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Behold the Whiskey Drome from the Fun Bike Unicorn Club. First seen at blog.craftzine.com.
Monthly Archive for September, 2011
Seems like this time of year always brings a few new coffee table books into the office, with Italian Racing Bicycles: The People, The Product, The Passion being one of the most recent additions. With an emphasis on both historical and bicycle photography the book tells the story of some 40 Italian brands, from the giant names many are familiar with to the record winning bikes of Moser, the modern bikes of Pegoretti and the smaller brands that make up Italian bike history. Author Guido Rubino has been in the cycling press since the mid-nineties, with his experience and research showing through in the pages. Available from VeloPress for $39.95, with a PDF preview available for download.
Sopo Bicycle Coop out of Atlanta is hosting Art Bikes, with the closing party coming up on October 7th, with bikes and frames being auctioned off with proceeds going towards the Sopo organization.
The Chrome Dresden is essentially a low-top version of their popular Arnhem shoe. Like the Arnhem, the Dresden features a suede leather upper and Chrome’s now famous red sole. With three holes instead of two, the lacing system feels a little more secure on the Dresden than the Arnhem.
Even though these shoes look extremely casual, they’re definitely meant for cycling. As we’ve written before, Chrome’s red sole construction strikes an amiable balance between stiffness and comfort, making their shoes easy to walk in yet sturdy enough to let you ride all day without hurting your feet.
Perhaps the only downside to the Dresden (and the Arnhem) is that suede leather doesn’t look terribly good if you don’t take care of it. And by that I mean not only using some sort of aftermarket suede protection product, but regular cleaning with a suede brush and limiting exposure to the elements.
The Dresden shoes retail for $80. Check out www.chromebagsstore.com.
From a press release by Soma: Soma Fabrications marks its 10th anniversary in the month of September. To help commemorate this occasion, they have commissioned San Francisco-based illustrator and muralist, Mona Caron to produce a poster. They have decided to skip producing an anniversary-themed frame, but are excited to be launching their Tradesman cargo frame soon as well as the San Marcos, a lugged “sport touring” frame designed with the help of Rivendell Bicycle Works.
Continue reading ‘Soma Fabrications Turns 10′
Since I first reviewed the Panaracer RiBMo back in September 2008 they’ve remained a favorite city tire of mine, particularly due to the flat resistance. They are not race tires, and don’t ride particularly well when it really comes down to it, but in the city keeping tires inflated is normally of much more concern than the finer points of tire ride quality. They handle predictably, and wear slowly even if you skid frequently on a track bike or playing polo. The pictured 26″ x 1.5″ tire was just retired this past week, after six months of constant use on the polo court. No penetrating flats the entire time, but after skidding through the first layer of threads it was time to replace it. Six months of use skidding on the back of my polo bike on our relatively rough courts works for me, I can’t say I’d ever expect much more from any tire out there. Still a favorite, I swapped it out for the exact same tire model. Available for around $35 each in a variety of 26″ and 700c sizes, see the whole lineup at www.panaracer.com.
Saddle Sores Bicycle Club is hosting a Scrabble Race and tournament on October 1st and 2nd in Richmond VA. All proceeds will go to the Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton.
Chris King has one of the finest reputations in the business, not only for the quality of their components but the integrity of the company. One of their behind the scenes initiatives is their in-house commuter challenge, and the infrastructure and incentive programs to help make bike commuting as easy as possible.
First, the infrastructure. Secure indoor bike parking is almost a given once you see the other facilities, but it is nonetheless worth a mention. Large mens and womens locker room facilities each have multiple private shower stalls and lockers for each employee. Salvaged from an older building, the lockers have a ventilation system that prevents cycling clothing and shoes from festering, and keeps clean clothes smelling fresh with a constant draft of fresh air being pulled through each locker. Loaner bikes are available for the unplanned ride home or in case of mechanical problems. And the on-site cafe has breakfast and lunch available daily, featuring restaurant quality, healthy food choices.
As for the incentives, commuting employees are encouraged to log their trips to earn credits at the cafe towards meals and paid time off during the months of May and September in conjunction with National Bike Month and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance. The numbers for each are impressive—in 2010 nearly $19,000 of cafe credits were paid to employees, and since 2005 employees have earned over 700 paid days off.
Chris King is a model for bike friendly employers, able and willing to push the envelope when it comes to encouraging non-motorized transportation. Sure, the Portland location and the extensive city bike infrastructure helps to encourage a culture of bike commuting, there is no doubt such extensive at-work facilities are making a difference. It is worth keeping in mind the part of the premium price of each made in the USA Chris King component goes towards such a bike commuter friendly environment.
We’re looking to re-order a number of merch items, but in the meantime need to move some older stock out of the way to make room. Check out our new Closeouts page for deals on older merch and odd sizes. Some serious markdowns going on — t-shirts from $8-10, $11 DVDs, and our knit cotton hoodies are marked down to $37. All prices include shipping in the USA. Act quick if you see something you like, we are quite limited on some items.
Milwaukee Bikes was one of the first companies to take fixed freestyle and hardcourt polo seriously, and have continued to support each discipline as they’ve grown and matured. One of their long standing polo products is the pictured polo guard—a one-piece 35t chainring and bashguard. Keeping your chainring covered is not only a good idea to protect relatively delicate chainring teeth, but perhaps more importantly to protect yourself and others on the court from a nasty chainring encounter. It doesn’t take much for an exposed chainring to make a nasty gash or worse—back when I was all of fifteen years old I took a chunk out of my fibula with my exposed big ring in a awkward mountain bike “crash” that otherwise left me on my feet.
There is no doubt that the $100 Polo Guard is a high end option, there is a certain price premium that comes with the one-piece machining as compared to a conventional separate chainring and bashguard setup. Materials-wise, Milwaukee spare no expense as the guard is CNC machined from 7075-T6 aluminum, the same material that many high end rings are machined from for maximum hardness and longevity. The design features a 7mm thick guard section—wide enough to resist bending and denting, and also wide enough to not act as a blade itself as a filed off ring or ultra-thin guard can potentially do. Compatible with most 1/8″ single speed chains, the guard covers the top of the chain perfectly.
In actual use no news is good news when it comes to chainrings. I can’t say the ring took any time to break in, and the teeth themselves aren’t showing any abnormal wear. It should be noted that while most 1/8″ chains have a 9.5 mm pin width, some measure a hair wider, as do many masterlinks. You can see the wear that a too-wide masterlink has caused to the inside of my polo guard, but this reflects an installation oversight more than anything. Protect your investment by making sure your chain and masterlink are of the appropriate width, and by checking your chain for wear to prevent a stretched chain from wearing out the ring prematurely.
Two models of the Milwaukee Polo Guard are available, each with a 5-bolt, 110bcd interface. Pictured is V1, created to mesh perfectly with the readily available, hidden bolt, Sugino XD crankset (available as a package deal of guard and cranks for $130). V2 is for all other 110bcd cranks with five visible bolts. Installing the hidden bolt of the V1 is a certain challenge as the design doesn’t allow any space for a tool behind the crankarm. I found that a dab of threadlocker on the female end of the chainring bolt was enough to keep it in place to get it almost tight, and that was the best I could do and have had no problems since. Available in either silver or black, see this and more products from Milwaukee Bikes at www.benscycle.net
by Kurt Boone
From the jump at 10am.
Bicycle junkies come to
sell used bicycle parts and
talk bicycles.
In Brooklyn, New York
at 3rd Street and 5th Avenue.
track bikes
cargo bikes
road bikes
mountain bikes
handle bars
foot straps
pedals
wheels and rims
tires
t-shirts
books
re-cycle rubber sneakers
and much more
Urban cyclists come
to share and buy
as we all love to ride.
Transportation Nation reports that in New York state that about 1000 pedestrians per year are injured by cyclists according to a recent study.
The study analyzed hospital data from all New York hospitals, which code their injuries. About half the injuries were within the five boroughs of New York City. Residents of East Harlem and Bedford Stuyvestant were treated the most often by hospitals. The study did not look at injuries caused to bicyclists by motor vehicles, or injuries to cyclists caused during bike-pedestrian crashes.
…
New York City’s Department of Transportation has said that overall, traffic injuries are down, and it says as cycling goes up, injuries and fatalities do not.
Read the entire article at www.transportationnation.org.
New York’s Rugby Tweed Run is coming up on October 15th. Registration is now open, with final spots being handed out via lottery because the ride has proven too big for its britches. Bring your Sunday best and compete for best-dressed prizes from appropriately stylish manufacturers.
Nimol, Zac and Senon from Dengue Fever, a Los Angeles based rock band, rode bikes through Cambodia Town in Long Beach on September 9th before playing a free show at Fingerprints. Guitarist Zac Holtzman is a former bicycle messenger, and bassist Senon Williams is a bike enthusiast. Of course, Cambodian-born vocalist Chhom Nimol’s adopted hometown in the U.S. is Cambodia Town (Little Phnom Penh).
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