ARTCRANK SEA, June 29th

This week it’s the Bicycle Urbanism Symposium in Seattle and the next week ARTCRANK is in town for a show at the The Piranha Shop that’ll benefit Bike Works.

ARTCRANK SEA will feature hand-made, bike-inspired posters created by Seattle area artists. Limited edition, signed and numbered copies of all posters will be available for $40 each. Admission is free. June 29th at the Piranha Shop.

Here’s a time-lapse video from the 2012 shows.

A new pair of wheels, from Seattle-based Mad Fiber

Just announced all-new Madfiber wheels …

Based on Mad Fiber’s original wheel offerings, the Road.2 model builds on the company’s carbon-optimization philosophy through which the entire wheel design is re-envisioned to take maximum advantage of the properties of carbon fiber, yielding a wheelset that is at once among the lightest, most aerodynamic and strongest wheelsets on the market. As with its predecessor, the new wheels boast 60mm front/66mm rear rim heights, come with no rider weight restrictions, and tip the scales at a scant 1050g (tubular) and 1280g (clincher) per pair.

Incorporating the red vines weave

There’s a whole lotta new in these wheels, including

• Spoke positioning for the rear wheel
• Freehub body design:
• Axlesets
• Significantly improved finish quality/appearance:
• Custom graphics program

Rest of the story and reviews, as soon as we get to ride them. Noticed in the photos, they incorporated the red vines we saw last year at Interbike and shown in the feature I wrote for Wired. Read more on Mad Fiber’s site. Available now in Shimano/Sram or Campagnolo; Clincher or Tubular; and in your choice of graphic: Steel bearings $2999; Ceramic bearings $3199.

All kinda new

Also see our previous coverage of Mad Fibers.

Kid on a new bike

The kid was so excited about his new bike and the father beaming that he was riding it around, didn’t say anything about the front fork being backwards. In a few years, he’ll hold a wobbling kid on that bike without training wheels, then let him go (hope he fixes the fork by then)… To us, Father’s Day is about teaching a kid to ride a bike.

Why yes we’d like to go on a cycling excursion with a special train for it, like a holiday. Have lunch a few beers and ride. From this 1955 video, we see most of everything that’s going on with Urban Cycling. New materials, gear, drivetrains, but the same reason and result of a fine bike ride.

Time Traveler likes Tweed Runs

When I found this lantern slide of a man crossing a stream with his bike in the NYC Department of Archives earlier in the week, noticed a splotch on the jacket. Wondered what that was and then found another version of the photo. Zoomed in and yup, it’s an iPhone.

A Tweed Run Time Traveler has been found.

View the high-rez image on G+.

From our friends in Sun Valley….

Willed himself up that climb with one pedal stroke and look at the MoFo go!

Debate worthy if this is awesome or ridiculous.

Stay left, stay left, LEFT. Stay right, stay right, RIGHT: official hit twice in race and she’s OK!

An official is not a traffic cone and if the course runs two way on a section, barriers should separate the lanes. If those aren’t rules, make them so. She’s ok and no one was seriously injured. Also note the decision to not strike the moto and instead weave between a cop and then hop the downed official was remarkable and shows deft handling.

The car that you hear honking and then see was the lead car for the pack. The race turned back on itself, did this several times, until the crashes. The snake ate its tail.

Update

A blog from Timothy Rugg about the crash at Crystal City this weekend. He was the rider trying to bunny hop over the official that was already down.

Honestly, I don’t know how I didn’t break anything besides my bike trying to bunny-hop the official, whom I’ve heard is okay. I rolled over my handlebars and the instinct to try and bunny hop kept me gripping the bars saving me from breaking a wrist or collarbone. I walked away and got cleaned up in the ER with tons of road rash and a deep gash in my elbow being the worst of my injuries.

HT @podiuminsight

29r in the trees

The Evergreen MTB Fest is like a carnival, when you’re a kid, with lots to explore and ride. You go in thinking you’ll end up riding all of them, but end up picking a fav and sticking with it, over and over again. On the technical and flow trails, my fav is the Jamis 650b. The maneuverability of the wheel size and tire is why. A debate about wheel size choices doesn’t matter much when you’re having fun. An example of this is Mark V, who’s stature would suggest a 650b is the size for him, LOVED the 29r Spesh he was on. He’s building up a 650b cross bike and STILL loved it.

Mark V MTB with a Stumpie FSR

The Evergreen MTB Fest is held at Duthie, a MTB park, and for more about the Jamis, and Raleigh see this post. Same bikes from last year, just incrementally updated.

650b in the trees

Bikes ridden: Raleigh Talus, Jamis Dakar XCT 650 Pro, and Spesh FSR. High-rez photos on G+.