Philly Bike Expo 2014 Part 1

Last weekend we flew to Pennsylvania for the fifth annual Philly Bike Expo, put on by the folks at Bilenky Cycleworks. It had been a couple years since we have attended this show, and it has grown even bigger than previous years, drawing more builders and component makers from all over the country.



We flew out from Oakland with three bikes, including one of the new Ventana El Gordo fat bikes. Thankfully we didn't have any troubles getting everything checked in and our flight left on time.



Flying over the Nevada desert, we saw some huge parabolic solar mirror arrays.



The skies were mostly clear, and we didn't have much turbulence.



After a stop in Burbank we flew on to Denver, landing just in time to see the sun going down behind the mountains.



We finally got to Philly around 1 am, got the bikes unloaded and caught a taxi to our hotel across from the convention center downtown.





We forgot to bring a tire pump, so the first order of business was finding the nearest bike shop to fill our tires so we could have some transportation. Neil rode his new Ventana El Gordo and we took a spin around downtown.

Thanks to Frankinstein Bike Worx for the air!

The weather was a little overcast, but thankfully it didn't rain on us.









Next we stopped by to say hi to Dave and Simon at Firth and Wilson, a shop that specializes in cargo and transportation bikes.



When you have so many cargo bikes in the shop, you have to make the most of the floor space.



The crew from R.E. Load Bags was also there with a full assortment of packs and messenger bags for the show.



The folks at F&W really practice what they preach, so of course they brought their booth to the convention center by cargo bike.



We had a big group, including several different kinds of front loading bikes.



Taking the lane is easy when you've got this much cargo!



We rolled straight into the convention center and couldn't help taking a few laps around the empty show floor. More pictures coming in the second post from our trip!

Customer Interviews: Commuter Peter Krasnoff

Peter Krasnoff is a long time Rohloff user who has SPEEDHUBs installed on two of his bikes. Peter was notoriously tough on bike frames and drivetrains, and he had broken two frames in the past due to shifting problems. We installed his first SPEEDHUB on a Cannondale Bad Boy, and he was impressed with its low maintenance design and ability to withstand his four day a week year round commute in hilly San Rafael, CA. After a year and a half of trouble-free commuting performance with the Rohloff drivetrain, he decided to get a new mountain bike built around a Rohloff hub, Gates belt drive system, and a Spot Rocker frame.  Around the same time, he put a deposit in with famed local builder Steve Potts for his version of the ultimate commuter frame to replace his Bad Boy. When the frame was finished the following year, we moved the Rohloff wheel over to the new frame and built the bike up with a variety of titanium parts for a super commuter that he rides nearly every day.

Learn more about Peter, his unique, handcrafted Potts, and why the SPEEDHUB works for his riding style below.

Watch renowned framebuilder Steve Potts explain the frame be made for Peter Krasnoff:

Customer Interviews: Mountain Biker Scott Sumner

Scott Sumner is one of the most devoted Rohloff converts we know. We've set up four of his mountain bikes with SPEEDHUBs, and he says he'll never go back to a derailleur system. He has even convinced a number of his riding buddies to try out the Rohloff internal gear drivetrain, and afterwards they had us build up bikes for them.

Read on to learn why Scott is such a fan of his Rohloff SPEEDHUBs.

Customer Interviews: Commuter & Trail Rider Dylan Menges

Dylan Menges was the proud recipient one of the first Surly ECR builds we put together after the bike model was released last year. Dylan lives in Columbus, Ohio, and uses his ECR to commute around town and explore the bike paths and trails along the Scioto River. He is a true adventure rider and wanted a bike durable enough to serve him reliably for rides of all kinds for many years to come.

Read on to learn more about how Dylan uses his Rohloff SPEEDHUB-equipped bike and what other features stand out on his ECR.

Neil and Xan MTB Road Trip: Part 4 - Nevada and Home to California

After reloading the bikes in Saint George, Utah, and with grins still on our faces from riding Zen trail (see Part 3), we drove on for a few hours into Nevada. We slept in the large Las Vegas suburb of Henderson so we could hit Bootleg Canyon the next day. I had never ridden there, but it had been on my list for quite a while. Neil had ridden there several times during the US bike industry's annual fall trade show, which includes two days of bike demos at Bootleg. This would be his first time riding here without the craziness of the trade show though.

Neil and Xan MTB Road Trip: Part 3 – Colorado and Utah

After some epic rides in the Springs, it was time to pack up the car and start the real adventure. I crammed all of my stuff into the van and we headed north to do one of Neil's favorite rides in Golden back from when he was in college. Even though I've spent plenty of time in Colorado at this point, I still sometimes go on a ride that totally blows my mind. Golden Gate Canyon was absolutely one of these rides.

Neil and Xan MTB Road Trip: Part 2 - Riding in Colorado Springs

After meeting up with Xan to help him move out of the dorms at Colorado College, I stayed in Colorado Springs for a few days to ride some of the area's great trails and take a break from driving. On my first day, Xan took me on an epic double loop ride that included two of the best downhill runs in the Springs. These loops represent my idea of the perfect Colorado Front Range ride – long climb following by long descent. We climbed 5,000+ vertical feet, and our legs definitely felt it by the end of the ride. Living at sea level and riding trails that start above 6,000 feet only added to the strain for me, but I was happy to be out of the car and on the bike!

Neil and Xan MTB Road Trip: Part 1 - California to Colorado

I left for a two week trip to Colorado in mid-May to pick up our youngest monkey, Xan, from college and do some epic riding along the way. The plan was for me to drive to Colorado Springs solo, meet up with Xan at Colorado College and ride the Front Range area for a few days, then road trip to through the mountain bike meccas of Colorado and Utah. I took my Oxide Cycles Battleaxe, and Xan would be riding his Ventana Zeus, both Rohloff SPEEDHUB equipped.

On the first day of the trip, I left Berkeley in the morning heading east in Interstate 80. My first stop was in Sacramento to provide some follow-up service for a customer. Afterwords, I continued on to the Boreal ski area exit to ride Hole in the Ground, a fun trail that flows through evergreen forest and over classic Sierra Nevada granite. Unfortunately, spring conditions meant snow was still present in places, and I ended up spending about an hour alternating between walking and riding through intermittent snow patches as I attempted to reach the trailhead. By the time I was at the trailhead, there was far too much snow to make riding worthwhile, so I bailed on the ride and hit the road, getting to Elko, NV for the night.

Customer Interviews: Adventure Racer Shane Hagerman

From time to time our customers tell us about impressive rides they’ve done, but few live up to Shane Hagerman’s tales. Shane is a member of Team Odyssey Adventure racing, a race team that competes in multi-day endurance races throughout the world. The four members of Team Odyssey work together to cover hundreds of miles over the course of a few days, sleeping just a few hours a time to give them an advantage over other teams. 

The backcountry routes that the courses follow are often rough and obstacle strewn, meaning their bikes must be as durable yet as light as possible. A few Team Odyssey members ride Rohloff SPEEDHUBs for this reason, including a teammate of Shane’s that we recently built this lightweight titanium Vassago Optimus Ti for. 

Read on to learn more about Shane, adventure racing, and why the SPEEDHUB is his drivetrain of choice.

Mount Diablo Bikepacking Trip

Mount Diablo is known among Bay Area cyclists for being a long, punishing, and oftentimes intensely hot climb. While the team here at Cycle Monkey knew the reputation the mountain had, we experienced the pain it can dish out firsthand on our recent weekend bikepacking trip on the fireroads and singletrack that wind up the mountain. While we got our fair share of the flowing singletrack, sweeping views, and triumphant peaks that we had come for, our ride was also marked by steep climbs, brutal heat, and bushwhacking through overgrown trails. Regardless, the mountain delivered a fun and adventurous weekend that lit a fire under us to go on an extended offroad tour.

Sea Otter Trail Ride Video

Neil and Phil headed down to Sea Otter Classic earlier this month to have a look at some of the most exciting new product releases in the bike industry. Sea Otter, held in Monterey, California, is one of the largest bike festivals in the world, offering races, product demos, and amazing trails. We showed off Neil's Oxide Battleaxe and Surly Krampus to customers at the festival, and afterwards went for a trail ride at the neighboring Fort Ord National Monument. Neil rode his suspension-equipped Surly Krampus and Phil rode his rigid Krampus.

Neil and Phil Head to Monterey for Sea Otter Classic and a Trail Ride

Last Friday, Neil and Phil were joined by Cycle Monkey friend Charlie for a day in Monterey at Sea Otter Classic, one of the bicycle industry's largest festivals. Sea Otter is the event at which most companies debut their most anticipated new products, so our trip to Laguna Seca raceway, where the festival is held, gave us a chance to do some important product research. After a long day at the festival seeing old friends and checking out new products, we got a chance to get an evening ride in at the neighboring Fort Ord National Monument.

Northwest Trails Trip Video

On their drive north to the Seattle Bicycle Expo, Neil and Phil stopped along the way to ride a few of the Pacific Northwest's most renowned trails. Although the weather wasn't always cooperative, they rode their newly built Rohloff-equipped Surly Krampuses in Olympia, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and Redding, California. Watch our video above from some of the best singletrack in the country.

Cycle Monkey Attends the North American Handmade Bicycle Show

Katie, Neil, and Aaron at our booth

A week after the Seattle Bike Expo, some of the Cycle Monkey team headed east to Charlotte, North Carolina for the ever-impressive North American Handmade Bicycle Show, also known as NAHBS. The show is a chance for small and mid-size framebuilders to showcase their artistry and craft to consumers and fellow bike builders. The show is full of the most exciting customized bikes you’ll ever see, where no cost is spared in producing beautiful and functional works of art. Cycle Monkey has been exhibiting at the show for the last five years, and this year we were excited to have a larger booth space to showcase some of our most popular builds from the Monkey Lab.

Neil and Phil Ride into the Sunset in Olympia, Washington

On our way north to the Seattle Bicycle Expo, Neil and I stopped just west of Olympia, Washington to ride the dense woods of Capitol State Forest. The first half of the ride – the climb – was very scenic and relaxing after a long day of driving, but the descent portion of the ride turned into a bit of a fiasco. The ride was incredibly fun for the most part, but it became another trail that we couldn’t ride at our full potential, and we had to promise ourselves we would return in better conditions.

After a long, winding drive through the woods just west of Olympia, Washington’s state capital, we reached the trailhead deep in the forest. Capitol State Forest is a relatively isolated area, and as we drove through the trees and clearings it was a nice break from the monotony of the freeway. We had been driving north toward Seattle for hours, so we were excited to be getting out into the wilderness after a long day of driving.

Neil and Phil Ride Redding in a Rainstorm

On the way to up to the Pacific Northwest for the Seattle Bicycle Expo, Neil and I stopped in Redding, California to get a ride in and help break up the twelve hour drive. We didn’t know much about the trails in the area before we got on the road, but we had heard that Redding had some good riding so we decided to make the stop. While driving north on Highway 5 through the Central Valley, we looked up a few specific trail options on our smartphones and decided to just pick the trail that sounded the most fun and take our chances. Little did we know that this spur-of-the-moment stop would be one of the most fun and adventurous rides either of us had been on in a while.

Neil and Phil at the Seattle Bicycle Expo

Neil and I drove from Berkeley to Seattle for the Seattle Bicycle Expo on the weekend of March 1-2, where we had a great time meeting the locals and sharing our products and services with Seattle cyclists. The turnout for the expo was fantastic even with the wet, grey weather that came through that weekend. Most of the consumers exploring the booths at the show were wet and wearing cycling gear, having ridden through the rain to get to the expo center. The sheer number of the commuters at the expo that weekend was a testament to the bicycle community in Seattle: nasty weather doesn’t stop Seattle commuters, and their ranks only seem to be growing.

Neil and Phil's Autumn Annadel ride

Neil in front of the Annadel State Park trail map, ready for the climb.

A few months ago, Neil and Phil drove up north to ride Annadel State Park, one of the most technical and fun mountain bike trails in the Bay Area. Annadel is popular among local riders for providing the kinds of long rock gardens, jumps, and other challenging trail features that aren’t as easy to find closer to home in the East Bay. Any time we make it up to Santa Rosa to ride Annadel, it’s a treat.

Neil and Phil met local Cycle Monkey friend Jake at the trailhead. Neil chose to ride his Lens Sport Lunch Box, a 29er trail bike set up with a Rohloff hub. Neil built up the 150mm travel bike specifically for aggressive riding, with sturdy rims and a laid-back seating position. It’s the bike he takes when he’s able to make it up to Tahoe and big mountain trails in Colorado, Utah or other parts of the Southwest.

Neil's Lens Sport 29er trailbike with 6 inches of travel.

Phil Attends the "Meet Your Maker" Tour Through Oakland

Last weekend I rode the latest edition of the “Meet Your Maker" tour, a pedaling expedition to the workshops of some of the Bay Area's finest frambuilders and component manufacturers. This regular series of rides was started last year by a tight-knit group of framebuilders who rode together regularly but wanted to show their customers and friends the sense of passion, collaboration, and camaraderie that defines their local scene. The rides are kept at a “party pace,” bike business and engineer talk is kept to a minimum, and the idea is simply to show people a good time. Based on the smiles on peoples’ faces on Saturday, the Meet Your Maker tour has definitely stayed true to that original idea.

Nearly 100 riders had gathered in Paragon's parking lot by 9 a.m.

Guest Post: Fruita and Grand Junction Trip, By Xan Marshland

This October I joined a few other members of the Colorado College Cycling Club on a trip to Fruita and Grand Junction, on the western side of the Rocky Mountains. Our plan was to ride some of the area’s renowned cross country and all-mountain trails for four days, camping by one of the trailheads and spending all day riding until we were exhausted. This area had been on my list of places to ride for years, so I was incredibly excited to finally get out there.

I started riding cross-country in my freshman year of high school, but my riding style has progressed greatly since then to favor more adrenaline-inducing trails. Due in no small part to the influence of my team coach and Chief Monkey Neil's aggressive (or insane, depending on your perspective) riding style, I quickly began to prioritize descending steep, technical terrain over fitness-based riding. By my senior year I had fully embraced the “all-mountain” attitude of earning as many vertical feet of descending as I could under my own power.