Tours and news from some of the best brands in the industry.
According to Dropmachine.com, a press release by Tenneco states that they are in the process of acquiring Marzocchi. Tenneco is an automotive based company out of Lake Forest, IL that works with General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler, PSA Peugeot, Citroen, Toyota, Honda and Nissan on their ride control, emissions control and elastomer products.
These new shifters combined with the new Hammerschmidt front shifting device is bound to make it a HUGE Interbike for SRAM this year. It really seems like they are starting to think outside the box of conventional shifting. I welcome this change. Shifting has been done the same for a long time. It’s time to shake things up a little bit.
CLIX Systems, Inc. has introduced a revolutionary new wheel release system, called CLIX™. For the first time ever, riders are able to install and lock their front wheel with no cam adjustment, and with only one hand. The traditional quick release was invented in 1927 and is a safe and effective system when operated correctly. However, correct operation is not inherently obvious to all riders.
As “Fall 2008” grows closer, we are getting more teasers out of the SRAM camp on the new front shifting mechanism called “HammerSchmidt.” This update included several videos that almost show you the testing and final product. They do a great job at being humorous about “almost” showing the front cranks/shifting.
Ramona, Calif., (June 16, 2008) – Ellsworth Handcrafted Bicycles, Inc. is pleased to announce that David Woronets will be joining Ellsworth as operations manager. Effective June 16, Woronets will oversee Ellsworth’s frame building operations in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area as Ellsworth continues to optimize building the finest bike frames in the world right here in the USA.
Be on the lookout for my Pro Reviews on MTBR. I have been talking with MTBR over the course of this week and we are both really excited about adding my reviews to their site. The first review posted is the Maxxis Ardent 29er post that some of you may have already seen. From now on, I will be posting product reviews to the MTBR site at the same time as MTB by 198.
A post on our local board this week pointed in the direction of an article on Specialized Bikes. On March 16, 2008, CNN Money published an article of Mark Sinyard telling his story of Specialized Bikes. The article is a great testament on how one man can grow a company from a trailer to 500 million by overcoming diversity along the way.
Walking into the front door, you come straight into the final assembly and order staging area of the plant. You can see by the pictures below they stock your spokes and hubs in white boxes and the rims go on the other wall. Finished prototypes are hung on one side of the room and the finished boxed wheelsets are stacked all over the place.
Singletrackworld.com hooked us up with a video of the new “Magic Link” on the Coilair Supreme from Kona. Interesting concept, and at least from this video you can get an idea on how the linkage/dual shock setup works. Real world testing on some serious trails will be the real test on if this bike truly works as it says or not. In the meantime, this video does help to spell out more clearly how the bike works.
Now, these measurements will vary slightly depending on rim choice. My 2.6 is measuring out smaller on the 5.1d (27.8mm wide) than it would on an 823 (30mm wide). The rear 2.4 width on the 823 is pretty close to what you should find on most DH rims. The full labeled production versions should be very close to this set.