Category: Equipment

Bell Recalls Helmets

This week the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with Bell Sports announced a voluntary recall of the Full-face bicycle helmets. The plastic buckle that connects the chin straps can fail, causing the helmet to come off the wearer’s head. This poses a head injury hazard to riders in the event of a fall. The firm has received one report of a buckle failing during an accident, resulting in an injury that required stitches below the wearer’s eye.

Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product. About 31,100 of these helmets were sold in the United States and about 2,500 were sold in Canada. The helmets were sold at Walmart stores nationwide and Amazon.com between August 2009 and March 2011 for between $50 and $60. Continue reading Bell Recalls Helmets

Bad Week for Board Riders

Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins at a past X Games

This hasn’t been a banner week for skateboarding. The northern Utah city of Richmond is considering banning skateboards on city streets. There have been complaints that skateboarders ride in the middle of streets, but one city councilman reportedly expressed concerns that the boarders threatened the safety of pedestrians, especially children.

Won’t someone think of the child? But seriously, how is it that the boards are threatening children – are the kids walking in the middle of the streets as well? It would seem that skateboarding on the sidewalk would threaten the safety of pedestrians.

Meanwhile, ESPN has announced that it has eliminated women’s vert skateboarding form the program at this July’s X Games in Los Angeles. This event reportedly struggled to sustain a viable competitive tour, and the X Games was the only remaining major competition.

On the plus side women’s street skating will remain a part of the X Games program.

Wearable Computer

Over the years technology designed for the battlefield has made its way to the commercial sector. The latest device that might just turn heads is Black Diamond Advanced Technology’s MTS (Modular Tactical System) wearable ultra-rugged PC. This new system is available as a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) system, where parts can be mixed and matched as needed. The system has been tested in the rugged terrain of Afghanistan, and was optimized for dismounted use with command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR for those in the know).

The system essentially places the MTS computer right on the wearer’s chest in the backpack. While based on COTS, this doesn’t mean that it is actually commercially available right now. However, we already see the potential for civilian applications. Who wouldn’t want to wear their rugged computer? Continue reading Wearable Computer

GolfBuddy Gets Worldly

Just in time to hit the links, GolfBuddy has gone global of sorts. The Golf GPS that carries no added fees has just launched with an international World model. GolfBuddy World comes pre-loaded with more than 33,000 courses and still does not require any subscription fees or download fees. It is ready to hit the fairway right out of the box.

The GPS device has the capacity to hold 40,000 courses in its internal memory, while offering a high resolution, color touch screen that is easy to navigate without or without golf gloves. It features an anti-glare screen that makes it remain visible, even in direct sunlight. The device offers a digital scorecard, statistical analysis, a shock and water resistant casing and 50 channel satellite reception. Continue reading GolfBuddy Gets Worldly

Bollé Storms the Water

With summer just around the corner, you may be gathering and preparing all of your gear to hit the water for some fun. Whether your are an angler, sailor or just enjoy spending time on the water, you may be in the market for some sunglasses to help cut down on that annoying glare. Bollé, one of the many names that Bushnell Outdoor Products of Overland Park, Kansas produces under, has announced the expansion of their Marine line of sunglasses to now include 15 models.

Up to 2011, Bollé already had been offer nine different styles of glasses in their Maine Collection. The Bollé Marine Collection features two specialized mirrored lens hues – Inland Gold for low light conditions and Offshore Blue for the harsher light of open water. Both lenses are polarized to eliminate distracting glare while enabling the wearer to see below the water’s surface. Bollé Marine lenses also block distracting blue light to minimize eye fatigue in their unique water environments. Continue reading Bollé Storms the Water

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

Wiley X Eyewear Remembers America’s Soldiers Who Gave Their All

Today Wiley X Eyewear encourages everyone to remember our soldiers who gave their all, and so much more. The company, which has a long tradition of providing U.S. soldiers with state-of-the-art eyewear that protects their vision in combat situations and in the world’s harshest environments, offers a special thanks to the troops.

“With Memorial Day marking the unofficial kickoff to summer and many families taking the opportunity to get away for an extended weekend, it’s easy to forget the true meaning of this holiday,” said Myles Freeman, Jr., Co-Owner of Wiley X Eyewear. “Memorial Day is a time for Americans to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice so many have made over our great nation’s history. On behalf of the Wiley X family, I encourage people to pause during this holiday and really think about the gift we’ve all been given — as well as its tremendous cost. If you meet a veteran or a solider this weekend, make sure to say ‘thank you!’ We need to truly appreciate our fallen heroes and our standing soldiers alike.”

True words from a class act.

Wiley X Eyewear Official Website

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

First Look: adidas So Cool

There is no denying that adidas has some cool shoes, but now the company proves it really knows cool with the ClimaCool Ride, ideal shoes for spring and summer running. This shoes provide 360 degrees of ventilation. The shoes feature suede overlays for lockdown performance, non-woven fabric for comfort and breathability and injected EVA tooling with maximum flexibility and breathability, plus perforated sockliner for even increased breathability. In other words these shoes look cool and will keep your feet cool.

Out of the box we’re impressed by the lightweight design. In our hands on testing these shoes felt like walking (and light jogging) on a cloud. Check back next week for a full hands on of the adidas ClimaCool Ride, and in the mean time enjoy a video with David Beckham.

(Video after the jump) Continue reading First Look: adidas So Cool

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

Sun Powered Golf Carts

Golf courses are designed to actually offer little in the way of shade, which is what you’d expect with the fairway and the green. But it is also means that solar power should be a no brainer.

Apparently Coconut Creek-based SolarCarts has seen that solar power is a bright idea for the transportation used on the golf courses. The company is the designer and manufacturer of solar energy retrofits for golf cars, and this week announced the launch of The Sun Eagle, a solar roof that transforms electric golf carts into solar-powered hybrid carts. Continue reading Sun Powered Golf Carts

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?