BB30-Your questions answered!

BB30-What is it?
BB30 is a new bottom bracket standard for bicycles. It requires a completely different shell than a standard bottom bracket, one that can fit a press in style bearing.

What does BB30 stand for?
BB30 stands for Bottom Bracket w/ a 30mm spindle. BB30 was originally developed by Cannondale, but left as "Open Source" so anyone could develop off of it.

What is the advantage of BB30?
There are 3 advantages of a BB30 system. #1-It is a lighter weight system, because there are no cups that the bottom bracket bearings sit in. #2-It is stiffer because the spindle that goes through the bottom bracket is 30mm instead of 24mm. It remains the same weight though because they can make the metal thinner. Think about a fat aluminum frame compared to a skinny tubed aluminum frame. Both are very strong, but the fat tubed frame generally isn't heavier. #3-Lower "Q Factor." The Q factor is how far apart your legs are when they are on the pedals. Generally you want the lowest Q factor possible. Lower Q factor=MORE POWER!!!

BB30 sounds awesome, why wouldn't I want it?
The main reason why you wouldn't want BB30 is because of availability. Right now, there are only 3 mountain cranksets out (FSA K-Force, Afterburner, and SRAM XX). That is kinda limited, and with the big industry push for BB30, availability is looking a little scarce right now. In the road world, there are 5 cranksets (FSA K Force, FSA Sl-K, FSA Gossamer, SRAM Red, and Sram Force). If you dig one of those cranks, awesome! If you are a Shimano/RaceFace guy, don't fret though. Wheels Manufacturing makes an adapter to use the BB30 bearing with a Shimano or RaceFace crankset (24mm standard). SRAM and FSA also make an insert that can go into a BB30 shell to use a standard thread-in bottom bracket. If you are building a new bike from the frame up, I would totally roll with a BB30 bottom bracket shell. Even if you end up not using a BB30 crankset, you can still use any other crankset.

Does BB30 cost more money?
Yes. If your bike new bike has a BB30 shell, awesome. The frames themselves are generally higher end bikes that come with this option. The cranksets generally cost a few bucks more too. An FSA Afterburner double crankset is $250, the double BB30 is $325. So $75 extra for the crankset with the BB30 option. That cost difference is amplified the higher end you go. I'm not even gonna tell you the price of the new FSA K-Force Lite ceramic double MTB crank, because you'll probably throw up all over your keyboard. Ok, the it's $1,000. Yes, that is a grand for a freaking crankset?!

I saw you posted in an internet forum that you want to put a road crankset on your mountain bike and run it as a single, will that work?
No. FSA told me so. Q also told me it wouldn't work. I didn't believe either of them, and called SRAM, and they told me not to be a dumbass, and it won't work. Why not you ask? Because it's like that. And that's the way it is. I'm still gonna try it anyways, because I need to see it to believe it, you know?

BB30 sounds pretty awesome. What the fuck is BB86, or BB92, and BB90? Are those the same thing?
No. BB86 is a road standard developed by Shimano. Basically it is a larger shell than the standard road 68mm, it is 86mm wide. They essentially get rid of the cup that the bearing sits in, and put that bearing in a cup that gets pressed into the frame. This system sucks though. It basically eliminates threading a cup into the frame, but pressing a cup in instead. It still utilizes the same 24mm spindle though, not the 30mm. BB92 is the same thing, only for mountain bikes. BB90 is essentially the same thing as BB86, only the shell is 90mm wide, and uses a slightly different bearing (*I think*). BB90 is only on Trek bikes though. It is just Trek trying to be a douchebag and coming up with their own thing which is completely different than everything else so you will have to buy the replacement part only from them. BB90 also uses standard road cranks with a 24mm spindle, not the 30mm spindle. All BB86, 90, and 92 cranks use the same bearing that your cranks currently have not the larger BB30 bearing. There is no real advantage of this system, as the Q factor does not change, and because the bearing still has to go into a cup that goes into the frame, there is no weight savings. BB30 eliminates the cup and presses straight into the frame.

Great! Now I know everything about BB30, what are you getting on your bike Pusher?
Of course I'm getting BB30!

Interbike Dirt Demo!

Finally, I have a few minutes where I can talk about some of the awesome bikes I got to ride at Dirt Demo. These are my highlights from this years demo.

Starting with the new BMC SLR01!
What a deal, right? Fly out to Vegas to ride a full Campy SuperRecord BMC. Life doesn't get better, right? This is *the* hotness of 2010. This bike is ridiculous. It is light, stiff, fast, and pretty much everything you'd dream of from a BMC. The frame is going to be $3500, not too bad when you compare that to the top-shelf offerings from Cervelo, Trek, Moots, and Pinarello.
Despite the fact that this is a carbon frame, there is very little lateral flex. This mofo is STIFF! I loved this bike. If you want a race bike, this is the bike to get. If you want a cruiser, a touring bike, or anything other than a race bike, pass on this guy. It is awesome though.

Just in case the BMC SLR01 wasn't expensive enough for you, there is the new Delta 7 road bike. If you want a crazy-ass bike, you want to show the road world you have lots of money, or you just have a need to get the latest and greatest (I know some of us do!), this is the bike for you.
It's all carbony trusses. This particular bike tipped the scales at 14.1 pounds they told me. That's light. Almost embarrassing that I put Crank Brothers Mallet pedals on it. "Almost" I said, almost. While this bike was cool, and rode pretty good. I believe the MSRP of the frame ALONE, not including fork, was a cool SIX G's!!! When I rode this bike, I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to love it. I truly did. I want a reason to justify in my life why I should get this bike, but I just couldn't do it. It rode well, but compared to my BMC Racemaster (My current road bike), I didn't think it rode any better. Maybe 1 day someone from Delta 7 will read this, and be saddened by it, and for that, I'm sorry. That's why you roll to Dirt Demo though. To test a Delta 7 and a BMC back to back. Hands down, I would take the BMC (SLR) any day of the week any time over the Delta 7. The BMC SLR just rode more solid than the Delta 7. It was cool looking though. A+ for looks.

Next up was the Kuota Kalibur. This bike was a ROCKET!
This is Kuota's entry level bike, and I believe they make a complete bike that sells for $2700 complete! This bike is fast, and smooth. If you are looking for a true Tri bike, I would recommend this bike to anyone. I'm sorry that I don't have a Cervelo to test this against, as Cervelo wasn't there, but to me, this gives Kuota a huge edge. If you want to sell bikes, you gotta come to these events, right?
Back to the bike though. . .
Aero just oozes out of this bike. Aero seatpost, seatpost cutouts, and the shaping along the top tube to diffuse the wind is just sweet. Will we carry Kuota? Maybe one day, who knows? They are really nice bikes, and over the next few weeks, we'll be looking into more tri brands. Kuota is sweet, so is Felt, Cervelo, Valdora, Blue, BMC, Bianchi, Scott, etc. There is a lot to choose from out there, and this particular bike offers a great value at $2700 though.

Next up, SRAM XX, and my choice ride was the Norco Team Carbon hardtail.
Norco must have missed the memo though, because they didn't seem to know that the 26" hardtail was dead. Silly Norco! The bike was nice, but the real standout was the SRAM XX parts.

SWEETNESS! SRAM XX performed how I hoped it would perform. . .perfect! If you like the feel of your SRAM X0 shifters and derailleurs, then you'll love XX. It's just like X0, only lighter with more gears! Sure, you lose the low low end, but fuck that shit, we don't need it in Michigan anyways! XX is where it's at. It's the newest in new, and the best of the best. SRAM executed this group perfectly. The only flaw? I don't own it! Sadly, I have a lot of XTR stuff right now, and as we all know Shimano and SRAM are not cross compatible. I would love to get XX stuff, but I honestly don't know if I will. Shimano also has the edge in the warranty department with the 3 year XTR warranty compared to the 1 year SRAM warranty. All in all though, SRAM XX is the bees knees right now. Get it!
Check out that last little bit of gucci-gucci madness from SRAM, the XX hydraulic lockout. It worked awesome, I am curious to know how it will work on the trails, and how durable it will prove to be. I also want to work on one to see how they work. I mean, do I have to bleed this thing? I don't really know, but it worked well at the Dirt Demo.

Last up, the bike I would like to ride in Michigan the most. . .
The BMC Speedfox! Five inches is now the standard for XC bikes. At the Dirt Demo, this bike felt awesome. The APS suspension from BMC has always been one of my favourite suspension designs, and I thought it rocked Bootleg Canyon. I would love to see how this bike handles our local trails though, see if 5" of travel is too much for Island Lake, or see if 5" of travel is just right for Highland. The new longer travel Rebas are a truly XC 5" fork, and this bike was just an awesome package. The new Speedfox01 (pictured) from BMC will be 2 large for the frame, but BMC has a solid new Speedfox03 that will be available as a complete bike for 2 G's too! The Speedfox 03 will be a little heavier frame, and will not have the custom tuned Fox rear shock. I only wish that BMC would sell FS03 framesets for $800, now THAT would be a deal, right?

So, that's it from Dirt Demo. I rode a few other bikes that didn't make this post, but I've been typing a really long time, and didn't get a chance to take pics of everthing. These were just my standouts. Keep checking back for some pics from the trade show.

A little DH action

Because I'm hardcore like that. Well, maybe not hardcore, but I've always wanted to do a downhill run, and this time year at Interbike, I decided to go for it. I wanted to do it first thing in the morning, so I would be fresh, and get the bike I wanted. So, I got off the Interbike bus at dirt demo, checked out a full face helmet from Pro-Tec (awesome helmet btw), and headed over to KHS. For my inaugural DH run, I wanted a KHS DH200. Good enough for Melissa Buhl, good enough for me! Ok, really, if it's good enough for Melissa Buhl, that means it is probably way too awesome for me. Whatever though, I knew I wanted this bike to be my trusty steed for my death defying downhill run.

Aright, helmet, check. Bike, check. Now, onto the shuttle and to the top of the mountain. Or hill, or whatever you want to call it. All I'm saying is that we were driving uphill for a while. Once we got to the top, there were some more hardcore dude that went all the way to the top. Not me, my friend, oh, no sireee, not me. I just got off the shuttle, and was intimidated enough, so I just wanted to do the "standard issue" Interbike DH run.

This is the shuttle unloading, notice the hill in the background, that is where the hardcore guys go. I'm, uhhhhh, not quite there yet, so I just went on the regular run.
So, on to the run. We were pretty high up, sure it wasn't mountains, but coming from Michigan, any elevation is high up for me! From the top of the run, you could see the Vegas strip from a 30 minute car ride away.
What a view! Alright, so I'm going to attack this mutha. I hopped on my bike, got maybe 20 feet down the trail, then punked out at the first rocky, jagged decline. No problem, there were only about 10 people watching me. Nevertheless, I tucked my tail between my legs and walked back to the start.

Take a minute, pump myself up, then go for it again! This time, I knew I couldn't back out, I needed to do it, and I did it! Well, by "did it" I mean I made it out of the view of the gawkers at the top of the run. Now, I could safely walk any other point in the trail and people wouldn't see me. And walk the tough sections I did! I rode plenty, and had a lot of fun, but some of the sections were just waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of my league. Like, if you bite it, you die. If you don't die, you seriously get fucked up, because it is about at least a 100 foot jagged rocky drop to your death. This is the last picture I stopped and took of some dude riding, then I rode the rest of the trail.

Yes, that is some scary-ass shit. I rode that section. If you'll notice, the trail is not perfectly paved like Maybury, but rather loose, rocky, jagged, sharp bullshit. Oh, don't worry though, because there is NOTHING to the right of the rider, just a sheer rocky drop down. Hoo-rah. Also, check out that big ass rock you have to ride around. Because of that rock, the trail narrows to about 6" wide, but that's cool, because your monstorous 30" downhill handlebar probably won't catch that. You're reading this thinking, it can't be that dangerous, and, well, it was. I'm surprised that there aren't more injuries at Dirt Demo every year.

The downhill was fun, super challenging, and a little scary. I admit that I walked about 4 gnarly sections, but I was starting to figure it out a little bit as the run went on. I learned 3 important things doing this. . .

#1-The bike works a lot better when moving at speed. OMG. For real.
#2-It's ok to be a pussy. I'd rather walk than die.
#3-Downhill is tiring. Don't let the name fool you, when you are going downhill, you are constantly working your upper body. When I was done, I was dripping sweat, and my biceps are pretty sore today.

FUN TIMES! More pics of other bikes I rode at Dirt Demo to come.

Got me a haircut!

I got a haircut today. I think I'm more aerodynamic. Sorry about all the filler posts. I'm just trying to keep my blog up to date. We've been crazy busy at the shop lately, and I'm trying to get everything taken care of before we go to Interbike next week. I promise I'll post up some substance next week at the show.

It's nice to get a haircut once in a while, you know?

What to do what to do. . .

I really want to continue riding all week next week, but it will be tough in Vegas, you know? Does 1 hour on a suck-ass stationary bike everyday help me? I hope so.

Is beer really that bad?

I heard that beer causes cancer. So today when I was done riding, I had a glass of merlot. Not quite as refreshing.

Buy my BMC!!!

Please. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just time for me to move on to a newer bike. I mean, this one is a 2010. It's a great deal for the caliber of bike that it is. It has all top shelf parts, and everything on it is in great shape.

BE A BADASS AND BUY THIS BIKE!!! You can stop by the shop to check it out, or just use the "BUY IT NOW" function off Ebay if you really want it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350253078501

JUMP ON IT!