About a year ago my friend, Sean, and I were at Tam Bikes in Mill Valley, California when I noticed a bike which caught my eye – a belt drive mountain bike by Spot Brand. I immediately feel in love with the belt drive concept due to the simplicity, but I was not in the market for a single speed mountain bike as I already owned a few. But if you can’t buy one, the next best thing was to build it, which is exactly what I did. Here is the story of building up a bike. Continue reading Fitness Journal: Can’t Buy It? Build It!
Tag: Hands On
Hands On: Redline Conquest Team Cyclocross Bike
Over the years I’ve had about a half a dozen road bikes, and at least an equal number of mountain bikes. But a recent move from New York City to Michigan opened up new possibilities for me. Not only could I buy more bikes since I have a garage to fill, but there were now a far great number of options with places to ride. With the change in venues also came a change in attitude. In the past few years I’ve opted to do more road riding, and far less off-roading.
To that end I decided that my middle aged body just wasn’t up to the hard core mountain biking any longer. I’m not alone, as many of my old riding buddies have moved on as well. That said, I still like to ride through the woods and trails, especially in the fall as the colors of the leaves change. But hitting the more technical trails, riding complex single track and choosing the right line were in the past for me. I might still head out for some mountain biking, yet what I really wanted was to enjoy the road style riding but on dirt paths, fire roads and other non-technical type trails. Thus it was time to get a cyclocross bike. Continue reading Hands On: Redline Conquest Team Cyclocross Bike
Hands-on: Boo! Freighting Good Ride With Bamboo
While visiting the Gates Carbon Drive System booth at the 2010 Outdoor Demo in Boulder City, NV, there was one bike the jumped out as being completely unique from all of the other manufacturers using the belt drive system. That manufacturer was Boo Bicycles from Ft. Collins, Colorado. The feature that really made this bike stand out was the use of bamboo as the main tubes and stays of the frame. Bamboo is one of those materials that has picked up steam as a building material in the mainstream recently due to its beauty and more importantly its sustainability as a building material.
Unlike traditional lumber, bamboo can be harvested for use as a building material in a few years as opposed to a few decades. For centuries, Eastern cultures have used bamboo for everything including building shelters, weapons, food and textiles. Boo is certainly not the first manufacturer to use bamboo in a bicycle frame, but they are one of the few to use the material in every single frame they produce. Continue reading Hands-on: Boo! Freighting Good Ride With Bamboo
Hands On: Shhh! I’m Trying to Ride Here
While at Interbike this year I had the pleasure of riding a 2010 Wazee, offered by Spot Brands from Golden, Colorado. I was interested in riding this bike not because it is a fixed gear bike, but because it is a belt drive, fixed gear bike. Spot utilized the Gates Carbon Drive System with this fixed gear bike and came up with what might be the quietest bike on the market.
I was amazed at how quiet the ride of this bike was and the positive feel of the belt drive system. There was no slop in the chain when backpedaling and after being ridden by countless people at Interbike, the belt was clean. The frame uses track geometry, which made the bike handle very quick and nimble. Continue reading Hands On: Shhh! I’m Trying to Ride Here
Hands On: Hitting the Trail With the Montrail Sabino
Over hill, over dale, I hit the dusty trail and the Sabino carried me along. After years of primarily being one to pound the pavement, I laced up with a pair on Montrail Sabino shoes and got off road. Now truth be told, given the state of many roads and even sidewalks in much of the country these days, finding “off road” isn’t as hard as it seems. But these performance running shoes are really designed for stability in true trail conditions.
The Sabinos are heavier than many of today’s lightweight running training shoes, but that’s because these need to stand up to harsher terrain. In other words you wouldn’t use a sports car where a SUV needs to go – then again, many SUVs probably couldn’t go where these shoes will take you. Made of synthetic leather and lylon mesh upper materials and thermoplastic midfoot shank, the Sabinos fit like a glove and were just right for the rather humid and warm day when I hit the trail. Whether we’ll be able to say if these were neither too hot nor too cold will have to determined at another time, but it is safe to say that these will do the job in a variety of weather conditions. Continue reading Hands On: Hitting the Trail With the Montrail Sabino
Hands On: Garmin 500 Edge – First Impressions
This past week we had the chance to test out the Garmin Edge 500 GPS-based cycling computer. With this on my bike I’m feeling like I’m ready for the Tour de France – that is if women actually were allowed to race in the most famous of cycling classics. But it helped me on my way for my local training rides.
The very first impression was that this one could be difficult to setup and calibrate. The problem with technology is the more it can do, the more complicated it is to use. But I was more than pleasantly surprised with the ease of the set-up and the versatility that this device offered out of the box. While not the most notable, but certainly appreciated is the fact that this device comes with several rubber loops for securing the computer’s mount to the bike. This is such a small thing, but it is so welcome, especially for anyone who can’t decide the best placement for the mounts, and only realized this after tightening the zip ties.
But the more notable point is that this is a wireless device. So there is no wire to run, making for a cleaning line on the frame, and more importantly making for one less thing to worry about. The Edge 500 can be used without a heart rate monitor, without the sensors. But the version I’m testing came with those items, and all this set up very easily and quickly too. Continue reading Hands On: Garmin 500 Edge – First Impressions