Fixed gear madness

Every bike company and their brother had a fixed gear at this years interbike, including many brands we carry. Here are a couple from Fuji (SE is Fuji's sister company).

First, Fuji has co-branded a special edition bike with OBEY... it's a pretty slick looking matte black number, complete with lugged steel frame and fork, real Brooks saddle, double-strap track pedals, and various parts anodized gold. Only three hundred of these will be made, so if you want one you'd better get in line now:



SE was showing some of their successful urban fixies as well. On top is a new rust color for the well-received (and bargain priced at $550) Lager. On bottom is the pricier Premium Brew, with lugs, sparkly green paint, and more gold accoutrements.

A new color for one of our best sellers:

After two model years in shades of gray, the KHS Urban X is now sporting a fresh coat of red:

Mr. Whirly

The new Surly Mr. Whirly modular crank system... can be fitted to just about any frame, and you can use your choice of bolt patterns.

Surly color update

Looks like green is going to make a comeback on the Long Haul Trucker. In person, this is a good deal darker than the original LHT, but it's still in the same green family:



You know I'm exited about this one... an orange 1x1! And check out the new all-black Surly decals:



This may or may not be the final color of the big dummy. It's kind of a slightly brownish OD green. I think it's a very cool utilitarian-looking color; if I were to name the color, I think it would be "Pond Scum":

Surly has a cool new bike at the show...

It's called the Travelers Check, and it's an S&S-coupling-equipped version of the now-ubiquitous Cross-Check frameset. It'll be about twice the price of the regular Cross-Check, but that's still less that the cost of having a Surly retrofitted, and it doesn't void your frame warranty. It'll be FAR cheaper than having a custom S&S bike built.



Details aren't finalized yet about what kind of case it will come with, if one is included at all. The case they had on display is available from S&S, and it was impressive how small the bike could be folded. If the airline charges you $85 each way to carry a non S&S bike, it will only take you 3 trips or so for the Travelers Check frame to pay for itself.

The new Breezer Finesse

Here it is, unveiled:



Start with a nice aluminum frame and carbon fiber fork. Add 700c wheels, a high-end Shimano Alfine group, and all the breezer essentials (fenders, specially-fitted rack, and an awesome new dyno-powered Lumotech LED headlight/taillight setup), and you end up with the finesse. Joe Breeze said he's been riding a Breezer Villager to work for years now, and this is the first bike that's made him want to get a new ride.

Joe also added something interesting: bar ends mounted toward the center of a handlebar. He says they give the more serious cyclist a familiar aerodynamic "tuck" position for those windy areas, or days when you're running late.

Other interesting notes: The bike has an eccentric bottom bracket so the 8-speed hub can be used without a chain tensioner. It does, however, have a derailleur hanger, so if you want to run a tensioner, you can use a double crank and front derailleur to make a 18-speed bike. Cool!









This is one of a new breed of commuter; I saw a few bikes like this in the show today... high-end commuter bikes for those who seek performance on their ride to work. This Breezer will retail for $1899. http://www.breezerbikes.com

I only have one little nit-pick about this bike... It's blue! Not that blue is bad, but they've already got 3 blue bikes. How about a nice sage or forest green? Or copper? Or pretty much any color other than blue?

Wow!

Having brought up the Breezer Uptown 8 the other day, I had to share something I just saw... pictures tomorrow. Breezer has a new top-of-the-line town bike!

Internal 8 speed, disc brakes, higher-end Shimano 700c wheels, but still complete w/ rack, dyno hub and lights, and fenders. Very cool looking.

Hello from Interbike...

I just came down to the Sands Expo Center to register for the show tomorrow. Turns out it's a nice chance to get a glimpse of some new stuff being rolled onto the show floor (though they won't let me in there until tomorrow morning).

Judging from what I've seen so far, SRAM will be the biggest topic of conversation this year (especially their road componentry). Practically every gee-whiz full-carbon silly-light prototype bike I've seen so far is equipped with SRAM's new Red group.

Looks like even the great Shimano, who is debuting a new XT group, will be upstaged this year...