Speedplay has a new prototype mountain bike pedal called the Syzr. Its designed to square off the mud shedding abilities of crankbrothers pedals. It is not ready for production and Speedplay wouldn’t offer a release date.
King also rounds out its selection of un-ramped single-speed cogs with 21-, 22-, and 23-tooth models.
The front derailleur on Pivot’s FFD system stays in place through half of the travel. When the swingarm comes within 3mm of hitting the end of the derailleur cage, the pin attached to the chainstay hits the black tab, causing the FFD mount to pivot forward, keeping the front derailleur from hitting the swingarm and in a good working range of angles with the chain.
Pivot’s Floating Front Derailleur system on the 6-inch-travel Firebird frame allows the front derailleur to pivot with the swingarm, so it will still hold the chain on and shift properly. The chainstay can then come in straight and directly without fear of it hitting the front derailleur, rather than doglegging down below, adding flex and deepening the chances for nasty chain suck.
King added the 10th color to its palette — brown. The new color also ushers in the use of its Sotto Voce branding. The softer logos were first debuted during February’s Handmade Bike Show in Portland, Oregon.
King will offer two 15QR hubs for 2009, the one on the left has a standard ISO disc hubshell and the right uses the brand’s 20mm hubshell.
The BB has a trio of tools that allow for proper installation and service. The installation tool was pictured alongside the bottom bracket in the previous photo and the grease injection tool is demonstrated here.
Chris King was proudly showing its fully serviceable external bearing bottom bracket. If the brand’s headsets offer any indication, this is going to be one sturdy unit. The BB’s are compatible with Shimano’s HollowTech 2 road and mountain crank specs.
The Masi Soulville 10 is retro with a new style. It has a compact double crank and a 10-speed cogset. The shifter is a SRAM 10-speed DoubleTap lever for flat handlebars. The Soulville has slide-on full-cork grips, cool, flat fenders, and sparkly red paint.
After pushing in the pin from the non-drive side and breaking off the pilot pin, you turn the chain around and flip the gate of the tool down. On the flip-down gate is another pin that supports the assembly pin from the back side against which you tighten the chain tool until it mashes out (peens) the head of the assembly pin to lock it in place.
Campagnolo’s 11-speed chain tool has the same wire loop as the 10-speed version that you insert into the tool to hold the chain in position when you are using the tool. You leave the unique lifting gate open when you cut the chain, as well as when you do the initial chain installation.
Campagnolo’s hollow 11-speed break-off type connecting pin requires Campagnolo’s special 11-speed chain tool to install it through the “virgin” link on the end of the chain. Push the pin outward from the non-drive side so that if the end with the break-off pilot protrudes toward smaller cogs, where it won’t hang up, rather than toward bigger ones.
Even though we focused much of our attention on the electric parts, it's worth noting that the bike was equipped with a prototype tubeless version of the 7850-C24 carbon clinchers.
The shifters in the first photo represent the newest version. We were allowed to ride an older version, like the ones used in the ProTour last year.
The slickest item in the group is the auto-trim function of the front derailleur. The computer knows to trim the front derailleur when the rear is at either extreme end of the cassette.
The first thing people might ask of Shimano’s Electric Di2 drivetrain is: What’s the weight penalty? There isn’t much. The group is roughly 60-grams lighter than the 7800 Dura-Ace group and only 60-grams heavier than the new 7900 group.
Bootleg Canyon in Boulder City, Nevada, has, for the past few years, played host to the traditional opening round of the Interbike Bicycle Trade Show in Las Vegas, offering two days of demo riding before the whole thing moves indoors to the vast Sands Convention Center. VeloNews’s Lennard Zinn and Matt Pacocha were there to get a first-hand opportunity to try out an array of new products, including Shimano’s Electric Dura-Ace group.
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Interbike, the largest bicycle trade show in the U.S., opened Monday with the first of two days of outdoor bicycle testing at Bootleg Canyon, a park about a half hour outside Las Vegas, Nevada. After the demos in Boulder City, the show will continue with three indoor days at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas.
Although he could potentially earn his third successive rainbow jersey in the individual time trial, Olympic medalist Fabian Cancellara has announced that he will skip this week's world cycling championships in Varese, Italy. "I lack the force," the 27-year-old time trial king wrote on the Swiss Cycling Federation’s Web site. "You can't win races with passion alone." Cancellara, who has won the past two world time trial titles, was among the favorites to win the race against the 43.7-kilometer race against the clock on Thursday.
The chance of making history by winning a third consecutive road race crown at cycling's world championships this week has been keeping Paolo Bettini dreaming all summer. But at the men's road race on Sunday, September 28, the energetic little rider known as the 'Cricket' will need to outmuscle, and outfox, at least three potential rival teams aiming to bring home the coveted rainbow jersey. And one rider in particular, Tour de France points winner Oscar Freire, who has arguably more reason than the Italian to push his legs that extra mile.
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Tim Johnson and Jeremy Powers of Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com played the numbers on Kona's Ryan Trebon at Sunday's Rad Racing GP in Tacoma, Washington, with Johnson coming away with the win in a two-up sprint. Wendy Simms (Kona) won the women's race after dropping Sue Butler (Monavie-Cannondale.com) in the final lap. The cyclocross race followed Saturday's nearby Star Crossed event in which Powers was able to get the better of Trebon after the Kona rider crashed in the last lap.
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 21st - and Final! - stage of the 2008 Vuelta a España, a largely ceremonial cruise from San Sebastian de los Reyes to the traditional finish in Madrid.
With his third grand tour victory in barely a year, Alberto Contador has quickly grown from cycling’s boy wonder to the peloton’s new alpha male. The 25-year-old Spanish climber lived up to expectations to win the 63rd Vuelta a España to complete cycling’s “triple crown” and becomes just the fifth rider to win all three grand tours.
Vuelta a España director Victor Cordero called the 63rd edition of the Spanish tour the “best in years.” “We are very satisfied to see Contador likely to win and to see the quality of racing during this Vuelta,” Cordero told VeloNews on Saturday evening. “It’s the best Vuelta in years and we hope to build on this momentum in the coming years.”
All the talk about Lance Armstrong’s comeback hasn’t tickled any thoughts of a return by Russian veteran Viatcheslav Ekimov. Now 42, Ekimov is busy enough these days working as a sport director at Astana and as a coach at the Russian national team. “I won’t be coming back,” Ekimov told VeloNews with a laugh. “I already came back once. I am finished with racing. I got it out of my system.”