Saturday, October 23, 2010

My New Orange Crush...

...comes in full carbon. Can't get my mind off of Kona's 2011 Major Jake.

We've even displayed it in a spot that you can see from anywhere on the floor.

Let's take a look at this stunning beauty that's been turning heads since it came in the door:

First impressions:

Our Major Jake is a 53cm, paired up with a carbon Kona CX Race tapered fork/carbon steerer. The massive head tube has a 1-1/8" top and bottoms out at 1-1/2" - a nice cozy anchor for the fork.

Fork and head tube aside, the taper emerges as a total necessity if not just for extra strength when you consider the fat hexagonal down tube that's almost as wide as the BB30 bottom bracket shell.


Seamlessly bound to the flared 34.9mm seat tube and topped off with a flattened top tube (not that you'll need any extra help getting Major Jake on your shoulder), the frame heralds a whole new kind of stiffness for when you're cranking away.


Throw in some internal cable routing and warrior-like orange and white graphics on black carbon, and you've got yourself one hell of a frameset. We've weighed it in at a feathery 3.1 lbs (frame+fork). Don't worry, it won't blow away in the wind.

On the wall now in Chagrin.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

2010 CRC Creek Cross Recap

Do I see a new Jake The Snake there?

Hopefully everyone's caught their breath by now after Sunday's 2010 Creek Cross CX race in Solon. Results were posted early Tuesday on Chagrin River Cycling's (CRC) site.

The weather couldn't have been better for a cross race. Sunny, cool, and little-to-no wind.

Winding through the Bartels' grassy property on the southeast corner of Richmond and Solon roads in Solon, the roughly 1.25-mile course led riders through a sinuous snarl of seemingly endless switchback turns.

With mostly dry conditions and no run-ups, riders faced only two back-to-back hurdles, a 10-yard heap of deep, wet gravel, and quick narrow tree-weaving. The spiraling course initially funneled everyone into a tight squeeze around a stack of hay -- a rabbit hole, or eye of the storm, if you will -- before spitting everyone out onto the bulk of the course.

To make things interesting, each race began with a chaotic Le Mans-style start, in which riders set up their bikes about 200 feet ahead of the starting line -- and upon "Go!" everyone ran to retrieve their rig and proceed down the course.

Here's the Category A guys at the start:



Thanks again to CRC and The Bartels for hosting the race, and to Lynn Marut for officiating. Stay tuned for more race info at Northeast Ohio Cyclocross Series.