Seven launch their lightest bike ever – titanium carbon love fest

US bespoke brand Seven Cycles are launching a new road bike with a carbon fibre and titanium frame that’s their lightest ever.

The 622 SLX weighs 1kg in a 54cm frame size. It uses rider-specific carbon tubes joined using titanium lugs that are designed to be stiff and durable as well as adding a whole lot of style.

Seven Cycles already make frames that blend carbon fibre and titanium – their Elium SL and Elium SLX road models, for example – but they reckon the 622 sets new standards in that it retains the feel of a metal bike but in a lighter weight.

“We hear a lot of riders who love the road feel of our metal bikes wanting a lighter option, and we hear a lot of the people riding our carbon bikes express an interest in getting more road feel,” said Seven Cycles founder Rob Vandermark. “This bike is really for them. We wanted to maximize the positive characteristics of each material, and we wanted to do something with an almost sculptural aesthetic.”

We have to agree that the 622 is a good looking bike, those beautifully shaped lugs lending a classy air that distinguishes it from the crowd.

The 622 name refers to the materials used, six being the atomic number for carbon and 22 being titanium. It’s available as Seven’s ‘custom kit’ option which is a full bespoke service. You visit an approved retailer and order a bike that is sized specifically for you and comes with features of your choice. You get to choose the degree of drivechain stiffness you get, the amount of vertical compliance, the speed of the handling and so on.

Of course, a bespoke bike like this is never going to be cheap. You’re looking at £4,950 for the frameset. Youch! And then you’re going to have to factor in a lot more cash for the build – you’re not going to want to deck it out in kit from the parts bin.

Pretorious Outeniqua – ti lovely lickable bike

classic lovely ti ….

Road.cc review the new titanium model from Pretorius

You might not have heard of Pretorius before so let’s start by telling you a little about the brand…

Pretorius Bikes is a shop just off Shoreditch High Street in London. It’s been around since 2008. They offer Colnago, Scott and Cinelli bikes, and their own titanium models too. Like the other two options in the lineup – and the majority of ti bikes out there – the Outeniqua road bike is made from 3Al-2.5V titanium (meaning there’s 3% aluminium in the alloy, and 2.5% vanadium) which has excellent fatigue life and resistance to corrosion.

The Outeniqua’s frame is pretty classic looking; they’ve not gone over the top with the shaping here. The top tube slopes very slightly downwards towards the seat tube but it’s far from the most compact of compact geometries. The top tube slims down a little along its length too – from 38mm to 34mm – although you have to look pretty closely to spot that.

If you think the head tube looks chunky, that’s because it is. It has a 44mm internal diameter, taking a Chris King 1 1/8in InSet bearing at the top and a 1 1/2in external headset cup at the bottom, the extra width being designed to provide more front end stiffness. The fork is an Enve Road 2.0 which is full moulded carbon fibre, including the dropouts, and it weighs in at just 350g.

The down tube is oversized although, with a 42mm diameter, not excessively so, and the seatstays taper down from 22mm at the bottom bracket shell to 19mm at the dropouts. Speaking of the dropouts, they’re a neat half-moon design while the cable stops and bottle cage mounts are neatly welded in place.

There’s nothing too strange about the Outeniqua’s geometry. We have the large (58cm) model in on test and that comes with 73.5/73° frame angles, a 57cm effective top tube and a 19cm head tube – that’s including the stack height of the headset. It’s certainly a race-centric set-up – your ride position is low and stretched – but you wouldn’t call it extreme.

Our model has a brushed finish so any little scratches are easily buffed away with some wire wool. You can go for a painted finish if you prefer. Custom paint jobs are available and start from £200. You can also choose from a range of eight different decal colour options and select the headset colour.

The Outeniqua is available as a frameset including the Enve fork and Chris King headset. That will set you back £1,950. You can have it built up however you like so we opted for high-end components throughout… well, the guys at Pretorius did offer. We have a Campagnolo Super Record groupset, Reynolds Thirty Two carbon-rimmed wheels and Schwalbe Ultremo ZX tyres.

The handlebar, stem and seatpost (31.6mm diameter) are all carbon offerings from Enve while the saddle is a Selle Italia SLR which is, of course, the best saddle in the world (according to me). Oh, and we have a bottle cage and bar tape from Arundel on there too.

That little lot weighs in at 7.2kg – which is a highly respectable 15.8lb – and retails for £5,999.

Everyone around here reckons it’s a really good-looking bike. Cool, classy… words like that are getting bandied about. But so far we haven’t got a clue how the Pretorius rides so the next item on the agenda is to get out and get the miles in. We’ll let you know how we get on; there’s a full review coming your way shortly. In the meantime, check out the Pretorius Bikes website.

Now who do I know that is handy with wood?? Bike Storage idea

Saw this and thought how great it was/is ….. just to make it now.

the Bike hanger is a prototype for interiors found here …. It uses the minimum of space and lets your bike become the decoration.
Made of oak it has pure lines and square angles. The frame is placed on a lair of cork to protect the frame and the paint.

Dream bike: a classic steel FW Evans

One of the biggest names in the British cycle industry is developing a small range of high-end, steel frames to be handmade in the UK from Reynolds tubing, RoadCyclingUK can exclusively reveal.

James Olsen, who designed the Genesis range of bikes for Madison, is at the centre of Evans’ project to update three classic models from the FW Evans range: the Steelite, the Super Continental and the Ultra.Evans, best-known to thousands who have taken up cycling in recent years as a mass retailer of predominantly entry-level machines, is reviving the brand begun by its founder, Frederick W Evans, more than 90 years ago.

All take their names from classic FW Evans marques, but Olsen insists the new models will be evolutions of their predecessors, not reproductions.

“We’re definitely not making a ‘retro’ project,” Olsen told RCUK. “It’s what would have happened if the brand had never died away. If you look at the tube profiles, the patented drop outs, you realise FW Evans was quite an innovative guy and we wanted to keep that.

“FW Evans had some great bikes in the past. Most were custom to some extent. We have gone right back to the 1930s looking at the model, the style, and thinking about what we would see in the range now if the FW Evans brand had continued. The Ultra was the lightweight, fast, steel bike of the day. We have taken that name and updated it.”

He described the new Steelite, made from Reynolds 631 tubing, as a “lightweight, steel all-rounder”, the Ultra as “racy as a modern steel bike can be” with an oversized 631 head tube to accommodate the tapered steerer of a contemporary carbon fork, and the latest Super Continental as a “lightweight, long distance, audax or touring bike” whose prototype has been made with 853 tubing. Test results will dictate if the additional strength offered by 853 is required, he added.

Olsen has drawn on a close working relationship with Reynolds to develop an idea pioneered by FW Evans: ovalised tubing used by the Evans founder more than 80 years ago. “I was looking at FW Evans’ back catalogue and he had an ovalised tube profile to give what is now cherished as vertical compliance. Everyone else was using curly tube profiles for nominal improvements, where he used something quite different, which I think is impressive engineering,” said Olsen.

“We wanted to get the right level of stiffness in some places and compliance in others. This guy was doing the same in 1928.”

Testing has not been completed and Olsen stressed that the development phase is far from finished. The frames are being developed to an “open-ended” timescale and production will not follow the “model year” schedule typical of mass production frames. “I’m so used to Taiwanese time scales, but this is a very different project,” said Olsen, adding that he would be pleased if production began this summer.

“The aim is to get something with the comfort of a traditional steel tubed 531 frame but by having the tubes flat ovalised, something with a lot of side to side stiffness, without shimmy or flex. We didn’t want the trade off to be a lack of comfort,” he said. “We have done some comparative modeling. On paper, it looks like we have twice the vertical deflection than some of the bikes I know that we have used as a benchmark for comfort.”

Olsen was a visitor to Bespoked Bristol, the UK’s handmade bike show, and highlighted the TIG welded, 953 Brian Rourke frames and the creations of Ted James among the frames that had most impressed him. “It was great to see the revival in handmade British frames, but also to see the kind of things we are up against,” he said. “The quality of handmade bikes in the UK is fantastic. You could do a lot of that in Taiwan, but not in the same customised way. We’re trying to do something half-way between the two with small batch rather than mass production.”

Reviving a “connoisseur’s brand” was a dream project, Olsen admitted, but insisted that designing “second or third” bikes for newcomers to cycling for Evans’ Pinnacle range, was as satisfying as “preaching to the converted”.

“It’s a great project. Not only do we get to build some really lovely bikes in the UK, but we get to surprise a lot of people about what we can do,” he said.

“People won’t expect us to put time and resource into this. They are not going to be cheap bikes. On paper, this isn’t a commercial project, but at the same time, there are so many passionate cyclists in the company, there’s a thought that, ‘wouldn’t this be fun to do?’

Finally a helmet that keeps car drivers away from you

We’re sure it’s the ideal commuter helmet for ensuring you have a full lane to yourself.

616 Bicycle fabrication

following on from the reblog below look at these 650b beauties …. they also do a 29er for taller bods …. here is their site in full glory

We are all 29er junkies over here, but let’s face it not all size riders belong on a 29″ wheel. Over the years, we have observed many shorter riders grinding through trails on a 29″ wheel. What really caught our eye were the angles of a frame that seemed so whack to have to accommodate for the shorter top tube length but yet still allow for sufficient tow clearance. We decided there had to be a better option, so we turned our sites on the 650b.

Our intentions from the beginning were to create the best riding custom steel 650 to feed this niche. What we discovered is that the 650 is not only the optimal bike for a shorter rider but it is also one of the most fun rides for a rider of any size.

A smaller wheel equals better leverage to the rear tire, plain and simple. In our prototype process, we noticed immediately the quick off the line response especially riding a technical trail with many switchbacks. The front tire seemed to roll over everything and cut through sand just like a 29er. Overall we knew we were on to something. Matched with our custom steel formula we created the fastest xc riding machine on the planet. Frame weight: 3.5 lbs (medium).

• Hand selected tubing per customer ride preference
• 4mm custom poured headbadge
• Laser cut stainless bridge plate with logo
• Custom laser etched ID plate with customer name, serial #, tubing used,  and year it was built
• Decorative lug head tube piece (per customer request)
• Custom paint with painted logo (no decals!)
• Custom geometry per customer request (additional charge may apply)

Stupid bikes: lever me alone

The High Torque Cruiser can offer many benefits as well as the first bicycle with an integrated on-board computer. The frame is wide enough to include electronic devices such as an ipod, head lamp or touch screen computer which could illustrate cardiovascular health and vital signs while exercising on the machine. This technology has a lot of potential and like other bicycle technology, it continues to evolve. But most importantly the bicycle stands out because of its unique frame structure.

What they don’t show is it going around a corner – would not be able to pedal then … terrible in so many ways. I am all for design and innovation. Love the move to 29ers … internal hubs, disc brakes, suspension,  belt drive …. but this is  as they say in Eurovision ‘Nul Points’

The sh*t chopper may make a comeback

Raleigh, the name synonymous with British bicycles for 125 years despite a gradual half-century slide in market share and the fact it last assembled a bike in Britain almost a decade ago, is in talks over a possible sale to a Dutch competitor.

In a brief statement, Accell, the biggest bike firm in Europe but relatively little-known in the UK, said it had begun discussions “which, if successfully concluded, could lead to the acquisition of Raleigh”. Raleigh confirmed the talks but had nothing to add.

At is peak Raleigh, named after the Nottingham street where founder Frank Bowden bought a small bike shop in 1887, made 1m bikes a year and employed so many staff that the company had its own ballroom and bowling green.

While it continued huge production levels into the 1970s and 80s with famous bikes like the Chopper, Grifter and Burner, poor management and inefficiency brought losses and Raleigh was bought in 1987 by a former sportswear executive, Alan Finden-Crofts, backed with US money. Tough times continued, and after the parent company went bankrupt in 2001 Finden-Crofts led a management buyout.

The company he now hopes to sell employs fewer than 200 staff in the UK and stopped manufacturing frames or bike components in 1999, four years later outsourcing even the assembly of the bikes to companies overseas, principally in Asia. The loss of another British manufacturing icon to overseas buyers is thus largely symbolic.

The UK remains something of a cycling backwater, despite an upsurge in bike use in recent years. Figures suggest that fewer than 2% of non-walking journeys in the UK are made by cycle, as against more than a third of those in the Netherlands.

Accell, which had a 2011 turnover of £525m last year, sells the bulk of its bikes in the Netherlands and Germany under brands including Batavus, Koga, Hercules and Lapierre.

News of the likely sale comes as little surprise, said Carlton Reid, who runs the BikeBiz cycle industry website. Finden-Crofts, 70, and his fellow owners had been “openly and not so openly touting Raleigh for some years”. Reid added: “They’ve got it back on their feet and it’s a reasonably good time in the bike industry.”

The modern cycle industry is very different from the era when steel frames were hand-welded in Raleigh’s workshops before being fitted with components developed and made within the same company, like the famous Sturmey Archer gears, a company absorbed by Raleigh in 1902 and later sold off.

While a few smaller companies still make their own bikes, such as the folding machines produced by west London’s Brompton, the great majority of frames are manufactured by contractors in places such as Taiwan and Malaysia and equipped with Identikit parts from one of a handful of giant firms such as Japan’s Shimano. The main role for companies like Raleigh is design, marketing and adding a brand.

The Nottingham company has improved its performance in recent years, thanks in part to some highly-praised top-end bikes, joined in 2010 by a resurrected Team Raleigh squad of riders.

“There was definitely time when you would have thought, ‘Who on earth would mourn Raleigh? There’s a multiplicity of brands all doing it better than they are’. But things have picked up in the last few years,” said Reid. “That said, Raleigh are never going to be the 60%-70% market domination like it used to be, ever. Those days are well gone.”

Spin Doctors convene to roll out their works of art

FROM WIRED

SACRAMENTO, California — A factory worker can turn a handful of tubes into a bicycle. An excellent bicycle, even. But only a craftsman can turn those same tubes into a work of art.

This craftsmanship elevates a bicycle from a commodity to something … more. Something made just for you, by someone who gave you exactly what you want. Something born of a passion for riding and an abiding respect for framebuilding. This much was obvious at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, where more than six dozen framebuilders gathered earlier this month to celebrate their craft and show off their latest creations.

Here are 12 of WIRED’s favorites from the show.

Black Cat Bicycles

Todd Ingermanson built his first bicycle 10 years ago, for one simple reason.

“I couldn’t afford a hand-built bicycle,” he said. “So I thought I’d build my own.”

Here’s the thing, though: Building your own bike isn’t much cheaper than paying someone else to build it, once you pay for tools. And jigs. And painting. And … By the time Ingermanson was done, he’d invested so much time and money in the project that he figured he’d build another bike. Black Cat Bicycles was born.

It hasn’t grown much in the decade since. It’s still just Ingermanson working in a 400-square-foot shop in Santa Cruz, California, doing everything from welding the frames to printing the T-shirts to sweeping the floors. He likes it that way.

Ingermanson builds “35ish” frames a year. Each takes 35 to 40 hours. He works almost exclusively with steel, though you’ll see him use carbon from time to time. He’ll build just about anything, but says his 29er single speed (shown) is his most popular bike. The frame will set you back around $2,500, which seems like a bargain when you consider the quality of his workmanship. The only thing more beautiful than the lugs are the paint jobs covering them. Ingermanson paints everything himself.

“I get to geek out with masking tape and paint,” he said with a laugh. “It’s like doing an art project every few weeks.”

Vibe Cycles

Dave Kelley spent much of his career as a cabinetmaker, which might explain the material he used to build Sleigh Ride, his fat-tired snow bike: Bamboo.

Bamboo was for a time the hot new material. Kelley got wise to it three years ago after Craig Calfee rolled into Interbike with a bamboo 29er that got a lot of attention. “Well,” Kelley thought, “I can do that.”

He can, and did. Kelley and his wife, Christi, spent most of the past three years developing, refining and testing their 29er on the roads and trails around Boise, Idaho. The bike, with bamboo tubes, carbon lugs and big cushy tires, has been bulletproof.

“We’ve been trying without success for three years to break it,” Christi Kelley said. “We didn’t want to sell it if we could break it.”

Sleigh Ride was one of a handful of bamboo bikes at the Handmade Bicycle Show. Kelley says the material has a lot to offer. It soaks up vibrations, she says, and it doesn’t break. Still, bamboo is a niche material, which might explain why Vibe Cycles is developing aluminum and titanium frames.

A Sleigh Ride with straight tubes will set you back $2,295. Go for the more elaborate curved tubes and you’re looking at $3,495. The red and black color scheme looks great, and we especially like the flask holder. It’s a must for riding in snow.

Groovy Cycleworks

This bright pink beauty was among the show’s head-turners. It sums up Rody Walter’s entire approach to framebuilding: design the bike the rider wants, involve the rider in its construction and ensure it makes people smile.

Mission accomplished. Seriously, now — how can you look at a bright pink cheetah-print bike and notsmile? So what’s the story with that?

“The customer wanted it for his 40th birthday, but as a condition, he told himself he’d let his 8-year-old daughter choose the color,” Walter said of the $7,500 bicycle. “She chose a pink cheetah-print pattern. He said OK.”

Walter launched Groovy Cycleworks in 1994. It’s a one-man operation, which Walter says “allows me to have a more holistic approach to building.” In addition to road, cyclocross and mountain bikes, Walter also makes gorgeous handlebars and cranks, too. He’ll build a bike out of anything but carbon, because carbon isn’t recyclable.

“Ethically, I can’t be a part of that,” he said.

It takes Walter about 40 hours to build a bike. Want one? It’ll be awhile. He’s got a 56 month backlog. But on the upside, he only requires a $20 deposit.

“I used to be like other builders and require 50 percent,” he said. “But I realized I was holding their money for almost five years. I’d rather they put that in a CD or something and use the interest to buy better components.”

English Cycles

Rob English is so skilled that he can build half a bicycle.

Project Right is a single-sided, single-speed belt-driven road bike commissioned by Fairwheel bikes in Tuscon, Arizona. It’s an intriguing ride, full of amazing details that showcase the Eugene, Oregon, builder’s engineering skills.

Take, for example, the rear hub. English designed and machined it himself. A one-piece shell rides on bearings pressed onto an axle tube welded to the chainstay. An an eccentric bottom bracket allows tensioning the drive belt. And the cog is mounted outside the frame, making belt installation a breeze. It’s brilliant. Largely pointless, but brilliant.

“There’s no engineering reason for it,” English said of the single-sided system. “I just did it because I could. There is one advantage to it, however. If you get a flat, you don’t have to remove the wheel.”

The front fork is a riff on the Cannondale Lefty, and the frame is a mix of Columbus and True Temper tubing. It’s all flawlessly fillet brazed and covered in a paint job designed by artist Geoff McFetridge.

Project Right as a Herculean effort, with a Herculean price of about $10,000 ready to ride. A more conventional frame built to your specs starts at $1,950.

Bruce Gordon Cycles

Bruce Gordon has been building bicycles since 1974 and is therefore entitled to the occasional extravagant project. Like, say, a carbon-tubed, titanium-lugged bike that perfectly combines old-school aesthetics with modern materials.

No, extravagant is not too strong a term for a bike worth more than your car. And quite possibly the two parked next to it.

The bike is one of two Gordon made with Mike Lopez of Serotta Composites for the 2010 San Diego Bicycle Show. The project started, as these things often do, with a few drinks and the question, “What if…?” and the answer, “Just because.” The bike has been making the rounds ever since, and never fails to draw a crowd. With good reason — it’s stunning.

The carbon was hand-laid, including the fenders, and shines like a mirror. The titanium lugs, fork crown and other components were milled from 15 pounds of solid stock. Time, and money, was of no concern.

“I spent two months, working six days a week for six hours a day, just making the lugs,” Gordon said.

He isn’t boasting, just stating a fact. The lug joining the top tube, seat tube and seat stays was assembled from nine pieces. It’s absurd but inspiring, as it speaks to the level of craftsmanship that permeates this bicycle. This isn’t a show queen, though. Gordon actually puts miles on it.

“It’s the nicest road bike I’ve ever ridden,” he said.

Victoria Cycles

If Bruce Gordon is an elder statesman of framebuilding, David Hill is the new breed. He launched Victoria Cycles just five years ago. Before that, he was a mailman.

Yes. A mailman. But that was what he did. It wasn’t who he is. What he is, and always was, is a bicycle fanatic. So after 20 years in the same job, he decided to follow his heart.

“I’ve always had a passion for cycling,” Hill said. “My first job was working in a bike shop. I loved it.”

That love is reflected in his bicycles, like this 29er commuter bike. Like all the bikes he builds one by one in his workshop in Salida, Colorado, it’s steel. And, as is his preference, it features attractive lugs. He’ll do fillet brazing, but prefers lugs for his frames because they’re stronger and, frankly, prettier.

“I love lugs,” he said. “It’s what I grew up riding.”

Hill will build anything, from road to mountain to track. Don’t let his preference for pretty suggest his frames, which start at $1,550, aren’t meant to take some abuse.

“I’m an artisan, not an artist,” he said. “I want my bikes to be pretty, but ridden. I don’t want to build bikes that are hung on a wall and just looked at.”

Broakland Bikes

Jason Montano builds one kind of bike, and only one kind of bike, for one reason.

“I only build track bikes,” he said. “I’ve been riding track bikes since I was a kid. Build what you know.”

This is their latest model, the S3. As the name suggests, it features a True Temper S3 tubeset and flawless welding by Jason Grove. It isn’t cheap — $3,500 with a Wound Up fork — but it is gorgeous.

The frame weighs less than three pounds. Build it up with vintage parts and you’re just a hair over 15. Use modern parts and you’ll come in at a hair less. As for the paint, well, that’s a story unto itself.

“I was surfing the Internet and came across a photo of a crazy mid-80s French ski-jumping suit,” Montano said. “I sent it to my painter and said, ‘Match that.’”

He did. Perfectly.

Six-Eleven Bicycle Co.

This cross bike has all the parts to make us drool: Dura Ace components, Wound Up fork, White Industries cranks, the works. But what caught our attention was the paint job. It literally stopped us in our tracks.

The base color is khaki, so flawlessly applied that it looks wet. Laid over that are dots. Hundreds of dots, each painted with the head of a spoke in four shades of brown that resemble flecks of mud.

“It took about three weeks,” builder Aaron Dykstra said of the ornate design.

The bike is, like all of Six-Eleven’s frames, steel. Dykstra loves the stuff because “it’s such a dynamic metal. It can do anything.” He’ll build anything, from track bikes to townies. Six-Eleven frames start at $2,075.

And that name? The Great 611 was a J-Class train built in 1950 by Norfolk & Western’s shop Roanoke, Virgina, where Dykstra’s shop is located.

“It’s always been an icon of my hometown,” he said.

Dykstra took home an award for best cyclocross bike, following up on the best track bike award he won in 2011 and the rookie of the year award he snagged in 2010.

Don Walker Cycles

Don Walker is the reason all these guys get together each year. In 2005, he and four other guys organized the first North American Handmade Bicycle Show. It’s a family reunion of sorts, a bunch of passionate bike nuts getting together to show off their skills, welcome new builders and educate the public about their craft.

Walker was holding forth this year from his booth at the center of the hall, a broken ankle elevated on a stool and a bottle of scotch not far from reach. He was in his element, surrounded by friends and by bicycles, including this single-speed cyclocross rig built for his friend J.C. Breslin.

It’s gorgeous, with a mix of Columbus and Reynolds tubes, Surly dropouts, a Ritchey fork and flawless fillet brazing. But what we really like is the head tube badge. Breslin wanted a totally custom bike, so Walker designed a one-off badge. It features Walker with a stogie in his mouth, a glass of scotch his hand and a mischievous look in his eye.

“It was the only thing I could think of that was completely silly,” Walker said.

Alchemy Bicycle Co.

Dave Ryther has one thing to say about his company: “We make the best damn bikes in the world.” You may disagree, but one thing is sure — Alchemy Bicycle Co. made the best damn carbon fiber bike at the show.

The Aero Road is a wisp of a machine, more of a blade than a bike. It was custom built using Enve tubes made on the company’s own molds, and it sports top-shelf parts from SRAM and Enve Smart wheels. It’s striking. Ready to ride, this bike costs a bit more than $11,000 and weighs a bit more than 14 pounds, a figure Ryther lamented is “a bit heavy.”

Alchemy got started in Austin just four years ago. Ryther is one of seven employees, and they hope to build 200 bikes this year. Everything they do is custom, and they build with carbon, titanium and stainless steel.

“Stainless is the new thing,” Ryther said. “It’s the poor man’s titanium. It has the electric feel of steel without the weight penalty.”

Bicycle Fabrications

This was the one we wanted to take home.

It’s designed for dual slalom, downhill and trail riding, but all we could think about was all the trouble we could get into. What else are you going to do with a bike called Pocket Rocket?

Bicycle Fabrications has built just about everything over the years, but it specializes in full suspension mountain bikes that can take heaps of abuse. Pocket Rocket is the San Francisco company’s latest creation. It sports 4130 chrome-moly tubes, a Fox shock and attitude to spare. The frame will set you back $1,600.

Shamrock Cycles

This is the city bike Tim O’Donnell would build if he were the customer. It is stylish, it is functional and it is, in a word, gorgeous.

“It is designed to be somewhat over the top,” he said. “I operate in a world of want, not need. To do that, I have to offer form and function.”

Ginny is a brilliant meeting of the two, a showpiece to highlight O’Donnell’s vision and skills. It’s chock-full of beautiful details. Brake lines and wiring for the rear light run through the Columbus tubes for a tidy look. Integrated racks and fenders with flowing stays. Carbon belt drive with an internally geared hub. And the racks. Oh, those racks. They feature a mix of birdseye maple, spalted maple, quilted maple, chestnut and walnut. Is it any wonder O’Donnell walked away with an award for best city bike?

If Ginny’s got a downside, it’s her weight. At 36 pounds, she’s a brick and a half. But no one rides a bike like this to haul ass.

“It is designed to get you there in style, in comfort and in silence,” O’Donnell said. “And it does so in spades.”

The bike and the story: Signal Bikes

sometimes you see a bike that just seems so there …. This is just one of those bikes ….. A found a link to Signal cycles and although I read about them in Paved Magazine and seen reference to them on the hand build shows I hadn’t ever explored their site. Like all custom makers they are dedicated to the craft of making beautiful bikes for the right reason. In the days of the giant makers and carbon cyber bikes it is good to see that the artisan maker is entering a new golden age.
Even if I haven’t got the cash to get one myself – it is nice I think to give them a shout out.

Signal Cycles are handmade bikes from Portland Oregon. Each bike is built with the full attention of Nate Meschke and Matt Cardinal. We started our company in the fall of 2007 and have been building momentum and beautiful bikes ever since.

There is a lot of talk of a new golden age of handmade bikes, and the US builders are leading the way. More people are experiencing the joy of working with a custom builder and realizing the importance of being able to collaborate, discuss, design and shake hands with the builder of their bike. Signal is proud to provide this experience. We wouldn’t want it any other way.

Pete’s Racer Equipped Road Bike

Pete is a bike mechanic and has been for a long time. He wanted a fender bike for long gravel rides in the rain and for maybe even doing some weekly races on at Mount Tabor. He sold his carbon bike and decided he wanted a steel Signal with Paul Racer brakes. We used direct post mounts for the brakes to keep things tidy and functional and built a unicrown fork that really goes with the fillet brazed frame.

Pete built the bike up with Shimano Dura-Ace, Chris King, and Thomson parts. The rims are ceramic coated to add durability to the sidewalls and they work great in the rain.

Friday Bike Poster: Stearns

more Ti goodness from Genesis

Broken by road.cc

Genesis have been busy. He had a whole rack of prototype bikes on display at Icebike, most of which will be hitting these shores in the summer. A bunch of them had knobbly tyres so we didn’t spend too much time ogling them (even the 700C ones – sorry, ’29er’) but that still left us with new Equilibrium Ti.

If you’re not familiar with the Equilibrium, well it’s something of a modern classic. Steel bikes with carbon forks are twenty to the dozen nowadays, but roll the clock back a few years and your steel options were a lot more limited. The Equilibrium was one of the pivotal bikes in bringing steel back to the mainstream, the reason being that they really nailed it, first time. The original Reynolds 520 framed Equilibrium remains one of the best bikes we’ve tested, and it’s my bike of choice for long-distance adventures such as the 360km-in-a-day Bath to Colchester epic last year.

 

The current Equlibrium has gone up a step on the tubing ladder and it’s now made from Reynolds 725, but there has been plenty of demand, Dom told us, for something a bit more high end but sharing the same geometry and ride characteristics of the steel machine. And so the Equilibrium Ti was born.

It doesn’t look a great deal like the steel bike. At first glance it seems more compact and racy, but that’s down to the fact that it uses a much larger tubeset for the main triangle: in fact the geometry is exactly the same as the Reynolds-tubed bikes. Dom’s philosophy for the bike was that is should be stiff at the front end and compliant at the rear, something the steel bike manages very well in spite of only using standard tube profiles. The Ti bike is beefed up considrably; the XX44 head tube has enough room for a tapered steerer fork and the down tube is based on Genesis’ Latitude Ti MTB, albeit with thinner walls. That should make for pin-sharp tracking on the descents…

 

At the back end Dom has put a lot of work into the tube profiles to make sure that the bike has a similar compliant feel to the steel Equilibrium. The chainstays are flattened and the seatstays ovalised to work some laterally-stiff-yet-vertically-compliant magic.

It’s good to see that the Equilibrium Ti carries on the all-seasons philosophy of its commoner sibling; there’s mudguards eyelets at the rear and Genesis have sought out a tapered steerer fork with eyelets too, so you can fit full mudguards for winter excursions.

The frame and fork (with headset and seat clamp) will retail for about £1,500 and there’ll be a Shimano 105-equipped full bike available too for about £2,200. That’s similar money to the Kinesis GF-Ti that was third overall in our 2011 Bike of the Year round-up, and it’s a similar steed; it’ll be interesting to see how the two compare when we can get our sticky mitts on one. And, of course, how the Titanium bike compares to the steel one.

Back on my bike

After a seemingly 2 month gap convalescing in one way or another I am back on my bike … quite literally. Now that my knee can bend 90 degrees I have pulled the bike in from the garage and the turbo trainer from upstairs …. the physic warned me that the first stint would be uncomfortable but it would get better as i warmed up.

 

So nothing extravagant just a low impact spin ….. but boy does it feel good.

 

Also been trying out the Running Free Online website which allows you to import data from a multitude of devices an has better analytics than most …  Here is a screen grab of the analysis from the the half marathon shown above showing distribution of effort over hr and various others …. still evaluating …

running free online graph

 

Monday Bike Style: Him and her Breadbike

see and read more at http://breadbike.wordpress.com/

about breadbike

I grew up in central Illinois. In August of 2007, I bought my first real “adult bike” after needing a bike to save money on gas. Since then I have had many bikes. In April of 2010, after moving out to Oregon, I got my beloved Surly Long Haul Trucker. I have put a lot of good miles on the bike. This blog is about bikes, & my life in Eugene, with help from my girlfriend.(her blog with her sister)

Masi Prestige Reynolds 753 eBay NICE

Masi Prestige in rare Reynolds 753 tubing – restored by Alberto Masi

1977 Masi Prestige. 1977 first version in rare Reynolds 753 tubing. Campagnolo Super Record.

Very nice Masi Prestige from November 1977. The bike has been recently repainted by Masi and completely checked and reassembled. The color is the original Coppi-Carpano grey (the color of the bikes from the Carpano team). The Masi decals are the original ones from the ’70s, not replicas.The code “0″ punched on the bottom bracket shell (please see picture) indicates that this bicycle has been built using Reynolds 753 tubing. Masi built very few bicycles using this material and this bike is a rare example. The tubing is lighter than regular 531. The chainstays are thicker and more rigid.

Please note the “heart-shaped” motives on the seat lugs, under the seat pin lock, and on the cable routers on top of the bottom bracket shell. These are all signs of a custom preparation.

The collar of the front derailleur has been drilled personally by Alberto Masi in the ’70s and the original retaining screw has been upgraded to a stainless steel one (also in the ’70s).

The groupset is a complete Campagnolo Super Record. The crankset is from 1978 and the crank arms are 170mm long.

The rear derailleur has been upgraded in 1981 and the freewheel is a NOS Regina Extra.

 

A set of NOS Clément Criterium Servizio Corse tubular tires have just been installed. These are extremely hard to find. They haven’t been glued to the rim.

 

The bike comes with the original Silca Impero air pump, engraved Masi. The pump has an original Campagnolo metallic valve.

 

The original Alfredo Binda pedal straps have not been replaced, because they are still perfectly fine to use. An extra set of Alfredo Binda straps will be included. These are NOS and they are the hard to find buffalo skin version.

 

Two original NOS Masi Gran Criterium water bottles will be included. A yellow and a white one.
The bicycle size is 54cm top tube center to center and 54cm seat tube center to center.
The winner of the auction will receive a printed certificate of originality from Mr.Alberto Masi

Sh*t cyclist say

the best of these i have found – maybe why I am not a full roadie yet …

 

We’re uniting a million voices to improve the future of biking. Join us by signing the pledge for better biking at http://www.peopleforbikes.org.

Take the Peopleforbikes.org pledge: “I am for bikes. I’m for long rides and short rides. I’m for commuting to work, weekend rides, racing, riding to school, or just a quick spin around the block. I believe that no matter how I ride, biking makes me happy and is great for my health, my community and the environment we all share. That is why I am pledging my name in support of a better future for bicycling—one that is safe and fun for everyone. By uniting my voice with a million others, I believe that we can make our world a better place to ride.” http://www.peopleforbikes.org/pages/pledge

Starring: Ryan Van Duzer - http://ryanvanduzer.com
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When a bike gets abandoned and stripped

I am amazed how long it lasted

Get a bike. Lock it to a post. Take a pic every day for a year.

Last year, Red Peak Branding conducted a unique urban experiment for Hudson Urban Bicycles. On January 1, 2011 we chained a fully loaded bike – bells, basket, lights and more – to a post along a busy Soho street. We took a picture of the bike everyday for 365 days, watching it slowly vanish before our eyes. The photos we took were then turned into a daily calendar. We call this project LIFECYCLE: 365 days in the life of a bike in NYC.

RIDE JOURNAL story – My Bike is dead

Only discovered The Ride Journal at christmas when i got no 5 as a gift ….. fantastic – buy it and order older issues here

Loved this one – when the bike dies …

My bike died yesterday. Or maybe not.

A few days ago I noticed a creaking sound when I pedalled, but it wasn’t coming from the pedals. It seemed to be caused by some motion when I was on the saddle, so I assumed the seat post had become dry and crusty – that makes bikes creak. So when I got home, I relubed the post. I also took apart and reassembled the bottom bracket cartridge, just for good measure.

But riding to work yesterday, the creaking sound was still there, perhaps even worse. At Lex and 60th, I stopped at a red light and examined the frame. There, like a chasm in front of me, I saw a crack. The ragged line girdled the bottom lug of the downtube on my beloved Bianchi Alfana. I carried on to work but decided it would be stupid to ride home. I caught the N Train at 57th and 7th and took the subway back to Astoria. I went to the last car because it’s normally the emptiest. In the back, I stared at my frame, feeling melancholy. Here I was, with my beloved bike, knowing I may never ride it again.

I had half an hour to ponder. I’d never had a bike die of use and old age before. I was sad, but not angry. What if the bike had been stolen one day earlier? Then I’d have been pissed off. But really, what’s the difference? Either way, the bike had been taken from me.

Maybe it can be fixed – after all, it’s only steel. Tomorrow I’ll take it to my man at the Bicycle Repairman Corp and see what he says. With boats, they say the only defining characteristic is the line: from profile, the curve on the top of the hull. Everything else can be fixed, welded, repaired and replaced. But you can never change the line.

The frame is the line of the bike. Everything else can be replaced, mended, modified or changed. The frame is the bike. This frame has been with me for 12 years, through bumps and speed and curbs, plus a few spills.

I’m a heavy guy who rides a skinny-tired road bike to commute to work in New York City. Maybe the bike is just the victim of my return commute on 58th Street, one of the worst in Manhattan. It’s one I often take because, well, it’s not 57th or 59th Streets. Or maybe the crack started back in 2005 when I wiped out on the Triborough Bridge.

The frame crack is natural in a way. Organic. A fatal flaw, but also just a wrinkle of old age. It’s hard to be angry, the bike has been good to me, probably better than I’ve been to it. That’s the beauty of bikes: a bike is there for you no matter what, like a loyal dog. But I’m allergic to dogs; all I’ve got is bikes.

Do I want a new bike? No. But I still can’t help but think maybe things could be better. I mean, my shifters don’t really work well any more in temperatures under 40ºF; the chain ring is no longer perfectly true; 650B wheels would let me put full fenders on the wheels… But these are bad thoughts I don’t want to think – it feels somehow unfaithful.

Along with the real loss, what is so horrible is the anticipation of dealing with the life afterwards. Shock replaced with feelings of loneliness, soldiering on, the future, and replacement.

Guilt is a factor when one contemplates loss that hasn’t even happened.

After any great loss, life will almost assuredly be filled with joy eventually. Thinking of that too early seems to trivialise things. A couple of years ago I had to deal with the idea that my wife might die.

The thought crossed my mind. To cut a long story very short, she didn’t. My wife, hell, any person is more important than a bike. I don’t like personifying machines. You can’t buy love. But I can buy a new bike because I live a rich life in a rich country. Yet the feelings I have for the loss of my beloved bicycle remind me of the sadness of human loss. It doesn’t even come close in terms of magnitude or degree, of course, but in spirit, in the nature of loss, sadness cares not for the source.

My bike is dead. I love my bike. I am sad.

Peter Moskos. NYC, USA. Peter rides a bike in New York because it’s fun, really.
http://www.astoriabike.com / http://www.marklazenby.co.uk

Small wheels big difference – brompton bikes lands end to John o groats

On brompton bikes no less – please go to site and donate £1 or £100…..
Whats more you can join them in the adventure …. Have a look at their site http://www.smallwheelsbigdifference.org/

When:

Starting at Land’s End on Saturday 16th June, arriving in John O’Groats a fortnight later on 30th June 2012.

———————————————

How:

“Nothing gives the English more pleasure, in a quiet but determined sort of way, than to do things oddly!”

Bill Bryson hadn’t heard of our project when he wrote that but if ever he needs evidence to back up his opinion, he need look no further than our website…

Though traditionally considered better suited to nipping around the road of London and folding neatly alongside your train seat, we think Brompton fold-up bikes are a brilliant way to take us the 1000 miles up the British Isles. Made in England, Bromptons are built to be durable and comfortable, and we’re looking forward to taking ours to pastures new!

Where:

Land’s End to John O’Groats; from the most south-westerly to the most north-easterly points in the British Isles. Almost 1000 miles, it is widely recognised as one of the most challenging long-distance bike rides in Europe. From the rolling hills of Cornwall and Devon, to the stunning views of western Scotland via the speedy flats of the Midlands, the route we have chosen will be as varied and interesting as possible.

June	Start	End	Miles	Difficult
16th	Lands End	Padstow	56	*
17th	Padstow	Barnstaple	77	*
18th	Barnstaple	Weston-S-M	79	*
19th	Weston-S-M	Ross-on-Wye	67
20th	Ross-on-Wye	Shrewsbury	70
21st	Shrewsbury	Liverpool	63
22nd	Liverpool	Lancaster	70
23rd	Lancaster	Keswick	58	*
24th	Keswick	Dumfries	66
25th	Dumfries	Ardrossan	74
26th	Ardrossan	Lochgilphead	56	*
27th	Lochgilphead	Fort William	78	*
28th	Fort William	Inverness	64
29th	Inverness	Brora	63
30th	Brora	John O’Groats	63

Nb/ We continue to optimise the route as we complete more research and consult experienced riders therefore the above is subject to change subtly. Our current plans are included, however, so that anyone interested can work out when/where to join in, and so that experience riders can offer any advice on our chosen path.

Looking to park your bike: solutions

From a bike tweet:

In most cities, cyclists have nowhere to lock their bikes legally. Here’s how to change that.

By Bob Mionske

Whether your bike takes you to work or just on the occasional coffee run, when there’s no rack at your destination, riding suddenly becomes a less practical means of getting around.

After all, cyclists are often prohibited not only from bringing bikes inside, but also from lockingthem to posts or railings.

Of course, we’ve always made use of whatever structures are available. But law enforcement can, and sometimes does, impound illegally parked bicycles, a fact New Yorkers know all too well.

The unfortunate truth is that in most places, cyclists don’t have the right to a safe place to park.

To change this, you must organize locally and lobby your elected representatives. Here are some points worth sharing with them.

The Demand Is There

In 2009, New York City began requiring the owners of commercial buildings equipped with at least one freight elevator to provide access for bicycle commuters.

Interestingly, even though the law does not apply to residential buildings, bicycle parking has become a popular real-estate marketing tool in that city.

Resources Are Available

Cities are increasingly coming up with creative solutions (see “Park Here,” below). Philadelphia has turned old parking-meter posts into bike racks; officials in New York plan to do the same.

In Los Angeles, a new law will require more parking spaces for cyclists and make it easier for developers to swap car parking for bike parking.

Bikes Mean Business

On-street corrals, or rows of bike racks, are a smart use of space. A single car-parking spot can fit 12 bicycles, according to the Clif Bar 2-Mile Challenge.

In other words, bicycle-friendly shopping districts could potentially draw more customers.

….

Park Here!

Three genius bicycle-storage solutions. —Emily Furia

Vancouver, Washington

Top off your tires before heading home using one of the floor pumps attached to some of Vancouver, Washington’s bike racks. Or protect your baby from thieves and the elements by stowing it in one of the city’s card-accessed bicycle lockers.

Long Beach, California—and beyond

Bicycle centers or stations offer secure, indoor bike parking, along with showers, lockers, and sometimes repairs. The first one opened in Long Beach in 1996. Today there are facilities in Minneapolis; Portland, Oregon; St. Louis; and Washington, D.C.

Tokyo

The city’s Kasai train station boasts the world’s largest bicycle garage; it can hold 9,400 bikes underground. Punch in a code, and an elevator retrieves your ride—in about 23 seconds.