Monthly Archive for December, 2008

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Lake MXZ Winter Shoes

As Brad stated in his Winter Footwear Solutions article from issue #10, not everyone has the means to afford a $200 pair of winter cycling shoes. But for serious year-round cyclists who prefer to ride SPD pedals, the Lake MXZ shoes are a good investment. Consider they’ll only be used for a third of the year at most, and so they should last about three times as long as warm-weather cycling shoes, and the price tag doesn’t seem so steep.

The MXZ300 model is now a couple years old, and Lake has since released the MXZ301 and 302, but we’ll cover the updates in a moment. The basics of the shoe remain the same—leather uppers, Outlast and Thinsulate lining and insulated insoles. The leather is treated, but Lake recommends yearly applications of Nikwax to improve their water resistance.
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Published by Urban Jeff on December 23, 2008 in Product Reviews. 8 Comments

Monster Track X is Coming

Keep an eye on www.monstertrackx.com for more info.

Published by Urban Jeff on December 23, 2008 in Events. 2 Comments

Dumbest Product of the Week

Austin Bike Blog has now posted the 16th edition of their Dumbest Product of the Week series. They’re not always about cycling products (take Mike Ditka’s Hall of Fame Salsa or the Banana Guard for example), but the column gets especially good when they turn their sights on the cycling industry.

Visit www.austinbikeblog.org and remember it’s all in good fun.

Published by Urban Jeff on December 23, 2008 in News & Views. 3 Comments

Burton Snowboard Gloves

When I left Brad’s for the ride home last night it was 15°F with 25mph winds from the west (gusting to 35mph). Although it wasn’t snowing, it was still a dry, rather painful kind of cold. The exposed skin on my forehead burned and my eyes stung from the cold. But my hands were as comfortable as ever, because I was smart enough to leave the house with my trusty Burton snowboard gloves. Unfortunately, Burton seems to have discontinued this specific model from their Ronin line of gloves, but if you’re lucky enough to locate a pair of these “pipe” gloves, you won’t regret picking them up.
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Published by Urban Jeff on December 22, 2008 in Product Reviews. 3 Comments

Yo Greg, what’s with the tape?

Our friend Greg Park wrote in to ask what the story was with the tape on this bike’s tires. Rather than venture a guess, we went straight to the bike builder, Greg Townsend:

Ah, the mystery, not much wisdom here but here’s the story. The tape does two things, it will add a bit of strength to the bond of the tire to the rim but also the tape stiffens the sidewalls. In grass track they’re racing the same events as a velodrome but on a flat surface and that puts quite a bit of stress on the tires that are larger (usually cyclocross diamond tread) and running lower pressure.

The wooden rims were just to get a bit of attention at NAHBS 2007. I thought they would look good with the paint. I would never race grass on them. I did make the bike to race at the Mildenhall rally (my old club from many years ago) but haven’t gotten there yet. Someday. Thanks for asking.

Check out townsendcycles.blogspot.com.

Published by Urban Jeff on December 22, 2008 in Product News. 0 Comments

The Luggernauts Are Coming!

Run for your lives, the Luggernauts are coming! Ok, they’re not space aliens and there’s no cause for alarm. Some people still might be a little excited, as Traitor just announced its new $389 lugged steel frame and fork.

The Luggernaut is a versatile lugged singlespeed bike designed for everyday riding, commuting and the occasional night out on the town. The affordable frame/fork combo comes in at $389 retail price so it is well within most cyclists’ budget. “We realize that there are a lot of people that love the look of old world lugged bikes but don’t want have the cash to get a high end lugged frame. We wanted the Luggernaut to look like a true old school lugged frame but with modern touches like 120mm track spacing and dropouts, 1 1/8” threadless headtube and straight blade fork,” says Kevin Menard, owner of Traitor Cycles.

The Luggernaut is produced in China but does not cut corners on quality. Custom laser cut dropouts, lugged crown fork and our copper metal headbadge round out the package. The frame is made of double butted Taiwanese 4130 chromoly which is a tried and true tubeset that keeps the bike light with great road feel and super durable over the long run. The Luggernaut comes in 3 color choices, Black, Yellow or Green and all with chrome plated lugged forks for a classic look.

Visit www.traitorcycles.com for more info.

Published by Urban Jeff on December 22, 2008 in Product News. 6 Comments

Website Updates

If you pay really close attention you’ll have noticed a couple website updates recently. We’ve added a new product news category to the blog to make that information a little more accessible in the long run.

We’ve also significantly updated the framebuilders page. Thanks again to everyone who’s written in with suggestions.

We’re currently working a few more changes that (with any luck) should be ready by early January. Stay posted, and we welcome your feedback, too.

Published by Urban Jeff on December 21, 2008 in News & Views. 0 Comments

The Shittiest Post Ever

Our friend Tall Rob recently posted the following on his blog, and we thought we’d share:

so yesterday i ride my trials bike in to work and as i’m cutting across this little mound at negley and ellsworth i apparently ran through an enormous POND of dog shit. this dog either had the flu, or had just eaten taco bell, or both. i didn’t realize until i got back on the road and noticed that my wheels felt off balance from the weight of dog diarrhea.

Read the entire post.

Published by Urban Jeff on December 21, 2008 in News & Views. 0 Comments

Saddles for Real Men

When we look back on the life of Sheldon Brown, most of us think of his vast knowledge of bikes. But he was much more than a walking encyclopedia of bicycle knowledge. Not only was he a family man, photographer, writer and musician, he was an aspiring comedian. For proof, check out Real Man Saddles from his website.

Published by Urban Jeff on December 20, 2008 in News & Views. 1 Comment

Dahon Flagship Store, Taiwan

Dahon has just opened their flagship store in Taiwan, 1000sqft of retail space near one of the busiest bike paths in Taichung County, an inland manufacturing center. Folding bike use continues to rise across the world as city governments recognize their legitimacy, but especially in Taiwan and China. I’m sure if Dahon had their way we’d have concept stores like this next to hubs of a vast commuter rail system in the states, and I can’t say that’s a bad idea.

Published by brad on December 19, 2008 in News & Views. 0 Comments

Bilenky Urban Junkyard Cyclocross 2008

The 2008 Bilenky Cycle Works Urban Junkyard Cyclocross event is coming up this weekend, December 21 at noon. Entry is a mere $5, which gives you a license to ride around like an idiot and chow down afterwards – not a bad deal. Some people are racing, some are clearly just along for the ride. It looks like fun all around and a terrible thing to miss if you’re able to make it to the Philadelphia area this weekend.

Published by brad on December 19, 2008 in Events. 0 Comments

Graffiti Rider Update

Love it or hate it, graffiti is part of urban culture. The Graffiti Rider Alleycat celebrated it as only NYC can – spraycans and bikes, tagging permission spots and getting judged by your fellow writers. Painting the inside of VeloBrooklyn was an unplanned “bonus” on account of rain.

Highlight from ck:

The race got a little delayed (2 hours…) because of ill rain, but riders made good use of their time customizing their stencils and wrecking KT’s bike shop (Thanks KT for being cool and letting everyone get in the spirit while we waited out the rain). We got rolling around 330p and it was on. Riders had 4 and a half hours to hit spots in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan. The race was judged on points with extra prizes for Style and Bravado. There were a 5 permission spots and each racer received a “spokecard” in the shape of a spraycan to do with what they could (big up BLACKBOOK STENCILS for hooking up the spokecards!!). Riders literally bombed the entire city, with people getting up on bridges, gates, garbage cans, a license plate, even a girl’s leg!

See more images at from J. Martinez on his Flickr.

Published by brad on December 18, 2008 in Events. 0 Comments

Calgary Bike Messenger Zombie Movie

The Calgary Bike Messenger Association hosted a messenger prom last month, which somehow prompted this bike messenger zombie movie, The Courier Always Bites Twice. Zombies seem appropriate for prom to me, and Pittsburgh loves zombies so it works for us.

This movie is officially Not Quite Safe For Work, so take care before clicking through if such things concern you.

Published by brad on December 18, 2008 in Video. 2 Comments

Ted Wojcik Talks Framebuilding

Ted Wojcik has been building frames for over 25 years. He’s a great guy, too. Check out this short video where Ted talks framebuilding.

Published by Urban Jeff on December 17, 2008 in Video. 2 Comments

Police officer pleads “not guilty” in cyclist assault case…

Patrick Pogan, the police officer who blatantly used excessive force against NYC cyclist Christopher Long has pleaded “not guilty” to charges in court. According to the Associated Press:

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said Pogan was charged with falsifying business records and filing a false instrument. Both are felonies punishable by sixteen months to four years in prison.

He also faces misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault, second-degree harassment and making a punishable false written statement.