Perhaps one of the most bizarre aspects of the whole “RaceFace Closing Immediately” debacle, was the fact that in the week prior, they had just signed freeride star Aaron Chase to a 2 year contract.

Well, when you have the kind of talent Chase has, word travels fast, and there were many companies likely willing to sign him to the team. Not surprisingly, Answer Components stepped up to the task and will now be backing mister Chase with their line of components including the Rove DJ Stem, Answer Protaper bars, pedals, and gloves. Look for Aaron to be shredding with a bunch of Answer parts on his Cannondale this summer.

Photo submitted by David D., “Longs Peak in the background.”

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Yes, the buttery smooth Fox Kashima Coat is not just for forks any more. Apparently, as Geoff Kabush tweeted from the Fontucky Pre-race practice. The prototype seen here looks to be very similar to the current XV canned RP23 with the obvious addition of the Kashima Coating, and the black ProPedal tune knob.

However, if you look closer you will notice a few different things. One, I have never seen or heard the RP23 referred to as Adaptive Lockout, which is printed right above the RP23. Could this be an evolution of the RP23 to include an actual lock out? Also, it could just be the hardware for a bike that I’m not used to seeing, but there looks to be some difference in the DU bushing mounting areas. Like I said, it could just be the mounting hardware for a specific bicycle, but it doesn’t look like the DU bushing and hardware for any bike I’ve ever seen.

Seems the last 12 months have been the time for everyone that’s written a book about bike maintenance to update (like this and this), revise and expand their tomes. Maybe they’ve seen the coming summer of $5/gallon gas and know everyone will need to dust off those Panasonic road bikes that’ve been collecting dust in their grandma’s garage and start riding…or maybe they’ve realized that anything written more than two years ago is already out of date.

Anywhoo, the latest is Fred Milson’s Complete Bike Maintenance, which has sold more than 800,000 copies. The new version has 185 pages of full color instructions for tuning, maintaining and replacing anything from hydraulic disc brakes to hub brakes, 2×10 to internal geared hubs, headsets, bottom brackets and more. There’s also a solid index and “What’s That Mean” glossary at the end to explain what parts and terms are. Where some of the other books on this shelf focus on one type of bike, Milson’s covers pretty much anything you’re likely to ride. MSRP is $21.99 (or $15.24 on Amazon).

Flipping through our review copy, it’s well illustrated with photos and relatively clearly written. The only downside to the breadth of the coverage is that some topics are a bit oversimplified. Full on techies may want something more in-depth or step by step (which, honestly, is what web video is for), but for a quick garage reference or gift for the commuting friend/family member that’s still learning, it looks like a great way to ease them into self maintenance.

Photo submitted by Miguel, “A few friends and I spent 3 days riding some 230 miles through the Texas Hill Country & camping. Weather was near perfect with highs in the 70s but headwinds in all directions.”

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We just caught wind that Ellsworth was cookin’ up something new in their Vancouver lab, squarely aimed at the freeride crowd. Now we’ve got a visual and some official-ness:

The Ellsworth Engineering Crew spent the winter designing an all new freeride chassis —a ground-up freeride bike handcrafted in Vancouver, WA. Featuring Ellsworth’s state-of-the-art, aerospace certified, seamless drawn SST.2 aluminum tubing, roughly 14”of bottom bracket height, and a 30.9mm seat tube. The bike, still undergoing testing, boasts 180mm of travel and features Ellsworth’s renowned ICT suspension mated to a custom tuned Fox DHX RC4. In addition to the low leverage ratio, it will also feature a proprietary tapered head tube outfitted with an OE Cane Creek AngleSet for greater adjustability. Visit Ellsworth at Sea Otter to check out the new prototypes.

We’re very, very happy to see the larger diameter seat tube! More pics after the break…

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Originally leaked last week from the Taipei Cycle Show, this MRP-SRAM chain guide might hint at things to come from the surprise pair. At first glance, the Truvativ and XO branded chain guide looks to be an MRP G2 SL chain guide in disguise.

While there isn’t a whole lot of information on the collaboration, we reached out to SRAM and MRP for comment. While MRP couldn’t say much about the current or future products, SRAM’s press liaison Morgan Meredith says “it’s the beginning of a more robust relationship in the future.”

Bicycle Retailer had a little more on the matter as they spoke with the Vice President of sales and marketing for MRP.

See what Bicycle Retailer had to say after the break!

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Mountain Cycle’s makin’ a comeback!

Started in 1991, their monocoque frames were a common site on the DH scene back in the day, with a slightly less voluminous but still present contingent on the XC starting line. Then they dropped off the face of the earth.

Now, they’re back with a solid lineup of bikes from weight-weenie carbon XC hardtail to 29er to the rebuilt San Andreas 2.0 all-mountain bike above. In between those is the Zen II trail bike, and both it and the new San Andreas 2.0 use an all new suspension design dubbed TuneTable…and it looks and sounds impressive.

Want downhill? They’re trying to have their new Shockwave 2 ready to debut at the Sea Otter Classic. Jump past the break to see more pics and all the details…

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• Easton, Landshark and SRAM are giving away a custom built $9,000 road bike. To enter the contest, simply construct a model (of any scale) out of bicycle spokes (as many as needed) then post the photo to Easton Cycling’s Facebook wall. The pic with the most likes (bribe your friends) wins the grand prize.
• Two of the biggest names in Cyclocross have jumped ship recently. Jeremy Powers will ride for Rapha-Focus, and Ryan Trebon moved from Kona to Felt Bicycles for both mountain bike and ‘cross. Photo of J-Pow mugging for the camera after the break.
• Circus unicyclist Kyle Peterson has filed a $3 million lawsuit against NYC claiming his rights were violated after he was twice ticketed (over a period of several years) for riding his unicycle on the sidewalk. He claims the cited ordinance violation only mentions two- and three-wheeled bikes, the city claims he violated the spirit of the law and should stick to riding it in the circus. More on this ridiculous story here and here.
• Dealers! Sea Otter Classic is giving you free admission for IBDs as part of their Dealer Days program, brought to you courtesy of Cycle California Magazine, Sierra Nevada Brewing and SRAM. Register in advance to get your credential and access to the receptions and other perks. Now, if they would just put Sierra Nevada in the Media Center…

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Photo submitted by Taylor McClun from The Dalles, Oregon.

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We (along with anyone else on their mailing list) just got a little note from Ellsworth saying “for all you Rogue lovers, there is a VERY good chance the prototype of the new 180 mm Freeride will be making its debut.”

While that capital F in Freeride suggests that would be the bike’s name, they also say to get your creative juices flowing as the new bike will need a name. We smell a contest a brewin’. So, what makes this interesting is it sounds like they’re replacing the Rogue (above), which coincidentally is no longer showing up on their website, with a slightly shorter travel bike. The Rogue comes in at 8″ travel, but the new one claims 180mm, which measures in at about 7″. Time will tell, but we’re betting it gets their pretty SST (Schwaged, Shaped Tubing) on the new frame…and hopefully a larger diameter seat tube than their current long travel bikes so they can use the new crop of dropper seat posts.

PS – They’re working with Cane Creek to use the AngleSet headset on the new bike, giving riders adjustable head angles.

Banshee Bikes has come up with an answer to the question: “Is there a longer travel full suspension 29er out there that isn’t all XC-ed out, noodly, and twitchy? Y’know, something I can ride on the North Shore?” Their answer is: “Yes, yes there is, because Keith Scott designed one, it’s called the “Prime.” It’s a 130mm travel frame designed around a 120-150mm fork. The frame is made out of stiff 7005 alloy and it weighs in at about 7.5lbs. But we aren’t worried about weight, we’re focused on performance, focused on the bike not being a flexy piece of junk. All the pivots are sealed bearing and the anti-squat profile of the linkage is designed to work well with the wee-bitty chainrings that folks generally use on their 29ers (bigger wheels make gears bigger).”*

Kind of a long-winded answer if you ask me, but there are a whole lot of gigantic, clickable photos after the break.

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