Archive for the 'Product News' Category

The disc brake ‘cross market continues to grow, both on the racing side and as more and more people realize that cyclocross bikes make more or less perfect “serious” commuters. Raleigh has updated their 2013 line to reflect the commuter sales that wiped them out of the successful Furley and Roper bikes (read our review of the 2012 Roper) with the pictured Tripper, featuring the same seamless, butted steel frame and fork as the Roper and Furley, but with an internally geared hub and clean looking one-piece bar/stem/headset cap. All three of these bikes are ones that can grow with your cycling lifestyle, as they can each be run geared, singlespeed or with an internal hub thanks to the eccentric bottom bracket shell and derailleur hanger, and are equally at home with a flat or drop bar as they use the same geometry as Raleigh’s raceir cross bikes.

Speaking of racier bikes, it’s all about disc brakes. While there are still rim-brake models available, I’d expect the disc brake RX series bikes to be hard to come by as people clamor for the more powerful and reliable braking. From the pictured silver and blue RX 2.0 to the full carbon RXC Pro, disc brakes are avaiable across the line, all using mechanical Shimano calipers to do the stopping. See more at www.raleighusa.com as the full specs and prices becomae available.

Via BikeBlogNYC:

Two brothers from San Francisco are working together to make individual grip rings to accessorize your handlebars to your individual tastes. I also really like the bar ends they’ve come up with which hold all the rings in place by tightening an allen wrench.

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From www.antranik.org:

The prob­lem with cli­p­less shoes are that they look great while you’re ON the bike, but once you get off, they look very out of place. They would usu­ally be a big no-no for most work places. Then on top of that, you might have this god damned gigan­tic cleat stick­ing out that makes you sound like you’re wear­ing heels and all the guys will be look­ing around think­ing, “Who is that, a fine lady, maybe?” And then they turn around, see me and think, “Oh, it’s some guy (me). Why are his shoes so loud?”

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Northern Standard has created the first of their kind bike polo specific gloves, with the padding and dexterity missing from gloves lifted from other sports. The EVA foam and plastic pads stretch the entire length of the finger, with wrap around leather tips to prevent them from blowing out. The double palm and a carbon palm guard further add to what looks to be a glove built with all of the common polo failure points in mind. Available in June for $79 with email preorders being taken to make sure you get a pair.

The All-City Space Horse is a bike that I’ve heard a lot of rumbling about since it was shown at Interbike. The all-day ride geometry and light touring accoutrements are what many daily and adventure riders are looking for rather than a race-inspired frame. A local friend of mine has been wanting one since he first saw pictures, and just yesterday took delivery of it after essentially pre-ordering it through local shop Thick Bikes a few months back. About an hour after receiving the bike on a beautiful spring day the two of us went out for a 30 mile grinder on the dirt roads just north of town. By all reports, so far so good. The roughly $1400 stock complete build (swapped for that Brooks saddle) is shown, with tons of tire clearance for fenders and wide range 2×10 drivetrain pretty well suited to the hills we have locally, or your next all-day adventure where a bail out low gear is good for the soul. Frameset only is also available for just under $600.

One of our readers sent in a link to his EH84 Etsy store, selling these elegantly simple wall racks and bottle openers. Upcycled from old bikes and wrapped with new tape, the wall mount has a sturdy cable attaching it to a wall stud. It will certainly move around on the wall and does nothing to prevent pedal contact, but in certain situations that may not matter. Both the trimmed and wrapped fork leg bottle opener and the rack are easy DIY projects for the handy person with a stock of old parts. Visit EH84.com for more.

The racing-while-having-fun attitude and certain touch for design has seen Ritte make a splash since the company began offering their race-bred ‘cross and road frames. The back story of the name doesn’t hurt either. They’ve recently started a full custom program, with carbon/stainless and full KVA stainless frames available. Shown is Billy “Souphorse” Sinkford’s custom Ritte road bike, all cleaned up after a few break-in rides. Billy is the guy in the recent Bern ads, and has his hands in the marketing of various urban brands these days. He’s also a pretty big guy with messenger and racing roots, so a full stainless build and Wound-Up fork with 28c tire clearance and an Ultegra group makes sense for real world, relatively abusive road riding. I’m not one to lust after many high end road bikes, but this is my kind of ride.

Not enough? See even more pictures of this same bike from Prolly.