Posts by Emiliano Jordan
***The 2012 Cycle Passion Calendar is now in stock!
***The 2012 Cycle Passion Calendar Preview is posted!
As many of you know the beginning of September and the start of Interbike usually means we are rolling out the much anticipated Cycle Passion calendar. This year will be no different and the 2011 calendar is one to be remembered. New models such as Liz Hatch and Veronica Andreasson, both from Lotto Ladies Team, are joining calendar veterans such as Willow Koerber, Trek/Subaru and Julie Krasniak, Look. This year photographer Daniel Geiger is joined by CycleFilm’s Markus Neuert to provide a behind the scene’s look at the making of this years calendar. By the look of Markus’ work throughout the 2010 cycling season I’d say adding him to the team was a great decision and I’m looking forward to the DVD release. For now though you can browse the images, watch the three DVD teaser videos and even purchase a 2011 CyclePassion Calendar.
It’s time for “stealth and minimal” and what better bike to do it with than the example from my first customer’s custom bicycles post. You can find a lot of minimal components on our forums and you can find just as many matching color, or lack of it, themes. I did write a brief personal observation on this bike but when I told Phil I was posting his bike he was kind enough to offer his personal take on it. So I’ll stop meddling in this bicycle’s affairs and let the owner speak! Read more
For the second post on my series of Bikes From the Forum, we’ll look at Rob English’s custom Time Trial bike. I live in Portland, Oregon, where the term boutique, when applied to bikes, conjures images of tweed rides, artistic frame building and custom paint jobs. Here at Fairwheel Bikes, boutique takes on a different nature — a minimalist viewpoint oftentimes not just in weight but in aesthetics.
Rob’s bikes, fabricated under the name English Cycles, adds an entirely different nature to the boutique term. His bikes are boutique in the sense of craftsmanship, yet they’re still focused on being utilitarian. Not in the cargo-bike sense, they’re utilitarian in the quest to go fast. Rob is a problem solver, tackling engineering goals that change a lot of what we took for granted about frame and component design. This bike is a combination and ever evolving solution to Rob’s TT needs. We’ll look more into the, low handlebars, aero yet stable front wheel, and brake placement, I hope this gives you a good insight into this frame.
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For 2010, Polish component manufacturer Soul Kozak has updated their hub designs. The release of these took much longer than expected – we had been waiting for our shipment for weeks, and I was wondering if we were ever going to see the new product. We’ve been fairly busy at Fair Wheel, and when the hubs finally arrived about a month ago, all we had time for was a quick inspection and weight check.
The initial impression was mild disappointment, as the weight for the set of road hubs had increased by about 30 grams. However, that disappointment quickly faded; the retail prices had decreased significantly and the slight aesthetic changes seemed to be an improvement as well. Ironically, these long-awaited hubs ended up sitting on a shelf for the next few weeks as I got caught up on other projects. This week I’ve had some spare time to crack open the new and old Soul Hubs and see what’s changed, which I’ve detailed below. Also, I’ve written an initial review and impression of the 2010 Soul hubs as built into a set of incredibly light and inexpensive clincher wheels. Read more
We have a fairly active community on our forum, and that community is extremely creative and loves its bicycles. I admit that I don’t get over there nearly enough, but every time I do I’m blown away by the bicycles, wheels and components that get posted. So when trying to decide which bike would open our category for customer submitted bikes, I had my work cut out. How did I want to go about this. Stealth and minimal (2010 Neo Ultimate – 11.6lb)? Give a new-classic it’s chance in a tastefully done replica Colnago. How about a truly loud bike, or a demonstration of how in your face simple black and white can be? Or show off Aero over grams in a weight weenie world, but why not a flashy Italian frame, or some creative photography, or a bit of exotic, OR?!?!? Read more
Recently, we were able to track down Craig Edwards from EE Cycleworks and ask him a few questions. Craig and his innovations hold an interesting place in the more recent history of bicycle components, and the man himself offers some valuable insights into both the past and future. At the present, Craig is in the final production stages of his hotly anticipated road crankset, which should set some new benchmarks for weight and stiffness. Beyond this, EECycleworks has already made a name for themselves with the emergent success of the EE Brake – a completely new road brake engineered from the ground up by Mr. Edwards himself. We at Fair Wheel consider Craig a friend as well as a business partner, and have worked with EE Cycleworks using their testing facility during our Crank Shootout. We feel that Craig has some interesting views on his own products and the direction of the cycling industry and we are excited to publish this interview. Read more
Jeremy Powers has been long recognized as one of the characters in cycling. His personality and year long hard work go a long way with fans and media alike. For proof of this you just need to look at what he somehow manages to acomplish while not racing for Jelly Belly, on the road, and for Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com. He talks music with Road Magazine, blogs for Velonews, keeps his blog up to date on Missing Sadles, and manages to fit 140 characters in every now and then. This is why when he stopped by Tucson this winter we had to grab him while we could and talk bikes, life, trucks crashing into telephone poles and Valley Fever. Read more
Phil Zajicek is a quiet bike racer, but there’s an intensity about him when he’s working. Using this he’s gone about his job building an impressive resume. Yet, for some reason, Phil comes to mind as a racer that’s struck with a disproportionate amount of bad luck.
In 2006, with less than 123k left in the Tour of California, Phil was poised to be the top non Pro Tour rider (15th after stage 6). That was until an unfortunate crash ended his and many others hopes during the early laps at Redondo Beach. Then in 2008, following another rebuilding 2007 season that saw him 6th overall in the NRC rankings and a winner at the Cascade Cycling Classic , Phil’s season was hampered by Crohn’s disease. Read more
The Di2 Mountain Bike project was conceived upon considering the following question, “What will the future of mountain biking be?” Internally routed hydraulic and electrical lines, carbon fiber rotors, “single sided forks”, and electric shifting are just some of the possibilities this bike executes. The main focus was to bring together a variety of unique parts in a durable racable platform. The build is not necessarily the lightest, but still weighs a feathery 18lbs.
The paint scheme was designed by Fairwheel’s Brian Meyer after a discussion involving how to implement Di2 in to a mountain bike platform. Discussion considered the pro’s and con’s of combining a classic panel design with emerging technology and components. The paint lets the carbon tubing emerge amidst classic banding and paneling, while utilizing new color approaches to old designs. The schematics of the seat and top tube cluster are a combination of Di2 elements and circuitry. Read more
Light bikes don’t have to be boring, as aptly stated during the “light bike” project discussion. An anonymous individual set the tone, with “it would be exciting to do a design that isn’t in the Darth Vador, Deathstar aesthetic”. We were excited at the prospect of working with artist Geoff Mcfetridge to create a design outside what is often a stealthy conservative look.
For the “light-bike” Mcfetridge designed a variety of abstract iconic imagery exploring a narrative of the psychological turmoil encountered while pedaling along our favorite pastime. Read more
