Road Gear

The original Blur LT was introduced three years ago and the all-mountain rig has become the brand’s bestseller. But the company is releasing a remodeled design intended to keep it at the top of its heap. The most visible new feature is the use of a carbon fiber upper VPP link. Less visible but more important is a careful re-tooling of the linkage’s shock rate. Santa Cruz engineers mellowed the rate out to offer a supple beginning stroke and and a linear feel all the way through to bottom out.

This past weekend’s trip to the Wisconsin north woods for the 35th American Birkebeiner, which for many cyclists is a festival of extreme winter cross-training, got me thinking about traditions. Being able to count on the recurrence of a tradition is comforting. Yet underneath, traditions can be fragile, no matter how long they have survived.

From the perspective of executives at Pearl Izumi, the company’s sale to Shimano American Corp., announced Tuesday, was a relief. Other potential buyers — mostly venture capitalists — were eyeing the Colorado-based clothing company like a house flipper eyes a fixer-upper: something to throw a new coat of paint on, then re-sell for a huge profit. Shimano officials, however, look at Pearl like a young family sees a home, with plans to move in for the long haul. At least that’s how Pearl officials see it.

One more gear?
Dear Lennard,
We have a 27-mile climb just outside of town that I ride up occasionally. My problem is that I tend to spin out on my way back down and find it difficult to keep up with some of my riding partners. A friend of mine told me that I could swap my 10-speed Shimano cassette (12-25) for a SRAM (11-26), which would give me both a better climbing and descending gear. Although I understand 45MPH is plenty fast, is the swap compatible?
Brian Dear Brian,

Gerolsteiner rider Fabian Wegmann is the one rider in the Amgen Tour of California on the latest prototype version of the Shimano Dura-Ace group. VeloNews spotted it before the start of stage 1 in Sausalito, and got the walkthrough with Gerolsteiner's Michael Rich, a friend and training partner of Wegmann, and the team's directeur sportif in California.

Giant unveils prototype TCR

Dear Lennard,
I'm confused about the BB30 design. How do they increase the spindle diameter from 24mm to 30mm and put the same sized bearings inside the BB shell? Is a larger diameter BB shell the design change the article mentions?
James Dear James,
Yes, the bottom bracket shell is larger. Here are specs: www.bb30standard.com.
Lennard

The North American Handmade Bicycle Show was quite a draw this year for boutique frame builders and their fans — including Lance Armstrong, Brian Lopes and Robin Williams.

A half hour before the doors opened for day two of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Portland, the crowds piled into the Oregon Convention Center’s lobby to wait. Each had paid $18 for a day’s worth of access to more than 150 of North America’s finest small- and medium-sized frame builders, as well as a few big-time component manufacturers.

The 2008 North American Handmade Bike Show kicked off Friday in Portland, Oregon, with more than 152 exhibitors ranging from solitary tradesmen to the giants of the industry.

Before moving on to less important matters, I’d like to acknowledge the passing on Monday of Sheldon Brown, one of the giants of bicycle maintenance, technology and general bicycle mechanical understanding. He will be sorely missed, particularly for those seeking simple, straightforward answers to a vast array of bicycle-related questions. His white bearded visage with eagle-adorned helmet has long been the online face of Harris Cyclery in West Newton, Massachusetts.

If you look closely at the disc wheels on Astana’s time trial bikes, you may notice striations running from the hub to rim; much like those on a Lightweight Disc wheel. Well, there’s a reason for that. Despite the Bontrager branding, Astana is riding on Lightweight Disc wheels. Even though the wheel sports a large Bontrager logo, the wheel is actually the 850-gram DT Swiss equipped disc is made by Carbon Sports who sells the wheels under the name Lightweight.

The first day of the second annual Serotta Science of Cycling Symposium offered participants some welcome opportunities to take on a few sacred cows of the sport.

Dear Lennard,
I'm interested in buying the Deda Zero 100 stem you recently reviewed. However I noticed that the clamp size is listed as 31.7mm. The bar I wanted to use is the FSA K-Wing Carbon which has a clamp size listed as 31.8mm. Will the 0.1mm difference in size make this combination incompatible?
Steve Dear Steve,

Questions about torque wrenches, torque and threadloc

On the heels of FSA's introduction of its BB30 bottom bracket system, Van Dessel has announced that its new BB30 Rivet frames are in now production, with delivery slated for late March. Built around the BB30 bottom bracket shell, Van Dessel’s Rivet will also feature a 1.5-inch lower headset bearing, in keeping with the recent trend of manufacturers moving to larger diameters at both bottom bracket and head tube.

You may not have ever heard of Giovanni Pelizzoli, but it’s likely you have seen his work on Ciöcc or Guerciotti frames, either one of which would be sufficient introduction of this small, graying, bespectacled framebuilder and frame painter. Pelizzoli’s shop is located in Curno, the village on the outskirts of Bergamo in north-central Italy that has long served the finish for the final classic of the season, the Tour of Lombardy.

Editor’s note: Tech editor Matt Pacocha is on vacation in Belgium racing cyclocross for two weeks. Upon his return, he will be buried in producing the 2008 VeloNews Buyer’s Guide. I won’t spill the beans about what he is working on, but I will say it involves thousands of dollars of product, highly calibrated tools and a band saw. Until the Buyer’s Guide ships in early February, I will be filling in for him on Tech Reports. — Ben Delaney

Two of Lennard's favorite new products.

Like Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador, Trek Bicycles has chosen to stick with Johan Bruyneel and join the Astana team. The Wisconsin-based manufacturer will become the team’s official bicycle supplier on January 1, 2008. Trek Travel will also partner with Astana, offering behind-the-scenes access to the team. SRAM announced its sponsorship of Astana on November 25.

The Milan show had a lot more to offer than I could cover in the brief column I posted last week. Here are few more items from the trade show that celebrates both the technology and style of some of Italy's most respected bicycle companies. 1988 World Champion Maurizio Fondriest’s face, half of which is made of components, graces the booth promoting the bikes that bear his name.

Due to having my computer stolen and losing a ton of information, photos, time and momentum, I had not yet posted anything about last month's Milan bike show. Scheduled in early November, its relevance as an important international bike show has declined over the years, but given the rich history and passion of the Italian bicycle industry, it nonetheless had much to offer in the way of eye candy.

Campy’s Red Shifters Red is, and always has been, the color preferred by Italian auto racing teams, says the Italian bicycle components manufacturer Campagnolo. And using this symbolism Campy will turn the Record shifters it supplies to its professional teams red. The letters on the shift bodies of both shifters will be changed from white to red.

Much of what I do in life is collect information about bicycle technology, and earlier this month I went to the Milan bike show to do just that. But when my week-old MacBook Pro computer was stolen from me on November 7, I learned about some new technology that compromised my collections of bicycle information. I want to tell you what I learned with the intentionof saving somebody else the stress and hassle I went through.

The newest player in the road component market is apparently not being hesitant in its efforts to make a name for itself in racing circles. SRAM announced that it has signed a second ProTour-level cycling sponsorship after having reached an agreement to supply the reorganized Astana team with components. In a release issued Monday, the Chicago-based component company pointed to the light weight of its RED group as the reason Astana director Johan Bruyneel showed interest in the deal.

Katie Compton is on a crusade in the motherland of ’cross. She won round three of the Cyclocross World Cup in Pijnacker, The Netherlands on November 3. Daphny Van Den Brand, winner of the previous round in Kalmthout, Belgium, was second by almost a minute. This past weekend, Compton again put her stamp on an international field at the third round of the Superprestige Series in Gavere, Belgium. At the world cup, Compton won, but in Gavere, she dominated, taking first by a hefty 2 minutes and 46 seconds.

With the news of Chris Horner joining fellow American Levi Leipheimer at Astana just hours old, another staple of American cycling also has also been linked to Kazakh team — Trek Bicycles. “We’ve definitely looked at it,” said Scott Daubert, Trek’s former Discovery Team Liaison and current road bike brand manager. “Johan Bruyneel was here right after the Tour of Missouri two months ago.” With the Discovery Channel sponsorship concluding in 2007, Trek officials knew they needed something else for next season. Daubert said Trek had three options: quickly find a ProTour team; take a year off;

David Zabriskie is the only guy in the world who has earned a very special yellow sticker shaped like the map of France for his top tube. The sticker proclaims “Fastest Time Trial Ever: 54.676kph, David Zabriskie.” Ever since he won the 19km prologue at Noirmoutier in 2005 at that record speed, beating a stellar Lance Armstrong and donning the yellow jersey, cycling fans have marveled at his great bike position. But despite having a very low, narrow, incredibly aerodynamic position, his first time ever in a wind tunnel was Monday, November 12. That will probably come as a surprise to many,

There are some things I really like about this job and my regular trips to Italy have to be on the top of that list. I visited the offices of Guerciotti in Milan this week. Company founder Paolo Guerciotti and his son Alessandro welcomed me to the downtown facility that also serves as a showroom and warehouse. In its heyday in the 1980s, Guerciotti bicycles had a huge presence in the U.S., due in no small part to Ten Speed Drive Imports in Florida. At the time, Guerciotti was building 8000 bikes a year. Now, annual production is down to 1500, but the company continues to thrive thanks to

Boulder, Colorado didn’t get a USGP this year, but Chris Grealish and his team of Boulder-Denver Couriers put on a weekend of UCI ’cross racing that rivaled the best of the series. Crowd estimates were put over 2000 and CrankBrothers even made the trip out to set up a tent in the venue and do some racing. Since it’s more than midway through the domestic season there are not too many unseen tech’ secrets, but we spotted a few new items, mostly in the form of tires.Click Image for Full Gallery

If you live in the three-country economic union known as Benelux – and ride a bike – odds are good that it’s a Ridley. The Belgium-based bike maker owns a 45-percent share of the road and ’cross market in its homeland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, according to the company’s international sales manager David Alvarez.

Consumers have more choice than ever when buying road components. Campagnolo, Shimano, SRAM all have viable options for those looking to equip a performance road bike. And those options may broaden even further in the near future with Eric Sampson’s plans to deliver a road group by January 2008. Will Sampson’s soon to be introduced Stratics road group be able to compete with the big three? It’s hard to tell by comparing his preproduction prototypes, but Sampson has the right attitude to compete. He says that he’s not trying to shave every possible gram. He wants to build it light but, first

Dear Lennard,I recently experienced a sudden blowout of my road bike front tire that led to a crash and lots of injuries. I’m writing in an attempt to determine what went wrong and why. Although I do not remember the crash here’s what I do know. I was with two friends and we were about three minutes into a descent and traveling at about 35 mph. My two riding partners tell me that I was in the front and we were on a sweeping turn when they heard a loud “pop” and suddenly I was down. My front tire had blown. As a result my inner tube has about a four- to five-inch slit in it but the tire

Think back to what you were riding off-road a decade ago; you’ll probably chuckle. Maybe you had a 130mm stem, a 48-tooth big ring, or a Flite saddle — all of which were probably anodized purple — and none of which have any business being on a mountain bike. If you were at the cutting edge of suspension technology for cross-country racing you were riding an elastomer sprung fork with a cartridge damper. It’s a good bet it was a RockShox Judy. Back in 1997, I was riding for John Kemp’s RockShox DEVO team. I was a junior expert racer at the time. I had a Judy SL with 63mm of travel, and I was

There was so much to see at Interbike that I wanted to take some time to features some of the show's more unique items that might not have made it into the wealth of coverage of the show here on Velonews.com or in print in VeloNews magazine.

Jon Baker is living the dream. That is, if you consider spending fourmonths chasing some of the world’s fastest cyclocross racers around mud-and manure-filled European fields in sub-zero temperatures. The dream? Luckily he looks at it that way. Up until about a month ago the 33-year-old Baker was leading an averageAmerican life, happily married to Cyndi with two kids, Leah, 9, and Axel,1. He was a software engineer for BEA Systems, and he balanced his passionfor cycling with his family life and a full-time career, as most of usdo. He was a weekend warrior, albeit a darn good one. Baker

Thanks 'Vegas — for kicking my butt. I almost made it. After six days in the Sin city I was as close as I could have come to making it out unscathed. I spent two days in Bootleg Canyon, Nevada, where the trails are known for their brutality. Crashing there is like riding a razor blade covered Slip-and-Slide into a wading pool of glass. It’s a good place to practice the 80-percent rule — riding at only 80-percent of your ability to ensure that you’re not the guy — you know, that guy who crashes at an event where you have no reason putting it all on the line. Plenty of the attendees

As is usually the case with web reports from Interbike, we managed only to scratch the surface of all of the latest and greatest we saw at the show this year. Here are a few more items for you save your pennies for in the coming year. Be sure to take look at VeloNews issue 20 when it becomes available later this month, too. We’ll have a lot in there as well.

After five days of riding, racing, selling and showing bikes, Interbike concluded Friday in Las Vegas. Watch for the full report in the next issue of VeloNews, but in the meantime, here are a few samples of what we saw on the showroom floor.Leaving Las Vegas - PartIILeaving Las Vegas - PartIII

After five days of riding, racing, selling and showing bikes, Interbike concluded Friday in Las Vegas. Watch for the full report in the next issue of VeloNews, but in the meantime, here are a few samples of what we saw on the showroom floor. Leaving Las Vegas - PartILeaving Las Vegas - PartIII

After five days of riding, racing, selling and showing bikes, Interbike concluded Friday in Las Vegas. Watch for the full report in the next issue of VeloNews, but in the meantime, here are a few samples of what we saw on the showroom floor.Leaving Las Vegas - PartILeaving Las Vegas - PartII

During Wednesday evening’s CrossVegas event Kona’s Ryan Trebon won on a brand new pair of wheels from FSA, providing a good excuse to look at a few new deeper section carbon rims that debuted at this year’s show. Besides FSA, both Easton and Reynolds have new or refined wheels for 2008. Titanium has also been a prominent product at this year’s show, could it be that some, more traditionally minded riders are suffering from too much carbon fiber in their diet? We wouldn’t go quite that far yet as it seems most of the industry is still gaga over string and glue construction for all types of

A hall brimming with almost 20,000 people eager and optimistic about bikesis a rarified atmosphere for a bike enthusiast to hang out in. and allof those people buying bikes makes it possible for a number of bike-relatedphilanthropic organizations to thrive as well.Interbike began with a talk by six organizations doing work in third-worldcountries to make a difference with bikes. Left to right, F.K. Day of www.WorldBicycleRelief.org,Steve Madden of BikeTown from www.bicycling.com,Hans Rey of www.Wheels4Life.org,Bradley Schroeder of www.CaliforniaBike.org,Ben Capron of www.TrueOverdrive.com,and

A perfect weather day yesterday ended with a road ride back to the stripwith three friends from SRAM, and today started for me with a ride backout to the Outdoor Demo at Boulder City’s Bootleg Canyon. After 5-10 minutesof standing around, I took off with maybe 100 other riders for the annualTourof Lake Mead, formerly known as The Hangover Ride. Still cool, verywindy and hilly, this 24-mile out-and-back offers some great views andcan offer a punishing pace at the front. I may have gotten a great warmup to riding mountain bikes at the pre-Interbikedemo, but before I got to ride my first bike

Nearly 19,000 people packed into the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the opening day of the indoor portion of the 2007 Interbike trade show on Wednesday. Aisles were packed and booths were abuzz on the show’s opening day. And besides the goings-on inside, two races were organized alongside the show. The first was the Boulder-Denver Courier Events-produced Excel Sports CrossVegas, held Wednesday night. Kona-YourKey.com’s Ryan Trebon won the well-attended event — and in the process took some revenge on Christian Heule (Stevens), who won Star Crossed and the Rad Racing

Without the official numbers (those will be tallied by Wednesday), it can’t be claimed with any certainty that day two of the 2007 Interbike Dirt Demo in Bootleg Canyon, Nevada broke any records, but if the lines were an indication — it did. Those not lucky enough to make it onto the first round of shuttles to the demo area went on to spend more than two hours trying to get to Bootleg. In past editions of the show it has rarely taken more than 50 minutes. “They have five buses,” said Elaine, one of the senior citizens who was working for the Las Vegas chamber of commerce by making sure

The weather was perfect, the venue is great and getting better, and the attendance was abundant for the first day of the Outdoor Demo at Boulder City’s Bootleg Canyon. The sunny, yet unseasonably cool 75-degree weather meant perfect conditions. Not hot, not cold, sunny, only occasional strong wind – those are nice conditions to ride a bike in. The display booth area is a lot bigger now, with much of it even paved, making road riding a more viable option for bike testing than in the past. Whereas in past years I have rarely taken a road test ride, given that the mountain bike riding is

The UCI cyclocross season had its West Coast kickoff this past weekend in Washington state with Star Crossed, a Saturday-night party disguised as a ’cross race at Marymoor Park Velodrome in Redmond, followed by Sunday’s Rad Racing Gran Prix at Steilacoom Park in Lakewood.

SRAM announced Thursday that it intends to acquire wheel and component maker Zipp within the next 60 days. The two signed a non-binding letter of intent. The purchase would add a vital piece to SRAM’s puzzle, which already includes road and mountain bike drivetrain components (branded SRAM), suspension parts (branded RockShox), brakes (branded Avid) and road and mountain bike cranks, bars, stems and seatposts (branded Truvativ). “Zipp is a great company and respected brand, with a strong management team, advanced technology and superb manufacturing capability,” said Stan Day, SRAM’s chief

I had the chance to catch “The Flying Scotsman” at a special showing at the Boulder Theater. While the movie takes some liberties with the order of events and the details of how they unfolded, it tells the gist of Graeme Obree’s story ratherwell. In many ways, it reminded me that – as far as the UCI is concerned – the more things change, the more they remain the same. The film’s characterization of the UCI, and its troglodyte attitude toward maverick innovators like Obree, is unfortunately quite accurate, especially when those inventive types beat established cycling stars using

When the Dura-Ace 7800 group was introduced for the 2004 season, it didn’t feature a hint of carbon fiber despite the fact that Campagnolo was offering ample amounts of the material throughout its flagship Record group. At the time Shimano relied on its ability to forge high quality aluminum at its Osaka factories. Four years later, carbon fiber is quite evident in Shimano's 2008 line. Four of Dura-Ace’s five wheel models feature carbon fiber rims, while a fifth uses scandium. The just released XTR Shadow rear derailleur sports a true carbon fiber pulley cage. And to put the icing on

Photo Gallery Below On a day when I pause every year to reflect on what the future may holdfor all of us, I think about the things that give me a little hope forthat future. One of those things is seeing kids on bikes. The future seems a lotbrighter to me if lots of kids are riding bikes, ensuring a healthier nextgeneration of adults treading more lightly on the earth with another toolto combat global warming and oil dependence. There are a number of great programs around the country that are successfulin creating passionate young bike riders, and I think all of them shouldbe encouraged. I

Unlike Interbike in the United States, Eurobike’s final day is open to the public. Anyone with 20 extra euros can show up at the Messe Friedrichshafen and see the bicycle industry’s best. Because of this, most of the show's business is done by Saturday afternoon, freeing exhibitors from spec’ and sales meetings, plus the press, just in time to be thrown to an inquisitive public. We saw a lot on Saturday, some of which can be quickly explained and some that will require more attention. Over the next few weeks, in a lead-up to Interbike, we will try to explore in detail some of those

If the scale of parking problems are an indication of interest, then Eurobike qualifies as a success. The line just to park at the Messe Friedrichshafen on the second day of the trade show was an hour long. Bumper-to-bumper traffic, all of it bound for Eurobike. The show, held on Germany’s southern border, attracts exhibitors from more than 36 countries — and that includes everyone, from the biggest players to the most obscure little guys. Here’s what caught our attention on Friday. LightweightThe famous German Lightweight wheels have a new look these days. The new black all-carbon spokes

Once home to the early 20th century’s famous Graf Zeppelin factory, the southern German town of Friedrichshafen now plays host to retirees and tourists visiting Lake Constance and – once a year – to what is becoming one of the world’s biggest bicycle industry trade shows. Thursday marked the opening of the 16th Eurobike show, with more than 850 exhibitors from 36 countries showing their wares in an astounding 13 exhibition halls. Despite the ample space, navigating the aisles was already tough Thursday — and that’s before the show opens to the general public on its final day on

SRAM finally unveiled its top-of-the-line component group last month. The company outlined details of the "Red" group during the Tour de France, where the group - still in prototype - saw action. Now, on the eve of the industry tradeshow season’s start, at Eurobike in Friedrichschafen, Germany, SRAM introduced a round of ready-to-ride pre-production parts, manufactured on the line's final tooling. Red’s specifications were finalized in conjunction with SRAM’s entry into the ProTour, by means of its sponsorship of Saunier Duval-Prodir. The relationship proved challenging to say the

Predictor-Lotto star Cadel Evans came within a scant 23 seconds of winning this year’s Tour de France and narrowly held on to second place, a mere eight seconds ahead of third-place Levi Leipheimer. It’s fair to say that Evans’ podium performance is thanks in part to his two breakthrough time trial rides. Evans placed second in both long time trials, behind Alexandre Vinokourov in stage 13 and behind Leipheimer in stage 19. With final time differences that slim, it is interesting to look at small time contributions among the top three riders overall, especially in long time trials, where

Dear Lennard,Was there any official report as to why David Millar's rear wheel fellapart during the stage 19 time trial at the Tour de France. I have neverseen anything like that. He seemed to have multiple wheels with the sameproblem right up to his mechanic riding a new bike out to him. How weirdwas that?Christopher Dear Christopher,Yes, I saw that, too. We tried to find out that day what happened,but didn't get any official word as the team handed off the wheel to themanufacturer for analysis. Fortunately, we contacted Mavic to see whatthey had learned.LennardAnswer from Mavic:As

What say we give tire rolling resistance a rest this week?First, I wanted to tell you a little about the party we threw on August5 for the 25th anniversary of Zinn Cycles. Such a milestone does not comealong too often, and it was very interesting putting together the memorabiliacollected over a quarter of a century for the party. While it became brutally clear that the people who tell me and my wifethat we look the same as we did in college are stretching the truth, afar more interesting thing was to see how bikes have changed since 1982.I hope this doesn’t bore you (if so, skip to the

Aren’t aero’ covers on components a no-no?Dear Lennard,Floyd Landis's aerodynamic cranks have been described as both a "fairing" and a "cover." I thought aerodynamic covers on components isn't allowed.Steve Dear Steve,It isn’t allowed to have a cover on a component that is strictly for aerodynamics, but a cover can be made that serves an aerodynamic purpose while at the same time increasing the strength or rigidity of the component. That argument could be made with Floyd’s crank cover.Lennard How do they rig those aero-bar brakes?Dear Lennard,I've seen a brake lever on the CSC

Landis's drivetrain doesn't look standardDear Lennard,What's up with the crank used by Floyd Landis? And What about Landis's rear derailleur? It didn't look like a normal Record model.Chris Dear Chris,According to Francesco Zenere at Campagnolo, Landis's rear derailleur and Ergo Power levers are 2006 series Record models. And BMC made a special cover for Landis's Campy cranks for improved aerodynamic efficiency in time trials.Lennard What about Hincapie’s steerer in Paris-Roubaix?Dear Lennard,George Hincapie's bike had a blasted and black-anodized aluminum

I was struck when reading this question about what a strange world some of us cyclists live in, where bodily encounters with solid objects and even riding over fallen riders are commonplace. It got me thinking in the wee hours not only about bicycle geometry, which was the original gist of the question, but also about bruising, inflammation, Tyler Hamilton’s lower back and heart attacks! Now, either these are more closely connected than we may think, or maybe I should do more sleeping and less pondering in the wee hours, as connections between divergent thoughts that seem so profound long

Gord Fraser and Mike Sayers each got something special for this year’s Tour of Georgia (April 19-23), new bikes from their sponsor Cannondale. Now approaching mid-June, it’s hard to miss the growing number of big neon green sixes adorning the head tubes of many of Health Net-Maxxis riders’ bikes. In April, both racers were on pre-production prototypes, but now in less than a month, Cannondale is set to have the new rig ready for retail. The new bike, which mates aluminum and carbon utilizing the same process as Cannondale’s Six13, combines a complete carbon front end with a new CAAD 9

Fixing the unfixableDear Lennard,All Shimano chains now come with connection pin. Can a chain be safelyjoined with a regular pin? I have done that in the past by not pushingthe pin all the way through then pressing it back in when I had to replacea bent link or two. Is that safe with a 10-speed Shimano chain?Lloyd Dear Loyd,No, it is not safe with any 10-speed chain. The Shimano or Campagnoloconnector pin is double-length, with a front tip section designed to keepthe pin lined up straight while slowly opening up the two holes in anticipationof the part of the pin that will remain lodged in

Just back from the Giro d’Italia, I thought I’d give you a few photos from the Pontedera-Pontedera time trial and that you might not have seen elsewhere, including from the Piaggio (Vespa) museum in Pontedera, where the time trial (won by Jan Ullrich with Ivan Basso a close second) started and finished. David Millar came to the time trial to hang with his Saunier Duval teammates. He is very lean to the point that his pants also hang, ready to fall down at any time. My guess is he will be fit for the Tour prologue. It seemed to take me forever to ride from the 5K to go sign to the Monte

Steep, steep, steepDear Lennard,I recently read that Discovery director Johann Bruyneel is planningon putting a 34X29 on some of his riders' bikes for Stage 17 of the Giro.I don’t think Shimano makes either a compact Dura-Ace crank or a 29 cog.Any idea what they plan on using?James Dear James,I am in Italy now putting on a bikecamp with Connie Carpenter and Davis Phinney. We will be hookingup with the Giro starting at the Pontedera time trial on Thursday. I ameager to see the Stage 17 finish climb and the gearing teams use for it,too. According to Shimano USA and confirmed by Shimano

While XTR shifting systems made waves at last month?s Sea Otter Classic, Shimano left us in the dark concerning the details of the rest of the group. Still we don?t have the whole story, but Shimano has now offered a look at the new braking options the group will offer. The two most interesting features of the new system are the perpendicular or radial master cylinder on the brake lever and new mono-body design on the calipers. The new lever design frees up space on the bar and provides for a smoother modulating brake, while the single forged mono-body caliper lightens the system and

Mating Mavic, Campy and ShimanoDear Lennard, I've got some 2004 Mavic Cosmic Carbones with a Campy cassette and have recently bought a bike with Dura-Ace 10 transmission. What would I have to do to use the Cosmics on this bike?Andy Dear Andy,Those wheels would not shift worth beans using a Campy 10 cogset with a Shimano 10 transmission. You could buy and install a Shimano 10-speed cogset and a Mavic freehub body for Shimano (called "M10"), interchanging it with that "ED10" freehub body and Campy cogset. Alternatively, you may be able to locate some aftermarket cogs for a Campy freehub

The folks at Bontrager took an opportunity at last week’s Tour de Georgia to introduce additions to the brand’s high-end road racing product lineup. Major additions include an expansion of the Aeolus deep-dish aerodynamic wheel line as well as a new time trial disc wheel – all produced under a partnership with HED Cycling Products. Why aero?For the last few years riders have put a premium on weight and all but ignoring aerodynamics. Recently, even at the sports top level, aerodynamic advantage has only been considered when it comes to time trialing. But whether you look at a grand tour

Water SolutionDear Readers,It seems that whenever it is raining somewhere in the USA, I get questionsabout drain holes in the bottom bracket and rims. In the past, I have advisedpeople to drill their own if they are not present, but of course that isat great risk of voiding their warranties. However, here is a solutionthat might appeal to those whose bikes are filling up with water as wellas for those who do not want to void their warranties.LennardDear Lennard,I recently discovered it's not difficult to drill a hole down the centerof the set screw that holds the cable guide in place

Dear Readers, Well, I just got back from Sea Otter, and I’m sure you’ve read my review of the SRAM road group. There were lots of other cool things there, including pieces of the new XTR and lots of new mountain bike stuff from SRAM, Avid,Hayes, RockShox, Fox, Magura, Cat Eye, and many others. But one thing remained the same – my mailbox filling up with letters on the subject of wheel rotational weight and what difference it makes when climbing. The first time around, I published a letter saying it made almost no difference. The next time we revisited, I published letters saying it was a big deal.

Introduced at last year’s Interbike trade show, SRAM formally rolled out its new road group at Sea Otter this week, giving media and others the chance to actually ride what the once-little company is using to take on the giants of the component industry. The company is actually introducing two new road groups: the top-of-the-line Force group and the price-point Rival. Both share the same design on all components, with the Force group getting extra touches like carbon fiber lever blades, a magnesium lever body, and titanium gears and bolts. A pair of Force levers, for example, weighs in at

It may be almost Easter, but day two at the Sea Otter Classic at Laguna Seca Raceway felt something like Christmas — a stroll around the grounds on Friday was all about the boys and their toys. Subaru-Gary Fisher racer Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski was feeling a little bit under the weather, but nevertheless took time to explain the development process behind his new Race Day Pro Caliber full-suspension bike. Giant may have had the least-attainable bike in the pits (it was more prototype than production), but Adam Craig seemed happy with it. He was also able to shed a little light on the new XTR

The Sea Otter Classic’s season-opener status always leaves it vulnerable to inclement weather, and going into this year’s edition the Monterey Bay area has been awash in monsoon-style spring rains. But come opening day on Thursday, the ponderous clouds above the Laguna Seca race track gave way to clear skies and set a perfect stage for the 2006 season kickoff, for racers, spectators and exhibitors alike. Some of the loudest buzz in the pits concerns two of the industry’s component manufacturers, SRAM and Shimano. On Saturday, two SRAM-sponsored road teams will take the company’s new gear

Our Tech Report on frame stiffness in VeloNews issue 5, "Flexing Their Muscles," contained two errors, one of measurement and one of protocol. We incorrectly reported the weight of the Specialized S-Works Tarmac 56cm frame. The correct weight of this frame is 989 grams, or 2.180 pounds. The suitability of the 1999 Trek OCLV frame we used for comparison purposes was called into question at the conclusion of the test. Our intention in including the Trek was to use it as a well-accepted benchmark for carbon frame performance, prior to the recent push to develop ProTour frames that weigh less

Last week, we gave you the word regarding Shimano’s redesign of XTR; today, you get the pictures. And if you’re traveling to the Sea Otter Classic this week, you’ll be able to see the revamped components first-hand adorning the bikes ridden by Adam Craig, Walker Ferguson, Marie-Hélène Prémont, Bart Brentjens and Roel Paulissen. The new Dual Release triggers look extremely adjustable, and the WH-M975 wheelset is sure to be a competitor in the high-end-wheel game. The biggest surprise may be the new Dual Control disc lever, which appears to have a radial master cylinder like the one used by

Despite claims to the contrary, it’s pretty rare these days that a magazine or website will get an exclusive look at a new product. “Sneak previews,” and “spy photos,” tend to be just so much manipulation handed out to us hacks by some cagey character in the PR department, whose giving out the same “exclusive” shots to some other hack, with another magazine’s logo on his pile vest. So we were especially pleased to have an honest-to-gawd exclusive look at the latest creation from an old friend. VeloNews technical writer Lennard Zinn and wheel guru Steve Hed go back quite a few years and it

Dear readers, Back at Christmas, I threw in a letter from a reader claiming that rotating weight makes almost no difference on a wheel – that it takes negligible energy to bring it up to speed, and that the only thing that really matters when climbing is the overall weight of the bike, not how it’s distributed. Since then, I have gottena lot of mail about this, and a trip to France last week piqued my interest in this subject again. Perhaps some of you remember when I did a test in VeloNews seven years ago (in the 6/28/99 issue) of wheel inertia by building a rotational pendulumin my garage.

Shimano has taken a back seat to the competition’s barrage of buzz this winter. Eerily quiet until recently, declining to release any 2007 product information, Shimano began testing its new E-Dura-Ace group right as the ProTour season kicked into full swing. Now, less than two weeks away from the Sea Otter Classic, which traditionally opens the domestic mountain-bike season, Shimano has announced preliminary details of its redesigned ’07 XTR group. Though images of the complete group are unavailable (scroll down for photos of other new Shimano goodies), a trained eye can spot bits and pieces

Steve Hed was one of the first to build carbon fiber wheels – solid carbon discs – way back in the era of Francesco Moser’s hour records. At the time Hed was a partner in Grand Performance, a Minneapolis bike shop, but his interest in wheels and aerodynamics prompted him to sell his share and pursue work in carbon on a full time basis. For many years, Steve and his wife, Anne, ran Hed Wheels out of their house in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Eventually, though, the business literally drove them out of house and home. Indeed, as the business grew, the Heds gave up and bought a new house,