2011 SRAM X7 group goes 2 x 10?

Those hubs have a lot of the design features from American Classic/WTB's. Pretty cool. The general recommendation is for use in "XC" situastions on bikes with LESS than 5 inches of travel. If X7 goes 2 x 10, it's reasonable to think that X9 and X0 will also.
Keep in mind that the chain must be narrower, potentially more brittle and may affect durability.

Click on link- SRAM's Web Site

Will we be seeing much of it? We'll have to wait until ????? to find out.

"Brake lever; whatever?" NO!

In our Master Mechanic classes we teach everything possible, but due to time and payroll constraints some things get less attention. I’d like to take just a moment and show a small but critical difference between two brake levers.

In ~1995 the Dia Compe PC-11 brake lever was available. It’s designed for Cantilever brakes, which have a short caliper arm, so the leverage is “high”. We can see this by looking at the distance between the cable path and the lever pivot, it’s about 0.65 inches. 

The Shimano BR-M739 brake lever has a cable path-to-pivot distance of about 1.27 inches, a dramatic difference from the Dia Compe lever. This lever is made for use with V-brakes only, with a little adjustment possible in it’s “low” leverage design.

I’m no engineer, but I can see that the Shimano lever will pull much more cable with lower force than the DiaCompe. I’m not going to calculate that with the angle of the brake lever, but it’ll be “more”. As a mechanic I can tell these levers can’t be swapped from these pictures, and have any quality of function.

Today, bike functions and parts are getting mixed more than ever. “Flat bar Road Bikes”. “Road Bikes with Disc Brakes”. “BMX bikes with V-brakes”. We’re seeing demands for greater braking power on many bikes, and we may get requests with good intent and bad execution. Regardless of the reason, brake parts within a category are made to work together. Mixing low-leverage systems (Modern V-brakes, mechanical disc brakes) and high-leverage systems (Cantilever, basic side-pull, U-brakes and all modern road bike brakes) in any form can only result in compromised performance or loss of safety. There are very few exceptions to this, please contact any Bike Trainer in our company for details if needed.

It can be tempting to dismiss the value of training, but we discuss things similar to this in all of our classes. Whether you've hired a "Pro Racer" or absolute "newb", they need to go through Sport Chalet Bike Dept training.

Be Safe!

The Yahoo Cycling Team Is Going To Love This New Google Maps Feature by Techcrunch/MG Siegler on Mar 10, 2010

Feature by Techcrunch/MG Siegler on Mar 10, 2010

Yahoo is backing a cycling team. I don’t know why — but they’re doing it. And today their passion got a little boost: from Google.

Google is announcing tomorrow at the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC that Google Maps will now include biking directions in the U.S. Apparently, this was the most-requested feature for the service, as some 57 million Americans ride bikes.

Thousands of miles of bike trails have been added to the maps. And there is also step-by-step directions, much like you can see for driving or public transportation directions in the maps. There is also a new layer that shows bike trails and bike-friendly areas on roads. Yes, it’s a bike-lover’s dream.

To make this new feature happen, Google partnered with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit group that converts old rail lines into bike trails. The group have given Google information on some 12,000 miles worth of trails in the U.S.

To coincide with the launch, Google also has a cycling contest. To enter, you simply have to tweet with the hashtag #bikewithgoogle. The randomly selected winner will get a voucher for $2,500 to be used at American Cyclery.

I fully expect that hashtag to be dominated by members of Yahoo’s cycling team tomorrow.

This is great news for any cyclist, especially those that commute to work. Enjoy!