Friday, December 18, 2009

Bike Lanes in Slovenia

Separated from cars by a curb, separated from pedestrions by pylons. Lucky European cyclists.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Rotor copied K-Edge?

Isn't this Rotor chain catcher recently announced through Velonews an exact copy (with some drillium speed holes) of the K-Edge chain catcher which has been on the market for some time now?

The Copenhagen Wheel

Pretty sophisticated little creation: http://senseable.mit.edu/copenhagenwheel/index.html

Monday, December 14, 2009

One ring...

As you may have read, keeping the chain on the front ring of your 1x9 or 1x10 setup is not easy in bumpy conditions. Nippleworks has been futzing with it for two seasons of cross racing now. Read about it here, here and here. Well, James Huang @ Cyclingnews tackled the problem head on in a good article that covers most of the available options including some innovative homebrew stuff.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Sponsorship smonsership

In this photo of Ryan Trebon's cyclocross bike, you'll notice that there is a Clement tires sponsor sticker on the top tube and a Dugast tire on the rear rim.

What does it mean to for a bike equipment company to 'sponsor' a rider. Does it merely mean to pay them in order to have them sport a logo on their clothing or bicycle. Like a skinny rolling billboard? Or does it imply some sort of endorsment?

Websites like cyclingnews.com with a huge readership of avid cyclists regularly show things like logos taped over with electrical tape to conceal the name of manufacturer that conflicts with an in-place sponsorship. Sometimes, mechanics will even re-badge something (like a tire for example, they're all black tubes). This implies that riding the sponsors equipment is important, but the media articles probably have a negative effect on customer perception. Or at least, a positive effect on the customer's perception of the chosen equipment. I mean, what's more powerful advertising for Dugast than showing that a pro rider, who could get all the free Clement tires he wants, spends money on Dugasts?

BTW, Trebon's Kona isn't even made by Kona, it's made by Caribou.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Cyclocross Fork Chatter

Great minds think alike. Lennard Zinn just published a diagram of the causes and an article on the solutions to cyclocross bike fork chatter that looks very much like ours.