Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol4 no8

Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol4 no8
Its August and someone’s forgotten to turn off the HEAT, edition.

This edition of the Spoken Wrench is brought to you by the letter “U” for unicycles and unified fronts. Now, I’m pretty certain that everyone knows what a unicycle is. For those that don’t, its one wheel with a crank, that you pedal. You can’t coast. Sometimes, if they’re really tall, they’ll have a chain. (think circus clowns on unicycles.) What I doubt most people know, is that there are some very adventurous people who mountain bike on them. I’m not one of them, though we’ve seen a number of downhill and mountain unicycles.

As for united fronts, read on to find out what the City of Detroit decided about bikes and licenses for bikes in the city.

Bike Licenses go Away.
Tuesday, 29 July 2008, Detroit City Council voted 7-0 to repeal the 1964 city ordinance that allowed police to issue $55 tickets to anyone without a license beginning 7 August. It was a pretty unenforceable law, that some of the people who went to City Council on Monday had already been ticketed for. So, thankfully, the city’s done something intelligent this summer. I will leave all other comments about Detroit politics for sharing over beer with your best mates. So, Thanks to everyone who’s worked so hard to make the City of Detroit a little more bike friendly, and especially everyone who went and spoke in front of the the public health and safety committee.

Jersey de Amarillo
No, there’s not a new race beginning this fall, the Vuelta a España awards the Jersey de Oro, the Gold Jersey. But this year’s Tour de France winner was Carlos Sastre, CSC rider from Spain. It seemed like a fairly dope-free tour, which makes for better racing, if less news and hype surrounding the tour. The next big race is the Vuelta which begins 30 August in Granada, Spain, near the Mediteranian coast of Spain.

New BMX Racing!
Question: What can you put on land that is constantly settling?
Answer: A BMX Track.

Now that’s important because Lise Blades, Chair of the Lyon Township Parks Committee wants to use part of James F. Atchison Memorial Park (situated conveniently, between 96 and Grand river, just east of Kensington Metropark) for a BMX race track. The park was constructed on a closed landfill, and while permanent structures won’t stand up to the settling, a dirt track really wont mind it, who knows, it could add character. Now, Blades is looking for help to get the project going.

If BMX is your thing, or you’d like to get involved, check out http://www.newhudsonbmx.blogspot.com/ for the latest news and progress on the New Hudson Track.

And, as an added bonus, BMX makes its medal debut this year at the Olympics. If you want to watch, all cycling events will take place 9-23 August, but how much coverage cycling will get, we don’t know yet. Be sure to check CBC-9 and NBC for their schedule of Olympic events.

Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol4 no6

Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol4 no5
May-Day and other Summer things, Edition

This edition of the Spoken Wrench is brought to you by the letter “S,” for Spring, Summer, SUN! and Saving Gas! Spring is here, summer’s on the way, and one day, we’ll see the sun again. Since gas prices are approaching what most people consider astronomical, perhaps its time to think about alternate means of transportation. Bikes are a great way to get around, and an even better way to get around and save money. Not only do you get to save money on gas, you also get to do something good for the environment. So, if you see one of us tooling down the road on a large, slightly longer than normal brownish green Surly Big Dummy, we’re doing our part to not pay those stupid high gas prices, and most times, it takes less time for us to get places by bike in Hazel Park than it does by car.

Bicycling’s Editor’s Choice Awards
Commuter Bikes Oh My
May is Bike Month!
The Ride of Silence
Charity Ride Season is Here
Speaking of Repairs
Fittings, Fittings, And More Fittings.
The Giro d’Italia
News and Notes

Bicycling’s Editor’s Choice Awards
Every year, Bicycling Magazine chooses their favorite products from the year’s latest and greatest in both bikes and stuff. This years bikes were announced at Sea Otter in Monterey California, back in April. Sometimes we agree with the folks over at bicycling, sometimes we don’t. This year, it seems we’ve got a lot in common. In four categories, the bikes we would have picked are indeed the ones Bicycling chose.

In the “Best Recreational Road Bike” category Bicycling selected the Cannondale Six13 5, saying that “Its hard to go wrong with a bike like this.” We have to agree.

In the “Best Women’s Road Bike” category is the Synapse Feminine 3.

In the “Best Trail Bike” is the Giant Trance X1, which feature’s Giant’s Maestro suspension platform and Fox front and Rear Shocks.

Finally, in a category they probably could have invented, Breezer took home the “Best Commuter Bike” with the Villager, their 7 speed fully outfitted commuter bike.

Congratulations are in order to the winners, though I don’t think I’d want to ride the exact bikes the editors of Bicycling have been testing, it sounds a little like they beat ‘em up before awarding any prizes. The complete list of bikes is in the June 2008 edition of Bicycling Magazine, which should be available now.

Commuter Bikes Oh My!

With the gas prices we’re been seeing, and $4.00 a gallon hovering in the near-to-already-happened-future, bikes are continuing to look like a really good option for commuting. Anything with two wheels could be a commuter, but in general, you want to look for smooth, high pressure tires, fenders to keep away the mud and other road muck, lights for safety and a rear rack so you can haul a change of clothes, your lunch and maybe a laptop computer with you somewhere else than on your back. Breezer makes a number of commuters designed to be efficient and simple, with internal gearing so that you never have to worry that the mud on your chain is going to stop you from shifting. Bianchi makes hybrids designed to get you places, as does Kona. Giant opts for the cushier option of getting there, and, well Electra’s Townies and cruisers are meant to get you places while looking cool. So go ahead, look cool, and be cool while you commute in a gas free way.

Bike Month!
Who would have thought that there’d be a whole month dedicated to bikes? Well, actually, it should be bike month all year long, but I didn’t make the rules. If I had made the rules, well, it would always be bike month, and we’d have more bike friendly streets (heck more car friendly too when we get rid of the potholes that can eat whole cars) to name a few things. But, since I’ve got to be content with one month dedicated to bikes, and so does every one else, we’ll celebrate however we can. Bike to work day is Friday, 16 May, and we encourage everyone to look into biking to work.

The Ride of Silence
Honoring cyclist who have been killed or injured, this year’s Ride of Silence will take place on 21 May at 7PM on Belle Isle at the Fountain. The ride will be approximately 10 miles, at no faster than 12 miles per hour. Helmets are required. For more information about the Ride of Silence, go to www.rideofsilence.org.

Charity Ride Season is Here
And that means its time to bring your bike in NOW, while there’s still a while, you know, more than a week, between now and your charity ride date. Its not like the rides have had a major date change, so possibly its time to bring your bike in now, and have lots of time to train and get ready for ride after its been tuned up and working like a dream. Yes? Please? Thanks.

Speaking of Repairs
The Bicycle Doctor’s on call. And if you need a repair but can’t seem to make it when we’re open, or maybe you’ve got a garage full of bikes and its next to impossible to get them all in at once, calling the Bicycle doctor might just be the answer to life’s many bike questions. There is a $25 house call fee, and then labor is billed at a rate of $75/hr in ¼ hour increments. If that’s more math than you want to think about, give us a call and talk to the Bicycle Doctor himself.

And another friendly reminder, that if we’ve got your bike and your repair’s finished, we’d really rather you had your bike and we had a little more room to maneuver around the back room.

Fittings, Fittings, And More Fittings.
It is somewhere between remarkably and ridiculously important for a rider to be comfortable on their bike. Better comfort = better efficiency. So, we wanted to let you know, that as of June 1 we’re going to increase our fitting prices. So if you’ve been thinking about getting a fitting, now is probably the time to do it.

Existing Bike fittings are going up to $175 from $125. Size Cycle fittings will be $200, from $150. We’re adding a new category for Time Trail and Aero bar fittings, at $250. Tandem clinics will also be going up to $175.

The Giro d’Italia
There are three big tours in cycling, the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. Following the Northern Classics, the Giro is the first big stage race, running from 10 May to 1 June, (stage 6 has already finished for today, but I wont go spoiling the results). It’s also one of the Triple Crown Races, and part of the World Cycling Championship. You’ll find each of us rooting for a different rider this season, John and I are Magnus Backstedt fans (riding for Team Slipstream), while Jason’s rooting for Danilo Di Luca (riding for LPR), Randy’s not rooting for anyone, Dave’s not here for me to ask, and Chris is rooting for Paulo “the cricket” Bettini of Quick Step.

Cannondale is once again sponsoring Liquigas, Bianchi has taken over sponsorship of Barloworld and Giant is sponsoring Team High Road (formerly T-mobile/Deutsche Telekom). Hopefully with a promising start to the season, we can all enjoy a slightly more drama/doping/scandal free pro season. Well, we can hope, at least.

News and Notes

• Randy’s son Kevin Martin has earned his EMT certification while working as a hospital corpsman in Japan.
• We’ve got new counters, and if you haven’t seen them, come on in and take a look, and if your so inclined sample some of our complimentary coffee or tea.
• Fridays at 6:15/6:30ish PM is the Fix Detroit ride. Starts at the shop, anywhere between 15 and 20 miles, on single speeds, preferably fixed gears, and possibly the promise not to shift. Most Fridays when the weather’s nicer. If you’ve got any questions, give us a call and talk to Dave or Jason. (you can also email Jason@continentalbikeshop.com)
• This Month’s Tip will return at an as yet unannounced and unplanned later date this summer. As always, if you’ve got a question or a suggestion, drop us a line.