News and Pics

News for today;

I received confirmation from Ben Delaney, the editor of VeloNews, that they will be running an essay I wrote for them. The July 2nd issue, #13 (how poetically ironic is that), will feature a guest-written At the Back. If you're familiar at all with this segment of the magazine, it tends to be a fun section and most guest writers are professional riders, mechanics or other interesting personalities. For years, it was the domain of former staff writer Maynard Hershon (who I have always really admired). This privilege comes about largely due to the fact that I somehow befriended the amazing Patrick O'Grady. Patrick writes for VeloNews, is a cartoonist as well and does double duty over at Bicycle Retailer and Industry News. Pat apparently has some very incrominating photos and/or receipts that were compelling enough for Delaney to offer the spot to me for one issue.

For me, as a bike nerd and race geek, VeloNews has always been a very sacred publication. I have been reading VeloNews for as long as I can remember being in the sport of cycling. I always dreamed of being in the pages of the magazine- though I always thought it would be as a professinal rider. Now, as the Brand Manager at Masi, I run the occasional ad in VeloNews, the bikes show up in the magazine, the fantastic guys of Inferno Pro Cycling get talked about in the mag' and now I will have a brief guest appearance. Without waxing on for too long about this- it's pretty damned huge to me. All that's missing is a technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn!

And... nearly best of all; the column nearly always is accompanied by a cartoon illustration by the unbelievable David- Brintoni- Brinton... and so will "my" visit. I saw the illustration today, thanks to Ben Delaney sending me a sneak peek. Needless to say... WOO-HOO!

So run out and get yourself a copy of the mag when it lands in a few weeks, or keep an eye on your mailbox for your subscription copy to arrive. Bring it with you to Vegas, for Interbike, and I'll even autograph it for ya... HA, HA, HA... couldn't resist.

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And now for some pics... as promised...

Here are a few sneak peek images of the new Fall bikes coming. They are BEYOND pretty... so start saving your milk money.


The frameset in front is the new Speciale Sprint (same as what I was testing when I crashed... but in better shape). Same geometry as the Coltello aluminum race frameset, but in sweet-riding Reynolds 631 tubing.

The green frame is the new color of the Coltello (available late summer... I hope). I named the color Metallic Swamp Green. It is sparkly and gorgeous! Looks WAY good in the sunlight- this photo does it no justice at all.

In the bacground is the 3VC Team Issue carbon frameset- full carbon frame, full carbon fork, Ritchey headset and Ritchey WCS carbon seatpost- an awesome package deal.


Not telling you what bike this is, but I LOVE the new artwork. And the new paint it SWEET... this is one fine machine.


Not telling you which model this is in the carbon line, but this new color is simply breathtaking; the metallic Ruby Red paint on top of the UD finish carbon is insane. It looks completely 3D.


Here's the CXR and the Speciale. Both are in the current Spring/ Summer line as well... but they sure are sexy bikes. I really love them both.

That's all for tonight. I have to drag this out and torture you as long as I can... it's called Marketing. I have more and I will give you more snippets soon. Tomorrow the bikes are getting their studio shots, so I'll have full-blown glamour shots for you then.

More good stuff to come- promise.

Tim

HUH? SRAM chains and the pro peloton.

I caught this interesting tidbit today in an online Tech Report on VeloNews, written by Matt Pacocha;

In addition to Lennard and me, VeloNews editor, Ben Delaney (or "Ben Boonen" as we affectionately refer to him), is also putting time on Red. I've told him to "try and break a chain." You see we, here at the magazine, aren't quite convinced that there's merit in the professional peloton's current aversion to the manufacturer's chains. We'll let you know how things turn out in a couple of months.

Now, I'm no Pro Tour rider or anything, but I'm probably a chain makers worst nightmare if you think about it; I weigh over 200 pounds, I ride my equipment very hard and do not always maintain it very well (I'm spoiled, so sue me) and as a track/ criterium sprinter I tend to put a lot of stress on chains. Over the years, I have broken more than my share of chains. You name a Shimano chain from 8spd all the way up to 10spd since about 1991 and I've busted it. I've blown a couple Campy chains in the past. Taya? Yes. KMC? Yes. Sachs/ Sedisport? A couple in the distant past. SRAM purchased Sachs/ Sedisport several years ago, for the record. That said, the new SRAM 10spd chains with their Power Lock link have been flawless. The chains have almost zero stretch with many, many miles on them and I have used and reused the "single use" connecting link several times. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that the Shimano or Campagnolo chains are bad chains, but I am saying that the SRAM chains are the best I've used so far. Why a Pro Tour rider would want to use a different chain is beyond me because their equipment is perfectly maintained and looked after. If anything, it is the common shmuck like me who should have a problem with the chains. I've been riding very hard on the PC1090R hollow pin, hollow link plate chain for numerous months and have not had one single issue with it. Sadly, with the Shimano chains, I would have normally replaced the chain twice (or more) by now. I love the products and the people at Shimano, but I do have to confess to liking the SRAM chains better. Sorry. On another product note; I recently got a very sexy set of the new SRAM Double Tap flat bar road shifters to test and have begun building a franken-bike to ride.

As soon as the bike is done, I will post pictures as well as a report on how the shifters work. I saw them first in Germany at Eurobike and was very, very impressed with them.

Another project bike is in the midst of testing/ riding and I will post more on that in the next day or two as well. It's one of my favorite projects in a while too, so the testing has been fun and will continue to be. So stay tuned for more.

Tim
(PS- Sorry for the weird formatting. Blogger does weird stuff when you cut-n-paste things some times.)