Once you start paying attention to your ankle wear it’s hard to go back to basics. Suddenly that plain black pair of team socks you’ve been wearing overtime looks a bit boring when you head out for a ride. Take a tip from the world of cyclocross racing and show some individual style with a stylish pair of socks.
While you may be able to pick up a bright pair from your LBS—and we encourage you to do so—when you want a truly special pair you may have to search a little harder. We’re making it easy for you with our favorite picks from The Athletic, Ten Speed Hero, Sock Guy, injinji, and Stance below the jump. [click to continue…]
Like many cyclists we carry our phone, a couple Alexander Hamilton’s, and an expired ID in a faded, greasy ziplock baggie. Sure, this makes it easy to flash our ID while cycling onto tightly secured military installations, and keeps our phone mostly dry from sweat, but on the class front it is sadly lacking. It looks more like something a meth-head would carry, not svelte, clean cycling machines like all of us. Well, Bellroy has a solution for all of us. It’s called the Elements Phone Pocket. And it works a little like this:
All-weather leather and a water-resistant zip mean your valuables will remain protected from any sudden downpours, or other elemental surprises. Internal organization helps segment your iPhone, cash, cards, a key and more, avoiding the awkward rummaging around that comes with other all-in-one wallets.
It’s organized protection, in a single pocket.
All that for $99. It is likely just the ride wallet you’ve been looking for. For more info click the link.
Yeah, it seems a little like overkill, but just think how many bikes would be spared the humiliation of being stolen if they’d install one of these on every block in Manhattan.
It’s been called “a cyclocross bike deserving of the Santa Cruz name,” but we’re just kind of giddy that Santa Cruz has resurrected the drop bars with a carbon framed, disc brake loaded all-around, all new Stigmata. Here’s how Santa Cruz is playing it:
We started the development of the new Stigmata a couple years ago, because we missed the old Stigmata, and felt that there was a lot we could do with carbon that we were unable to do with aluminum. At the same time, hydraulic disc brakes for road bikes were becoming a reality, meaning that we wouldn’t have to put up with ancient braking technology to get our drop bar on. . . The new Stigmata is versatile. It’ll fit 41mm-wide tires with room for mud, but handles nicely with skinny road tires for base miles. It’s also home to our first PressFit 30 bottom bracket. We didn’t make this decision lightly, but not only is PF30 capable of accommodating all road bike cranks, it allowed us to make the bike lighter while maintaining the strength and durability you expect from Santa Cruz.
Sounds like it might be our perfect N+1 bike: epic for cross, great for gravel, and just fine for road. Click the link for all the specs.
The logic makes sense: if you’re just going to squeeze some goo into your mouth, why not squeeze some 100 percent pure Vermont Maple Syrup in? It’s got all the goods, tastes great, and grows in trees. And Ted King backs it, too. Untapped packages just that product. Click the link for more info.
We’d never get fat, but if we did we have to admit that we’d roll a Pivot LES Fat because it looks like the most badass hardtail fat bike we’ve ever seen.
The LES Fat is RockShox Bluto compatible and includes a Pivot designed carbon fork with 150mm dropout spacing – one wheelset will work with both options. 2x and 1x gearing compatibility makes the LES Fat an ideal choice in any terrain, and the LES Fat rear spacing is 197mm with an ergo-friendly low Q-factor design when built with the Pivot/E-Thirteen co-designed fat bike crankset. The Pivot Cable Port System makes internal routing simple to install and maintain via large, easy to access ports and interchangeable covers. Easily switch between a variety of cable routing options for the cleanest installation. Additional details include integrated rear rack mounts, internal dropper post routing and 3 water bottle mounts – making the LES Fat the perfect choice for any big tire adventure.
Pivot’s full suspension cross country bike the Mach 429 just keeps getting better and better. The latest version (Mach29SL) is half a pound lighter and features Shimano Di2 compatibility. But there’s more:
Pivot has dropped over 226g via the use of leading-edge carbon fiber and our proprietary hollow-core, internal-molding process with optimized composite materials and lay-up structure, making the Mach 429SL the lightest, stiffest 29er with the best power transfer available. . . The Pivot Mach 429SL Carbon is only the second fully Di2 integrated mountain bike (the first is Pivot’s Mach 4 Carbon). Featuring our innovative Cable Port System, internal routing is easy to install and maintain with large, easy-to-access ports and interchangeable covers for the cleanest installation of wires, batteries and cables.
We’re not going to argue. For more info (and photos) follow the jump.
While some soft drink companies may want you to think differently, all athletes know that you’re only as good as the food you put in your body. Next time you head out for an all-day roll, try slipping a Perfect Bar in your pocket. The all-natural, gluten free, and non-GMO snack bars are loaded with good stuff without a single bit of refined sugar. It’s a difference you’ll noticed from the first bite.
The bars are available in seven flavors including: lite cranberry crunch, lite almond acai, carob chip, fruit and nut, peanut butter, almond butter, and vegan almond coconut. And, while each has a slightly different flavor profile with the exception of the lite flavors, all of them pack in about 300 calories. The aforementioned lite cranberry crunch and lite almond acai use puffed crisp rice to keep the calorie count in the 200 range. In addition, more than twenty superfoods such as kale, spinach, celery and others are hiding inside the bar in a powdered form.
With all that inside, it’d be easy for the bars to taste like a dirty CX racer smells, but luckily they don’t. Instead, the bars taste like fresh peanut butter or almond butter mixed with a little honey and milk—because aside from all those ground up superfoods that’s basically what they are. Though we would have liked to see one or two flavors of the bars sporting a influx of oats for a slower-release of carbohydrates on a sustained effort, for the most part the Perfect Bar really was just that. Sure they seem simple, but after a few weeks of eating a Perfect Bar for lunch you’ll be hard pressed to go back to any pre-packaged energy bar that you’ve eaten in the past. You can find them online for about $20 for a box of 8 (or 20 bite-sized minis) at shop.perfectbar.com or in the refrigerated aisle of your local health food grocer (and occasionally even Costco).
Lazer’s Cappuccinolock will keep someone from running off with you bike, but if the thief has a boxcutter they can take your bike and your helmet. None of this is pointed out in this oddly compelling new video promo. . . You’ll see.
Industry Nine’s new PillarCarbon mountain bike wheels will feature rims manufactured by Reynolds Cycling.
“We evaluated everything we have learned about rim performance, made improvements wherever possible and then put the wheels to test in the Pisgah National Forest, the ultimate proving ground for mountain bike equipment,” said Jacob McGahey, Industry Nine director of operations. “And with over 25 years of composites experience, Reynolds possesses the resources, experience, technology and manufacturing ability to build rims that complement Industry Nine’s quality hubs and spokes.”
The PillarCarbon series features four new wheel models — “the Ultralite Carbon 24H 29, Trail Carbon 29, Trail Carbon 24H 27.5 and Enduro Carbon 27.5—for which Reynolds produced rims with hookless rim channel design, optimized inner rim widths and directional rim stiffness around Industry Nine Torch series hubs and spokes.”
