• Want to see why Eddie Merckx and the riders or yore are the coolest? Watch the last 20 seconds of the video above. The whole thing is pretty cool, but if you’re in a hurry…
• Quiznos and Cannondale are giving away your choice of a dream bicycle vacation or a new Cannondale Caad8 or Quick bike. Click here to enter and get a coupon for $2 off a large sub.
• Gu has just introduced a new Chocolate Raspberry Roctane flavor. The Roctane formulation is made for longer endurance events with amino acids (Histidine, Leucine, Valine, and Isoleucine) to “slow energy-sapping acid build-up, along with Alpha-Ketoglutarate (OKG), to reduce muscle damage.”
• Okole Stuff is hosting the first ever XC Mountain Bike race in an Orange County, CA, park! On July 16th, they’re hosting an XC mountain bike race and demo day for the whole family at Irvine Regional Park. Details here.
• Want to ride epic singletrack and see a country unlike a tourist? Young Heroes Foundation is hosting their 2nd Swazi Bike Challenge, which leads riders through Swaziland’s mountains, rural areas and nature reserves. Eight riders participated last year, and now they’ve just raised enough funds to support their 1000th AIDS orphan. Raise money and you can jump in for what’s probably the ride of your life.
• CLIF BAR has introduced Meet the Moment, a celebration of athletic adventures and the places they happen, and they you to share inspiring photos and stories at www.MeettheMoment.com. The top three “moments” submitted  by July 31 will win a dream trip of your choosing, up to $12,000 in value.

Quick, name a wheel company who doesn’t claim that their aero wheels are the fastest, stiffest, lightest or strongest. This would clearly be a tall order, as just about every aero wheel that rolls along is purportedly the best wheel since the invention of the circular wheel. While some companies offer lots of data to back it up, others may have data on testing, but don’t really make it available.

However, with their new wheel design, Enve is not only bringing data to back up their wheels, but also brings the genius of one of the top aerodynamicists to the table in the form of Simon Smart. After 10 years of experience in Formula 1 aerodynamics, Smart became one of the top go-to aerodynamics consultants who is largely responsible for redesigning both Scott and Giant’s newest tri bikes, and also had a large influence on Scott’s new FO1L. It was during the wind tunnel testing of these bikes, that Smart started to develop his own ideas as to what would really make the fastest wheel after changing out multiple wheels during testing. Smart had the ideas, he just needed a company to build them.

What makes the Smart Enve System different? Read on to find out…

(more…)

SRAM just announced all-new XX and XX World Cup  (XXWC) hydraulic disc brakes. Borrowing heavily from the recent Elixir 7 & 9 redesign, the new magnesium lever body is similar between the two brakesets and gets the revised bleed port location and air trap to improve bleed performance. From there, they did what they always do for their top-level spec and shaved grams.

The new XX levers appear to have a lower profile Pad Contact Adjust bezel and tooled reach adjust rather than the Elixir’s knob. The XXWC lever does away with the Pad Contact Adjust to save weight, and the master cylinder body is much sleeker and tapered toward the lever pivot (pics below). If you’re not using the MatchMaker mounts, the XX clamp is a little more chiseled, too.

The real newness comes in the calipers. Both get all new castings, and both do away with their CPS (Caliper Positioning System – the small cupped washers that make lining up the calipers easy that have come with Avid brakes forever). The alloy XX calipers are essentially the same as the new Elixirs, but the mounting surface is extended slightly to make up for the gap otherwise filled by the CPS washers. Claimed weight is 289g per wheel.

The XXWC, however, gets a sleeker magnesium caliper with larger pistons for a system weight (claimed, front 160mm) of 270g per wheel. That’s 88g lighter than the new Elixir 9 and 18g lighter than the current XX brakeset…and puts it just under the Ashima’s we just reviewed.

More pics and the official PR after the break…

(more…)

Like the prototype Ground Control tires that just showed up one day, we just got a package with Specialized’s new ultra-wide bar tape. Actually we knew this one was coming, but didn’t have an official name, pricing or availability…or even a photo, so there wasn’t much to say until now.

We still don’t have anything but photos, but we’ve weighed and measured these samples, which show the special limited edition Tour of California design that we hear will be available for a short time at launch. We received two versions, the speckled cork version and a version that looks like their Roubaix suede-textured EVA foam tape (bottom). Check the weights and more photos after the break…

UPDATE: Pricing and more info added at bottom of post.

(more…)

While the Geax Mezcal tire has been around for awhile, Geax recently unveiled the new 2.3 size. With it’s smooth rolling center tread, and aggressive side knobs for cornering, the Mezcal 2.3 should be a pretty popular tire, especially if it’s 710g TNT weight is true!

Check out the tread after the break.

(more…)

Team Liquigas Cannondale replica carbon braided Fizik Antares saddle.

PRESS RELEASE: Fi’zi:k’s 2011 Limited Edition Team Replica saddle and seat post ring kits will hit bike shops this month. The annual collection, now in its ninth year, offers three road model choices in varying colors to complement fi’zi:k’s Spine Concept fit system. New for 2011, the limited edition kits each come with two exclusive matching seat post height-marker rings (usually available only with fi’zi:k seat post purchase).

Fi’zi:k’s annual release of Team Replica Limited Edition saddles honors their pro road teams and gives fans the opportunity to ride like a pro. But in 2011, not even the pros have these collector’s edition seat post rings! The rings – serving a dual purpose by keeping dirt and dust out of the seat tube while also acting as a seat post height marker – come in two sizes: 1 ring for post sizes 27.2 and 1 ring for post sizes 30.9 and 31.6. Consumers desiring a specific Team Edition Kit are encouraged to visit a fi’zi:k dealer to reserve.

(more…)

Seeing as how we don’t do a lot of race coverage here on Bikerumor, this one slipped past us earlier this year, but it’s pretty cool.

The UCI World Cycling Tour is an amateur age-group competition that crowns a world champion, and it’s a new program for 2011. Even better, the qualifier events tend to be Gran Fondos, so even if you don’t make the cut you’re pretty much guaranteed to have a good time. And the numbers are decent – the top 10% of finishers in each age group get invited to compete for the rainbow jersey. For larger Gran Fondos, that’s a pretty big opening for you to get the nod.

Six countries are holding qualifiers, and the finals are in Belgium and will cover parts of the famed Bastogne-Liege course. Age group categories will only run two minutes apart at the finals, too, so even the big ride is like a mass start party. For U.S. riders, there’s one remaining qualifier and it’s part of the Echelon Gran Fondo Series. The qualifers here are actually a 66 mile road race with age groups starting in five minute intervals beginning at 7:30am. At 9am, the racers are followed by a Gran Fondo ride. Get in it on August 20-21 in Fort Collins, CO.

While not a qualifer, iRide UK has just announced the first-ever Eddy Merckx Gran Fondo in the UK on July 31.

Spot Brand bikes showed off their first-ever aluminum bike, the Acme (above), which was designed by Avid’s original founder and Spot owner Wayne Lumpkin. Besides being Wayne’s first frame design, it’s also the first frame Spot has done that was concepted and designed first in 3D to get the shape and style they wanted rather than relying on stock tubesets.

The result is a shapely bike that has cyclocross geometry for quick, go anywhere handling. This one’s $2,000 with a Shimano Alfine 11-speed internally geared hub. There are two models underneath, one with Belt drive and one with a a chain, both with Alfine 8. The chain one can be swapped to belt drive. $1400 and $1700.

Like that fork? It’s a carbon-with-alloy-crown design that they’ll be selling on it’s own as a disc-brake cyclocross fork (yes, this bike has 700c wheels). Both the fork and bike are available at the end of May.

As for Spot itself, I had a chance to have their managing director, Andrew, run me through what makes a Spot a Spot. Check it out after the break, along with some prototype Shimano hydraulic disc brakes…

(more…)

I have to admit, that when I first saw Tyler post the press release regarding BB386 Evo, initially even I thought it may have been an April Fools joke. However, after reading into it, the design started to make sense and towards the end even made me question why it hadn’t been done sooner.

BB30 cranksets are supposed to be more stiff due to their larger diameter spindle, however they still rely on essentially a standard 68mm bottom bracket shell. This is even as other manufacturers were modifying frames to accept regular spindles, yet with an 86-92mm shell. The wider shell allowed for a wider down tube and chainstay junction, which seems to be just as important as increasing the diameter of the spindle. So the question remained, why not increase the width of a BB30 bottom bracket shell and get the best of both worlds?

Well that is just what BB386 was created to do.

How does it ride? Read my initial impressions after the break!

(more…)

With seatpost and stem reliability more or less nailed down at this point, isn’t it nice to be able to chose bike finishing kit on the basis of reputation and appearance?  After all, once weight and price are factored in, most commonly-available options are reassuringly similar (and drama-free) in use.  They hold the bars or saddle, don’t break, don’t flex, and don’t make noise.  We truly live in a wonderful time.

When it came time to choose finishing kit for my test Singular Swift single speed, Tyler’s Interbike post on the company’s Classic range came right to mind.  Looking suitably timeless in a polished, clear anodized finish, the Classic post and stem are (ahem) strikingly similar to Ritchey’s tried and true WCS 2-bolt and 4Axis (respectively) models.  But they’re way cooler looking.  Read on to see how they’ve fared this spring…

(more…)

Photo submitted by Jonas Klinge, “Singletrack in the Basque Country – 2 friends and I had an epic
4 day trip with Doug from Basquemtb.com as guide. Highly recommended!”

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