SRAM E - Electronic shifting and braking SRAM component group

Apparently this was a very elaborate and time consuming april fools joke...

Saw this at hkfixed and just had to steal it.








but unlike his post i will analyze what these pictures probably mean:

1. looks really messy, but i dont see this being a problem given that cables can be hidden easily .
2. Looks like braking is also actuated electronically, as opposed to the dura ace system.
3. the control box in the 2nd pic appears to only provide power, which is why it has 2 cords per component (8 cords total, 4 components: front der, rear der, front brake, rear brake) EDIT ** looks like an AC wall charger !.
4. The shifters probably work wirelessly because they have a battery in them, this is a little different from the dura ace setup since i think the shifters are connected to the battery pack/front deraileur.
5. There is no front derailleur or left hand shifter in the pics, maybe their system cant handle that yet, since i know for the shimano and campy electric systems the shift between small ring and big ring on the front is the most costly in terms of energy.

Overall this is obviously a prototype, and as we know campy was the first to introduce electric shifting on the race circuit, with shimano following close behind (i think around 2003). We all know that shimano has beaten campy to market, although i would expect to see a campy solution soon.

so this probably means that we wont see this SRAM E in stores anytime soon, let alone on test bikes, but these parts look far enough along that they could make it onto some bikes in the big grand tours this summer (EDIT: maybe not the grand tours, but i would expect to see it on some pro bikes). Probably not on any famous or contending riders bikes.

My opinion: looks ugly looks awesome (but a little bulky), electronic braking is dumb, wireless is cool, electric shifting is cool, looks expensive, dont get your hopes up, dura ace di2 better watch out.

EDIT ** Alexfry alerted me to the fact the wired unit is actually just an AC wall charger. Therefore all of the components would appear to work wirelessly! I still think the dura ace looks awesome, and i dont know how i feel about wireless electric braking, i mean shifting is one thing but braking ??!

Valentino Zippicelli - Big pimpin on 110mm deep rims

saw the above pic over at hkfixed and couldnt resist looking into it further. I found this little tidbit after a quick google search.

"Born in Autodromo, Italy in 1900, Valentino Spedici Zippicelli was a revolutionary in the sport of cycling in beginning with his first use of balsa wood rims to replace much heavier beech or pear wood rims then popular at the time. He followed this up with the use of large balsa wood lug gussets that allowed his bicycles to be built more than one kilogram lighter than others of the era and later allowed for the first aerodynamic shaping of bicycle frames.

Zippicelli went on to dominate mountain stages of local races and ultimately dominate the 1929 Tour de France with his groundbreaking 110mm deep balsa wood rim, made by laminating balsa wood with epoxy resin, which had been invented only two years earlier in the America.

However, this advance in technology triggered a firestorm of controversy during the 1929 Tour after Zippicelli gained over one hour on his rivals during the 366km stage from Perpignan to Marseille. The final straw was Zippicelli's shattering of the hour record during the weeks following the Tour, where he used his super wheels to break the record in only 52 minutes, stopping along the way for a glass of wine.

Not only limited to the Tour de France, Zippicelli's embrace of technological advancement was not shared by governing body of cycling, the ICU, and Zippicelli was stripped of all his 1929 victories and erased from the history books in an attempt to keep cycling ‘pure'.

Zippicelli fled to the US in 1930, settling in Speedway Indiana where he designed and constructed race cars into the late 1980's. In 1989 he founded Zipp Speed Weaponry to bring his auto racing and carbon fiber knowledge into cycling, creating the first full carbon fiber disc wheel, first 3 spoke wheel, and ultimately triggered the 'Superbike' era with his creation of the Zipp 2001 beam bike.

Zippicelli died of a broken heart in 1998 after his bike was again banned from competition in road racing, and was buried at the Speedway, where he continues to turn a steady 90 rpm in his grave to this day." (stolen from this guy)

prolly wondering what the zipp 2001 beam bike looks like ...

from zipps website about the frame and its cousing the 3001

Profil Concor Orange NOS - again from Gentei !!

Gentei going dumb with the fire NOS Saddles

OHHH SNAP - NOS Black Perf Concor Sprint Hi-Back w/ yellow accents @ Shop Gentei !!

over @shopGentei 180$ // i just jizzed in my pants

.

a swobo at 15th and pearl which sports both a front brake and a "no brakes" sticker.

Polished my 75's today.

stripped the anodization with lye then polished with simichrome and my dremel.

Cheap laminated double straps

laminated double straps for 40$ !

pink spinzzz

One year on the SPOT !

roller racing in denver

go.
check out awesomesprints.blogspot.com for details and upcoming events.

after i destroy the pinarello

i think i want a zullo

these were ferocious back in the day

bike trees

last friday in d-town

I'm over cxp33s

Heres the aftermath of the spontaneous-wheel-taco-incident in denver on tuesday. 

I normally get a boner for tight frame clearance but

leaders are fucking shitty-wok. 

Back Online

Im officially starting up regular updates on this blog. I never was really "offline" in a technical sense, more of a psychological sense.

To start off i have an interesting piece about auctions.yahoo.co.jp, which is a great place to get excellent condition NJS frames at a price way less than the competition (njsframes.blogspot.com njs-keirin.blogspot.com). Part of this piece is about how njsframes (rene) bought a frame from auctions.yahoo.co.jp and relisted it on his blog for a 500$ upsell (~750 - 1250) !! The crazy part is that he will definetely sell the frame at 1250 which is still not a bad deal. Expect this later today/tomorrow.

In addition to this more photos and videos of me and others on bikes in and around boulder will be posted.

Stay TUNED !