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 no7

Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol4 no7
June-time and the Summer Sometimes Swelter Edition

This edition of the Spoken Wrench is brought to you by the letter “T,” Tubes, Tires, Tune-ups, Tandems, Tubus Racks, Townies, Torkers, Trikes, and plenty of Time to ride. Summer is here, despite what the temperature and calendar may say, and so are longer days, hence the plenty of Time to ride. The beginning of summer also means the charity ride season is in full swing. If you need a Tune-up before your charity ride, come see us today, not three days before you’re supposed to leave for the WAM, MS150, DALMAC or other charity ride. We don’t like short notice like that, and we certainly don’t like telling you that we can’t get to your bike before you need it.

Tubes and tires are ever important, without them, your bike isn’t going to get very far. Tandems are a great way to ride together if the person you want to ride with has a different skill level than you. As I mentioned in the last edition, that was, by the way improperly numbered, gas prices are a constant concern for every one. Torker makes cruisers for the more budget minded folks. (remember, we love ‘em, or we wouldn’t have ‘em in the store.) A nice reliable 3 speed is a great way to commute, that internally geared hub will withstand just about anything you can throw at it, short of a dip in a lake or river.

Giant’s Team High RoadNews You Can Use

There’s beer in them thar glasses! And Coffee too.

The 2008 Tour de France

Rising Prices of, well, everything

Charity Ride Season is (still) Here!

Giant’s Team High Road
Team High Road, formerly the T-Moblie/Deutche Telekom team, has a new sponsor, Columbia Sportswear. That’s all well and good, but thats actually not why I’m mentioning them. High Road/Columbia also has the most successful mens and womens squads this season. Congratulations are in order for them, and good luck at the Tour!

News You Can Use

There comes a time in everyone’s life, when they forget what they were typing and suddenly the newsletter article sounds funny. Hmm. Ah yes. News you can use, and we best share otherwise someone will be very unhappy with us. We will be closed for Independence Day. We will also be closed for July 5. That’s right, the shop’s taking a long weekend, like we anticipate everyone else in the state/country might be doing.

So I think it bears repeating. We will be closed July 4th and 5th, for the holiday. We will also be closed July 6th because we’re never open on Sundays, and we’ll see you all again on Monday, July 7th. Yep. We’ll be enjoying a real weekend too. So, Happy independence Day. Enjoy your barbeques, fireworks, and other festivities.

Also, Happy Canada Day to everyone on the other side of the border!

There’s beer in them thar glasses! And Coffee too.
A number of us are beer drinkers, and probably an equal, but not identical number of us a coffee drinkers. Why does that matter? Well, since the addition of a coffee machine last fall, we’ve noticed a large number of our customers are also coffee drinkers. So, Continental is proud to present new (and improved?) coffee mugs. We understand that not everyone likes coffee. I generally fall into that category, since what I drink is usually best described as ‘overpriced’ and ‘frou-frou’; is slightly coffee and mostly milk and sugar; and frequently takes way too long. (Just because we call them ‘coffee mugs’ doesn’t mean you can’t make tea or hot coccoa in them. We do that too.)

For the beer drinkers, and the pint glass collectors, we’ve also got new Continental Bike Shop pint and Pilsner glasses. They are spiffy and sport the Continental logo on them in black. We’re more than happy to drink out of them, and I think everyone else should be, too.

The 2008 Tour de France
Beginning on 5 July, (secretly, part of the reason we’re taking the day off, even if we don’t know it yet…) the 2008 Tour de France promises some surprises. If for no other reason, than the 2007 1st and 3rd place finishers, Alberto Contador and Levi Leipenheimer, respectively, won’t be riding. Their team, Astana, has been barred from racing in the tour, (actually they’d been barred from the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta, but Astana was invited to the Giro at the last minute and Contador won) due to Astana’s involvement in doping scandals in 2006 and 2007.This year’s teams are, in alphabetical order (now with links to the team websites, or in a couple of cases, the only thing available in English…):

Ag2r-La Mondiale
Agritubel
Barloworld
Bouygues Télécom
Caisse d’Epargne
Cofidis, le Crédit par téléphone
Crédit Agricole
Euskaltel-Euskadi
Française des Jeux
Gerolsteiner
Lampre
Liquigas
Quick Step
Rabobank
Saunier Duval-Scott
Silence-Lotto
Team Columbia (Formerly Team High Road)
Team CSC Saxo Bank
Team Garmin-Chipotle (formerly Slipstream-Chipotle)
Team MilramHigh Road and Slipstream-Chipotle both changed names and title sponsors this month, and this is Gerolsteiner’s last year as a pro team. While I may not have mastered the intricacies of UCI pro racing, I think that about covers the basic things to note for the Tour de France. I’m hoping for an exciting, yet scandal free Tour, though based on recent years and no Astana, I’m not going to hold my breath.

Rising Prices of, well, everything
Its not often that we get a lot of advance notice about price increases, and changes. Most of the time we order something, and magically its more expensive this time. Gas prices are the prime example of rising prices, but so is food. And any and all rubber products.Thankfully? Maybe, this time we have warning. Now is a really good time to buy a bike. Not that now is ever a bad time to buy a bike, but now is a really good time to buy a bike. Just about every bike company has notified us that prices for 2009 will be going up in the neighborhood of 20%.

I am, unfortunately, completely aware of what I’ve just said. Its not something we’re looking forward to, nor is it something we really have any control over. So if a bike is in your future you might want to look at making it the very near future.

Speaking of the previously mentioned rubber products, its likely that in the near future tires and tubes will be seeing a significant price increase.

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.

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.

There’s nothing worse than that sinking feeling that you waited too long to get your bike repaired and now everyone’s scrambling to get ready for the ride. So please, please, please, give yourself some time between when you bring the bike in and when your ride it. Everyone involved will thank you.

Once again, Happy Independence Day!

Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol4 no4

Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol4 no4March Madness Make the Snow Stop! Edition

This edition of the Spoken Wrench is brought to you by the letter “R,” you know, as in repair. Spring has sprung in Michigan, despite the snow, and what anyone may think. April is just around the corner, meaning that better riding weather, longer days, and longer repair turnarounds will follow close behind… We’ve tried, for as long as we’ve been here to convince people that winter, when you’re not thinking of riding, not thinking about your bike is really the best time to have it worked on. Despite our best efforts, no one seems to listen. So, spring is here, and so is the need for a repair, and, no, I’m sorry, you will have to leave your bike, and no, you can’t have it back tomorrow.

The Big Dummy is Here!

No, we’re not calling anyone names, the Big Dummy is Surly’s answer to some very high gas prices. Think you can’t commute because you’ve got too much stuff to bring with you? Surly has solved that problem. Using Xtracycle’s Freeradical frame as a starting point, the Big Dummy can carry a week’s worth of groceries, a surf board (not that you really need a surf board in Michigan), another bike, your friends, a sheepdog, or just the day’s stuff. There’s endless ways to use your Big Dummy. We’ve been using ours to get to and from lunch and everywhere else in Hazel Park.

Let Levi Ride!

In 2007 Astana ran afoul of the ASO (the people who own the Tour de France) and the UCI. For 2008, the new home of Levi Leipenheimer, and Alberto Contador, winner of the 2007 Tour, Astana hasn’t been invited to the 2008 Tour de France. If you think Levi should ride (since he’s the English speaker pushing hardest to get Astana onto the Tour) visit LetLeviRide.com and add your name to the petition. If you think that two years worth of doping scandals means that Astana shouldn’t ride, well, don’t sign the petition, and I can’t necessarily disagree with you.

April Fools!

Tuesday is April 1st. April Fools’ Day is here, and with it comes our annual sale. Spring is here, just ignore the snow, and get ready to ride. We’ll be open 8AM -7PM for the sale, so everyone has enough time to make it in. We will not be extending the sale to Wednesday, it’s a one day only event. We hope to see you there, and as always, bring a friend! Its always more fun to ride with company!

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It’s a mountain bike! No, It’s a Hybrid!

No, it’s both. It happens to be the 2008 Cannondale 29’er 4. 29’ers have been a hot topic of conversation for a while now, and we know why. If you really are planning on mountain biking, and yet you know you’re going to need to ride your bike on the road, a 29’er is the way to go. With larger wheels, you get better momentum, and with a quick change of the tire, you’ve got a very nicely equipped hybrid that can handle, literally, everything you might want to throw at it.

In the Navy!

Kevin’s keeping busy in the Navy, in Japan. In addition to being a Hospitalman, Kevin is part of the Auxiliary Security Forces (ASF). Here’s what the Navy says:

080317-N-4649C-022 YOKOSUKA, Japan (March 17, 2008) Hospitalman Kevin Martin, a native of Gregory, Mich., stationed at U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka, Japan, practices knee strikes as Grove Hill, Ala.-native Postal Clerk Seaman Apprentice Charles Motes, assigned to Fleet Industrial Supply Center (CFA) Yokosuka assists during auxiliary security force (ASF) training at Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka. Sailors from various commands around Yokosuka make up the ASF team, which assists the CFA security force. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Chantel M. Clayton (Released)