Here's My 650 Cents

Mountain bikers now have another wheel choice for their quiver - the 650B. Kirk Pacenti showed a 650B mountain frame at the NAHBS event earlier this year and the buzz was immediate. Larger wheel sizes roll over obstacles more easily and like to maintain speed. The 650B wheel size measures ~27.5" placing it between the standard 26" and ever popular 29" wheel sizes. Although the 650 wheel size has been popular for many years on touring bikes, it's now making it's way into the mountain bike realm. I'm very excited at this new development and prototype frames are in the works from Ahrens Bicycles.

Here's some background on the 650B activity:

http://www.bicyclenewswire.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.showrelease&cid=132&id=547
http://www.dirtragmag.com/print/article.php?ID=935&category=stuff_reviews
http://hayesbicyclegroup.blogspot.com/2007/11/product-news-650b-rims-from-sunringle.html

Click on link below and vote for 650!

http://650bpalace.blogspot.com/

Here are pics of the Pacenti prototype with a White Brothers fork and his own Neo Moto 2.3" tire. Tire and rim selection continue to increase and by next spring there should be a nice variety of 650B wheel/tire components from Velocity, Sun, Panaracer and Kenda.

World Cup Gate Slammer

Here are some pics of Gil's 2008 Gate Slammer slalom/4X frame. It's setup to compete in European World Cup events and you can tell from the build kit that this bike is truly high-end. Hope Moto V2 Brakes, King Titanium Headset, King Wheels, Carbon DH Cranks - the list goes on. Gil worked with Tray and crew at AWWBS to assemble this beauty - great shop that I highly recommend.

Images from Photo Shoot

Special thanks to Kurt Harvey Photography for last week's photo shoot in preparation for the NAHBS event. Here are some images to drool over...

Neo Neo Retro

I finally built up my new road frame in preparation for a photo shoot. I can't wait to take this rig out for a real ride to see how it handles. Riding around the block it feels great...even without the right shoes and limited visibility at night. Total weight 16.9 lbs!