...any suggestions for how to decide what dimensions would be best for me?

The question:

I am thinking about upgrading my Specialized Roubaix to carbon handlebars like the Zipp SL or FSA K-wing. These bars come in standard or shallow drop and a number of different widths. Do you have any suggestions for how to decide what dimensions would be best for me?

The Answers:

Jennie's Response:

Hi Joe,

Many of these options are personal preference. The standard road bar width for a male is approx. 44cm, although some riders prefer more narrow or more wide. When you get too narrow for your shoulder width, it closes up your chest and for endurance riding/racing is not optimal, however some criterium racers prefer a more narrow bar to move around in the pack more easily. I would suggest looking at what you are currently running and decide if you would like to change the width, but I wouldn't change more than 2cm. And for the drop, it is also personal preference. Sometimes, if a rider already has a frame where they can't get low enough in the front by taking out spacers or by having a negative sloping stem, they may choose a larger drop to get the depth for their position and vise versa for a shallow drop. Depending on where you like to grip the bars in the drop position, you may like more or less drop. I like more drop because I like to be able to get my full palm in the bend of the bar. With a more shallow drop, you have to grip more on the lower part of the drop.
Good Luck!

Cheers,
Jennie

Stan's Response (Along with John's)

Hi Joe,

I agree with Jennie's comments and here aome additional comments from our Purchasing Manager, John Gillett, that might be helpful for you:

Jennie's comments are spot on. From a sales standpoint, we are seeing more people move to a shallow drop bar from a traditional deep drop bar. My best recommendation is for Joe to be fit by Matt Hill. Matt will certainly provide a bar recommendation based on his specific needs and goals.

Check out my Weave!!!

Check out this bike from Delta7. Not having gone to Interbike this year I didn't get a chance to see this in person then. But it's made it's way to the shop and we're getting a chance to take a good look now. It's cool... and rides nice... but it strikes me as a bit of a "mouse trap", everyone is trying to build a better one.

Bike Lights For The Common Person

Faced with so many choices- which light is the best choice for your night riding needs? Do you need basic lights for occassionally being caught out after dark, safety lights for on road winter city riding, commuting on rural roads, or technical off-road use? A brighter light generally means a greater safety quotient for bicyclists.

Most new bicycle lights now use LEDs. LEDs are solid state light emitting diodes coupled with sophisticated reflectors to provide light. LEDs are tough, do not 'burn out' and can provide an amazing amount of light from what are essentially pieces of electronic circutry. High powered LED systems approach the brightness of a car headlamp.

There are a few basic categories of lights: coin cell, multiple LED, single LED, and the rechargeables.

Coin cell LEDs offer rudimentary safety lights in a very small package. Aside from the in-a-class-by-itself Blackburn Flea, a 65 lumen USB rechargeable system, coil cell lights are the most affordable but offer the least amount of light. Best suggested use of a coin cell light is as a micro sized backup for a primary light. They also offer innovative possibilities for side visibility (strapped to a fork blade) and helmet mounting.

Multi LED 'household' battery lights, Gregg's largest category, offer lights that are economical and adequate for traffic safety. Multiple LED AA or AAA battery headlights offer long run times and are suitable as safety lights for a student or someone looking for long runtimes without needing to replace batteries frequently. These will NOT offer enough light for a consumer to see the road by any measure. There are a lot of good choices for city riding in this category with many size and style variations from manufacturers.

Higher powered, single LED disposable battery lights are just bright enough to provide adequate road or trail illumination for some riders and provide a quite noticable safety light although with shorter run times. A daily winter commuter running a single LED system may need to replace batteries twice a month or even weekly. These lights max out at 40 lumens - soon to be higher with Planet Bikes' not yet available 2 Watt Blaze light. These and the rechargeable lights are bright enough to aid in daytime visibility. Many Northwest riders report astonishing respect for their right of way even during the daytime while running high powered LEDS on flash.

Rechargeable systems: aside from the Blackburn Flea, rechargeable light systems start at 100 dollars for 110 lumens for entry level rechargeables up to 1,200 lumens - about the intensity of an automobile headlamp. The mid and high end rechargeables are bright enough for technical mountain bike descents. Most have smart chargers to ease recharging coupled with lightweight lithium batteries. Some of the entry level Light and Motion (and other) manufacturers still use trickle chargers coupled to nickel metal hydride batteries. These systems require more attention to detail in recharging to maximize their performance and lifetime.

A rechargeable light, high powered AA headlights, or long lasting safety LEDs? Gregg's offers quality choices for every riders' nightime illumination needs.

Thanks to Beck at Greenlake parts counter for this write up.

The Strongest Rider

Every year Gregg's Cycle goes out to 10 or 12 events and we do mechanical support for those rides (you can see more at greggscycles.com/itswhatwedo). It's great marketing for us and adds value to the ride by easing the fears that people might have about fixing their bikes during long rides. Each time I come back from these rides there are always good stories about the riders, the bikes and often both. This weekends experience on the American Lung Association Trek Tri Island is no exception.

I'm often amazed by the riders on these events. They are all very committed to the cause and almost always have great attitudes about riding their bike and raising money to help find a cure for diseases that often hit very close to home for them. Some of them are strong riders on really nice bikes, some of them are people that have never ridden over 10 miles at a time on bikes that might have been better staying in the garage. And some of them are the strongest riders.

The kid (he must have been about 15 or 16) that rode this bike was the strongest rider in the group. Did him come in first? No. Was he the first to the top of the many climbs? No. Did he complain about riding upwards of 80 miles on this bike? Not that I heard. Did he and his dadhave a great time on the ride? By all accounts yes. Now take a look at his bike and tell me if you would have done the same. I know I wouldn't have. In fact if you take a close look at his bike you'll notice that there is something terribly wrong with it. Yes, that's right, the forks have been installed backwards. He rode the first day, all 50 or so miles of it, with the forks and much of his bike working against him. Not only was his fork backward, but his shifting was rough to say the least and his rear wheel was rubbing on the brakes.

Now, it's true, I am a bike snob. I admit it freely. I would have bitched and complained every mile that I was on this bike. I would have gotten mad and probably given up. But every time I saw this kid and his dad on the road, he was smiling. He was the strongest rider. In many ways.

As the weekend continued we were able to fix most of the problems on his bike and make it much easier to ride and he was grateful for it, but I'm convinced that had we not been there to fix some things, he would have finished all 150 miles with that smile on his face regardless of the problems with his bike. It's strong riders like this that keep me humble and help me to realize that most people ride for the fun of it and don't even know that they are the strongest rider.

What is your advice about clip-ins

The question:

I see so many riders with clip-in pedals and shoes. I know they would increase my riding efficiency, but I'm really nervous about falling if I have to stop suddenly. What is your advice about clip-ins?

Jennie's Answer:

Hi Rose,

Thanks for your question! Every rider that is rather new to riding has this question and it is something that many riders are intimidated with, but you will get comfortable in very short time. I would suggest starting with a pedal that has a large platform and cleat (such as Shimano 105 pedals). They tend to be rather comfortable and are easier to gauge where the cleat is while you are clipping in. The biggest thing when you are first starting out, is to make sure the pedal is set at an easier setting (pedals have an adjustment screw), so that you can easily clip out without having to "muscle" it! You clip out of pedals by turning your heel to the outside. It can feel unnatural at first, but quickly becomes second nature. Most of the time, rider crash because they forget to clip out and so they just tip over! Don't be embarrased if this happens, as it happens to everyone! When you start riding with clipless pedals, you really need to anticipate the stops. Clip out much earlier than you need to and then think about which way you need to lean to get your foot on the ground. I would suggest practicing in an open lot and clipping in and out at different speeds until you are comfortable enough to go on the road next to cars.

Good Luck! You'll really enjoy them once you get comfortable.

Cheers,
Jennie

Julie's Answer:

You probably have all of the advice you need at this point, but I would like to add a couple of things. Having bike commuted myself, I would suggest choosing a pedal and shoe combo that you can walk in. The pedals typically have a larger platform which makes them easier to get in and out of and the shoes allow you to walk more comfortably as the cleats are recessed. I agree that practicing in a safe open area is a good way to get used to clipless pedals and gain more confidence. If you have access to an indoor bicycle trainer of if your gym will allow you to practice on their spin bikes, this is also a really good way to get used to clipless pedals without the chance of falling.

When you are clipping out it is helpful to know that the action requires a sharp or quick outward twisting of your heel and leg. If you try to unclip too slowly, it is more difficult to disengage the cleat from the pedal. When clipping into your pedal, it is helpful to align the front part of the cleat into the front part of the pedal and then push down by shifting your weight to that leg and foot.

I hope this info is useful. Thank you for your interest and happy pedaling.

Julie

Tall Bikes For Tall Friends

Question:

A friend of mine is 6'6" and in the market for a new road bike. We are going to start training together. Do you have any suggestions on bike brands that he should be looking for, given his size?? I have a felt and specalized that I love, but not sure if these are good for his size. Any recommendations?

Leif's answer:

Hi SeAnne, I myself am 6’6’’ and can understand the difficulty in finding a bike that fits appropriately. We do have several options that will work and several more we can order. Where your friend carries his height will make a difference of which bike will fit best. I would recommend a bike from Trek or Specialized although but those are certainly not the only options. We have both Trek and Specializeds that come up to a 62 and 61cm respectively. These are both sizes I can ride out of the box and with small adjustments function very well. Models that come in this size start around $700 and go up from there. He would also be a good candidate for the bigger sizes that come only in the higher end models. The Specialized Roubaix comes up to a 64cm as does the Trek Madone. These are both awesome bikes and take advantage of some of the best carbon processes and component specs these companies offer. These both start around $3300.

Save South SeaTac For Riding

For the last 12 years or so the area under the flight path of SeaTac has been opened to Mt. bikers and hikers to enjoy. South SeaTac park (if you zoom in you'll see it's race day!), otherwise known as Des Moines Creek Park, through the work of many people has become a great urban mt. bike park that gets a lot of use all year round. Whether you're a MTB racer, CX racer, dirtjumper or weekend warrior South SeaTac provides great trails in an unique urban type setting. In the last year or so it has become known that there will be a jail built in the area and that we are in danger of losing the park to recreation. There is some great information on the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance website and I encourage you to read up on the project there. But this post isn't really about the jail and the issues concerning the construction of the jail. This post is about the amazing people in the Mountain bike community.

Through the work of Wick, John Kennedy, Joe Martin, Lisa Miller, BikeHugger, the Cascade BikeClub and I'm sure others, the word went out that it was time to support our sport and the areas in which we play. Through Facebook, Twitter, websites, blogs, email and I'm sure a few good old fashioned telephone calls the word went out. And people responded. This was to be a chance to show the officials in charge of the SCORE project that we care about the park, that we enjoy using the park and that we're good stewards of the park. And by all accounts we succeeded. There were somewhere near 400 people (racers and family) at a Wednesday Night World Championship race and they were all having a good time.

As I lined up with the masses to start my race I heard a few people exclaim, "this is crazy, look at all the people!" And I also heard, "don't worry about where you place, this is about saving the park". The attitude in the group was great and I was struck by how quickly this group could get organinzed and get out to support the sport. I saw people out there that I hadn't seen before. I saw teams from Recycled Cycles, uBRDO, Joe Bar, Revolution Cycles, Ragnorak, Center Cycle and more. I saw old friends that I hadn't talked to for a while and it made me remember why I like mt. biking so much. It's the community. The people. The laughs and the pain.

I was reminded of all those things last night and as I did my "dog lap" after the race I could do nothing but smile even though my legs felt like lead and my face was covered in dust. It was a great night for all the people that showed up and a great night for the cycling community in general. Thanks to all the people that showed up and thanks to all the people that got the word out.