It looks like the mountain bike team Subaru-Gary Fisher is tossing all of their 26″ wheeled bikes to the curb and going to a full time 29er race setup. Quite amusingly their race spec 29ers are a full 2lbs lighter than the 26″ wheeled bikes. I’m not sure how that possible but none the less it is impressive.
29er out front as it should be.
Story via Singletrack.com
Stumbled upon this great video while forum surfing about randonneuring. Randonneur bicycles are essentially a touring bike made for traveling long distances while loaded down with gear. In the world of heavily supported rides with “SAG” support vans and mechanics constantly a few minutes away, many riders do not even know how to change a simple flat. This sort of riding is completely self sufficient. You need a rack, all the gear to fix you up and keep you warm in any sort of weather you might encounter and often a tent to sleep in.
This well equipped Rivendell Atlantis exemplifies the “breed” of randonneur bicycle.
Rivendell Atlantis
In this video, the author chooses a mountainbike style frame to do his trip on. Also a feasible choice.
“Many people don’t understand why some choose to travel on a bicycle. I was one of them… then I tried it. Now I don’t want to do it any other way.
This video is an attempt at providing a glimpse into the challenging, exciting, and incredibly rewarding world of cycle touring.
The clips are from a Summer 2007 trip, about 4500kms from Kashgar, Xinjiang, to Dali, Yunnan (in China) crossing Tibet along the way.” -”Dave A.”
Cycle Touring the Tibetan Plateau from Dave A on Vimeo.
Share your epic journey by bicycle with us. Click the “Mail” link at the top and send us your story and pictures, or use this video as inspiration to plan your own.
Live your life! Ride your bike!
Hello World. Apologies for the lack of updates over the last week. Things have gotten a bit mad lately as I am appearing tomorrow for the MCAT exam for medical school entry. I have been preparing for a year since, at the day before my last scheduled appearance, I suffered a mild concussion and shattered clavicle on my road bike. I am known for being stubborn and was on my motorcycle and bicycle within a week, and then went for surgery and was riding regularly again after another week and a half.
I am also sadly missing a great short track race, so best of luck and godspeed to the racers at Bicycle World and Fitness (the guys that let me pretend I’m a racer with their fast riders)
I will be making a quick run around the globe next month. Destinations include a day in Paris, a trek through India, and a final stop in Tokyo, where I will no doubt be purchasing lots of bicycle parts and potentially a frame from my old neighbor M. Makino (one of the 3Rensho builders)
Now without further ado, I present some bike porn for my readers:
Niner bikes builds only 29′ers. They build fantastic 29′ers at that. They recently unveiled a carbon fiber frame: Here is their bearded race team member assembling his new single-speed rocket.
We at highflange like singlespeeds. We also like big wheels. This has both, and it’s fancy looking carbon…and rigid. These are all great and fun things on a bike. Enjoy watching the buildup: I’ve included the new Carbon and a buildup review of the older model scandium air9
Yesterday I had the pleasure to talk mountain bikes with a sales rep at the local bike shop. He had mentioned on his downhill bike he had a pneumatic, adjustable seat post. As a weight weenie the thought of something like this blew my mind and I had to do some more research. The concept is that when downhill riding you can drop the seat post to put your weight way behind the tire. The downside is when you return the saddle to its original position and you are not sitting on it you get your nuts turned into peanut butter. Allow this YouTube video to demonstrate: