Every professional cycling team needs a headquarters — a place where it stores everything needed to keep 30 riders on the road. At the service course there’s everything you can imagine you’d need, from spare team-bus toilets to bed mattresses and bottles of water to physical therapy supplies. There are shelves full of jam, detergent, and chamois cream. Toothpaste, beer, and bleach. It’s a bit like a bike shop mixed up with a supermarket, without any registers. Take a look.
Wrapping fresh, new tape around your handlebars can make your bike look and feel like new. Here's how to do it.
On the wall above the entrance to the paintshop in the premises – soon to be vacated – of the Pegoretti works, hangs a large sheet of paper, scrawled with signatures round the central motif: a caricature of the man Dario, sitting on an upturned tin tub, toasting a crab, skewered to the end of a pair of dislocated forks, over a small fire.
Get your bike ready for smooth riding this spring with this helpful bike maintenance checklist from Lennard Zinn.
No two bicycle workshops are quite the same. Some are pristine, super-organized spaces run with a firm hand: everything has a place and everything is in its place. Others look like utter carnage, yet the resident mechanic seems to know where everything lives.
You cannot build a bike from scratch or service it properly without high-quality tools.
The rules of the road are left at the start line, and the police wave you on to speeds unheard of in built-up areas. It’s pretty remarkable that there aren’t more accidents. Sometimes it’s a miracle that everyone gets home in one piece — near misses are inevitable.
The wheel change is a pressure situation; practice and a calm approach is essential. It's the one time that a mechanic can really help his riders during a race. Good changes take a few seconds.
There is one thing that has always been and remains a part of the daily toil — bike washing.
A mistake by the pro team bike mechanic can cost the team the race
There was a time when adjusting a bike needed a lot of tools — even setting up a pair of brakes required hours of patience.
Keep your bike in smooth riding shape with this mid-season checklist of top priority bike maintenance tasks from Lennard Zinn.
“The Elite Bicycle is one of the finer coffee table books we’ve seen in years. The book profiles some of the world’s greatest (and disappearing) bike artisans with shart portraits, incisive photojournalism, and keen essays.” — Outside magazine “This beautiful book is all about the bike — in exquisite, intimate, celebratory detail. This beautiful bookRead more »
It's TIME (Time Sport International), maker of carbon tubing frames, pedals, handlebars, bar stems, and bottle cages.
And who's making these tough, light, finely manufactured hubs in colors for every taste? It's Chris King.
“Ultimately, what you come away with is something different; it’s the sense that you’ve spent an afternoon at the builder or company’s work space, that you’ve seen the work being done and then been left to wander on your own. You could unleash a dozen cycling photographers on the same set of subjects and veryRead more »
“An eccentric and entertaining book, beautifully produced with top-quality photos and amusing but informative text and a foreword by cycling-mad British fashion designer Sir Paul Smith, “The Elite Bicycle” deserves to find a place on many a cyclist’s bookshelf this holiday season.” — PezCyclingNews.com The Elite Bicycle brings together intimate portraits of the world’s greatest bicycleRead more »
"What drew me in was the combination of a beautiful sport with beautiful bikes. They spoke to me, and they were used for racing." These are the words of the immortal Richard Sachs, one of the 29 bicycle artisans featured in the new book The Elite Bicycle.
“What makes The Elite Bicycle so fantastic is not so much what is said about the people and companies themselves, but the insightful, lesser-known tidbits that provide a greater depth of understanding…It’s little gems that are peppered throughout the already rich descriptions of people and place that make the profiles spring to life.” — RoadBikeReview.comRead more »
“While the only way to truly experience the quality and craftsmanship of these components is to ride them, the book gives an effective introduction to many of the brands we often hear about without ever fully appreciating why. After spending a few hours with The Elite Bicycle, you’ll no longer be a just a name-dropper.”Read more »
Prolly is Not Probably is an urban bike culture blog that began its cultural commentary in 2006. John Watson, the site's editor, feels that The Elite Bicycle is rather swell.
One could call DiNucci the Portland Pioneer of bicycle frame-builders.
“With such a roll-call of names, the authors were certainly off to a good start…and they have managed a hugely rewarding and useful guide for any bike enthusiast. One which not only covers some of the technical aspects of production in engaging depth, but also gives great insights into both the personalities and, dare weRead more »
This brief portrait of Pereira Cycles was adapted from its full chapter in the new book The Elite Bicycle.
"The thing about TA," the enthusiasts for the marque from early days will tell you, is that "it's bombproof."
Tough conditions? Ideal. Bad weather, long distances, challenging road surfaces? Bring 'em on. That's the philosophy of Ira Ryan, a small, handmade bicycle builder from Oregon.
"I can work with you to help design your perfect daily driver city bike, your health conscious trainer, or your specific event competition machine." These are the words of Winter Bicycles' Eric Estlund.
It all began in 1865. A simple harness maker by the surname Brooks, left his native Leicestershire town of Hinckley for Birmingham. Once he arrived, he established a business in horse harnesses and general leather goods on Great Charles Street under the name JB Brooks & CO.
"One Bike. Yours." That's the motto of Seven Cycles, a passionate custom bicycle builder located in Watertown, Massachusetts.
The company that's producing these artisanal bikes is CYFAC (Cycles Fabrication Artisanale de Cadres or craft-made bicycle frames).
These words still hold true despite the now uncertain fate of the Ben Serotta brand. Its legend will live on in its superbly crafted bikes and in its riders who have known the perfect fit.
Independent Fabrication. Their trading principles? Making high-end, precise, handcrafted frames, and allowing the customer to paint his or her bike whatever color his or her heart desires, no matter how ugly it may be.
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