Perennial Cycle

The speedy, yet durable Schwalbe Kojak now is available in a 16" x 1-1/4" (ISO 32-349mm) tire to fit Brompton folding bikes! The Kojak is a bald high pressure tire with a puncture resistant layer (kevlar belt). This will no doubt be a popular tire on Brommies as many are using them to go some distance and the Kojak can do that oh, so well.

While the 16 x 1-3/8" (37-349mm) Schwalbe Marathon Tire will continue to be the most durable, longest lasting 16" tire on the market, the Schwalbe Kojak will no doubt prove to be nearly as durable with a more performance oriented edge. At a 1-1/4" with a pressure rating of 115psi the Kojak will add a bit of speed to any Brompton. A supple sidewall gives the Kojak a nice feel on the road (not as harsh as you'd expect for a 115 psi tire). Both the folding and non-folding have a nice, supple feel. Though the folding model is more supple.

Available in both a folding and non-folding models. The folding version is a bit lighter weight with a kevlar bead and higher threads per inch, while the non-folding version costs a bit less. The higher thread count on the folding model makes for a more supple and lighter casing. We measured the tire on a stock Brompton rim and the tire measured 30mm wide and 26mm tall. See all of our 16" (349mm) tires here. All our 349 tires will fit a Brompton except for the Greenspeed Scorchers (a little too chubby for the Brompton Frames).

Here are some details on the 16" Kojak:

SIZE: ISO 32-349 mm (16 x 1-1/4 in.)
PRESSURE: 115 psi
WEIGHT: 175 grams, or 230 grams for the non-folding
BEAD: Foldable Kevlar or Wire Bead
CONSTRUCTION: RaceGuard; 67 tpi, or 50 tpi on non-folding
Website Links: Folding Kojak here, Non-Folding Kojak here

Schwalbe was out in front of the pack several years back with a number of tires specifically designed for recumbent bikes and now we meet them again at the corner of the folding bike market. It's always good to meet old friends in new places.

Panaracer has come out with an urban commuting tire that uses Protex Shield Technology. This is a lightweight and supple protection layer that we will likely see on more tires in the future. A supple tire is a nice, smooth riding tire while a more rigid tire can be harsh. The combination of highly supple, yet lightweight make the RiBMo (Ride Bicycle More) special.
We have it available in 700 x 25, 700 x 28 and 700 x 32. Check them all out on this webpage.

Here's some info from the Panaracer website:

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.