Design Logic Bikes’ new Da Bomb motorized cargo bike was, in its original incarnation, raced in the Spooky Tooth Cycles Arizona Death Race 2010 by founder Lance Portnoff. He finished 9th.

Since then, he’s shorted the wheelbase and beefed up the frame to create Da Trail, doubling his catalog.

Da Bomb is the extended model designed around a Staton gear box and rear hub (shown) and can be pedaled or run via small 4-stroke engines from Subaru or Honda. Da Trail is built with e-bike conversions in mind, with space for battery packs and the appropriate motor.

The frames are TIG welded 4130 chromoly and, with the gas motor, can reach 30mph while getting a claimed 150mpg. They’re designed and built in Philadelphia, PA. Frames are $995 and fit a rider from about 5’5″ to 6’4″ tall. A complete Da Bomb with bits from Thomson, Chris King, Hayes, DT Swiss and Shimano comes in at $3,500 including the Subaru EHO 35cc engine and Staton gearbox.

Tucked away in Insjön, Sweden, is a little company called Experimental Prototype that’s making the kind of things that we love to geek out about. Things like a 63g custom ratio 11-23 road bike cassette with eight of ten cogs made from carbon fiber!

For just €300 and about 6-8 weeks of breathless anticipation you can get one of your very own in any gear range and combo you want. Need more? They specialize in making pretty much anything you want. By hand. Usually from carbon fiber or titanium from the looks of things. Thinks like replacement Lefty steerer tubes, ti chainrings and cassette cogs and sooooo much more. Take a quick spin through their website for a gallery of lust-worthy hacks and one-off upgrades. And by quick spin, we mean 20+ minutes of your life, gone.

(more…)

What started off with a ti Yeti 575 customization has become a full blown titanium upgrade option from French framebuilder Ronnie Calvet and his company, Skyde.

Shown here is the latest version mated to an Engine Labs 120mm rear end, which is an updated version of the NRS design used on older Giant mountain bikes. The new front end replaces the alloy triangle with cold worked, double butted 3/2.5 titanium. All machined parts are 6/4 ti, and it’s made to exactly imitate the geometry and even the look of the original in this case.

Skip though for more pics and all the trick details…

(more…)

A German modder working with carbon fiber created these amazing ultra-light XO trigger clamps and derailleur. Compared to this custom carbon fiber X0 rear derailleur, the standard 10-speed SRAM model looks downright porky at 203g. Even XX pales in comparison at 181g.

The derailleur weighs 112 grams currently, but creator Alex claims sub 110 grams would not be problematic. He shaves grams by swapping the original spring with titanium, using a custom made carbon fiber upper arm, and a “prototype” lower jockey wheel created out of one-piece laminated/wound fiber. The lower jockey wheel will (obviously) wear faster than a normal milled one, but he claims that because the fibers weren’t severed, this will take a long time.

UPDATE: Here’s the link, hope you Sprechen Sie Deutsch.

A future sale is planned in a limited release with more details to follow once the jockey wheel designs are finalized. Sign us up.

Make the jump for lots of photos…

(more…)

Yes, please! Found on Black Cat Bones’ blog, this little project looks sick. We’ve contacted them for more info but just couldn’t wait to post this.

UPDATE: Just talked to Gerard Piedra, one of the owners of BCB. Here’s what he had to say:

“This was an exercise for us. We wanted to explore the Shimano Di2 system, but the original thesis goes way deeper. This is just the tip of the iceberg. We have developed a complete electronic mountain bike system, including the shifters and derailleurs.

“We are now working on producing more prototypes. Black Cat Bone is a small company. All of us work in other things to fund what we’re doing, and the situation right now is we are trying to find a partner to help get the machines necessary to make more prototypes.”

While we’re waiting on this to become real, check out their single legged carbon fiber fork, used on the Crumpton 29er prototype in Fair Wheel Bikes’ Interbike booth.

Seeing lightweight bikes hit the scales at otherworldly weights always tickles us the right way, and Bikerumor reader Emmanual has us giggling in all the right ways.

His Scott Scale SL race bike registers at just 6.52kg (14.37lbs) complete with pedals, bottle cage, bar ends and Acros’ hydraulic shifting system. Lots of pics and a full build spec list after the break…

(more…)

• Well, we didn’t think it could get much less practical than the Side by Side Bicycle we posted, but this bench seat BMX hack takes the cake. Bonus: each rider can steer in their own direction. Speechless.
• A new kickstarter campaign this week, this time from My Alibi Clothing raising money to produce a line of functional women’s active clothing. This Kickstarter stuff is exciting as it allows you to vote with your money for the products you would like to see developed! At each level of giving you will receive a gift in exchange. Check out this new cycling friendly clothing line and see if it fits your lifestyle.
• CXMagazine reports that USA Cycling has selected three cities as finalists for the 2014/2015 Cyclocross National Championships. Go Asheville!
• Z Corporation (maker of 3D printers), in partnership with PinkBike, has announced a new reality show for engineering students called “Reality Redesigned” that will take 3 finalists in 3 categories of mountain bike design and have them compete to get their designs manufactured and tested by a pro rider. The online reality show is produced as curriculum for science, technology, engineering and mathematics teachers across the country. Find out how to enter here.
• It might be a little late to get one of these for Christmas morning, but CamelBak is selling limited edition Groove bottles with each purchase giving $10 towards Water.org’s mission of providing safe and clean water for all. Matt Damon takes a break from his work at the Zoo and supports this cause with a cameo as Santa Claus after the break.

(more…)

Pista Palace has sent over some beautiful custom bikes in the past (here, here and here), but they’ve all been import brands with their own paint schemes and over the top builds.

This time, they took their love of Campy and mashed up a Cannondale SuperSix EVO road frame like those ridden by Team Liquigas. Justin Beope, who works at the shop and has been team director for SKLZ p/b Pista Palace, sent the pics. That team picked up Rahsaan Bahati in 2011 after the pro rider’s eponymous team fell apart…and Bahati also rode Cannondale, giving this project a little more close-to-home ties.

The build here comes in at just 12.8 pounds with no rider weight limit and -wait for it- clincher wheels and an SRM power meter! Read on to see how they did it…

(more…)

From the same shop that sent over the limited edition Rabobank road bike pics earlier this week comes a custom Giant Anthem X 29er with Dura-Ace Di2 electronic shifting.

The rear derailleur has a custom pulley cage with relocated upper jockey wheel, and shifting is handled by Shimano’s remote pods.

(more…)

Ahrens Cycles’ Wisecracker is a clever little bottle opener. It comes in versions to mount to your seatpost, workstand or downhill fork stanchion. Why?

“Because beer can’t open itself.”

There’s also the Wisecracker Lite, with a 1-1/8″ opening to act as a spacer between your headset and stem, leaving a bottle opener conveniently tucked under the stem in case of an “emergency.” Stack height is just 4.8mm and weight is a mere 16g. This one’s just $12 (plus S&H), and they’re available in custom orders with your own logo or name laser etched on them. For those with Ti or raw steel frames, there’s a stainless steel version, too.

(more…)

If this idea were a car, I would be dead by now.

Thanks to Instructables, you can also risk life, limb and marriage and build your own Side by Side (aka Socialable. aka Buddy Bike). Start with a standard frame, then modify to put two saddles and a wider handlebar.

Presumably, you’d want to use strong enough wheels and brakes to handle the extra load, too. Oh, and perhaps two sets of brake levers just to make things a little more interesting.

Video after the break…

(more…)

This one’s been floating around all last week, so chances are you’ve seen it already. Note how the geometry changes to bring the rear “swingarm” in way under the rider to prevent the wheelbase from stretching too much.