Posts in category cyclocross tech

With Gabby Day stateside for the start of her normally European-based season, it seemed like a perfect chance to get an up-close and personal look at her new Raleigh RXC Pro Carbon bikes with Ritchey and SRAM Red componentry. Since we’re the same size, it’s been a huge temptation for me, seeing the new carbon Raleigh frames with their stealth matte black appeal. Day is stylish on her own, and the new bikes perfectly compliment to her new team, The Chainstay and RENNER Clothing Team. Day is racing on the East Coast for the next month, from Baltimore to Vermont, and spent some time this week talking with me about her race plans, thoughts on the US, and thoughts on being a woman in racing.

The season starts in less than a week — is your bike ready? Mechanical Mondays writer and mechanic Jeremy Chinn walks us through improving the shifting on one specific bike, but you can also look at his advice in a much broader spectrum of bike maintenance, upkeep and constant improvement.

Here at Eurobike, among the fancy carbon mountain bikes, quirky commuter rigs, sexy road bikes, latest cycling fashions and the most diverse group of bike-nerds in the world, is the newest collection of cyclocross rigs and components. Just about every bicycle manufacturer, large an small, has some sort of cyclocross offering here at the 2011 Eurobike bicycle trade show in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

A simple stroll through the Eurobike trade show in Friedrichshafen, Germany is impossible. It’s the largest bicycle trade show in the world, and such a distinction means it’s a sensory overload of all things bicycle. Two-wheeled (and three- and four- and one-wheeled) eye candy of all shapes, sizes colors and versions assault the visitor’s senses on several levels.

The Challenge Limus cyclocross tubular tires are making their way across the country, just in time for cyclocross season. We have received a review pair …

OK people, it’s August, races are coming up quick, and ’cross prep is happening around the country. Now that you’ve dialed in the bike parts, shaved some weight off of your frame (bike or otherwise), gotten the tubies set to roll, what’s left? Well, its time to work on the shoes, two of the key contact points with your bike, and remove the opportunity for dirt, sticks, mud, rocks or other debris to get caught up between the shoe sole and your cleat. Face it, you just can’t go as fast or crush your competitors without being clipped in fully.

With the increased popularity of cyclocross, more companies are coming out with wheelsets tailored to the unique needs of our favorite sport. For tubulars, the recent trend has been to widen the rim to give the tire more support, especially in cornering, and provide a bigger and better gluing surface.

Gluing tubulars is tricky business. And writing about it is just as difficult, if not more so. After all, everyone has his or her own gluing style, and everyone will tell you that his or her style is the best one. One of our brave mechanics, Jason Gardner of Jinji Cycles, decided to share his expertise with us.

Clement’s Donn Kellogg has spent a good part of his life around tires, and after relaunching the Clement brand and bringing cyclocrossers the PDX and LAS cyclocross clinchers in 2010, he’s been focused on expanding his tire line-up with both additional treads and tubular tires.

The result of his efforts? A tubeless, seamless cyclocross tubular that eschews the hand-made construction of cyclocross tubular tires like Dugast, FMB, Challenge and Vittoria, and instead adopts Tufo-like technology but promises a more supple casing.

Gluing tubulars can be stressful enough, and there are so many different “best ways” of getting the job done. This week, we wanted to look at one question that we hear a lot when talking about gluing up tubulars: when gluing new tires on a wheel that’s been used and glued before, what kind of prep should you be doing? And more specifically, how clean do you want your rims to be before gluing on new tires?

In Issue 13, we take a look at some “Mud Myths” that, as racers, you’ve surely heard from coaches, old racers, mechanics and spectators. In particular, myths exist about deep carbon rims and their effectiveness when the terrain gets soggy. One of three myths lined up to be confirmed or busted in this issue was, “Does a carbon rim really track better in mud?” We wanted answers, so we took some time in the “CXM Lab” (read: muddy course) with these myths and some serious gear in mind, all for science’s sake.

This year, you’ll be faster. You’ll train harder and you’re going to maximize every pedal stroke, and in order to do that, your bike has got to be lighter. There are a few easy ways, a few hard ways and ways that cost more than others to make that happen.

Cyclocross Magazine grabbed an exclusive preview of the new Ultegra-level CX70 cyclocross components while at the Raleigh Dealers symposium. The Shimano mini-group includes a front derailleur sized and tuned for the smaller chainrings used in cyclocross and available in a top-pull and bottom-pull cable configuration.

It’s that time of year again: time to pull your cyclocross bike out of storage, take a good, long look at it and think, “Well, now what does it need?” Because we’re bike racers. And our bikes always need something, preferably something shiny and new. However, if you’re on a strict bike budget, there are some sneaky ways to upgrade or update your bike for the season, there’s an easy solution: accessories. (And yes, we realize that this piece reads like a fashion magazine article on making that Little Black Dress look brand-new by simply adding new jewelry or shoes.) Still, if you’ve been racing on — or just bought — a stock bike, we have some suggestions for how to dress it up so it stands out in the field (hopefully because you snagged the hole shot.)

Clement made its return to tires and cyclocross in 2010 with the new PDX and LAS cyclocross clinchers. PDX, of course, is the airport code for Portland, and LAS the code for Las Vegas. As one might guess, the LAS is designed for gamblers, and the PDX is designed for bike commuters.

As the Tour de France continues, so does our Tour De Tires! For every stage of the Tour, we’ll be bringing you a review of a tire. Since it’s just about time to start gluing up tubulars or deciding what type of clinchers you’ll be riding this season, the timing couldn’t be better.

Ideally, the tires we feature will be tires deemed advantageous to an off-road version of the stage of the Tour De France, though we’re more interested in the dirt than the roads of France!

Like the Cinder-X, the CrossBlaster has a versatile tread that does well on all types of terrain, but its narrower width handles grass better than its bigger brother.

The beauty of clincher tires is that changing tires is a snap. Plan to hit the dirt on the cyclocross bike? Got a dirt or gravel road on your commute?

Schwalbe’s CX Pro Sport is one of the few ’cross tires available for 26 inch wheels, making it a great choice for mountain bikers looking to try out cyclocross, or for a 26” wheeled ’cross bike.

With a similar tread to the Challenge Grifo, the Vittoria XG Pro has a universal tread pattern that’s been proven over the years.

The Hutchinson Piranha is currently only one of three ‘cross tires officially made for tubeless use, but you’re able to run the tire with a conventional tube as well.

The sad reality is that most catastrophic failures in cross racing result from very simple factors. I have compiled a small list of race ending mechanical problems that could have been avoided with a small dose of precaution and a dash of extra care. These are not all or even the most common mechanical issues in cross racing but these all have two things in common: 1. They can absolutely end your race, giving you a regrettable DNF. 2. They can easily be prevented.

Michelin’s Mud2 replaced the famous green Mud tire six years ago with an updated black tread and sidewalls, but not everyone thinks the changes were upgrades.

The Steve Larsen-designed Mimo CX looks like an old Vittoria Tigre on steroids and LSD. The round knobs vary in size and surface, with ramped center knobs surrounded by small, smooth knobs and flanked by rows of medium- sized knobs with X cutouts.

The Kenda Kommando was the biggest surprise of this group. With such an understated tread and small, short knobs, this tire is fast and begs to be raced on a dry grass or hardpack dirt course.

Specialized has been working on a new line of cyclocross tubular tires for several years now, and with input from riders like 2010 National Champion Todd Wells, it developed several prototypes last season. The Specialized Tracer cyclocross tire comes in three configurations: the 290tpi, 423g Tracer Tubular, the folding 282g Tracer Pro clincher, and the Tracer Sport wire bead clincher (weights are average of early prototypes, as measured by Cyclocross Magazine) . All three models are listed at 33c to fall within UCI regulations. Our early tubular versions measured out at 32c, and Specialized informed us that the production versions will have slightly larger casings.

A crash in a mid-week crit suddenly made my review of UVEX’s Boss Race helmet a lot more thorough than I’d originally planned.

Tired of black tires? How about red, blue, or pink? That might be enough of a selling point for some. But rest assured, this miniaturized version of Panaracer’s Fire XC-Pro tire isn’t just designed to look pretty.

Fortunately it was pretty easy to make one of my mountain bikes ‘cross worthy, and that was enough to get me by for a few seasons. I think any cross-country oriented mountain bike will work for cyclocross racing, with a few caveats. A hardtail is best, but a full-suspension bike isn’t a deal breaker. It’s like bringing combat boots to a 5K run. The equipment will work, but will probably put you out of contention for a podium spot. That being said, I’ve seen some sub-20lb, super-efficient, “no-bob” full suspension bikes with traditional front triangle designs, which would be fine to take to the starting line.

The Raze is Maxxis’ newest cyclocross tire. At a svelte 322 grams and with a versatile tread, it’s well-suited for many types of courses and terrain.