Store Blog: West Vancouver

Incredible Custom Passoni Road Bike

Aug 25.10   Posted in category: Random

Here's a couple shots of an absolutely beautiful hand-crafted Italian road bike we just finished up for a very particular and lucky customer. Pictures don't do it justice..This is the type of bike when you just have to have something that no one else in the group will have. Or no one else in the Fondo. Or probably in Canada....

It is a Passoni. They are a boutique custom builder in Italy, specializing in Ti but also doing some nice carbon work.

The bike is an XXTi model - carbon seat tube/integrated seat post with all other tubes in Ti. The bar/stem combo, fork and bottle cages are also custom carbon bits made for Passoni.

Of course a bike like this is equipped with a complete Campagnolo Super Record11 groupset. And it is rolling on some incredible Lighweight deep section all carbon clinchers. Look pedals, Selle Italia leather colour saddle and matching bar tape set it off. The fork and bars are Ivory coloured. The head badge, handpainted is just Ivory, not coloured.

Logos and customer name laser etched into the Ti.

How much does it weigh? 15.05 lbs as pictured.

How much does it cost? If you have to ask....

From Fromme: Week #2, Norco Demos, and Crankworx!

Aug 16.10   Posted in category: Travel

Holy cow, what a busy week....  Got in 5 rides, Fromme got some rain (thank god!),  we tried out some new toys from Norco, and went to Crankworx slopestyle!

38DD / Roadside Attraction / King's Crawl / Dreamland / King Of The Shore

38DD is kind of noted on the way up Fromme because of a huge drop off a rock with bad run in (right before the 3rd switchback).  There is so much more there.  This is a trail that needs a maintenance day that would turn it into a pinner, DH training trail.  There is so much potential in this trail.  Another fun little rip that I think I may have ridden once before and just ignored.  It's amazing now foolish I feel now about some of my riding choices......

Things got a little more XC, but fun, as we ripped down Roadside and looped around some of the lower trails.  There's been a lot of work developing the lower trails into more of a beginners network, and the result is some buff little trails that everyone can rip and have a great time on.  KOTS is a really fun loop that I will check out more in the future.  It's another great trail to end your ride on, and can lengthen out your ride rather than just pinning down Natural High.

Here's some random pics from the day....  a good scenery pic day!

Lower Oil Can / The Owler / Dempsey Trail

Lower Oil Can is one of my favorite trails, but I always seem to ride it when it's wet.  It makes some of the skinnies fun, and they are surprisingly achievable even when they're wet.  Go North Shore cedar.  Here are some pics of my favorite section on the trail.

The Owler was kind of an old creek bed trail that we stumbled across and it took a minute to figure out where we were.  Super rocky and kind of hard to pick lines.  It was a good challenge.  Dempsey is a nice smooth finish to any number of lines.  I haven't gone out that way in a while and it was a good change.

The 2011 Norco Range

Pat from Norco dropped off a couple of the new Range bikes off at our shop.  I snagged them for my girlfriend and I to try out right away. 

With the light going down earlier at night now, we only managed to get a couple of quick night rides in.  We checked out some of the lower trails on Fromme again (King of The Shore, Floppy, Griffens, Natural High). 

With kind of a quick review, I can say this bike is a good change for the Norco line up.  I was really impressed with the feeling of having a low BB height when desending, without sacrificing any climbing ability in the bike when going up.  I really liked the feeling of RaceFace SIXC bar.  It was really comfortable and went with the rest of the build very well.  As far as possible improvements, this bike NEEDS a chainguide.  I found that there was a lot of noise and chain slap which a chainguide would help out with a lot.  Also, the Nobby Nic tires are not a great Shore tire.  On damp roots, there was no traction.  This took away a bit from the enjoyment of the ride, because we kept rolling into things and wondering if the tires would hold.

Overall, this is a great bike and a really fun ride.  I've been bugging my girlfriend Kelsie for a long time that she needs a new bike, and this confirmed it for her.  She commented many times about how this bike inspired confidence and she was riding faster than me by the end of the ride.

Crankworx 2010

I have to throw this in at the end, because I've never been to Crankworx and we went up to check out the slopestyle contest this Saturday.  We got a great spot to watch near the top starting area.

I was really stoked to see this contest because of Casey Groves.  I met Casey when I worked in Kelowna.  It's been cool to know him for the last few years and watch his career develop, so it was really exciting to see him do well and get on the podium in 3rd place.  One of my best friends, Mike Kirk, is also one of Casey's best friends, and Casey let the cat out of the bag on what he was going to look to try and do. We knew that Casey was planning to tailwhip the huge drop off the judge's tower, so we were pretty nervous watching him do the step up and just praying that he wouldn't die.

Before he did his last run, we went up to the starting area to see him and I've never seen a happier kid in my life.  He couldn't even talk.   But he did a 360 anyway.

Here is one happy guy!

Crankworx is a bit of a spectacle but I ran into a lot of old friends which was awesome.  Kelsie and I went riding on Sunday and it was good to get some laps in with a lot of old friends that I haven't ridden with in a long time.  I will be having some A-Line withdrawl this week.....

Kelly

From Fromme: Week #1

Aug 07.10   Posted in category: Travel

Well, this all got started this week.  I wanted to find some other ways to document this journey, so I went on a search for a helmet cam.  After deciding that a GoPro HD was a bit out of my price range at this point, I found a Kodak ZX3.  After creating a helmet mount, it was time for a run.

Floppy Bunny / Natural High

I ride these trails probably more than any others.  It's the closest run to my house and it's a good after work rip.  I find they are kind of the best of everything, and I always find it challenging to get up to a decent level of speed on them.  I want to get out and fix the branch that is hanging over the A-Frame on NH!!  I'm getting tired of trying to duck it and then losing my balance and falling off the bridge.  No good.  This video....  well, the jury is still out.

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/151771

This will be my only helmet cam.  While quite functional, the ZX3 just didn't provide the adjustability I wanted and I found it was pointed down too much.  I decided to take it back.  Save your money for the GoPro kids.

Kirkford / Cedar Trail / Upper Griffen / Lower Griffen

To be totally honest, I haven't ridden Kirkford in about 4 1/2 years, and I was quite surprised.  It will definetly now go into my short ride rotation.  Just a nice little quick rip with some good rowdy rollovers.  It's always nice to find more trails on the shore that you can get some speed up on without having to worry about running into a death root. 

Then I took Cedar Trail at the bottom.  I like what they've done with some of the trail, but I don't like pea gravel.  Keep dirt in mountain biking.  The one new part that has been cut is an excellent example.

I haven't ridden the Griffens in some time.  I was PUMPED on the new bridge section on Lower Griffen.  Usually on my Natural High runs I ride down the Switchbacks but never again!!!!  The new section of skinnies is awesome and I didn't even have a clue they were there until I saw a video of them a week ago.  This is great work and is really good to see after some similar structures were decommisioned last fall.

I'm looking forward to more riding on my weekend, and the trails should be prime after a good day of rain after 5 weeks without....

Kelly