Back in April, Cannondale showed us the first prototype of the Scalpel 29er mountain bike with frame weight claims of 1900g for the Large size.

Well, now there are all-but-production frames in the wild being demoed here at Eurobike (which means they’re rideable, which means they’re basically production spec frames) and we had a chance to weigh them just as Cannondale was packing up their demo booth for the day. Jump past the break for actual complete bike weights, specs and pics…

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New for 2012, Lazer has introduced a new hi-viz yellow graphic treatment called FLURO. This bright yellow “be seen” color is not a simple spray on application like others, but instead it is part of the shell itself. That means it won’t wear off, or fade away over the years.

The new flash yellow color will be available on the popular Helium road helmet, the Nirvana MTB helmet, and the Tardiz aero helmet.

Zipp has totally redesigned the workhorse of their wheel lineup with the new 303 Firecrest.

It remains 45mm deep, but gets the bulbous Firecrest rim profile that’s 28.5mm at widest and 26.2mm at the brake track. Zipp’s brand manager Andy Paskins says aerodynamics are improved about 8% over the prior model, giving it about a 78 second advantage over a 40km TT compared to a square-ish alloy rim (30mph at 300watts with 15 degree frontal crosswind, if you care)

They’ll be offered with full carbon tubular and clincher rims, making this the first carbon clincher for the 303. Road and CX build are the same, though they get different stickers. We don’t know why either.

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Like all good things, SRAM’s 2×10 drivetrain tech continues to trickle down, this year making it all the way to the entry level X5.

It gets Exact Actuation, 1:1 shifting and will be available in 2×10, 3×10 and 3×9 options. You could still do 2×10 2×9 if you want but they don’t recommend it because the chainrings, chain and cogs are optimized for either 9- or 10 speeds, so front performance wouldn’t be as tight as it should.

The group will also have their All Mountain bash guard as an option. The only limitation is that it doesn’t get the new non requires the X0 or X7 chainring-specifif front derailleur to use the non-3:2 chainring combos that were recently introduced.

UPDATED: Pricing, specs and weights after the break, plus the changes visible here.

SRAM’s European mountain bike marketing manager Simon Cittati says this gives beginners the intuitive simplicity of a double with the range of a 10 speed cassette with max 36 tooth cog. The X5 (1030) level cassette even has an aluminum spider construction. Technology trickles down pretty far, just weight and materials finish really separate it from the upper tiers. Pic of the crankset after the break…

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Take off those commuter tires, and mount up the knobbys.  The cyclocross season is just around the corner.  The organizers of the U.S. GP of Cyclocross series are are not wasting any time.  The first day of Fall is September 23rd.  Their first ‘cross race, held in Madison, WI, is September 24th and 25th.  I like their style.

The series is held over four weekends, and includes eight total races, and is sponsored by Greenware®.  The full calendar includes:

• Planet Bike Cup – Madison, WI on September 24 and 25
• New Belgium Cup – Fort Collins, CO on October 8 and 9
• Derby City Cup – Louisville, KY on November 12 and 13
• Deschutes Brewery Cup – Bend, OR on December 10 and 11

After watching the video I am ready to go get muddy and eat a waffel.  Who’s with me?

It’s not often that companies take the time to re-think something as ubiquitous and established as the tire lever.  Sure, there are some that are stronger than others, and some that become favorites by being a bit more comfortable, but there are very few different tire levers on the market.  At Interbike last year, we had the chance to meet Dave from Prestacycle.  A relentless tinkerer, Dave was excited about his new Prestalever tire levers.  With their patent-pending “Rim Hook,” Prestacycle claim that their Prestalevers are faster, safer, and easier to use than anything else on the market.  Prestalevers in hand, we headed to the workshop to see how the claims held up.  Hit the jump to find out how they worked.

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Photo submitted by Bob Hoefer, “Great Brook Farm State Park outside of Boston. Late summer color
in the woods.”

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

Hmm… CnnMoney just did a list of the pricey things that are selling despite the tightening of purse strings everywhere. Cribs for $1000, ice cream for $17 a pint, …and a beach cruiser for $400? They chose to highlight Villy Customs – a custom beach cruiser mail-order company out of Dallas. CnnMoney listed $400 as the price tag for the beach cruisers, but you can’t get any of the bikes for less than $505 on Villy’s website and an Electra Townie sells for about that much. So what’s the hoopla? They could’ve  just checked our website and found a number of pricey items selling in the cycling industry despite the poor economy. Sure, it’s cool to be able to customize your bike, but I don’t think that pricetag warrants a mention on that list. Why not choose an actual custom builder? Now there’s a story…

Magura’s new MT8 disc brakes claim to have the world’s first carbon fiber master cylinder. Combined with their carbon/thermoplastic resin lever blades easily put them under 200g per wheel (excluding rotor). I’ve had my set installed on my Niner Jet 9 with a 160 front/140 rear rotor for a bit now and have been testing them in basic XC settings. No major downhills yet, but enough to get a good first impression for you.

But first, let’s see what’s in the box and how much everything really weighs, shall we?

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Keep watching ’til the end for the names of the trails they rode – great video inspiration for a future MTB trip!

via Paul Petch on bikeporn.co.nz.

Photo from the collection of Rustybicycle. If you think you know what these are, post your answer in ‘comments’ – the answer will be posted there on Tuesday!

To send in your own Mystery Pic to be considered for the Monday feature, click here and attach your photo with all pertinent information.

via Paul Petch at bikeporn.co.nz.