Cycling is Good! No if, ands, or buts about it: Personal and Social Benefits of Cycling

I get so caught up in my passion for bikes and cycling that sometimes I forget the simple facts, cycling is good for people, society, and the environment, no if, ands, or buts about it. I love bikes, and cycling. I always tell people that even if cycling were bad for me, I will still do it just as much, I love it that much. However, I know this is not the case for everyone. I am lucky enough that the thing that I love is not only good for me, but also good for society and the environment as a whole. I was genuinely reminded of this fact this morning as I was browsing Trek’s website to see what was new. It is refreshing to read such positive statistics about that of which we love so.

The following statistics are readily available on Trekbikes.com in the “You” section of the company info. The statistics provided on Trek’s website read like this:

Consider this:

If you bike 2 miles to work and back each day instead of driving, your 4-mile round trip will keep 51 pounds of carbon monoxide out of the air each year.

That same daily trip will burn 36,000 calories over the course of a year—the equivalent of over 10 lbs of fat. In fact, the average person loses 13lbs in the first year of commuting by bike.

Your daily 4-mile bike commute will save about 66 gallons of fuel per year. If just one person in a thousand were to follow your lead in biking 4 miles a day instead of driving, we’d save 429 million gallons of fuel each year.

Pretty compelling facts, especially for those considering changing their morning commute to a cycle. Moreover, Trek also provides statistics courtesy of the World match institute regarding how the United States compares to Germany and the Netherlands with regards to cycling. The statistics provided read as follows:   accounted for by cycling  Percent of adults who are obese

Bicycles per 1,000 people

• United States 385
• Germany 588
• Netherlands 1,000

Percent of urban travel

• United States 1
• Germany 12
• Netherlands 28

Percent of urban travel

• United States 30.6
• Germany 12.9
• Netherlands 10.0

Stats courtesy of World Watch Institute

These statistics speak for themselves. Of course, we must not over look the simply, blaring facts; cycling is good for you, fun, and makes you feel good in return. If everyone were to switch their daily commute, or at least a majority, to travel by bicycle, image the social, economical, and health benefits that could be realized. Imagine climate change being a faint memory in years to come, imagine diabetes and  heart disease statistics dwindling, imagine a generally healthier and happier population. Some may say that these are over ambitious goals, but are they really. Imagine if all of us expressed the simple joy that cycling brings us to our friends and loved ones, how much this could spread. I think that we can all agree, that cycling in infectious and addicting. SO SPREAD IT!

Trek Domane: Road disc brakes are so in right now

Alright, so the title of this article is clearly intended to poke a bit of fun. Disc brakes are not simply a road bike fad that will fade. Road disc brakes are here to stay, and each year you shall see more and more disc brake options for road bikes. This is going to be the case particularly for high end road bikes. Fast descents, chicanes, and cornering from experienced cyclists are where the benefits of hydraulic disc brakes are most realized. Trek is on board, offering disc brake road bikes at multiple price points in their 2015 Domane line.

I know we have written about the Domane Disc before, but they are worth mentioning again, especially as there are many models at different price points. Of course, I can’t help but begin the discussion without speaking of the creme de la creme, the Trek Domane 6.9 Disc. Of course we shall continue the discussion with the Domane 4.5 Disc, and Domane 4.0 Disc which are both more practical price points; yet we can’t help but marvel at the engineering of the 6.9 a bit.

The Trek Domane 6.9 Disc (pictured above) comes equipped with the Shimano RS785 hydraulic disc brake system. Having ridden this system myself on a Specialized Tarmac Pro Race when I was in Morgan Hill, I can tell you that this brake system is pretty much totally awesome. A really good braking system is not only much more controlled in descents, but less than intuitive, it is actually much faster as well. When riding sketchy and winding descents and chicanes with this brake system, a rider has so more control to negotiate the turns with better precision. Smoothness and good lines are fast in descents and they allow the rider to hammer where necessary and still slow quickly when necessary.

Of course, I am a strong advocate that these benefits have to be ridden to be truly appreciated. I will admit myself that I knew they were the best braking system, but wasn’t a complete advocate of them myself, saying that great caliper brakes are good enough. This is true, road calipers are good enough, yet you ride with so much more control and confidence with hydraulic disc brakes, especially when you descending. Feel free to hammer whenever you want.

The Trek Domane 6.9 Disc also comes equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 electronic drivetrain, and Bontrager Affinity Elite Tubeless Ready wheelset. Personally, I have never ridden Dura-Ace Di2, but I have ridden Ultegra Di2. The precision of shifting seems immaculate even when putting the hammer down, I can only imagine how nice it is with Dura-Ace Di2. A whole lot of bike in this endurance race model. Of course, it very well should be for $8,300. Yet you can still get the benefits of a full hydraulic disc brake system at just over the $3,000 price point.

The Trek Domane 4.5 Disc (pictured above) comes with the Shimano R685 hydraulic brake system. Though this disc brake system is a level down from that on the 6.9 Domane, the action of these brakes are still superb. They have received sterling reviews to date, especially when compared to traditional caliper road brakes. Standard  on this bike is also the Shimano Ultegra 11-speed drivetrain. For cyclists looking to try out disc brake road bikes, and are shopping at this price point, the Trek Domane 4.5 Disc offers immense bang for buck and is sure to please the vast majority of recreational cyclists, and even many competitive cyclists.

And for those cyclists looking for a disc brake road bike on more of a budget, the Trek Domane 4.0 Disc (pictured above) comes with TRP HY/RD cable/hydro disc brakes, which is a hybrid system utilizing both mechanical and hydraulic. This system utilizes hydraulic mineral oil at the caliper, and mechanical cable throughout the rest of the system. This is a totally decent system and much of the stopping power of hydraulics is still realized.

There you have it, a full line of disc brake Domanes offered by Trek in 2015. As mentioned, expect to see more and more disc brake road bikes each year, from Trek and the other top competitors.

2015 Bicycle of the Year: Trek Émonda SLR 10

I know it is not typical to write about such a high end bike in this blog. Reason being that they are just at such ridiculous price points that any breakdown or review of such high end bikes is essentially rendered moot because the bike is unpractical for 99% of the readers. Yet, it is still fun to ooh and aww at the top of the line road bikes. Moreover, it says a lot about a brand’s innovation, engineering, and insight as a whole when they produce bikes so good as to receive such praise from industry experts and beat the very sterling competition. This year, Velo News voted the Trek Émonda SLR 10 as bike of the year, an amazing feat that Trek should surely be proud of.

The engineering of this bike in an effort to minimize weight yet maximize performance is right on, Trek has definitely hit the nail on the head with this build. For example, as seen in the image below, the Bontrager Speed Stop brake system mounts connect directly to the frame, this sheds weight by eliminating unnecessary parts. However, even better still, this also increases performance of the brakes. The Speed Stop Brake system also utilizes a wide set design to allot for wide road rims and/or tires.

Another engineering differentiation of the Trek Émonda SLR 10 is the one-piece fully integrated bar/stem; seamlessly the most lightweight system possible while still maximizing stiffness, strength, and subsequent performance. These drops are129mm drop and have 93mm reach. Naturally, the stem angle is not adjustable as it is an integrated handlebar and stem combo; throughout years of testing an professional feedback, the current 7 degree and resulting horizontal position of the integrated stem has been found to perform the best on the Emonda. No need to worry about switching it out, it has been very precisely engineered to maximize performance while minimizing weight. In addition, the handlebar system is compatible with Trek’s new integration system, Blendr; Blendr allows riders to connect electronics such as computers, garmins, or cell phones to the handlebars without the use of zip ties or otherwise (pictured below).

The Tune Skyline carbon tubular wheels combined with Vittoria Crono CS Tubular, 700x22c tires are the pinnacle in lightweight performance wheels. As many may know, wheelsets are at the crux of weight loss/gain in bicycle composition. Tubular wheelsets make up the lightest possible wheel, tire, and tube combination out of the three systems currently in production. And, as mentioned in previous blogs, they have both the best rolling resistance and professionals agree that they perform the best in handling ability.

Not a single detail has been overlooked in the Trek Émonda SLR 10, it is these details that have earned this bike the title of bicycle of the year by Velo News. Even Jagwire’s new sectioned housing, which makes cable routing look like vertebrae is unique, cool, and still serves the purpose of shaving grams. The SLR 10 comes with the cleanest DuoTrap S mounting system to date. The Speed Trap integrated computer sensors is now on its second generation where they have now mastered ANT+ connectivity as well as Bluetooth.

The Trek Émonda SLR 10 comes equipped with SRAM RED 22, 50/34 compact crankset. The true genius of this bike lies in the Ultralight 700 Series OCLV Carbon frame though. Years of research, development, and testing have gone into the production of this frame. Each tube shape is uniquely designed to maximize the performance of the bicycle while minimizing the weight. The perfect balance of stiffness and weight. An excessive amount of carbon has been sacrificed in the research and development of this frame; it is well worth it though as the rider can put the hammer down on this 10.25 pound road bike with 100% confidence.

Tuesday Banter: Shaved arms and beard, do they matter?

In a previous segment of Tuesday Banter, we reviewed the testing of leg hair drag at the Specialized wind tunnel. In the tests of Shaved vs. not shaved legs at the Specialized wind tunnel, what was found was amazing. Among the riders tested, an average of 70 seconds over 40km was saved. Over a minute in a 40km distance is massive time savings. This is approximately the same difference achieved from aerodynamic efficiency as switching from a standard round tube bike to an aero bike such as the Venge. Ergo, the question remains what kind of aerodynamic efficiencies can be gained from shaving the rest of exposed body hair.

In the first video here, Specialized utilizes their state of the art wind tunnel to test the drag of a beard in the segment titled “The Win Tunnel: To Beard or Not to Beard.”

After running multiple tests and analyzing the results, it was found that the tested subject Joe, did gained only less than a second over 40km from shaving the beard. These type of gains are nearly negligible. Ergo, if a rider has an emotional attachment to their facial hair, or simply keeps a beard out of laziness or for convenience, his aerodynamic efficiency shan’t be affected by his beardyness.

Naturally, the other ares of exposed body hair when in cycling bibs and jersey are to be tested to come full circle. Ergo, specialized has tested the effects of shaved arms in the Specialized segment titled “The Win Tunnel: Are Shaved Arms Faster?” The video of said segment follows here.

The findings of the testing of shaved arms vs. not shaved arms were as predicted after analyzing the results of the prior two wind tunnel tests at Specialized. Shaved arms does in fact increase aerodynamic efficiency, much more than shaving of the beard, but much less than shaving of the legs. It was found that shaved arms were an average of 19 seconds faster over a distance of 40km. This represents a decent size chunk of time saving from aerodynamics; significantly more than the under a second saving from shaving one’s beard, yet significantly less than the 70 second saving form one shaving their legs.

Ergo, if a rider is going to shave anything at all, these should be the legs. And while you are at it, it couldn’t hurt to toss the arms in there under the razor. A rider nee bother with the beard, it is affecting his aerodynamics at a negligible rate.

Specialized Venge: More Bike than Aero

Known as the Specialized aero road bike that is not time trial or triathlon specific, the Venge may still be the best option for many road riders. The reasons are outlined here and in the following video from Specialized. As the experts explain, this bike is more bike than aero. What this means is that the bike has been designed with accounting for factors such as stiffness and responsiveness as much as aerodynamics, if not in fact more. Who better to explain it than the experts themselves at SBCU in the following video.

The main points worth noting are that, yes the Specialized Venge has been designed to be very aerodynamic. Yet, stiffness has been at the crux of engineering this bike. Key points on this bike for stiffness and performance are the tapered head tube, aero carbon fork, and the cambered airfoil x-section seatstays which are patented by Specialized. The head tube tapers from 1-1/8” at the top to 1-3/8” at the crown, this increases the strength and stiffness of the cockpit while increasing steering precision as well as optimizing airflow. The 3:1 shaping and straight profile is UCI-legal, and it provides greater stiffness than the traditional curved road fork. In addition, the X-Section fork blades have a sharp front edge to the wind, which provides enhanced aerodynamics. And finally, the FACT Carbon, Cambered and asymmetrical seatstays have been designed specifically to enhance aerodynamics from crosswind without sacrificing aerodynamics from headwinds and retaining the stiffness demanded by competitive cyclists.

In short, this bike has been designed to increase aerodynamics at all angles, saving every bit of energy so that a rider can still throw it down when needed and not have the bike flexing on them. A colleague of ours races this bike in both criterium and road races. When asked how it performs, he says all around this bike screams performance, aggressive and strong.

Shall it replace the tarmac? Well I would say no, but depending on a rider’s preference or in what area they are looking to gain a competitive advantage, this bike may be a better option for them, even in longer distance road rides and races.

Specialized Diverge: Totally unique and Liberating

Specialized understands the human nature of exploring. When this instinct can be translated to road cycling, an opportunity for a cycle unlike any other is born. Where other road bikes may typical stop, turn around, or find an alternate route, the Specialized diverge continues on riding comfortably through gravel, dirt roads, and paths, yet still has the speed and agility to destroy the roads. With Specialized Roubaix Pro 700×30/32c tires and Shimano 785 hydraulic disc brakes, the transition from road to gravel has never been so seamless.

To test this new bike, the Deux North crew toured Northern California for their Fourth “Hunt”. Their two day, 200 mile tour of Northern California is outlined in the following video. The goal of this trip was simply to test the bike’s capabilities, in attempt to either prove or disprove the claims that the Specialized Diverge is meant for “every kind of road”.

http://vimeo.com/100774318

What was found in the Hunt 4 was a cycling experience unlike any other. Endless options, you can literally never repeat the same ride if you choose to not. The handling in gravel and dirt was unlike any other road bike, yet still rolls fast on long roads and descents.

The Diverge Comp Carbon pictured above represents some of the best value for money within the Diverge line. Reasoning for this is that the models below this one are aluminum frames. Granted Smartweld technology offers a comparable ride to carbon, yet on a bike that is intended to tackle gravel, the benefits of a full carbon frame are going to be readily apparent as it will dampen the vibration of the ride thoroughly. Moreover, the Zerts technology in the fork and the seat stays further dampens the vibration for a more comfortable ride, especially over distance.

The Diverge Comp Carbon also comes equipped with Shimano 105, 11-speed drivetrain. As previously mentioned, Shimano 785, hydraulic disc with Ice Tech resin pad provide the sharp stopping power required in both serious descents and gravel/dirt roads. The Specialized Roubaix Pro, 120TPI, folding bead, BlackBelt protection, Endurant casing, 700×30/32c tires have the width to handle various conditions yet are still low in rolling resistance as per the Roubaix tread.

Specialized has hit the nail on the head with this bike that offers a liberating and completely unique ride, with capabilities to change your normal route to something completely new and fun. Hence the name Diverge, you can stray from your normal route, unbound by the confines of paved road.

Feel free to direct any questions my way, as always I am happy to offer any expertise that I can.

Women’s Road: Specialized Ruby Expert!

Both Specialized and Trek continue to demonstrate their commitment to women’s cycling, just one of the many reasons we insistently back these two brands. Though of course there are more options and models in Men’s bikes for both brands, Specialized and Trek are much less than misogynistic to say the least. I shall follow this blog post with more on Trek’s women’s line at a later date, but today a review of the Specialized Ruby Expert is in order. As in keeping with the structure of this blog, blogs are generally written about bikes that are high end yet at a reachable price point, ergo more worth reading about for the cyclist looking to make informed decisions about their next purchase. The reason for this being that if a cyclist has a budget of 8-10k for their next bike, essentially any bike with any components is on the table, and at that price point it is very difficult to make a bad purchase decision. For those looking at a high end bike at a more practical price point, the options are much more varied and are going to be quite different from brand to brand, model to model.

Today, let’s talk a bit about the Specialized Ruby Expert. Backed by popular demand as well as brand mores, Specialized more than ever shows their support to Women’s cycling in 2015 with even more models dedicated specifically to the female cyclist. The Ruby Expert retails at $3,200 and is carbon frame and fork road bike. Moreover, this bike comes equipped with Shimano Ultegra, 11-speed rear drivetrain and an FSA BB30 carbon crankset w/ mid-compact gearing; high end road components ready for the recreational or even competitive road cyclist. The ruby is built for comfort over distance, equipped with Zertz vibration dampers in the frame and fork, designed to cover long distances with ultimate comfort and control. The Specialized CG-R, FACT carbon seatpost also increases rider comfort as well as aerodynamic efficiency.

The Ruby frame is designed specifically for women, and also built as an endurance frame. Moreover, the Body Geometry Women’s Ruby Expert saddle is designed for female anatomy, as well as meant to be comfortable for long distance or even full days of cycling. With Ultegra brakes and the Fulcrum S4 wheelset, this bike is essentially race ready.

High end Women’s road bikes are becoming increasingly important. Specialized and Trek are on board, offering high performing road bikes for females. Whether other companies will follow suit is another question. Everyday I am encountering more and more female cyclists, and I am so stoked to be able to provide awesome options to them as opposed to one or two models, or even worse the unsavory option of putting them on a bicycle that is specific to men.

Please feel free to direct any questions, happy to help. And thank you for reading.

Tuesday Banter: Shaved Legs vs. No Shaved Legs!

Starting a new series today titled “Tuesday Banter”. Given that Tuesday is my Monday, it is always good to start the week with a bit of playful banter for morale. Ergo, “Tuesday Banter” which shall be fun and sometimes silly topics, that are always cycling specific of course. Today we are going to be discussing the much debated shaved legs versus no shaved legs for aerodynamic efficiency.

Who better to test the wind tunnel than Specialized with their state of the art wind tunnel and aerodynamic efficiency measuring system. Following is a video of the tests that were ran as well as the findings. I have also followed the video with a summation of the findings from specialized.

Specialized explains that they didn’t anticipate the difference in aerodynamic efficiency to be very significant, ergo they have not undergone such tests in the wind tunnel yet. However, after the ‘beard vs. no beard’ test, viewers insistently asked if similar tests had been done with shaved vs. non shaved legs. Therefore it became time to empirically squash the debate.

To ensure reliability of the results, the experiment was tested with 6 different riders. Moreover, the riders were thoroughly tested in the wind tunnel ten times with and without shaved legs to ensure reliability of the results. What was found was actually quite impressive, Chris from Specialized explained. Keith, the main subject of the test, gained nearly a minute and a half over a 40-Kilometer distance. Though Keith was on the high end of the tested six riders, the average still ended up being 70 seconds saved over a 40-Kilometer ride.

This is a huge difference in aerodynamic efficiency. Chris explains that this difference is comparable to that of changing from a traditional round tube frame to a Specialized Venge.

Looks like I have to start shaving my legs, ugh! Feel free to direct any questions our way, unless of course they are about the specifics of the leg shaving process.

 

Specialized Venge Lunch Race – Innovate or Die!

Perhaps the thing most admired about Specialized is their persistent and continuous innovation! Every year they seem more willing and eager to invest  heavily in research and development. This is reflected with their alloy Smartweld technology, innovations in carbon with their FACT carbon, and the constant improvements they make on their already stellar Body Geometry products that optimize fit for comfort and performance.

Specialized continues to push the envelope with the all new in 2015 Specialized Venge Lunch Race. Unlike any other in its class, the Venge Lunch Race is the ultimate aero road bike designed for crit racing and road sprints. With a uniquely designed 1×11 drivetrain, riders simply push the light yet ultra stiff 52t chainring and still have engagement all the way through the 11 speed SRAM PG 1170, 11-28 cassette. How does this work many people wonder, surely with an 11 speed cassette and only one chainring engagement through 6 or 7 of the gears at most is possible and the rest will slip. This is not the case. Specialized has utilized the same theory behind mountain bike and cyclocross narrow wide chainring technology. The 52t Specialized Pro FACT carbon, OSBB, XSYNC crank has been designed with uber deep and alternating pattern teeth to prevent chain drop and guarantee engagement through the whole of the 11-speed cassette.

Having ridden the bike myself, I can assure you that this is case, full engagement. In the face of much criticism, this bike is in full production and now available for sale. Some of the criticisms it faces are that it is an overly specific bike, and that it is rendered moot in most road situations. To that, I say, what if you race road crit? Eliminating the small chainring both minimizes weight as well as increases aerodynamics. This has been tried and tested in the Specialized wind tunnel. Designed for a simply fast ride, this bike is a machine. Moreover, the frame comes with cable routing that can simply be unplugged as well as a front deraileur braze on so the bike can always be converted to a double chainring later if desired by the rider.

The Venge Lunch Race also comes standard equipped with the Roval Rapide CL 60 full carbon clincher wheelset, light, stiff, and ridiculously aero, S-Works Aerofly bar, SRAM Force 22 rear derailleur, SRAM Force 22 CX1 shifter (right only of course), and SRAM Force brakes. This bike is a beast, plain and simple.

Please feel free to direct any questions our way, we are more than happy to answer any and all inquiries.

2015 Cinelli Mash Histogram and Parallax Review

The Cinelli Mash has made a well deserved name for itself in the fixed gear market in their years of production. It may appear that Cinelli  simply applies different color schemes to the Mash and Mash Histogram framesets from year to year or from model to model, but as Cinelli reiterates this is far from the truth. I can vouch for this as well, having ridden a number of them myself. For example, the new 2015 histogram pictured below offers the benefits of a tapered head tube, a massive upgrade from the previous year’s model. This tapered head tube comes with a Columbus 1 1/8 to 1.5 carbon fork for match.  This design makes the already agile MASH Histogram more responsive and with better cornering capabilities than ever before. Of course, all the benefits of snappiness and a responsiveness of the Columbus tubing are carried over to the new 2015 model.

Last year the Cinelli Mash Parallax was introduced. This was introduced as Cinelli’s quintessential criterium track frame. Thorough research and field testing with the MASH team has gone into the development of this frame to make it the best race bike for street or track that MASH has ever offered. As with the MASH Histogram, the parallax has a tapered head tube with a Columbus 1 1/8 to 1.5 carbon fork for match, offering the same benefits of responsiveness and better cornering capabilities than any other. Cinelli has used the Columbus Airplane (Supersection oversized shape) 7005-T6 aluminum tubing on this frame, super fast and responsive. This frame is perhaps the most eager ever produced in the MASH line as a result of fine tuning the geometry for race specifics.

All Cinelli Mash frames come with a drillable front fork for mounting a road brake caliper. They also all come standard with fork, a headset, seat clamp, and replaceable stainless steel dropout inserts. Don’t be distraught by the price tag, I can tell you from experience that these bikes are packed with value, and worth every penny. I have never met anyone who has regret investing the money in a Cinelli Mash frame. Upon riding it, you will feel the difference immediately, one of the most responsive, snappy, and eager track bikes I have ever ridden.

Feel free to ask any questions, myself or anyone else here at Fulton Bikes are happy to answer or help with your research and purchase decision in any way that we can. And if you happen to be local to the Brooklyn or the five boroughs area, we have 2015 Cinelli Mash frames in stock.