It’s the little things that you don’t notice that sometimes make the biggest difference. Or they don’t really make any difference at all, but the way it goes together and sets up gives you infinite pleasure. Once upon a time, steel frames were made with 1 1/8″ diameter down tubes. They also had shift bosses […]
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It’s all relative. A fat road bike tire is a 28. A fat cross bike tire is a 40. A fat mountain bike tire used to be a 2.35. Then these bikes came out that pushed the fat envelope. Made the envelope bust at the seams. To someone used to the sleekness of a classic […]
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I’m not a big fan of this time of the year. Burning Man is coming up and bikes that are used only one time per year are brought out of their dungeon, caked with playa dust from the previous year(s) Burning Man(s). If you have been to more than one Burning Man do you say […]
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This Sunday, August 12, there will be a gathering of some of the hep cats of the Nor Cal frame and parts makers at the heppest of eating establishments, Una Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco. A Ruota Libera Due (that’s two in Italian), will happen at 1:00 p.m. It features many of the great area […]
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Some shit is just that. However, some shit is good shit. Take the 1970’s Free Spirit bike, for example. I had one when I was in high school before I could drive. It was a 10 speed. I turned flipped the bars up on it. I could ride wheelies all the way down the street […]
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There is a fantastic exhibit that just opened at the San Francisco International Airport. The good news is that it is before security in the international terminal which means that anyone can go – no need to be flying. “From Repack to Rwanda: The Origins, Evolution, and Global Reach of the Mountain Bike” is on […]
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I sometimes neglect the blog because I have been posting quick photos and simple posts on the Black Mountain Cycles Facebook page. I realize that there are some folks who aren’t on Facebook (and for that, I applaud you). So, I need to try to remember that and post some more here. With that in […]
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Been a long time since I rock ‘n road. There’s been a lot of great new tires coming out recently. The Clément X’Plor MSO 40 came out a month or so ago. Before that, the Panaracer Fire Cross 45 was (and still is) a hot tire. Vee Rubber came out with a 47 and a […]
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One of the things that infuriates me about the bike industry (and I guess any industry that produces consumer goods that are superseded by a new item that is purported to be new and better) is that once a new model year product line is announced, the discounts on the old (current) model line begin. […]
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Actually, the “we’re” is simply “I’m,” but who’s counting. Conversing in the third person is much more intriguing. What I am trying to say is that I’m back at the shop and maintaining regular hours. Sometimes, I get pretty caught up in trying to keep the shop open to service the needs of cyclists riding […]
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Thought I’d use this space that is the 600th published post and say “thanks.” Thanks to everyone who has supported Black Mountain Cycles by either visiting the shop, buying a water bottle, or just enjoying it in your own special way. I also want to use this space to let folks know that Black Mountain […]
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While perusing bikeradar.com’s coverage of the Dauphiné, I noticed the coverage of the rider’s lightened bikes for the climbing stages. There are a lot of methods the teams employee to lighten a rider’s bike. Race leader, Bradley Wiggins, employed a couple of bikes with custom built light wheels. One element that was not employed to […]
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