Your Pedal Bicyclical – The Anticipation Edition

February 28, 2014 | Tim Krone | Newsletter

Hello!

I once worked for a company that provided lunch for its employees. After a really tasty meal, one of my coworkers would often say, “Enough is never enough, but too much is too much!” Such are my feelings about the current season. Yesterday as I was putting on my long johns, I thought about a hot summer day in which the sun comes up early and I steal a ride before work. After the ride I hustle to take a shower but it’s So Stinking Hot and Humid that I can’t cool off before heading to the shop. This day will be here soon enough. And someone will complain about it. Heh.

I’ve been singing the praises of 650b/27.5″ mountain bikes for a few years now, and it looks like 2014 might be a breakout year, largely because one of the Big Guys (ok, it’s Giant) threw their hat in the ring. We’re fortunate that our brands were early adopters — Jamis has been making 650b for five years, Scott’s won two cross country world championships on 650b hard tails and Kona’s been doing their thing for a couple of years now. Neat stuff, proven designs and pretty darn exciting.

One of the recent trends in cycling that I like quite a lot is the movement toward not-skin-tight clothing. We started carrying baggy mountain bike shorts last year, and I’m a huge fan. I like being able to pop my car keys in a zippered pocket and I LOVE the fact that mosquitos have yet to pierce my baggy shorts — unlike thin lycra. This spring and summer will also see us experimenting with jerseys that look more like a shirt yet behave like a proper jersey made from performance material. Functonal? Yes. Stylish? I think so. Come see!

A hot topic around the shop these days is “What in the heck kinda tires are we going to use for Melting Mann and perhaps even Barry Roubaix?” Weather and road conditions being what they are lately, I’m going to say that studded looks like a good choice, despite the greater weight and rolling resistance. “What?” you say, “Those things are really expensive!” While they’re not dirt cheap, I think it’s fair to expect several years of use from a pair of studded tires. Plus fewer falls.

I recently wrote a long piece about dressing for cold weather that I thought would be great for next year, but maybe now is OK too.

The more things change, the more they change. We have several new faces around the shop. Charlie, Matt, Violet and Kira all work at Pedal part time while matriculating at various local institutions. They’re all super-nice and are acclimating to Pedal. I hope you’ll welcome them to our little world.

Over the past three years I’d like to think that we’ve built our business on service, particularly prompt, professional service for your bikes. It’s always our goal — and very often our realized goal — to get your bike done in a week during the busy season. I’ll be honest and say that this year’s longer, colder winter has me a bit spooked. I fear that there’s a glut of repair work sitting in garages and basements around town that’ll suddenly arrive at our door on the first warm day of the year and that it’ll take us a fair amount of time to work through that gob of labor. You, the people who receive this missive, are our customers. You’re the lovely people who’ve secured our success. If you know your bike needs a little attention, I really, really encourage you to get that sweet thing down to us before the hoards arrive. Thanks in advance.

One of my favorite programs from the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club is Bike Camp, a wonderful introduction (or perhaps reintroduction if you’ve been away from the sport for a while) to road cycling. If you are or know someone who might benefit from such a thing, I very much encourage you to check out http://kalamazoobicycleclub.org/club/bikeCamp.php It all starts on May 13th, so you’ve got a little time yet.

Fun Things to Do:

As always and with great sincerity PEDAL thanks you for being our customer. Please let me know how we can better serve you.
Sincerely,
Tim