OK, here is an eye catching track bike. RVCA (pronounced "Ru-ka" if you have seen the name only in print) designed this limited edition track bike for Cinelli. Check out the photos. They didn't make too many of these bikes. The graphics and color way make it really visually unique, kind of a blending or deep and mid-century old school. If you click on the first photo to make it bigger, you can see the orange outline of the faces on the seat tube. I am still a sucker for chromed lugs and stays.
Photos by Wheelgirl taken at Interbike in Vegas 2008
Here are 5 minutes of fixietrix you can think about, emailed to me from customer Larry. If you've got your track stand dialed and can ride backward circles, here are some new ideas to keep you humble and challenged.
(Suggestion: Build your skills slowly. Keep the blood and bones inside of your skin. Note that there are no cars, buses, or trolley tracks in the middle of the gym floor.)
While visiting the Phil Wood booth at Interbike, I came across these hubs, which the people at Phil Wood refer to as the "cheese shredder" hubs. Since, well, the hub flanges look like they could shred cheese. They have giant high-polish flanges, and they were originally made for a customer who was putting together a hand-made bike show bicycle that was a copy of a 1940s French bike. The hubs are available in limited quantities, and they can be made with fixed/fixed or fixed/free threading. I love the way they look. (And yes, they are weighty babies.)
OK, this Surly Rat Ride single-speed bike caught my attention at Interbike 2008 in Vegas because, well watch the video. How can you ignore its presence? This fat single-speed with discs, Large Marge rims, and Hoggy-G 24 x 3.45 slicks makes you want to eat a few doughnuts before before your morning commute. Heck, it makes me want to string a bunch of doughnuts together on a necklace and have a giant doughnut breakfast during the ride and wash it all down via a hydration pack filled with coffee.
It looks a bit more like a hippo than a rat. Its shape makes me grin. And I am sure those unleashing its girth on the streets or trails are laughing themselves silly every time then catch a glimpse of their wide reflection in a storefront window or a pond.
Traitor brought a few of their geared commuter bikes to Interbike. One has an oil well on it the frame. The other has a dragon. You can also check out the two other videos featuring the Traitor fixed gear bike videos, the Ringleader and the Pabst Blue Ribbon limited edition fixie. (This is video 3 of 3.)
Traitor Bikes had a limited edition Pabst Blue Ribbon fixed gear in their booth at Interbike. The PBR label is decorating the Traitor Ringleader fixed gear frame. And the PBR fixie special edition has the same parts and frame spec as the Ringleader.
The Ringleader is a production fixed gear available from Traitor bikes. The Traitor bunch have run Transition Mountain bikes up in Washington State for the past 5 years. They are looking to offer some new graphic design possibilities to value-based basic commuter, fixed gear, and urban transportation bikes. (This is 1 of 3 Traitor bike videos.)
The good news, the KHS Flite 100 is going to be available in white and matte black. Things that I am not sure about, for example, the top tube now has a braze on for cable routing if you want to use the bike as a single speed. Those who ride fixed for simplicity may not dig that. However, I live in an urban area that lends itself to fixed gear riding. Those who decide on this bike and who live in hillier geographies may like the braze on detail. Also, the cog that comes with the bike for next year is alloy.(Jump to read more.)
My big fat opinion on cogs: Once you have figured out you are obsessed with fixed gear riding: Buy the highest quality steel cog you can afford. It is money well spent. The fixie alley cats and lady cats will probably shred alloy cogs like cheddar cheese. A national podium-placing masters track rider, Leo, who was officiating at Hellyer track in San Jose, told me a story of a guy who was trying to save weight during a track race and ran an alloy cog. He shredded the cog, and in the process, the alloy shaving that fell to the track punctured $500 of his racing competitors' tubulars when they ran over the metal bits. You never want to be that guy or gal. You want to save weight? Give the cupcake you are about to eat to your pal who still fits in the Levi jeans purchased while attending the seventh grade.
Offering no front brake or lever with the bike for 2009 is going to be a bit of an inconvenience. And for my customers, who again, ride their fixies really hard 11.5 months of the year (the other two weeks of the year they are on holiday lock down traveling to visit relatives in snowy destinations), the unsealed, machine-built wheel set, having had some experience with these, does not inspire a deep and abiding confidence. Sealed cartridges work better for urban riders who tend to fuss less over their bikes than experienced road cyclists. (Shimano has loose ball bearings in all of their hubs, even Dura Ace. But if you are riding those pricey hubs, you keep your bike clean, or you have a team mechanic watch your back usually.)
I don't mind the brazeons for a rack. Because at some point you might want the option of throwing a rack on your bike (easy now, track beasts) so you can hauling home that coffee table you saw at the garage sale. You can always remove the rack a couple of hours later, and return your bike to its minimal best, before your friends mock you.
If you want to try fixed gear riding, and you are not sure if you are going to like it, this is a great bike for you. The price point is really reasonable. If you end up hating fixed gear riding, you can easily flip the wheel, throw on some brakes, and ride a respectable single speed. So, all is not lost. And KHS does give you great value for your money, in general.
I could wear the new Lynskey Performance CNC'd ti clover rear dropout on a chain around my neck and feel pretty. You can see them on this Houseblend R430 road bike frame. The geometry of this bike is more race-oriented. The top tube is longer, and the head tube is shorter. Also, the tubeset is 6 Al/4 V titanium with a bit of Helix tubing thrown in for the seatstays. The tube set is diamond-shaped, and you can dry your tears and stop crying about how ti isn't inelastic enough for your riding style. Undoubtedly, the aero geometry is going to help you to ride fast. The ti compliance won't make you feel like someone beat you with a stick when you get off of this race bike. If you are a powerful race rider who needs to ride a bike that is responsive, won't beat you up, and is not going to noodle all over the place, Lynskey has replied to your request.(Check out the other Lynskey videos from Interbike on this site.)
OK, these are shiny candy bars. The Nitto Mandle handle bar in the Euro Asia Imports booth at Interbike were just waiting to be held and admired. They are chromed steel with a clamping diameter of 25.4. You can get them in a riser or a straight bar. I took a quick measurement, since you can't really cut them down, or you will cut off the end caps, which are their entire identity. My thumb-to-pink full spread is pretty close to 8 inches. So these are a bit less than 8 inches. (Super useful stupid human trick for measuring wood, fabric, paper, handle bars.)
The bar ends are completely capped in steel. The bars, in both styles, are clean looking and made of steel to withstand urban abuse. Of course, if you are not what I call a Beta tester for bike components, you can always look at the lighter alloy Nitto riser in anodized colors. (Heather and Julius this post is for you.) (Jump for more photos.)
I visited the Surly booth. The new Surly Steamroller comes with a brake and lever, sealed bearing hubs, and the chromo steel frame is comfortable for urban riding. The rear brake bridge is drilled for a rear brake, so you can utilize the flip /flop rear wheel and run it as a single speed if you move to the mountains.
We have put a few pro-athlete team-sport sized guys, 6' 4" weighing 215-240 lb guys on this bike. They haven't broken the frame yet. So that is a good sign. The frame has brazeons for a water bottle cage. And you can fit up to 700c x 32 tires on it. The rear stays have a wider clearance. This is good news for those who have to commute on busted up pavement, since you can run a wider tire for a bit more shock absorption. You can then spend less time wondering when your ride over that giant crack in the asphalt if your body is going to be jolted really bad or just a little.
The color is kind of a vanilla cream (kind of the old SE color, actually) and the componentry is mostly black. It comes spec'd with a 3/32nd 47T chain ring and 3/32nd 19T. So that is a gear ratio of 66.8, which is a nice cruising gear, and the bike won't throw you off when you try to stop it. You aren't going to ever beat anyone in a sprint, but you should be able to ride the same terrain you can ride on a geared road bike if you put the bike in the smaller ring (on a double crank set) and in the middle of your cassette. Go here to figure out what gear ratio feels comfortable for your style of riding. I forgot to check to see if you could scrape off the decals or if the clear coated over them and are there to stay. If someone knows about the decals, put up a post for us. (Jump for more ratio picking info.)
And if you don't know what gear ratio might work well for you, borrow a bike with a derailleur, and keep the bike in 1 gear for a week. Don't shift for any reason. Then count the teeth on the front chain ring and the teeth on the cog you choose. Find the ratio, and look on the chart for a chain ring and cog combination that works with your riding style and terrain or with skid oatches, if you plan to skid a ton.
Also, this whole Steamroller bike costs a bit more than a hand-built Phil Wood fixed gear wheelset on Deep Vs. I kind of advise customer to avoid dropping a ton of money into their first fixie until they really have a clear idea of what they want to feel when they are riding. Tricks? Speed? Beater city bike? Highly responsive and quick, but not comfortable on the pavement? Comfortable but feels like riding a couch? Heavy but super durable? Something in between? Everyone is different. It is fun to build up a fixie, but it has to work with your riding style. So, the package fixed gears, like the Steamroller let you start to figure out what you like and don't like at a price that won't break the bank.
I know that we will all look back on this time and wonder why we felt the need to decorate our fixie rims with insanely busy colors and patterns. But for now, I like that there are some choices. Personally, there are only a few patterns that appeal to me. But at least I have a choice between silver and black. Here are 4 videos showing off the new line up of Deep V patterns from Velocity. They've proven to be an uber strong rim that can take the abuse of fixed gear urban riding and commuting as well as the stresses and strains of creative fixietrixs. Through it all, Deep V rims stay in one piece and keep quietly doing their job. Check out all of the patterns. Here is a link to the Velocity video I posted last week, too.
I called Chris King Components yesterday to order some hubs for a wheel build. They had a booth at the outdoor demo. I didn't attend the outdoor demo, but here are the new products this year from my favorite headset maker and one of my favorite hub makers. Oh, and they've added a new color to their product offerings, brown. Think coffee with not much half and half in it.
Chris King has come out with new Shimano-style outboard bottom bracket cups in anodized colors with King bearings inside. These will be available in a couple of days. And they have a grease injection port, so you can keep them running smoothly.
If you ride a mountain bike, Chris King has a new 135mm x 12mm through axle and a 135mm x 10mm through axle for you. They've also come out with new bike jerseys and new technical fabric t-shirts.
In the headset area, they are going to a new style of logo branding on the actual component. The style, they call sotto voce is Italian for "under voice" or "soft voice". (You see this marking a ton in classical music when the composer wants you to play more softly or decrescendo.) The Chris King logo is rendered tone on tone color wise. So you can't see a high contract logo. Instead you really see the color of the headset.
My suggestion: I would really like some Chris King skewers. They are a small company making excellent products. But I am building up a set of Classic Road hubs for customer Simon's Independent Fabrication Crown Jewel SE, and I would like to be able to finish off the wheel set with Chris King road skewers, not skewers from an unrelated manufacturer. If you like this idea Chris King skewers, send a respectful email to Chris King. And if you write an email, and they do end up making skewers, stay true to your word, and support the design and manufacturing efforts of this small and excellent bike component company by buying the skewers.
Photos lifted from the Chris King site: New bottom brackets in anodized colors and new sotto voce tone-on-tone logo style on the headset.
The Lynskey Peformance booth is always a welcomed sight to my eyes in the crowd of 1100 vendor booths at Interbike. David Lynskey is someone who in the Bay Area we call a "maker". Has never ever has tried to sell me anything. He likes, and most probably needs, to make things. His eyes light up when I ask him about projects he is working on that require new applications and fabrication processes for titanium. David Lynskey and his family founded and sold Litespeed almost ten years ago. Lynskey Performance is the custom titanium bike frame company that they launched at Interbike a couple of years ago. The frames are titanium, so they never rust, never fatigue, and are lifetime guaranteed.
Lynskey is applying modern designs to their bike frames, tubing technologies, and titanium material technologies. But, for me, they also give off that familiar old school, stable, manufacturing vibe of guys and gals who for decades have been successful in a specific manufacturing industry.
Here is one of the curvy single-speed mountain bikes Lynskey Performance brought to the show. (Michael you asked about this bike after you saw it on the Lynskey site. So, this video is for you. I took about four videos of new offerings at the Lynskey booth.)
Jack, my sales rep, has the job of making sure my custom shop has the Lynksky ti bike frames it needs. He is highly customer-service oriented. In the middle of the bike show, with an estimated 23K attendees from 60 countries (according to the Interbike website), surrounded by over a thousand vendors all selling their wares and trying to open new accounts, Jack is talking to me about resolving the toe overlap on a smaller frame for customer Margo. Jamie is the can-do guy in manufacturing and finishes who says, "Your customer wants that? Ok, I'm pretty sure we can do that. No problem," and then makes it happen. There is no smoke. There and no mirrors. They nod, smile, and then just get the job done with little fanfare and no excuses.
I commute everyday on the custom ti track bike Lynskey made me. This is not your grandma's titanium bike frame. The Lynskeys can tune the thickness and width of the tubes to match your riding style, body weight, and riding conditions. The ride is vertically complaint.(Rough pavement doesn't knock loose your fillings.) But when I stomp on my pedals, I can't whip the rear triangle around like a noodle like I can on most steel frames and older ti frames with skinny tubes. The bike is crazy fast and smooth. I am always happy when I get to work.
(Here is an another more detailed video about the geared curvy 29er race bike with a cruiser heritage that was at the North American Handmande Bicycle Show.)
I visited the Lynskey booth the first day of the show, and I took some photos of this Helix road frame. But I couldn't really see how the tubes were twisted in the photos. So, I went back with the video camera. First, I am a sucker for old school chromed road frames. I know that chrome is heavy. I know that the chroming process makes metal brittle. Whatever. I love the simplicity and elegance.
The first time I saw this high-polish finish in the Lynskey booth at last year's show, I couldn't figure out why they had brought a chromed frame to the show. Silly me. It is a high-polish technique for titanium that takes 3 days and results in a mirror finish. Add that finish to the Helix tube set, and you have a frame that people from all over the world stopped by the booth to pet. This Helix road frame has more fingerprints than an FBI database.
The Lynskey Performance paint schemes this year allow you to choose from 16 different variations. I like red, black, and white as colorways for sports equipment. The Houseblend R330 has a replaceable derailleur hanger. I asked about this, and the change benefits those riders who were mashing their cut-out CNC'd dropouts and bending their derailleur hangers.
I like the clover dropouts. This dropout obviously isn't as beautiful. It is chunky looking. However, it is practical and obviously a good choice if you are hard on your equipment and / or have to transport your bike to racing and ride events. Beautiful drop outs aren't going to be of much help if you mash your stays loading and unloading your bike or stack during a race and bend your hanger. Also, the back of the non-drive side dropout is relieved, and I do like the way that looks. Once you have a wheel in the dropouts, the contrast between the clovers and the replaceable hanger dropouts isn't as noticeable as it is on the bare frame.
Here is video 2 of 2 showing the new Phil Wood Carbonite bearings in action. Thanks nice guy who held the hub while I filmed it spinning. These bearings are high-quality steel, but the microscopic pits in the steel are filled with a secret ingredient. What do you think the secret ingredient might be my gearhead readers?
Phil Wood has new Carbonite bearings in the bearing cartridges, and they spin like nobody's business. I saw a external bb spin like crazy. And then, I took a track hub, held the ends of the axle, dragged the edges of the flanges on the display table about 8 inches (the way you used to rev a Matchbox car when you were little), and that hub didn't stop spinning for 10-t0-15 seconds with no extra help from me.
The steel ball bearings in the cartridges in Phil Wood's hubs and bottom brackets are high quality, as we all know. But Phil has filled the microscopic pits in the steel bearings with a "secret ingredient". Watch the video 1 from Interbike in Vegas 2008.
Here is 1 of 2 vids from the Dia Compe booth. I took about a zillion vids and photos of bike components. But my Vimeo account only has room for a tiny-sized video currently. So, all of it will be posted over the weeks, and maybe even months. There are 1100 bike, component, and accessory vendors here under 1 roof. I could be happily typing for a really long time. So, keep reading. And check back for the new videos from the show.
Yesterday, while I was visiting the Euro Asia Import booth for an hour chatting with kind Steve and Anthony about all of their great new frame offerings, Steve informed me that the new Miche Advanced Primato track groups in blue and red anodized colors had just shown up at the booth a few hours ago. The Advanced Primato cranks take a chain ring with a 144 BCD (bolt circle diameter). Remember: The regular Miche Primato track cranks take a ring with a 135 BCD.
For the money, the Miche track group sets are really a good value. The components look good and work well together, in my opinion, when they are spec'd as a group set on a fixed gear bike. The logo and drilled seat post looks a tiny bit distracting when Miche parts are randomly attached here and there on track bikes in fits and starts. The color of the anodizing is really deep and appealing. For those with discerning eyes for color, the components in both the blue and red group sets sound deeper and darker to your eyes and less pop music teen beat.
Photos taken by Wheelgirl at Interbike in Vegas 2008
I have been stopped maybe fifty times today by kind people at Interbike who wish to find out where I got my most cool and well-designed Interbike Vegas hat. The answer is that I got it from a man named Matt, who runs the LVFixed.com online forum (Las Vegas Fixed Gear). Matt, who enjoys graphic design worked some magic on a photo of a real Vegas sign. He works a day job for American Apparel and decided for fun to have Pace print up a limited edition of 100 show bike caps.
Usually, I am given some sort of show item printed with an image of a martini glass, a pair of dice, and a few girls pole dancing to commemorate the bike show. Thanks, Matt for your great bike cap.
Here is Matt modeling the cap he designed. I asked him to send his email to me. So, if you write to this site, I will forward any bike cap inquiries to him (when I get his email.) This is the only info I have about Matt currently.
I talked with Ben at the Shimano booth. Yes, I had many questions about the batteries for the new Dura Ace electronic shifting offering. Ben was extremely gracious and put up with me constantly interrupting him and asking yet another question. First, the retail cost of the system is set at about $4000.00. He asked what I thought of it. And I am not really sure. I like that I can fix my bike without electricity in the middle of no where. And I don't like to charge or carry batteries or battery chargers. However, I do think electronic shifting might be the future. For those those making a living on a bike, and racer feedback is what drives the performance aspects of the bike industry, electronic shifting might be a dream. I tried it on the demo bike. You exert really light finger pressure on the textured or the smooth part of the lever paddle to up and down shifts. You don't push the levers at all. Not even as much pressure as pressing an elevator button.
Here is the battery skinny: They are lithium ion batteries take 1.5 hours to charge from 0 percent to 100 percent. They weigh 68 grams and give you about 2000 km of electronic shifting, about as much mileage as a riding a Tour de France on one charge. This means you can buy two batteries, and put one in your saddle bag. They weigh about as much as an energy bar. The hotter and flatter riding conditions make them last longer than hilly and cold riding conditions.
You can check the battery charge at any point in time with a light unit that sits on the cable under the handle bar. Green light steady is 100 percent. Flashing green light means 75 percent charged. Red light is 50 percent charge. Flashing red light is 25 percent charged, and it will flash by itself. If you choose to ignore the red flashing, you will run the battery down. The almost last 10 percent of the 20 percent energy left state goes to the front derailleur, and then that will stay in whatever ring you choose. The very last 10 percent goes to the rear derailleur. When the battery dies you are riding that single speed you always wanted to build. So, you thrill seekers in the Alps who are bad at details and frequently forget to charge your cell phones, Blackberries, and cameras, choose your last shifts wisely.
The battery compartment has O ring seals, and Shimano has been testing the set up with professional Tour de France peleton riders as well as pro cyclocross riders. No moisture or mud short circuit worries. You get 500-600 charges to 1 battery pack. The Dura Ace 7900 group set components can all be use for the Di2 Dura Ace electronic shifting, with the exception of the derailleurs front and rear, shifters, and battery.
I took about 6 videos at the Velocity booth. There are a ton of new Deep V rim patterns. All of the patterns might not appeal to you. But it is great that there are choices. And Velocity appears to have solved the image durability issue with a new process: Powder coat rim; wrap rim with patterned "shrink wrap"; bake; clear coat with UV protection over wrap; bake again.
(Unfortunately, I've used up all of my space on Vimeo. So, I'll be adding about 10 new HD videos of Interbike new bikes, components, and bike accessories every week for the next millenium. However, I will be posting photos throughout the show.)
4 of 5 Affinity videos. This is the Bat Wing bar. Sleek one-piece bar-and-stem set up. I'll recheck the spec. to make sure that they are full carbon. The retail is $175 for the Bat Wing bar stem combo.
