25 Years Old

It seems that loads of bike companies are celebrating anniversaries this year, Specialized are 25 and have launched a special Stumpjumper FSR model to commemorate it. Over in Italy Colnago and De Rosa are celebrating 50 years and have also launched top end super bikes to celebrate the occasion, with a spangly Carbon C50 and a rather blue King.

Meanwhile, not being content with his victory in the World Championships last week, Filip Meirhaeghe has ended the season in spectacular style by winning the final World Cup XC race in Kaprun. Yet again he rode an Epic FSR to victory. Specialized are pretty happy…

Meanwhile over in the US, a new national trail access advocacy organization is now forming that promises a more aggressive approach to protecting mountain bike access. What’s more surprising is that some of the movers and shakers of this new group are disaffected IMBA members, and some were even part of IMBA’s leadership.

I have to say, that whilst I appreciate that IMBA UK is still in early days, they’ve cashed my cheque and I haven’t had anything back from them yet. I appreciate what they’re doing but maybe this idea will give them a kick start and get them back on track. Read more in this Dirt Rag article.

There’s a fair few riding fixed gear track bikes around Manchester these days. It has to be said that it is the bike of choice for the discerning courier. There’s more about the black art in this article and a few interesting links.

Advocate of singlespeeding, Big Jonny from Drunkcyclist has been quizzed by Ride Phat and has been given more scope to air his views:

Oh, I get shit from the absolute stupidest people on the planet. All the tired lame-ass rhetoric like, “Support the troops”, “Move to France” and “You shouldn’t criticize the President while we’re at war.” Well, good people are dying because we have an asshole leading the country. I cannot believe how totally fucked up the world had become during the tenure of our current administration. It’s mind boggling the damage one loose cannon Republican can cause.

Read the full interview here.

And finally Halfords only standalone Bikehut store is no more. It’s being converted into a normal Halfords store doinng car bits a pieces as well as bikes. May be a sign of the times for Halfords and the bike trade as a whole.