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The Search XR is Norco’s flagship gravel bike and for 2020, the entire lineup got a facelift across all models with new ombré fade paint jobs and Shimano GRX build kits. The Search XR is available in a Reynolds steel frame, A6 aluminum, and carbon, offering a complete bike for just about any budget. Head to Norco to see the details.
In 2015, I was able to partake in the launch of the Cutthroat, Salsa’s Tour Divide Race Bike, a unique drop bar 29er and since then, I’ve had zero contact with it. That is until I unboxed the brand new 2020 Cutthroat, which is full of new updates and boy is it a long list. While I plan on reviewing this bike in more detail further down the road, I wanted to give you a look at the new model on its launch day. Read on below for a first look at the new Cutty.
3T continues to roll out pricing tier build kit options with their popular Exploro model. The latest news from the Italian manufacturers features options with Rival1, GRX, and the AXS Mullet kit, starting at $3599. Check out all the builds below.
The Old Growth Classic took place this past weekend – 500 riders took to a grueling 55-mile course through coastal redwoods and old-growth groves. At the end of the day over 8,000′ of elevation gain would be throbbing through the legs of every person that crossed the start and finish lines. I had planned on bringing my Sklar with me to ride and photograph the course, but Ibis reached out and asked if I’d like to ride their Hakka MX with Shimano’s GRX drivetrain and a new ENVE spec build. Here’s what I thought about the build kit on this bike, specifically GRX…
Salsa just announced their 2020 steel bike lineup including the Apex 1 Fargo (pictured here), GRX 600 Vaya, and Sora Marrakesh. From rugged bikepacking to all-road touring and bikepacking, these models are staples in the Salsa lineup, with their limitations being how long you can take off work for a tour. Head to the Salsa Blog to see more details.
Lyons, Colorado is home to Reeb Cycles, a framebuilder that makes mountain-ready bikes in the old Oscar Blues brewery barn. After watching this video by Pearl Izumi and Shimano, take a look at their models online. They look pretty rowdy! Just like a 60-series in the driveway at the barn!
Want to support People for Bikes and win this insane custom FiftyOne road bike inspired by Silca’s founder Felice Sacchi’s love of his Alfa Romeo sportscar, built with a full kit from Silca, Shimano, Omata and Pirelli? That was a mouthful! At any rate, you can donate $10 to People for Bikes and enter for a chance to win this dreambike package at Silca.
I don’t even know how to start this one off. It’s such a weighted story, with so many levels. First off, Bob Allen is in the MTB Hall of Fame for his photography. Then there’s the bike we’re featuring here, the last Cook Brothers Racing frame made in their original SoCal workshop. Then there’s Bob’s own career, which is tied directly to this bike and a specific photo of MTB legend Hans Ray. Then there’s the fact that Bob had only ridden this bike twice in the past twenty-some-odd years until this week’s Supper Club Shred with Alter Cycles where I was able to grab a few shots of him riding the bike… so bear with me here!
Those looking to outfit their MTB or bikepacking rig with the dependability and shift crisping of Shimano will rejoice at the release of SLX M7100.
Shimano’s new GRX drivetrain dropped today, designed specifically for gravel riding and gravel bikes, toating improved ergonomics and gear ranges with both 1x and 2x options. See more information at Shimano. While we’re at it, Shimano sheds some light on what they think is ideal gravel gearing at their blog. What do you think?
MTB master Wyn Masters tries his hand at ‘cross at the Superprestige in Zonhoven, Belgium.
At the Chris King Swarm event in Bend, the brand compiled a short list of builders who would display various kinds of bikes, built up with components fabricated in their Portland facilities. We’ll start off the showcase with this beautiful Doppo All Road.
Nagoya, Japan’s Sim Works has been making moves to open a base in the USA. Located in Portland – actually in the Chris King factory – Rie Sawada has been working on increasing the stock and inventory for this brand that sells products exclusively made in Japan by Nitto, Panaracer, and Honjo, the powerhouses of Japanese component manufacturing. When it came to bikes, however, Sim Works has been sampling builders to make their Doppo model. Initially, we saw a Made in Japan Doppo touring bike a few years back, so I was surprised to see a Doppo at the event this weekend. Especially one made from aluminum and in the USA!
Oscar from Simple Bicycle Co has been building frames for over a decade and in that time, he’s moonlighted as a behind the scenes fabricator for many brands featured on this site. His talents lie in anything metallic, ranging from titanium to aluminum, and dirt jumpers to all-roads. When Cielo closed their doors last year – where he built full-time for the brand – Oscar pursued more of his own projects, including two bikes we’ll be looking at in detail here at the site.
The resulting bike features clearance for a massive tire, while maintaining a road q-factor and chain line, allowing for the rider to choose a 700c or 650b wheel. For the Swarm, Sim Works built this bike to spec with many of their own parts, resulting in a largely made in Japan kit, on a MUSA frame.
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The 2017 NAHBS coincided with the 25th anniversary of Sycip Designs. Jeremy knew he had to do something special for the showcase, so in the spirit of Sycip number one, which we saw in detail yesterday, he pinged his brother Jay Sycip, who works at Chris King, to come down to Santa Rosa and do something special…
The 70’s were the automotive paint design heyday, ATMO anyway. Earth tones and bright hues intersected along cars, vans and trucks via a network of chevrons and stripes. While many manufacturers embraced these trends, it was the niche hobby market who took it to the next level. A whole culture emerged with vans donning intricate designs, long before #VanLife, yet it was the off-road culture that has always piqued my interest, most notably the baja bugs and trucks. Jeremy from Stinner Frameworks has always had an affinity for the early 70’s Baja Bug paint designs, ultimately these became the inspiration for this two-wheeled off-road machine.
It has been scientifically proven that if you add a Death Spray Custom fork to any bike, it’s destined to get even more attention, even when it comes to a slick bike like this. Morgan’s Stinner Frameworks is brushed stainless, kitted with Jones wheels, PAUL Skewers, Chris King, Dura Ace and ENVE. A completely tricked out road bike by all accounts, yet he wanted to do something to spice up a completely mono-tone build so he contacted David at Death Spray Custom to do something special.
Visibility doesn’t have to end with your apparel, as evident by this 80’s geometric-inspired fluorescent disruptive pattern coated fork.
Suddenly this bike went from being a 10 to an 11! Nicely done fellas and great meeting you, Morgan!
“Il Faut Toujours Souffrir.”
That’s what’s painted on the top tube of Barry’s Stinner disc all-road frame. Roughly translating to “we must always suffer,” this saying acts as not only a motivation for Barry on rides, but as a reminder as to what cycling means to him in relation to life. Nothing good comes easy.
Barry‘s an illustrator, a typographer, a graphic designer and in Los Angeles, that means freelance. It takes a certain soul to be a freelancer in LA. You’ve got to hustle, be on your game at all times and yes, sometimes suffer the ups and downs of the creative economy. That means some weeks, months, years, you’re on your game and others you’re not. It all takes sacrifice.
Rivalries between component manufacturers are ongoing. When SRAM introduced XX1 a few years back, they made quite the stir yet die hard Shimano loyalists were still uninterested. For people like Kris at 44 Bikes, riding as many different setups as possible helps him better understand his client’s needs, which is why he took a look at XX1 versus XTR on his site. Head over to 44 Bikes to check it out.
The allure of the eBay score is strong, especially after so many Landsharks have been recently featured here on the site. Such temptation was too great for Andre. After looking on eBay for a few months, he finally scored this Road Shark with Shimano 600 for $400. It came as shown, minus some dry-rotted tires and no saddle, which were easily replaced. It’s in ok overall condition, just don’t look too closely at the bar tape!
The future of this bike is uncertain. There’s been talk of long-reach calipers, 650b conversion with porteur bars, or a modern 10-speed group, and my vote goes to keeping it as-is, just overhaul the damn thing a bit. For now, Slawta’s crazy personal touches shine regardless as to how much patina is present. My favorite detail is the chomping shark mouth on the internal cable routing exit…