Velocity rims

I've always liked Velocity as a brand because of their ability to change and manufacture rims to follow the current trend, and for the money their rims are competitive with the other big players in terms of durability and function. However, velocity moves to the beat of their own drummer. They seem to be always bringing a breath of fresh air to the wheel with fashion and style. For me.....i'm a sucker when it comes to novelty rims that duplicate the look from the past. Faux wood grains. Oh yeah.......the drool meter runs high for me on these. Spendy though....approx $100 per rim.

and how about something a little different, 29er Velocity Blunt rims with glow in the dark polka dots !

Leipheimer Decal

picked up this cool sticker from the Leipheimer bike shop over in Butte this past weekend. Thanks for the decal Rob ! I like stickers !!

pugs ride with shrek

Had a nice ride through Coyote Coulee with the infamous Shrekster this past Sunday morning. The snow (or lack of for this time of the year) was fairly easy to pedal through with exception to the upper portion of the loop, it had recieved quite a bit more snow to plow through. Here's a couple pics from Sunday. Conditions are still good to ride.....so get out there. Also, Robert mentioned that the Lake Como loop is still rideable, yes the entire loop.

Silky Sugoi - new arrival

I Just got a few Silky hand saws into the shop for those folks that like to help keep the trails clear. The Japanese made blade (360mm in length, 6.5 teeth per 30mm) is about the very best made, tears through logs faster than a hot knife going through butter. Saw and sheath - $79

wool cycling hats w/ earflaps

since it's cold and the season to wear warm hats.....Red Barn wool caps with earflaps, perfect under a helmet or alone. Here the remaining color options (just for J.P.), viewed from the rear.

Sam Braxton

Here's a few photos of Bill Sweet's late 70's Braxton touring bike that he's proudly rode for the last 30 years. A beautifully crafted bicycle by the late Montana pioneer Sam Braxton. Sam's bicycle shop ( also know as an Oasis for the cyclotourist) served as the pinnacle of quality service and advise to Missoula cyclists for almost 2 decades and while we occasionally see bicycles with the Braxton Bike Shop decal, it is a rare but pleasant sight to see his hand constructed frames walk in the front door. One of those is Bill's touring bike that you see here which was recently retired and now up for sale. A true piece of montana's cycling history.

If you have time i'd recommend reading a few of these links: this one
or this one or another picture of one , even a trail named after him .

Dt Swiss 36pt upgrade

here's a peek at Dt Swiss's 36 step star ratchet upgrade, which is a bit quicker than their old 18. 10 degrees quicker to be exact. Price for the new star - $35.

Sven Nys

Here's a very cool picture of Sven Nys sent to us from our very own Red Barn Riley taken during his most recent trip to Belgium. Seems he stumbled across one of the SuperCross events in Gavere so of course he grabbed a beer, some frites and made himself comfy in the 8" of peanutbutter thick mud. Check out Sven's eyes.....the man looks like he's pushed himself close to death. I suppose that's what it take to have those world championship stripes attached to his jersey. On this day he finished second to Niels Albert.

thanks for the killer picture Aaron.....make sure you stop on in with those infamous Belgium brewsky's. Seems the right time to do some training of our own sort.

BMC (Bicycle Manufacturing Company)

I recently had the pleasure of testing out the swiss made BMC Speed Fox (120mm of travel on both ends). Sent to us from the kind folks over at QBP who have turned North American distributor for the company. We've had the SF01 for almost 2 weeks now and since it's arrival i've ridden it pretty much exclusively on trail. Upon building the Sram X0 equipped bike and other top shelf Sram components it was appearent that fashion and style are important to these folks. They went to the measures to have all suspension linkage hardware to be anodized the same exact color as Srams Cash green ano on this years X0 gear. Everything looked fantastic pulling the bike out of the box. Also looking fantastic were the use of hydroformed tubing and boxed upper rocker construction, all which are anodized black. They also utilize a simplistic monocoque bottom bracket shell and main pivot area that appears to be manufactured to shave weight. Light it is....the bike came complete at 26 3/4 #

After setting the suspension up using BMC's unique sag adjustment indicator that cleverly assisted with initial set up and after throwing a set of pedals on the machine i tore off for a quick spin.....three hours later i had a pretty good grasp of what the bike could handle. In a nutshell the bike is very relaxed (thanks to 68d HA), yet very quick and efficient handling bike. Even with the Fox Rp23 turned to the off position the shock was only active when you hit a bump, meaning no pedal bob. The bike craves speed and regardless of how slow and out of shape i am the bike just wanted to go fast....up or downhill. Coined as an endurance race machine i think they did a very nice job of delivering exactly that. A bike that does well on either end of the slope.

BMC Speedfox 01

close up of linkage

for more info click here

fresh batch of hats

cotton - $25, wool - $30, wool w/ earflaps - $35

6 by

congrats to Johnny G on his bull.....and thanks for letting Caelen pose.

new arrival.......2010 Formula

Here's a couple pictures of Formula's new 'The One' DH race brake system. Re-designed for 2010 with an emphasis on becoming one of the lightest and strongest DH brakes on the market. 308g , and increased 24mm pistons that should provide enough power to stop an out of control Shrekie coming down Overwhich Falls. Price.....you'll need a loan. $300 per wheel. But o-so-beautiful.

end o' the year good deal

2009 Ventana Terremoto frames with Fox RP23 on sale for $1200 (reg. $2325)

frustrations

i've got a beef with proprietary wheel systems that incorporate their own spoke/rim/nipple designs and then neglect to offer replacement parts to maintain or repair broken parts. In this case.....a Shimano WH-MT75 29er wheelset that recently came in with a broken spoke. I've never repaired a spoke on this type of wheelset before and figured i could just call Shimano to order one of their fancy straight pull spokes to make the repair. Unfortunately the nice fella on the other end of the telephone line had to inform me that they could not sell me such spokes and he couldn't even offer me a solution and even worse, he had no option of even getting some replacement spokes in the future. So essentially we had ourselves a $250 rear wheel that was now obsolete because of ONE broken spoke ! WTF ! So i'm calling you out Shimano, get your heads outtta yer arses or otherwise leave wheelsets alone. Your hubs are fine, regular steel spokes are just fine, regular nipples work good too. How about trying to build a wheel around those parimeters that allow us greasy fingered mechanics an option to repair. I dunno.....seems too simple to me.

results and post report

Another Chicken Crit has come and gone, the fifth annual and without a doubt it was a successful pre-halloween evening. Successful in the regards that everyone was wearing a glow, every morsel of food was devoured, the 2 kegs went completely dry, two new champions were named, and most of all....no one had to make the unexpected trip to the E.R.

The course this year was a bit more technical than previous years....not only did you have to make it down the cattle ramp safely, past that first corner in blind darkness, and eventually into a bonfire cramped crowd that not only heckled each and every rider but would also purposefully get in the way or take part in becoming part of the course. Just to think that folks were lined up just to be jumped/ridden over. Once you made it past the jump a small slalom was next, each corner soft and loamy. Through the gate, around the pole and then the long leg burning straight away that took you over the teeter-tooter at full 16" wheeled speed and to the finish. Average lap times were in that 1min 10sec range and it was obvious that folks were hell bent on winning the titles (sarcastically). Eventually when the dust settled the champs climbed atop the podium and the top three awarded their claim to fame and mixed bag of chicken parts.

your 2009 CC champs in the hen division.

1st place and a winning time of 1:09.93 - Cassie "sweet boots" Buhl

2nd place with a time of 1:11.03 - Groov-alicious Devall

3rd place with a time of 1:22.05 - Henrietta the HAMMER Gier

consulation mention to Jen West for missing out on the podium by .5 sec, she also gets credit for making it to the barn fresh off the plane.

and for your 2009 cock-a-doooodle-dooooo rooster division

1st place and with a winning time of 50.59 (10sec boxer bonus) - Timothy "no shirt-no pants" Buhl
2nd place and with a time of 56.99 - "brokeback mountain" Donnie

3rd place and with an amazing time of 1:00.81 - none other than the guy you love to hate, yours truely F#$%& CHAD !

and also....a few highlights and honorable metions.

sir hanrahanski showing us how real men ride

costumes were optional

so was the drinking

bad choices were made......anonymously left out.

a big thanks goes out to Riley at Tifosi optics and James at QBP for the great prizes that were handed out. Everyone went home with something good. Until next year folks.

Chicken Crit 2009

customer appreciation at it's finest.....we'll get you as much food and drink as you'd like and then send you off on a bike that doesn't really fit any of your practical needs, nor will it fit. But you'll be happy that you did it, just maybe not the next morning......Chicken Crit 2009, Oct 30th. Come and reflect this past year's worth of cycling.

Moosecross

So, this past weekend was spent slumming around the Teton's on both sides of the pass. The hiking in the Park was great, but the cyclocross action on the Idaho side was fantastic. The fellas from Fitzgeralds Bike Shop put on a great weekend of bike racing. The weather was perfect, the courses were tough, and the fields were choked full of fast dudes. I was not in this catagory, but still rode hard and had a great time charging around in the dirt. A few photos.

The Tetons from the Wyoming side.

Jenny Lake mirror

This is what going anerobic and getting dropped looks like and then thinking about stopping in at the establishment in the tan building. Teton Brewery.

Day two was better for me and i ended up having a fun battle with this guy....the mayor of Victor and owner of Fitzgerald's bike shop. It came down to a sprint for 8th/9th.....Scott sprinted and i couldn't cover. Nice work Scott

from Dura Vision

Fresh from Vegas is Dura Vision's new 1 Watt Tactical Torch flashlight and handlebar mounting system. One superbright LED bulb that provides 80 lumens, the Tactical Torch is the perfect spare light to bring with you as daylight keeps getting shorter and shorter. Aluminum constructed, waterproof, and only 150 grams. Price is $60

snow ridin'

looks like winter is here early this year....lake como loop with 3" of fresh snow

and last wed. night ride of the year.

Bike advocacy

went here

to talk to this guy

about bike access in these places

kinda bizarre....you have to go all the way to Wash DC to talk about access in Montana's public lands.

#106 to Idaho

a few pics from last sunday's ride into Idaho.