Saturday Tidbits

Here's a couple of tid bits that have been brewing around the 29"er world of late. Enjoy!

Willits Brand rigid forks: For those of you that don't know, Wes Willits was one of the primary instigators of the 29"er movement. Back in "the day", Wes was building "28"ers" and was really waiting for somebody to make a true wide fatty tire for 700c rims. Well, he and a few others managed to get WTB's Mark Slate interested and the next thing ya know, Wham! There's "The Tire". The Nanoraptor was born. Well, now a days Wes is located in Austin, Texas and is pumping out steel and titanium artistry for all things 29"er. Now comes the announcement that his innovative rigid forks will be available to anyone that wants one. Check it out!

Kenda Smallblock 8 coming soon! A new 29"er tire that I think will be an excellent choice for our area's hard pack summertime conditions is going to be available in super limited numbers very soon from powerhouse distributor QBP. If your local bike shop deals with them, here is the part number you can have them put on "item watch" to be able to have a chance at the first batch. #TR5325 Good Luck! You will know if you are a lucky recipient of new fangled rubber in about two weeks!

What is brown and silver and can not be stopped! Nooooo! Not what you are probably thinking! It's my new Surly "Jim Brown" annodized single speed disc hubs that are getting laced to a set of Velocity Deep V rims in powdercoated "Chocolate" color. It's for a special project that I hope to bring to light sometime in '07. Stay tuned! Pics of the completed wheelset will be posted soon.

More from the "Deep, Dark Secrets Vault": I just hate it when I hear juicy news that isn't ready for public consumption yet. This is going to be super cool though, and I can not wait to see this come to the light of day. All I can say now is that it isn't a 29"er and I still think it's super cool! Stay tuned for more sometime later this winter!