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SimWorks by Nitto: Cowcow Stealth Riser Bar

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SimWorks by Nitto: Cowcow Stealth Riser Bar

SimWorks, in their never-ending pursuit to produce fun and thoughtful products for your bike, just announced the CowCow Stealth riser bar. These bars have an 80mm rise with 12º back and 5º up sweep, offering up a proper rise from Nitto’s heat-treated aluminum. These bars are in stock now at SimWorks.

-Material: Heat Treated Aluminum
-Width: 750mm
-Center diam: 31.8mm
-Bar diam: 22.2mm
-Rise: 80mm
-Sweep: 12° back, 5° up
-Weight: 380g (avg.)
-Color: Stealth Grey

PEdALED’s Jary Collection: All-Road Hooded Merino Jersey

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PEdALED’s Jary Collection: All-Road Hooded Merino Jersey

PEdALED recently launched the Jary collection and within this robust catalog of new pieces lies this beautiful All-Road Hooded Merino Jersey.

This jersey is made from a merino wool blend for natural breathability, durability, and body-heat regulation. It also incorporates ripstop chest panels to combat cold wind and keep your core temperature in check while also protecting against scratchy plants in the woods. The balaclava-style hood keeps the cold off your head and face, coupled with windproof cuffs to keep unwanted gusts out.

The entire Jary collection is a looser-fit, allowing you to layer up and dress more casually. These are designed in Japan and made in Italy.

The All-Road Hooded Merino Jersey retails for $180 at PEdALED.

Sim Works has a New “Half Moon Rack” Front Rack

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Sim Works has a New “Half Moon Rack” Front Rack

Sim Works is proud to release their newest collaboration with Nitto in Japan. It’s a front rack constructed of Chromoly – just like your favorite bike frame – called the Half Moon Rack. Like all of Sim Works’ designs, this new rack puts function first, yet is well designed, and constructed to last a lifetime.

The ‘Half Moon’ rack is a light-duty front rack with a half-moon as inspiration. It’s available in chrome and black. Retail is $230.

Specs:
Material: 9mm CrMo Steel Tube
Weight: ave.780g
Max Load: 12kg
Leg length: 332mm〜352mm
Color: Chrome Plated & Black
Made by Nitto in Japan

See more at Sim Works.

Blue Lug Hatagaya: Thomson Day Bags

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Blue Lug Hatagaya: Thomson Day Bags

We’ve seen dozens, if not hundreds of adaptive reuse of Thomson’s bags. For those unfamiliar, Thomson ships their stems and seat posts in these durable bags, of which people have made them into various bicycle portage offerings over the years. Blue Lug Hatagaya just upped the ante with these bags, as a part of their celebratory Thomson Day.

The Blue Lug Blog has a bunch of fun photos showcasing their use. These bags will be on sale at the three Blue Lug stores on Saturday, October 10th and the online store will be stocked Monday night, October 13th if any are leftover.

Head to Blue Lug for more!

The Sim Works John Bottle Cage

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The Sim Works John Bottle Cage

The newest product from Nagoya-based Sim Works is the “John Cage”, a bottle cage unlike anything we’ve seen before, designed from scratch, designed and made in Japan, and a truly elegant design. The John cage’s inspiration is best summed up by the team at Sim Works:

“When a young musician found hunger on his path, he looked to the ground beneath him to carry him onward. Thus began a life-long quest for fungi and the mirror it shines on the rest of our worlds. That fascination spawned- and cast its spores through the vibrations we hear and the paths we follow.”

Material: Stainless Steel
Weight: 74g
Finish: Black, shot blast
Double mount system – high and low offset

In stock now at Sim Works.

Sim Works: New Doppo MTB Frameset

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Sim Works: New Doppo MTB Frameset

The Sim Works Doppo is quite the versatile platform and today, the brand announced its newest addition to their touring lineup with the Doppo MTB. These frames are made in Japan by Shin Hattori and the frames come in two sizes, medium and large, but with their compact geometry, can fit a variety of riders. With a segmented Tange fork to complete the look, the Doppo is priced at $1,880 and yes, the fork can be purchased separately. Head to Sim Works to see more!

Uses Tange Chromoly Steel Tube Set

・44mm head tube
・Light weight and high strength TIG welding
・Recommended suspension stroke: 120mm stroke for 27.5″
・Can be used with up to 180mm disc rotor
・Rear 12mmx148mm BOOST
・Max tire clearance: 27.5 x 2.8″ / 29 x 2.4″
・73mm JIS Threaded BB Shell
・Seatpost size: 30.9mm
・Seat clamp size: 34.9mm
・Front chainring single up to 34T
・Seat tube has holes for internally routed dropper post
・Eyelets compatible with anything cage under the down tube
・Front and rear thru-axle included

Sim Works USA: Super Yummy Tires in 26″ x 2.22″

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Sim Works USA: Super Yummy Tires in 26″ x 2.22″

You all asked and Sim Works listened. Their popular Super Yummy tires are now available in 26″ x 2.22″. This latest addition rounds out the Super Yummy line to 29er, 27.5, and 26 options, all in a 2.22″ width. The 26″ tires weigh 788g and their robust construction virtually eliminates holes or flats. They’re in stock now at Sim Works USA but will probably sell out quick, so act fast!

Sim Works: Super Yummy 29 x 2.2 Tires and a Special Build by Black Cat Bicycles

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Sim Works: Super Yummy 29 x 2.2 Tires and a Special Build by Black Cat Bicycles

Sim Works has upped the diameter for its popular Super Yummy tires. These tires are tough, offering up ample sidewall protection, wrapped in a criss-cross pattern, embedded in the peanut butter-colored sidewalls. These are in stock now at Sim Works.

29 x 2.2 won’t fit in most gravel bikes but they’d look great on a rigid MTB or this beautiful SS29er built by Black Cat Bicycles. See more of this bike below!

Panaracer GravelKing Tires in Limited Edition Colors

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Panaracer GravelKing Tires in Limited Edition Colors

Panaracer’s dominating gravel tire, the GravelKing is now available in a variety of colors, including these three limited-edition tires. The gold, purple, and olive GravelKings are now available for pre-ordering at your local dealer, with either black or brown sidewalls. Prices begin at $49.99.  Head to Panaracer to see the full lineup!

Soma’s Take on Road Racing Tires: Crit King

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Soma’s Take on Road Racing Tires: Crit King

Soma, known for their city and touring tires, have entered the world of crit and road racing with their Crit King gum tread race tire. Unlike Soma’s other offerings, this is a “race day” only tire, not a training or daily ride tire.

– Proprietary gum tread compound
– Superfine cord in a high TPI weave creates a supple casing that is also cut resistant
– Anti-puncture belt under the tread
– Wt.: 200g (25c, Kevlar bead)
– Sizes: 700c x 25c, 28c
– Made in Japan

Inside the Ultradynamico Pop Up at Blue Lug Kamiuma

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Inside the Ultradynamico Pop Up at Blue Lug Kamiuma

After a helluva a time getting through all the Tsunami craziness at Grinduro Japan this past fall me and the Salsa crew finally got back to Tokyo.  The rest of the posse had to take off around 4 am the next day, leaving me with about half a day in Tokyo to myself! Bené and Patrick had invited me to swing by Blue Lug for a pop up they were having to showcase there oh so éspecial new Ultradynamico Tyres. Having seen the amazing custom builds coming out of the shop for years I was excited to see what the shop was about.

Width Without the Waves: A Few Rides in on the 560mm Wide Crust x Nitto Shaka Bar

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Width Without the Waves: A Few Rides in on the 560mm Wide Crust x Nitto Shaka Bar

Crust Bikes gives the people what they want and that ranges from frames, to complete bikes, accessories, parts, and yeah, handlebars. Their small-time operation allows them to pivot easily to follow trends and in a lot of ways, set the trends themselves. With road bikes permuting into even more capable off-road machines, a lot of the ideologies of mountain bike design and technology have found its way onto drop-bar bicycles. Sure, the obvious moves are those shorter-travel suspension forks but something that not many people have touched on is bar width.

That’s where Crust Bikes and Ultra Romance have really influenced and inspired the question: what is the appropriate width for a drop-bar bicycle? We already looked at my Sklar with the Towel Rack Bars but after much demand – and my own curiosity – I decided to try out the Made in Japan by Nitto Shaka Bar.

Summit to Sea with Salsa Cycles, a Grinduro Japan Warmup

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Summit to Sea with Salsa Cycles, a Grinduro Japan Warmup

I arrived with a crew from Salsa Cycles a few days before Grinduro Japan was set to go down.  With the impending storm putting a slight damper on the length and rideability of the course for the weekend, I started to look for some alternative riding in the immediate area around the mountain.  While the mountain offered plenty of dirt roads, they remained forested-in which didn’t do the Japanese landscape justice.  On the map, I noticed that the coast wasn’t too far away and would be a big ole descent for most of the way.  Once we secured some fellow folks to shuttle us back from the beach in our rental cars, I got to work cobbling together a GPS track for us to follow.  I connected the small bits of off-pavement and tried to string them together with bike paths as well as a visit to a city park that had a castle, duh. Lets go to the beach!