Slow day at command central

Website conversion is almost complete. It is January. It is raining. Perfect time to open up command central at the shop. Good news is that this will double as living quarters for employees who are working late.

Sneak Peek

The new shopping side of the website is under construction, and the guys are uploading products, descriptions and images as fast as they can. You can check out a sneak peek here Our instore database is liking to the site as we speak, and we should be able to process orders within the week (Probably tomorrow). The site should also start looking a lot prettier by next week. So for those of you that like to be on the cutting edge, you can start looking around.

Also watch for some special promotions coming down the line. We will be linking up some likes that act like coupons and having some contests. For example, the first 100 unique customers to order from the new site will receive a 10% discount off all their future orders for life. (Not a bad reward for fighting through our site in the current disorganized fashion.)

Power transfer and Cycling shoes.

After years of cycling, reading the literature and spending hours and hours on new equipment of all levels and qualities you develop ideas about things that you just stop questioning in your mind. The problem is that over the years, as equipment changes and riders progress advancements in products are for the most part small incremental changes. Updates to products are the results of geeks on computers in labs and wind tunnels. We generally accept that what their computer models say are true, but the actual difference you feel on the bike is so small that you have to believe that all these product testers for magazines are simply regurgitating what the manufacturers say simply because the have to say something.

The discovery I made today comes not from side by side duels of the latest and greatest, but rather from backing up a few years.

The standard line on cycling shoes is that the stiffer the sole the better. The logic goes that a stiff sole basically becomes the platform of the pedal which is why we can get away with having tiny little pedals like Speedplays or Eggbeaters. This stiffness allows more energy to go into each pedal stroke and less energy to be lost trying to keep your foot from flexing around the pedal. As an exaggeration you can go ride barefoot and see how well you do.

The problem for me is that the last time I did a serious ride in tennis shoes I was a freshman in high school. From there is was a slow progression. My first pair of cycling shoes was a pair of resin soled velcro Shimano shoes and I attributed the boost in performance to the clipless pedals that came along with it. Maybe once in the history of all the shoes I have had have I really noticed a significant boost in power transfer between the old worn out shoe and the new one. So while I have sold and been sold on various shoe designs in the past it has always been more of a theory than experience. Because of this I have passed up Carbon soled shoes because they didn't seem to warrant the expense.

Today by taking myself completely out of my normal element I learned the real value of good cycling shoes. As many of you know my winter project bike this year is a 1982 Schwinn Fixed gear bike. I have been riding it mostly in sneakers and toe clips. The performance dip from my other bikes is across the board. In other words I didn't just change to sneakers, I also changed to a fixed gear and toe clips and a frame that was made when I was just learning to ride my first BMX bike.

But todays ride was a little different. I had left my fixie at the shop and I wanted it back, so I jumped on the Fat Chance with a pair of old SIDI shoes, rode to the shop and switched bikes.

For the last few week I have been learning to skid on the fixie. I feel like it is a skill I need to be able to ride safely, but the problem has been initiating the skid from high speeds which is where you really want it. As I headed out in the SIDI shoes with toe clips I hit a little skid just to see where I was at and found myself actually pedaling backward while still moving forward. The difference of changing only the shoes was amazing. No longer will I make fun of the people in spin classes who want cycling shoes but aren't using cleats. As it turns out the performance enhancement that until today I had attributed mostly to being locked in the pedal comes largely from the stiffness of the sole of the shoe.

Mind you I am not advocating that everyone go back to toe clips and just use cycling shoes, but never again will I regard the shoe design as just a little perk of going clipless. The difference is night and day. It just took linking pedaling power to braking to demonstrate just how great the increase is. So for this winter I will be wearing cycling shoes and have a lot more control over the bike. Next season maybe I will spring for some carbon soled shoes.

It's my fault, Sorry

I have a long standing tradition of building up a strange bike and riding it through the winter. The logic has always been that in the off season training is not as important to have dialed in. Keeping things new and interesting is the key to having fun on the bike, and having fun is the key to successful training. Also it sucks to take a $5000 bike out into the salt and slush when you could build up a beater and not care about it.

Back in Maine I has a single speed Trek Antelope with drywall screws in the tires that I would ride on snowmobile trails and ice tracks when available. Also raced a February Ski Resort Downhill race on it once. Did pretty well, but got taken out in the semis.

Here in Kentucky I have taken to riding Fixed Gears. Two years ago I went with a stock KHS Flight 100 that broke me into the fixed gear realm, but this year I went full on hipster and built up my own out of parts that we found laying around the shop and a Schwinn Traveler that was built when I was still in diapers (perhaps before).

As we didn't have any brake levers laying around, we went hardcore fixie. Toe-clips and No brakes. The front wheel is set up with the old school 27" wheel, but we had to put on a new rear wheel to fix it, so I am running a 700 in back and as it turn out a 700 X 32 tire that we had lying around has exactly 2mm of clearance between the tire and the chain stays. Looks crazy, but works great and gives me a little extra rubber to burn through as I learn to skid.

I should have known that I had jinxed myself by going to the fixie a little early when the temperature dropped for the maiden voyage. We have been having great luck with a late season, but when I strapped on the lights and took it out for a 3 mile night spin in jeans and a hoodie, the temperature seemed to drop just because I was out there.

Yesterday I skipped the Cross race and took the fixie out for her first real ride. Bright sun cut the cold as I rode to the start of the 30 mile club ride, but it was clear that winter riding had begun. A small group of riders started the loop unaware that they were accomplice to the winter bike jinx. And we weren’t but 3 mile in before the first of the riders decided "screw it, it is too cold".

Four of us finished up the 30 mile ride. And the ancient fixie held up well except for a small problem with the braking system (I lost one of the toe clip screws so the strap kept sliding to the side). When I got home I parked the bike and took one of those long showers that you have to take. You know the ones where it is a race to see if you can get your core temperature up before you run out of hot water. Had some dinner and went to bed.

This morning I woke up to see snow on the ground. So sorry to all the drivers who wrecked on the Gene Snyder this morning, and all the riders who hang it up when the white stuff flies. And all you business owners, myself included, who's livelihood depends on nice weather, I have brought the long awaited winter by breaking out the "winter bike" a little too early.

Whats up with headsets

Tech Questions #1- Headsets

Question from customer: "I'm looking at headsets, and the tech sheet says 1 1/8", non-threaded, integrated. What is all this?"

Our answer in three parts:

1. Headset size
2. Threaded vs. Threadless
3. Standard vs. Integrated

Definitions you will need to know.

Steer Tube - The part of the front fork that sticks up through the frame

Head Tube - The part of the frame that the Steer Tube passes through.

Headset - The part containing the bearings that allow the steer tube to turn freely in the head tube (more simply this allows you to turn the bike)

Headset size:

1 1/8" headsets are the most common on the market right now. Second most common is 1" and there are some 1 1/2"s out there but they are rare. Almost all modern mountain bikes use 1 1/8". The measurement is actually the diameter of the steer tube on the fork, so it is basically the interior diameter of the headset.

Non-threaded vs threaded headsets:
This refers to how the fork is attached to the frame. Threadless means that there are no threads on the steer tube so the fork is held on by clamping the stem to the steer tube. On a threaded headset the headset screws onto the top of the forks steer tube (this means that the fork has to be purchased with the proper length steer tube and can't be cut) In a threaded system it is the headset rather than the stem that holds the fork to the bike, and a quill stem is inserted down the center of the steer tube. Threaded headsets are seen mostly on older bikes, inexpensive bikes, and BMX bikes.

Integrated vs Standard headsets:

Traditional headsets have the cups pressed into the frame. In integrated headsets a sealed bearing inserts directly into the frame and then the top and bottom of the headset are the same as normal. Remember that with a sealed bearing the balls are completely contained so there is actually no movement against the frame so you don't have to worry about damaging the frame the way you worry about damaging the cups in a traditional headset. Integrated headsets are a little lighter and a little less complex than traditional headsets.

For the most part, the type of headset you choose will be dependant on what frame you pick. If the frame is set up for 1 1/8" integrated, that is what you will have to use.

USGP Derby City

Given that he is the CFO of a bike shop, it seemed only logical that he start racing. So this weekend shop mascot and Cookie Finding Officer Lane entered his first race. Now there is no going half way for this kid so he started out at one of the biggest Cyclocross races in the nation, Derby City USGP.


After a considerable amount of effort trying to corral him away from the big boy course he settled into his grove on the junior course which was complete with a couple of run ups, a mud pit (bikewash run off) and a staircase run-up.

A couple of warm up laps and he was off to the obligatory port-a-pot visit.


And then the start.

The first lap held some excitement with a three-kid pileup that blocked traffic right from the start. After a short pause Lane was able to take the inside line and get around. He blew through the Cannondale tent and was out on course.

As the only one with training wheels Lane was at a bit of a disadvantage on the back section because as it turns out when you are on an off camber slope, the training wheels try to push you over rather than hold you up. It is because of this section that his pit crew believes that he so narrowly missed the overall win.

He blasted through the mud pit and dismounted for the staircase where he did have to receive a little outside assistance lugging the bike up the stairs. Back on the bike he headed out for lap 2.




With an uneventful lap 2 under his belt, his race was over, but he was not going to stop for something as silly as everyone else being done. Like a true champion he headed out on a victory lap so while everyone else was at the award ceremony Lane was turning a few extra.



Eventually we had to drag him from the course, but if you ask him today what he wants to do, you are sure to get his new standard answer.

"I want to do cyclocross"

Never go on vacation

Ok, after taking a week off to go on a vacation with the family I have learned that Vacations are a bad thing. Those of you who were in the shop while I was gone or since, may have noticed some changes. We pretty much had some major disastor each day. One day a construction crew cut some fiber cable and took out phone and internet service to the shop (and half of LaGrange and Crestwood) which is no good when you run an internet buiness and like to process credit cards.

A couple of other snaffoos set us back a bit, but the big one occured when one of the employees downloaded a virus into our inventory computer. "I was just trying to charge my ipod, I swear..."

So that has blinked out one of the computers and made our cash register useless, so we are back in the stone ages and taking orders by hand. You can still order off our website, but we will have to wait for the holiday weekend to be over so the rest of the world will come back to work and we will can get our tecnical issues solved. (hopefully we won't have lost too much data). Anyway. I am back and we are trying to get ourselves back where we need to be, but if you see us running around like chickens with our heads cut off it is because nothing is working the way it is supposed to. Oh well.

So while vacation was largely a disaster, I did get a couple of interesting tidbits out of it. The first was this lovely picture of a bike locked up outside one of the buildings where we were staying. If it doesnt't strike you as funny, look again.

There were also some fringe benefits to being able to step away from my work for a while and rething my approach to a couple of things, so once we get all of our current problems sorted out, look for some cool things coming down the pipeline. Stay tuned...