Regular readers may remember our coverage of Snappy Caps from the NAHBS. I’ve been putting one their handmade caps through its paces for several months now, and I’m happy to report that it not only passes inspection (no rips, busted seams, faded material, etc.) but it continues to draw compliments from friends and strangers alike. In fact, I don’t think any other cycling cap has garnered so much attention. It’s ironic, since at first I didn’t particularly love the combination of two different material patterns.
Snappy Caps are made with a semi-soft bill (totally flexible, but firm enough to avoid wrinkling) and come in various sizes, colors and styles. Winter models are available, as are team colors and fully custom caps. A standard cap like mine will set you back $30, custom hats start at $35.
Visit www.snappycaps.com for more info or to order online.
Sure, not everyone has an iPhone. But with Apple dropping the price to just $99, that just might start to change. If and when you do get an iPhone, you can download REI’s Bike Your Drive application.
“Most people carry their phone when they’re outdoors, so we wanted to create a mobile tool that was easy and fun for bicyclists,” said Tom Vogl, vice president of marketing for REI. “Using GPS functionality and geotag capabilities, we created a user-friendly application that lets you bring your friends along for the ride.”
News courtesy of Bicycle Retailer.
The challenge was issued by Prolly Is Not Probably on June 8th - who will be the first to pull off a rail grind on a fixed gear. Thanks to good timing and Jeff at All-City Cycles, I happened to be there as the Tricks and Drinks crew from Minneapolis pulled of a few grinds late the night of June 9th, just one day after the call was out. That’s Jesse Hilliard on the right and Mike Carney on the left with the cap on, each of which managed a few rail grinds without any spectacular spills, though there was a bit of blood, a bent fork and a gouged tire when all was said and done.
The Bici Coop in Birmingham, AL is throwing a Garden Party to benefit the coop. Show up on Saturday, June 13 at 7pm with $8. Enjoy food, beer, music and more.
Visit www.bicicoop.org for more info.
The Rocky Mountain Bike Polo Open goes down on Saturday July 18th in Denver, Colorado. Registration starts at 11am, games start at noon. Expect an afterparty with Goldsprints.
Visit www.onenationundercog.com for more info.
Kenneth Armstrong of Tucson, AZ has been building a portfolio of artwork from recycled bike parts since 2001. The former art coordinator at Bicas (from 2004-2005), Armstrong’s body of work includes sculpture, furniture, clocks, lamps, picture frames and more.
Check out aportfoliorecycled.blogspot.com.
NiteRider is known primarily for their headlight systems, making a name in the bike world back when mountain biking was booming and high powered light systems were just coming into their own. These days NiteRider has entered the urban and commuter market with a line of smaller headlights and blinkies. The CherryBomb is the latest half-watt LED based rear blinkie out there, with a pair of smaller LEDs lending some side visibility and flicker to the flash.
The light is a simple unit with just the three modes you need, off, blink and steady. Pick your poison with a rubber button on the back of the light and no need to cycle through 25 different blink modes just to turn it off when you get home. Forget to turn it on in the first place? The CherryBomb incorporates a small reflector in it’s design, so even if your batteries are dead or the light is otherwise off you have a fighting chance at some rear end visibility. This is a really good idea, and something tells me it will trickle to other manufacturers over time.
The CherryBomb is shaped roughly like an orange slice, which while nice on the eyes it makes the light hard to solidly attach to a bag or the bike. As with many of these lights, the clip is fairly delicate and doesn’t hold solid enough for me to trust it with keeping a $30 blinkie mine. I prefer to attached lights with zipties, both to ensure they stay put bumping around and to prevent the local kids from swiping it out of convenience. This is where the shape of the light becomes a problem, as the light housing is curved and the clip is not notched there is no way to securely tie the CherryBomb onto a bag or seatpost without drilling a small hole in the clip for a ziptie to pass.
The CherryBomb is bright, which is the main concern, and comes from a manufacturer that has a history of standing behind their products. As it is, it is on par with other high end blinkies available today with a unique reflector built in for the forgetful folks. Give it a more solid bike attachment or a hole for a ziptie to fit and this blinkie would be that much better.
Tim Parr at Swobo just dropped us a note about their new water bottle program called the “Message in a Bottle Project“.
We feel that the world doesn’t need more water bottles with company logos, but we also know that water bottles, in and of themselves, are a good thing because they promote tap water use over bottled water use. So we created a program that allows the bottle to do the deed of holding tap water, but then it acts as a soapbox once the user is done with it.
This particular soapbox focuses on how much bottled water sucks up natural resources, and what a waste it all is come the end of the day.
Our first program within the Message in a Bottle Project is Tap Water Rules. We’ve written a letter on one side of the water bottle to the Nestle Water Bottling Corporation that announces the Swobo water bottle user’s lack of stoke on bottled water. The consumer then places the appropriate postage on the water bottle itself, and sends the retired water bottle (with they’re message on one side) directly to Nestle.
Our goal is to flood Nestle with the idea that maybe creating containers that hold tap water is a better business than trucking water all over the world. We’ll see… And like everything else we do, this seems like a lot more fun than just making water bottles. All Swobo water bottles are biodegradable/recyclable/recycled.
H Plus Son has made a mark for themselves over the past year with their 42mm deep aluminum rims, one of the deepest section rims available until Velocity released the B43 just a few weeks back, which is just killer millimeter deeper. Shown here is a prototype H Plus Son Formation Face rim with a carbon overlay applied to an aluminum shell. The aluminum versions are lighter than the B43 by 150-200g, there is no word however on actual weight, price or if the carbon version will ever be available for retail purchase. 
There is no doubt that the H Plus Son rims are lookers, attracting attention no matter what with the carbon version upping the ante as far as exotic rims go. Time will tell if there will ever be more than a handful of this version out in the world.
Regular readers may remember our coverage of Snappy Caps from the NAHBS. I’ve been putting one their handmade caps through its paces for several months now, and I’m happy to report that it not only passes inspection (no rips, busted seams, faded material, etc.) but it continues to draw compliments from friends and strangers alike. In fact, I don’t think any other cycling cap has garnered so much attention. It’s ironic, since at first I didn’t particularly love the combination of two different material patterns.
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