BikeRumor.com

NAHBS 2010 - Ever wonder what a man who builds frames and components would build and ride himself?  Pictured here is Chris King’s personal road bike, and it’s pretty sweet.  Sure Cielo makes fairly straightforward frames with few if any frills, but the devil’s in the details, and the closer you look, the sweeter this bike becomes.

Besides the owner’s ride, Cielo had some new colors on display for 2010 and their entry into the Oregon Manifest’s Constructor’s Challenge.  Check it all out after the jump…

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Great music, great clips and good times captured edited down for your entertainment by Heather Jurewicz.  Somehow this just makes us wish cyclocross season would never end.  Keep watching…just when you think it’s winding down, that’s when the real fun (and pain) begins.  Wait, what?  Kid’s ‘cross?

NAHBS 2010 - Whether you’re traveling around town or around the globe (and don’t want the airlines to know…looking at you, United), Dean Titanium had a sweet range of their bikes on display.

Above is the Randonneur, built with couplers, disc brakes and fenders, it’s one sweet looking touring bike.  The white bits are just icing on the cake.  Custom sized frames start at $2,350 and the S&S Titanium couplers are $750.

Check out the rest, including that Track bike in the background, after the break…

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NAHBS 2010 - Brooks England showed off their new perforated white leather bar tape.  It comes with cork/wood bar plugs and matching adhsive fabric finishing strips.  White joins brown, black, honey and green in their color collection.  It’s natural leather, hecho in China and will be available stateside for about $100/set in a couple months.

NAHBS 2010 - Speedvagen’s new cyclocross bike is pretty on the outside, but the real beauty is in the trick details throughout the frame.  Speedvagens are built in stock sizes in batches of about 30, and this model starts at $3,000 for the frame, fork and seatpost assembly.  If you’re able to make the trip to their factory in Portland, OR, they’ll do a custom one for $500 more.

The cyclocross bike uses some nifty cable runs to maintain a super clean look while reducing weight and simplifying the brake routing.  Hit ‘more’ for tons of pics and details…

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NAHBS 2010 - HandleBra was showing their true colors with more than 11 shades of real leather bar tape.  Founder Ray Schmidt says his leather handlebar wraps are made in the U.S. and will last a long time, able to be re-wrapped and re-used.  Their treatment method gives the leather real water repellancy, which he says many leather bar tape brands promise but few achieve.

The wide range of colors (shown after the break) should let you match just about any color scheme you’ve cobbled together, and they definitely lend an old world aesthetic…

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A good bike rack is critical, and sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.

For pickup trucks, we found these Pipeline Racks. The company produces two-bike and three-bike models of these simple but efficient bike racks, which simply cradle the front tire to hold the bike in place in a pickup truck bed.

Load up the bikes and go, no straps, hitches, or locks. The racks accept any wheel diameter from 26” all the way up to 29ers, and only makes contact with the tire, so no scratches on the frame. These would be perfect for loading up muddy bikes after a wet trail ride, or when you just want to get home after a tough race. The system works with road and mountain bikes, with enough clearance for disc brakes.

Two-bike models retail for $179.95, and the three-bike model is $199.99, available for purchase here. Click more for a close up…

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All-City has released new pictures of their Nature Boy cyclocross bike, a fixed/SS steel ‘cross bike which is All-City’s first venture off-road. Well respected in the fixed gear community for their Big Block and Dropout frames, All-City sticks to their roots with the Nature Boy, giving the 4130 steel frame aggressive geometry, lugged crowns, signature All-City rear drop outs, and of course, internal cable routing to hide those ghastly rear brake cables.

With enough clearance for 38c ties, All-City has even gone so far as to include hidden fender mounts inside the stays of the Nature Boy, so you can keep the mud and water down on those wet rides without sacrificing looks when you ride on dry days.

All-City says the frameset will be available in late July, and a complete Nature Boy set-up should be available by August. The frame will carry an MSRP of $540, but prices for the complete bike are not yet finalized. Check out more pictures after the jump…

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Some folks may argue that it’s ridiculous to get excited about something as mundane as a seat post collar, but we know better.  We all drool over beautiful little objects and fancy the little touches that make our bikes unique and pretty.  LH Thomson’s understated design essence has carried over to a new seat collar that’s immediately desireable.  Are you going to shave grams?  Probably not.  Go faster?  Unlikely.  Look good? Indubitably.

The collars use the same bolt and barrel nut as in their seatposts and, being the proud owner of three of their seatposts, you’re not likely to break one. This design allows the bolt to “float” on either side, eliminating side stresses that can arise as you tighten the bolts on fixed position designs. MSRP is $29.95, and they’re available in both Black and Silver.  34.9 and 31.8 are available now, and the 28.6 and 29.8 should start shipping next week.  Claimed weights range from 26g to 27g.

Quick release version is being considered for the future, but cycling marketing manager David Parrett says they’re looking at a ratchet mechanism similar to DT Swiss’ RWS skewers rather than a standard cam.  Standard cams can wear out over time, forcing you to tighten the bolt more and more, which isn’t necessarily good for the frame.

If rowdy, enthusiastic flag waving fans are what Olympic organizers want crowding an event, and colorful, entertaining and action-packed events make for good TV, cyclocross seems to be the perfect fit for a Winter Olympics sport.

That’s the idea behind ‘cross nut Mike Fee’s online petition to make Cyclocross an Olympic sport, one we fully support.  Sign the petition here and cross your fingers…sure beats short form ice skating, curling, etc.  As of this posting, there are 743 signatures.  It’ll take a lot more than that to impress the IOC, so hit one of those little share/facebook/retweet buttons below and tell your friends.

Heck, if Pole Dancers can get 150,000 signatures, surely we can get more than 743…

We were able to quickly design a custom fit BikeRumor.com road bike in about ten minutes.

While it may be a lifelong dream of many cyclists, building a custom bike can be a daunting task. More than just a frame and some wheels, custom bikes allow the rider to get the exact bike they want, which starts with the exact fit they need. Now, Bike Forest’s BikeCAD program allows you to design a custom bicycle from the ground up, controlling every aspect of the build in an easy to navigate free web app.

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The Salsa La Cruz Ti cyclocross frame will be shown for the first time at Frostbike, the annual industry event of Salsa’s exclusive distributor, QBP, February 20–21. The La Cruz Ti is the third in Salsa’s new line of titanium frames.

“We chose three models [the Ala Carte, El Mariachi, and La Cruz] that have been staples in our lineup,” said Salsa general manager, Jason Boucher. “They have proven Salsa geometry, they get it done time and time again, day after day. Titanium makes them lighter, more responsive and comfortable.”

Salsa uses seamless 3/2.5 titanium tubing—Grade 9 titanium composed of 3% aluminum and 2.5% vanadium. The downtube is biaxially ovalized, which provides vertical stiffness at the headtube and lateral stiffness at the bottom bracket. The resulting frame balances strength, durability, weight and ride quality.

“All frame materials have their own merits, but titanium gives riders the best complement of features,” said Salsa product manager Tim Krueger “We wanted to give our customers an even better Salsa ride.”

While the La Cruz Ti is just joining the Salsa lineup, it’s already experienced racing success. In 2009 Salsa product designer Joe Meiser won the 340-mile Trans Iowa V.5 race on one of the prototypes. Available through pre-order only, Salsa authorized dealers will be able to order La Cruz Ti frames until March 1, with delivery expected mid-year.

Check out more info / pics here.

Ever get confused by all the bottom bracket “standards” out there?  English thread vs. Italian thread.  BB30, BB86 and BB90?

No worries.  Here’s your primer on all things bottom bracket, from it’s history and humble beginnings all the way up to today’s emerging technology.  It’s everything you need to know about bottom brackets…

The Basics:

The bottom bracket is a critical component to every drive train. Connecting the left and right cranks, this is one of those important elements on the bike that directly effects power transfer between the rider’s legs and the bike’s drivetrain.

While its concept is simple enough to understand, when it comes to bottom bracket technology, it’s easy to get confused. Incremental changes almost every year coupled with a slew of proprietary technologies from major component companies have flooded the market with more options than ever before, and it can be very confusing for the average cyclist. We broke down every type of bottom bracket you are likely to encounter and present them in a simple, easy to understand format. From mountain to road, threaded to pressed, and integrated to external, it’s all here…

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SRAM has unveiled their all-new road group called APEX, and it’s aimed squarely at Shimano’s 105 group.

The new Apex group has lots of trickle down tech from the Tour de France winning RED gruppo, including DoubleTap (one lever, two shifts), Reach Adjust (for custom lever fit), Exact Actuation (for consistent, precise shifts), and Zero-Loss shifting (for immediate shift engagement).  In fact, the concept was born from a modded wide range cassette used by Alberto Contador at the 2008 Giro d’Italia for the uphill time trial on stage 16.

The Apex group is designed and priced to take over the entry-level and touring bikes that tend to spec triple cranksets, and SRAM says the range provided by this group makes the extra weight and hassle of the triple obsolete.

How?  For starters, there the new wide-range 11-32 cassette, with looks resembling the fully machined RED and new XG999 X-Dome cassettes, though it’s construction is standard steel rings on an alloy spider to keep costs down.  I know, you’re already thinking about how this bad boy is going to work great on your cyclocross bike.

Full features, specs, weights and details after the break, plus lots more photos…

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The green colorway option...what do you think?

Raleigh’s looking for some feedback on the proposed colors for their 2011 RX ‘cross bike.  Above is the green concept, check out the silver after the break.  Vote on their Facebook page.

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