Speedway Cycles

Congratulations to Jeff Oatley, Pete Basinger and Janice Tower who all recently kicked some booty on their Fatbacks in the Arrowhead 135 race in Minnesota. Jeff, Pete and another rider, Dave Pramann all finished together with Jeff taking the sprint finish just ahead of Pete. Janice set a new course record in the womens division and was pretty competitive overall. It was a tough race-firm but slow conditions. -20 has a way of doing that. When the snow sounds like styrofoam underneath you, it’s going to be slow whether you are skiing or riding. We have the Susitna 100 coming up next weekend, with the years biggest event, the Iditarod Trail Invitational following two weeks after that. The riding has been bulletproof for a couple of months now, but it is snowing hard as I type. This puts a smile on my face. Bring it on!

We just got our new colors on the hubs and they are seriously edible. These hubs are top shelf. Almost don’t want to get them dirty.

candy

lower cost hubs

 These are great hubs and should be perfect for those looking for a more cost effective wheelset, particularly that second 29er wheelset.

I have been using these can coozies for a couple of years now.

the best coozie yet

But recently found out they work equally as well on the bike. Have a good weekend.

I’m poaching this photo from friend and fellow rider EndoRando just because it sums up the riding lately. The singletrack on the Hillside is perfection at the moment.

When conditions are this good, many of us agree the winter riding trumps summer riding hands down, though we do have to deal with frozen beer ocasionally.

I’ve been enjoying the company of an old friend and two time Olympian from my ski racing and roadie days back in CO who is here for the US Nationals for nordic skiing. We made it out for a cruise on the Coastal Trail.

Nothing like old friends.

The new rims arrived a few weeks ago and we have been building fevorishly. I added a bead lock, and lightened them up to 860g.  Here’s a pic of a set I modified for my personal whip:

760g each

The new Fatback cranks for 100mm bb’s are in and they are really nice. Very light, plus the stiffest I have used.  Give us a call if you would like to drop about 1/2 lb off your current setup and firm things up at the same time.

The new Fatback hubs are equally as nice and offer either QR’s or a bolt on option.  They are light and strong, having proven themselves in sub zero temperatures for many years. Front and rear hub flanges are equally spaced so all spoke lengths are the same with even tension.  Bill Shook of American Classic fame uses a similar “balanced flange” design on his hubs. These are the new standard in both design and performance.  They are not the same width as standard mountain bike hubs, and for good reason. With wheels/tires as wide as 107mm, standard width hubs had several shortcomings, so we created our own standard.  We now have three hub manufacturers making hubs for us. Competitors say, “but you have to buy their hubs.” Yes, and after seeing the advantages, you’ll want this design on all of your bikes. If you own a full suspension mountain bike, all the linkages are proprietary. Chances are very good that whatever you are riding has proprietary parts, even different models within one manufacturer. Using this type of reason, we would not have suspension bikes or 29ers, just to name a few of the more recent advances in the sport.

The new aluminum frames are set to arrive any day. Here is a teaser shot of one of the new colors.

And finally one out riding last weekend. It was 33 up high, with a warm breeze blowing.

Hope winter is coming on strong wherever you are.

It has been quite a while since I have posted. It’s was a crazy busy summer and fall. Here are a few pics to show what I’ve been up to lately: Hip surgery. I’m officially old.

femoral head

This is what it looked like before:

This is what it should look like (minus the torn labrum):

It has taken over five years just to find this problem, as the pain was not in the hip itself. I just stumbled upon a fantastic surgeon at a BBQ who new the symptoms and correctly diagnosed it on the spot, even after a fair amount of tequilla no less! Anyhow, it has been a bit hectic, so I’ll be catching up as fast as possible.

Here’s a shot of the latest Fatback:

I know-it’s ti, why paint it? I just had a bunch of money sitting around with nothing better to do with it. 25.7 pounds WITH paint!

Here is a shot of the new cranks arriving any day now. They are 800 grams. Is that light? Yes, that is almost XTR light, and they are stiffer than XTR, and when it comes to cranks, we all love stiff. Give us a shout if you are interested.

That’s it for now. I’m late for dinner. Hope you are all doing well and getting excited about winter riding.

I’m geting excellent reviews on the new ti bars. I wanted a bar capable of running twist grip (or any shift system), and also needed that “in between” position endurance riders are always looking for between bar ends and swept back risers.  I tried some custom bar ends last year in the Su 100, but still found myself searching for a different position. The forward sweep of these bars allows you to keep the same stem length. I have added a threaded insert into the bottom to allow various attachments to the bar without smashing your cables. Cost is $225.

Went out for a ride on the ice yesterday. Point and shoot at it’s best.