Photo submitted by Michael Frey, “Grasshopper takes in knowledge from the Wise One.  The Ohio Valley Cyclocross shares the love by racing a mini CX course for the youngsters.  Introducing kids to the sport adds to the fun, encourages a healthy family  lifestyle and develops more serious riders for the Lionhearts team.  Like their elders, the mini CX’ers are powered by adrenalin, viking horns and cow bell.”

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

Typically, after a long day wandering the halls of Interbike it’s easy to be lured into a deep sleep by a comfy and quiet hotel bed. However, after the exhibit hall closes the industry as a whole disperses into the neon glow of Vegas to eat exotic food, attend lavish parties, or ring cowbells at cycling styled athletic pursuits. This year, while the majority of the Interbike hoard were taking in a cross race generally devoid of beer hand-ups and racers ruining it for everyone, we were instead lucky enough to be invited to participate in the ODI Gokart Invitational at Pole Position Raceway just off the Vegas strip.

With absolutely no idea what to expect, I made my way to the track armed with the new Contour Roam in hopes of documenting some of the party while trying to find out if the Roam really is the easiest helmet cam to use on the market. What better way to test out the camera than in an unfamiliar setting with very limited time to get the mount set up?

Oh, and with the help of Eric Carter and Mike Montgomery, BikeRumor found its way to the podium….

(more…)

Whisky Parts Co. showed off a large collection of launch products at Interbike. Like their sister company, Foundry Cycles, the Whisky components are all carbon and all muted black with minimal logos. The exception is that there are both gloss and matte finish options on most items.

The forks, of which there are seven distinct versions (14 SKUs if you count both finish options), are the first to hit retail and should be in stock before September is a memory. The handlebars and seatposts, also on display, along with carbon bottle cages and stems are all on tap for November. Apparel, bar tape and grips will roll out in May 2012.

Given the emphasis most carbon rigid fork makers put on 29ers, it’s almost refreshing to see a brand new 26″ carbon rigid fork hit the mainstream, and Whisky’s got one. UPDATE: Actually, they’re saying both forks are designed primarily for 29ers. They also have disc and canti forks for cyclocross and tapered and straight forks for road bikes, too. Click through to see it all…

(more…)

Having a publicly available email address means tons of spam.  I often find myself cleaning out our BikeRumor email box and trashing everything from messages in foreign languages to press releases that have nothing to do with cycling.  However, once in a while we get a gem in the inbox.  Today I came across a pretty cool note from Mike Ahrens of Ahrens Bicycles in Scotts Calley, CA.

Mike works with Travis Kaschalk of Hit N Run Designs to produce his WiseCracker LITE bottle openers.  Travis has a couple of his own products as well.  The newest of which is the AXIS Direct Mount System.

For the full details and another image you know what to do.

(more…)

Prolific inventor/hacker/modder Ben Heck has turned his talents to cyclists with a sonar-like proximity sensor that alerts cyclists when they’re in the “door zone.” The handlebar mounted device uses Parallax ping sensors to determine distance from cars on either side. It flashes warning lights to let you know if you’re too close on the right or left and even has a built in ambient light sensor to dim the lights at night. After all, you don’t want them to be distracting.

His weekly video episode is embedded after the break that shows the full development cycle. Nerdy as it is, it’s pretty darn cool and creative folks could mod this into a garage door sensor for roof racks or whatever else your imagination cooks up…

(more…)

Like most of the people I ride with, both my large and small mountain bike bags are permanently packed with both tire and shock pumps.  Sure, it’s easy to set and forget air shocks, but bringing a shock pump along makes it much easier to find ideal suspension pressures or adjust for conditions and pack loads- and every shock will leak down over time.  For us, Topeak have made the Shock N Roll pump.  Other brands’ dual-mode pumps haven’t necessarily been successful, but the fact that I”m still carrying the same Topeak pump that saw me through a 2000 Great Divide ride gives me hope that this one might do the trick.  The $85 price is dear, but if that’s what it takes to replace 2 $40 pumps and save some pack space, so be it!

www.topeak.com

Though it’s often difficult to spot (let alone photograph) interesting bikes in crowded exhibition booths, BMC’s new Speedfox SF29 caught my eye for its good looks, well-regarded suspension, and well thought-out combination of high-zoot and practical parts. Coming with 100mm of well-regarded Fox air-sprung travel front and rear, a SRAM XO 2×10 group, Easton EA70 tubeless wheels, and mid-range Avid Elixir 7 brakes, the SF29 looks to strike a good balance between cost and performance. The onza (formerly onZa) tires were a welcome surprise too- but looked to share little with anything from that brand’s heyday…  Click through for the full specification card…

(more…)

Photo submitted by Rowan Hick, “This is from the Olleros Downhill Trail in Peru. We drove 4 hours up to the top of Olleros trail, then spent 5 hours getting from 12,000 ft to the Pacific Ocean. Simply the most epic day of mountain biking I’d ever done. 50+ km of downhill. The entire trip was 10 days long, 7 glorious days of riding. Follow the link for a photo essay.” Click ‘more’ to see one of their amazing views from the top of the mountain.

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

(more…)

You may remember the MonkeyLectric LED Wheel Light that lights up patterns inside the entire wheel – now they’ve come up with the “Mini” that straps to your spokes and shows 8-bit graphics. Not available yet, MonkeyLectric is raising money through Kickstarter to set up production. A $50 donation on Kickstarter puts you in line to receive one of these lights as soon as they get production up and running, estimated delivery Dec. 2011. Click ‘more’ to see the suggested 8-bit patterns – only 15 can be programmed into the light. If the project gets funded, MonkeLectric will let you vote on which 15 are included.

(more…)

We spotted these at Eurobike, and now Niner’s given us weights and details about their new RDO 15mm thru-axle carbon rigid fork and RDO carbon seatpost.

The former takes their lustworthy rigid fork and gives it a 15mm thru axle dropout and fresh graphics. It’s disc only, good for up to a 185mm rotor and comes in their entire swatch book of Niner colors. Well, except fridge green. Claimed weight is 570g on it’s own and 630g with the Maxle inserted. Numbers: 470mm axle-to-crown and 45mm rake.

(more…)

Where to begin…Topeak already has a rather large catalog of tools, accessories and other bits. A lot of those have been given functional upgrades for 2012, and there are a few new items joining them.

Above, there’s a new stem cap mounted iPhone 4 bracket and case with a carbon fiber back plate. The front is covered by a gel-like surround with clear cover that lets you operate the touchscreen while keeping it generally protected from the elements. MSRP on this is TBD, as is final release date. Let’s just hope it’s before October 4.

See the rest after the break…

(more…)

Beyond having some very nice stuff from eecycle works mounted up in their booth, the guys at Calfee were also sporting some trick stuff of their own.  First up, I spotted a very odd looking stem faceplate and asked what was going on there.  I was told it is an early prototype that is a socket to hold an LED light.  The stem faceplate is somewhat universal-ish from what I am told, so with any luck it will fit a variety of stems.  However, if you are paying Calfee for a full custom bike, I have a feeling one might spring for a custom bar-stem setup with fully integrated wiring.  The light should have around 200 lumens output.  Look for more details plus a finished product at NAHBS in March.

Head on over to the other side for more images and details.

(more…)