Alongside a bunch more new items in Paul Components NAHBS booth were these Minimoto linear pull brakes, and they’re now shipping.

The Minimoto is a compact V-brake designed to work with short pull levers, which includes standard drop bar road bike levers. This lets you run your standard brake/shift lever road group and get the right amount of leverage at the brakes without any force amplifying gizmos in between. It’s also way easier to install and set up than traditional ‘cross cantilevers.

Claimed weight is 108g per wheel and retail is $129 (update: per wheel). They’re available in silver or black ano, come with Kool Stop pads and use Paul’s easy quick release design and sealed stainless steel pivot bushings.

Following their introduction of the fully integrated crankset power meter for the new SRAM Red, Quarq has added specific models to work with Specialized and Cannondale cranksets. They’ll be available in both 130 and 110 BCDs for standard and compact chainrings.

Full PR and more pics after the break…

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Wheels have always been my favorite part of a bike.  No other single part (do wheels count as a single part?) can effect how a bicycle performs as much as a set of wheels.  My personal preference isn’t always to go lighter however.  As I am a larger guy, and the majority of my riding is spent commuting, reliability is most important.  That’s why my personal wheels are usually a traditionally built 32 whole, 3 cross build.  That said, lightweight and low spoke count doesn’t have to equal a finicky or fragile wheel.

In searching for a reliable, do-it-all wheelset that would shave weight and add performance to the bike, I came across the A23 complete build from Velocity.  The low weight, wider 23mm rim, and great price point had me wanting a set.  That want turned into possession, and with close to 1000 miles on them now it’s time to share my experiences.  Click through for the full review.

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When it comes to gram shaving, I spend far too much time and energy sweating the small stuff. But when it comes to pouring sealant into my tires, the concerns are limited to whatever we’re reviewing at the moment (or what’s within reach). At this moment, the stars have aligned. We just got a couple bottles of Orange Seal Cycling’s tubeless sealant, which claims to be the “world’s lightest sealant.”

It’s formulated with Nanites -various shaped solid particles- and a proprietary latex to quickly clot and close punctures up to 1/4″.

We’ll be testing that lightweight claim on a scale for the review, but here’s how they explain it:

“We use nano technologies that have specific gravities that float at different levels in the suspension – at the bottom, middle and top,” says John Vargas, OSC’s CFO. If you look at competing sealants, all of the solids settle at the bottom. That’s how we can cover punctures and cuts anywhere in the tire, including the sidewall. We engineered it this way, and it just so happens that these tend to be a little lighter, too.”

Vargas says everything in their formula is naturally found and non-toxic, and some of the ingredients are biodegradable. They’ve also added an ingredient that pulls the ammonia out of the latex and binds with it to make it inert. This neutralizes it so it won’t corrode tires or wheels. It also works well inside tubes.

Video after the break shows it sealing a double nail hole pretty darn quickly…

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Thrones has added another style to their graphically loaded bike saddle collection, the Speed Demon.

It’s the same shape and design as their other saddles, but with a simple, racy red and white stripe design that should match up well with all of the black/red/white road bikes out there.

Their saddles have a rounded off tail section, which makes them good for cyclocross, too, since they’re easy to get off the back of and in our testing are fairly comfortable. They have a microfiber cover, super light padding, hollow titanium rails and a nylon/carbon fiber shell.

MSRP is $159.99.

The first preview of Kona’s 2013 lineup has just ‘crossed our desks – the Rove is their all-purpose cyclocross bike that’s designed to tackle any terrain you point the wheels toward.

The frame is prepped for racks and fenders, a tall bottom bracket and a forgiving chromoly steel frame and fork. It’s designed with plenty of tire clearance, too, accommodating 45c tires in the open or 40c with fenders. It’ll come spec’d with mechanical disc brakes and retail for just $1,699 complete. Available late summer. Click on through for more pics and the build spec…

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Scrub Components is working on a top secret project called Alchemy, and it’s an all-new, lightweight mechanical disc brake caliper.

Mechanical caliper? Yep, it’s somewhat of a forgotten category with hydraulic stoppers getting so small and light – lighter in many instances than cable actuated versions. So, the question is why?

Scrub’s owner Chris LaCasce thinks there’s a market for a high end offering, and we’d agree. With more cyclocross bikes coming disc equipped and road bikes with rotors on the horizon, there’s likely going to be a big market for people upgrading just the frames and moving their existing group and parts over, or those that start out small (like with the Crux we just reviewed) and then upgrade parts as their budget allows. With the UCI’s change of heart, it gave Scrub enough of a market to jump in.

“Our goals were to create a design that allows both pads to move, similar to a hydraulic, and we just wanted to do something that looked different and was lighter than what you can currently get. And we wanted to do it with Scrub style!”

Chris says they’ve been working on these for about nine months, and the goal is to have a cyclocross specific model available in time for this year’s race season. August is the target, but it’s not firm.

“One of the design challenges was the two sided movement,” he said. “There’s a reason why nobody does it. We’ve gone through four or five complete design changes, but I think we’ve come up with a pretty slick way to do it. And it still meets our criteria of being sleek and lightweight.”

The initial product will be ‘cross specific because it’s a cautious way to bring it out. It could be that the same model eventually gets approved for road after they’ve done more testing on it…or there’ll be a completely new model. Same for a mountain bike version.

“Things are definitely coming together. We’ll be able to follow up this post in a relatively timely manner with more details.”

We had the Specialized Crux Comp Disc Apex for six months spread amongst three riders. While I had the bike, I put in 2-5 rides per week ranging from short tabata interval workouts to indoor trainer riding to 5 hour endurance gravel road rides.  As a disclaimer, I work at a Specialized Dealer and built up and began racing on a standard Crux frame in late September – the Crux disc was a welcome change particularly when it came to riding in inclement conditions out at the park and when I managed to squeeze in a few gravel road epics.  Other than the obvious (braking), the frame is basically the same as my personal bike. To be fair, my comments here focus on the technical aspects, the other two reviewers provide more subjective comments.

Keep reading to for my thoughts, good and bad, about the bike along with comments from two of Bikerumor’s other testers that do not work at a Big S dealer…

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Spot Brand’s new Rocker Ti SS has an oversized 3/2 titanium frame that’s made specifically for Gates’ belt drive.

Uses an updated Kobe dropout with dual tension screws to fix belt/chain tension and prevent pull back from braking forces (shown below). Dropout has a shaped, snap-in cutout that pops the wheel into place, giving a tactile feel letting you know the wheel’s all the way in. It also let’s the belt tension hold the wheel in place while you tighten the skewer or axle bolt. It’s a little touch, but something that’s sure to be appreciated when fixing a flat trailside.

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See all of our Project 24.2 reviews here!

Made in Italy.  That little phrase- though increasingly hard to find- is almost magical in the cycling world.  Not only does it signify a high-end product, but those three words evoke a land where food is enjoyed, style is effortless, and cycling is a part of culture.  Founded by an accomplished racer and in business for over 35 years, Vittoria make each and every pair of their shoes- from under $100 to over $400- at their factory in Italy.

Vittoria’s manufacturing flexibility is a big part of their current story.  While the company produces 81 stock model/color combinations in 27 sizes, three non-standard widths are available in addition to their standard width at no charge.  Even different-sized pairs are available for a nominal fee.  Want mountain uppers on road soles?  No problem.  Want carbon-soled, mountain-treaded shoes with uppers from the company’s stylish 1976 line?  You bet.  Vittoria USA can make any of this happen in 2-3 weeks from your order to when they land in your local bike shop.

With their $300 sticker coming well under high end Asian-made (not that there’s anything wrong with that) shoes from bigger brands, how have Vittoria’s Supra MTBs treated my feet?  Pretty darn well.  Click through for the details…
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Redline’s Conquest Disc is a disc brake specific 6061 alloy framed version of the Conquest and is new for 2013. Price is $1,600 and includes a mix of FSA and Shimano Tiagra 10-speed with compact gearing, a lower BB than last year -it’s now the same as their carbon race bikes- and it gets the more conventional 135mm rear spacing. It has a carbon fork with alloy steerer and is really designed as more of an adventure commuter bike. It uses the new Alex CDX26 rims that are designed specifically for disc cyclocross bikes.

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