News Contador has one Tour, one Giro and a Vuelta under his belt. Now he wants to start on Round II. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Jason Morgan is plowing through the BC Bike Race singletrack on a singlespeed fully rigid bike. Published Jul 3, 2009
News BC Bike Race photographer Dave Silver snaps a few keepers atop the White Knuckle Tight trail. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Some riders can roll across the numerous log and bridge crossings, while others prefer to carry their bikes. Published Jul 3, 2009
News BC Bike Race media relations manager Andreas Hestler had to stop midway down Highway 102 to grab a quick smile. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The day’s primary feature was the 45-minute ripping descent down the Highway 102 trail to the finish line in Langdale. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The face of unity? Bruyneel and Contador say Astana is a team and will ride like one. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone:The cables route internally and enter through these ports in the downtube. Di2 needs only one port. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: The new Madone is also available with WSD geometry and complementary colors. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: The new Madone is available in these five stock colors, plus the Project One signature program. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: Trek’s new bike gets a new Bontrager Race XXX Lite stem. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: The seat post offers more lateral adjustment and can be reversed for a negative offset. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: Trek’s Ride Tuned seatmast, along with redesigned seat tube. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: The rear derailleur cable, or computer wire, just pops out for a short span. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: One of the paint schemes available in Trek’s Project One Signature program. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: The frame is made from OCLV Red, which is Trek’s blend containing the most high modulus fiber. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: Trek’s E2 headtube and steerer tapers from a 1.5-inch lower bearing to a 1.125-inch upper bearing. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: Another shot of the E2 headtube and single wire Di2 cable routing. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: A non-drive side shot of the Di2 bike. The cable clutter is noticeably less. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: This Project One Signature model illustrates the access of standard cables. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: Since there is no bottom bracket shell to impede the cable’s path, installation is easy. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: Trek says, mounting the battery here is the most efficient, plus it doesn’t require any extra holes. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: Shimano’s Di2 battery mounts to the internal cable port on the underside of the BB. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: The seat tube is asymmetric making the bottle bosses look misplaced. The design stiffens the BB area. Published Jul 3, 2009
News The new 6-series Madone: A replica of the new 6-Series Madone in team dress. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: A row of unvulcanized Diamante Pros await vulcanization. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: All handmade tubulars are aired and stacked to verify a straight build, before being packed and shipped. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: Rows of wheels are spun for days on end to track wear life and patterns. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: The author lassoes his handmade tire into a vulcanizing press. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: The author tries to learn the art of building a tire from scratch. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: Tires undergo wear testing on drums laden with studs to simulate pitted roads. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: A Geax mountain bike tire is ready for removal after being vulcanized under high temperature and pressure. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: Vittoria’s casing comes from individual cotton spools, spun onto long metal drums. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: Rubber samples are tested in various compounds for resiliency, pliability and rebound. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: The copper-colored nylon casing is impregnated with rubber on when run through high-pressure drums. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: Vittoria uses raw rubber procured from local Thai rubber trees for its tires. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: Vittoria creates plastic rapid prototypes and sprays it black in-house to get a look at the tread pattern. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: The editor’s tire gets a quality control check. (And for what it’s worth, it passed.) Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: For 2009 Vittoria introduced removable tube valves, allowing use with deep-section rims. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: Open Corsa clinchers feature a separate tread hand-laid onto the same cotton in Vittoria’s tubular tires. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: Originating from a liquid green vat, Vittoria uses a secret process to produce its latex tubes. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: The testing room is home to a host of test protocol machines, including gauges to check a sample’s hardness Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: Bonding a cotton backing tape over the stitchwork is one of the final steps. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: A staffer walks the length of a lathe, spreading liquid epoxy evenly over freshly-spun cotton casing. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: An employee lines up and cleans up a cotton tire casing, cut from the spool. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: Vittoria president Rudi Campaagne holds a roll of the company’s silky cotton casing at his Thai factory. Published Jul 3, 2009
News A visit to Vittoria: Highly-skilled craftsmen and women painstakingly sew tubes into Vittoria’s tubular tires. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: And at this point, the blue bleachers on Port Hercule are full of fans. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: Signs everywhere tout the Grand Depart of Tour de France 2009. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: Behind these yachts, along the dock, is the row of team trucks and buses. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: The blue bleachers of the start area peek out from behind the row of yachts on the right. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: This is Port Hercule, looking toward the start area. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: The pressroom for the Monaco prologue and “Grand Depart” is here, in the Grimaldi Forum. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: There’s a reason they call it Cote d’Azur ? the water is amazingly blue and clear. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: A Milram team mechanic checks out the inventory of Focus bikes. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: The Koga bikes of Skil-Shimano are also ready to go. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: Just next door to Columbia, Garmin-Slipstream mechanics start work. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: The Columbia-HTC team gets ready for a morning spin. Cavendish adjusts a cleat on the steps. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: The Agritubel team appears to be in control, with new Kuota bikes ready to roll. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: “Pit Row” in Monaco for the start of the Tour de France 2009. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: Most teams rely on a small fleet including a truck, a bus, and several vehicles. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Readying for the Tour: Lampre team mechanics prepping Wilier team bikes in the morning. Published Jul 3, 2009
News Boonen, who won last Sunday’s Belgian national championships, will be allowed to ride in the Tour de France. Published Jul 3, 2009
News BC Bike beat down: Spokes break and rims bend frequently on the technical singletrack. Published Jul 3, 2009
News BC Bike beat down: Marshall Cant fashions a specialty bolt to fix some suspension linkage. Published Jul 3, 2009
News BC Bike beat down: After five days of hard riding many bikes need a little tweaking. Published Jul 3, 2009
News BC Bike beat down: Big-dollar carbon frames might not be the best idea. This rider used wire and duct tape to fix this one. Published Jul 3, 2009