New Product- "Should we carry this item?"

We get many items sent to us as new products, and each of them are "about to revolutionize" whatever sport they are associated with. "It an amazing product!" "This is totally different!" "Market research and testing tells US this thing is gonna pop, you better get on board...!" "You'll laugh your way to the bank, try it first!"

This company is not quoted above, but SWIGZ dual hydration bottles are an example of a new thing. Almost all of it is made in the US, it holds 24oz divided between two nested 12oz containers. This allows you to have your hydration drink on one side, and water or whatever on the other. Water is mentioned three times on the attached card, vodka is also mentioned three times. They come in four different color combinations, and can be washed in a dishwasher once disassembled. Retail pricing is $12.99 with a 40% margin. More info at www.swigz.com.

The bottle sides are pretty stiff, as that's needed for the structural design. If the valves are closed and the bottle is squeezed moderately, leakage is noted. I think vodka was mentioned as it is clear, unlike the jersey streaks you might get from a colored solution. A fast gulp from this bottle means both sides get squeezed, so the leak factor may be critical.

Sport Chalet associates- let me know if you think we should carry this item. I know what I'm thinking, but I may be wrong. I will report back to our buyers on how many positive replies received from our techs.

LEVI LEIPHEIMER RETAINS LEADER JERSEY

I got this today in an email update from the race:

Latest News Maps Cities Tour Merch. Amgentourofcalifornia.com Watch Live
Olympic and World Champion Paolo Bettini (ITA), riding for Quick Step-Innergetic, made cycling history when he edged out T-Mobile Team's Gerald Ciolek (GER) in a dramatic photo finish to win Stage 4 of the 2007 Amgen Tour of California. For the first time ever, a reigning Olympic and World Champion won a race held on U.S. soil.

"Day by day, I am discovering California on this course and it is beautiful," said Bettini. "Here in California the courses are good for me. They are difficult, but not too difficult... The fans here are incredible, just incredible."

Levi Leipheimer of the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team finished the longest stage of the eight-day race, at 132.6 miles (213.4km), in 36th place, which was enough for the Santa Rosa, Calif., resident to retain the overall leader jersey. "Today was the postcard of the Amgen Tour of California. Riding down Highway 1 through Big Sur... pretty amazing, very beautiful," said Leipheimer following the stage.

Under clear skies and roaring crowds who packed the finish in downtown San Luis Obispo, Bettini outsprinted T-Mobile's Gerald Ciolek (GER) and Team CSC's Juan Jose "J.J." Haedo (ARG), who finished second and third respectively, to take his first stage win in America. The ride from Seaside to San Luis Obispo was punctuated by two brief rain showers and some of the most striking scenery yet as the cyclists rode hard down the Highway 1 coastline. The average speed was 25.8 mph (41.5 kph), with the leaders completing the course in 5:05:47. Leipheimer, the overall leader since the Prologue in San Francisco, was upbeat about keeping the Amgen Leader Jersey until the finish in Long Beach. "I'm pretty confident. I feel good. I feel like I'm the best rider in the race," said Leipheimer at a post-race press conference.

Tour Of California

I'm just going to give up on posting anything on this event, there's so much going on I'm hardly able to keep up for myself. Today a "normal" TV channel has been playing commercials to draw people to the event in Santa Clarita and Long Beach. If you go, and I suggest you do, please let me know if you get any good digital pictures as I'd love to post 'em here.
Here's a few good places for info:

www.thefredcast.com
www.velonews.com
http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/Route/stages.html
www.cyclingnews.com

Don't miss out, come and see the race!

Disc Brake Adjustments- Why so many?

You may have fielded a few complaints from customers regarding their disc brakes needing adjustments. Your knowledge of the situation will resolve the issue.

A disc brake caliper and rotor stay in one place, which is determined when the QR lever is closed. We then adjust the brake, and it works great. That brake to rotor relationship is changed when anyone opens and re-closes the QR lever. Most dropouts have a layer of paint on them, and may be made of aluminum or magnesium. The QR and ends of the axle are made of tougher materials, often tool-quality steel. When the axle is released and re-closed it bites down on a new place, or reengages the initial point with hundreds of pounds of clamping force. Either way, some paint or surface metal gets removed. When a bike is new, or the rider is new to the sport, that tension varies widely. Your rotor is usually centered in the caliper with almost one-half millimeter of clearance on each side, which varies widely in the first ten to twenty times the wheel is mounted in the fork.

THIS IS WHY YOUR BRAKE NEEDS ADJUSTMENT!

Often a small adjustment to the QR tension may resolve the issue. If paint on the caliper side dropout has been removed, you may actually need a minor adjustment.

Let's define one other aspect; noise vs drag.
You're listening to a disc rotor spin through a caliper, it might make a small sound. Like a metallic whisper once per rotation. This is very common on a brand new bike. As a new pad and rotor are used together, their surface irregularities from manufacturing wear away and they work much better. A little sound may not require an adjustment.
When you spin the rotor through and it slows the spinning wheel, you need to adjust that. It may be as easy as recentering the caliper, or all the way up to rebuilding the lever/caliper and replacing the rotor and pads. We must repair things to be safe and quiet; please call your trainer with any questions.

Syntace develops a great disc rotor shim!

From www.cyclingnews.com

Recent rule changes in both mountain bike and cyclocross racing have increased the prevalence of spare wheels in the pit area equipped with disc brakes. Many of those racers have also realised that, in spite of so-called 'standards', the disc rotor spacing on their panoply of spare wheels can vary a bit. Given the tight clearances on most typical disc brake calipers, it doesn't take much of a shift to create some substantial disc pad rubbing.

Rather than iteratively readjust or re-shim their brake calipers with each wheel swap (which, obviously, isn't practical during an event), the more astute riders have rather shimmed their disc rotors so that they all match up, enabling quick and easy wheel swaps with consistent braking performance.

Still, fiddling with tiny shims in multiples of six can be headache inducing, and slight variances in the shims themselves can result in a slightly warped rotor - thus repeating the same problem you were hoping to solve. Instead, the clever Germans at Syntace offer a one-piece rotor shim that is designed to serve the same function as the individual ones. Not only are these much more convenient to handle but they are also properly sized for the M5 bolts commonly used to secure the rotors instead of the larger M6 bolts used for brake calipers.
Syntace's 0.2mm-thick disc rotor shims are offered in packages of eight.

They are available now through QBP, part number BR5015. You may not need them for Hayes or Avid brake set-ups if you're only using one set of wheels, but they are a very simple thing for setting up Disc Brakes properly for any bike. A package should retail for about $10.99.