Bicycle Clothing Indianapolis

Decent weather + morning daylight = let's ride tomorrow.  Meet at the shop at 7:15, rolling at 7:30.  Mild Indianapolis mornings are hard to come by in March, so grab the opportunity!

Chances are that we'll get a little wet, so you might need a fender, like this one from SKS.  Or you can just wrap up with your favorite rain gear, like Pearl Izumi's Zephyr vest.  I wear the Cannondale Morphis jacket all the time during the spring.

In other news, the pro racing season is well underway, and my favorite, the Tour of Flanders, is fast approaching on April 4th.  It'll be followed directly by my racing debut at Ceraland on April 17th.  I haven't been using the power meter much lately, in favor of just enjoying the sensation of being outside, but I'll be sure to get that fired up again soon and start posting my eletronic self-worth for all to admire/scorn.

But the bottom line is:  let's get riding.

Bicycles are not just for recreation and exercise.  Bicycles and cyclists can change the world.




Bob Walters is currently in Africa.  His work will help improve the local infrastructure and distribute donated bicycles.  The bicycles are very important to the pressing transportation needs of the locals.  While Bob is there, his own transportation is a Cannondale Touring 1 he purchased from BGI.  "Fortunately" for Bob, Cannondale did not have the spec wheels in stock.  BGI accepted the bike sans wheels.  After discussing with Bob where he would be riding, I designed and hand-built a set of wheels for his new Cannondale.  That's why he specifically mentions them in his blog.  I encourage you to visit his blog and read about Friendly Planet. 




Helen Steussy and her daughter Alex are cycling cross country to raise money for the Red Tail Conservancy and "local land trusts everywhere."  Alex is relatively new to cycling, so Helen decided to get her off on the right foot with a Bicycle Fitting from BGI. 

I encourage you to visit the blogs by both Bob and Helen and consider donating if you support their causes.  Personally, I think it's great that bicycles are being used to change the world.

Looking for a new bicycling experience this year? Join Bicycle Garage Indy on the trip of a lifetime to Provence France.  BGI will be hosting a private Trek Travel trip for 22 persons going to Provence for 6 days and 5 nights on September 19-24, 2010. 

Whether you are a historian, a foodie, an artist, a wine connoisseur, a leisurely rider or a serious cyclist, you'll spend the week in Provence France sharing in the art of living well. The beauty, location and style of each of our hotels are beyond anything one could imagine. You'll have the opportunity to experience quintessentially French moments, from perusing the Bédoin market in search of the best locally grown produce to tackling the mighty Mt. Ventoux. Travel treasured cycling routes to the most prized hilltop villages and features a landscape whose beauty was destined to be captured on a canvas.

 

Find out more from Trek Travel's Angela Horvath at the Provence, France Luxury Tour Info Party on Tuesday, March 30 from 5:30 - 8:00 pm. (Registration required - Limited to 40 people)



Connie Szabo Schmucker
Advocacy Director
Bicycle Garage Indy
Indianapolis and Greenwood, IN
 

 

I have a 3 year old Roark http://www.roarkcycles.com built right here in Indiana. It's tricked out with SRAM Red and for the final personal touch, I've added Wheeltags http://www.wheeltags.com to both my Zipp 404's and 808's.

Name: Matt Tanner
Bicycle: Roark - Full Aero
City: Carmel
State: IN

I was getting started in triathlons back in 2007 and needed a bike. The guys at BGI were incredibly helpful in guiding my decision. They warned me against spending too much, and not getting a sport specific time trial bike. This was invaluable advice and one that I have heard echoed many times since in various publications. BGI also made sure that the bike I selected fit me properly and worked for exactly what I needed it to. Since that day in 2007 I have finished a number of triathlons including some half-Ironman distance races, all on that bike. Without the expert advice of BGI, I wouldn't have come as far as I have. Thanks BGI!

Name: Blake Matheny
Bicycle: Cannondale Six13
City: Indianapolis
State: IN

Passing along an update on local trail conditions from Mark Finney, an avid off-road rider and BGI employee.
Please, if you see people with MTBs and/or gear, do your best to dissuade them from riding the trails for the next few weeks.  

Since today is such a nice day with the first hint of spring I wanted to make sure that people make a point to get to Brown County this season. The Hoosier Mt. Bike Association (HMBA) has done an amazing job here, creating a truly world class track with miles and miles of awesome trails and routes for the entire family regardless of skill level. I've ridden here with my 9 year old and I've ridden with people from around the country who made me beg for oxygen. (of course all on Bikes from Indy's best bike shop) Brown County is close too. There are a bunch of us in the Indy Business community who meet early on Friday mornings there and are back in the office before lunch. A great way to top off the week....Indiana Mountain Biking.

Name: Chris
City: Greenfield
State: IN

Your most important bicycle contact points are your feet.  They experience the greatest amount of pressure and, with your knees and hips, experience the repetitive motion of cycling.  Adjusting your pedal cleats is the foundation of every bicycle fitting adjustment you make above your pedals.  




The simplest cleat adjustment is the fore/aft position.  Even that requires an off the bike observer who can note your foot angle while pedaling against resistance.  Simply stated, the more toe down you pedal the more forward on the shoe the cleat needs to be.  The more flatfooted you pedal the more aft the cleat needs to be.  Within this range though, we're only talking a few milimeters.  The idea is to make sure the pedal axle is essentially centered under the ball of your foot when the crankarm is pointing straight forward (e.g. 3 O’Clock for the right crankarm).  The Bicycle Fitter can then fine-tune the fore/aft position depending on whether you are a spinner / gear masher, have small feet / big feet, etc..


The stability of your feet on the pedals also relates to your knees.  A significant amount of forefoot side tilt relative to your lower leg can result in your foot rocking inside your cycling shoe.  This rocking effectively pulls the knee first toward and then away from the bike’s centerline on every pedal stroke.  Since your knee is designed to flex backwards and not side-to-side this can sometimes produce sharp pain on the inside and/or outside face of your knee.  Shoe Wedges, either under the cleat or inside the shoe are designed to fill the gap created by the forefoot tilt.  They produce a stable platform for your foot and eliminate the rocking thus knee stress.

 

Another symptom of this forefoot tilt for most cyclists is excess pressure on the outside margin of the foot (less often on the inside margin).  The smaller toes frequently become numb on a foot experiencing this pressure or the foot experiences "hotspots."  Cleat wedges fill in the gap created by this forefoot tilting and allow the pressure to be spread across the entire ball of the foot thus numbness and/or hotspots are usually eliminated with the correct number and orientation of wedges.

 

Although overlooked by many cyclists, a proper cleat fitting which addresses fore/aft, rotational, “Q” Factor, forefoot tilt and leg length discrepancy issues will produce a less painful and less injurious cycling experience.  Odds are, you’ll be faster on your bike too.

Bicycle Garage Indy has the amenities necessary for people to bike to work - secure bicycle storage, shower facility, place to store clothing, support of leadership and encouraging bicycling is what we do as a business. But we wanted more employee participation in bicycling to work, so we sweetened the deal and created a program to allows employees to earn BGI Gift Cards through bicycling to work. Not only do they save money by not driving, but they earn $0.15/mile which they can use to purchase bicycle accessories (when they apply their employee discount it is more like $0.25/mile).

The project on I-465 is wreaking havoc for northside bicycle commuters. There are no crossings of I-465 between Keystone and Allisonville Rd. except for College Ave.  River Rd. and Westfiled Blvd bridges are gone and the Monon connection is closed.

If you normally take the Monon from the north to cross I-465, here's an alternative.

From the Monon heading south, go West on 106th St to College. Go South on College to 96th St. Go East on 96th St. to the Monon.
Reverse to return north.

Hope that helps!

Connie Szabo Schmucker
Advocacy Director
Bicycle Garage Indy
Indianapolis & Greenwood, IN

Having attended college in Bloomington a million years ago, I became accustomed to biking anywhere and everywhere I needed to go. My ride was a Nishiki mixte frame which my father purchased for me when I graduated High School. Fitted out with baskets, racks, panniers I rode it for years when I didn't even have a car, loading it up with groceries, shopping, books etc. It followed me to graduate school in Memphis TN, where it was stolen and is probably giving some unfortunate person a means of transportation. Over the years, that particular bike has given me a love for bikes, I have owned many after that and as an Art Teacher in a small town, kids love to see me coming to school on my bright beach cruiser. Just recently, I decided to search for a bike like my original Nishiki, I became the proud owner of a vintage Raleigh Sprite with the same frame style. The guys at BGI North helped me put it together, tune it up and put some accessories on it. It is not a flashy bike, but riding it takes me back thirty years. Thanks Guys!

Name: Jami Rome
Bicycle: 1978 Raleigh Sprite mixte
City: Whitestown
State: IN

Our latest online coupon lets you take 15% off the lowest price of any CamelBak hydration product. It's your pick: a hydration pack, like the Lobo, the new flow meter, .75L Better Bottle or a Podium bottle.  (Limit 1 per customer, in-stock items only offer good through 3/15/2010.)


CamelBak is one of the hundreds brands of Bike Accessories Indianapolis, in-stock now at Bicycle Garage Indy North, Indianapolis, and Bicycle Garage Indy South in Greenwood.

Sometimes a product comes along that is very difficult to describe, or explain in words how to use or why you need it.  When I first saw the XDK Slug, A Hydration Pack Tool I knew I had to have one.  

Now I am a rarity, a road rider who uses a CamelBak. I know a CamelBak on road bike just yells FRED, but hear me out. I was first introduced to them while riding in Washington State.  Off-road riders are constantly in mud, so CamelBaks were used for both for hands-free drinking, and reasonable clean access to water.  A lot of the off-road riders would train on the road, so they kept the CamelBak habit.  I am on a tandem a lot, so hands free is nice for that.  Finally, our kids were tandeming with at a very early age, and a strapped on pack let them drink without playing the "drop-the-water-bottle" game.  So our work-out storage includes hooks for four hydration packs and extra's.

Now the Omegaport lid is a great improvement over the original CamelBak.  You can easily add ice (especially nice at quick shop ice machines!), and clean and dry the bladder.  But for some, it can be very difficult to open.  In our household, I am the official CamelBak "opener". (Along with bike mechanic, roof rack bike loader, tire inflation specialist, etc.) With the Slug, which inspired the video below, I have 1 less official job at home.  Now if someone will just invent a PowerBar opener. . . .



CamelBak and XDK are just two of the hundreds of brands of Bike Accessories Indianapolis, in-stock now at Bicycle Garage Indy North, in Indianapolis, and Bicycle Garage Indy South in Greenwood.

I am completely at home taking care of the different types of bicycle brakes I have used over the years; side pulls, center pulls, cantilevers and linear-pull/V-brakes.   I have had them on the bikes I have owned, assembled and maintained.  But disc brakes are a completely new animal for me.  I don’t own a disc-equipped bike (yet, of course!), and they only came into wide-spread use after my days as a full-time mechanic.  However, I had a unique opportunity to learn more about Hydraulic Disc brakes when Josh Prater, one of the service leads for Bicycle Garage Indy, scheduled a training session for BGI’s Service Department to share what he learned at a recent Park Tool Tech Summit, I jumped at the chance, and it turned out to be a very interesting couple of hours!

Thursday, February 18,  our Lady's Night at Bicycle Garage Indy - North was a hugh success. Over 60 women attended our first fashion show, which included women's cycling wear from Cannondale,  Sugoi and Apres Velo.  

 (Part 3 of a series on the Trek Off-Road Tech Update for BGI Staff from Ken Derrico of Trek Bicycle.)

The rocker link is essential in connecting rear suspension members to the frame.  Most are bolted together plates.  To tie all the elements of it's rear suspension together, Trek relies on the one piece EVO Roller link casting.  One piece design dramatically improves stiffness and reliability in Trek's hi performance off-road bike.  The EVO also incorporates pressed in sealed bearing, rather than bushing, for increased durability.  (You can see more EVO details on YouTube from Trek's Jose Gonzalez.)

The EVO Link is found on all Trek Full suspension bikes, including the Remedy and Fuel series of high performance Trek Bikes Indianapolis, available at both Bicycle Garage Indy-North and Bicycle Garage Indy-South in Greenwood.

We will cover Full Floater shock mount next in Part 4.

This week, Sales and Service staff at both BGI North and South had the chance to participate in a Trek Off-Road Tech Update with Ken Derrico of Trek Bicycle.  We have put a few of the pictures up on our Bicycle Garage Indy Flikr site.  In this and several posts to follow, we will highlight some of these new offerings, in development since 2006, when Trek began, with considerable investment, research efforts to completely retool it's off-road bikes. These efforts are now bearing fruit in industry and rider recognition.

Along with it's carbon frame building technology (Lance and Madone, need we say more!), Trek is highlighting four Suspension technologies; Fox Dual Rate Control Valve (DRCV), Active Braking Pivot (ABP), Full Floater Shock Mount, and EVO 1-piece rocker links.   We will talk first about the DRCV shock first, and cover the rest future posts.

Built by Fox and engineered by Trek, DRCV allows for both small bump compliance and "big-hit" control in an air spring. The first stage functions as a standard Fox Float air shock.  Halfway through its travel, the plunger opens a valve to the upper canister, providing "big-hit" performance, without the loss of pedaling efficiency of a long travel shock.

The DRVC Shock is found on the Remedy and Fuel series of high performance Trek Bikes Indianapolis, available at both Bicycle Garage Indy-North and Bicycle Garage Indy-South in Greenwood.

We will cover the Active Braking Pivot in our next post.

We have our first Shimano Dura Ace Di2 Treks Bike Indianapolis!  We have a Trek Project 1 Madone with a complete Dura Ace Di2 drive train assembled and on display.  Better yet, we have have it on CycleOps Jet Fluid Trainer, so you can try it yourself at BGI - North.

 Shimano's SEIS (Shimano Electronic Intelligent Shifting) is a remarkable riding experiencing. On of the most fascinating features is the self-triming front derailleur, with it's two-step shifting between rings.  The the Di2's lithium battery pack mounts in-line with and below a water bottle cage, and  is designed for 1,000 miles of riding between charges.  You can find a complete set of pictures on Flickr, and video at BicycleGarageIndy on YouTube.

This Project One Trek Madone is just one of the performance Trek Bikes Indianapolis, available at both Bicycle Garage Indy-North and Bicycle Garage Indy-South in Greenwood.