Posts tagged ‘Bike Shop Girl’
Video : Cervelo BrainBike
In Florida, it seems to be raining none stop today which means that today’s group ride was rained out. One advantage of this was the free time to give you a recap of a few key things we have learned during our sessions here at Cervelo Brainbike.
Make sure to subscribe to the Bike Shop Girl podcast on iTunes.
During the video I mentioned a few things :
Project California - Cervelo’s test lab where they have created new and better things from Cervelo, as well as $6k framesets (100 made.)
A new seat clamp for the P4. You can see this above, and they did say they are making retrofits for the ones on the old P4′s that keep slipping/cracking.
I’m working on getting the slideshow from the presentation in-order to show you photos of the new carbon S-bikes internally routed cables.
Podcast Episode #1 : US Made Bikes and Parts
[podcast]http://bikeshopgirl.com/podcast/BSG-Episode1.mp3[/podcast]http://bikeshopgirl.com/podcast/BSG-Episode1.mp3
Take a listen to Episode #1 : US Made Bikes and Parts.
In this podcast I talk about when or why I buy US made products, a couple big names still making in the US, as well as linking you to the upcoming National Handmade Bicycle Show.
Companies we talked about:
Thanks to Team Estrogen Forums for the idea!
Follow Friday Links (A Day Late)
A list of racer-esque women on bikes, if you are ever lacking motivation check out these ladies!
How To Video : Change a Flat Tire
We’ve asked you what you would like to learn how to do, techniques and, in general, more knowledge. The first in our How To video podcast is How to Change a Flat Tire
Grit & Glimmer : Are bike shops *still* failing us?
Over at Grit & Glimmer a question was posed to get feedback on why or how bike shops are failing in general, women.
What is the shop doing, or not doing and how can we, the women, hope to see change?
Everyday more and more women are climbing onto bicycles. It’s our time. We’re here and we’re ready to ride. Are bike shops ready for us? What’s your experience? Do you have ideas on how bike shops can be better?
Do you have a story to share?
Let it rip.
I’ve been contacted over the past few months by several large companies (a shop included) to help them figure out how to better serve us. I’m excited, energized and enthusiastic about it – and I have commitments from them that they will be willing to take risks, trust me, and do what it takes to truly make a shift-change.
What do they need to hear?
Today I’m asking specifically about bike shops but I promise later to also address the question of the larger industry. We’re making strides, to be sure, but we’ve got a long way to go.
Originally found at GritandGlimmer.com
Please take a moment to give her feedback and help all of the bike industry find a better way to help women into cycling.
Q&A : No underwear under my bike shorts?!
Over here at Bike Shop Girl headquarters we get many emails asking common questions on how to survive being a cyclist and a woman. In order to get more insight from other women I will often ask if I can put the email I received up on the web for others to answer.
Question : Okay – I have heard this before but it has always been from male sales people. I rode to work 3 or 4 times a week this year until the temps dropped and the snow started flying.
I am having difficulty wraping my head around the idea of putting on the same pair of shorts I wore on my 8 mile ride in the morning, to ride the same 8 miles on the way home – without underwear. It is easy to change my underwear a couple of times a day and pull on the same pair of shorts.What do other commuters do?
BSG : During the hot times of year I carry two pairs of cycle liner shorts.
. They look much like a boxer brief and are thinner than their spandex sister shorts. The reason for two is that I can sweat on the way to work, and not have to put them back on. If in a forgiving environment I often have rode to work, showered and hand washed my cycling shorts. Leaving them to dry during the day.
Now readers, what are your thoughts?
fi’zi:k Vesta Review: Initial Thoughts
A beautiful fi’zi:k Vesta showed up at my doorstep a couple of weeks back. Quickly, I snapped some photos and then installed the saddle on my cyclocross bike. Since then it has been on my goto bike for long road rides, and my daily commute.
Initial Feel
The very first feeling of the saddle is the firm, yet padded support. This is a good feeling as I don’t like a saddle that I sink into. If you sink too much into a saddle your sit bones are no longer holding you up and the soft tissues are left holding you up. This saddle hasn’t seen more than an hour and a half of consistent ride time so we can only tell how the padded feeling holds up.
The “pressure relief channel” seems to work so far. It isn’t a cut out so if I rock into the drops I can feel pressure on my soft tissue areas but to this point there has been no numbness or pain when this pressure happens for an extended amount of time.
Look & Design
The saddle is an eye catcher. Subtle enough, but if someone walks close enough to see the top of your saddle they will stop and ask, “WHAT?!“ This exact story has happened to me with everyone that has seen the saddle. My only worry about the eye catching colors are they will bleed over time into my white bib shorts.
Closing Thoughts
Sitting initially on this saddle I didn’t think “this is the one,” but that never has happened before with any of my favorite saddles. There are always fine tuning with the bike fit and trying different angles and fore/aft of the saddle. BUT I didn’t sit on this saddle and feel horrible pain, nor did I feel pain after 25 miles. The jury is still out on this saddle but I will check back with you as the fit is modified and more miles are logged.
Merchandise on Bike Shop Girl
I’m tentatively going to expand into merchandise and small product sales on Commute By Bike and Bike Shop Girl. But I would like your feedback. What type of things would you purchase through us vs Amazon? Would it be enough to know you are supporting a great resource to purchase that light or bag through us?
Let me know what you think and what you would be interested in!
Upcoming Articles
Behind the scenes at BikeShopGirl I have been working hard at a new layout, which you should be seeing by the time this post, and also getting organized from a very busy bike season.
Here are some of the articles I have on the burner, the reason I am leaking some of the information a head of time is in case you have feedback or questions on any of the topics!
- Presta vs Shrader Valves
- Off Season Planning with a special guest
- Types of pumps
- Essentials for night riding
- How to change a flat tire
Let’s Talk Saddles : Types of Saddles
Here at Bike Shop Girl we realized long ago that finding the right saddle is a very personal, unique and often the hardest part of bike riding. This is Part I of our on going Saddle Talk, I welcome all comments, questions and feedback on this subject. Our Intro was a short and sweet piece from about two weeks back, now let’s get talking!
Building a Flat Kit
A flat kit is all those emergency tools or parts that you need if you get a flat, but also if by chance you break a chain or something like that. We call it a flat kit but think of it as an emergency kit.
