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The Brompton World Championship was 10 days back on the 28th of September. I've had a chance to take a look at some of the pictures and read blogs of the event and it looks like a fun time that I'd love to participate in. While I'm tempted to think that I would one day do an insane event like the Paris-Brest-Paris (1,200 kilometer race...not in stages), I am probably more inclined to jump onboard a fun and wacky event like this.

Not to say that there aren't some people taking this event seriously. A former Tour de France rider and three time winner of the Tour of Spain Robert Herras rode hard and was the winner of his group, but the start wasn't a mass start and it turned out that the next group of riders had a speedy rider in Alastair Kay who is York Cycle Work's Premier Calendar rider. The winners podium was a chaotic place to be when Robert Herras' name was not called as the victor (oops, it seems he forgot to look at the results and walked up to the podium thinking he was the victor).

Tejkan Pettinger has a report and some great pictures on his Cycling Info blog.

Brompton Bikes have evolved into an amazing folding bike with many very practical and functional accessories. We have seen their growth as a very positive sign of things to come. Stop in and give one a ride and have us show you how amazingly small they fold in about a 10 second stretch of time (wow is right!). Learn more about the Brompton Bikes and accessories (Including the B & W hardcase) at our website.

Bike Club Rides Again!

My good friend Derek runs a great Bike Club at Lake Harriet Community School. Lucky for me he always gets a big enough group that he needs an assistant. This fall he's got about 50 kids signed up to get out and ride together for an hour after school. Lake Harriet is about 6 blocks away from the school, so we typically ride to the lake and do one loop of the lake after a quick stop at the bandshell concessions stand (mini donuts, popcorn, cookies and more!).

There's always a lot of fun and smiles mixed with a bit of drama at bike club. At today's ride we got to the lake and through the snack stop, but shortly after that one of the boy's bikes had a major bike break down (oops, my pedals won't spin... well son, it appears that your derailleur fell off). So as I'm looking over the bike to determine if anything can be done (not really, just pretending I might be able to do something, but clearly there are absolutely no options here) the bike club quickly disappears around the corner. Being that I'm on my nifty Airnimal Joey I realize that I can get my seat low enough for this 4th grader to ride it. So I send off my new Airnimal rider to be with the group. I turn back before I took off kickbiking the other direction to see him ride off on my beautiful bike with my Arkel Briefcase pannier fully loaded (Powerbook, cameras (still and video) and many other daily essentials.

Good news! When I got back with the group my rider, bike and pannier were all with them. Whew! That loss would be difficult to explain without me looking like an idiot.

When I got home my daughter who should have been at high school tennis was home. When I inquired about this she pointed out that it totally looked like a storm after school so tennis practice was called off. Bike Club 1, Southwest High School Tennis Team 0!

Great Job Bike Club.

Over 20 years ago I got a job at Alternative Bikes in uptown Minneapolis. Jay Erickson was the owner of this upstanding neighborhood bike shop that specializes in selling Bridgestone bikes, skateboards and snowboards (early adopters). Another big specialty was overnight repairs. I worked as an overnight repairman. I learned a lot from Jay. Plenty about repairs and bike shops, and whole lot about myself (working late with the pressure of getting through a massive pile of repairs will do that to you). I worked for the Alt for 2 years and it was the last place that my paycheck was signed by someone other than myself.

Jay's sons were little kids going to elementary school back then, but now one of them (Jesse) has teamed up with a workmate (Ben) to design a nice quality, highly versatile frame that they are marketing as a Handsome Cycle Co. bike.

I spotted this frame at the big industry trade show (Interbike). It was being used to showcase some accessories in the Topeak booth. This model was labelled  as a "Devil". It sure looked like a nice start from which Handsome can grow from. The catalog lying below the bike was nicely styled without being over-designed. Cool.  Good work guys!

Here's a bike that gets in a lot of miles on the paths around the area. Phil rides a lot and has used a variety of bikes over the years. The past few years have been all about the RANS crank forward bikes. He likes to go fast in an ergonomically friendly position.

The handlebars and riser are custom modifications that have helped make the bike very comfy on the wrist, shoulders and hands. Instead of using the stock "straight" riser, this bike is set up with a RANS curved riser which brings the handlebars back about 3-1/2". The handlebars are swept back cruiser style handlebars with Ergon Grips with built in bar-ends for a variety of hand positions.

Forza 145mm Crankset with FSA chainrings

The other major modification this bike has are the 145mm Forza cranks. These are a nice, triple crank option that can work for a variety of bikes. The Forza cranks are available in 145, 155 and 165mm lengths and the bolt hole pattern is 130/74mm.

Phil is out putting real miles on his bike. I see him on the trails regularly and he's always smokin' down the trail at a quick pace. Looking good Phil!