Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol5 no8

Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol5 no8

August, What’s up with this weather? (again) Edition

This edition of the Spoken Wrench is brought to you by the Spanner Wrench. Most of the time spanners are used to remove bottom bracket parts, especially the cups. Red Park spanner wrenches are used to take apart Cannondale Headshoks, to rebuild, service, or otherwise make your Headshok do its thing a little better. Green Park spanner wrenches can also be used to service some Mavic hubs. Spanners have a variety of important and interesting uses outside of bottom cups.

Closed Monday!

Seeing as Monday is a national holiday, and we’re closed for those, (bank holidays don’t count) we will be closed on monday, enjoying weather that we should have been having most of the summer, like warm and sunny. We’ll see you on Tuesday bright and early at 10AM.

Get Ready for Fall!

Fall in Michigan provides some of the best and most beautiful riding of the whole season. Gone are most of the threats of 90 degree heat and 90% humidity, and here are the clear days with low humidity and beautiful fall colour changes. If its been a while since you rode your bike, or maybe you rode it more than you expected this summer, bring it in and we’ll take care of what ever might ail your bike.

2010 You Say?

Every year about this time, we in the shop begin looking at, drooling over, and wishing for all the cool new stuff we’re seeing. It also means that what we have, what we can get, and what’s no longer available are constantly in flux. So here are a few of the things we think are especially cool.

Lefty’s for All!

Cannondale has long been doing things its own way. Long being, you know, since they first made an aluminum frame back before aluminum was cool (but after Klein). They brought us zero pivot, four-inch-travel Scalpels, BB30, and of course, the best reason they’re cool, Head Shoks. So, you own a great frame, but the new 3D forged Lefty looks great, its light, and has lots of travel, what’s a mountain biker to do?

Kona Magic Link

In the middle of 2008 Kona developed a new suspension design, called the Magic Link. They used it first on the Coil Air, a 7″ travel full suspension bike, and it did everything they wanted it to. There were some issues, it was heavy, and the back end had some tracking issues. But otherwise, the Magic Link allowed the Coil Air to morph between a 6.4″ and 7″ trail bike. For 2010 the Newly redesigned Magic Link moves behind the crank, (supports Truvativ’s Hammershmidt) looks much less like a squid is attacking your frame, and now allows for suspenssion that morphs from 5″ to 7.7″. It also shaves 2.6 pounds off the the bike. For more on what’s new at Kona, check out www.konaworld.com and for more on the Magic Link http://bikemag.com/gallery/kona-2010-magic-link-bikes/.

Sidi Shoe Sale

There is nothing better than a pair of bike shoes that fit well, are light weight, and on sale. If Sidi shoes have always been a little out of budget, or your old shoes are on their last legs, maybe now’s the time to get new ones? We’ve got limited sizes in some models, and less limited in others, and they won’t last too particularly long at 20% off. The sale applies to all in stock shoes, no special orders at sale prices.

Road Bike Sale!

Fall is the best time to ride in Michigan, still plenty of light and warm days, without the sweltering 90s that August served up. So, if a road bike is in your future, we’ve got an idea for you. We’re offering 15% off all in stock road bikes, and 10% off all special orders. (You’ve got to pre-pay your special order in full, up front, but you get 10% off.)

Light ‘N Motion Sale!

Lights are essential for riding anywhere in Michigan after dark. Not only is it a good idea, its state law.  In an effort to make law-abiding riding easier, and more fun, we’ve got all Light ‘N Motion lights on sale, 20% off.  So whether you’re looking for a better commuting light and want to see where you’re going, or you need a light for that epic, 24 hour race you’ve always wanted to do, we’ve got the lights for you.  (Valid on in stock lights only.  No Special Orders.)

Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol4 no13

Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol4 no13
Repair classes and one last Interbike moment, and things, edition.

This edition of the Spoken Wrench is brought to you by the letter ‘Y,’ for Yellow Jersey, young, youthful, yucky drive trains, snow yetis, and possibly others, but I’m almost to the end of the alphabet and you can bet we’ll find some other thing to start the newsletter with. These last few letters have been difficult to come up with.

Is your drive train yucky? Making noise? Grinding, or making other noises that make your riding buddies grimace and laugh behind your back? Perhaps its time for a drive train clean. They really do make everything better.

Repair Classes!
Randy’s take on Interbike
Call for slide shows!
Lights!
Women’s Clothing
Holidays and Stocking Stuffers.

Repair Classes
Right now we have two sessions scheduled, and if we get enough interest, we can always add more.

The first session runs November 11, 18, 25, and December 2.
The second session runs January 13, 20, 27, and February 3.

Classes are $125 and include 4 weeks and the Park Tool School Manual. They’re on Tuesdays at 7PM, and are approximately 2 to 3 hours long depending on how much everyone talks.
If you’d like to RSVP for a class, you can email me back, and I’ll put you on the list, or give us a call and we’ll put you on the list. Either way, in the fairly near future, we’ll be needing (at least) a $50 deposit to hold your spot. Which you can call in a credit card number for, or mail us a check. We’ll happily accept either.

If you have any further questions, let us know!

Randy’s take on Interbike
I can’t leave our fearless leader out of this, so the one thing that Randy wanted to bring home, followed by the things he really did bring home.

One thing: Randy’s all for the Bianchi Dolomiti. Why? Did you look at those beautiful lugs last time? It doesn’t hurt that Bianchi is known as a road bike company, celeste is their traditional colour, and its steel. As Randy put it, the bike is gorgeous, and he appreciates classic workmanship and unique design. He’s not big on the cookie cutter look a lot of bikes have. Nor, is he big on ipods.

Things he really did bring home:
Sometime in the middle of the summer, early summer maybe, earlier this year at least, we got new repair stand clamps. They’re yellow. We really like ‘em. They were custom painted for us by Bret Flemming of Efficient Velo Tools. Bret’s the service manager at Bike Gallery in Portland, OR. We see a lot of bikes come through here. They are in a league of their own, with six stores in the number one bike commuting city in the country. Bret makes tools because he got tired of crappy tools.

They’re designed with mechanics in mind, well thought out, and as Jason said, ’shop tools for shop guys.’ We’re expecting a new head set press, because the one we have, well,.we’ve met some frames lately that have too tall of a head tube to use it, a new wheel dishing gage, and new presta valve core removers. We’ve also got replacement Silca washers that never need to be replaced.

Call for Slide Shows
Every winter we try to have one or two, and sometimes three or more slide shows featuring some of the super cool places people ride. Frequently these are populated by whatever epic ride Dave did this past year. We’d like to get more slide shows, more rides, just more great bike things to do in the winter. So, if you’ve got photos and you’d like to tell us all about your ride, give us a call and talk to Randy, or email me back and we’ll set something up. I suppose, if you’ve got video, we can probably figure that one out too, we just need a little extra advance warning.

Slide shows around here usually involve slides, some talking, some eating, and some drinking, and make for a fun time all around.

Lights!
Try as I might to ignore the onset of fall, and the rapidly approaching end of Daylight Savings Time, it seems unavoidable that its getting darker earlier and faster and for longer amounts of time. To best combat this, you need a head light. (tail light too.) Light ‘N Motion is still our favorite with their Stella, Seca, and Vega lights. Vega’s are one piece, battery and light all in one. Stella’s range from the Double ‘EH’ which uses AA batteries, to the 200n with a long lasting rechargeable battery. Seca’s range from the very bright and long lasting to the less bright and long lasting. All of these are lights you can see by, not just to be seen and street legal, but especially in the fall and winter, being street legal means that cars can see you more than when their headlights hit your reflectors.

Women’s Clothing!
Women’s clothing is still 40% off, basically till its outta here. And there are signs now, and every one knows what’s going on. Shoes aren’t included. Gloves, jerseys, jackets, shorts, those are all included.

Holidays and Stocking Stuffers.
We at the shop, individually and collectively, collect pint glasses. We’re certain there must be others around who also collect pint glasses, or pilsners, or coffee mugs. If you know someone who likes bikes, collects or uses glasses and mugs and might like one, they make great presents. Also, before the holiday’s roll around, we will be entering the 20th century and getting gift cards. Actual plastic cards. We’ll let you know when they get here!!

That’s all for this edition of the Spoken Wrench. Here follows the legal mumbo Jumbo.

Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol3 no7

Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol3 no7
6” Crescent Wrench version

This edition of the Spoken Wrench is brought to you by the letter “Q” for Quick little updates… Little stuff, in a timely manner. We will return to our regularly scheduled programming next time. We decided to call these the 6” Crescent Wrench, “little enough to go with you, big enough to do some damage.” Things like the monthly tips will be missing, in an effort to get you more news when it matters. Like right away while there are still sale bikes to be had.

We’re changing our Hours!
I promised that when we went back to our old hours schedule I’d let everyone know. Well hats what I’m doing. Sort of. But we’re not changing them back, we’re modifying them a little at the same time. Tuesdays and Wednesdays we’ll be closing at 6PM like we used to, but we’re adding Friday to that was well. So, beginning October 1st we will be open Monday and Thursday 10AM-7Pm, and Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10AM-6PM, and Saturdays, 10AM-5PM. Mark your calendars!

Konas are on sale!
Summer has unofficially ended, but around here that only means that the riding gets even better. Why ride in the oppressive July and August heat when you can ride in lovely September, October and (hopefully) November weather? At least that’s what we think, and one of the benefits of the weird schedule the bike industry seems to keep is that when the riding’s best in Michigan, so are some of the sales. Including one from Kona this year. Everything they’ve got left is 15% off! There’s not a huge number of things left, but it’s a nice variety. And if you’re looking for a Kula Supreme, they’re even more on sale! Fine print: Sale price does not include shipping charge.

Cannondale Sale!
Last time we told you about the Synapse framesets that Cannondale had on sale, and if you’re still interested, come and get one soon, there aren’t very many left. If you want a whole bike, the remaining F2, F3 and F2-9ers on sale. Maybe its time for a downhill, dirt jumping machine? They’ve got Perp 1 and 2 and chase 2 and 3s on sale. Like I said earlier, it’s the best time to ride, and Cannondale apparently thinks so too, or why else would the bike world have such a weird production schedule?.

The Not-Sale Sale
Confusing, no? Townies aren’t on sale, but nearly. This is your last chance to get them at their current prices. For next year everything is going up somewhere between a little and a lot. We’ve got a number of Townies hanging around, and if you’re interested, now’s the time to get them, before the global economy makes us cringe even more, and hike our prices $20 to $40 on everything- well, almost everything.

Get ‘em While They Roll.
Looking for a new set of wheels? Want to be able to run disc or v-brakes? Want them in black? (yeah, I’d want black too…) Then get yourself a shiny new pair of Mavic CrossRide wheels today. We’ve got three pair left, and why would we want to hang on to them when you might need them? Especially for the lovely price of $210 for the pair (plus tax, we have to pay the governess.) Cross rides are great wheels and work with any standard rim brake, and 6-bolt disc calipers. Once they’re gone, they’re gone, and we (and some others) are wildly confused by what, if anything they have morphed into for 2008.

Cyclocross for the Wee Ones!
Cyclocross frames tend to be really tall because of the high bottom bracket, meaning that even the smallest frames are probably to large for your average 7-9 year old. Perhaps, you know someone who’d like to go faster? Perhaps that 24” mountain bike isn’t cutting it keeping up on longer rides and weighs a ton? Redline has the solution for you. They make a 24” Cyclocross bike for kids, the Conquest 24. Nicely outfitted with Shimano Sora 8 speed components, small road bars and a 39cm frame this is the perfect bike for any kid who wants to go fast, and perhaps not have to worry too much about flat tires… They originally retailed for $670, now they’re on sale for $570! Can’t beat that for a fast little Cyclocross ride!

Shop Jerseys are Back!
Show us some love! We’ve got shop jersey’s back in stock, in black and yellow. Pay no attention to any whispers you might have heard saying we were re-designing our shop jerseys. Pshaw! We love them, and so apparently does everyone else. What was that? Its getting cooler? It is, and just for that purpose we’ve got long sleeved shop jerseys as well. The same as their short sleeved brethren, but with our web address down each arm. What could be cooler? Nothing!

Light N Motion’s Here!
Last week I mentioned that our Light N Motion lights would be arriving soon, and they’ve here! We haven’t had a chance to check out the new Stella lights in depth yet, but we will, and if you’d like to take a look at them, we’d be happy to show you. We weren’t expecting them for some another three weeks, so it’s a nice little surprise. Come in, check ‘em out and Be Seen!

Paris-Brest-Paris
There’s a lot if riding between Paris and Brest France, even more if you do it in reverse too. Which is precisely what the Randonneurs do when they ride from Paris to Brest and back, for 750 miles, in 90 hours. It’s a grueling ride, and we wanted to give a shout out to Mike Murray who rode the P.B.P. this year, and made it to the finish line in time. That’s some feat, and one most people don’t even want to think of attempting. Congratulations Mike!

Green Mountain Stage Race
Vermont looks like such a pretty place to ride, as long as you like hills. And mountains. What looks like lots of mountains, that over four days on Labor Day weekend, riders get to experience in the Green Mountain Stage Race. Congratulations go out to Dave Linden who took 11th place in the Masters 50+ category.