Hot on the heels of their move to offer complete bikes, Guru just sent over these renderings of their new patent-pending frame stops for internal routing.

The design allows for either mechanical or electronic drivetrains, swapping in cable stops or wire plugs depending on what you’re running. The real beauty of the design is that you can easily upgrade/swap down the road without worrying if your frame is compatible. No doubt it’ll be on their frames (it was shown on their Photon HL at NAHBS, though they didn’t make a big deal about it there), and we’re waiting to hear back if they’ll offer it aftermarket or for other OEM customers. Update as we get it.

You may remember the Photon HL above from our GURU NAHBS coverage where we checked out the 670g frame in person. Even though this radical 11 pound rocket won’t be available as is, the bike will be offered fully built now that GURU has launched a new complete bike program. According to GURU, the move to offer a full line of complete bikes is a big one for the small manufacturer and was done to make the purchasing process for both dealers and customers as easy as possible.

Check out the frames and builds offered next…

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Even for those of us who aren’t beer drinkers, the links between bike and beer cultures are awfully hard to deny.  For one reason or another, it seems like bike folks are often into their brews- and vice versa.  Substantial crossover aside, if there’s ever any doubt about the similarities between the two camps just substitute “tire compound” or  “head angle” for “malt” or “IBUs” when that dude in the microbrew hoodie gets rolling. (Yes, that’s exactly what us bike geeks sound like.)

A side project of the bike-loving guys at Oskar Blues Brewery, REEB Cycles is a collaboration with fellow Coloradan Generic Cycles (also known as Chris Sulfrian).  Designed for the steep ups and downs along the Front Range, the REEB is hand built in Colorado out of True Temper OX Platinum steel tubing (a Ti version is also available).  With its Gates belt drive and decidedly trail-oriented geometry, the REEB is a unique bike- and a whole lot of fun.

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Poking around a company’s manufacturing plant almost always yields a few peeks at what’s in the pipeline, and my tour of Calfee’s factory didn’t disappoint. A full factory tour will be posted after Sea Otter’s put to bed, but this new bike just couldn’t wait!

This is a prototype (albeit a rideable, pretty finished version) of a new frame that’ll be available in Pro (road), Adventure (gravel/endurance) and Cyclocross build options.

Craig Calfee says it’s the first time in 20 years he’s been able to take all they’ve learned from so many years of developing their systems and molds and tooling and start with a complete clean sheet, and he seemed pretty excited telling the story:

It was born at Interbike in 2012. They were hanging out at the Praxis booth, which was next to Look Cycles. Thierry, Look’s general manager, offered them the opportunity to use their proprietary ZED2 one-piece carbon cranks, the first time anyone other than Look has been allowed to sped them. They put the first set on the massive bamboo road bike shown at NAHBS, and this is the second install.

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Dave Rosen poses with a Skyline roadbike

Recently, I found myself in the same neighborhood as PDW, so I stopped in to say hi and chat with Dan Powell.  It’s these kinds of chat’s that often lead to interesting meetings and knowledge.  In this case it was no different, as Dan informed me of a new bicycle brand launching right here in Portland.  He put me in touch with one of the co-founders, Dave Rosen.

Dave has worked in the cycling industry for a while now, and after departing his last job he decided it was time to do his own thing.  That thing was to partner up with Dave Levy of Ti-Cycles and launch a titanium bike brand dubbed Sage Cycles.  With over 27 years of experience engineering and building custom bikes, Mr. Levy is a good person to be involved with.  The two of them set out designing and refining the lineup that now includes a road frame, ‘cross frame, commuter / light touring frame, and a soon-to-be mountain bike frame.  Each of these frames come in a variety of builds depending on the riders needs.  The design and QC of the bikes is done here in the US-of-A (at Ti-Cycles), and in an effort to keep cost minimized, the manufacturing takes place overseas.

Check out our first look at the bikes here. Click through for some words from Dave Rosen, and a break down of the frames and builds…

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HED just popped out a little blurb on their new Ardennes FR tubular disc brake wheels and re-announced the Ardennes+ super wide rims.

The Ardennes FR, above, are purpose built for wider 25-40mm tires running lower tire pressure. There’s no brake track, so they’re disc specific, which makes them a bit lighter at the outer rotating edge, too. The extra width of the 23.5mm wide rim gives plenty of room to glue the tire and the rounded edges should help prevent pinch flats.

The Ardennes+ were spotted at NAHBS in both disc and rim brake options. They’re coming in with 25mm widths and are tubeless ready. Photo after the break…

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Please help Jon Littleford get his personal bike back. The beautiful rig he showed at this years’ NAHBS was stolen in front of Portland’s downtown courthouse on April 11, 2013.

From Jon: “On the morning of Thursday, April 11 the Littleford Expedition rig, shown 2 months ago at NAHBS, was stolen from where it was locked, on camera, in front of the downtown courthouse. The bike was there for just over an hour.

In the world of high end touring bikes, and in the hallowed halls of NAHBS, Paul Components have long been a popular staple. The company produces a wide variety of high end components that are renowned for their showroom good looks and ability to withstand daily abuse.

Each and every one of the beautiful products they produce are manufactured in a small factory in Northern California. Head past the break to see how it’s done…

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Sarif Cycle Worx is a new custom builder right in our own backyard in Greensboro, NC. Founded by longtime cyclist David Johnson, he’s focusing on fillet brazed steel and, thus far, has only made 29ers despite his personal preference for road.

Shown above is his latest test mule. It’s being raced by Tommy Rodgers, who pedaled it (and those Geax prototypes) to the fastest lap time at the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek. The frame is a very interesting mix of tubing, including some NASCAR-spec tubes for the seatstays. The cranks are also worth a look; they’re fully customized thanks to plenty of machining and matching orange CeramiKoat on the chainrings.

Click on through for all the details…

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We recently covered Breadwinner’s unveiling at NAHBS and found out they are building semi-custom TIG welded steel frames in six different formats. Last Friday night I caught up with Ira Ryan and Tony Pereira at the Breadwinner launch party. Velo Cult in Portland hosted the event, an evening of beers, bikes and their owners that lasted late into the evening. While there were plenty of fine examples of their new bike line, most impressive was the display of well-ridden Ira Ryan and Pereira bikes for everyone to see. This was a brilliant idea, to have old customers and friends bikes on display, most of whom rode their custom bikes over that evening to celebrate the success and craftsmanship of these builders.

Breadwinner’s website is a great resource for bike photos, so I wanted to snap a few decent close-ups of the details. I also managed to ask them a few questions for this little interview.

More photos and an interview after the break. READ MORE ->