We only stopped for a few minutes at the Rawland booth, but it was long enough to realize two things: Sean Virnig, the owner, is a really nice guy, and he puts out some really good-looking bicycles. The TIG welded frames are made possible with the help of industry veteran Kirk Pacenti. His 650B frames are designed for all around riding—faster than a 26″ wheel, sturdier than a 700c.

Virnig is of Viking heritage, and so his bikes have Norwegian names: The singlespeed is called Olaf and Sogn is the geared bike. Visit www.rawlandcycles.com for more information.

San Francisco clothing manufacturer Cordarounds has brought their Bike to Work pants to our attention, and with good reason. Seemingly perfect for the dress-casual urban commuter, these $95 made in the USA pants are everyday khakis with reflective material on the insides of the cuff and back pockets for the commute to and fro. Cuff them up on the bike, roll them down once at your destination. Functional at both ends of the commute, and in between.

On October 17th, the San Francisco Bicycle Ballet rides again at the Dogpatch Saloon at a catered occasion with bands and special guests from LA. Conceived of in 1996, the San Francisco Bicycle Ballet is based upon synchronized performances by marching bands and swimmers and best viewed from above to see the riding unfold. Sounds like an interesting event to say the least, especially for the $8 door fee.

Topeak, manufacturer of bicycle accessories, has taken it’s vision of a do-it-all bicycle to the masses. The Jango starts as a simple bike with minimal accouterments, but has numerous “ports” designed to accept a number of proprietary equipment and accessories. These include most everything you could want to add to your bike—bags, lights, fenders and even a trailer.

Visit www.jango-bike.com for more information.

RUBARB is an acronym for Rusted Up Beyond All Recognition Bikes. The New Orleans collective works to put old and flood-damaged bikes in the hands of people who need them.

The RUBARB crew can use a few good hands this fall to help work on bikes and/or with youth. You don’t necessarily need to be a bike mechanic (although it would help), just someone with a creative mind, patience, ability to be flexible and enjoy working with youth. They especially want someone to do special projects and activities.

Visit www.rubarbike.org for more information.

The people have spoken and the industry has listened, track bikes for the velodrome and street alike show up in greater volume every year. Here is a link filled guide to some of the fixed gear specific offerings at Interbike 2008 that we managed to catch photos of this year.

Making their official world debut, All City plans to offer rider designed, affordable track parts and frames that have the style and functionality of the higher end offerings out there.

Someone at Cinelli is clearly watching the urban track scene with a keen eye, as evidenced by their Valencia City Bar, pista bar with a flat section for a brake lever, and rather bling seatpost and retro Unicator saddle.

Felt Bicycles had the latest iteration of the Curbside on display, complete with wrench and unique 31.8mm constant diameter handlebar along with their pure track racing bike, the TK2.

After the jump, find more from Torelli, Traitor Cycles, Cane Creek, White Industries, GT, Fuji, SE Bikes, Affinity Bicycles, Masi, Redline, Marin, Pedros, Velocity, Bianchi, Schwinn, Giant, San Marco, SKS, SRAM, Euro-Asia Imports, Profile, FBM, Volume, Brooklyn Machine Works, Oury, FSA and Dia-Compe.
Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone is for Obama, or so it seems. Via Cycle Jerks, via Fixed Gear, via www.democraticstuff.com.

This unique brake lever from Dia-Compe caught our eye at Interbike. It’s designed with urban fixed gear riders in mind. The lever can be actuated with either hand, but not both. One side of the split lever pulls the cable like a conventional brake lever, the other lengthens the housing in the same fashion that a ‘cross lever functions. It fits a 25.4mm handlebar (with shims for 22.2) with a hinged clamp for easy removal. Retail price seems to range from $55 to $70 (which includes the Flexie), and they’re available in either black or silver. For more information visit www.diacompe.co.jp or check it out over at the Soma blog.

The crazy kids in Denver pulled it off… They opened their own bike shop called Track Shack and celebrated this past Saturday with a bike race that rewarded the winner with a prosthetic leg. Read more over at www.cyclejerks.com.

…that’s right, it’s not a typo!

Courtesy of ullecomeback.blogspot.com.