SAG Toe Straps on EBAY !!

This is the first time ive seen SAG toe straps for sale. Currently at 102$ (on ebay) i wouldnt be suprised if these go above 200. Ive seen these in some macaframa videos and the seller says that he got them from a MASH rider. SAG really needs to go mainstream with these.

MORE: Extreme Cycling

The italians are at it again, going dumb on roadbikes ! I already posted about guliano calore and his no bar/stem riding. Well check this out. These guys over at magico tempe, do crazy roadbike wheelies, and endos. Not to mention this guy on a mountain bike navigating an race course doing a wheelie !! Or this guy doing a one footed no handed roadbike trackstand.

With fixed gear tricksters getting so much attention these days its good to see people still throw down on freewheels.

Something everyone should know about Headsets

Basically, integrated/internal headsets are wakk. To learn more about why, chris king has a very informative .pdf that explains everything. The quick explanation is that there is always a little bit of play in headset bearings, which is normal, but this play eventually wears away at the surface holding the bearings. With a traditional headset, it just wears away on the headset cups and the crown race, but in an integrated headset it wears away on the frame since there is no headset cup. After some time the bearings will become permanently loose, and no amount of tightening will be able to fix it. The result is a ruined frame.

In an internal headset, their is a shim that prevents the frame from getting ruined but the bearings still sit inside the headtube. And most frame builders can only build to an accuracy of about .005" whereas a chris king headset cup is built to an accuracy of .0005" which is 10 times more accurate. This means that the headset will work better and last longer.

from the chrisking website

"We presented an opinion on internal and integrated systems several years ago and our belief remains the same today. We simply believe these systems do not have the long-term durability and performance characteristics to carry the King name."

Purps and Greens ! w/ Industry Nine wheels

Who got Purples ?! I GOT GRAPES !!! wheels are done by industrynine. Hands down the sickest wheels for a mountain bike.

They offer any color combo you can think of, including alternating spoke colors, and spoke color fades !!!! Check out their website, they use super beefy aluminum spokes that thread into the hub.


blue -> black fade !!
rasta fade !!


gold on gold !!


im pretty sure that they will sell just hubs and spokes, so you could use your own rim.

Chris King Bottom brackets have arrived ! They work with Shimano style external cranks, which means you wont see them on fixed gears any time soon, but they would be great for a road or mountain bike.

ReTired Belts

Check these out, my friend dilan makes them out in san francisco. I have one and its basically the only belt i wear ! He sells them for around 20 dollars. Not quite sure if he will ship them, but i dont see why he wouldnt. Shoot him an email: dbigby@sfsu.edu. For more info check out his blog retiredbelts.blogspot.com.

so those bizarre looking bars i mentioned in my Selle Itallia post are acutually Corima Manta bars, and it just so happens there is a set on ebay for sale. I still havent figured out how they connect to the stem, but they sure look sweet !

VintagePista Rim Re-Stock !!! 40mm deep Gipiemme

So the folks over at vintagepista.blogspot.com have re-upped with a fresh stocking of their exclusive 40mm deep gipiemme rims !! They look really good, available in white, black, and unfinished. Like i said in this post dont mess around with hplusson they are City Wok. Even better is that they are less expensive 120 for a set plus shipping ! Wow what a steal.

Rocky Mountain Bike Show - @ the UMC this weekend

Rocky Mountain Bicycle Show
WHEN: Saturday and Sunday, November 1 & 2 from 11am – 7pm
WHERE: UMC, Glenn Miller Ballroom, University of Colorado, 1669 Euclid Avenue, Boulder, CO 80309
WHY: To showcase some of the most beautiful bicycles in the world, play with the hottest components and accessories for 2009, share the passion of everything bicycle related.
COST: $5 at the door, kids under 12 are free

NOS Suntour Superbe Track Racing Set !!!!

Wow, this is the ultimate vintage NOS auction.

ebay

H Plus Son rims - thoughts

So these H Plus Son rims have been floating around the net, and the big deal about them is that they are 42mm deep, thats 12 mils more than a deep v. First impressions were that they were sweet but i have reservations about their quality. I mean who is H Plus Son ? I have never heard of them until now. Ive read at a couple spots that these rims are soft, aka shitty. Also hard to build because the low quality produces inconsistent quality around the rim.

This might have something to do with the fact the nipples arent concealed, meaning that they are on the inner part of the rim, and exposed. But i think the major problem is the shitty quality, one friend told me that when he built one of these up no one at his shop could get it true.

This is in contrast to say the 40mm deep Tecnos 428 gipiemme rim that i have on my bike, which has concealed nipples. Intuition would tell me that this would build a stiffer wheel having the nipples closer to the outside of the rim, but the hplus has them at the inside. Also the h plus' weigh TWICE what my gipiemme does. But overall i dont think its a fair comparison because you cant find these rims anywhere (atleast not without a braking surface, vintagepista.blogspot.com takes orders for the same rim, but it has a painted over braking surface, 90 per). Btw, my rear wheel is ridiculously stiff and super strong. But the big problem with concealed nipples is they are alot harder to build, and you have take off the rim strip to true em.

bottom line: these rims are for show. Go with a velocity if your concerned about performance, and durability.

But if you really need to have a 4cm deep rim go with the gipiemmes over at vintage pista, i wrote a post on these things a while back.

Btw, fuk 650's, get a 26inch and run a 1 inch commuter tire. Way more durable, not to mention better tire choices.

Ostrich leather Kashimax Saddle !!

njsframes.blogspot.com

BAC TO THE FUTURE Part III - Oct 18th \\v1.3 - TODAY !

Today is the day, BAC III is going down, its the last race in this trilogy, so winners for each classification will be decided. Go over to bactothefuture.blogspot.com find more info about the race, such as the map and start time. Above is the flyer for todays race, and below is the flyer for next months race. Next months race is the beginning of a new trilogy (3 Race series) where each race is cumalitive with respect to points and overall finish time. This means everyone starts fresh !

Errebi Sprint double straps

For optimal foot retention, the ideal pedal setup should use MKS steel cages, and leather double straps. The best double straps are the Kashimax and the Errebi sprint. Toshi also makes double straps but ive heard from a few people they break easily. The issue with the kashimax, is that they nolonger come with a doublizer top piece, and are expensive. thats why the Errebi sprints are my double strap of choice.

They have them for 69.99 over at bikebiz.com, which includes a matching doubler. I currently have them on my ocean, and they are amazing. They are very stiff which makes them easy to get into, but super grippy, and sometimes hard to get out of (this can be a good thing) . For 70$ its a good bargain considering you could spend that much buying 2 sets of single straps and 2 doublers.

Valve caps from Japan (Chari and Co NYC)

link

San Marco Vintage - the return of the CONCOR !

San Marco Vintage - a project by San Marco to bring back, aka mass produce, their most popular vintage saddles. On their website they only list 3 models, Rolls, Regal, and the CONCOR. They arent really bringing back the Regal, cus you can still get them new here, and the rolls, same deal, (although they have some fancy new leather finishes for both).

The Concor is by far the biggest deal out of the 3, its classic styling, comfort, and rarity makes it highly sought after. Yea you could get a San Marco Concor LIGHT new, but they look like garbage.

Concor's were one of the most popular saddles for racing pro's in the 80's, along with Selle Italia Tubo's.

I found this interesting eBay guide about vintage bicycle saddles while trolling around today, and this ghetto website with a ton of different styled bicycle saddles from various era's in history. For example this Selle Italia Launchpad that was immediately banned by the UCI after its use in the TDF (1991).



Those are some bizarre looking handlebars, but sweet looking wheels !

NEW Knog Lights - Beetle and Skink

Knog Beetle

SICK, 2 LED's and plastic cover. Finally a "frog" style light that actually helps YOU see at night (the old frogs really only help others see you).
Knog Skink

Knog has also updated its Gekko style light, the new version is called the Skink. Just like the beetle, the skink gets a plasic cover. And like the old gekko, it runs off 2 AAA batteries !

Made by the creators of the original "frog", Knog!

blue led knog frog

i know knog makes these, never seen a picture of one before.

Crazy carbon spoked wheel

Ive seen one of these in person before, too bad i dont know what they are. Super thick carbon spoked wheel, the description calls it a "giant wheel".

Fire Tommassini track frame 54.5cm

Good looking frame, currently at 600 $. Has columbus spx tubing !

Bling Bling - Tomity Polished Cog Watches

tomity's website

Tomity talks about keirin racing

Click link for video

Interview with Tomity, who still professionally races keirin, and also is well known for custom made polished cogs used by top track riders around the world.

Peter wins Tryouts !!!

Congrats to Peter for winning tryouts ! He won by 5 minutes with a finishing time of 1:45. More details over at cyclejerks.com. (they have the time listed as 1:15, but its a typo)

Scott @ Track Shack !! Damn that shit BLINGS

as i was trolling through the internet i stumbled upon these photos over at TrackShack.com. Look familiar ? ? yea that used to be my wheel, sold it to my homie scott, and hes loving it ! I had too many wheels so it had to go, when i can get access to a camera ill post up some pics of what ive been rolling on lately. Ive upgraded the wheelset on my conversion, and im now in possesion of THE OCEAN ....

NEW made to order Custom Makino's

If you know about Makino frames, then i dont need to tell you how beautiful their work is, or that they are part of a select group of top tier frame producers for the professional keirin circuit.

Makino frames have great attention to detail and the lugwork is absolutely amazing!

Makino was an assistant of the great master builder Yoshi Konno. Konno produced 3Rensho frames until a tragic car accident which left him paralyzed, Makino continued producing frames under the 3Rensho name until about 1998 when he split off and began his own shop making Makino Frames. (note: another notable assistant of Konno is Koichi Yamaguchi. Yamaguichi offers a 2 week frame building class at his shop in Rifle, Colorado)

heres some of his work..


If your salivating for more, go on over to njs-keirin.blogspot.com hes got a ton great looking keirin frames with detailed pictures bu also a sizable collection of makino's.

But if your flush with cash, and want the best track frame around then these Built to order Custom makino's at thebikebiz.com, are where its at. Ridiculous quality and attention to detail !



The frames above vary in age and style, but the standard setup on the new ones looks more like this.


Lugged dropouts, and lugged seatstay bridge are nice touches. I imagine they offer different fork options like flat top, or aero. Same with seatpost lug choices, not to mention any color combination you can think of. Kalavinka is also known for offering custom made to order frames, but about a year ago they put a message on their website saying they would no longer take new orders. So besides njs-keirin.blogspot.com who takes orders for georama, and njsframes.blogspot.com who does custom ocean frames, this is really the only other place to get a custom made to order njs keirin frame (Ocean is not njs, but kusaka did vivalvo until they lost njs about a year ago. Vivalvos were very widely used so i would still consider his work high quality).

If youve got a makino build or some sweet pics please share them with me in the comments section.

Giuliano Calore - No Bars + No Brakes + 80kmp/h = Fuking awesome

This guy (Giuliano Calore) is friggin sweet ! He rides with no bars, thus no brakes, and has descended a hill at 80 km p/h, unbelievable !! too bad his official website is only in italian.

Heres a video of him riding on an ice rink no handed, he also does some crazy maneuvers through a group of flags. 'Lest you start laughing, the guy is no slouch: his 1985 descent of the 48 hairpins of the Stelvio Pass on a bike with no handlebars or brakes took just over 27 min., averaging 80 km/h; in 1989 he climbed the Stelvio on a bike without handlebars or brakes in 1 hour and 17 minutes.(_via)'

BAC TO THE FUTURE - Boulder Alley Cat Updates

So we had a great race on Sept 20th, Peter Cook won by a minute and some change, and is also now tied for King of the Mountains. Since Betts was unable to show up due to his bike getting stolen, Cook is now the Overall Leader going into the last race, and 2nd place is Mork with Scott P. close behind. Points classification has Casey in the lead by 10 points. Young Rider and Fixed are with Cook. Click for Full Results \\v1.2

Next months race will be on Oct 18th. click for more info on BAC TO THE FUTURE part III