This bamboo-fendered titanium Seven Cycles bike has a unique beer-case-sized rack parked on the front. The burly rack is made from scrap metal with a front grate fashioned from a stamped-out piece of titanium. The rack attaches around the steer tube beneath the stem, so removal isn’t too easy. It’s a custom made rack, but so are all of Seven Cycle’s bikes so maybe they can add one on your order.
There are so many of these insanely expensive bikes laying around that it’s easy to forget how rarely you see them in real life. I’ve seen so many triathlon-looking time trial bikes that I’m thinking about buying one even though I know it’s a bit impractical for riding to the grocery store or leaving locked up in front of seedy bars. The Jamis Xenith t2 is another Frankensteind carbon fiber beast like all the rest, but the geeked-out front brake is what makes this one cool. It’s built inside the back of the carbon fork for aerodynamics.
The Interbike Cycling Tradeshow starts tomorrow, and I’m on my way to the convention center in Las Vegas. Due to a scheduling miscommunication, I have to stay in three hotels while I’m in town. At least it won’t be easy for the LVPD to track me down if I unwittingly break one or several laws. Tonight I’m staying at The Sahara. It’s at the end of the strip, in the direction police point staggering vagrants who they pull from the middle of Las Vegas Blvd. Wednesday night I’m staying at the Imperial Palace with one of the product development guys from Backcountry. When you stay at the IP, you have to tell strangers that you’re staying at “The Palace,†and they’ll assume you’re staying in luxury at Caesar’s Palace instead of paying $35 a night to sleep in sheets layered with genetic material. The third night I move to Excalibur, where I hope to watch knights joust while I drink mead. If anyone heading to Interbike wants to get together for a beer to talk bikes or blogging, send me an email (rthompson@backcountry.com).
All of the people waiting to see next year’s ski gear on The Goat will have to wait one more week. It’s bike porn through Friday.
The audio is the worst part. It sounds like someone slapping meat-covered ping-pong paddles together.
via Pinch Flat News
I lost one bike off the roof of my car that was riding on a Thule rack. I think the fork blade snapped, so it’s probably not Thule’s fault—but you know what?—that doesn’t put a new window in my parents’ minivan. The Thule Echelon is made to fit fat-tired bikes giving freeriders a fork-mount option. I like fork-mount bike trays because they look much cleaner on top of my Buick, but they’re too much of a hassle with disc brakes and super-fat mountain bike axles. This Thule rack would be a good option for a fat-tire single speed with traditional brakes. The new Echelon bike tray costs $140.
via Gear Junkie
The hoody that makes air travel easier than swallowing four Dramamine is back for another season. The Burton Sleeper Hoody has a removable, inflatable neck pillow and a snap-out light shield. Use the MP3 player pocket to play some white noise and it’ll be like you’re back in the isolation chamber at Gitmo. The Sleeper Hoody sells for $100—try not to use all its features while riding the chairlift.
via Nollie
I may have oversimplified the case a bit in my headline. The cyclist was actually brushed by a bus, caught up to it at a stop, then stood in front of the bus to stall it while he called the police to report that the driver had assaulted him with a deadly weapon (the bus). It brings to mind the famous picture of that guy standing in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square. Of course the police arrested the biker when they arrived, and now we have a really long story we can read and feel wronged by police who don’t really understand bikes and the law—here’s another one about a guy in Minneapolis if the LA Cyclist didn’t raise your ire enough.
via LAist
Specialized is running a YouTube contest called Innovate or Die that asks you to solve the world’s problems with a very special bike. You have to build a “pedal-powered machine†that will save the world from certain doom. You build the bike, videotape yourself riding it, and then Specialized steals your idea and changes the world (for the better). Specialized gives $5000 to the winner, which doesn’t seem excessive.
via Pinch Flat News
Simply fill the Zippo Handwarmer with gas, light it, and drop it in the included velvet case before putting it in your pocket and layering up for a day on the ski hill. What could go wrong? A platinum-catalyzed glass fiber burns for up to 24 hours producing as much as 10 times more heat than most disposable handwarmers. The Zippo Handwarmer is about the size of an iPod and costs only $30. You’ll have plenty of time to count the money you saved on chemical handwarmers while relaxing in the burn ward.
