Category: Cycling

The Devil is in the Details From Handsome Bicycles

If you’ve never had love at first sight when looking at a bike, check out the Devil from Handsome Bicycles. The best part is that this isn’t just another major bike maker’s attempt to make a unique styled bike for the masses. Of course, the details are actually in the Devil with this sweet looking ride, which thanks to a 73-degree head and seat angle also offers a nice ride as well.

For 2010 the Devil line now includes a new “martini olive” color. And like a well-made martini (stirred not shaken), this one promises to be smooth and steady from beginning to end. It has a longish top tube combined with a medium-low 70mm bottom bracket drop, and a fork that is a neutral 45mm trail measurement. It is a fully customizable frame that can be built up as a city commuter, touring, single speed or just regular knock around bike for those who know that two wheels is a great way to get around. It offers traditional, forward-facing rear dropouts that will allow for derailleurs, internal-geared hubs or even single-speed transmission, so in a word this bike is truly “customizable.”

Additionally, the frameset is also sold naked, but with 2010 decal sheets included, so whether you like your bikes to have a minimalist look or want to trick it out you’ll get to start with a blank slate that will ensure no two are exactly the same.

The Handsome Devil should easily live up to its name, and it is currently available in 52-, 55- and 58-cm sizes (measured from center of the bottom bracket to the top of the seattube).

Handsome Devil Bicycles Product Page

Minneapolis Rides to Top Spot in Bicycling Magazine Ranking

Minneapolis, Minnesota is the best place in the country to bike, at least according to the annual top 50 bike-friendly cities in America, as chosen by Bicycling magazine. This year’s list pays homage to cities that have shown solid innovation in making cycling better, and also looks at how local government support riding.

Interestingly, this list must be taken fairly seriously, as Miami has become one of the five up-and-comer cities, now ranking 44th on the best cities list; quite an improvement from 2008 when the city was on the “Worst Cities for Cycling” list! Miami now has added bike lanes, sharrows and trails in the works, but the city recently hired a bike-ped coordinator to make it even friendlier. As for Minneapolis, it was chosen as best for its thriving bike community, and the fact that it has 120 miles of on- and off-street bicycle facilities, plus indoor bike parking for commuters.

Here is a look at the Top Five Best Cities:

  1. Minneapolis, Minnesota
  2. Portland, Oregon
  3. Boulder, Colorado
  4. Seattle, Washington
  5. Eugene, Oregon

The Top Five “Rising Stars” as cities that are improving:

  • New York City
  • Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • Long Beach, California
  • Cleveland, Ohio
  • Miami, Florida

And of course for everything good, there has to be the worst places to cycle. These cities include:

  • Birmingham, Alabama
  • Jacksonville, Florida
  • Memphis, Tennessee

For the entire list, as well as top foreign cities, go to: http://www.bicycling.com/topbikefriendlycities/

One for the Road

When I go for a bike ride, I typically take my driver’s license. When I run, I don’t often take as much. It’s not fun to think about the possibility of getting hurt, but if I do, an emergency crew won’t know who I am. That’s where Road ID comes in. It’s the basic information for quick reference. There are two wrist strap models, the Wrist ID Sport and Wrist ID Elite. The Sport ID allows seven lines of text, etched into a metal plate and threaded on a nylon wrist strap. This can include your name and address, emergency contact numbers, and other pertinent information. Wrist ID Elite has a rubberized band, but carries the same vitals.

Road ID Interactive is the next level up, and gives you two lines of text on the front of the plate, and a serial and PIN number on the back that can provide even more information. With an online profile, you can update your address, emergency contact numbers, insurance information, and other details in your Emergency Response Profile. The ERP can be accessed over the phone or online.

This is an effective way to provide information if you’re not able to do that yourself. Emergency crews are used to medical jewelry such as a bracelet or necklace that alerts of health issues. This is another identifier for you. It lightens your load so you don’t have to take a driver’s license or other ID when you go, or supplements that with information more useful in an emergency situation.

Tired Old Tires Turned in Bike Stands

If you have a high-end bike, then you probably have that sense of dread when having to use the typical a bike rack. There is the worry of scratching the frame’s paint or decal, and the fact that the wheel-in-first racks are designed for bikes from decades ago. Even the general “metal” loops are poorly designed to allow for adequate positioning, as there just isn’t enough space to lean the bike.

A Wellington, New Zealand firm may have the answer, and it is one that solves another problem in the process. Duncan Forbes and Matt Hammond of Bikerakk have created a cycle stand that has a solid steel core frame but has a softer outer layer made of recycled car tires. And to encourage businesses to adopt these stands, the rack is in the shape of a bicycle, allowing the rear wheel to be a glass disc that can light up at night for advertising and signage.

So far the Bikerakk is only available in central Wellington, but the company hopes to eventually get the stands throughout the island nation. Maybe it will catch on, as it is a great use of recycled tires and provides a bit of padding. Plus it could be just the thing to remind people that two wheels make a good way to get around.

No Flying Scotsman Tricks for the Track

Track bike racing could turn into an off-the-shelf sport soon, as the International Cycling Union (UCI) announced plans to force teams to use equipment that is commercially available. UCI chief Pat McQuaid noted that Britain, Germany and Australia – three track bike powerhouses – have been warned this past weekend that the use of illegal technological advances will not be tolerated, and that he had concerns about the way some teams continued to flout rules while using expensive equipment that is (in his words) “not commercially available.”

This is reminiscent of when Graeme Obree – a.k.a. “The Flying Scotsman – built a homemade bike and broke the one hour distance record on the track. In Obree’s case the bike wasn’t so high-tech as it was just ingenious, utilizing parts of a washing machine for the bottom bracket, but the fallout was a crackdown on equipment that wasn’t standard. McQuaid has not defined what is actually meant by “freely available” nor “reasonable price” when discussing the new rules, so there will no doubt be questions raised.

But as some teams were riding on bicycle prototypes that cost between 50,000 and 100,000 Euros each, we have to agree that while technology should help athletes, the playing field needs to be level. In this case, even if the track the competition takes place on is banked!

Primal Wear Clothing For Rockers and Geeks

When you think of cycling attire, you probably think of team jerseys, cycling sponsors and equipment makers. This is all great if you like the team-look, but what if you want to break from the crowd and do the distance not looking like a pro-wannabe?

Over the years there have been plenty of eclectic fashion statements, but the attire from Primal Wear Clothing truly offers something different! The company offers a line of heavy metal and hard rock jerseys that would at first glance seem more attuned to a bunch of burnouts in a van at a concert, than on the mountain bike trail or on the long road ride. But on a closer look these offer riders to strut their stuff and prove their more than pedal gear heads. Inspiring the look of vintage concert shirts, you can get on your head banging with Metallica, feel the long and winding trip with some Pink Floyd, or always good for the long climb the Led Zepplin Stairway Bicycle Jersey.

And if hard rocking isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other options including those for the armed services that will show that you support our troops and more. Primal Wear even has a line of Star Wars themed jerseys instead, and these feature the original movie posters of the first trilogy of films. Let’s just hope they make those in Jabba the Hutt size for the hardcore fans.

Look for Sports/Fitness in the Classifieds

Are you looking for a lacrosse team to join? Are you looking for a running partner? Do you want to sell the bike you just replaced? Esportsboard is a new local classifieds just for sports and fitness. It’s like Craigslist.org, but just the athletics. The site lets you buy and sell used gear, equipment, and apparel; promote local services such as a trainer, pitching coach, or fishing guide; post announcements including teams looking for players; find people looking for partners for running or cycling; and promote tournaments, camps, and fund raisers. Anything sports-related, there’s a category.

When you visit Esportsboard it recognizes what city you’re in, and asks if that’s where you’re looking. The site says it aggregates classifieds for over 4,500 local sports organizations, and serves 160 million Americans actively participating in sports and recreation. If you’re looking to put your kid in little league, or want to find a group of runners to train with, it’s a good place to find that, and get the gear to outfit you for your sport.

Classifieds: Esportsboard.com

Garmin-Transitions Turns to New Leaf for Training

Team Garman-Slipstream at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, February 2010

International cycling Team Slipstream, which rides under the sponsorship name Team Garmin-Transitions, known for its voluntary testing practice is adding metabolic and endurance training to its regime. Through a partnership with Angeion, the team will get the cardiorespiratory diagnostic systems company’s New Leaf metabolic assessment and training equipment.

Team Garmin-Transition’s president, Matt Johnson said, “We are focused on expanding our family of technology-driven partners, so adding New Leaf technology is something we’re incredibly proud of.” New Leaf will get to display its technology to a worldwide audience of potential customers and sports enthusiasts by association with the team.

The New Leaf metabolic assessment and training program is based on decades of medical research and learning. It’s New Leaf Active Metabolic Training System is available at some fitness clubs, corporate wellness programs, and sports training centers to measure human performance and how efficiently a person’s body burns calories.

Team Garmin-Slipstream

Team Garmin-Slipstream trains and races all over the world. Angeon

New Leaf Fitness

Google Maps Clears a Path for Biking

Map your bike route on Google Maps.

We applauded Google years ago when it added walking directions to Google Maps. Public transportation directions are also helpful. The newest addition to Maps is Bicycling directions. Now in beta (what at Google isn’t?), you can look up the bike routes you take, and learn about new ones. I just mapped a ride I took a few times last summer, Manhattan to Nyack, New York. It suggested two routes that differed even a little from the two routes I’ve ridden in the past. Now I’m looking forward to a nice enough day to take the new routes.

For discovery, Google highlights streets by bike friendliness. Dark green lines on the map indicate dedicated bike-only trails. Light green lines mark streets with a dedicated bike lane along the road. Dotted green lines indicate roads without bike lanes, but still appropriate for biking based on terrain, traffic, and intersections. In hilly cities such as San Francisco Google Maps will plot out a course that’s less hilly. Of course you can always drag and drop your route on the map to adjust to your specifications.

Google partnered with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit that creates a network of trails from former rail lines, to build the data in over 150 cities for this project. To get biking directions you can go to Google Maps and select bicycling as your mode of transportation, or go to the specific page for bicycling.

Check out Google’s video on its new maps for bicycling.

Race in a Virtual Tour de France

Video games such as Rock Band allow players to go on a virtual world tour, even if they’re not jamming in the same city, and first person shooters let players squad up from around the globe. These are just of the advances that gaming has brought to the social experience of virtual reality. Soon you might be able to take part in the Tour de France, or go on a bike tour in distant lands, and instead of faking it ala a game, you can get your sweat on while actually spinning.

At this year’s CeBIT in Germany, Paul Zernicke, a research at the Technical University in Berlin, demonstrated technology that combine an exercise bike with a wall-sized 3D Google Earth map that offered riders to take spins through Beijing’s Forbidden City as well as past the Great Pyramids of Egypt and even to the first stage of last year’s Tour de France. 

The bike part offers the usual stuff such as tracking heart rate, calories burned and distance traveled while the VR part offers better scenery than just a TV show or the living room wall. Better still Zernicke promises that this can be more than just a visual travelogue from a bike seat, and offers that a competitive element could be added. So far he’s tested the system with up to six riders at a time.

The CompuTrainer Pro 3D

There are still questions to answer, such as whether you’d actually see your competition – or at least a generic version – added to your screen. And how much flexibility will it offer in where you ride? Otherwise, you’re just racing a clock and a fixed video. Still, this sounds like a great way to see the sights while getting a workout.

In the meantime, there are solutions available today such as the CompuTrainer Pro 3D by Wired Bike.com. It might not be quite as impressive as the technology shown at CeBIT, but it beats just ready a magazine or watching cartoons while you put in the in-door miles.

Retro Jerseys Offer Refreshing Style for a New Season of Cycling

As an avid cyclist in New York City, this reporter knows that biking in the Big Apple is as much about fashion as actually training. But seeing one too many Team Astana jerseys (which I expect will be retired to never see the light of day again), not to mention a decade or more of “world champions” doing a slow lap in Central Park, it is refreshing to see Retro’s newest line. Based on the Horton Collection – the personal treasure trove of cycling related artifacts from Brett Horton, the foremost authority on bicycle racing history – these jerseys are truly “retro” cool. Instead of just mere “team” jerseys for the wannabe rider, these are inspired by hand-selected vintage posters from Brett’s massive collection of vintage cycling memorabilia.

And if old school cycling isn’t quite your thing, but you still want to evoke something unique, Retro also offers numerous eclectic jerseys such as “Bauhaus exhibit” for the lover of 1920’s German modernism, and a Peking Opera poster for the chick who desires to be a dragon lady on two wheels.

Retro Official Web Site

The Horton Collection Web Site

Team Radioshack Cycling Made its Debut; HTC-Columbia Wins First Tour of the Year

Remember the hype last summer; seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong announced a new professional cycling team? Well, Team RadioShack Cycling actually made its debut last week in the Santos Tour Down Under, which marks the official start of the pro cycling season. Yes, it is still about six months until July’s Tour de France, but cycling is much more than just the big show through France – and for the record this year’s event will begin in The Netherlands! Cycling can be confusing when nations are considered.

This was the 12 annual Tour Down Under, which ran from January 17 to 24, and it was won by Germany’s Andre Greipel (only the second ride to win this race twice) who races for the American HTC-Columbia team, the most winning team in cycling. HTC by the way is the Taiwanese-based mobile phone company that made the first “Google Android Phone,” the G1 for T-Mobile (itself a German company). HTC has a three year sponsorship deal with owners Team High Road. And actually the HTC-Columbia team had formerly been the T-Mobile Team, but following some scandals we won’t bring up, the team switched nationality from German to American, after T-Mobile dropped its sponsorship! Confused? Maybe this is what makes cycling, and those high-tech sponsors, just all the more interesting to viewers.

And while Armstrong didn’t win, he wasn’t expected to do so. He’s just getting in shape for the big show in France!

Power to the Pedal

HYmini generates power from wind to charge your portable devices.

Wind power doesn’t only come from towering turbines. The HYmini from miniWIZ is a handheld gadget that collects wind energy to recharge portable devices. (The unit can also charge from an additional solar panel or hand crank if there isn’t enough wind to turn the fan.) It stores enough juice to charge a 5-volt device, such as a cell phone, MP3 player, iPod, PDA, or digital camera. The catch? To use the wind power you must get movement from the fan. While you can set it on a picnic table and hope it’ll get enough wind blowing on it to bring your cell phone back from the dead, the device works better when there’s faster action, like when it’s mounted onto your bike or strapped to your arm while you’re out for a run. It’s also an eco alternative to plugging into the wall or trickle charge via a USB connection.