FROM FOX: The entire FOX RACING SHOX RACE Trailer and FORD F550 Truck was stolen late Monday night 6/27, in route to the UCI World Cup event in Mount Sainte Anne, Canada.  The truck cab is a white FORD F550 Turbo Diesel with beige interior, CA license plate.  There are many distinguishing features with this cab such as all FORD logos have been converted to FOX logos, FOX custome embroibered seats, FOX instrument cluster and custom FOX footwheels.  The trailer is a 28ft FEATHERLIGHT flip down door.  The trailer contained custom proprietary racing equipment as well as two YETI bicycles, a medium ASR-5, and medium ARC hardtail.  A reward is being offered for any information that leads to the return of the vehicle.  The Race Rig was last seen at 6/28/11 at 4:30am traveling West on Hwy 20 just outside of Montreal.

• 130mm travel.
• 15mm thru axle.
• An actual weight of 3.8lb (with thru-axle).
• External Lockout.
• External rebound damping adjustment.

Checks all the right boxes, doesn’t it? When looking for a not too long, not too short fork for my 5in trail bike, I came across the longest-travel version of X-Fusion’s Velvet cross country fork and decided to drop the company a line. After all, it looked on paper to be exactly what I was looking for. But how would the Taiwanese company’s flagship compare with the Fox, DT Swiss, and Rock Shox forks that had graced the same bike previously?

Really, amazingly, well as it turns out. Read on to find out more.

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Photo submitted by Ryan, “… Jill Kintner, Transition Bikes WC downhill racer, during the 2011 ProGRT race this weekend in Crested Butte, CO.”

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

After teasing the market for a while, it’s official. SRAM is now offering a DH specific XO group. Many of the components that have been put through the rigors of the pro downhill circuit as Blackbox components, are now available to the public. The DH XO group is not replacing the standard XO, but adding to the versatility of the group.

Not only does this mark SRAM’s first DH specific rear derailleur, but also their first carbon DH race crank as well. Through the combination of the sub-800g carbon crank and short cage cassette, SRAM claims the XO DH group reaches a new level of stiffness and shifting reliability even under the toughest conditions.

Want to know more about XO DH? Check it out after the break!

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If you’re looking for a ridiculously light cassette but are hoping it will last more than one season, perhaps you should look into the new 10 speed cassette from KCNC. Weighing in between 107 and 126 grams depending on the size, KCNC’s Shimano compatible cassette is certainly light. What makes it special, is that all of the cogs are made entirely from 6/4 Titanium, meaning they should last longer than the lightweight aluminum cassettes.

In addition, the largest 8 cogs are all attached to a one piece 7075 aluminum carrier, with the last two cogs being machined completely out of one piece of Ti. Because of this, there are only two pieces to the cassette that contact the cassette body, and the pieces are large enough that they won’t dig into the cassette body’s splines. Currently, the cassettes are only available in 11-23, 11-25, and 12-27 sizes in Shimano compatible versions only, though there are plans for a mountain bike 10 speed version in the future.

Check out the back of the cassette along with pricing info after the break!

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2012 Giant TCR Advanced SL-0 Road Bike.

Giant has revamped their entire carbon fiber road bike lineup for 2012, introducing new standards, new wheelsystems (which we’ll cover separately) and lighter frames. While the latter is almost expected nowadays, getting new wheelsystems and new standards seems – for better or worse – a growing trend, and Giant calls it Beyond Integration thanks to the use of these new standards and wheels into a “holistic approach to performance.”

Starting with the weight savings, Giant was able to drop a whopping 144g from their top of the line TCR Advanced SL-0 frame, putting the Medium-sized frame on the scales at just 820g! This was accomplished by switching to stiffer Toray T-800 fibers, a new “Continuous Fiber Technology”  which lets them use fewer pieces to form the front triangle, replacing alloy bits with carbon fiber (dropouts, BB sleeve) and using direct drop-in headset bearings. That’s the material side, now on to production: An improved “Fusion” double mold construction claims to lighten the joints between frame sections and a revised seat stay shape drops weight compared to the previous model’s wishbone design.

All that weight savings comes with an 30% improvement in torsional steering stiffness and a 14% improvement in impact resistance thanks to some other new things, all covered when you hit ‘more’…

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It’s recently been announced that the UCI will be flying in select media to its Aigle, Switzerland headquarters for an intimate Q&A session regarding the UCI’s new Sticker program. While there, journalists will get the run down on the new “approved by UCI” program from Julien Carron, the UCI’s technical coordinator and will also take part in a presentation from UCI president, Pat McQuaid.

This all comes less than 2 months after McQuaid came forward to VeloNews, after meeting with Johan Bruyneel regarding the ban of race radios, and the tension developing between the UCI and select pro tour teams, including Bruyneel’s. During McQuaid’s talk with VeloNews, Mcquaid accused the leaders of the so called “breakaway league” of attempting to create a separate pro riding organization to sidestep the UCI.

While exact details haven’t surfaced to confirm McQuaid’s assumptions, the UCI seems to be taking no chances with a prompt PR move to answer any of the media’s questions.

This should be interesting.

New for 2012, Camelbak has two tone-matched freeride packs, the Agent and Asset, complete with color-matched insulation sleeve for the hose. They’ve also got a new Charge LR lightweight XC-oriented pack that borrows the lumbar reservoir of the Octane LR’s but gives it a taller cargo section with more room for a pump/shock pump and rain jacket.

I rode with the Charge LR at PressCamp and really liked it. Having the water weight sit lower is quite comfortable, albeit slightly more challenging to fill in a hurry, and the hose runs through the pack and over the shoulder, which is a nice change from the Octane’s under the pack hose run (The Octane’s really more of a running/multisport pack anyway). Interior pocket size and placement is also really, really good, fitting an iPhone into the Velcro’s mesh pockets perfectly and keeping it in easy reach without having to take the pack completely off. The side panels have zippered pockets with plenty of storage for gels, etc. The exterior material is their super light Mini Ripstop with DWR coating.

Now, if Delta could just locate my suitcase, I’d be able to spend a little more quality time with it and all the other schwag I got from PressCamp…AAAAARRRGH!

Alex Rims, the company behind A-Class Wheels, sources the raw materials to make their own alloys, which are then used on their wheels. They showed off new models for road/triathlon, mountain bikes and folding commuters at PressCamp last week.

Their new ALX850 carbon fiber tubular road wheel (front, above) has a 50mm depth, uses their own mold and is made in one of their factories. It uses sealed cartridge bearing Japanese hubs with DT Swiss spokes. MSRP $1800, weight for the pair is a claimed 1370g.

The ALX820 (middle) has a 40mm deep carbon rim with scandium brake track and rim bed bonded to it. Its not just a carbon aero shell bonded to an alloy rim like most similar wheels, it’s a full carbon rim with the alloy brake track added on top. MSRP is $1700 with a claimed weight of 1780g and can be used for cyclocross.

Speaking of cyclocross, they have some new disc brake cyclocross wheels coming out in two models with 130 rear hub spacing.

ALX 730 is one of their top end alloy clincher wheels. It uses their proprietary EXA alloy and comes in at 1540g for the set. MSRP $800 with DT Swiss aero spokes, available in white or black, and it’s tubeless compatible.

Skip past the break for more…

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After the last Chainwear Challenge post, there were a couple questions that had risen mainly about the stock grease or lube that Shimano uses and differences between the construction of 9 vs 10 speed chains. At the end of my time at the Shimano XT press camp, I took the opportunity to ask one of Shimano’s main tech gurus, Nick Murdick, those very questions to get the official answer straight from the source.

So should you keep the factory chain lube? Are there notable differences between 9 speed and 10 speed chain construction?

Check out my short interview with Nick after the break!

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Photo submitted by Michael Ken, “Taken at about 900 Meters above sea level at Sentul, Bogor, Indonesia at a a perfect 8.00 AM with plenty of mist & golden sunlight! nothing felt better!!!”

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

Photo by Leslie Kehmeier; a section of singletrack at New River National Park

Underneath the surface, Mammoth Cave is home to a 390-mile subterranean cave network.  In fact, this is the largest known underground cave network on the planet.  Because of this feature, visitors come for the caves, but seem to forget that there is a wonderful national park above them.  Fishing, kayaking, camping, horse back riding, and even cycling can all be accomplished during your stay.

The park’s above ground area is mostly utilized by the locals, and even at that, it sees little action.  Since 1999, mountain bikers have had semi-official access to trails in the park that follow old road beds.  This being Kentucky, and horse country, they ran into a few bumps along the way.  However, the equine aficionados and the mountain bikers found a way to work together, and create a trail system that will accommodate both recreational hobbies.

Thanks to a recent reassessment process to determine what the park users wanted, everyone is coming out a winner.  The horse folk will regain access to their favorite trail (Sal Hollow), and the mountain bikers are going to see a new 8 to 10 mile section of single track created (tentatively named Big Hollow).

This story is much more in-depth than this brief summary however.  I strongly encourage you to head over to the source link below and read the full article.

Source: Adventure Journal

Image Credit: Michael Frank