Long Bikes Are Coming

This is the new Kona Ute long bike. Their web site says it'll retail for $800, which sounds like a lot...Considering I got the front half of my Xtracycle Free Radical for free out of the trash, and paid for the kit from Xtracycle...if you're handy you can do better than $800 for sure but it's still cool to see. Looks like it won't work with Xtracycle stuff, but I'm sure we'll see next week in Vegas. No word on when it'll be available. The Surly Big Dummy was at Interbike a year ago, and you still can't get one. It'll be interesting to see who else has one this year.

Get Down With This

This is one of the more interesting things I've stumbled across in the savage wasteland known as the Interweb. Kind of makes me smile...like the bicycle can save the world.

New Wheels

I've got some new wheels on the ZR 27.5. First off, some brand new Velocity Blunt Rims, with black DT spokes and DT 240 disc hubs. Then yesterday, Zack set me up with some full prodcution Pacenti Neo Moto tires. I had been using a set of pre production Pacenti tires, called Baby Bears, but since the bike will be on display at Interbike, well it should look as pro as it can. The wheels are stout, but still reasonable.

Road to Recovery

Some of you may have heard, some might not, but on Sept 1st Tara Llanes who races for Giant, was seriously injured in a crash during a 4-cross race at Beaver Creek in Vail, CO. She sustained severe injuries to her head and back, and is now paralyzed below the waist. You can find out more about her here:

Road to Recovery

If you love cycling, check it out. Please, if you have the means, help her out.

dp

Velo Storage

Yeah, my priorities were questioned when I talked about building it. But when it was done, and all my bikes were in one place, it all made sense.
I procured most of the elements while working at Saris, though they had no interest in marketing or manufacturing it themselves. For the tiny apartment I lived in at the time, it was pretty sweet. 5 bikes, and gear storage, and hardly any floor space was lost.

The Bicycle in American Society

I’ve been around the cycling industry for more than a decade now and I’ve seen a few trends come and go. What I’m still waiting to see catch on is the bicycle as a legitimate form of transportation. Most of the bigger companies (Trek, Specialized, etc) seem to be catching on with their newer city style bikes. It is a step in the right direction. It’s has been my personal belief since I was a child that the bike is more than a toy, but we as an industry haven’t figured out the way to get that across to the masses here in the States.
Perhaps that is a product of our urban planning. Maybe we are fat, lazy slobs. Maybe I’m just a crazy nut, who’ll one day be run over by a pick up truck as I fight for that little bit of asphalt space I feel I’ve earned.
Any way you slice it, it would be a better place to live, drive, and raise kids if there were more people riding, and less people driving.
That’s what the Snot Rocket is all about.

On My List

God Almighty, I hate mosquitos.

24 Hour Party People

TRON is in the books! It was pretty sweet to have 50 racers show up and do the race that we'd worked so hard on...glad they came, but glad it's done too. There were no serious injuries, no one got arrested, and we probably broke even. So it's is all good. It had been a while since I was so involved with putting a race on...and I couldn't have done it without Lyle. Thank god he knows a lot about computers, cuz that made us seem totally legit.
The afterparty at the Mainframe was one of the best parties I'd been to in a while, especially when the glow sticks came out and the electronic music got turned up!
Mad thanks to all those nuts who showed up and rode. More mad thanks to jen, erik, jeff, charlie, zack, the sponsors and everyone else who helped make this thing happen. Finally that MCP is off our back!