- The Great Bike Giveaway, Special Bikes for Special Kids – Do you remember the day you learned to ride a bike? Do you remember the freedom you felt, the confidence you gained, the pride you had? The Michaela Noam Kaplan Great Bike Giveaway is a national contest to give adaptive bikes to special needs kids, so they can get that same feeling you had when a shiny new bike arrived at your house. View, share, enter and/or donate to the Great Bike Giveaway and be a part of a beautiful and special community over at FriendshipCircle.org/bikes.
Contests
- Another Chance to Win an 8bar FHAIN – While our color scheme didn’t make it out of the first round of culling, there is still another chance to win the new Limited Edition frameset. Head to 8bar’s Facebook and choose your favorite designs until November 1st. The design with the most votes will be the next new bike, available in the spring, and the designer will win a frameset. And if like us, you didn’t make the cut, vote and share it on Facebook to enter the raffle for a second frameset up for grabs. 8bar-bikes.com
- Win a Signed Valverde or Quintana Movistar Team Antares Saddle – To celebrate the 2015 Tour de France podiums of Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana, this week Fizik is offering the chance to win one of their signed Movistar Team Antares saddles. The flat and comfortable Antares is popular among Fizik’s sponsored riders. They have two saddles to give away: one signed by Alejandro Valverde and one signed by Nairo Quintana. To enter to win go to their Facebook page and answer the simple question. Fizik.it
- #SacrificeNothing by riding inside with CycleOps – A new photo competition from CycleOps wants to reward those who stick to their training goals even through the winter. Each week they will award one winner new cycling gear, and at the end of the campaign there’s a huge indoor training Grand Prize. Submit your story over at Cycleops.com’s #SacrificeNothing page.
Bikes
- A new look from MTB Custom Builder Waltworks – One of the first builders to bring us 29ers and 36ers, Walt over at Waltworks just sent us a link to his new site that showcases some of the unique bikes he’s built. We also noticed a pretty interesting looking red full-custom, plus-sized full-suspension bike in there that is worth taking a look at, and which looks like it will set you back $2500 in any configuration you can dream up. Current wait list has a new bike four months out. Check them out at Waltworks.com and maybe get in line.
Gear, Tech & Tools
- Be an Ambassador for Absolute Black – Absolute Black has set up a Brand Ambassador Program and is looking for interested riders to help build build global awareness for their new Oval chainrings in an effort to shift the talk from Biopace to one of actual understanding of the benefit of oval rings. They’re looking for athletes, enthusiasts and cycling bloggers who have interesting rides planned, are influential in their cycling community, and who can document their adventures by film, photos, and captivating stories along the way. Whether you ride road, mountain, or cross, race or ride with friends, they are just looking for passionate cyclists to spread the oval love. Get in touch with them to express your interest. AbsoluteBlack.cc or on their Facebook.
- Get some solid Training Wheels from Hunt Wheels to make it through Winter – Tough riding conditions take their toll on equipment not built to cope. The Hunt 4 Season Dura Training wheelset is designed to handle those long winter training rides in all conditions without issue. With a 23mm wide shallow rim at 1696g and just £230 they’ll get you through the rough stuff and won’t hold you back when spring comes around. Like all Hunt wheels, the rims are tubeless ready and are supplied pre-taped and with tubeless valves included, and can have Schwalbe One Pro tubeless tires pre-installed. HuntBikeWheels.com
- Zwift Goes behind the Paywall, Almost – Anyone who got in on the virtual group ride that is Zwift probably knows that the free Beta phase is almost up, and the interactive training game will be paid only. But they have extended it for free for one more week, so if you want to try before you buy act fast. Their new Workout Mode has apparently been very popular with early riders. In the first 3 days more than 1,500 people have tested their FTP to setup their targeted training programs. Plus if you are already a member, you’ll get a free trial of 50km of training to try it out. Zwift.com
- New How-To Videos from Zéfal – Zéfal just sent us an update with more than 70 new videos their YouTube channel in French and English. While certainly geared towards their own products, there is a wealth of How-To tutorials, from cleaning and lubing the bike to fixing a flat and using a CO2 inflator. Check them out at YouTube or Zefal.com.
- Southern Distributors bringing American Specialties to the UK and EU – From humble beginnings in a garage with just a handful of cash a few years ago, the growing distributor just announced that they are now bringing Soma, Flexroute, IRD, Abbey Bike Tools, and Newbaums into your local bike shops throughout the UK and across Europe. SouthernDistributors.co.uk
Events
- Philly Bike Expo next weekend is Giving Back – In a week’s time, Nov 7 & 8, the Philly Bike Expo returns for the sixth year. As part of their dedication to cycling community, Yokeiseasy Bicycle Co., Philly Bike Expo, and Bilenky Cycle Works are adding an additional raffle at the show to raise money for MTB pioneer Charlie Cunningham who was recently injured in a cycling accident, with prizes donated by many exhibitors. The show itself has a ton of different activities and exhibits, besides the standard new bike goodies. Check out the full schedule at www.PhillyBikeExpo.com.
- More Affordable Grassroots Racing on the way from NACS – Newly founded event management company North American Cycle Sport looks set to offer lower cost membership and insurance to compete with USA Cycling for races and non-competitive events across the US. They’ve partnered with BikeReg.com to manage the web based side of things with membership, event registration, results, and even the permit application process for promoters. More at NACS.bike.
- Be an Ambassador of Bike Madrid Lisbon in 2016 – Starting Nov 1, Bike Madrid Lisbon will open applications for their 2016 Ambassadors. If interested shoot an email to info[at]bikemadridlisbon.com, with a brief bike resume and how you plan to promote the event. There are also still a few spots open for those who want to just particiapte in the next crossings from the capital of Spain to the capital of Portugal, either by road in 8 days or trail in 15. Check out BikeMadridLisbon.com for details and the event dates next June and July.
