Uhm…the Crankworx course looks a bit psycho. PinkBike is covering the event this weekend.

Broke my clavicle in 5 places. I have a bunch of other shoulder bone fragments floating around. Upgraded to titanium, at least for 6 months, to keep things together.

Plate and 4 screws

Nickel and Butcher at work from santa cruz bikes on Vimeo.

Some of you pedal mashers know I’m a big fan of the Single Pivot bikes made by Santa Cruz. I love the no fuss and how well it works in all situations. Santa Cruz Bikes has decided to merge the Single Pivot and their VPP bikes into this new APP pivot (as they are calling it). I’m not one to get technical with bike jargon but it looks really cool. They have videos explaining the APP further for you nerd types. The Nickel and the Butcher come out in June as Framesets and retail for $1350. Looks like daddy might have to buy himself a new rig.

Light it up...

This is the year I do more night rides. I’ll be using the ExposureLights 2010 Toro. The Toro is a 1 P7 LED 700 lumen output light that uses a cable free design and easily mounts to a 25.4 - 31.8 handlebar. The light unit is compact and light (276 grams). On high beam (MAX) it lasts 3 hrs, which covers the majority of time spent on a night ride, but if I plan on going epic I have the option to run on medium (10 hrs), low (24 hrs), or flashing (days). The construction of this light looks amazing with its all aluminum casing (no plastic) and rock solid clamp design. I’m not one to put a light on my helmet, which is why I opted for the Toro which comes standard with the handlebar clamp. ExposureLights of course offers other lights with the helmet clamp. The price and design simplicity made it a must have.

Exposure Toro - Cable Free Design

My only recommended improvements to this light would be:
- cap for the charge port so dirt doesn’t make its way into it.
The chances of it getting dirty are slim but enough of a concern we may cover it with tape on those sloppy races or muddy night rides.
- we’d like to see a waterproof light. The Toro is weather proof, but given the wet conditions we experienced last year and this year in the US North East “water proof” is a very good thing to have. Can’t count the amount of times we’ve crossed a river or fell into a lake / pond accidentally.

Dream bike for 2010 season…

Moots YBB 29er