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

Orbea just sent over images of their 2011 helmets, straight from Spain, and they’re beautiful…and beautifully odd looking in some cases.

The Odin (above), Rune and Thor have some wicked styling, and all appear to offer full coverage and beefy retention systems. Two have included visors, and there’s a good selection of colors and patterns on them, too.

Orbea USA sales manager Ronnie Points said their focus on helmets was comfort and airflow (and protection, obviously), rather than fighting the lightest helmet battle. The three models vary in the layers of materials they offer, and thus protection and weight. Check them out after the break…

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You know that little pre-holiday sneak peed peek at the forthcoming Santa Cruz carbon fiber hardtail 29er?  Well, apparently that’s not the only new trick up their sleeves.

We just got invited to a little camping trip where we’re told we’ll be riding some new bikes from Santa Cruz, some with big wheels, some with small wheels, some carbon, some alloy. All are XC and Trail oriented, and other than the hardtail you’re looking at above, they’ll be fully suspended.

Given that there’s already a Tallboy in their line up, our guess is the “Trail” bike will be the carbon one and get 26″ wheels and be based on the recent single-pivot Butcher or Nickel (info here, video here, actual weights here), and the alloy will be a “budget” 29er XC rig based on the Tallboy, but that’s pure speculation. Seriously, they ain’t spillin’ no beans on these things until mid-to-late-ish March. Now, how to get a wireless signal in the Utah desert…

• Looking for an early season 6 Hour Mountain Bike race to warm things up? The Shootout at Anglers Ridge in VA has expanded their categories, and running that same day is the XC race that’s part of both the NC and VA state series. Oh, and entry fees are cheap and cash payout is massive. Registration available now on USA Cycling’s website with no online fees, but you have to log into your USAC account or create one to view the classes and register. Click on the flyer above to see all the details.
• Advocacy FAIL: Wyoming’s state House defeated a bill that would have required 3 Feet 2 Pass for motorists passing a cyclist on the road. It fell short by one vote in the final reading after passing the first two House floor votes. Opponents say it’s only common sense for motorists to stay as far away from bicyclists and that it would be difficult to enforce. Seems common sense would also dictate that having the law on the books gives advocates something concrete to promote and use to educate, which is arguably more important than enforcability.
• Recycling WIN: Swiss company tät-tat is producing rubber bands from recycled tubes, and is winning awards in Europe for it. Get them here in the US from Los Angeles-based shop, Plastica. (Why didn’t we think of this?)
• Map My Ride is now offering their Blackberry app for free, and they have a new free Android app. For iPhone and iPod Touch users, you can now customize your data screen. Get them all here.
• BikeBlogNYC has put together a petition to tell New York City bureaucrats to quick dorkin’ around and make more bike lanes (apparently there are proposals to require a lengthy review for all proposed new bike lanes, which would slow the city’s thus far remarkable progress to a crawl).
• U.S. Olympic Mountain Bike Team qualifications protocols have been established, and things will be serious this year. 2011 calendar year races will produce up to 10 men and 10 women for the “long team”, which will then be narrowed down based on early season 2012 World Cup races. Full story and details here.

Photo submitted by zombieweekly, “Even bikes huddle for warmth in Japan.”

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

Finally got a chance to really put the Rapha Winter Hat to the test during a snowy, winter ride. Gotta say, it did alright. For a more comprehensive overview of this hat’s attributes, check out my initial review.

Since Christopher Igleheart, the Godfather of independent frame building, isn’t kookoo-crazy enough with the lead up to NAHBS, we decided to bug him with a few inane questions (to answer in his free time). Lucky for us, he obliged, but not without flipping the script once or twice in the process. He was even nice enough to send us a cryptic photo of something secret he’s working on.

BR: Are your plans for NAHBS a secret, or can you tell us a little bit about what you’re showing?
CI: Bikes – Stainless – Shiny – lots of braze ons – mudguard – forks for all occasions

BR: What about the booth, anything extra-special-crazy in the booth department?
CI: Bicycles

BR: What do you see as the hot trend at NAHBS this year? (Continued after the break.) (more…)

Norco on the new Truax:

If you have taken a moment to peruse the 2011 Norco Lineup you may have thought that the intelligent people of Norco forgot how to count? How can there be a model called the Shore 2 and Shore 3 without a number 1 sitting next to it. Well, that position has been taken by the all-new Norco Truax.

Two models of the Truax are being launched and will be available as early as June 2011. The Truax Team takes top spot and the Truax 1 will sit right next to it for those a little skinnier in green. The first person to be riding the all new Truax platform is the one and only Norco Factory Team rider Jay Hoots. Jay has worked closely with Norco over his past 10 years to get the Shore line to where it is and this is the next step in its evolution.

The 2011 Norco Truax takes on the new Norco look and key functionality features such as A.R.T. suspension design, Syntace rear-axle system, tapered headtube, asymmetric stays and much more. The package is the most complete, versatile and technologically advanced freeride bike Norco has ever manufactured.

Here are a few close-up shots of the all-new frame, keep your eyes peeled though for more photos, videos and testimonials coming soon. Hoots will be the first to offer his opinion on the matter and that is only hours away so check back soon! In the meantime, check out the Truax Tech Page and the Bike Pages to learn the full scoop.

Check out some detail shots after the break!

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Redesigned and re-introduced last Summer and available only recently, Orbea’s Alma 29er carbon hardtail is already their best selling mountain bike ever in the U.S.

Thanks to that success, they’ve just brought in a hydroformed alloy version in three trim levels. Compared to the their prior Lonza 29er, the new Alma Hydro drops 50g to 75g off the frame.

From a distance, you can’t tell the carbon and alloy Almas apart. Geometry is exactly the same. Both the models share Orbea’s “4×4 Triangle” design, bent seat tube and shapely tubes throughout. Both versions have their Gore-developed DCR (Direct Cable Routing), which is very sharp and keeps cable bends and housing to a minimum. In fact, the only obvious differences at first glance is the lack of an interrupted downtube  or tapered headtube like on the carbon models.

The top of the line alloy model, the H10 (above) comes competitively spec’d and retails for a full $500 less than the lowest spec carbon model, making it look pretty good for budget racers.

Jump in for more pics and info…

UPDATED: Frame weight photo’d and posted below.

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UK’s Whyte Bikes has just leaked this sneak peak of an all-new, disc brake equipped  cyclocross bike prototype.

Info is scarce, but it looks like Whyte’s prototype is a hydroformed BB30 alloy frame with carbon disc fork and Avid mechanicals. Wheels, post and likely more of the cockpit are FSA. Whyte says the bike was built this week as a test mule for the CX Sportive this weekend, which means it’ll likely see some refinement before final production, but it’s looking pretty good to us. Given the absence of any brake bosses on the frame, we’re guessing they’re committed to producing a disc-only ‘cross bike for the 2011-12 season.

More photos after the break…

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There seems to be more and more new product releases, and 2011 products coming into stock, which can only mean one thing: we’re getting close to the start of the riding season! That is, if you are one of many who are lucky, or unlucky enough to experience the magic of winter, and this white stuff called snow. If you weren’t forced into the depths of your basement to toil away endlessly on a trainer or forced to only ride indoor skate parks, well you’ll probably be just as happy that there is a wealth of new product finally coming into stock.

For Sidewall Distro, the start of the season means getting in the newest goods from Hoffman Bikes and Snafu, among other great BMX brands. This year is no different, and for 2011 there are some great new products like the Snafu Chroma Grouppo shown above. Inside you will find all the most commonly replaced parts on a BMX, all in a matching colorway of black, orange, purple, green, or blue. Not shown is the fact that the seat and post are one piece, and will be available in either the padded or plastic Solo seat with Poly Pedals, Mirracle grips and PC Bar ends. Even better the set will come at a relative bargain for an MSRP of $59.99 for the padded or $54.99 for the plastic.

Need a new frame or new rims? Sidewall has you covered for that as well, check out the goods after the break!

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From the video’s Vimeo page:

“Filmmaker Michael John Evans sets out to visually portray “the zone” which one enters when their craft is honed.

Sean Walling, owner of Soulcraft, builds top notch custom steel bicycle frames. This short film documents Sean’s fabrication methods: a well choreographed dance of experience and muscle memory producing a seemingly effortless ode to process.
From Steel: invites the viewer into Sean’s machine shop for an up close and personal look at the work that results in yet another awesome Soulcraft.

Musical score provided by the internationally praised duo, Mattson 2. Courtesy of Galaxia Records.”