Frostbike 2010

What do bike nerds do when it’s snowing outside? Go to Minneapolis to Frost Bike of course! This year a small contingent of GBS folks, ok just Adam and Mike, rallied up to the Great White North to see what sweet new gear that QBP has in store for all of us. The debut of the new Salsa line was one of the major highlights.





















(welcome to the jungle baby!)

However, nothing makes a bike geeks heart go pitter-patter more than several hundred thousand square feet of bike parts.

(wheel assembly)


(above: lots 'o Salsa skewers, below: bins and bins of bike parts)

Looking for something to do one of these winter weekends?

Then try the Boulder Indoor Cycling for some indoor mountain bike fun. Some friends of the shop recently attended a birthday party over there and kindly shared their pics of the place. Thanks to Casie and Elysia for the fine photos and to Toddo for playing the part of the log.

Sweet new demo bikes

One of the shop regulars and part time wrench, Darren, recently had the opportunity to take out some of the new bikes in the demo fleet. Here are his comments:

Lenz Leviathan 4”
This is a very light aluminum frame. It rides light! The handling was spot-on neutral. Nothing surprising at all and that’s a good thing. Think vanilla – as in the best vanilla ice cream ever! The bike just disappeared under me. I only used the Pro-Pedal on long road sections and very smooth middle ring climbs. I never noticed any pedal bob while on the trail, but there was some while hammering uphill. Nothing major, but just enough to warrant using the Pro-Pedal.
















Santa Cruz Tallboy
Light, comfortable, nimble, stiff in the right spots, plush in the right spots, did everything very well. Great seated climber, very good when standing and hammering. It had just a touch of pedal bob when in the granny. I never used the Pro-Pedal and only thought about it a few times when I was standing and really hammering. If I could only have one mountain bike this might be it.


















Niner Air 9 Carbon
Wow this thing is light!!! This felt like a BMX bike for adults! The bike was easy to flick around, easy to manual, easy to hop. It is very stiff laterally. It was surprisingly comfortable for a bike as stiff as this. All my power went into pushing the bike forward, whether sitting and spinning or standing. It had a very fast feeling – quick steering and agile. Fun play bike, it would make a great race bike, geared or single-speed!























In addition to the above bikes we also have the new Intense Tracer 29 and a Niner WFO in the demo fleet.

More SSUSA...

Well Dax won the 48 mile race but he didn't get the official SSUSA title. Why not you ask? Because he didn't win the fame of Footdown....that was left to the master from Durango, John Bailey.

If you keep a close eye out you will see a couple of bikes from the GBS stable and most of the Niner Carbon Air 9's that currently exist.

Note - the object of Footdown (aka - Derby or Bullfight) is to get other riders to put a foot down without putting your own foot down.

GBS Named Pivot Dealer of the Year!

We always knew that people were digging Pivot bikes and that lots of them have been going out the door but we certainly didn't expect this. You've got to check out the super sweet ninja death star, I mean award, that Pivot sent us. This thing is sweet. Thanks to Pivot for making such an awesome bike and all of our great customers for buying them!

Dirt Divas Jersey Party

For all you lady mountain bikers looking for a group to ride with, please check out the Dirt Divas. Their annual Jersey Party is coming up! If you plan to attend, email all RSVP's to: dirtdivasmtb@gmail.com

Tales from Tucson

As you may or may not know a few of us from the shop ventured down to Tucson for the Single Speed USA event down in Tucson. The plan was simple, roll down on Thursday for some riding on Friday and Saturday and head home on Sunday for another fabulous week at the shop. You know how these things go though. All well laid plans can be changed. Fortunately ours were only changed by someone who doesn't know how to add. Yep, ran out of gas. Doh! Oh, well. A couple of hours waiting for the AAA folks and we were back on the road.











The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful but long, 14+ hours from Golden to Tucson.


Friday consisted of a some midday hanging out and carbo loading with the Niner crew.


We did, however, manage to sneak in a little ride.


















The Saturday race was slated for a fun and challenging 45 miles and 5000 vertical gain in the lovely Sonaran desert.












What better way to get race prepped than with breakfast with the one of the local sweeties??























About 100 people showed up from around the country to pay homage to the joy of single speeding on a 65 degree day in February.

In typical single speed fashion, the course had lots of climbing and well stocked aid stations of donuts, beer and tequila. After a nice day in the saddle we returned to the base camp to enjoy pizza, drinks and the games that decide where the event will be next year. Lucky for us, two guys from Boulder won the tug-o-war so Single Speed USA will be local next year! Get your legs and livers ready it should be one heck of a good time.