You gotta love a nice classic steel bike. For my daily commuter I’m rolling on a classic hand built steel lugged road bike that has been converted in to a single speed. It’s been reborn over and over for whatever my current needs were at the time, and has served as a geared road bike for long distance rides, to use as a fixed gear. These days it is rolling with the hub flipped around with a free wheel, but there is something to be said for a frame that is this versatile. The only bummer is that it is an old race frame, and lacks commuter friendly extras like rack and fender mounts.

When we came across the Raleigh Roper steel cyclecross bike, it stopped us in our tracks. I love the basic no-frills color scheme- gray and black go with everything, and the blue accents just rock. Raleigh’s graphic designer has a serious fan here. Although the total weight on the bike is a bit on the portly side for a race bike, it does mean that for a daily driver this bike has the potential to last decades, assuming its half the bike of my current commuter. Highlights include a full Shimano 105 group, with a number of house branded parts and Joytech hubs to keep the price down. The Roper embraces the future with disc brakes front and rear, which means stopping shouldn’t be an issue whether its wet or dry out. It is also commuter ready with fender and rack mounts and dual water bottle cages.  The only way this ride could be more versatile is if it was it was single speed friendly rear dropouts.

What? It is single speed-able? Shut the front door. The frame uses the new BB30 standard for the bottom bracket. I initially was opposed to BB30, as I’m not a fan of press in bottom brackets. However, then I found that an aftermarket option for converting the BB30 to an eccentric bottom bracket exists, and that opens the door to even more possible configurations for this bike. This model from Beer Components looks like it would work swell. I’m still not sold on BB30 for full suspension mountain bikes, but for rigid frames it gives this frame options. (Unless BB30 is replaced by something else a few years from now, but even then you should be able to source off the shelf bearings to fit) The Roper would be a welcome addition to any stable of bikes, and stands out as one of the most versatile option-filled  machines currently available.

The Roper retails for about $1499.

Check it out: Raleigh Roper Steel Cyclecross bike

I have a weakness for gear. An addiction, really. Like Carrie Bradshaw and her shoes, I’m obsessed with hoodies and backpacks. My closet is filled to overwhelmed with both, and at this point I’ve come to consider myself a connoisseur of packs. I’m always looking for the ideal pack to match my lifestyle, or hold and organize my gear better. I have packs for riding bikes in the city. Some for riding bikes in the dirt. Some for carrying camera gear. Some of carrying camera gear around town. And some for carrying camera gear while mountain biking. Needless to say, I’m always on the search for the ideal pack.

When I came across the Captain Phil Backpack by All-City Cycles, I have to admit it was their marketing copy that really hooked me. That, and the black texture just looks really effing cool. In the blurb, its described it as their dream pack made real, with all the features they’ve ever wanted. These words spoke right to me- would their dream pack be mine as well? The pack has a reasonably low retail price to boot, so click went my mouse, and a short while later I was looking at the latest addition to my closet-busting collection of packs.

I’ll admit I did a bit of looking around for better images online before jumping on this latest in a line of impulse purchases. The problem was that the photos of the bag don’t quite explain the scale and size of the bag. They offer it in both medium and large sizes, but the gallery of images doesn’t clearly differentiate the differences. (A photo with both bags next to each other would be nice) They look similar with the height of the unfolded bag being the main change.

The Captain Phil pack by All-City

With the outer messenger bag style flap up, the basic pack form is reminiscent of a water proof paper grocery sack with a removable liner and a back pad. It isn’t only simple, but it’s totally effective, and it is easy to utilize the space unlike many of the other packs I own. The bright color in the main compartment means finding stuff isn’t a challenge requiring a headlamp, and the roll top and the buckle closure (similar to a dry bag) keeps the elements out. The bag has a number of organizational pouches on the outside, including my favorite feature of the bag, the two side pockets. These side pockets are possibly the best executed side pockets on any bag I’ve owned. My Evolution Mini U-lock slides in perfectly and doesn’t move, even if I’m rolling through, and or over rough terrain. A water bottle fits well with a snug fit. Unlike some of my other packs, I’ve never had the lock or bottle fly out regardless of the bike I’m riding. I’ve even fit a travel coffee cup and ridden with coffee inside. The small splashes of coffee leaking from the cup are easy to wipe off the tarp-like material that has a durable, solid feel. (At the moment I have a book tucked in there.) There are a number of small organizational pockets that hold small items securely as well as pen holders and a magazine pouch- perfect for commuting via the train as I do daily. The small pockets are secured with a zipper with a flap to keep water out.

To top it off, D-ring lash down points are sewn on the exterior of the bag with included removeable cargo straps, making it possible to carry almost anything you can think of. Wheels? Yep, no problem. Using the side pockets in with the cargo straps makes it easy to carry a small tripod or light stand too. Carrying a light stand is a bit awkward since this is the smaller sized version of this bag, but that just speaks to the bag’s versatility. I tote a digital SLR almost everywhere I go, and this option means I don’t have to change out to my camera specific packs that don’t hold the daily stuff. While it isn’t designed for that purpose, it carries it fairly well. My padded camera insert fits well into the pack, and I’m easily able to take an SLR body, lens, flash and Pocketwizard tranceivers while still toting other stuff. Although I still really want to find a hybrid pack that is designed specifically for this application, (the ILE Bag is the first that comes to mind) for most folks this isn’t a consideration.

The medium size Captain Phil Pack in use.

The bag often gets compliments on the street and it is a nice stand out from the typical brands I see every day on the Bart. The only aspect of the bag I’m not crazy about is the back pad, which seems like it could easily be improved on.  However, for the price, this pack is hard to beat. Drawbacks? The pack doesn’t have compression straps, so squeezing through a crowd can be a challenge, even with just a few items loaded. The outer flap has to be buckled to keep everything feeling secure, (especially if you have stuff in the zipper flap, as it will swing around while riding) and lacks the quick velcro fasteners many of us have come to be used to with messenger bags. Occasionally on grocery trips I’ll run the bag over capacity on the way home and unlike my Chrome Roll-Top Pack, the outer flap is hard to stow away. I found myself wishing the inner buckle was the same diameter as well as the male version- that would be an easy solution to my over zealous shopping sprees.

The All-City Captain Phil Pack in use. I tend to wear it higher on my back as pictured.

However, these are all minor gripes that could easily be remedied in a future iteration of the product, and the numerous features outweigh the drawbacks. Also, in hindsight, I would have chosen the large bag over the medium. For the most part, the biggest difference appears to be the height of the bag, which during shopping trips would be extremely beneficial. Because of the roll top feature and the way the outer flap buckles down, I don’t think the additional height and slightly heavier weight would be that much more noticeable, but the maximum carrying capacity would be nice to have.

On a side note, I had an incident where one of the shoulder strap buckles was caught in a car door. All-City repaired the bag at no charge, although it was totally my fault. Thanks to the team at All City for the great customer service.

The Captain Phil Pack fully loaded with booty on a trip back from DZR shoes in SF.

Highlights:

• Black aesthetic isn’t just durable but good looking
• Stows lots of gear and makes it easy to get to it
• Outer zipper pocket on flap perfect for placing items like tickets where quick access is required making it great for travel
• Weather resistant
• Very reasonable price
• Replaceable inner liner
• Tons of organizational pockets on the outside
• Lots of accessories including a cell phone holster on shoulder straps
• Removable cargo straps will let you strap almost anything on

Downsides

• When over loaded, outer flap can’t secure
• If the outer buckle isn’t fastened, it swings all over the place
• Extremely basic back pad
• Made overseas

So is the Captain Phil my dream pack? I wouldn’t go that far, as my ideal pack also needs to be able to tote my SLR camera that accompanies me everywhere. My ideal pack will hold it safely in an easily accessible manner, as well as all the stuff I require while living day to day. That said, the Captain is a solid effort from the folks at All-City. Captain Phil Pack lists for $99.

check it out: Captain Phil Pack

Masses of fixed gear riders from all over converged on San Francisco’s waterfront this weekend for Red Bull’s event, the Ride N’ Style. After hitting the trails in the MidPen in the am, we headed over to get our fix of free Redbull and to witness the carnage.

If you haven’t been keeping up with the evolution of fixed gear freestyle, it’s come along ways since the days of pedal wheelies and bar spins. For one, the bike have evolved. They’ve mutated from overbuilt track bikes into a hybrid that resembles a cross between a freestyle BMX bike and a 26″ MTB dirt jumper. Gone are the skinny 700c tires and wheels, replaced with high volume 26″ slicks and FR rims. Cromoly pegs adorn 14mm axles to enable grind tricks. It has been ages since Eric Porter did the first handrail on a mountain bike, and since then it has become rare to see mountain bikers riding urban, but today FGFS is everywhere. The fixed rear hub does away for the need for a brake, (at least for a skilled rider) making it significantly easier to keep a bike working functionally on a shoe string budget, and makes owning and maintaining the bikes simple.

We arrived too late to catch the race portion, but just in time to watch the freestyle event filled with plenty of action. If you haven’t been keeping up, FGFS can be brutal. Unlike watching a BMX comp, where clean runs in competition are often the norm, here riders were regularly going down- hard. Add the lack of knee pads (guess it doesn’t looks as hip under skinny jeans, but I’m surprised I didn’t see more low profile knee pads) and pavement, and it wasn’t surprising to see lots of dudes walking around on the injured list.

Lots of down riders with injuries. Bella Swan made an appearance as well, and clearly the sun didn't agree with her.

FGFS is almost like the opposite of roller blading, the past time that came and went. Roller blading often is looked down on since the tricks are so easy. However, just because you can ride a bike doesn’t mean you can ride a fixed gear, and even a basic staple move like a bunny hop becomes a technical challenge that must be relearned. Bottom line, FGFS ain’t easy.

Double peg grind on the handrail

This edit does a great job documenting the action from the track event. Definitely not your standard alley cat race.

Read up more on the event at RedBull

These small LED bike lights from Copenhagen Parts are the cleanest bike light design I’ve seen. Designed for use with steel frames, they utilize magnets to attach to your bike for an extremely clean look with no mounting points, straps, or fasteners. Not only are they extremely compact, but they turn on when placed on your frame, and switch off when removed. Assuming you place them in a pocket that doesn’t have anything ferrous in it, you’re going to have a light with plenty of juice left when you need them. You will need to run a steel frame for the magnets to work, but since the current trend in urban city bikes is to run steel frames, most of us are in luck. (as you can see below, they clearly attach to Bianchi frames just fine)

Placing these magnetic bike lights on a steel frame activates the on switch.

We’re loving the clean design aesthetic, and the idea that these lights will never accidentally turn on in our pocket or bags. The drawback? They’re not going to be available until fall, and even then, since they’re based in Copenhagen, it might be even longer before they are distributed in the states. – via Gizmodo

Check it out: Copenhangen Parts

Kali Amara Helmet :: Teva Links FR Shoes :: Felt Flat Track Racer :: DZR Shoes :: Black Market NSF 

Last weekend’s MTB festival in Aptos turned out to be a great event, and although the expo area didn’t have the precense of next week’s season kick-off known as the Sea Otter, we still managed to find some cool new stuff that caught our eye.

Kali Amara Cam All Mountain Helmet

At the Kali booth, their all mountain helmet the Amara stood out from the crowd with one of the coolest new features I’ve seen on an all mountain helmet. The CAM model features an integrated camera mount that is optimized for the perfect filming position. If you ride at night a lot, it can be used for a light as well, which would feasibly save a ton of time with all the finagling we do with our lights everytime we go out at night. The helmet is also pretty dang light weight.

Check it out: Kali Protectives

2012 Teva Links Shoes

It appears Teva took some of the blogger feedback to heart with their initial shoe release and the result is the 2012 Teva Links models in a murdered out all black color way. (check out my review of the 2011 model on i h8 bikes) The Links is our favorite dirt jumping shoe to date, and is that much better with the addition of a match-anything color scheme. You’ll finally be able to put together a proper outfit that doesn’t clash. Unless you happen to already tons of purple in your closet, in which case, you’re already a happy little clam and you should probably stock up on the purple ones.

It also is now available in a mid-top version that offers additional ankle protection.

Check it out: Teva Links MTB Shoes

Felt Flat Track Racing Cruiser

Felt Bicycles appears to be in possession of the crown for most awesome cruiser bike offerings these days. This cruiser is clearly inspired by vintage flat track racing motorbikes and it is kind of awesome. However, with rubber that burly on the wheels, you’ll likely be wishing for that missing motor and throttle. We’re not even sure if this model is going to be offered since it isn’t listed on the site yet, but it looks pretty dang cool. (where are the three piece cranks? That thing makes me want to get my Steve McQueen impression on)

Check it out: Felt Bicycles Cruisers

2012 SPD Shoes from DZR Shoes

SF shoe makers DZR had a presence at the festival as well, and were showcasing their latest models. They’re known for making some of the best looking SPD compatible urban cycling shoes, and recently branched into the trail/ all mountain market. We’ve been testing the blue Mamba-X model and they’ve working out great so far.

Check it out: DZR Shoes

Black Market NSF Fixed Gear Freestyle Bike

Black Market Bikes had their new fixed gear freestyle bike, the NSF on display. I’m completely confused by the drop bar and brake lever spec, as they seem a bit out of place on a frame that constructed for freestyle street riding, but if you’re looking for a fixed gear commuter capable of pedaling through hell and back, this is probably not a bad option. If it was me I’d quickly swap out the bars for some risers. (or the dirt jump stem for a Thomson 70mm) Either way, I approve of the black and red color scheme, you can’t go wrong there.

Check it out: Black Market Bikes

The Epicenter Pumptrack in Aptos, California received a rework and a facelift for last weekend’s mountain bike festival, and we had been looking forward to checking out the new lines as well as the pump track comp on Sunday. Unfortunately, misreading the schedule combined with a delayed morning start caused us to miss out on the pro pump track comp. Fortunately the ongoing festival meant there was plenty of stuff to do and see- and we still managed to get some time sessioning the track and snap a few photos.

The soil used in the track held its shape well, but by the end of the day it wasn’t holding up in spots due to the high number of riders on it. There were a number of soft sections, and much of it was left unfinished. If it was my track I would have shut it down, watered and repacked it, but it wasn’t getting any love while we were there. It isn’t surprising as it is a public track; plus I’m guessing that the talent behind it was a few blocks away dialing in the jump lines at the Post Office trails. Regardless of the less than ideal conditions, the pump track was packed all afternoon, and getting in an actual run at speed wasn’t possible until the festival died down, as it was packed with groms and their parents.

The little ones were clearly having a good time riding.

We managed to get some time in on the track later in the day though, and the newly reworked track was a lot of fun to ride.

I was having a hard time getting the focus dialed when Mikey railed this turn- he was going so fast. I had to make him slow down in order to get him in focus.

The current layout consists of two lines that can be linked together for continuous runs. That said, the flow of the two lines is distinctively different. One is fast and high speed with a feel much like a dual slalom run, complete with an uphill start. On the other hand, the contained loop had tight and technical 180 berms that took good technique in order to get your brraaap on.

Line one consists of the uphill roll-in, followed by three rollers that created momentum for the sweeping left turn pictured above. Railing the turn gives you ample speed for a table top that promptly dives into a right turn. Although the lip of the table was for the most part chewed up, hitting it at the right section felt super good and you would air from the far right to the far left (to avoid the mushy part) while diving right to make the turn.

Mikey Haderer demonstrates the right hand sweeper. Betabrand discolab represent!

The table top coming out of the second sweeper was super long, and didn’t quite flow with the rest of the track. Airing the entire length required a brief sprint, and the section felt much more like a BMX track than a pump track. At this point you had the option of continuing the rest of the line, or you could turn right and enter the main actual pump line where the comp took place.

Straight line section of the comp track.

You can see above the wear and tear the track took from the comp in the photo above. I’m stil bummed we missed it.

The pump track is in Aptos, California, just south of Santa Cruz, located just behind Epicenter Cycling. Epicenter Cycling joins a short list of sweet bike shops with pump tracks in the back yard. It is also one of the few public pump tracks in the near vicinity of the Bay Area. Unfortunately the track appears to be temporary while a permanent location is found, so if you’re a Bay Area native that wants to get some time in on a public pump track, I would recommend making the trip sooner rather than later.

Find it here:

Epicenter Cycling
8035 Soquel Dr #23
Aptos, Ca 95003

All the cool kids are switching out their platform pedals for the newest generation of thin pedals these days for good reason. Low profile pedals are less likely to strike rocks, and the lower q-factor not only offers additional clearance while cornering, but by lowering your center of gravity you can rail corners that much faster. It’s like lowering your bottom bracket without the clearance penalties.

The HT AE01 pedals come in at a thin 11mm, making them an appealing choice for your next set of pedals- some thin pedals look like one good hit could break them off your bike. If you’ve ever broken a crank arm or pedal off at high speed, you know what kind of chaos can ensue, so there is definitely a such thing as too light. Replaceable pins that thread in from the backside mean you should be able to get more than one season from these. (these test models look like they’ve taken a beating and other than some bent pins appear to be holding up well) The spindle rolls on one patent bearing and a dual DU bushing and they appear to be quite serviceable to the end user. Listed weight comes in at 358g per pair. At $150, they aren’t exactly cheap for pedals made overseas, but competitive with the current crop of skinny pedals.

Check it out: HT AE01 Pedals

“There ain’t nothing better than the feeling you get, while throwing the bike sideways and throwing a twisted whip.” That quote is just one snippet from the lyrics in the following video. Is it a bit silly? Maybe, but totally spot on. And now I want to get my dirt jump bike out and hit some trails.

For the uninitiated, trails in the BMX/ Freeriding context refer to a series of dirt jumps linked together in a series. The best ones have berms, rollers and a million different options for transfers. Floating on your bike all day on the jumps equals the best feeling in the world.

It’s fun to do on the big bike as well. Mikey Haderer demonstrates:

Mikey Haderer: Pro DH Rider, Bikeskills Instructor, Betabrand Disco Super model.

Staying low for this one, Mikey still applies steez quite readily. To top it off, he’s adorned in pieces from the Discolab collection by local San Francisco clothier Betabrand. Turns out the discowear isn’t just good for slamming down drinks at parties, but the light weight material has been working well for ripping on the bike. According to Mikey, after a slam to the pavement at the recent urban DH race in Chile, his shiny hoodie only suffered minor abrasions after laying his bike down in practice.

Mike Haderer is sporting the reversible disco hoodie and disco sport shorts by Betabrand

We were out at one of our secret (ok, not so secret) NorCal shred spots shooting some photos and some video for an upcoming bike check and showing off Mikey’s new Disco gear. The reversible disco hoodie and disco sport shorts are only available direct on www.Betabrand.com. Check out the full set of photos on our Facebook page, and while you’re there, don’t forget to “like” us.

And now for the disclaimer- my day job is as a photographer for Betabrand. But we wouldn’t be talking about the stuff if it wasn’t awesome- so go check it out!

www.Betabrand.com

GT put together this nice edit of their new team rider Kenny Belaey. The best part about it? The whole thing was shot in our backyard here in the Bay Area. It’s always amazing to see riders of this caliber riding the features in our everyday environment. When you see a cement block you might think about hucking your bike off it, but did you consider linking it to the handrail with a manual? Probably not. Dudes like Kenny on the other hand, see things in a completely different light. And then he rides it.

-via VitalMTB

I’ve thought about documenting a bike build and creating an edit before, but never committed to the time it would take to do it right. The guys at Binary Bike did though, and in the process, out did themselves with this creatively executed stop motion edit of a bike build. (Click here for the back story behind the edit) In creating the video, over 1000 still photos were taken, with many hours spent in the process. The final product is awesome though, with the best section taking place later in the video, so make sure to watch it all the way through.

via VitalMTB