Bike Radar reviews the Lynskey Sportive

A glowing review of the Lynskey Sportive by BikeRadar, which we have in stock (medium size, Apex build), which I will repost here:

After the sale of Litespeed, the company the Lynskey family nurtured to such great heights, they decided to get back into the bike business. Their newest addition to an already well-represented stable is the titanium Sportive.
With tube surfaces treated with what Lynskey call an industrial mill finish – a rough, wire-brushed effect that gives a subdued sheen – the Sportive strikes a handsome note and provides a solid and reliable platform for anything from a quick 45-minute training loop to an audax brevet.

Ride & handling: Immediately likeable; quick responses combined with comfort
We eagerly swung a leg over this great machine and found it to be immediately likeable, with a sweetness of ride quality and handling. Miles of groomed dirt towpath are a piece of cake – the bike soaks up pebble-induced vibrations with gusto.
Equally at home in a highly strung peloton as on a dusty towpath, it responds quickly to pedal and steering input. While trialling a local audax event, staying in a tightly knit bunch felt easy. When the pace started feeling a bit slow, the Sportive had the lightness and willingness to leapfrog to the next gruppetto in search of a more vigorous speed.
While the front end of the bike feels strong and torsionally rigid carving through high-speed corners, this has no noticeable effect on front end comfort. In contrast, a simple deflection test of the rear dropouts revealed a considerable springiness in the stays. Yet with the wheel clamped in and closing off the structure, the back end always keeps up with the front, while providing noticeable shock absorption.
With a longish head tube and shortish top tube forming part of a mildly sloping geometry, the Sportive will go a long way towards keeping you in a pleasant comfort zone, minimising the usual shoulder and neck aches and pains on those longer rides. Whether you use it for an easy stroll, screaming quarter-mile or the full 600 miles of an audax brevet, the Lynskey is always ready. Even when the going gets rough, the Sportive will do it in comfort and style.

Frame & equipment: Well thought out chassis plus robust yet light finishing kit
Made of cold-worked 3AL 2.5V titanium, the frame features a fine balance of sophisticated tube manipulation and more straightforward sections, with welded cable guides in all the right places and riveted bottle cage bosses. The rear triangle is comprised of gently curved, constant diameter round seatstays, below which lies a graceful set of oval-round chainstays.
Anchoring the rear wheel are some very thick and burly dropouts, decorated with a three-leaf clover cutaway design for a little aesthetic enhancement. A standard head tube with reinforced zones for traditional headset cups finishes off the front of the bike. Single eyelets on the rear allow you to join in with traditional audax crowds if required, with plenty of clearance for a decent-sized tyre and mudguard.
Complementing the well-proven Shimano Ultegra drivetrain on our test bike was a nicely homogenous finishing kit and wheels by Pro-Lite, which were robust yet light. 

They are completely correct, it is a sweet bike (like everything Lynskey makes).

www.lynskeyperformance.com

Lynskey Sportive on the way!

Just got this pic emailed from Lynskey:

It is their new Sportive model, built up with Sram Apex.  This is the bike we are getting. Normally they send us frames and build kits, but they asked me if they could build this one and take pics of it for their website before we got it.  So the one on their website will be the one in our shop.

The Sportive is a really cool new model, check it out:

http://www.lynskeyperformance.com/a/pages/frames-products/road/sportive.php

I highly recommend buying it.

Commencal Skin and Lynskey Pro 29 Lefty

So, Charlie's been shopping a little lately:

This is a Commencal Skin, full carbon 26" hardtail. Built with Sram XX Gruppo, and Edge rims on American Classic hubs with DT Swiss Aero spokes.  Also, we took a 150mm DT Swiss fork with a 15mm thru axle, and shrank it down to 130mm.  Also, he is trying out Hope's newest lightest Race something or rather brakes, which have an unbelievable amount of machining on them and seem pretty sweet.
The bike came out at just over 21 pounds, with some fairly heavy tires on it (700 something gram UST WTB's).  With some lighter tires, it'll be under 21 lbs easily.  Not the lightest carbon hardtail in the world. However, we have no concerns with putting a 200lb powerhouse like Charlie on this bike, so all things considered, it's pretty freaking light.

A staunch believer in the "more bikes is better" mantra, Charlies other other new bike rolled in the door the same day I was building his Commencal:

A few weeks ago Lynksey put a notice up on their website that they now had a Lefty compatible Pro 29 frame available, complete with BB30 bottom bracket.  Well, it was just ridiculous enough to get Charlie to bite.  It came in yesterday.  The lefty is their second lightest one made, at just under 3 lbs, it's all carbon-y and lopsided looking and stuff.
We haven't quite settled on how this is going to be built, or if it's even going to have gears or be a single speed (the frame is equally adept at both). I say "we" because clearly this isn't up to Charlie, but more of a group decision.

German makers of ridiculous bike parts Tune recently unveiled a Lefty compatible hub, that weighs just 86 grams.  It currently has my vote for this bike. Of course, he would have to get their new rear hub to match:

This rear hub has one moving part, has magnets in the freehub body (instead of spring, I think), and weighs just 150 grams.  How much does it cost? No idea. But it sure looks radtarded to me.

Busy day at the shop.  Drinking beer and watching the Lobos play.  At least the beer is good, because the game is disgusting.

Thanks for reading.
-Lucero

TR450's, Sierra Nevada, bike blogs....

Tony was on the phone today with Transition, the anxiously awaited TR450 is now shipping.
It's a hot bike we've been excited about for a while.  Check it out:

http://www.transitionbikes.com/Bikes_TR450.cfm

We will have them in the store shortly.

In beer news, I've had recurring conversations over the past few days with different people about how they had forgotten how good Sierra Nevada is.  I agree, it's an underrated beer.
Also, I can't imagine our keg-o-Gordens has many days left in it.  I think we have unanimously agreed that it is the best keg we have had yet in the shop (no offense to Marble).  I recommend stopping by sooner than later if you are a person that enjoys delicious beer.

And lastly, I have been recently enamored with the blog over at Competitive Cyclist, check it out.
I have particularly enjoyed all the new bike blogs that I have learned about through it...

http://lagazzettadellabici.blogspot.com/
http://cyclingart.blogspot.com/

for example.

I've also been enthused by the words written on that site regarding custom frames and their decision to no longer carry Pegoretti....
In order for a custom frame to have the highest likelihood of success, communication should be in one direction (builder = mouth, customer = ears).

 He first talked about Pegoretti and custom bikes a few posts ago...
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/road-bikes/whats-new/silence-kit.339.html
and then followed up on it in the most recent post (I linked it above).

I have to say, after reading through some posts, I like Competitive Cyclist more than I used to (I'm generally opposed to any bike biz that operates exclusively online, so I had a negative opinion of Competitive Cyclist despite knowing nothing about them). 
However, while there may be a better blogger over there, we are undoubtedly the better bike shop, so don't go start buying crap online (I know none of you ever buy anything anywhere besides our shop). Besides, who wants to box and ship their bike every time they need a derailleur adjusted?

Two and a half weeks 'til Old Pueblo.  Is it finally late enough in the game where I can declare that it is too late to build any more fitness, and I should be in "resting" mode, and therefore can feel good about my lack of preparation?  Maybe after this weekend.

Lastly, our buddy Marc has recently found himself in need of a last minute substitute for a partner in his duo team at Old Pueblo.  I think he would prefer somebody close to his level of fitness (i.e. very annoyingly fast).  I would prefer if his new partner is somebody that completely blows up half way through the race, leaving Marc to race solo throughout the night and destroying any chance of him beating Danny and I.   If you fit the latter description,  get a hold of me, and I'll put you in contact with Marc ;)

2010 Lynskey Pro 29

Have you seen the new Lynskey Pro 29? They redesigned it from last year, and we just got one in.

It is, how do you say... ah yes, bad to the bone:


The frame is light, 3.6lbs for the medium, on our scale, with the sliding dropouts and everything.

The tubes, they are so twisty:


It is hard to imagine how they actually make these tubes, there is so much going on.

We got the frame in yesterday, and so far every person who has seen it can't help but put their hands on it. The shaping on the tubes is far more dramatic than we expected, it's quite hard to capture on a picture.

I can't wait to build it up. This one is going to be a very light singlespeed build, for a good Doctor friend of ours.

This will be the third Lynskey we have built up, the others were a Cross frame, and the Ridgeline 29er. So far, we have been nothing short of completely impressed. Beautiful welds, perfectly straight frames, great attention to detail, good looking, and at prices that are surprisingly affordable for a hand made in the U.S. titanium frame of this quality.

Check them out:

http://www.lynskeyperformance.com

You can't see it in the picture, but their seatpost is wicked sweet as well, and matches the frame oh so nicely.

It's Christmas Eve-Eve, it's snowing outside, and it's slow here in the shop.

We just got "The Best of Earthed" DVD, it's pretty cool, we've got it playing right now.

Come by and say hi. We've got a beverage for you.

Goodies

Just checking these into inventory, and they are so sexy I had to share:


Hand made in the USA, as with all things White Ind. makes the bearings are impossibly smooth, and they look better in person than on the photo.

Single sided platform pedals made specifically for clips and straps, these pedals will put the finishing touch on any styled out commuter or fixie.

Custom Maverick Hardtail 29er

Here's Charlie's newest toys:






One of 3 custom Maverick 29er hardtails. Build highlights include the Edge rims laced to Chub hubs with DT Aerolite spokes, and Race Face Next carbon cranks, and Formula R1 brakes. Sooo dirty. The frame was built by Spot with True Temper OX Platinum tubing, and paint job by Spectrum Powderworks.

It was definitely a fun bike to build.

Also, Charlie has a new commuter bike:



A titanium Spot 29er freak bike. Rigid steel fork by Spot, Dura Ace scandium wheelset with tubeless Hutchinson cross tires. 2 x 10 drivetrain with FSA carbon cranks. A good old fashioned freak bike. Can be run as a single speed, belt drive compatible if desired. Geometry accepts a suspension fork, plenty of room for mountain tires if desired. I expect this bike to see a few different incarnations in the coming years. This bike is pretty fun.

Never go to work.

I took today off, it was sweet.



I painted the ceiling in my kitchen. And you know what that means! Next time I'm not at work, I'll be painting the walls! Yay.

We had some fun the past couple of weekends not being at work. Thanks everybody for putting up with our ridiculous hours and letting us go play. None of that for a while, back to the ol' grindstone.

I'll have some hot hot bike porn to show off soon. Like Danny and my new wheelsets, Edge carbon tubulars laced up to American Classic hubs with Sapim spokes, hand build by danny, weighing in at 1080 grams a set. Ohhh dirty. Never had tubies before, guess if your going to do it, might as well do it right.

Smooches

Racing is fun. Lets do it again!

We all took the weekend off, closed up shop, and headed up to Angel Fire to participate in the Chile Challenge race.
It was sweet. We all love out little bike shop, but it certainly is nice to get away once in a while. Got back yesterday feeling rejuvenated and sassy.
Danny and I raced the Cross Country, and we had several other friends out there representing Bikeworks in the Mountain Cross, Downhill, and Super D events. It was a good time all around.

If you want to check out results, they can be found here:

Angel Fire Results

In fact, we had so much fun not working, we're going to close up shop this weekend and do it again! This weekend is the Pajarito Punishment race, at the Pajarito Ski area outside of Los Alamos.
Check it out:
http://nmmtb.org/#

The Cross Country race is on Saturday, which Danny and I will participate in, and the Downhill race is on Sunday. We are a major sponsor of the DH race. Tony has been busy getting all kinds of sweet prizes to give away, and we will be raffling off a frame from Transition to one lucky racer.

So, we encourage you to come up and play with us. It's a beautiful mountain, even if you aren't inclined to race, and is a great place to spend the day outside.

In other news, Charlie once again has a new toy:



Perhaps his best looking bike yet. This is a Maverick / Spot collaboration. One of only three Maverick hardtails around. Originally this bike was a one of a kind project for Interbike

http://bikemag.com/gallery/interbike_08_9er/

But Charlie and one other lucky Maverick fanatic bike shop owner convinced the guys at Maverick to make them one. And the original ended up in the hands of Dale, of Dales Pale Ale.

Who's bike is this? Oh, it says so on the headtube:

It says "Charlie" on the right, and "LE 29er #3" on the left.

The frame is made to work with the belt drive, but Charlie isn't going to use the belt for now. Why you ask? Because as he puts it, he "has a Chubby for Chub hubs."


We will be lacing these hubs up to some Edge Composite carbon mountain rims for ol' Chucky, and it will be ridiculous. Unfortunately for now, the Chubs are only available in freewheel configurations, which means no belt drive, but we have been told cassette hubs will be available later this year, in both geared and SS versions.

In other bike porn, we have recieved our first Carbide SL frame from Tomac:


With 90mm of rear wheel travel, this carbon fiber wonder weighs just over 4.5lbs on our scale in a size large, with the rear shock. It's a beautiful frame, and just plain satisfying to hold in your hands. This bike has been getting some serious attention from the press lately:

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/tomac-carbide-sl-2009.html

Speaking of Tomac, there were a few pros out in Angel Fire this weekend showing off what the Type X is good for; going crazy fast. Taking 1st and 2nd place in the mens Pro XC, and 3rd and 4th in the Short Track XC, the Type X frame is quickly showing itself to be an extremely capable race machine.

http://tomacfan.blogspot.com/

And last but not least, a bad ass old Yeti ARC frame converted to accept a belt drive.






That's it, back to fixing bikes. Thanks for reading.

New Glory from Giant

We've been hearing rumors, and seen a couple of shoddy pics, but here's the goods:

Full Article from Bikemag here.


A whole bunch lighter, and a straight 8 inches of travel? Based on how much our local guys like the current Glory, this one promises to be a winner.

Start saving your money. It won't be available til next year.

New- Old Yeti Hotness

This was forwarded to me by our buddy Chris, and it is bad to the bone:

Mike Wilk's Yeti C-26

Best Week Ever

Well, not really the best week ever. It was a fine week, but not the best ever. Actually it was a pretty lousy week for Danny boy, who managed to eat some bad Sushi, which never ends well, and then get a tooth pulled a couple days later. Good thing Danny loves pain, or I'd feel sorry for him.

Anyways, following up on last post, Charlie's ridden his Black Sheep a couple of times. We were in the South Foothills a few days ago, and I rode his bike a little. It is a nice bike. Unlike most soft tails that I've ridden, which feel like you have a 2.5 tire on the back without enough air in it, this thing is sweet. You can actually tell there's some suspension back there working for you, but it has the snappyness of a hardtail that a full susser can never quite achieve. And it's soo light, it will be a fantastic endurance race bike.


The foothills were as good as the foothills get. With lots of moisture in the dirt, but no mud, everything was super fast, super smooth, and super grippy. It may just be the foothills, but we sure are lucky to be riding mtb trails in January.


We didn't make it out on Monday night for our ride. I know at this point we've not made it as often as we have made it, but don't worry, we're gonna get it together. I had family obligations that kept me from riding, and it seems I'm the motivator for Tony to get out. Danny's never made it, so he doesn't count anymore.
For the record, I'm pretty sure it snowed again last Monday.
Forecast is good for this weekend through Monday I believe, and we are totally going riding. I strongly recommend joining us, and I also strongly recommend bringing a flask of something strong, as we've discovered that is a nice component of the Monday night ride ( I assume during summer cold beers will replace flasks).

In shop news, we're sad to announce that our keg-o-rator is getting repo'd. Although we though we had been given it permanently, we have recently been informed that it was merely on loan, and needs to be returned. The plus side is we can get ourselves a slick pre-fab setup that will look nicer and take up less space. The down side is we will most likely not have a keg in the shop for a little while.

In other shop news, Danny's dream is finally coming true, and we have an ultrasonic parts cleaner on order. We've been talking about this since we opened, and finally this week inspiration hit and we got one on the way. If your not familiar with ultrasonic parts cleaners, it's basically like a larger, heavy duty jewelery cleaner that uses a mild solution and ultrasonic wave to make greasy dirty old stuff look brand spanking new again.
Once it is up and running, this will become an integral part of our tune up service, and everybody will have the option of getting their bike's drivetrain cleaned so that it looks like new.
Also, because it doesn't require nasty chemicals to do the cleaning, these things are significantly more environmentally friendly than traditional parts cleaners, which is a good thing.

We've been selling Transitions like hot cakes. If you're not familiar with the brand, check them out:
http://www.transitionbikes.com/
They pretty much only make bikes that you can get rad on, mostly getting rad in the form of downhilling, or dirt jumping, or park, or urban riding. The bikes are bombproof, awesomely priced, and come in a selection of colors.
There was a write up recently in one of the bike mags (can't remember which) about the company. Turns out they are cool guys. Started by a couple of dudes working in the corporate world who couldn't take it anymore, and decided to do something they actually enjoy at the price of significant pay cuts, was something I could relate to. They have dirt jumps outside the warehouse, regular company trail work days, and the only company Christmas card we received that actually made us laugh.
Yesterday we had three Doubles in the shop, Tony's, Ian's and Larry's. Here's a pic of Tony's and Larry's:


With 3.5" of travel in back, this is a versatile bike that is great for dirt jumping, 4X, urban riding, or anything else. Everybody loves this bike, it's unreal. And it comes in so many pretty colors.

They are a new company that's blowing up in a market overflowing with competition because they're doing it for the love of bikes, not money. Just thought I'd throw a little plug in for them, since they are treating us so well.

Thursday night trainer classes have started back up around the corner from us at Concrete Systems. If you are interested, I suggest showing up next week, as the class gets progressively harder every week, and coming into in the middle would be incredibly painful.
There were 62 people participating this week, which was a record. The class is a little over an hour right now, and will get longer as the weeks go on. It will happen 12 more times. There are intervals with gradual cadence increases until your spinning your ass off. There are isolated leg sessions, where you pedal with one leg for a few minutes at a time, which is incredibly hard. And then there is the standing and hammering interval, which was 10 minutes this week and will get up to something unreasonable like 45 minutes long by the end. If you make it every week, you will have some serious fitness under your belt by spring.

If your interested, the class is free, starts at 6:30pm on Thursdays, and is at Concrete Systems, which is right next to the shop. You just need a trainer and your bicycle. If you only have a road bike, you can just throw a slick on the back and your set. If you don't have a trainer, I know some guys with a cool little bike shop that can get you set up.

And last but not least, here is a pic of my boy doing his best "grumpy old fat guy" impression:


"Hey, what're you kid doing on my lawn! Get outta here before I woop your asses!" is what I imagine him saying.

Buenobye.

Charlie's new Black Sheep

Charlie got himself a new toy.
This is one good looking bike. Black Sheep is a custom builder out of Fort Collins Colorado. This bad boy gets about 3.5" of rear wheel travel via an RP23 rear shock and a flat ti flexure plate located behing the BB.
Charlie of course built it up with parts that look as good as the frame, like the Fulcrum Red Metal Zero wheelset, Magura MD120 fork, and FSA K Force Light Double Ring crankset.
The bike came in at 24 lbs even.
Cant wait to hear Charlies feedback after he gets it in the dirt, but parking lot tests are promising.
Check out the other beautiful creations from Black Sheep:
www.blacksheepbikes.com

Every Monday it Snows

Well, since I invented the "Monday Night Bikeworks Shop Ride" it has snowed 100% of the time during our scheduled ride.
Last Monday Tony and I toughed it out, as it wasn't a legitimate snowfall.
But today was as legitimate a snowfall as we see in Albuquerque, except of course the storm that rolled through on Dec 29th two years ago, when it dumped over a foot all over town, which also happened to be my wedding day, which made things interesting.
So basically when I plan things, it snows. Lucky for us I'm not big into planning things, or we'd never get to ride our bikes.
Anyway, we elected to opt-out of the ride tonight. I'm assuming/hoping that those who had expressed interest also bailed as well, because it didn't seem like a good night to be up in the hills.

Not surprisingly on such a stormy day, things were slow at the shop. I had a chance to build a couple of bikes, such as the long awaited Rocky Mountain Hammer, a 29er singlespeed made of Reynolds 725 tubing, and very very good looking.


It looks better in person than this stock photo does. I didn't expect to like the baby blue / orange paint scheme as much as I do, but now I'm trying to come up with an excuse to own two steel singlespeed twentyniners.
This bike goes for $1600, is well spec'd and trail worthy out of the box, and a great way to get into 29er, or singlespeeding, or best yet, singlespeeding on 29ers, which I've recently learned is oh so fun.

We also got in a Giant TCX 01, that I ordered impulsively and which may or may not be my size.


We've been hearing rumors of a second 'Cross series being organized in Abq. If this does happen, and this beauty of a bike is still in the shop, I'm afraid I might just have to take it out and show it a good time. You know, because I really need another bike.
Much like the Rocky, this bike is better looking in person than this photo makes it seem. The tubing is impressively shaped throughout the bike, and the paint job and color scheme just do it for me. Also, with a 105 drivetrain, weighing just over 20lbs out of the box, and at $1400 retail, this bike is a screaming deal.

Bueno bye.

Some random pics.

Sometimes you just have to take a hammer drill to some XTR cranks and show them who's boss.


Tony is too sexy for his hair.


My new cruiser is hotter than your new cruiser. '84 Stumpjumper with custom paint job and the baddest tires ever. It rides smooooth.

Burner Pics, as Promised

Okay, so I promised pics from the burner, and I have a few. These are a small selection of the photos taken by our friend Long, who was at the race taking amazing pics like a fiend.
You can see all the pics by following the following link

http://picasaweb.google.com/bikeworksABQ/BurnerPics#

I asked Long for his info, as he has a website started and such, since he is an aspiring photographer and I wanted to give him a plug since I think he takes some awesome pics. So he kindly wrote down all the pertinent info, which I left at work, possibly never to be seen again. But I'll get his info up here eventually, because it's not easy to take good action shots of biking, and he does it very well.

I'm also experimenting with posting whole lots of pics on the picasa web albums, which seems to be something Google has thrown together recently. It seems to be smooth and easy to put tons of pics up there, so hopefully I'll be sharing more in the near future.

Buenobye

Dang! We got some new bikes.

We had a ton of new bikes arrive yesterday.



They included, a Rocky Mountain Flatline 3. Rocky's new DH bike for 08, it's not an easy bike to get your hands on. Actually, I think this is one of just a few to be in customers hands so far. It was a special order, has already left the shop, and will be getting broken in proper this weekend up at Angel Fire. So if your up at the races, and you see somebody flying by on one, give a cheer for Andy, as it'll probably be the only one at the race.



Next to show up was a Tomac Snyper 140. We're the exclusive Abq Tomac dealer, and this is the first production model we've put our hands on. I love the build, there isn't a cheap part on the bike, and it has the look of a custom build kit right out of the box. It's a sweet bike that rides as good as it looks. We've got a medium on hand, with a large arriving soon (which may or maynot become my personal bike).




Then the long anticipated Spot Longboard rolled in the door. It's sweet. I've got a 17.5 and a 20" in the shop right now, with a couple more already on order. I'm going to guess that these bikes don't sit in the shop for long, a lot of people are very anxious to see this thing, and it doesn't disappoint.

Then I started building Charlies' new Durance today. Here's a pic of it, almost finished. It is thoroughly tricked out, pretty much represents the answer to "what trail bike would I build if I owned a bike shop and cost wasn't important?" Some notable parts include Fulcrum Red Metal Zero wheelset, Formula The One brakes, an '09 Talas fork, FSA SLK hollow carbon cranks with ceramic bottom bracket, and a bunch of other nasty stuff. Looking like it'll weigh about 26 lbs, not bad for a 5.5" trail bike with completely rideable build kit. Charlie sure knows how to build a nice bike.



We also had a giant lizard in the shop yesterday. Turns out, I'm not a big fan of giant lizards. You can't see my face in the photo, but I wasn't amused, and I wasn't about to touch it. And this thing was just a baby, supposedly going to grow up to 9ft long and weigh 250 lbs, at which point it will terrorize Albuquerque and relieve us of our stray pet problems. I was kind of happy when it left.

That's it. Time to get out of the shop.

Tomac proves their undeniable radness

I was alerted about this bike from Bikefix, and then I found a pretty good article here...

www.retrobike.co.uk

This bike makes me feel confident that picking up Tomac as a brand for the shop was a good idea. Why? Because only a bike company that really loves bikes would do something like this. And if a company really loves bikes, chances are they're going to make bikes that ride well.

I used to work with Clark Dolton (Tomac tech guy who was in charge of the DB10 project) and Joel Smith (Tomac's new owner) back at Manitou. I was excited when they contacted me a couple months ago about becoming a Tomac dealer.

After spending a year riding with Clark and Joel, doing everything from SoCal cross country to North Shore ridiculousness, I knew that if they liked the way a bike rode, it would be a nice bike. When you add the fact that they have Johnny T personally putting his seal of approval on the bikes, you can rest assured that it's going to be sweet.

Before signing on with Tomac, I had them send me a demo Snyper 140. It was actually Clark's personal bike, not a regular demo, so it came pretty decked out with a full XT groupo and all the nice extras. The bike rode awesome, obviously, as I decided to buy them for our shop. I think it is a great addition to our trail bike lineup in the shop, as we will have 3 different 5 in trail bikes with completely different riding characteristics that suit different riding styles.

I'm not going to do a full bike review now, as my brain doesn't seem to running at full capacity, but I'll probably do one soon. I'll just say that it pedals better than you think a single pivot can, it's unbelievably stiff laterally, and I think I got more air on it than any bike I've ridden before. I'm no jumper, so it wasn't a ton of air by any means, but the bike was just confidence inspiring.

We will also have a Snyper demo for the shop arriving with our first Tomac order.

That's all I got for now.

New Dura Ace Details

So the hot new gossip going around right now is about the unofficial details about the next generation of Dura Ace coming out.
Apparently, Competitive Cyclist was privy to some more detailed information than the rest of us, but weren't supposed to be sharing it. They posted what they knew on their website under the "What's New" section, as mentioned in VeloNews. They were soon told to take it down by Shimano.
VeloNews didn't mention though, that the removed info is still easy to find using Google (Marc at BikeFix was kind enough to lay it out for us though.)
Here's how I found it....
do a Google search for "competitive cyclist 7900"
The first result that comes, click on the "cached" link that google gives you. You will be directed right to the removed page, with extensive details about the new Dura Ace.
Or, for your convenience, I've copied and pasted the entire thing below.

2009 Shimano Dura Ace 7900. New & improved gossip.

Most of the press we've seen in the last few months about the new-for-2009 Shimano Dura Ace has focused on the electronic version of DA. Stefan Schumacher medaled on eDA at last year's World Championship Road Race, and he and his Gerolsteiner team mates have served as guinea pigs for eDA ever since. While the pure novelty of electronic shifting tantalizes, we got our own medals (for bravery) for fighting at the Battle of Zap and Battle of Mektronic. While we're intrigued by the alleged telepathic shift quality of eDA, it's hard to shed our concerns for its weight, its durability, and its reliability.

The excitement over eDA has been noisy, and it's obscured an underappreciated fact: Along with eDA, Shimano is also releasing a new version of non-electronic DA. It'll be known as Dura Ace 7900, and we've finally seen our first confirmed technical details about 7900. The purpose of this What's New posting is to shed some light on what you'll be seeing in the new-for-2009 non-electronic Dura Ace.

Here's what we DON'T know about Dura Ace 7900: Weight and cost. As soon as we get this info, we'll pass it along. But, for now, all we have is basic technical info. And, sorry, we don't have photos either.

Here's what we DO know, on a component-by-component basis:

STI Levers -

• Say farewell to exposed shifter housing. Shimano is making the change to under-the-bar-tape cable routing They refer to it as "integral shift cables". We wonder if Shimano-sponsored pros will find digging deep on the front a but tougher without shift cables to grab on for stability…
• "Better access to the lever from upper side with closer pivot." Our interpretation of this means that the shape of the brake hood will be different. We've never enjoyed the deep hook of DA brake hoods, and to our ears it sounds like Shimano is modifying the shape to make it more SRAM/Campy-like. In other words, no more plunging hook, and instead you'll see a flatter hood. Beyond the ergonomic improvement, Shimano also claims this leads to smoother braking.
• You get a reach adjustment mechanism. This is a nice feature of SRAM Red, as well. Folks with small hands should be very pleased.
• 20% shorter stroke to achieve shift engagement on the right lever.
• Weight savings thanks to the use of a carbon brake lever and a titanium fixing band & bolt.

Rear Derailleur -

• Carbon! The pulley plate will be made from carbon fiber. Shimano is a company built on their commitment to the forging of alloys, so any sort of branching out into composites is a big, big deal.
• Increased chain wrap capacity. In other words, you can use a wide range of gears (e.g. a 50/34 & an 11/28) without having to resort to a "Triple" rear derailleur.
• You get an "enhanced pulling cable method" with an audible click when the shift is complete. But the price of superior shifting is this: Dura Ace 7900 STI Levers and the 7900 Rear Derailleur will not be compatible with current 7800-series Dura Ace.

Front Derailleur -

• Shimano claims that your days of trimming the front derailleur are over. No trimming will be required. This is a pretty big coup when you compare it to SRAM, since one big upside of Red (in comparison to their Force and Rival gruppos) was its inclusion of FD trim.
• The FD spring tension has been re-tooled to achieve "featherlight downshifting".

Crankset -

• Put aside your sugar-plum visions of a DA Carbon crankset. Rather, Shimano has forged their 7900-series aluminum crank with even thinner walls to make it lighter than any production carbon crankset in the marketplace.
• When you use the 7900-series crankset with the new 7900-series chain, you'll get no front derailleur rub thanks to its new chainring/spider design. This also allegedly provides improved power transfer, thanks to the superior mating of chain and chainring.
• More weight savings comes from its new aluminum/carbon composite BB axle.
• Shimano will also introduce a 7950 version of the crankset, with 50/34 chainrings. This will be the first-ever Dura Ace compact crank (a full, what, 7 years since FSA introduced theirs?)

Chain -

• The 7900 chain is known as the "Super Narrow" chain. The redesigned outer plate resists chain suck, and the new design of both the inner & outer plate mesh with the chainrings with such precision that Shimano claims it reduces mechanical friction by 0.6%. We're a bit unsure how to parse what that 0.6% converts to…Does that mean an extra 2.4w when you're making a 400w effort? We're unsure, and we're eager for a fuller explanation. Perhaps more important is the fact that Shimano also says it's a quieter chain.
• The 7900-series chain has hollow pins and perforated plates to further reduce weight.
• Shimano will introduce a "Quick Link" for its 10-speed chains. Our impression is that this means tool-free installation.

Cassette -

• Like the chain and the crankset, the cassette sprockets get fine-tuned to optimize shifting, and the cog carrier is a lighter-than-ever aluminum.
• You'll see a wider array of cassette ratio options. In addition to all of the options you get in 7800, you'll also see an 11/25, 11/27, and an 11/28. Before you laugh at the 11/28, keep in mind that this is SRAM's #1 selling cassette ratio! All the ratios made in the 7800 will be produced as 7900-series models as well.

Brake Calipers -

• Dig this: "Enhanced brake arch proportion." We think this means that you get quicker caliper response when you hit your brake lever, and perhaps better stiffness under heavy braking. We suspect that this is a photo of the new brake. Interestingly, the boys over at the Weight Weenies forum pointed out that this poor rider appears to have his brake shoes on the wrong side…
• Lower profile outer cable stop. This improves cable routing, which decreases drag and improves the snappiness of the lever. If you've ever installed a set of Zero Gravity brakes, you know that fine-tuned brake cable routing is something you should never take for granted.
• The brake pad compound changes. Shimano claims that the improvement will be most noticeable in the wet, where stopping power improves 210%. In the dry, you should expect a 120% improvement in stopping power.
• Add'l titanium hardware saves overall weight.

Flight Deck Computer -

• It's still integrated into the STI levers, but the functionality gets much broader -- It includes a heart rate monitor, altimeter, and an inclinometer. It's a full-on 2.4GHz wireless system, and you can even download data wirelessly onto your PC.

A final note on our understanding about backwards compatibility:

Rear Drivetain -- The 7900 system is only compatible with other 7900 components. The 7900 rear derailleur is compatible with 7800-series cassettes, but that's it. There is no other cross-compatibility. This also means that 7800-series components cannot be used in piecemeal with 7900 if your plan is to upgrade one component at a time. More or less, you'll need to upgrade to 7900 STI, rear derailleur, cassette, and chain in one fell swoop.

Front Drivetrain -- Same story. There's an Iron Curtain between 7900 and 7800. The only kinda, sorta compatibility is between the 7900 front derailleur and the 7800 crankset. Shimano states "slower shifting may occur depending on frame dimension" if you choose to mix things like this. We're not sure if "dimension" means frame size or geometry or what. But we can't imagine someone running a full 7800 bike with the exception of a 7900 front derailleur, so it's not something we're terribly worried about.

Brake Systems -- The 7900 STI Levers are compatible with 7800-series brake calipers.

We're looking at a best-case scenario of a late September 2008 delivery timeline. We're sure it'll be all over the '08 Tour de France, and in full force at the Eurobike tradeshow shortly thereafter. But in terms of delivery, if it's before Halloween, we'll be stoked.

Soma: keeping your feet connected to your bike with style.

Soma Fab makes some cool stuff. Affordable, well made, and stylish, and sometimes hard to come by. Items such as their double toe straps, which cost a fraction of the Japanese versions you usually find, will go out of stock for months it seems.

A bunch of stuff just came into stock though, and we bought it up quick.
In particular, we have the double strap toe clips and double leather straps. This is a sweet set up, and a very nice upgrade for all you fixie kids riding toe clips with single straps. I've had this same clip / strap setup for nearly 2 years now, and I'm very happy with it.

We also got a couple pairs of their Hellyer track pedals, which look strikingly similar to old Suntour pedals, have sealed bearings, are very light, come with gold or black cages, and are $70.

Just thought I'd throw a heads up out there, as it can be feast or famine with Soma goodies like these.