Category: Cycling

Trek Suspension Calculator for Trek 2011 and 2012 Mountain Bikes

Setting up the suspension on a mountain bike can be a little confusing. How much air pressure is required? How many turns are needed for compression and/or rebound knobs? What springs are used? Does a shock from Rock Shox require a different setup configuration than one from Fox? Where are the instruction manuals?!?! If you are the owner of a 2011 or 2012 full suspension Trek mountain bike, Trek has made this job a little easier for you.

Trek has recently created a calculator to assist these owners in setting up their bikes. Simply navigate over to the site, select your bike and enter your weight. The calculator returns all of the settings that you will need to adjust your shocks. Once you have your settings, you will need your shock pump, sag meter and preferably a friend to help make these adjustments. The sag meter is usually a simple plastic clip attached to the upper leg of a suspension fork to measure the distance the fork sinks when the rider sits on the bike. The friend helps in the process since, it’s sometimes difficult to visually see how much the bike sags under the weight of the rider, if you’re the rider.

The Trek suspension calculator provides the rider a good starting point for adjusting their shocks – certainly not the final settings. Usually the hardest part of adjusting all of the variables on a full suspension bike is knowing where to start. Once this starting point is determined, minor adjustments can then be made with regards to air pressure, compression and rebound to achieve a truly ‘custom’ ride. This calculator is an excellent tool to help Trek owners setup up there bikes to achieve its full potential.

Trek Suspension Calculator


Simulated Wood Grain For Your Bike

Back in the early 1990s there was the now largely forgotten Los Angeles one-hit wonder alternative band School of Fish, which in its one-hit “Three Strange Days” offered the lyric: “And Johnny Clueless was there, With his simulated wood grain.”

Well, Rob Pollock of New Zealand is no Johnny Clueless, and he probably never heard of the song nor the band. But he’s spent his life painting faux wood finishes on various things, a process he calls “woodgraining,” which is now taking to bike frames after customizing his son’s bike. Those looking for a wood-esque bike can send their frames to Rob’s Woodgrain Bike Frames, where Pollock paints them individually over seven to 10 days.

The process, which can run about $1500 US, involves stripping the old paint, where he sprays a light colored base, and then uses a multi-step process to hand brush the actual one-of-a-kind woodgrain pattern in darker colors. Clear coat is added, along with a protective epoxy coating. The result is a bike that looks like wood.

(Video of the woodgraining process after the jump)

Continue reading Simulated Wood Grain For Your Bike

USA Pro Cycling Challenge Jerseys Being Auctioned for Charity

This coming August, sandwiched between two of the three Grand Tours, is the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge. The USA Pro Cycling Challenge is expected to be the largest spectator event in Colorado history and may possibly be one of the largest sporting events to ever take place in the United States. For seven consecutive days, 128 of the world’s top athletes will race across 518 miles through the majestic Rockies, reaching higher altitudes than they’ve ever had to endure, more than two miles in elevation. The inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge will take place August 22-28, 2011, starting in Colorado Springs and traveling to Salida, Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte, Gunnison, Aspen, Vail, Avon, Steamboat Springs, Breckenridge and Golden, ending in Denver for the finish.

Just about every cycling stage race has custom jerseys created to designate the ‘race leader’ from day to day – the USA Pro Challenge is no different. USA Pro Challenge will award jerseys daily to top athletes in various standings including the leader, sprinter and climber. In addition, the best young rider as well as the rider who tackles the course with the most tenacity and aggression will wear jerseys commemorating their accomplishments. Continue reading USA Pro Cycling Challenge Jerseys Being Auctioned for Charity

Mooto X YBB: Building a ‘Dream’ Bike First Impressions

Maybe I have an addiction, but so what. My addiction isn’t the bottle or pills – it is a bit larger and may cost as much as a substance addiction, but it is much more beneficial to my health. I have once again fallen victim to my addiction…I am putting together a new bike.

When I build bikes, I usually know if it is going to be one that I keep for a few years or in excess of a decade. The last ‘dream’ bike that I built was back in 1998 and it also started as a titanium frame – that Merlin XLM is still hanging in garage. My Merlin XLM has taken me through thousands of miles of trails from sea level to over 12,000’. It has been with me during 24 hour races and numerous Leadville Trail 100 races. I still love to take that bike out and rip through tight, smooth singletrack, but that ‘dream’ bike is soon to have a new friend. Continue reading Mooto X YBB: Building a ‘Dream’ Bike First Impressions

New Spin on Bamboo Bicycle

We’ve seen many bicycles designs that incorporate sustainable materials, including bamboo. But most are built around traditional frame designs. Now Alexander Vittouris, a master’s student at Monash University in Australia had devised a three-wheeled vehicle made of the quick growing grass.

He is in the running for the Australian Design Award for his concept bicycle. Rather than take the time to harvest, weave and compress the bamboo, which has traditionally been needed to make the grass conform to traditional bicycle frame design, Vittouris instead made his vehicle conform to the shape of the bamboo – creating a skeleton frame from the long strands.

In other words, his Ajiro bicycle was essentially grown in the backyard of his Malvern East home. After taking shape, traditional bike parts were incorporated, so the result is a front-pedal design that resembles a recumbent bicycle.

And while Vittouris admits the first concept didn’t come cheap, he does envision a future of mass-grown vehicles, planted in fields.

[Via WAtoday.com.au: Bamboozled? Give it a grow]

Riding FASTER

When performance modifications are done to a car, a dynameter can be used to measure the horsepower and torque output at the wheels to analyze and further tune the vehicle. There is an endless number of changes that can be performed on a car that the dyno can measure, but it alone can not be used alone to analyze the effects of drag over the body and chassis without testing in a wind tunnel.

For years, top level professional cyclists have had access to equipment to gauge their power output and wind tunnels to analyze and improve their positioning while on the bike. They also had the deep pockets of sponsors to fund the use of this equipment, but the costs put the use of these facilities out of most amateur racers. Recently watt meters have become smaller and more affordable for the amateur cyclist, so why shouldn’t the wind tunnel be more accessible? That is all about to change.

Set to open in August, the FASTER Performance and Retail Center is finishing up the final touches on their new facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. Continue reading Riding FASTER

Bicycle Furniture

Furniture maker Seth Deysach has created something that combined his two passions, working in wood and cycling. The result is the Lagomorph bike, a single-speed that Deysach designed as part of the Object Society Design Show that was held last year.

While he had made a single bike in a single size (and again it was a single speed), the designer is now taking special orders for his wooden-framed bike, and even offering custom options. His Lagomorph bike features a traditional triangle frame, which is bridal jointed and glued together and fastened together, much as how a chair is assembled. Makes sense given his furniture background. Continue reading Bicycle Furniture

Kene-editorial: How do you punish the dopers?

Good title for a book that is now essentially fiction and built on lies

As we enter the final week of the 2011 Tour de France, it is a pleasant surprise to see that doping has not taken center stage at the event this year. There is still the dark cloud over Alberto Contador’s head regarding the positive test last year for a ban steroid which will not be resolved until August; and the voluntary withdrawal by the Russian, Alexandr Kolobnev of the Katusha team. Other than that, it has been the crashes and surprise victories that have dominated the coverage. The question still remains, how does the sport of cycling handle and punish the convicted dopers?

There are two sides to the argument over the issue of doping and cycling. Some people believe that we should stop worrying about catching the cheaters and let them all use whatever drugs the riders choose to ingest. They believe that the general public wants to see more action in the sport, and like the use of steroids by the sluggers in Major League Baseball, they think that allowing the riders to dope-up will create more action and excitement. For that group of people, there is no discussion of punishment since they would have the sport of cycling turn into a free-for-all. I use the word ‘they’ because I believe in the complete opposite. Continue reading Kene-editorial: How do you punish the dopers?

Bike Fixtation Makes Simple Fixes Easy

There are times when you might need to a simple fix, and don’t want to head to the shop. Most of us, even those of us who ride a lot, don’t have a bike repair shop in our garages or basements. And for urban dwellers, just having the right tools can be a problem as there is no place to store them.

What we need is a kiosk, a one-stop repair shop for those handy enough to do it yourself. And now in Minneapolis there is just such a kiosk. Looking much like a vending machine, with a bike stand to boot, the self-service bike kiosk is located in the Uptown Transit Station. This station was devised by cyclists Chad De Baker and Alex Anderson and is fitting called the Bike Fixtation. Continue reading Bike Fixtation Makes Simple Fixes Easy

Is it 2012 already? Specialized thinks it is!

Specialized has recently added a section to their website titled ‘2012 Early Launch’ featuring a mix of bikes from entry level to ones that could be raced in the Tour de France. One item that caught our eye was the new S-Works Shiv TT Module time trial/triathlon carbon fiber frame.

This UCI-legal frame utilizes Specialized’s proprietary FACT IS 11r carbon fiber construction to create a fully integrated cockpit with radical tube shaping for the ultimate optimization of aerodynamics, stiffness, and weight. Along with the full carbon fiber frame, Specialized also uses the FACT carbon fiber for the monocoque fork, crankset, seat post and handlebar/aerobar. The S-Works Shiv TT is sold as more than just a frame, but it is certainly not a complete bike. For the $6100 price tag you will still need to add wheels, a chain, a rear cogset, shifters, derailleurs, bar tap, cables, a seat and some pedals, but when a bike of this level is purchased, it is not uncommon for the rider to be very particular about those items.

The list of features for the 2012 S-Works Shiv TT Module include:
• For UCI time trials or any race against the clock, this FACT IS 11r carbon frame
• Super-stiff and light, UCI-legal, S-Works FACT carbon monocoque fork
• Specialized S-Works FACT carbon crankset with chain rings and an OSBB, removable carbon spider, and ceramic bearings
• Aerodynamic carbon stem integrates with the aerobar
• S-Works FACT carbon integrated handlebar/aero bar is UCI-legal and offers 0-115mm height adjustment
• S-Works FACT carbon bladed seatpost is UCI-legal with two setback options
• S-Works aero integrated brakes Continue reading Is it 2012 already? Specialized thinks it is!

New Kind of Hybrid Bicycle

The original “hybrid” bicycle was one that was also called a “city bike” as it was part road bike and part mountain bike. Often described as a bicycle that wasn’t as fast as a road bike, or as reliable in terms of handling than a mountain bike, the hybrid has lost momentum. But the “hybrid” may be making a comeback – but this time it is a pedal/electric hybrid.

Bicycledesign first spotted Roy Prince’s latest concept design, the eCortina v2 e-Bike. Oxnard, California based Prince is an old hand to electric bikes and other vehicles, and this latest product is reportedly “designed so that one can pedal only (human power), motor only (electric power), or in hybrid mode both motor and pedal at the same time. Under hybrid running the distance one can ride under one charge is extended.” Prince explained the concept more on his RPEV.org website. Continue reading New Kind of Hybrid Bicycle

How to Transport 4 Gallons of Milk and a Pound of Butter on a Bike…

In Europe bikes aren’t just used for leisurely rides or for a commute to work. In Europe, as well as many other parts of the world, bikes are used as a main form of transportation. That might not seem like a big deal, but imagine what it means for just going to the grocery store? Hauling anything that won’t fit in a shoulder bag can be an ideal. To solve the problem innovative bike makers have added baskets to bikes, and some have looked at low-tech solutions.

The Danish company, Velorbis, has announced the release of the ‘world’s strongest’ wicker basket. If you have ridden a bike with a front basket loaded down, you might have noticed how squirrelly the handling of the bike can be while riding. The new basket from Velorbis is being advertised as being able to have 15kgs (33lbs)… or the equivalent of four gallons of milk and a pound of butter. Continue reading How to Transport 4 Gallons of Milk and a Pound of Butter on a Bike…

BioLogic Offers GPS BikeBrain

Riding with a smartphone might not let you get away from it all, but given the power that the handsets such as the iPhone now offer it would be a smart move to take them on the ride. And rather than just tucking the phone in your jersey pocket put it to work.

BioLogic’s BikeBrain app, which is currently rated 4.5 as a free app on the Apple App Store, will show what a smartphone can do your ride. This GPS-powered app offers cyclo-computer functionality. The BikeBrain Plus version, which is available for $1.99, takes it a step further with customizable programming features including intervals, zones and calories burned. It can even let users share data via Google Maps, Facebook and Twitter – plus it is compatible with MapMyRide.

“When sales of our bike-mounted iPhone cases took off, we knew a lot of people were using their iPhones on their bikes,” said Joakim Uimonen, BikeBrain Product Manager. “With the increased capabilities of BikeBrain Plus you really don’t need to buy a separate dedicated cycling computer to keep track of your rides.”

The free version, originally known as BikeBrain Lite, the BikeBrain app was launched at the beginning of April and had more than 20,000 downloads within the first 30 days. But given the functionality of the paid version, we think it is certainly worth the $1.99, making BikeBrain Plus a smart move indeed.

(Video after the jump) Continue reading BioLogic Offers GPS BikeBrain