Dalton has been on three iterations of the bike; he picks its lack of pivots as his favorite part of the bike making it simple, light and able to provide great rear-wheel traction because of the slightly shorter chainstay length.
Kupfernagel powers to a win.
Bells and Whistles like DT’s SSD Carbon rear shock bring a large Scalpel’s weight down to 22.5 pounds.
Kupfernagel had to wait until Armstrong finished to celebrate.
Yeti’s new all carbon ASR-AC weighs only 4.2 pounds in a size medium but is 50 percent stiffer than the old alloy ASR. The frame has a 92.5mm bottom bracket shell that relies on Shimano’s threadless composite cupped bottom bracket.
Austria's Christiane Soeder rounds out the podium
The ASR-AC most attention getting feature is its integrated seat mast. It maximizes a rider’s power transfer, says Yeti GM Chris Conroy. The mast has four clamp options the lightest is 75mm in length and allows for 30mm of adjustment.
Armstrong said the course suited an all-around rider. Maybe she'll be riding 'cross this winter.
Yeti’s ASR Seven has been in development for three years. It has 7-inches of travel and weighs 7.2 pounds. The rear end has two oversized aluminum seatstays and one large carbon non-drive chainstay, to which the rear wheel mounts concentrically.
Thürig missed the podium this year
120 Menja forks will also be available in Magura’s color of the year.
This bike is fast, but I'm not so sure about the motor.
The Camos chainstay is flippable by unscrewing bolts at the bottom bracket, thus making the rear end stiffer or more compliant.
Tires are the talk of the tent at WTB. Here a new Prowler MX 2.1 cross-country tire is compared to its older brother the Prowler XT all mountain tire that was introduced last year. The MX features aggressive siping and widely spaced knobs.
Climbing ‘The Snake’ in Burlington, Iowa memorial day weekend
Masi's elegant internal-gear town bike is enough to make any Italophile swoon.
Also part of the Prowler family is the new Prowler SL 29-inch tire. It comes in a 2.1 size and features a more consistent center tread for faster rolling.
SRAM's superlight Red cogset is totally hollow inside.
WTB co-founder Mark Slate has launched a new independent venture in addition to his WTB duties, which he still fulfills. OSBikes.com are one-speed 29er bikes, yet the OS stands for Of Spirit.
Spot Bicycles and its new subsidiary Carbon Drive Systems had one of the buzz booths of the day. It seemed everyone was talking about its carbon belt driven single speed drivetrain.
The Red rear derailleur is shockingly light to pick up, and it shifts great and has precision-ground pivots.
Yakima's Big Wheel was at the demo showing its smaller nephew the ropes.
12. Fulcrum’s mountain bike wheels will be ready for retail sale come October. Three weeks ago the Red Metal Zero disc supported Julian Absalon’s latest world championship win. The wheelset is said to weigh 1570 grams will cost roughly $1100.
The cage of the Red front derailleur is all titanium. It is tightened up in spacing and shaping to produce its best performance specifically with SRAM chainrings and chain. It only comes in braze-on style. You can use a superlight spring-steel band.
The BH Speedrom is a stiff, precise, great-riding monocoque carbon bike. The frame weighs under 1000 grams, yet this Ultegra SL-equipped model I rode retails for under $2,800!
The Red Metal Zero’s aluminum spokes have been lightened from those first seen at Sea Otter this past April, but they are still laced using Fulcrum’s 2 to 1 drive/disc to non-drive/disc spoke count.
Red's Double Tap lever guts. The shift lever and the brake lever are both adjustable for reach, making this the only high-end road lever that can be adjusted to fit small hands.
The following is a statement from Anne Samplonius regarding GenevieveJeanson'srecent admission that she used EPO during her carrer:Overall I am happy that Genevieve Jeanson has finally been able to begin to come to terms with everything, with herself, to admit what she did was wrong, very wrong.I understand to some degree what the influence and control of both her father and (Andre) Aubut had over her, and realize that she was for the most part a victim. I knew that all along and my disgust over the entire situation was always more against those in control of GJ, which were Aubut and her
Those familiar with off-road dirt bike competition will know that Tire Balls are small air chambers that fill out a tire in lieu of a tube. They’re more puncture resistant and allow tires to stay in service even with major sidewall gashes.
Zinn's own marketing targets an often over-looked segment
Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of our most recent contest. Maurice Hessel’s “Climbing ‘The Snake’ in Burlington, Iowa memorial day weekend” is one image we kept letting our eye drift back to. We’ve seen a lot of images of “The Snake” before, but Maurice managed to capture the essence of the climb and gave viewers reason to understand why that cobbled hill earned its name. Nice work, Maurice. Please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work out the details and we’ll send you
Wade Summers, the father of nine-time GNCC national championship winner Scott Summers is the creator of Tire Balls for motorcycles and now bikes. A wheel’s worth of tire balls weighs 300-grams for the 2.5-inch downhill size.
The Mavic TraComp features composite spokes working in both Traction (i.e., in tension) and Compression. In a crash with another rider, a test rider caught a pedal in the wheel that broke four spokes. The wheel was still true.
Cordero says it requires a commitment to keep the sport credible
Tomac is officially back, to date, there are roughly 550 new Tomac Snyper and Caliber bikes in riders’ hands worldwide. In fact, Japanese Olympic mountain bike team member, Takei Forza won his country’s professional title on a carbon Tomac Caliber.
Since the spokes in the TraComp are not under high tension at all times, the spoke heads could move in the hub as the wheel rolls but the red cylindrical insert prevents that.
We spotted Chris King’s new 68mm tall carbon cyclocross wheelset under the command of Molly Cameron at the September 22 Seattle Star Crossed race. Edge, the rim manufacturer, is based in Ogden, Utah. The turquoise hubs are King’s new 'cross model
Tomac's downhill bike the Primer 220 is close to its production form. The 220mm travel bike is designed by Doug Bradbury and is similar to the old Tomac Magnum 204 in function.
Shimano's new Dura-Ace wheel now uses normal nail-head straight-pull spokes with nipples at the rim so that wheel truing is done conventionally, by tightening and loosening spokes at the rim, not at the hub.
Along with King’s Pretty in Pink program, which benefits the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation, King is investing a portion of the profits from its DreadSet rasta colored headsets that will benefit Hans Rey’s Wheels 4 Life foundation.
You may remember the 5-inch travel Trance X from Eurobike reports, but I was able to ride on in Bootleg Canyon.
IRC's Formula Pro Tubeless road tire has a thinner, more supple casing and stickier rubber than Hutchinson tubeless road tires to further close the gap on performance versus a tubular tire.
A regular King headset base plate is on the left, and the new High-Five base plate is on the right. The High-Five plate adds 5mm to fix bikes with a problem of fork and downtube interference. It costs a mere $12.
Giant’s communication manager Andrew Juskaitis was our personal tour guide on Bootleg’s Caldera trail, a hour and a half long loop with embedded volcanic rock that will bite back if one gets to brash.
Fizik's 2008 high-end mountain-bike saddles are now built to go with specific types of bike riding, which is also dictated by the bike’s suspension travel. So you select the saddle model based on how much suspension travel the bike has.
The 1516 gram Edge-King carbon wheelset is not yet ready for public consumption, but the $699 Classic Cross clincher wheel set is. It’s built with DT’s RR1.1 aluminum rim, King’s Classic Cross hubs and DT’s Competition spokes. The set weighs 1590 gr.
At the end of the ride, it was perfect to find Chris King serving gourmet beef tip sandwiches back in his booth, and yes we all took him up on his offer. Thanks Chris.
Fizik's free gelato was a big hit – who wouldn’t like gelato on a sunny day?
Classic Cross hubs (the two sets at the lower right) are available in an array of colors. The front weighs 136-grams and the rear is 278 grams. The have a five-year warranty and cost $479 for the set. King offers them in 28, 32 and 36 hole versions.
This is a letter you never want to receive.
Pivot's Mach 5 full-suspension trail bike with five inches of rear travel utilizes the tried-and-true DW Link suspension system. Pivot was founded by Titus founder and former owner Chris Cocalis
Magura’s new $175, 415-gram (front, with 160mm rotor) Louise brakeset is available for sale in the U.S. The model accepts all of Magura’s rotors including the Venti, which flows air over the caliper to keep it cool.
Boulder Cycle Sport Wrench, Mike Doyle, dials in the nicest cross bike I have ever ridden.
Thus far Pivot has six bikes using two DW Link frame models, the Mach 5 and the Mach 4 four-inch-travel cross-country frame.
Each year Magura picks a color of the year and offers some special edition products with it. This year the color is pink. 300 sets of the Louise BAT brake will be available in pink.
Ahhhhh.... The fresh smell of tubular glue. It must be 'cross season.
The Bianchi Camos has a flexing carbon chainstay for lateral stiffness, vertical suppleness, and low weight.
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The brakes are Ridley’s 4ZA brand with BBB’s pads and post mount carriers
Barry Wicks and his new Kona Major Jake
Andy Jacques-Maynes's Specialized Tricross S-Works carbon frame
The team is using KORE’s new Kross Race cantilever brake
He relies on a single 42-tooth Rotor chainring mounted onto a 175mm Specialized S-Works carbon crank
FSA provides many of the team’s components including the top-end K-Force Light crank with a ceramic bottom bracket
SRAM Double Tap shifters operate short arm Tektro linear-pull brakes that don’t require adapters to work with road levers
Wicks uses a 44cm K-Force carbon bar
And the Phnom saddle is up to the rigors of cyclocross, says Jacques-Maynes. It has tougher titanium rails than the road-oriented Toupe
Ryan Trebon’s steed mirrors his teammate's, with a few slight differences. Trebon has a Dura-Ace front derailleur (Wicks uses an FSA model)
Trebon also prefers an SLK crank
The 2008 Major Jake has brazed cable stops that accommodate a full-length rear brake housing. They also retrofit with stops for a more conventional setup
Heule's carbon Stevens
The Swiss champ has lots of carbon on his bike. The brakes are by Spooky, while the Ritchey WCS fork may set the bar for mud clearance
The wheels are custom with DT Swiss hubs, fitting for a Swiss rider, laced to seldom-seen Ritchey aluminum tubular rims
Dura-Ace SRM crank is fitted with a custom 46-tooth Dura-Ace outer ring, produced for sponsored athletes only
Ritchey alloy cockpits can be found on both of Heule’s bikes
Molly Cameron was sporting new wheels from sponsor Chris King. The 68mm Edge carbon rims were laced to new high-flange, cyclo-cross specific hubs
Danish national champion Joachim Parbo has been riding SRAM for three weeks and gives it a thumbs up
Parbo's cockpit is a mix of Selcof
The final podium