Thursday, July 19, 2007

Thursday News and Views

Cannondale '08 Bikes and Specs: Check out the new Cannondale '08 29"er line up at Twenty Nine Inches. Some "factory gnome" squealed, so I got wind of it and posted it over there! Anyway, have a look to see what is up with some of the new rigs.

Remember The 650B Post?: I did a post awhile back about the 650B standard and how that there was an effort afoot to bring the wheel into the modern age of mountain biking. Well, it's happening! That's right, as we speak the pieces are coming together for a fully modern, front suspended, knobbly tired, wide rimmed 650B mountain bike. (Of course Rivendell is already busy with this) The "new" wheel size is being dubbed "27five" by it's main champion, Kirk Pacenti. Kirk is a maker and distributor of frame tubing and lugs to the custom bike building world. "27five" is a reference to the effective outer wheel/tire combination when using the new 2.1" rubber developed for the 584 ISO bead diameter, which has been known as "650B" for decades. Stay tuned for a more in depth look at this developing story on Twenty Nine Inches.

Guitar Ted Death Ride Update: Remember, it's on August 4th! We have defined the route, which will be about 110 miles in length. I know, I know! It's not as long as last years 152 mile slog, but we didn't fire out of the gates with a 250 foot climb either! Look for little to no flat land on this years edition. We kept the mileage lower for that reason and also to allow for some "hang out" time afterwards.

Special request for you that are thinking of joining us: Would you vote for a pre-ride breakfast at 6:00 am/ ride by 7:00am, or no breakfast/ ride by 6:00 am? Give us your feedback! Check out the site for further details.

To Wet To Plow!: We've been getting dumped on with heavy rains the past couple of days here, so no riding, no testing! Today it's supposed to clear up, so I'm hoping to get a short shakedown cruise on the new RST M-29 fork to see how my install went, how it's riding characteristics will shake out, and to adjust air pressure and rebound if need be. I'll be busy with some GTDRI details this weekend, but another short trail ride is not out of the question as long as I can find some dry ground. That might be tough locally. I probably would need to hit up "The Camp" to score any ridable dirt. We'll see!

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