Last Day of May Shop Ride Report

Good shop ride tonight!  Our statistician noted that we averaged .1 mph less than our ride last week (probably because we were not trying to match Cassie on the climbs) and were more interested in chatting and getting caught-up.

Dave and Matt brought out the steel bikes and schooled us on the climbs.  Matt is also a an awesome descent artist and can really fly for a light rider.  Someone mentioned that next week is the first ride of the month and that there should be pizza afterward - we agree!

See you next Thursday for riding and pizza - 5:30 pm.

Intro to Bike Commuting (with Style) for Women Talk & Shop at Two Wheel Transit

Iced drinks and good food await tonight for the Intro to Bike Commuting (with Style) for Women Talk & Shop at Two Wheel Transit beginning at 5:30pm.  If you already commute by bike then bring a friend and come on down!
http://bikestylespokane.com/

www.twowheeltransit.com

Memorial Day Weekend

We will be closed on Monday, May 28 in observance of the Memorial Day Holiday.

Intro to Bike Commuting (with Style) for Women Talk & Shop at Two Wheel Transit

May 30th from 5:30 - 7 pm Barb Chamberlain is bringing Bike Style to Two Wheel Transit! She has the cuteness, we have all the bikes & gear.

Bike Style Spokane Chief Biking Officer Barb will give a talk about how she got started bike commuting and provide basic tips and Q&A. Shop employees will be on hand to answer questions about maintenance and hands-on instruction on changing a flat.

According to Barb, she will also have a selection of Nuu-Muus/Ruu-Muus, Sweet Spot Skirts, Sheila Moon lace-trimmed shorts/knickers, and other pretty things to give you style on and off the bike.

Schwalbe Tires

Don't know if anyone else thinks this video is cool, but we think it is amazing and shows how much goes into the design, manufacture and quality control of good tires.  We were disappointed in the lack of white lab coats though.  Enjoy

Trek Factory Demo Recap

Great weather, bikes and venue all contributed to a sucessful bike demo event this past Saturday and Sunday.  Bruce was grilling brats and talking bikes the whole weekend.  Everyone got to ride the bike of their choice and several rode some different models to compare side-by-side.

The most popular mountain bikes were the Superfly 100, Rumblefish and Fuel EX 9.8.  On the road side, the Domane was out quite a lot and the wide eyes and huge smiles of the returning riders told the story of new found love. 

Thanks to everyone who stopped-by to say hello and to Trek for making the event a sucess.

Trek Factory Demo Saturday & Sunday 10 - 3

We will be doing some set-up tonight at the Bowl and Pitcher Campground in Riverside State Park for the Trek Factory Demo tomorrow and Sunday from 10 - 3 each day.  Weather looks to be good for trying-out the hot 2012 Trek Bikes.  We will be grilling Brats and talking bikes.  Come on out!

Ride Report - Moots Psychlo X

The first ride on the new Titanium Moots Psychlo X was not quite aligned with its intended purpose of course cyclocross racing.  Instead, I swapped in some road wheels with 700x23 road tires and rode the Hangman Valley loop.  Most of my riding is on the road these days and I thought this would give me a good comparison to tease-out the riding characteristics and any undesirable traits (there are none) the bike might have.  Also, I have never ridden a cross bike off road so I would not have any basis for comparison in this case.

I got the aspect a little off so the front tire appears to take all of the clearance - this is not the case in reality.

No more homeless squirrels...

Those familiar with the loop know it has a lot of chip seal, climbing, descending and rough, cracked road - perfect for bike frame test track.

First, I did not fully appreciate the cavernous tire clearance the frame and carbon fork provide until I exchanged the Speedmax Cross tires for the road set.  Not that things were tight with the cross tires -I felt I could have run MTB tires and still had room for a family of squirrels in there. The folks at Moots take clearance seriously when designing their frames for things like mud and fenders.  The narrow road tires merely accentuated how much room there is for clearance - nice touch.  The fit, finish and welds on these frames are second to none which is what we have come to expect from the company's more than 30 years of frame building and fanatical attention to detail.

The best way to describe the ride is smooth, responsive and predictable.  The frame and fork do a nice job of removing the harshness from chip seal and cracks without making the ride dead or wooden.  There is still plenty of road feel and responsiveness to the ride.  The best test for this was bombing down the broken and uneven surface of Hatch Road at full speed.  The bike transmitted what was going on beneath the tires, but without any of the harshness experienced with some other frame designs.  The only way to describe it is that it is more like the rumble of a passing train than buzzing or sharp jolts.  The other thing was the ride and handling were rock-steady and confidence inspiring at any speed.

I expect the ride quality will go from excellent to sublime when I switch back to higher volume and lower pressure tires from the 700x23 with 110 psi.

Climbing and sprinting indicated no tendency to flex in either the bottom bracket or front end.  It just lunges forward in the direction you point it.  Same for turns, you feel like you are carving nice turns on skis in powder as you shift your weight from side to side.

Moots clearly designed this frame for racing, but due to its good manners and smooth ride I can see it being used as a fun weekend logging road bike that wont complain about getting muddy.  This alone holds the promise of freedom, a lot of time in the saddle and adventure - all of which is probably what got most us hooked on cycling in the first place.

It seems prudent to do a few more test rides (if it sticks around that long) to learn more about this beauty.  Some extended dirt road rides in the Palouse will provide some more insight on how it handles the environment for which it was designed.  Some easy rides on the the HD trails should give some clues as to the handling and ride quality in sandy/rocky conditions - so stay tuned.

Moots Psychlo X is Complete

The Moots Psychlo X will be making its public debut tomorrow at the Wednesday Night Mountain Bike Race in Riverside State Park. This photo will have to do until then.  Stay tuned for a complete ride report in a few days.  The initial impressions are very good with a stiff bottom bracket and front-end and a comfortable ride with predictable handling.

Lots of Stuff

This is a very busy time and week in particular for Two Wheel Transit and we would not have it any other way!  Here is a rundown of what is going down:

1. The Moots Psychlo X cross bike will make its debut in the shop this week
2. Wednesday Night Mountain Bike Race Series kicks-off on Wednesday sponsored by, you guessed it, Two Wheel Transit.
3. Thursday night shop ride - 5:30 pm
4. Saturday, Trek Demo Days at Riverside State Park, Bowl & Pitcher campground 10 am - 3 pm
5. Sunday, Trek Demo Days at Riverside State Park, Bowl & Pitcher campground 10 am - 3 pm

Please note, that items 2, 4 and 5 all require the Washington State Discovery Pass in your vehicle if you are planning to drive.

Shop Ride

The weather looks great for a shop ride tonight at 5:30 pm.  Hope to see you there as it should be a good turn-out tonight.

MOOTS Psychlo X Update

The build for the Moots cross bike is proceeding nicely.  She would have been done yesterday, but we needed a couple of parts for the canti brake assembly since Shimano essentially fixes the length of the straddle cables.  That means if a bike has a shorter distance to the brake cable stop, there may not be enough clearance between top of the straddle and the stop to provide a margin of safety. 

To create this margin we chose to go to an adjustable straddle length and thus needed some additional parts.  We will have some more photos available later in the week when it is complete

The bike will be on display at the first Wednesday Night Mountain Bike Race on May 15th.

Beautiful Ride with an Ugly Side

What a gorgeous day!  It was so cool to see so many folks out cycling today.  I do not recall seeing as many as 40 riders south of town in just a few short hours.  Everyone was on road bikes - a few solos and mostly groups of 4 or 5.

The common denominator was that everyone I saw seemed to be in a state of absolute bliss - even while suffering up the Valley Chapel grade.  I was fortunate enough to get out for a solo ride out to a few miles south of Fairfield and back all before noon.  Coming back on Valley Chapel, I saw a couple of riders side by side at at a leisurely pace so I kept the spin going to try and catch them.  There really is no shoulder on VC so the side by side riding was pretty appropriate.

I finally came within about 20 yards behind them and noticed that they were heading up a grade oblivious to both me and the car approaching us from behind.   The car was occupied by a mom with a car seat in the back and passed me quite easily to close on the pair ahead.  She started to pull around them and then hit the brakes as another cyclist was coming down the grade about 75 yards ahead.

To my absolute disbelief, she then continued the pass into the lane of the oncoming cyclist and abruptly cut back over to the right.  I saw the oncoming cyclist hit the brakes and expected to see the 1 finger salute - but to his credit he kept it holstered.

I can't be sure of timing, but expect that the mom would have waited no more than 20 seconds if she were to safely pass after the oncoming cyclist went by her.   Nor can I conjure a scenario where a reasonable person would think that this was okay given the circumstances.  She appeared genuinely annoyed that we were on her road.  Maybe she was having a bad day - who knows? 

I passed the pair of riders and they were still chatting as if nothing had happened.
I am glad that was the ugliest thing I witnessed on the ride and hope that drivers will again become accustomed to us on the road and give a wide berth when safe to pass.  I  need to note that I was passed a minute later by a senior driving and old Ford Galaxy with a straw cowboy hat who waited until I waved him around. He passed safely in the left lane and even gave me a little wave- he must of noticed my fetching Two Wheel Transit jersey.   Today that was more the rule than the exception from most drivers.

Regardless, always expect the unexpected and ride defensively. 

See you on the road.

MOOTS Psychlo X

The Ultimate Gravel Grinder

  

Built to shine in a discipline that requires balance, skill, finesse and dependable equipment, the Psychlo X hits all the marks and then some. From time-tested geometry to the subtle, yet crucial, cable routing positions on the frame, the Psychlo X lets the rider concentrate on the task at hand – suffering through the cold and slop of the cyclocross course. Not only does the Psychlo X design account for the mud and suffering of cyclocross, but this versatile bike also excels at endless miles of dirt roads and daily commutes. For many, this frame quickly becomes the utility bike they can’t live without, once the cross season comes to a close. Built in 7 stock sizes with custom always available.



Our first build will utilize the Shimano Ultegra CX-70 group with canti brakes, a top-pull front derailleur, a 46/36 front crank and Bontrager RXL scandium wheels.  We chose not to go with Di2 right out of the chute since this was a stock frame and we did not want to run external wiring.

Our next build will have Di2 drilling for the internal wire.  The front fork comes with a through-hole for mounting the brakes so we will use a canti stop there rather than putting one up in the headset stack.

This bike shows a lot of promise with thoughtful design and world-class craftsmanship.  The clearance for bigger tires and fenders will make this a go to bike for endless adventure after the cross season finishes.



Intended Use: True all-out Cyclocross performer, ride, train or race. The ultimate gravel grinder for dirt roads or muddy fields.