After a number of years running Ellsworth’s Vancouver, WA frame production site, David Woronets, along with his wife and partner Jen, have bought the operation and are in the process of moving it to Portland, OR.  With Ellsworth’s blessing (and better still as their first customer), the newly-formed Zen Bicycle Fabrication will be offering OEM frame manufacturing starting next month.

With a starting capacity of 300 frames per month, Zen is targeting orders of 50-150 frames at a go.  With shipping costs and currency fluctuations eroding Asian-built frames’ cost advantage on small production runs, the Woronets foresee the demand needed to keep their nine-person team busy.  The lease is signed and the move in progress- keep an eye on zenbicyclefabrication.com for more information.

Our collection of random sightings from Eurobike is dwindling. In this almost last collection, we’ve got the Pantani Project carbon road bike above along with some nice titanium rides from Rewel, plenty of odd city/commuter/transport bikes and other fun stuff…

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Looking for a little something to get into the mood? Bicycle Design has a spooktacular compendium of the halloween-ish bikes he’s seen over the years. Above, Eric Tryon’s completely ridable Skeletal Bicycle Want more? Click here if you dare!

When the fire department confiscated protestor’s gasoline tanks and generators, Time’s Up member Keegan Stephan took the bicycle-cum-generator he had set up as a display and began powering the movement.

Stating the growing number of fuel tanks and generators were violating fire safety code and creating a potentially dangerous environment, the FD has said they’re return the generators and equipment but that they can’t be used. So, to power lights, cell phones, etc., Stephan has been pedaling a stationary Schwinn hooked up to a dynamo to charge batteries.

According to the NY Times, Stephan says six hours of pedaling creates enough stored juice for 100 hours of power. Occupy Boston donated a few bicycle/generator contraptions they had rigged up, too, and it seems the crowds are gathering to see what’s up. Looks like the Occupy movement could bring about some unintended changes: a deeper look at the bicycle as a way to save energy.

Read the full story here.

Leaked last week, Tim Johnson’s prototype disc brake Cannondale SuperX cyclocross bike was captured on film by Bikeradar (photo at left) at this weekend’s UCI races in Boulder, CO.

As confirmed by Zipp, who provided the wheels, the rear end is spaced at 135mm. This provides better spoke spacing for a stronger, laterally stiffer wheel…and it takes advantage of the massive variety of hubs already available. These were built up with White Industries’ MI6 disc hubs on Zipp’s Firecrest 303 tubular rims.

Bikeradar’s reporting that Cannondale was able to make their Speed SAVE design work better on this frame because they didn’t have to reinforce areas for cantilever brakes. The Speed SAVE design, which is on their current SuperX and other bikes, creates a “micro suspension” with wide, flat seat stays and intentional flex built into the fork.

The removal of cantilever brake posts on the fork also gave them plenty of clearance for muddy tires.

UPDATED! Cannondale’s official statement on the bike posted after the break…

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Remember those beautiful machined, anodized GoPro camera mounts we saw from K-Edge at Interbike? The response was so big that they sped up production plans a bit and have an additional bar mount and direct mount options.

In addition to the original handlebar and seat rail mount, there’s a new mini handlebar mount and a direct mount that can be bolted to any flat surface. The latter is aimed more at motorsports and water sports, but could be creatively used for any number of things. All four are CNC’d 6061 T6 alloy and are 100% made in the U.S.A. They also have a lifetime guarantee (break it and they’ll replace it free) and will initially come in gunmetal, red and black ano options.

The first batch is cut and at the anodizer as this post goes live. Click through for the deets, pricing and pics…

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Photo from Derric with Bicycle Toy and Hobby in High Point, NC. If you think you know what this is, post your answer in ‘comments’ section– the answer will be posted there on Tuesday!

Tuesday: Click through to see the answer and a picture of the original 1970′s packaging.

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Photo submitted by Bertocq, “Saliencia lakes trail, Asturias (Spain)”

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

Not sure how this stacks up to Gore’s new fiber-optic based cable housing, but Power Cordz is claiming their new Prime cable set is the lightest cable and housing system in the world.

If you’re not familiar with their “cables”, they’re actually nylon-coated synthetic fibers rather than metal cables, which gives them a weight advantage to begin with. We reviewed them here.

The Prime steps it up (down?) further by replacing the traditional steel housing with a “feather light” housing created by Io Dupont. They say it’s half the weight, yielding a 16g weight loss overall on a typical installation. Weight is 18g/meter for the 4.5mm diameter version. The new kits also come with new all-alloy nosed ferrules and grommet clasps (they look like mini wiper seals) that help keep any grit out of the system.

Lastly, they now come in yellow, blue, red, black and white color options with white, red and black housings. Specs and pricing listed after the break…

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After the team imploded and their clothing went on blowout sale, Rock Racing all but disappeared from our collective consciousness in 2010.

The company, inactive for eight or nine months after Italian businessman Roberto Tronconi purchased partnered with Michael Ball to revive Rock Racing, has been quietly developing an all-new, three-model road bike line up for 2012. The leader of the pack is the all-new RX5Ri. It’s handmade in Italy using a carbon/Nomex honeycomb sandwich construction -similar to how composite aircraft tail fins and helicopter blades are made- to make it not only super strong but also reduce vibration to a claimed “near zero.” The RX5Ri comes in six stock sizes and, because it’s hand made, is also available in custom sizes.

Update: Corrected, Michael Ball still owns the Rock Racing brand, Tronconi manages R&D and production.

During the hiatus Rock Racing’s R&D department moved to Faenza, Italy, which Tronconi says gives them a very central European location. It also lets them take advantage of Italy’s established carbon frame manufacturing base and proximity to top tier fabrics and clothing accessories.

Click through to check out the RX5Ri and more, including some frame cutaway photos of the honeycomb structure…

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Trek has announced a recall on all 2012 FX and District bicycles due the possible failure of the seat saddle clamp bolt. If you have one of these bikes, bring it in to your local Trek dealer for a replacement bolt. More info here and after the break.

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Photo submitted by Ilya Signayevsky, “Mission Trails State Park.”

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