BikeRumor.com

Put out by MakeTV, the video side of Make Magazine, the video features some crazy bike mods. My favorite is the “wrong way bike”.  He can’t even ride it.  All made by Cyclecide, an artists collaborative in San Francisco, CA.  Why can’t they teach practical stuff like this in high school shop classes?

Aaron Fotheringham set a Guinness World Record for most consecutive backflips…in a wheelchair.  There’s actually video of him pulling off this trick from about two years ago, so the news here is the world record in October, and that he was just given $20,000 on Fox’s “Secret Millionaire” television reality show.

In an Las Vegas Sun article, Fotheringham said he plans to use the money to start Hardcore Sitting Company, a business idea to help others in wheelchairs realize their athletic potential. 

Andrew Jackson, a California rider comes from a motocross and trail background, and this video shows some pretty sweet hops and tricks.  I’m not a huge BMX freak, but I think some of his moves are pretty novel…I haven’t seen them before.  Worth taking a break to watch.

Looking for something to do this New Years without having to get a designated driver (or pedaler)?  This video captures the “fun” of Roller Racing, also known as a Goldsprint.  This video is from Rollapaluza in London, but here are a few U.S. based groups, events and manufacturers of Roller Racers for your next partay.  People will be puking, but not because they drank too much.  Good times…

• Bike Works NYC - 4up Bicycle Roller Racer w/ dial
• http://www.velozueri.ch/goldsprint_06.htm Zurich
• Rollapaluza - Roller Racing in: London
• Monday Night Gold Sprints - Gold Sprints in Seattle
• Salt City Sprints - Gold Sprints in: Salt Lake City
• NYC GoldSprints - Gold Sprints in: New York City
• ColdSprints - Gold Sprints in Minneapolis
• OpenSprints - Open Source software and hardware for Gold Sprints
• RockySprints - GoldSprints in Bozeman, Montana
• N.O.Sprints OpenSprints in New Orleans
• Southern California Roller RacingComing soon to San Diego and Los Angeles
• Minneapolis Star Tribune article and video on Goldsprints at Grumpy’s

Yes, this is not exactly new, but if you haven’t seen it, it’s got a cool wipeout at the end when the bike catastrophically fails. They just don’t make ‘em like they used to.

Feather Brakes is a relative newcomer to the bicycle industry, but their founder, Bob Barnett has a history of breaking ground in everything from  Powerboats to Offroad Racing to Indy Racing before helping set some standards in DH mountain bike parts.  He helped pioneer the Mr. Dirt-USA downhill chainguides, which led to the three-bolt standard widely used today.  We met their rep, Ken, at Interbike and were really impressed with the look and feel of the product, so we arranged for a demo set to review.

I’ve been running the Feather Brakes road calipers for a little over a month, and the initial impressions are overwhelmingly positive.  With a claimed weight of 199g (ours actually weighed LESS than that!), they’re on par with Zero Gravity in terms of weight…but what about performance?

Read “more” for the full review and see why these should be your next brakes, price be damned…

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Watch the BMX Vert Final from Orlando’s Dew Tour Playstation Pro.  This is about a 52 minute video, so in case you can’t make it to the end (spoiler alert), Jamie Bestwick wins.

Couple of updates to this post (12/9):

The Portland edition of the Bicycle Film Festival is headed to Portland, OR, this weekend, and they’re looking for volunteers for two three hour shifts on Saturday, December 13.

In exchange, you’ll get free entry to the movies.  The festival runs different programs on Friday and Saturday, so there’ll be plenty to see when you’re not working.  There’s also an after party at Holocene, but your on your own to finagle entry to that and it’s free.

Interested?  Contact Zoe at zoe@bicyclefilmfestival.com or 917-304-9632.

Want something else free?  Click on the image to see the full size poster, then print it out.  Presto, free poster.

Read “more” to see some of the video trailers…

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Check out this app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  Called ‘Bike or Die‘, it’s $6.99 in the iTunes App Store (this link will open iTunes).  The video shows the action, which is a little unrealistic, but looks pretty fun.  The buttons and controls, as well as the rider and bike, are totally customizable…you can drag the controls to where you want them on the screen.

The game is also available for the Palm OS, and you can download a free trial for that system on their website.  The Palm version has more than 2,000 downloadable, user submitted levels and maps.

I spoke with Harlan Price, a pro rider that we interviewed at the MTB Oktoberfest recently, about the India Stage Race that he’s working with as the U.S. ambassador for the event.  Some of our recent posts (here and here) show the growing interest in stage races, and this one seemed particularly interesting due to the location and huge purse.  Here’s what he had to say about the event:

BIKERUMOR: First up, what is the India Stage Race and how did you get involved with it? 

HARLAN: The India Stage Race is actually called the Khanchendzonga Mountain Bike Expedition. I Titled the blog India Stage Race to make it easier to find, for people who couldn’t remember how to spell Khanchendzonga. 

The event is a nine day stage race through the foothills of the Himalayas in India’s northern state of Sikkim. The stages travel from village to village and are between 15 and 40 miles a day. Sikkim’s tourism department is responsible for the race, and their main goal is to show off the country. Having shorter mileage compared to other big stage races is supposed to allow participants more of the day to enjoy each location they stop in. It will be a fully supported race with aid stations, lodging and meals provided. At $500 it’s a bargain considering you are getting 12 nights of accommodations. It should be made clear that during the actual race, the sleeping arrangements will be two man tents. 

I got involved because I am interested in adventure travel and was looking for a chance to go overseas to new places and race a mountain bike. I wrote the tourism department to see what the race was like and somehow I ended up being the US liaison for the race.

Read “more” to learn about the $25,000 cash purse, see where in the world Sikkim is and more…

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As promised, here’s our followup to the “official-ness” of Road Tubeless.  With wheel support from Shimano, Campy, Roval, Fulcrum and A-Class, as well as interest from folks like Stan’s NoTubes, the question isn’t whether there’s industry support.  Rather, it’s why go tubeless on the road?

The obvious question is “why would I want to run lower tire pressure on a road bike?”

Well, for answers, I went straight to the source.  Steve Boehmke (formerly of RockShox and Shimano and a Mountain Bike Hall of Famer) is a marketing and product development advisor to Hutchinson and has been the man behind promoting this new technology.  He gave us the scoop…there’s more to it than just lower pressure.  Read our interview when you click “more“…

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We got a little video of this bike at Interbike’s demo days, but to be honest, looking at it doesn’t do a ton to explain how the Magic Link works. This video helps a little.

Basically, the Magic Link connects the bottom of the main shock to the frame, adn the chainstay pivots on the Magic Link. While seated and pedaling, the geometry is a little taller for better pedaling…while descending, the angle slackens and the chainstay length increases (as well as the travel) for a more responsive ride. Basically, it’s technological magic, and you can see how it really works by clicking here, then select “Videos” (there’s no direct link) and watch the Theory one. If you’re mechanically inclined, its pretty interesting.  Our Interbike post on Kona has detailed pics.

Just found this little mag from across the pond, and wouldn’t you know it, their blog has one of the sickest little fixie vids I’ve seen.  Fixed Magazine is pretty new, only in their 2nd issue, but they’re throwing a launch party this Saturday to premiere Macaframa’s new movie and kick off the publication in style.  Here’s hoping this one finds its way to Barnes & Noble stores…

Wait for it, it goes into slo-mo…this dude’s a freakin’ moron.

OK. Now back to the “real” news, I promise.