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Identiti Persona

January 13, 2010

Identiti has announced that they have just finished the R&D on their groundbreaking new Fixed Gear Freestyle frame, the Persona. Trusted the world over in the 4X and Jump bike markets, they have injected this knowledge into a design that urban trick riders can count on.

Features:
BMX/MTB influenced, lightweight and strong 700c frame for the discriminating Fixed Gear Freestyler. While most frames currently available for Fixed riding were designed as “Road” products, they have used some of the stuff they have learned over the years to provide a strong but not excessively heavy frame that can handle today’s progressive riding.

Identiti tweaked the classic Fixie frame geometry to provide a little more space up front for bar spins etc, and a sloping top tube…to allow more room and manoeuvrability.
A downtube box gusset adds additional strength where it is needed most.
Revolutionary Taper-Lock self-tensioning wedge shaped dropouts, tension the chain as you tighten the axle bolts – no chain tugs needed. With the Taper-Lock system, your wheel can never pull forwards under pedal torque. Taper-Lock also means a minimalist, clean look.

At only $320 this thing seem like a steal, and it can fit 700 x 50c tires!

Missy Giove Goes Downhill In Life

January 8, 2010

Former professional downhill mountain biker, Missy Giove, has seemingly had her life go downhill too. At one point she was arguable the best downhill cyclist in the world, even when you take the men into consideration. Now she has been charged, and plead guilty to running a massive coast to coast drug ring. Apparently Missy was organizing marijuana shipments from California to New York. We are not talking small time stuff here, she was arrested last June after one of her couriers was arrested with 158kgs of marijuana. Missy will learn her fate in March 2010 but could face up to 40 years in prison.

Norco Partners With Team H&R Block

January 7, 2010

After the collpase of Team Symmetrics at the end of 2008, the Canadian road racing scene took a big hit. Norco had been providing bicycles to the racers, but without a large financial sponsor the team could not survive. This left a large gap in the Canadian road scene for 2009. A year later Norco has announced a partnership with Team H&R Block.

Norco Bicycles has come to an agreement to be the official Bicycle Sponsor for the 2010 Team H&R Block racing team. Effective immediately, Norco will be the exclusive provider of Road, Cyclocross and Time Trial framesets for Team H&R Block.
Norco Marketing Manager Peter Stace-Smith says "Norco is excited to have an Elite racing team on our new Road Carbon Platform and are looking forward to working with the team in proving and further developing the frames. Racing is an area that Norco bikes hold great potential to excel and the H&R Block racing team will be an asset in doing so."
The H&R block team has come off a great 2009 season and will move forward into 2010 with a focus on Espoir and U26 riders. Team H&R Block will be competing at racing events in BC, Alberta and the Western US as well as the Canadian National Championships. The 2010 race season will be a great opportunity for both Norco Bicycles and Team H&R Block on the road racing circuit.

More news on the 2010 Team H&R Block can be found at Team H&R Block or Norco

Schwalbe Ultremo R

January 6, 2010

Fast tires are nice. Skinny little things that have such high pressure and such low rolling resistance that they just make life on a bike so much faster. In 2009 Schwalbe introduced the Ultremo. This is there full on 700c race tire. I however am no racer. I like to go fast, but I am rarely seen in spandex and have never competed in a criterium in my life. So with all that being said I thought I would throw these tires at the city streets to see what they could handle. And on to my brakeless fixed gear they went.

Read Full Review

Is The E-Bike Dead? Unfortunately Not

January 5, 2010

For most true cyclist the thought of riding and motorized bicycle brings shivers to the spin. Do they really serve a purpose? I am sure they do, however not a purpose for me. I have ridden many different models of E-bike. Most of them only around the block, and sure they are fun, but more in the sense of moving without doing anything. I certainly can go faster on my bike while pedalling then I can on an E-bike. But still the market share of these bikes seems to grow.

The E-bike owner seems very similar to the recumbent bike owner. Extremely knowledgable to the point of excess. And for that reason I could never be one of these guys. I get too confused with watts, amps, ohms and all that other stuff. And when the battery dies, am I really supposed to pedal this 50lb bike home?

All this being said I am curious. What is life like with an E-bike. Since the E-bike market is certainly not dead I am sure the market will keep growing, and I want to feel this E-bike "freedom". Perhaps I need to bring one in to sample this summer. I fear my waist line growing, or my beer consumption going down. Either way I feel I lose. Hopefully this summer I can delve into this world a little more.

JBR Keirin Shirts

January 4, 2010

It seems as fixed gear bicycles grow in popularity, so to does track cycling. For some it is fashion, and other the world of Keirin racing is not only sport but honor. Okay, now I would love to say I follow track racing, but besides the odd race on the internet I don't seem to watch it much, so this is where the fashion side of things come in. JBR has come out with a couple of great new shirts that evoke the image of the Keirin.

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Frame Building Suppliers

November 25, 2009

Every winter for the last 3 years I tell myself I am going to build my own frame, and then after doing a bit of research I realise it will be far to much work and leave it at that. I am sure there are others out there like me too. This year, however, I have decided to make a few bicycle pannier racks. I have one rear and two front racks that I have sketched out. I have my tubing bender on the way. Tubes will be ordered shortly and then I will have a few photo sets of the builds to show off.

With all this in mind here is a list of suppliers for frame building materials. It is far from complete but will be posted in our Frame Builder Forum and over the weeks will form a more complete list..

Henry James ,investment cast steel lugs, crowns, bottom bracket shells, dropouts, and tubing. He also sells frame jigs and alignment tools.

Bike Lugs , lugs and small braze ons.

Nova Cyles , frame tubing, lugs and braze ons.

Aircraft Spruce , tubing for racks, stems and other projects.

Schwalbe Big Apple Tires

November 18, 2009

I have never been to New York, but I imagine the Big Apple would be a nice tire to get me there and show me the sites. Schwalbe seems to be the one company that is constantly providing innovation for bicycle tires. No the Big Apple is not new, it has been around since 2001, but looking at this tire you may think what is the difference between this and the Marathon? The difference is BIG.

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Saskatoon Bike Polo

November 16, 2009

After a somewhat lack luster summer of bike polo it seems like Saskatoon might be ready to commit to the hard court. Paul, Emily, Barrett and myself went out for a few hours over the weekend and are now looking for others to join in. Officialy there is a club page for us at The League Of Bike Polo, unofficialy we are around town, so let one of us know if you are interested. The weather is still looking great so we should have a few more weeks to play before the cold and snow comes.

Rudy Project Ultimatum

November 12, 2009

The sun is there, up in the sky, for some of us more than others. While here in Saskatoon the sun shines a lot. Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. I tend not to wear sunglasses that often, mainly because I need a prescription to be able to see well. But the Rudy Project Ultimatum had me squinting away in order to wear these great shades.

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Metal Fab

November 5, 2009

As I posted a few weeks back I am starting to get into the design and build process of pannier racks. So far I have just been working with scrap tubing from old bicycles and have mainly been working on mitres, but the process is fun. My plan is to make a new rear rack for my touring bike, a front rack for my commuter and another front rack that has a bit more design put into it.

I spent a day with Barrett Russell who had made my current front pannier rack on my touring bike. We went through the whole process of cut, mitre, clean, prep, braze. I will hopefully have a few more sessions like this and then will come the time to make my own racks. Now I just have to bite the bullet and get some more tools.

Planet Bike ALX Pump

November 2, 2009

Flat tires happen, and for this reason I carry a small portable pump with me a good deal of the time, but for some reason I never had a floor pump before I got the Planet Bike ALX. I was always using the compressor at the gas station or local bike shop to top up my air pressure, somehow thinking that that was convenient. Now that I have a nice floor pump at home I cannot imagine what I was thinking before. I keep my tires properly inflated, wow, what a novel concept.

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Are Drivers Paying Attention To You?

October 28, 2009

This is seriously freaky stuff.

Scott Napier Sets World Record

October 26, 2009

On Sunday October 25 at 1:45 Argentina time, Scott Napier completed one amazing cycling trip, and set a new World Record at the same time. Scott cycled from the top of Alaska to the southern tip of South America, and took the route less travelled. This less travelled route is how I actually met Scott. He was in Saskatoon to fuel up and get some repairs done on his bike at the time. He seemed like a great guy who was on a wicked adventure, so I started to track his journey, and boy did he move fast.

Scott started his journey on June 21 in Deadhorse Alaska, and rode hard to complete the 14,000 mile journey in Record time. The reports are just coming in on the actual finish to the ride, but Scott has finished! Congratulations Scott.

Devil's Night Alleycat Cancelled

October 23, 2009

Due to the fact that there are only 3 people signed up, and the Alleycat is less than a week away I am going to have to cancel this event. This has been the lowest show of interest so far, and for me to be able to make a go of this there just need to be more participants. I really want to thank Tim Brown for making the poster for this one, it was great. And thanks to all those who have particiapted in past Alleycats that I put on. For those who have registered for this Alleycat, I will have your money at the Bike Dr. Thanks, Ryan

Chairman Ting

October 21, 2009

Vancouver's own Chairman Ting, painting his studio wall.

D.I.Y.

October 19, 2009

With winter slowly heading its way here and my general lack of motivation over the last few months I have decided to learn how to braze. My good friend Barrett Russell is going to start showing me the basics of metal brazing and hopefully it will end up with me making some front and rear racks for a few bikes I have. I am sure progress will be slow, but I start working on things tomorrow. This has me highly motivated and it feels good. Creating my own bicycle stuff! I will keep you posted with progress and pics.

Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance

October 8, 2009

Earlier this year we took a look at Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance. Now we take a look at Lennard Zinn's new book Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance. Initially I was thinking that both of these book must be pretty much the same, there cannot really be that many differences in mountain and road components, at least not on the most basic level. But in this 3rd edition Zinn really does touch on some stuff that I had never really thought of, or at least did not think would be covered.

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S3X Hubs on Production Bikes

October 1, 2009

Although it took a few extra years to actually make it to market the Sturmey Archer S3X hub has already started to appear on production bicycles. Both Felt and Pashley have offerings for the 2010 year, as I am sure many more will as well.

The Felt Gridloc is already in the catalog and photos from Interbike that show the Pashley Clubman are floating around the internet.