The Osprey has landed.

Our first shipment of Osprey Hydraulic packs arrived this week.

They are the smartest hydration packs on the market, in my humble opinion. I fell in love with a Raptor 6 earlier this year and couldn’t resist bringing them into the store.

Osprey has a legendary pedigree. The have been innovating in the outdoor pack market for over 35 years. They know how to make a bag fit the body like few companies can. The weight of a full hydration pack can be unwieldy sometimes, especially if the bag isn’t fit well. Osprey incorporates a long list of systems into their hydration packs that make them comfortable and secure.

We are bring them in now because they are perfect for the coming season. They are ideal for snow-biking and snowshoeing – the two main focii of our STAY MOVING campaign.

Osprey also has a nice line of urban/daily use bags that we like, too.

Check them out:

 

Yes, we have those.

Every Fall, as the post-Interbike bliss begins to fade, there is a rush of people looking for the “old” stuff that will soon be superseded by the “new” stuff. Sometimes it’s the color, sometimes it’s the spec, sometimes a little bit of column ‘A’ and a little bit of column ‘B’. This has become a time of year we especially enjoy because, as proud purveyors of “wierdo” bikes, we tend to have some of those bikes ready and waiting. We often joke that we should raise the prices as they get more and more rare, but we’re bike retailers, not bike collectors. We want to sell them… to you.

Exhibit A: The Fargo XT in Fun Guy Green. We have those.

This is an incredible bike that has been spec’d, re-spec’d and re-respec’d. Some people thought Salsa was off their rocker for releasing this build, but we thought it was brilliant. We have some demo’s left – Large and XL. Selling for a song, too.

Next up is the beautiful Salsa Casseroll – geared in Gold and single in Mustard (one of the most delicious colors to date).

Geared – We have a few sizes 51-59 – going for $1099.

Single – Brace yourselves – 45 and 47 for $599. Originally $900+.

We also have some Surly bikes of rare coloring:

Steamrollers in maroon – $569

And some now legendary LHT colors – Truckaccino in 52 and Olive in 42. $979.

We’re surprised any of these are still here. If you like what you see, call us – 815.758.2403.

 

Surly doesn’t evolve – they transmogrify

Transmogrify: To change into a different shape or to transform, often with bizarre or humorous effect.

We got first glimpse of some new goodies from Surly as pictures from Eurobike have landed on midwestern shores.

We’re excited. Surly’s been mum about details, but anyone with the ability to squint can see there’s been some changes.

First up – THE TROLL

The Surly Troll - Geared 26er with a doosy of a dropout.

That tail hanging off the back of the Troll is new Surly-born product as well. The brave engineerds up there continue to drive innovation into a dark corner with this new addition: a burly cargo trailer previously unavailable outside of custom utility circles. The hitch system looks unlike anything on the market and undoubtedly manages the burden brilliantly.

Custom cargo capability at mass-consumer pricing!

The new Steamroller has been done up nice, separating itself from the legions of skinny-tire ss/fg steel bikes on the market today. Surly Open Bars, wider tires, brakes, new color.

And behind it, you’ll see what might be the most beautiful Surly color to date. The new Crosscheck will be that perfect blue back there.

Surly Steamroller and Crosscheck coming up.

These pictures and more can be found at Singletrack World – we thank them profusely for their espionage. Click the link to see the new Pugsley, the new Rolling Darryl rim, and some new top tubes…

 

Salsa Night Success

Despite having 8 days to plan and promote the event, I think the Salsa Cycles Preview Night was a success. Dave G had come a long way in a short time and rolled into town around 3pm. We rearranged the floor to exhibit the new goods and once again celebrated the luxury we have in a good space.

We had a good turnout of local and regional attendees. We’ve learned that good brands attract good people and this event was just another example. The environment was amiable, welcoming, and relaxed. At sunset, Fire Chief Tyler Grey McK. got the campfire going outside. Eventually the party simmered down around the coals for s’mores.

The new goods were very well received. The Mukluk was the centerpiece of the night, but the Ti models and new Casseroll were also garnering attention.

Russ and I took Dave out for a cross ride the next morning. We showed him the Hopkins course and took him down to Afton for a few loops. I’ll expand on this later, but Afton Forest Preserve is fantastic. This is a recent discovery for us. I rode there on Monday and we found even more trails riding with Dave. It is perfect training ground for cyclocross. There are probably 4 miles of mowed paths intertwined in the preserve.

Thanks to Dave and Salsa Cycles for bringing the goods. It was a blast.

Check out our Flickr gallery for all the photos from the night, courtesy of THE John Campen, Dave G, Eric S, and moi.

 

Salsa Cycles Special Event – Aug 18th at 7pm

It’s our pleasure and honor to announce a special event taking place next Wednesday here at North Central Cyclery. Salsa Cycles will be here to show off a handful of their new and never-before-seen bikes and components for the upcoming 2011 model year. The event will feature  product giveaways from Salsa and NCC, Test Rides (after a precursory background check and DNA sampling), Campfire,  Weenie Roast, S’mores, and, of course, beervezas.

The showstopping addition to the Salsa lineup is the new Mukluk.

The Mukluk is Salsa’s new snowbike and you’ll be able to see it live and in person. (Well, you’ll be in person. It will be in bicycle). We’ve already been told the Mukluk is going to be a tough bike to get a hold of, so we’ll be taking pre-orders at the event.

Another pair of beauties that are hard to obtain that will be present at the event are the Ti Mariachi and Ti La Cruz models – complete and ready for test rides.

The Ti Mariachi made a cameo here last winter. Our first Ti Salsa, the Ti La Cruz, finally arrived last week after being on order for months! The Ti family from Salsa will be growing this year, but you’ll have to stay tuned for more info on those new arrivals as they come.

Also making an appearance will be the new steel Mariachi.

Other new and never-before-seen stuff will be present at NCC. You’ll have to come and see it yourself. I truly am not at liberty to say what it will be.

Salsa will also have some prototypes of their new line of racks and “gear cages” to show off, too. These are impressive.

The festivities begin at 7pm on Wednesday night. Please feel free to send an rsvp to rideaway@northcentralcyclery.com so we can buy enough weenies, vege-weenies, and s’morestuffs.

 

Gunnar Fastlane – Hot dog.

Ari built up a beautiful Gunnar Fastlane this week. Full Sram Apex, handbuilt wheels. What a bike! Lightweight, smooth-riding, abuse-friendly, off-road road bike, handbuilt in the US of A.

 

Gunnar

Here are a few Gunnar builds we’ve done since last fall.

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For those about to ride, we salute you.

The Centaur

Trans-Iowa 6 begins at 4am tomorrow morning. Ari and Russ left today – that’s literally 1/2 of our normal staff. Our hope and prayer is that they make it to the finish line with all limbs and mental faculties intact. There is always hope.

They’ll ride 3 centuries back to back in the gravel wilderness of Iowa in less than 36 hours.

Most people don’t even know what the Trans-Iowa is. Around here, it’s been the only thing we’ve talked about for the last 3 months (and the only thing Russ and Ari have thought about for much longer). Their level of commitment has been impressive, inspiring, and routinely mind-blowing since late fall. They maintained a consistent Wednesday night ride all winter, sometimes riding into the wee hours. Their overnight centuries were the most impressive of all. Not just the fact that they did it, but the fact that they could recover and be productive and useful the next day. I remember recently hearing Russ remark, “well, it was just a hundred miles…”

Rusty Bushwacker

The weather report was bleak at the start of the week, but it’s grown brighter as the day grew closer. Ari made his final bike choice only a day or two ago. The choice was whether to ride the juggernaut Fargo for wider tires on wet gravel, or the feathery La Cruz since he’d probably be carrying the bike anyway. He settled on the La Cruz. Russ rode his Gunnar Crosshairs. His tax return went almost completely to making the bike race-ready. The man has priorities.

They’ll return bodily  – Russ to class and Ari to work – by 10am on Monday. I expect mental return to take place sometime on Wednesday.

Ride well, mes frères.

 

Salsa Sizing

Salsa bikes have a unique sizing structure which can be pretty confusing, even to the people that talk about it all day every day. You can often overhear one of us on the phone saying “you’re looking for a 56? you mean a 55? no? oh, you want the equivalent of a 56, so you need a 53. yes. trust me”.

Good thing Salsa’s new website is amazing…

Pick your bike, tab through the geometry and fit charts. They are very well done. We’re trying to keep a few sizes of the our popular models in stock so you can actually ride them before you buy them (novel, eh?). We’re expecting the new Casseroll doubles in today, and we’re building up the rest of our Vayas and Chilis soon. A test ride trumps a fit chart anyday, but the fit chart is a great start.

Sometimes they expound on the more unique bikes, as they did yesterday with the Fargo: http://salsacycles.com/culture/how_to_pick_the_proper_size_fargo/

Ari's Fargo v1.1

 

BYOV: Build your own Vaya.

We needed a 52cm Vaya and Salsa was fresh out. The good people up there whipped up a custom build for us and shipped it as a whole box full of fun. Ari put it together and this is what came out. It’s gorgeous.

This is how this bike is supposed to roll!

T