Author: Brian O'Connor

Made in America: New Balance Shoes

New Balance started producing shoes all the way back in 1906 to help relieve the foot pain of laborer’s and keep them working comfortably on their feet. Through out the years, they started producing athletic footwear with their first running shoes appearing in 1938. Since then, New Balance has been committed to innovating and evolving their footwear to meet the needs of the athletic community for over 70 years.

With the trend of all footwear and most everything else being produced overseas, New Balance started a campaign back in 1992 advertising that their shoes were still being made in the U.S.A. That commitment is still true today. New Balance relies on five different ‘associate’ manufacturers in New England to produce 25 percent of the shoes that they sell in the U.S. or approximately 7 million pair. They are the only manufacturer to still make athletic shoes in the United States. Continue reading Made in America: New Balance Shoes

Made in America: Melanzana Outdoor Clothing

For over 150 years, Leadville, Colorado has seen both the boom and bust times that often occurs with mining towns. With the last of the big mines closing in the 1980s, it seemed as if Leadville might just fade away into the history books. A few citizens were not about to let that happen and numerous high altitude sporting events and festivals were born to bring in outside tourist dollars. Along with tourist dollars that started to flow into the economy, other businesses started to appear. One unique business is the outdoor clothing company, Melanzana. Continue reading Made in America: Melanzana Outdoor Clothing

Slackers Walk the Line

Tightrope walking has been around for thousands of years as a form of entertainment and amusement. In recent years, a new form of walking on a taunt rope has developed – slackline. Rock climbers used to walk on the cables and chains used by the National Park Service to stop the flow of traffic on trails or roads in the parks. This cable/chain walking provided the climbers with practice balancing and building of core strength when they were no on a rock face. In the 1980s two climbers, Adam Grosowsky and Jeff Ellington, who frequented Yosemite National Park started stringing the webbing used in climbing as their ‘rope’ to practice their balancing skills. With Yosemite being filled with climbers, the sport caught on like wildfire.

(Set up video after the jump)

Continue reading Slackers Walk the Line

Made in America: Horseshoes by St. Pierre Manufacturing Corp.

Happy Memorial Day. While this day is meant to honor our soldiers and all Americans who have died in all of our wars, we do hope you are also having some time to relax too. We thought we’d offer a special Made in America, of one of the most American of items… horseshoes!

So what do tire chains and horseshoes have in common? Well, they are both made of metal… In Worchester, Massachusetts, the St. Pierre family has been forging Authentic Pitching Horseshoes since 1938 and are the only large-scale remaining manufacturer of pitching horseshoes still in the USA. The  trademark designed horseshoes are all Made in the USA and forged of solid steel for balance and control, plus the horseshoes are coated with a special non-slip finish that is superior to high gloss finishes and helps prevent chipping and corrosion. Continue reading Made in America: Horseshoes by St. Pierre Manufacturing Corp.

Made in America: Louisville Slugger

The first product that we chose for our ‘Made in America’ section had to be truly American. A company or product that reminded you of the good old U.S.A. when you heard the name. It only made sense to feature something from the game that is as American as apple pie… baseball and the Louisville Slugger.

Continue reading Made in America: Louisville Slugger

Small Bike Frame Builder Offers Some Big Options

Bespoke (adj – \bi-‘spok, be-\), from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, meaning ‘dealing in or producing custom-made articles’. There is a bicycle frame builder in Boulder, Colorado doing just that – handcrafting some of the finest custom bicycle frames around.

Mosaic Cycles, based in Boulder, Colorado is producing custom bicycle frames with a list of options typically are not available from the larger manufacturers. Working in steel and titanium, owner and frame builder, Aaron Barcheck has been producing custom bike frames since 2009. As a former fabricator with Dean Titanium Bicycles for seven years, Aaron is building frames at or above some manufacturers that have been fabricating for decades.

As I was making my way through the booths at the Boulder Bike Swap this past weekend at the Boulder Indoor Cycling facility, I was able to see Aaron’s work firsthand and meet the builder. Having been to plenty of trade shows and swaps, it is easy to just stroll right by a booth if nothing of interest jumps out. What caught my attention was all of the different bikes with the Mosaic name that were constructed using different techniques. Continue reading Small Bike Frame Builder Offers Some Big Options

Are You a Big Kid?

A Big Wheel for adults…it seems so childish. What adult would ride one and who would make such a thing? It seems like such a ridiculous idea until you ride a High Roller Big Wheel. The High Roller is the brain child of Matt Armbruster, aka Captain Obvious, who back in 1991 after a really bad day at the University of Colorado decided to get a group of people together to ride big wheels to the mall in Boulder, Colorado. Since then, Captain Obvious has been organizing “The Almost Annual Matt Armbruster Memorial Big Wheel Rally” in Boulder every spring and fall. Continue reading Are You a Big Kid?

Tri(ing) to Reduce the Hassle of Racing

Traveling or shipping a bicycle to an event can be a major hassle and expense. There is the time that it takes to find a box; disassembly/reassembly (twice); shipping through a carrier like FedEx or bringing it on the plane; insuring your bike; and praying that will see your bike in one piece or for that matter…ever again! Triathletes rejoice – now there is another option. Three seasoned triathletes, Erol Sarikaya, Jeffrey Goldberger and Jeff Mark, have launched a new company to rent high-end triathlon bikes that are race-day ready and onsite at certain events.

Their company, Tri-Cycle Rentals, offers a race-day ready fleet of Orbea bikes for rent that athletes pick up at the race venue. Riders reserve the bike online, show up at the event to check out the bike, get fitted on it, then return the bike afterward at the race expo or transition area. Continue reading Tri(ing) to Reduce the Hassle of Racing

Keep Riding in Focus

For years there has been corrective lenses available for those who are active in sports that could be purchased from most optometrists at a premium price. If you do not require corrective lens to see the road ahead of you, but are finding that when you look down at your cycling computer you can no long read the small numbers, there is a new option out there for you. Dual Power Eyewear is a company started by industry veteran Louis Viggio out of Boulder, Colorado that just launched a new line of eyewear, similar to bifocals, to address this issue.

Viggio founded Dual Power Eyewear after discovering that he could no longer read the small numbers on his bike computer and cell phone when out for a ride. After checking local bike shops and sports stores he found plenty of sunglasses, but nothing that addressed this issue.

Dual Power Eyewear launches with three styles, the Dual V6, S4, and SL2. Each model is available in two lens colors (smoke or brown) and feature impact resistant TR90 frames, shatterproof and scratch-resistant polycarbonate lenses, and a discrete +1.5, +2.0, or +2.5 Optimized Magnification Zone.

Dual Power Eyewear is intended to be sold at retailers in a similar manner to how reading glasses are sold at most pharmacies. The consumer picks the style and magnification that meets the level of correction, and simple purchases them at the register – no prescription needed. Continue reading Keep Riding in Focus

Saving (Race) Face

The Canadian manufacturer, Race Face Performance Products, emerged from receivership less than two months after the future of the iconic brand was thrown into uncertainty.It was announced on March 12, 2011, that after 18 years of business, Race Face would be entering receivership with many accusations circling of mismanagement by the then CEO, Craig Pollack.

The Race Face website remained unchanged, but their products started cropping up all over the internet retailers in the clearance and ‘specials’ pages. It seemed from the outside that it was the end for Race Face or worse – it would be sold to a company who then produce all of the products overseas… see Control Tech, American Classic, Cannondale, Schwinn, GT, etc. Continue reading Saving (Race) Face

Possessed to Skate

There are a fair amount of cities and towns around the country, that along with building recreation centers, community pools, amphitheaters and ball fields, have built skateparks. Often these skateparks are proposed with all of the other options a community can choose to fund; but it is not uncommon to find that a community has to pick and choose based on finances or space.

Skateparks are usually subject to harsh and often unfounded criticism based on stereotypes that may or may not be true and can ultimately lead to a skatepark being unfairly passed over as an option. At Kinetic Shift, a few of us have skated in the past and feel that it is better to have our kids out actively skating than to sit in front of the TV playing video games all day. A community park allows our kids to have a safe place, away from our streets and business staircases, to skateboard and ultimately get some exercise. Continue reading Possessed to Skate

BDSM for Your Bike

More than likely, if you are a cyclist, there is not one bit of natural fiber on your bike or in your cycling wardrobe. Cotton and leather has been replaced by Lycra, Coolmax, Nylon, leatherette or any number of other manmade products on the market. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but there is still a great appreciation for leather goods within the cycling community – just look at Brooks England, they have been making leather saddles since 1882 and they are still going strong! Continue reading BDSM for Your Bike

Hands On: The StemCAPtain Keeps You On Time

Back in March we mentioned the StemCAPtain in an entry titled “TIME to Ride with StemCAPtain” and happily a few weeks later we had our very own to test. We were sent the thermometer version and the clock version of the StemCAPtain with both red and black bases. The thermometer version is still being tested, but here is our reaction to the clock version.

The clock version of the StemCAPtain is one of those products whose success is based on either working or not working – there is really no middle ground. It is a simple accessory that replaces your threadless headset stem cap with an aluminum base cap that acts as a holder for the clock, thermometer, compass or picture frame version that you choose. The faces of the clock and thermometer are available in both black and white so we received a black faced clock and a white faced thermometer. It is true that the functions that the StemCAPtain perform are redundant if you have a cycling computer with these features, but the Stem CAPtain performs them in a more stylish way and frankly simple way when compared to most computers. Also, as a bonus with the clock version, you can leave your wrist watch at home an have one less tan line! Continue reading Hands On: The StemCAPtain Keeps You On Time