but did not say specifically where it was bought and that while other riders ate the same meat, he’s the only one of them to have been tested.

The 27-year old triple crown winner said the UCI informed him of the positive test on August 24, and two days later he met with the UCI medical team to discuss how it happened.

“The UCI itself affirmed in front of me that it was a case of food contamination,” he said. “This is a genuine mistake, it’s sad that a sport such as this is involved in things like this. I think that this will be resolved in a clear way, with the truth up front.”

The UCI understands that is a special case, which has to be examined. Contador added he was “sad and disappointed, but with my head held high.”

“I have been through this for a month a half, without sleeping,” adding that he had not even told his own family “because I prefer that they don’t suffer and I that I alone suffer.”

The UCI has stated: “The concentration found by the laboratory was estimated at 50 picograms (50 trillionths of a gram) which is 400 times less than what the antidoping laboratories accredited by WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) must be able to detect.” A testing of a second sample taken at the same time confirmed the result.

Look Cycles has replaced their 595 road bike with an all-new, super integrated 695 road bike.

Featuring Look’s E-Post, ZED2 one-piece crankset, C-Stem and a unique fork, the frame is fully integrated from head to toe.  Despite the full length seatmast and oversized BB, head- and downtubes, the frame weighs in at a scant 900g.  Before you scoff and say “all that integrated stuff just reduces my options”, there are adapters to let you run whatever cranks you want and any normal stem can replace their C-Stem…but after reading through this post, you may not care to.

In order to get the weight down lower than the outgoing 595, Look used a proprietary monocoque construction for the front triangle that’s molded against steel mandrels at the seat tube/seat mast/ top tube juncture, bottom bracket and head tube. This allows them to use higher pressures than can be achieved just with traditional bladder construction. As the external mold is closed around the frame for molding, a bladder presses outward against the mold for the main tubes. But those sections mentioned above are actually being pressed inward against a steel mandrel form rather than relying on a bladder to press them out against the outer mold. The result is that they can use more carbon sheets and compress them down to the same thickness as normal bladder molding, and it pushes out more resin, so it’s lighter overall and stiffer in those high stress areas. Result: denser carbon in key areas with higher strength to weight ratio.

Frame cutaways, specs and more photos and details after the break…
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Garmin has announced today that it has acquired MetriGear Inc., creator of a pedal-based power solution for cyclists.

“Power is becoming the must-have information for cyclists who want to improve their performance,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO. “Adding MetriGear’s talents and technologies to the Garmin family is a natural fit as we share a passion for fitness and are dedicated to making advanced technology affordable and easy to use.”

At Interbike 2009, MetriGear showed off some prototypes of Vector, a pedal-based power meter that integrates MetriGear’s custom force and motion sensor platform into pedal spindles to measure a cyclist’s performance.

Because it’s pedal based, rather than being built into cranks or wheels, Vector will be easy to move between bikes…just like Garmin’s easy on/easy off computers, which should be a big hit among serious athletes and those that race multiple disciplines.

The other big benefit is that it can the independent measurement of pedal force for each leg.  Garmin’s Jake Jacobson says this can lead to some really interesting features in the future…such as helping athletes determine optimal cleat placement because the 60 piezoresistive strain gauges can measure force in all directions.  So, for instance, if you’re pushing forward on the pedals too much, future applications may help determine whether sliding the cleat around can increase power on the downward pedal stroke.

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