Red2 Custom Bicycle: September 2012

Sunday, 30 September 2012

5 world titles earned by Americans on day 3 of Masters CX Worlds

Americans took five of six possible rainbow jerseys Saturday on the third day of racing at the 2012 UCI Masters Cyclo-cross World Championships.

Source: http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=7317

Donna E. Grace Juan S. Trudeau Daniel P. Turner Douglas R. Petersen Lala J. Poindexter

BH Ultralight 9.5 review

This Spanish designed bike lives up to its name, with our test frame weighing in at 768g. The fork added a meager 279g to the chassis package, bringing us to just 1,047g (2.31lb) – in the same range as many manufacturer’s top-end frames.

But a light weight isn’t the only attribute a top-level bike needs to succeed. The frame must also be stiff and offer a quality ride with proven geometry. To achieve that, BH has pulled the geometry over from the Pro Tour proven G5.

Ride & handling: Surprisingly stiff and noticeably comfortable

Two things are apparent from the first pedal stroke on BH’s Ultralight. Firstly, it’s incredibly stiff through the front triangle. This equates to sharp steering and the instant-on feel when putting power into the pedals.

Secondly, the rear end of the bike is very comfortable, which you notice after a few more strokes, especially over rougher surfaces. It’s surprisingly supple, and almost a juxtaposition to the front triangle. That’s not to say the bike is unbalanced, rather that the two ends work in unison to create an adept overall ride that will surely please those seeking all-out performance.

On dirt roads and chewed up Tarmac, the Ultralight seemed to offer as much comfort as a Specialized Roubaix SL3. It dampened high frequency and, to some extent, high amplitude impacts, likely helped by the 25mm tires.

Climbing, the low 6.23kg (13.8lb) weight was noticeable, as was the bike’s stiff pedaling platform. Heading down mountainous descents, the Ultralight preformed expertly too. The stiff front end offered incredible steering precision and great feedback under hard cornering.

One area in which the bike was lacking was on long straight-line descents, where top speed became more a function of gears and guts rather than skill and precision. The bike felt slightly skittish, and though this wasn’t a deal breaker we couldn’t really nail down the cause – the angles aren’t that sharp, nor is the wheelbase short enough to question.

Frame & equipment: High-end materials and a 386 Evo BB and crankset

The Ultralight uses high-quality carbon fiber that’s blended with proprietary Formula 1 designs and unique hollow core molding techniques, allowing for the best possible compaction. This allows BH to put carbon precisely where it’s needed, enabling them to minimize the total amount used and keep weight down.

BH also says its molding technique makes for frames that come out of the mold in near-perfect condition, reducing the need for post-molding finishing work. The company also says it’s the layup design and testing that go into the carbon structure that make the Ultralight handle so well.

As for the frame’s design, it incorporates unique and massive tube shapes, a tapered head tube and FSA’s new 386 Evo bottom bracket design. The latter mates a BB30 unit’s 30mm spindle to an 86.5mm bottom bracket shell width. This gives plenty of real estate to mount a massive down tube, and adds stiffness to the crank’s spindle compared to 24mm steel units.

The ultralight has huge chain stays, partly due to the real estate offered by the 86mm wide bb30 bottom bracket shell (bb386):

The huge chain stays on the BH Ultralight

Aside from the finished benefits of the BB386 Evo system, BH said that the larger shell size affords much better access to the bottom bracket and chainstay areas during manufacture, upping the level of precision achieved during molding.

The fork is built using the same techniques as the frame, and complements the package well. Despite its ultra low weight, it too is stiff and precise, making for a solid chassis that inspires confidence in just about every situation.

BH equips its Ultralight with a high-end but workhorse component group that’s based around Shimano’s mechanical 7900 Dura-Ace and FSA’s K-Force 386 Evo crank, which supports the wider, 30mm spindled bottom bracket system. BH has made smart choices, such as the 11-27T cassette and the inclusion of ceramic bearings.

TRP brakes support the Shimano drivetrain, and while the magnesium 970SL brakes are both less powerful and more grabby than the Dura-Ace equivalents they’ve ousted, they’re lighter and their performance is perfectly acceptable.

TRP’s 970sl brakes were slightly less powerful than shimano’s dura-ace 9000 models:

TRP’s 970SL brakes

The peripheral cockpit components are from FSA and co-branded by BH. Our only complaint lies with the rear-facing face plate screws for the stem, which make using the necessary torque wrench impossible without an added Bondhus style extension and adapter to your average wrench.

That said, with the bolts running into the face plate, if you cross-thread the bolt socket a replacement face plate is far cheaper than a completely new stem.

The wheelset is Shimano’s WH-7900-C24, which rides dreamily. The fact that it’s non-tubeless is offset by Vittoria’s supple 24mm Diamante Pro clinchers, which offer a similar ride to the narrower, stiffer, tubeless options out there.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BikeRadar/feeds/~3/xjLxdR0kMyY/story01.htm

Lala J. Poindexter Anna W. Hartman Walter M. Martinez Madge J. Bonner Jonathan F. Cooper

Rotor 3D+ Mountain Double cranks review

Rotor have created rings that aren’t circular – they’re essentially oval. This, they say, maximises your power by effectively overgearing and undergearing in key positions of the pedal stroke.

When your leg is in the 2 o’clock position it has more leverage, so here the ring is bigger to take advantage. At the 5 o’clock position your legs are at the weakest point, so the rings become smaller, allowing you to spin more easily.

Biomechanically they do work, and while Q-ring claims only a 4.1 percent increase in power, the effect on pedalling is very noticeable; not so much at higher cadences, but on granny ring crawls the ‘drop’ in tooth size at the stroke’s dead spot allows a noticeably easy push to keep the pedals turning.

Fancy ring design aside, these CNC’d cranks cut a striking aesthetic against the more common smooth forms of carbon or forged alloy. They’re stiff for light alloy-axled cranks – something aided by big, BB30 bearings and BSA cups – but they’re very expensive too.

To be blunt, it’s a struggle to see what advantages that money is buying you. That said, the bottom bracket features high quality bearings, while an innovative normal-to-BB30 adapter allows you to get some of the performance advantages without having to buy a new frame.

Due to the egg-shapeness, front shifting isn’t as good as with regular round rings, though with the double we tested it’s easy to hold off shifting on the front. We also found that even with the upper and lower limits set on the front mech, it was easy to overshift the chain right off the rings.

Once we got used to using a slower shift the chain dropping problems were reduced, but it’s not ideal. We missed the dependable-under-pressure ability to almost crash-shift you get used to with regular rings.

Our set also randomly but constantly loosened off, to the point where the drive side almost fell out. Yes, we should’ve felt the play sooner, but we didn’t expect it, especially as we’d tightened the cranks to the massive required torque upon ﬁtting.

The chainring bolts loosened rather quickly too, though that was nothing a dab of threadlock couldn’t ﬁx.

These cleverly-shaped chainrings wear quickly too. We’ve ridden big miles on them, it’s true, but not so many we’d expect them to be wearing out already. We talked to other users of Rotor’s oval rings – both mountain bikers and roadies – and found early wear is relatively common. That’s not encouraging when replacements are so expensive (triple rings are £180, a double set £160).

The 3D+ idea is neat, but design problems, high price and rapid wear all hold it back.

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BikeRadar/feeds/~3/cBpQa1Gj0yw/story01.htm

Edward C. Scates Donna E. Grace Juan S. Trudeau Daniel P. Turner Douglas R. Petersen

Rodriguez becomes first Spaniard to win Tour of Lombardy

Tour of Lombardy 2012: Joaquim Rodriguez crowns strong season with win in Italy as Gilbert crashes out

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cyclingweeklycouk/feeds/rss/newsxml/~3/xfCXh5gl1gk/story01.htm

Donna E. Grace Juan S. Trudeau Daniel P. Turner Douglas R. Petersen Lala J. Poindexter

Brooklyn Cruisers: style at a decent price - Interbike 2012

Ryan Zagata launched Brooklyn Cruisers last year on grit and hope, but without huge aspirations. After his bikes made it into the pages of New York's glossy fashion magazines, however, things picked up - quickly.

"We launched with a direct-sale model," Zagata said. "But we blew through the first container. People love the look of the bike, but they want to test it first. So we are now expanding into bike shops,"

Brooklyn Cruisers product offerings are straightforward: the men's Driggs model comes in 52 and 59cm sizes in 3- and 7-speed options for $579 and $749, respectively. The women's Willow comes in 49 and 55cm sizes with the same gearing and price options.

In April, Zagata took his bikes to the hip New Amsterdam city bike show in New York City, where he connected with Grant Petersen, the founder of Rivendell Bicycle Works and the former marketing director of Bridgestone Cycle. The pair hit it off, and Petersen is now on Brooklyn's board of advisors, Zagata said.

Style and simplicity are what company founder ryan zagata is after : style and simplicity are what company founder ryan zagata is after Style and simplicity, in steel, leather and wood

"Grant's whole thing is geometry, and he likes what we're doing," Zagata said. Petersen is also well known for his disregard of trends and his focus on old-school quality and simplicity.

Brooklyn Cruisers has exactly one accessory - a wooden crate, something Petersen could appreciate.

The bike build is straightforward: steel frame (with a double top tube on the men's model), Shimano Nexus internal hub/coaster brake, leather saddle (with a vaguely Brooks look), leather grips, cream-colored Kenda tires, a sturdy two-legged kickstand and hand brakes (in addition to the coaster brakes).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BikeRadar/feeds/~3/3AIjET9lU-w/story01.htm

Susan B. Hick Kenneth P. Anderson fixed gear guy Tony J. McMillan Brian G. Moore

Saturday, 29 September 2012

Richard Rude Descends To Silver In Junior Downhill at MTB Worlds

Richard Rude (Redding, Conn./Yeti Fox Shox factory Race Team) claimed the first medal for the U.S. at the 2012 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships on Sunday with the second fastest time in the junior menandrsquo;s downhill contest.

Source: http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=7906

Walter M. Martinez Madge J. Bonner Jonathan F. Cooper Susan B. Hick Kenneth P. Anderson

Mountain Bike Gravity Nationals Continue With Dual Slalom Racing

Racing at the 2012 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Gravity National Championships continued on Saturday with pro downhill qualifying and dual slalom competitions across all age groups and categories. In all, twelve riders stood on the top step of the podium at the end of the day.

Source: http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=7801

Donna E. Grace Juan S. Trudeau Daniel P. Turner Douglas R. Petersen Lala J. Poindexter

Infinit adds stock drink mixes - Interbike 2012

When it comes to sports drink options for when you're on the bike, there are seemingly infinite options. So how do you know what's best? If you ask Infinit Nutrition founder Michael Folan, there isn't a best.

"It is virtually impossible for one drink to be the best, considering all the different physiologies and types of cycling efforts," he said. "The best drink is one that's made for you."

For a few years, Infinit has offered cyclists the chance to custom-tailor drinks not only for type and strength of flavor, but also the amount of calories, electrolytes, caffeine, protein, carbohydrates and amino acids. This can be done via a short survey, or by using sliding scales on the Infinit Nutrition website. The end result costs $50 for a 25-serving jug.

Custom drinks are formulated via these slider bars: Custom drinks are formulated with these seven slider bars

Now, Infinit has stock options available that are both gender-specific and duration-specific. For example, 'Go Far' is a high-calorie mix for long days on the bike for male cyclists. 'Speed' is made for shorter, more intense efforts. The Isis series offers similar products for women, who typically require less sodium when riding.

Each type is $35 for a 20-serving canister.

There is also a caffeinated Jet Fuel for racing, a gel mix that works out to 65 cents a serving, and a recovery mix.

Infinit has sponsored the Garmin-Barracuda cycling team for three years.