Indholdsfortegnelse for August 2016 i Bicycling

SPECIALIZED AIR TOOL COMPAK FLOOR PUMP This 21.5-inch-tall alloy Air Tool ComPak has fold-down steel feet, an in-line reversible chuck that works with presta and Schrader valves, and a hollow handle—with storage for tire levers and a patch kit—that detaches so everything fits neatly inside a hardshell case. A 3-foot hose holds an in-line pressure gauge to save space, but you need to get down on its level to read it. The Air Tool can get a 25mm road tire to 100 psi in just 40 strokes. PRICE $100 WEIGHT 2.3 LB (with case) MAX PRESSURE 200 PSI BONTRAGER TRAVEL CHARGER The Travel Charger is the lightest of the group, making it ideal for bikepacking. It’s only 18 inches tall, but still hit 100 psi on a 25mm road tire…

1I’ve seen the Tour de France from inside press cars barely matching the speed of racers scorching Alpine and Pyrenean descents, and from inside team cars handing bottles and food and strategy and hope to the riders, and from inside the barriers so close to the finish line that some of the toughest athletes on earth have collapsed and wept where I stood, from the back of a motorcycle pacing a breakaway that was desperate and doomed and furious and eating itself to stay alive but in a way was so much just another day’s work for the riders that one of them looked over and recognized me and made just that existential joke, and from a helicopter that made the whole race—cyclists and caravan and fans and landscape—appear to…

MICHAEL AND MELISSA SALVATORE, co-owners of the Chicago bike company Heritage Bicycles, started shopping for a balance bike shortly after the birth of their first son, Bennett, in 2011. But when Michael couldn’t find one he liked—“they all had the same stamped frame, same generic saddle”—he decided to make his own. “I wanted something that mirrored what we were doing with our locally crafted, carefully designed commuter bikes,” he says. Inspired by the geometry of Chicago’s iconic bridges, Heritage mechanic Arlan DeRussy designed the original $300 birchwood Bennett bike. “The triangular cutouts make the bike lighter and give it structure as well as a little nod to the city,” Salvatore says. Next came a hardier composite version ($270, pictured on previous page), available in five colors and made of recycled…

OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE BICYCLE COMMMUTER Does it feel weird walking into the White House wearing spandex? Big time. Big time. I’ve never gotten used to it. How often do you ride to work? From 2009 to 2013 I commuted every day by bike, when I worked for the National Security Council. I’ve had some crack-ups, so my wife, Kari, discourages it. So I now run at least four days a week and usually ride one. Kari made me get this slow bike [a KHS Brentwood] with the grandpa seat. But I do have these cool police lights. It’s a great perk. Every once in a while I try to crank the siren but I can’t figure out how to make it work. How did you crash? With my last one,…

MOUNTAIN: CHRIS COLE; CYCLIST: LUDMI L GO HARD WHEN THE TOUR RESTS On one of the two days Tour de France riders don’t race (July 11 and 19 this year), go big with your friends. At BICYCLING HQ, it’s the 2-5-10 Century, which climbs 14,000 feet over ten loops of the three toughest hills in town—an endeavor so ridiculous, it’s awesome. Here are five secrets to making a day of madness into a can’t-miss local tradition. LOCATION The ride is staged in the center of town at a bike shop where spectators and riders can hang out and tailgate. NO-DROP POLICY The pack regroups on every lap, and leaders must make sure their splits don’t exceed a designated pace. This helps the group stay mostly together—and encourages weaker riders to…

MANY RIDERS still refer to mountain bike shorts as baggies because most are just that: baggy. Until recently, there was a void for mountain bikers who wanted more protection than spandex but didn’t appreciate the shapeless, board-short styling. That void has been filled with the fitted overshort—a slim-cut short typically worn over a chamois-equipped liner. Kitsbow was one of the first to answer the call with its highly refined Men’s Adjustable AM Short ($285), pictured here. Other brands have followed with more affordable options. We love the structured look of both the men’s and women’s versions of Giro’s new Truant ($100), which also uses a lightweight, stretchy material to prevent binding and enhance comfort while pedaling. And like the Kitsbow and the Giro, the updated Specialized Women’s Andorra Comp ($75)…

WHEN I FIRST SAWthe Eddy Merckx Milano72, I thought, Damn, that bike looks mean. Angular top and down tubes slash into a head tube that swells imposingly over the fork. Sharp graphics and nononsense paint complete a dramatic look for this women’s race bike—one that demands respect from any challenger. Which is exactly what makes this bike’s friendly personality so surprising. Rather than the superreactive ride I’ve come to expect from racy bikes, the Milano72 is calm and well behaved in its handling. “The entire Merckx collection is designed around stability,” says national sales manager Heather Rizzi. The Milano72 bears out that intent beautifully. On long flats, it hummed along as if on cruise control; I sat up, stretched, and laughed with my fellow riders a little more often than…

1. This is my first year racing with an all-female cycling team, Team Pedalino, so I’m looking forward to jumping into that whole world. 2. I start with letting my ideas run through my hands. I don’t think we should abandon the old style just because we have new tools. 3. When you’re battling Kansas headwinds you have to get down in the drops to break some of that up. 4. I was biking in Nova Scotia last summer and there was a mountain with a 17 percent grade—being able to get to the top of a climb like that and then give your body a rest feels incredible. 5. I may not be with you in the first five miles, but I’ll always be with you in the last…

I once had a pink Campagnolo racing cap. It was old and fit perfectly. But I lost it. I tried other caps, but everything fit badly and felt hard against my skin. So in 2007 I decided to make one out of a pair of faded-coral cotton pants. The butt was threadbare from riding. I wore it to a party, and three people came up to me and placed orders. In January 2014 I went to an artist’s residency in Michoacán, Mexico. I stayed in an old hacienda and explored natural dyeing techniques. I decided I needed to spend more time on the road. “Made in America” doesn’t guarantee the happiness of the person who sews your product. It’s the designer’s responsibility to know the hands that finish your garment.…

NOURI SHING YOUR BASIC NEEDS AND IRRATIONALFIX ATIONS THESE WHEELS ARE STUPID. The rims are only 25 mm deep, and everyone knows you want more than this for aerodynamic benefits. They’re super light, which only makes you faster in very specific situations, like climbing steeps solo. They’re tubular, and stretching, gluing on, and mounting tires is a drawn out, arduous process; if you flat on a ride, you better have a whole spare tire—and strong hands to peel off the dud. They’re $3,300—an amount you could use to purchase entire bikes that are good enough to give you years of great, fun rides. But I dare you to put these wheels on your bike and not love the way they feel. Their nothingness is immediately noticeable. They weigh just 1,049…

Are you 2014 Enduro World Series champ Jared Graves? Probably not, but neither am I. (Unless you are, in which case, “Hiya.”) But knowing what Jared Graves wanted out of a race bike is helpful in understanding Yeti’s new 29-inchwheeled SB5.5c. In the Enduro World Series (EWS), riders race stages that, according to the 2016 rule book, aim to be at least 80 percent descending. The pedaling transfers between stages, called liaisons, are untimed. “Mechanical uplift” is allowed, but at least one liaison has to be pedal-powered. The riders must be self-sufficient, and may use only one frame, fork, and pair of wheels—no bike or equipment swaps. The EWS favors equipment that is durable yet efficient enough to climb on without losing time to the competition—but the priority is downhill…

BEFORE BOB PARLEE made bikes he made boats—out of wood, out of carbon fiber. He was drawn to their shapes and loved how he could manipulate carbon to solve the problems vessels faced in the water, from the strength of a current to the force of the wind. He had always ridden bikes, and later got into racing. Back in the ’90s, he was unimpressed by how his titanium bike performed and with the way bikes in the pack around him behaved—especially on descents. “Those wobbles down a hill,” he says. “I just never liked that feeling. I felt I could build better bikes out of carbon.” He began tinkering, and in 2000 Parlee Cycles was born. Parlee quickly gained a reputation for producing custom carbon bikes with superb ride…

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