Bike Intelligencer » Iron Horse

Daily Roundup: Google “bike it” maps? Marin highschoolers rock, Iron Horse bought, Fluidride No. 4 and more

Paul Andrews, BI editor — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:17:13 +0000

Bike Rumor: Google maps adding “Go by bike” to its “get directions” feature? This would be super cool, especially on my new iPhone G3S. You could enter in your route and get the best route combining things like bike paths and bike lanes with major thoroughfares. The database on this would have to be pretty sophisticated to work well, but it’s a clever idea and I really hope it happens.

Now all I need is an iPhone holder for my commuter bike handlebars.

At the Sea Otter Classic this spring in Monterey, I ran into a bunch of Marin high school kids who were absolute bike maniacs. Many brought along Mom ‘n Dad. There’s a revolution going on at the font of the sport that will pay huge dividends in years to come. The latest…

Iron Horse got purchased and the new owners will get the company’s patents. What they won’t get (automatically, at least), is Iron Horse’s most valuable asset before it went bankrupt: A DW-Link license. I just got my second DW-Link bike (a Pivot Firebird) and Dave Weagle’s brilliant innovation is the real deal. Believe it!

Biking Bis: Interesting piece on history of multi-gear cycling.

Cyclelicio.us on running red lights. I don’t run red lights either as a matter of principle. But I do use bike-specific maneuvers to get around them (e.g. taking a right turn and then U-turning back to make a left turn, as opposed to having to try to stop traffic on a bike in the middle of an intersection) when it’s safe and warranted. My philosophy on riding in traffic boils down to one simple ideology: Stay alive. Sometimes to do that you have to bend traffic laws aimed at two-ton behemoths.

PinkBike: FluidRide Cup No. 4 results from a rainy day at the Mt. Hood Ski Bowl. Bryn Atkinson pulled down the win with local (Issaquah) favorite Luke Strobel in second. Congrats to the Evil Bikes/Fluidride shop team which placed two finishers in the Top 10! The Evil Revolt made its debut in late spring, quickly sold out, and is showing some eye-popping results on the circuit. The bike to watch!

Daily Roundup: Goldbiker, Iron Horse redux, Hans ‘n Peaty defy belief

Paul Andrews, BI editor — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:36:21 +0000

Do not try this at home

Bike Rumor: GT’s golden bike is missing! This is gonna be a tough sell even on eBay. Quite the bling, but it’ll show back up in a day or two.

Goldrider?

Iron Horse on the comeback trail? Bicycle Retailer reports that nine former employees of the bankrupt bike giant have decided to start their own operation. Headed by Jeff Bruno, East Coast Cycle Supply formed Feb. 1 and is talking to the likes of Tony Ellsworth for licensing. Watch for ‘em!

You have to love Hans Rey and Steve Peat sneaking out for a bit of the ol’ poach. Environmental Graffiti calls it the most terrifying mountain bike trail on earth. No arguments, although you have to wonder what those two would do with the “DISMOUNT NOW! THREE RIDERS HAVE DIED HERE” section of Portal/Poison Spider in Moab.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2xvMO5oLeg&hl=en&fs=1]

Daily Roundup: Iron Horse is broke, Armstrong’s revenge, Chicks and Bikes

Paul Andrews, BI editor — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:47:08 +0000

Bicycle Retailer & Industry News: Iron Horse goes down. We’ve known for some time the company was on the ropes — as a friend put it, “How did those guys screw up so bad?” Iron Horse helped make the DW-link and could’ve rode that, um, horse to surefire success. But somehow it never found quite the right niche or following. RIP. The new hot downhill bike to watch this year is Evil. It doesn’t have Dave Weagle’s link, but he helped design the frame and Evil put together the bling. We’ll be checking it out at Fluidride.

Summit Daily News, Colorado: “When soon-to-be-the-king David slayed Goliath in 1 Samuel of the Old Testament, the people of Israel didn’t say, ‘Great job David, but would you mind doing that again next year’?” Wonderful lede btw. The story is about Lance Armstrong’s return to the Leadville 100, the grueling mountain bike race where Lance got his ass handed to him by Dave Wiens, delighting Wiens’ many fans. Unlike Lance, Wiens has never been suspected of using drugs and is so upright an individual he is in fact beyond suspicion. With Lance the truth will come out some day — you don’t beat an entire peloton on drugs without doing drugs yourself. In the meantime, we can look forward to Dave putting the big hurt on Lance again this year, even if Lance has the Tour under his belt. Mountain biking, as Lance found out when he was winning tours and decided to try his hand at the tougher sport, ain’t for road weenies. ‘Nuf said!

Chicks and Bikes: Nuthin’ but pix. Have you checked out this blog? Inspiring to say the least…

OK guys I linked. Now where's my t-shirt???!!