Customer's Bike. Somec. Made in Italy.

Sometimes I get pictures sent to me from happy customers who bought a frameset from me and built up their own bike. I get a lot of satisfaction from seeing someone happy with their purchase.

Cannondale and Fondriest Frames Up Now.

I've been getting in more and more road bikes and parts in lately. I have a Cannondale CAD3 frameset and a Fondriest aluminum/carbon frameset up right now. The CAD3 is a small one at 45cm c-c. The Fondriest is a 57cm and very nice. Look for some Dura-Ace and Record parts soon.

Big Fall Sale On De Marchi Cycling Clothing.

I just got in a big purchase of De Marchi clothing. Made in Italy. Compare to Assos. Some of the finest bibs and jerseys made. I've got them all up in my eBay store. Go check them out. 40% off retail.

Campagnolo Record alloy crankset up now.

I just got in a clean Campy Record alloy crankset. Old school!

More clothing up right now too.

New group of road bike parts up now.

I've got some more road bike parts up on eBay right now. Cinelli, Easton and 3TTT bars, Campagnolo and Shimano front derailleurs, Campagnolo rear derailleurs, stems, seatposts, etc.

2007 Scott Spark 10 sold in less than 24 hrs!

I sold this 2007 Scott Spark 10 with SRAM XO, Truvativ Noir crankset, DT Swiss wheels, Ritchey WCS and Fox f100 RL fork for $3100 in less than a day.

New Felt TK2 track bike wth Campy Pista Tubulars!

I just got in this beauty. It's a Felt TK2 track bike with Campagnolo Pista tubular wheels, Conti Podium tires, Fizik Arione saddle, Deda Pista stem and bar and Sugino track crank. It's up right now.

McGuire Professional Cycling Team Clothing

I've just gotten in a bunch of nice Castelli Squadra Team Division cycling clothing from the McGuire professional cycling team. Bib shorts, jerseys, arm warmers, windbreakers, etc.

Check out what's up for auction this week.

Ransom 10- Sold!

Another nice bike just sold recently. 2006 Scott Ransom 10 full suspension. $2300

Cycling Jerseys, Bib Shorts and Sunglasses-$1000

I sell a lot of items for several local teams/clubs. Most of the time it's either new/lightly used sponsor items or personal items from members of the team. One organization I've recently started selling items for is the NorCal high school mtb racing league. Last week's auctions of mostly used jerseys, bib shorts, sunglasses and some shoes brought in over $1000 at auction!

The moral of the story is don't prejudge any items you're thinking of selling as not worth it. Most everything cycling related has some value to someone somewhere. If you have one or two items or a whole box full, I can turn those items into cash for you.

2006 Scott Ransom 10 for sale

Here's another Scott Ransom I have for sale. This is the 10 model with the high modulus carbon fiber frameset. It was a demo with very little use. Check it out up on eBay.

Tubulars-Nirvana or Pain in the $@%&

In case you've ever wondered what a glued rim looks like before you put the tire on.

This is 3 thin coats of glue with approximately 15 minutes between coats. I let each layer dry tacky before applying the next. 1 coat on the base tape of the tire. Important tip-Get glue all the way to the edge of the rim.

I found that it wasn't terribly difficult to mount a stretched tire. Granted the ones I used had been already used on another wheelset. Centering wasn't too bad either. I got the front straight the first try. The rear took 2 tries to get it the way I wanted. I managed to only get glue on the brake track in two places! Not too bad.

I'll admit I'm a total geek when it comes to anything bike related. I want to try whatever is out there. I want to see the latest technology and the history that brought us to today in the sport.

So at this point would I recommend the average recreational rider do this? Should the average person bother with this? Hell no. Period. It's simply not worth it. I happened to enjoy the process but that's not a good enough reason to do it. I'm still on the fence as to whether the ride is that much superior. Absolutely there's a difference you can feel. I'm just not sure how to quantify it yet.

Another Consignment Bike-Specialized Dolce

Here's another bike I got in recently on consignment. This time it's a women's specific Specialized Dolce. 44cm. 9 speed Ultegra triple with Flight Deck computer. Check em out on eBay.

Another nice consignment bike-Trek 5200 OCLV

I just got another nice Trek in the other day. 2003 5200 OCLV 120. 58cm. New carbon fork and upgraded to 10 speed Ultegra.

Campagnolo Record parts bring big bucks.

The low-mileage Campy Record parts I had up for auction last week brought in some great prices at auction.

Carbon crankset-$209
Brake calipers-$191
Rear derailleur-$222
Front derailleur-$75
Seatpost-$45
Ergo levers-$225

If you have any used road or mtb parts laying around your shop or garage, round them up in a box and bring them by. They're not putting any money in your pocket sitting there!

Tuesday Night Crits at Infineon Raceway!

I know it's a little bit of a drive for some but you should come check out the tuesday evening race at Infineon. 8 laps on the racetrack! The first race of the series had 48 people register to race. Great turnout. It was pretty windy which split the field up into tiny little bits. Norcal Velo and Eastside Cyclery each had a few riders and Greg from Colavita Norcal made it out as well. Laurel from Team Mack rode strong in the wind by herself!
The race will run for the next three tuesday nights. Check out my calendar for dates and link to more info.

Campagnolo Record parts this week.

Check out some of the auctions this week. I've got some clean, low-mileage Campy Record parts. Crankset, ergo levers, brake calipers and derailleurs. I've also got some SPD and Speedplay pedals up as well.

Flats, Sealant and Superglue

Well I've already gotten a flat while riding a set of tubulars. I ran over some construction debris and a piece of metal lodged in the tire. It didn't lose air completely until I got home.

3 oz of Tufo sealant and a dab of superglue on the outside applied to the cut sealed everything tight. 120 psi of air and it's still holding after 4 days....

Ransom 20-SOLD!

I just sold the Scott Ransom 20 yesterday. $2200. I'll have a Ransom 10 and Spark available very soon.

Tubular Vs. Clincher, Clincher Vs. Tubular

Anyone who's spent any time on any of the cycling discussion boards knows that the debate between clincher vs. tubular wheels has been going on since the beginning. From an ease-of-use and simplicity standpoint the clinchers win hands down. Today's clincher tires, especially the "open tubular" variety are so good that one wonders why anyone would use anything else.

There's quite a few people out there who still prefer tubulars. Reasons given-the lightest wheels are only available in tubular. Tubular tires are more round rather than oval so they corner better. They "feel" nicer while riding is something I've seen written often. Also, many people I've talked to who ride "tubs" exclusively report far fewer flats.

I decided to try a little experiment. I've always ridden clinchers. I've never bothered with tubs for no other reason than the fact that all the nice wheels that I've liked and ridden happen to be clinchers. I've ridden tubs briefly before when I had a set of Campy Hyperons. I only rode them a few times and sold them because I was in the middle of another bike build and preferred to use the funds for more parts. They were light but I had never dealt with tubs before so I decided it wasn't worth the hassle.

So now I've decided to ride tubulars exclusively until next spring. I want to see any real or perceived benefits. I'd like to see just how much of a pain it is to deal with tubs daily. I've never glued tires before but now I have three sets of tubular wheels. 2 carbon and 1 aluminum. I'll have plenty of practice!

Stay tuned....

New Bike up on eBay. 2006 Scott Ransom 20.

I recently picked up some Scott demo bikes. This is a 2006 Scott Ransom 20 carbon frame mountain bike. Check out the specs in the auction. This is a beautiful bike! All-mountain 165mm rear/150mm front suspension. Check out the red anodized Industry Nine wheels! This bike would cost $5000 new. Listed at half off. Hardly used. The nubs are still on the tires!

SOLD!!

So this past week I sold two framesets for a consignment customer. A 2003 Santa Cruz Blur and a 2004 Trek 5900 SL Project One. The Blur went for $800 and the Trek went for just a little over a $1000. The nice thing about letting me sell your bikes and parts for you is you don't have to deal with "tire kickers" and countless emails/phone calls asking questions. If you've ever tried to sell stuff yourself-cars, bikes, whatever-you know what I mean.

Another nice consignment bike

I just got this in from a new consignment customer. It's a Trek 5900 SL with a Project One custom paint job. The 5900 SL-"super light" was Trek's weight weenie frame from a couple of years ago. I actually like it better than the Madone. It's up for auction on eBay right now, so if you're interested, go check it out.

The bike that started it all

This Ritchey Road Logic was my first "nice" road bike. I had been into mountain biking for quite a few years before that but this was the first real road bike. While I was happy with it at first, the urge to upgrade became too much and I started to change things on it. Well, what do I do with the stuff I changed out? Well, off to eBay of course! I changed out things occasionally on my mountain bikes and sold the replaced parts to help fund the purchase of the new stuff.

With the road bike however, the changes became numerous. Soon I was not only selling my parts but my friends and riding buddies stuff as well because they didn't have time or the inclination to do it themselves. I soon developed a local reputation for getting good prices for used cycling items. That was several years ago. Now I'm an eBay Powerseller specializing in cycling related items. I didn't see that coming when I first hopped on for a ride....

It's about time....

I finally have my new website up! It took a while to get to this point but I'm happy that it's done. I'm slowly turning this site into a hub(pardon the cycling pun) for goings on in North Bay cycling. Clubs, local teams, area rides, shops, you name it. Currently, you'll find links to some local teams I sponsor as well as explanations of some of the services I offer. There's also a calendar of local rides. Check back occasionally as I'll be adding more soon.