BikeRumor.com

After a week of buildup, Hayes Disc Brakes has finally unveiled their all-new Prime hydraulic disc brakes.

Featuring a slew of new technology, they represent the future of Hayes’ disc brake offerings.  Chief among the new features are:

• 10º Tilt Bore - Keeps the Master Cylinder closer to the bar and optimizes lever reach.
• Top Loading Pads - Switch brake pads without removing the wheel
• Two-Piece Rotor - Lighter, stiffer and stronger than their old one-piece designs
• New Pad Material - Less noise, better heat dissipation
• Top Tube - rubber sleeve on hose keeps it from rubbing your frame the wrong way

There’s also a big new feature that they’re not quite revealing called Poppet Cam Stroke Adjustment, and it’s said to be the “secret sauce” behind the new Prime brakes.

OK, lots more to cover.  Go ahead and make the jump and we’ll get started…

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These ghost bikes were placed at the scene of the accident in North Carolina.

The insurance company of a woman who struck and killed two cyclists as they completed a cross-country fundraising ride has agreed to pay a $5 million settlement to the family of one of the victims. Tom Hoskins was riding with fellow cyclist Lee Anne Barry in Lancaster County, North Carolina when the pair was hit by a vehicle from behind, killing the two cyclists. The driver, Sharon King of Greensboro, N.C., was charged with reckless homicide but later pleaded guilty to reckless driving in the incident.

Hoskins and Barry were completing the last leg of what they called the B.I.G. Ride, for Brain Injuries Greatest Journey, a cross-country fundraiser ride conceived by Barry and aimed at raising awareness of brain injuries. The pair were accompanied by Barry’s husband at the time of the accident, and were just miles from the finish of what would have been Barry’s fourth B.I.G. Ride. The $5 million settlement was approved by the judge for Hoskins’ family. A $2.5 million settlement was already reached and approved in civil court in Barry’s death.

Found this via FixedGearGallery by way of BikeMandan.com.  It’s a handbuilt wood bike called the Birch Bike and was crafted by Alan Downey in Austin, TX.  Sure, it’s a bit odd to see a double crankset on a fixie, but irregardless, it’s supposedely the first all wood fixed gear bike submitted to their gallery.

Another photo after the break, or just shoot on over to FGG for more…

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Specific route details for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California professional cycling race will be revealed beginning tomorrow via individual stage videos, AEG, presenter of the fifth-annual event, announced today. The videos have been created in collaboration between the start and finish cities of each stage (designated at “host cities”), highlighting features of the route for the eight-day event. Two videos will be released per day throughout the week of Feb. 8, and they can be viewed online at the Amgen Tour of California Web site (www.amgentourofcalifornia.com), as well as the Amgen Tour of California’s Facebook page and on YouTube.

Stage-by-stage videos revealing the routes will be released on the following days:

• Tuesday, Feb. 9 – Stage 1 (Nevada City to Sacramento) and Stage 2 (Davis to Santa Rosa)
• Wednesday, Feb. 10 – Stage 3 (San Francisco to Santa Cruz) and Stage 4 (San Jose to Modesto)
• Thursday, Feb. 11 – Stage 5 (Visalia to Bakersfield) and Stage 6 (Pasadena to Big Bear Lake)
• Friday, Feb. 12 – Stage 7 (Los Angeles individual time trial) and Stage 8 (Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village/Agoura Hills)

You can check there, of course, or you can just check them out here on Bikerumor with all the other sweet cycling goodness…

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Colnago’s top-end EPS road bike gets the custom white treatment from Pista Palace, one of the largest Colnago U.S. dealers.  Occasionally, Colnago will do a custom, limited run of special paint jobs for dealers, and here’s the latest: The White Palace Edition EPS.

In 2009, they had a metallic candy apple red version that was pretty sweet, too, but for this year you can get three versions of the White Palace.  If you’re a fan of steel, they’re also doing a White Palace Master Pista and Master X-Lite with some seriously nice chromed lugs.

More pictures, plus video of an EPS frame being built, after the break…

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If you consider yourself a “roadie,” chances are you get a lot of strange looks from your friends, family, and coworkers when you don your Lycra skinsuit or they see the 15 bikes hanging in your garage. The cycling world can get pretty weird at times. Unless you are a rider, there is a lot of stuff that the general public just doesn’t get. Why do we shave our legs? What’s with all those wheels you have laying around? You spent HOW much on your last bike?

We are faced with these questions almost inevitably when we are in the presence of an “outsider,” and it can be tiring repeatedly explaining why we rabidly raid the refrigerator in search of calories or spend hours on end in a dark, damp basement counting watts on the trainer.

Enter Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer, by veteran race announcer Jamie Smith. After spending years explaining the little idiosyncrasies of being a bike racer, Smith decided to write a book to bring understanding to the masses. Roadie acts as a complete guide to the life of a bike racer, written for those confused friends, family, and coworkers in your life who have never driven two hours to race a 45 minute criterium, and have no idea what a 5 hour solo training ride feels like. Everything they ever wanted to know but never understood is covered in the book; training, equipment, racing, lifestyle and everything in between. The best part? It’s engaging, entertaining, and down right fun, from front cover to back.

Although written with the non-cyclist in mind, those more familiar with the way of the bicycle will get a kick out of the book also, as Smith captures every little intricacy of being a bike racer; a fantastically interesting self examination of cyclists. Each chapter, lesson, and story is dead accurate, but simple enough for your next door neighbor to understand. I found myself nodding in agreement with each page, as Smith picked apart everything it means to be a bike racer in a way that only a true roadie could.

The book is published by VeloPress and available online here for $21.95 or at most book retailers (editor’s note: Amazon = $14.93). You can also follow Smith’s blog here, where he keeps some hilarious commentary on various topics around the cycling world.

The Tour of Qatar was blown apart by a gutsy break by two smaller teams today in stage two, leaving all the big guns more than 1′40″ behind in the GC. Geert Steuers of Belgian team Top Sport Vlaanderen-Mercator narrowly beat VacanSoleil’s Wouter Mol after the pair held the main field off. They broke away early in the 147 km stage and held an on-the-road advantage that increased at one point to 11 minutes.

The chasing peloton was hampered by the wind once again, but despite a chasing pack stuffed full of the big sprinters, they simply didn’t pull hard enough to reel the two minnows in.

Steueur finished around 1′53″ ahead of third placed Roger Kluge (Team Milram) and Cervélo’s Heinrich Haussler in fourth. His commanding win must make him favorite for the overall prize and sets up an intriguing few days of racing: will anyone be able to make back so much time in the flat, windy, entirely unpredictable Tour of Qatar 2010?

In other significant news, Kurt-Asle Arvesen of Team Sky crashed early on and broke his collarbone, putting him out of the race. Coverage as ever on Eurosport or Versus.

Far out man. Just looking at the contraption makes me think of this transportation alternative.  And to answer the question at the end of the video, “No. No it doesn’t.”

A quick heads up for cycling film buffs in London. Safety In Numbers, a 70-minute documentary by Nick Mason about the Fireflies is showing at the ICA tonight, for a special Monday-night price of £5.

The Fireflies is a group of mainly British amateur cyclists who, each year for the past nine years, have ridden 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) across the French Alps from Geneva to Cannes to raise money for leukaemia research.

Though they take on the classic climbs of the Tour de France - more than 20 in eight days, including Colombière, Télégraphe, Galibier, Izoard, Alpe d’Huez and Madeleine - they’re far from pros. I’ve ridden with them once, and can pay testament to the inspirational determination and team spirit that gets everybody safely through some of the most awesome mountains in the world.

From what I’ve seen, the film, shot in full HD, captures the amazing vistas, and the personal stories, beautifully, and there’s a sneak peek posted on the Fireflies website.

2010 will be the ride’s 10th year and the organisers hope to break the £1 million ($1.5 million) mark for cumulative funds raised for this lifesaving charity. As the ride’s motto goes: ‘For those who suffer, we ride’.

“IMG_2490” by Candy Cranks. Check out their shop here. They sell - you guessed it - cranks! (and accessories).

To see more Pics of the Day, click here, and to submit your own photo to be shown to the world, go here.

Euskaltel-Euskadi officially launched their team this week at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, Spain, unveiling a team which will include Olympic champion Samuel Sánchez and young prospect Romain Sicard, the 2009 U23 Road World Champion. General manager Igor González de Galdeano said that the Tour de France would continue to be a main goal for the team, while also focusing on what the team considers “home” races.

The focus of the evening was on the rich heritage of the Euskaltel-Euskadi team, boasting “17 years in the elite.” González stressed the team’s Basque Country roots, and called this season as “the start of a new challenge and of a year that will be very important for us”. The team also celebrated the new with the signing of Sicard, who will be closely watched by all in the peloton as a rising star. Sicard only recently upgraded to professional status after a successful season with the Orbea Continental squad, and is looking forward to a new season with a new team. “It’s a new world for me, a new level, but I’m delighted to be part of a team in this country, and it’s also one of the best teams on the international cycling scene”. Full roster after the jump…

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Photo: Fat Tony ridebmx.com

Estonia’s Simpel Session concluded today with DK’s Drew Bezanson scooping the win and Federal’s Dan Lacey taking the prize for best trick with an absolutely out-of-this-world toothpick hangover 360. Brett Banasiewicz finished second and Ben Wallace placed third.

Ride UK has already compiled some of the qualification highlights, which can be seen here However, if you watch any of the event coverage it has to be the highlights of best trick. Dan Lacey took the win and simultaneously made the crowds lose it, making what should be impossible look easy.

Watch the below and be prepared to scoop your jaw off the floor afterwards…

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Edvard Boasson Hagen will wear the leader’s jersey on today’s second stage after Team Sky won the opening team time trial in its first Tour of Qatar.

‘Preparation, preparation, preparation,’ was the familiar mantra from the Team Sky high-ups: “Every little detail was covered - from the warming up, examining the wind conditions, scouting the course and looking how we would handle different corners and roundabouts – basically all the different technical parts which make a difference,” said Sports Director Scott Sunderland. Those less enthralled by ‘marginal gains’ were more excited by watching Bradley Wiggins take some huge pulls at the front as the eight-man phalanx gelled to impressive effect. They covered the 8.2km circular course around West Bay Lagoon in 9′41″, an average speed of 50.809km/h.

Team Sky benefited from a tailwind towards the end, although the unpredictable –yet predictably strong – wind conditions in reality did nobody any favors. Least of all Cervélo, who were penalized a minute for an unauthorized shove among team-mates. Heinrich Haussler claimed he pushed Gabriel Rasch to prevent them crashing during a big gust of wind. However, the decision to ride in a two-man formation now looks a mistake, as the judges disagreed with Haussler’s assessment and consequently the team stands little chance of making an impact in the race.

Garmin Transitions recorded the same time as Cervélo, eight seconds behind Sky, but will take cold comfort in their second place  – the team won last year’s opener and its then leader, Wiggo, took the gold jersey. What a difference a year makes.

Saxo Bank, in third, go into today’s stage 13 seconds behind the leaders. They’re followed by HTC Columbia (-18 seconds) and Quick Step (-20 seconds).

Check back for a report on Monday’s second stage, or tune in to Eurosport or Versus for coverage in Europe or the US.

I took the family to the Lego Store at Concord Mills near Charlotte, NC, yesterday and found this nifty little Lego plaque for the 24 Hours of Booty.  Booty started out in Charlotte on the famed ‘booty’ loop, so called for the sightseeing available throughout the upper crust neighborhood as one rides or jogs through.  The event is the only 24 hour bicycle event (road bikes) affiliated with the Livestrong Foundation and now has two other events in the U.S. that have raised a combined $3.7 million since 2002.

The signatures on the bottom are Spencer Leuders, Booty’s founder, and Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, Lego’s President / CEO from 1979 to 2004.  Aside from the plaque, check out the DJ rave dancehall scene.  That’s Luke Skywalker doing the Rockette line with a bunch of Sandpeople.  Classic.

Team Yeti Beti is encouraging all mountain biking women to come out for the Beti Bike Bash, an event they claim is the first ever womens-only mountain bike race!

FROM YETI BETI: We know that there are more women out there who want to try a race. Grab your other dirt loving friends and come out to test your skills against other women, or just come out and experience a Colorado mountain bike race. You can race by yourself or with 2 other friends for the 3 woman relay.

RACE does not have to be a four letter word. From the first timer to the seasoned professional, join us for a landmark event in the mountain bike community. This event is for all women mountain bikers, from the first timer to the seasoned professional.

The event is June 12, 2010, at Bear Creek Lake State Park (CO), with registration and packet pickup onsite starting at 8am, or swing by the local bike shop in Golden to get registered and learn how to fix a flat from 5p - 7p on Friday, June 11.  Yeti bike demos, food and drink all day at the expo.  More info at BetiBikeBash.com