Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol4 no12
Post Interbike, in which I remove my foot from my mouth, edition.
This edition of the Spoken Wrench is brought to you by Interbike. No letters this time. There’s still plenty we haven’t talked about, and a few corrections to be made. And an assurance to Jason and Travis that, yes, I do plan on posting what they thought about the bikes….
So without further ado, I will begin with the corrections and continue onto the other important stuff.
Corrections:
1.Repair classes.
2.Schwinn.
All Women’s Clothing 40% off!!!
Interbike…
Jason’s Picks
Travis’ Picks
My Picks
What really happens in Vegas.
Correction #1: Repair Classes.
Last time, I stated that Repair Classes were 6 weeks long. No, they are not. Each session is 4 weeks long. I apologize for any confusion. Jason corrected me first this Tuesday morning, so I’m passing that on.
Correction #2: Schwinn.
Ok, first of all, Schwinn of Chicago fame, the great American bike company that everyone grew up with? Yeah, they don’t exist anymore. Somewhere in the quest for money and world domination, they sold more than their souls. So from a historical standpoint, this is a monumental year for the name. From a ’should I buy one standpoint?’ no, no you shouldn’t buy a Schwinn, you should buy a bike made by Richard Schwinn. And that’d be a Waterford.
Schwinn is not celebrating its 75th anniversary. The Paramount however, is. And its the first American made frame in, uh, decades. Two and a half of them to be exact. That frame is the one made by Mr Richard Schwinn, who happens to run Waterford and Gunnar. Its pretty and a piece of history. But not a bike we need.
Women’s Clothes!
All of our women’s clothing is 40% off. Now’s a good time to get some new jerseys, shorts, gloves, jackets and the like. Socks and shoes not included. Obviously, in stock only. Come on in ans try em on. Sale stuff like this is final.
Interbike…
Some day, we will get tired of talking about Interbike, but not yet. I had promised more commentary and reviews of stuff we liked, and that may be all well and good, but Jason also pointed out that this needs to be timely, and if we don’t talk about it now, it’ll be January before we’re done talking about new bikes. So without further ado, everyone else’s picks and then maybe some of the stuff that missed the mark.
Feel free to disagree with that last part. Actually, feel free to disagree always, at least with the opinion part of stuff.
Jason says:
Best Road Bike: Cannondale SuperSix. It’s light, stiff through the bottom bracket, responsive, and yet, won’t beat you up over Michigan roads, unlike a lot of other manufacturers who are making bikes too stiff for our roads.
Best Mountain Bike: Giant Trance XO. It’s super efficient, fast, light and has lots of travel. The Trance XO also sports the new 15mm QR standard. Yes, we admit, we thought it was a ploy. But Jason swears it tracks far better, its stiffer and its not just another QR standard.
One thing to take home: Campagnolo Super Record 11. With redesigned levers that are even more comfortable than the already super friendly Campy levers, Super Record 11 is really the next great grouppo. Who needs electronic shifting when you have 11 gears that run like butter?
Travis’ Picks
So, I missed Demo Days. I didn’t get to ride anything while in Vegas. I’m ok with that. Heat and dry and me didn’t get along last time anyway. So this is all the stuff I thought looked cool. And the Minxy, I’d take home in a heartbeat. One thing to take home: Kona Minxy. I’ve never wanted a full suspension mountain bike. I have a Kona Lava Dome and I love it. But I’d take up mountain biking worthy of this bike if someone would give me a Minxy. Its a women’s specific frame. And I’m ok with that. Its not painted pink, purple, or any other unfortunate color. Its black with a nice angry looking tiger on the head and down tubes. It looks cool. I’m sure, since its a Kona and well, this is what they do, it would be perfect for the kind of riding I’m admittedly a little scared to try. But now, I really want to try it, and that’s probably the biggest hurdle to get over.
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| From Interbike 2008 |
Coolest Bike I didn’t pick to take home: That would be a tie between the Kona Kapu and the Bianchi Dolomiti. I have a soft spot for steel. I’ve never had the joy of owning a lugged steel road frame, but there is yet hope. Both the Kapu and the Dolomiti are lugged steel. And despite swearing I’d never own another yellow bike, the Kapu is growing on me. Celeste was also a color I’d really never planned on owning, but there’s something about a Campy equipped lugged steel frame that’s just perfect.
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| From Interbike 2008 |
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| From Interbike 2008 |
What really happens in Vegas.
Vegas is not necessarily where we’d choose to hold Interbike, given the chance. But, no one can come up with a better idea, and the show signed another five year contract with the Sands, so for the foreseeable future, Interbike will be in Vegas. None of us really gamble, but there’s plenty of other things we can get into. And fortunately or unfortunately, there’s usually photographic evidence.
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| From What really happens in Vegas |
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| From What really happens in Vegas |
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| From What really happens in Vegas |
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| From What really happens in Vegas |
Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol4 no11
Post Interbike, Hot Hot Heat edition
Interbike in Review
Dave’s favorite
Cool Weather, Warm Clothes.
Teach a man to fish, and he will eat for life, or something…
Repairs. Again.
Interbike in Review
In case any one was wondering, it was freaking hot in Vegas while we were there. Hot and dry is completely different than hot and humid. And only better if you like it, and like feeling like the purpose of your existence is to give the air around you a little extra moisture.
The show however, was usually rather chilly. Better than not chilly in a giant convention center with thousands of your closest friends and associates. There was so much Interbike this year that none of us saw anywhere near all of it. But we’ve all got things we like best and think are cool, and then, the one thing we’d like to take home with us. Only one thing each makes us think. And wonder what exactly is the best thing we saw.
We’ll give a little of what we think was the best of Interbike in a couple of different categories in the next few Spoken Wrenches.
In addition to this year being the 75th anniversary of Schwinn, and a Schwinn actually making the 75th anniversary frame, Waterford, Richard Schwinn’s frame company, created, because when you see this thing, ‘made’ just doesn’t do it justice, one of the most beautiful frames we’ve ever seen. Not much can do this frame justice, and even the pictures don’t really give you the full effect.
So without further ado, we give you the Waterford frame. One of the coolest and most beautiful frames of Interbike. Or, you know, ever.
Oh, and all those musical notes are 3-d raised metal work. And freaking awesome.
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| From Interbike 2008 |
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| From Interbike 2008 |
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| From Interbike 2008 |
Clothes make the rider. Well, maybe not entirely, but they will make the rider more comfortable, and warm enough to ride whatever the weather throws at you, and as we all know, in Michigan, what doesn’t it throw at us? So, arm warmers, tights, leg warmers, balaclavas (not reccomended for use while shopping at 7-11) and other goodies are here. Because riding’s great, frostbite’s not.
Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime… or something like that…(aka, profound thoughts on repair classes.)
I am aware that I’ve absconded with a fairly famous saying about fishing. But here’s how it works. If you can fish, you can feed yourself. If you learn to work on your bike, you can work on your bike. I know, the fish saying is more refined, but I’m not planning on being that profound right now.
Its beginning to look a lot like fall, and we’ve been thinking about repair classes. Specifically, how many of them we might need to run, whether we have enough interest to run a set of classes soon, and again in the new year. We’re pretty much open to any commentary you might have about repair classes.
Classes are $125 for six weeks and a Park Big Blue School Manual (or whatever they call it now). You work on your own bike, which we store for you during the class, since you’ll be pretty much tearing it down and putting it back together week by week.
If you’re interested in repair classes, email us and let us know these four things:
1.Your Name
2.Your phone number. The best one to reach you at to let you know more details.
3.Whether you’d prefer class now, in early 2009, or you don’t care?
4.How many people you’re RSVPing for? Just you, you and a friend? (its still $125 a person even if you RSVP for two.)
Repairs. For the record.
I know, this is by far the best riding season Michigan offers. Especially when Fall is actually Fall and not Indian Summer followed directly by WINTER. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to think about winter yet. For two reasons, one, as mentioned, clothes make the rider, and two, why not bring your bike in while we’re less busy, and get it back way faster than in the spring when everyone’s thinking about riding. All you have to do when the first nice day rolls around is put some air in those tires and ride! Pretty please? Some day, we might actually tire of reminding everyone that winter is the best repair season. But I kind of doubt it.
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