BrilliBrilliant Unicorn & Festka come together in Innsbruck for Worlds – The 2018 Road World Championships have been running along for almost a week already in Austria. And now Vienna-based clothing maker BBUC & Prague custom framebuilder Festka have collaborated on a special edition bike & riding kit to highlight the international nature of the weeks of racing. The design envisions a fictional BBUC Nation with mixed elements of the Czech & Austrian flags, now applied to a Festka Scalatore carbon road bike and two matching jersey & bib short combinations.
The lightweight carbon Scalatore shines in a glossy blue with red & white (Czech & Austrian flags), plus Brilli’s pink. Just three of the limited edition framesets will be available for 6500€. With its coordinated design the BrilliBrilliant Unicorn kit will be available separately in the coming weeks either in the same colors or a more muted, monochromatic look. Festka.com & BBUC.co
Industry News
- How Motorsports Made Zipp – Zipp was founded in Indianapolis 30 years ago for a reason – the city’s deep history and expertise in the pursuit of speed – think Indy 500 & Brickyard 400. Looking back on three decades of composites engineering, Zipp tells the story of how motorsports made their brand… Zipp.com
- Trump China Tariffs push Light & Motion to send production to the Philippines – BRAIN keyed us onto a story from Nation Public Radio about how the recent China Tariffs were specifically hitting California company Light & Motion. If you haven’t noticed the new 10% tariff on Chinese made products will have a big impact on the cycling industry which outsources tons of products, and that tariff is set to ride to 25% at the start of 2019. The trouble for Light & Motion is actually the exceptions to the tariff. Since they manufacture in the US, but use a lot of Chinese-made components, all of their materials will get hit with price increases. Yet completed bike lights are exempt from the tariff, so L&M’s competitors can import complete products without getting hit with the tariff. In order to maintain their quality & pricing levels Light & Motion are now heading to the Philippines to set up a production facility, moving manufacture out of the US to stay competitive. NPR.org
Where to Ride
- Get Down at IMBA’s Dirty 30 – The IMBA Dirty 30 celebration in Bentonville is coming up fast – Oct 26-28! They’ve joined forces with Outerbike to host guided rides, happy hours, parties, and a Saturday night celebration of 30 years of mountain bike advocacy. Rumors suggest there may or may not be a Friday night dance routine in the works. Don’t miss it. Support mountain bike trail advocacy, while getting to demo new bikes and ride excellent trails with friends! IMBA.com
- Join 7000 Eroica retro-grouches on the roads of Gaiole in Chianti Oct 7 – We jest, you know you want to ride the white gravel of Chianti on an old steel road bike with a tubular twisted around your shoulders! Autumn brings L’Eroica back to Siena on the first Sunday of October, when riders from all over the world will participate in the signature retro road event. There’s something for every cyclist looking for the beauty of fatigue and thrill of conquest before modern bike technology and smooth asphalt prevailed. Take on between 32-209km of beautiful Italian road & gravel on your pre-1987 road bike. Eroica.cc
Gear & Deals
- Save on Smart training with Kinetic – Don’t let impending colder & wetter weather derail your training plans. For a limited time only in their Red Tag Fall Sale, Kinetic has all of their Smart Control (offering connection to digital training platforms with on-the-fly resistance control) and Smart (no resistance feedback, but connected to your mobile device and training programs) trainer models & their bundles are on sale. Save up to 15% at: KurtKinetic.com.