A few weeks ago, a box of goodies showed up at my door.  It was unexpected, but it’s always nice to get a big box of goodies. Unfortunately, one of the products was not destine to be reviewed by me . You see, I am useless without my prescription glasses, and thus, no RX sunglasses are not really my thing.  So, when the Revo Abyss showed up for review I passed it off to my riding buddy Mitch.   Below are his thoughts on these  sunglasses.

Right in the middle of summer, Revo sends us a pair of their Abyss frames with polarized lenses. They’re stylish, a sort of casual-sporty, and fit me great. However, it’s far more complicated than that.

Head past the jump for the full story.

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Press Release: Felt is pleased to announce the launch of its all-new Custom Paint Program.  The Custom Paint Program allows customers to create their own paint and decal schemes for the high-performance Felt F1 frameset, and will later be offered for the Felt DA frameset.  The custom paint options are accessible on the Felt Bicycles website where customers can design their own color combinations in an intuitive and user-friendly format.

Felt will offer two levels of customization with varying degrees of personalization and cost.  The Advanced Option allows consumers to select paint finish, frame color, and decal color and costs an additional $250.  The Ultimate+ Option costs $500 and allows consumers to select paint finish, paint mask color, and decal color as well as to customize a top tube text panel.  Consumers can choose from thirteen high-quality DuPont paints or raw carbon, and can coat the frames in either a gloss or a matte finish.

To allow customers to select their exact paint specifications while also including dealers into the quality assurance and customer satisfaction process, Felt has developed a unique system for frame delivery. Once the customer creates their custom paint scheme on the website, they then place an order online. When the order is placed, the customer selects a local Felt dealer where they will pick up the frame. The shop will receive the customer’s bike within 30 business days of the order being processed.

Tired of pumping your tires up all the time? Pumptire eliminates the need to do that – ever. It automatically inflates your tire to a pre-set psi and then shuts off when it reaches pressure. Watch the video for an explanation of the technology behind it.

Not to worry the pump companies yet, it’s still in prototype stages. Benjamin Krempel, the founder of Pumptire, and his group are trying to raise money via the Kickstarter site to help take it into production. They have requested $250,000 in start-up money to start testing, purchasing tooling and materials. One “Casual performance” tire plus one 65psi fixed pressure control valve and one inner tube will retail for $64.95, but you can reserve this group for a pledge of only $45 towards funding their business plan. They will also be producing a “Pro” level tire with 95psi valves. You can reserve a set of those for $100, with retail for the set to be $149.90.  Click here if you want to make a pledge.

Michelin recently revamped their Wild series of tires with much improved tread patterns and casings, and now they’re already putting out improved versions of those.

The new Wild Grip’r 2, above, is their all-purpose mountain bike tire. Meant for both dry and muddy conditions, the tread design is revised, the casing comes in tubeless or tubeless ready options and new rubber compounds. Even better, there will be more size options, including a 29er. The new rubber compound is said to be “the best” balance between grip, rolling resistance and longevity. The new Wild Grip’r 2 has already scored a number of wins in 4X World Cup competition with bikers Anneke Beerten and Céline Gros. A 26×2.10 and 26×2.25 Wild Grip’R Advanced, and 26×2.10 Wild Grip’R will come available this fall with the other sizes scheduled for market launch in early 2012.

Check the Race’r Ultimate after the break…

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You’re seeing Team Luna’s Orbea Terra cyclocross bike before the riders are. Thanks to team mech Chris’ email, we’ve got the photos and specs on what team riders Katerina Nash and Georgia Gould will be racing this winter while they’re still in Europe contesting the XC circuit. Skip past the break for component list and more pics…

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As Fall approaches and our days start to get shorter, lights will become a necessity.  There is no excuse to ride after dark without proper lightning.  It is a danger to yourself and others.  As one of the commuter contributors here at BikeRumor I find myself the recipient of a lot of lights for testing.  On review right now is a good selection of products from NiteRider.  For 2012 they were able to double the output of their lights.  Is brighter always better?  I will answer that in the full review coming in a few weeks.  Past the break you will find my initial impressions of their Pro 1500 LED Race light, the MiNewt.600 and MiNewt.350, the Mako 2.0, as well as their Lightning Bug 3.0 and Stinger combo pack commuter lights.

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When ordering a second pair of Crank Brothers Candy 3 pedals recently, I came across the company’s Tread Sleeve accessories.  The Tread Sleeves ares snap-on pads that serve to raise the pedals’ contact area in order to make for a more stable platform on otherwise loose shoes.  Seeing as my Mavic Razors have a shallow cleat pocket and can be a bit wobbly compared to my other shoes, for $10 I  figured that I’d give the Tread Sleeves a try.  Read on to see how things have gone…

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Photo submitted by Bill Draper, “First unofficial races on 8-21-2011 at the new temporary Chicagovelodrome. The $45m permanent indoor facility is scheduled to open in 2013.”

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

Given how inexpensive and durable HD Action Sports cameras like the GoPro HD Hero have become, they seem to be giving rise to a new school of action sports photography. The latest development seems to be the result of attaching multiple GoPro cameras to form an array capable of shooting spherical panorama video. The latest video of Mike Montgomery and Kelly McGarry is the best bicycle use of the “bullet time” camera array I have seen, though to see what else can be done with a lot of GoPros, you should really watch Gymkhana Four.

As part of a promotional tour for Levi’s new commuter jeans, which we’re testing at present, Urban Outfitters is making a city-to-city tour with a mobile shop. Our buddies over at Pedal Pushers managed to get in on it and are offering localized cycling t-shirts for Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Portland, Austin, NYC, San Francisco and Boston along with some of their more popular designs (Ride More Drive Less). The shirts are super soft, we’ve got several of them ourselves.

Click here to get the tour locations and dates and find the shirts in Urban Outfitters stores and at Pedal Pushers’ website.

Because I’m such a fanboy, as several of our readers have pointed out, we’ll get an exclusive first look at whatever Niner has up their sleeves for Eurobike this Wednesday. Until then, stare at this and speculate…

As much as we loved Sun-Ringle’s Black Flag wheels when we reviewed them, it’s nice to see the color options get a little more subdued. For 2012, you’ll have this nice black rim with minimal gray-ish graphics. The champagne hubs are muted enough to go with most frame and component colors, too. The Black Flags use Stan’s NoTubes licensed rim designs with rim tape pre-installed, making them tubeless compatible straight outta the box, and they’re a bargain…which is why we’re seeing them spec’d on more bikes as OEM. Close up pic of the hub after the break…

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