Cannondale Cross XR 7 08, wheels Mavic C29ssmax, fork Trigon XC06A, front brake Avid Juicy Ultimate 160 mm, rear brake Avid Juicy Ultimate 140 mm, chainset SRAM Rival 180 mm, chain SRAM PC1090, pedals Crankbrothers Egg Beater SL, seat post Easton EC90, saddle Selle Italia SLR, bar Easton EC90, tyres Schwalbe Kojak 28 x 1.35, weight 8.5 kg
“Clearly, somebody in this room murdered Lord Smythe.”
“Holy crap.”
Bike Snob NYC
If you are a cyclist and would like a more comfortable ride, you might want to consider switching to a seat post made from carbon fibre. At a diameter of 27.2 mm, the Easton EC90 is the most compliant seat post that I have used to date. With enough of the post exposed, it offers a much more comfortable ride. If you require a larger diameter seat post, the theoretical advantages of carbon over other materials are much less likely to be realised in practice. At a diameter of 30.9 mm or greater, I’d stick with aluminium. Use a torque wrench and carbon assembly paste.
“Like most cyclists, when I acquire a bicycle I will spend some time and money to ‘dial it in’. However, this bicycle was the equivalent of an unplanned pregnancy, and I was damned if I was going to spend a single red cent on my new bastard child.” Bike Snob NYC, father of the PistaDex, evaluates the Scattante Empire State Courier in terms of its associated acceptance scores.
bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com
This is a picture of my Roeckl 3104 803 MTB gloves, which I picked up towards the end of the summer. In certain ways, these really are the best cycling gloves that I have used. Feel, grip as well as comfort are outstanding. But while I am aware that light gloves such as these cannot reasonably be expected to last forever, the amount of use I got out of this pair is disappointing at best.
This is a picture I took of today’s newspaper. You can usually pick me out from a group of cyclists because I am the one wearing the full-face helmet. Comments I get from other cyclists are mostly positive. But somebody, somewhere is always telling me that I must be really scared to be wearing that helmet—before proceeding to tell me everything about injuries and treatments that they had to endure as a consequence of having had a serious crash.
royalgazette.com
In other news this week, current World Downhill Champion Rachel Atherton was involved in a head-on collision with a car.
Image of Norbert Meyer, who came a close second in today’s mountain bike race at Ferry Reach, Bermuda. For the first time ever, I was regretting the fact that my bike is set up for the road.
“It is a challenge, I guess, at the same time. Because when you’re busy, you’re busy. You work pretty hard. And it goes back to the whole working class thing. A job well done, you can be proud of it.” Chris Jewell talks about his work as a bicycle messenger in downtown Seattle, providing some of the commentary to photographer Mike Kane’s excellent audio slideshow on the same subject.
www.seattlepi.com
“Some bike companies have a few secrets. And one of those secrets is where your bike is made or who actually made it.” Kerry Roberts spills the beans on who makes what and where.
aushiker.com
With thanks to Andrew Priest
The following article by Grant Peterson was first published in the 1994 Bridgestone Bicycle Catalogue.
Don’t ride out of guilt over last night’s meal. Don’t be a slave to your bike, or else you’ll resent it, and feel guilty whenever you think about it or look at it. Soon you’ll be avoiding it altogether. If all your rides are like a swimmer’s workout, you’ll burn out on bikes as fast as swimmers burn out on laps. Ride when you want to ride.
Don’t push yourself too hard, physically or mentally. Don’t ride with racers or obsessive aerobicizers. (If you’re a racer, don’t race with riders, let them be.) Learn to relax on your bike. Of course your bike can be a tremendous tool to build cardiovascular fitness, but why let that get in the way? Unless you race, you can rely on something else, like running, to get fit and lose weight. Running is more efficient for this anyway.
A ten-minute ride is always worth it, even though it won’t elevate your heart rate to your ‘target training level’ and keep it there for twelve minutes. (Or is it supposed to be eleven? Or fourteen?)
If you never use an on-board computer or a heart rate monitor, you can ride with us any time. Avoid ‘logs’. Forget the graphs and the home computer programs. Keep your bicycle free of extraneous wires and LEDs. You don’t need them.
This is not a commercial message! Runners have learned that nothing improves a run as much as a new pair of shoes, or shorts, or socks, or something. Bikes, unfortunately, cost a lot more, but the effect is the same. Make your bicycles so different that your experience on one is unlike the other—a mountain bike and a road bike, a multispeed and an single speed, or a clunker, or a recumbent. For some people, even different handlebars are enough of a change, It’s worth a try.
Learn to fix a flat. Learn how to install a wheel. Learn how to adjust derailleurs. It’s all easy, and you’ll never feel at ease on a bike if you’re at its mercy. Being able to fix your bike will give you enormous confidence and satisfaction, not to mention self-sufficiency.
You will never catch it, and if you pursue it year after year it will break your wallet in half. Some wonderful things have happened to bicycles in the last fifteen years, but so have a lot of dumb things. You don’t need a fancy machine with the latest equipment to enjoy something that is so joyous and simple. A simple, reliable bike will do.
www.sheldonbrown.com
© Bridgestone Cycle USA
15021 Wicks Boulevard
San Leandro
California 94577
“It would be unfortunate if the proliferation of ghost bikes frightened off nervous waverers, because there is quite a lot of evidence that the more cyclists there are, the safer cycling becomes. But if white bikes grab the attention of motorists, give them pause and remind them to take care, they will mark the past and help safeguard the future.” Geraldine Bedell reports on the phenomenon of the white bike reaching the UK.
www.theguardian.com
“The only things that will keep you alive in traffic are your skills, your awareness of your environment, and always having a tremendous respect for the danger involved.” Richard Katz outlines his approach to riding in traffic.
www.urbanvelo.org
“Even though they are serious competitors I try to make this feel like you are watching a local buddies video.”
Andrew Tonkery
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Channels Cam Nicholls, China Cycling, Chris Horner, DC Rainmaker, Dustin Klein, Dylan Johnson, Fernwee, Francis Cade, GPLama, Hambini, Leonard Lee, Peak Torque, Rides of Japan, Road Cycling Academy, Syd Fixes Bikes, theDropCycling
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Other Bicycle Tire Pressure Optimizer, Gear Calculator
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“Bicycle fitting is a subject most people find quite mysterious. Fitting systems with charts and graphs, computer software, measuring devices and ‘rules of thumb’ make for a lot of confusion. But I believe it’s really quite simple”, writes Peter Jon White.
peterwhitecycles.com
“Every cyclist loves to eat, and half of the fun of cycling is in having a built-in excuse to eat in large quantities.” Yesterday I “bonked big-time” for not having eaten enough. Stephen Cheung explains the factors that come into play.
pezcyclingnews.com
Cannondale Bad Boy Rohloff 06, front hub Hope Pro II, front brake Avid Juicy Carbon 203 mm, rear brake Avid Juicy Carbon 160 mm, chainset Truvativ Stylo SS 180 mm, chainring Gebhard CNC, chain SRAM PC991 Cross Step, pedals Crankbrothers Egg Beater Ti, seat post Easton EC70, saddle SDG Formula FXR, bar Ritchey WCS Carbon Flat, tyres Schwalbe Kojak 26 x 1.35, weight 11.2 kg
“Cyclists are being told that road positioning is a critical part of riding safely—but are there any rules, or does it require some kind of two-wheeled sixth sense that you can only gain from experience?” Richard Peace answers some of the most commonly asked questions.
www.bikeradar.com
“But what I hear all the time from people is that they would ride a bike but don’t because they feel it’s too dangerous. I completely sympathise, but, of course, I disagree.” Matt Seaton compares cycling in traffic to a peculiar kind of ballet on wheels.
www.theguardian.com