Most kids dream of the 9th inning HR, or the last second hoop, or whatever. For the rest of us who make pilgrimages to the Alpine passes or to the Belgian Cobbles - here’s where you need to be Saturday night. CycleU is opening [...]
(Byron and Val meeting up on the road)
Aaron’s Bicycle Repair and Redline Bicycles are raffling off a Redline 9-2-5 to benefit one of Seattle’s best bicycle men. Val Kleitz is currently battling cancer and all raffle [...]
Saturday - 140 miles of pain somewhere in Oregon. I got a slot in the Rapha Gentlemens Race - Full report coming.
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I've become a big fan of Rahsaan Bahati lately. I followed him on Twitter where he seems to be more about family and causes than ego and flash. Then Missing Saddle came out with this GREAT podcast interview and I had' [...]
James Bowthorpe is riding around the world for a cause. He's doing the whole thing interactively with his followers making use of blog/twitter/flickr. This is a great example of using different social media tools for different, yet coordinated purposes.
His goal is to make the shortest [...]
A note to plan accordingly. No point in getting stuck waiting for a barge to cross as you try to get the start line. From Washington DOT:
Attention cyclists and Seattle to Portland participants:
The I-90 bike and pedestrian path on the floating bridge will close [...]
Byron wanted to get the word out about trying to save the South Seatac venue from future development. It's one of the last close-by mtn bike/cyclocross trails that we have for racing purposes. The short story is show up tonight ~6pm and show your support - and be [...]
Seattle boy (well - Wenatchee, but whatever) Tyler Farrar got the nod for the Garmin Tour team. It's nice when good things happen to good people.
People ask why I bother with Twitter - it's because I get a direct feed from people [...]
I sell a lot of bikes on craigslist. It's usually a very positive experience - a little trust can go a long way to making sure everyone gets what's best. In this case - I got a great note from the guy who bought a Trek Madone:
Hey [...]
Best Ride to Work Day Schwag EVER! Free Smartwool Socks AND a branded tail light. REI was there with the SmartWool Rep Tracy Ross. I've got more waterbottles and mini-Clif bars than I'll ever use, but $15 socks as a giveaway is nuts!
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I stumbled across this on an episode of The Road Diaries posted to Twitter. I don't watch much of the twitter noise, but this video had a compelling snapshot. Apparently it's a one-off SRAM RED TT chainring in Red anodizing rather than the' [...]
I live at the top of a mile+ climb. On days where I take the bus rather than ride - I can either wait for a connecting bus (up to 30 mins) or hoof it/ride it easy. I'd really love to build up an' [...]
It's April 13th and it snowed today in Seattle...again. I just got a set of DVDs from Global Ride. I only rode along for a bit tonight, but the Maui Rollers DVD was a nice diversion from the gloom of the day. Full review after I [...]
I'm a big fan of ROAD Magazine. Their articles are more US-focused in a sport where all the other good rags are UK based. They get interviews with guys I want to read about - it's not like Bicycling where there's Lance...and then everybody' [...]
(Photo Credit - Levi Leipheimer)
I'm guessing $12k for a custom carbon disc brake rain bike, SRM, and SRAM RED?
If you win the Amgen Tour of California, you probably get a bro-deal. Similar setup to my Baron rain bike, but' [...]
Seattle area Olympian Jennie Reed has a cool new bike for ‘09. She’s a track sprinter, so stout is of prime importance. It’s all super-aero’d out and the back end is so stiff I couldn’t even squeeze the rear drops at all. Her [...]
I stopped into my Local Bike Shop, uBRDO, to get a new wheel built up, and stumbled upon the new Alfine HOTNESS!
It’s a Gunnar Fastlane with the fancy Waterford paintjob. It’s built out with Shimano Alfine in black and trim includes [...]
Forbes - MetaData: High-End Bikes As Economic Indicator?
“Scott Montgomery spent most of January on the road talking to bicycle dealers. He runs the biking division for Scott Sports, which sells some of the most popular, technologically advanced—and expensive (think thousands, not hundreds of [...]
On the commute home the other night, I followed this father/son duo for the last few miles of Burke Gilman Trail. The kid has his arms splayed out because of his fat jacket (in yellow), and his little bobble-head helmet bounced as they rode [...]
The Astana Cycling Team had to deal with some aggressive driver, just like the rest of us. I’m a fan of the smile and a wave method of handling that stuff. It either disarms them…or makes them even more angy. Not much can be done that’s constructive in [...]
UPDATED - with some of your favs
The season for the Pro’s is underway. We’ve gotten a few comments asking about the news sources we use for following our favorites. There are a couple of the usual suspects:
Blogs:
but lately it’s been fun [...]
A New York Times article from this week highlights some of the challenges of the bike shops these days. I recently posted a call to the Hugga’ community to get out there and support your local shops. The article provides more insight into some of the struggles. [...]
The economy sucks and everyone is trying to save a buck here and there. I’ve talked with a couple different small bike shop owners lately and the impact has been huge - like maybe forced to go out of business huge.
I’m not sure how many of you [...]
As you can see in this thread on SeattleCyclocross.com - Redline Bicycles does a lot more for racing than send Byron out on a proto single speed cross bike. A Seattle area Junior and 2007 national champion Logan Owen had his fleet of bikes stolen from [...]
(Photo Credit Matt Morrisson)
Sunday was beautiful. It hasn’t rained in a few days - so where did all that damn mud come from?
Byron and I made it out to race the single-speed category and proved quite definitively that we are road racers [...]
I spent the evening at the Seattle Location of the Dutch Bike Company. I talked with the Dave - one of the co-owners about their new location in Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. It was my first visit to the Seattle location - [...]
The fellas over at Buddy Flaps came through with some fancy BikeHugger branded fender flaps. As I’ve written in the past - nothing says “I’m a nice guy” more than a good fender flap. Funny tidbit?: 90% of SKS fenders sold [...]
I got a recent comment about a road rain bike and rack capability. I’ve ridden a ton of different bikes, and I can say with some certainty that I will never put a rack on a road bike again. With a pure road bike, [...]
I’m not usually one to bail on a race for being too sketch, but with 2 laps to go I was one of the 20 or so “survivors” who made it to the end of the race in the lead group, but it just [...]
I’m not heading South, but I know a few who are. If you’re in Portland, or even close - stop in to ogle the latest in handmade bike pr0n.
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I’ve already posted about the cool reflective wheel options at Interbike. When I rolled into the HED booth, they had their wheels backlit - this disk cover was like a glowing alien ship. Not sure it serves any purpose for most of our readers, [...]
Cyclocross Magazine did a write up on something I’ve seen more and more of: Hollowing out the assembly on a SRAM shifter to make it a brake lever only. In my opinion the SRAM brake lever has the best feel on the market, [...]
I stopped in to the Spot booth to take a look at how the Belt drive works. I talked with one of the guys about the rumor that belt drives slip. I think that in some cases it might be true, but not this [...]
I found a couple gems amongst the smaller booths at Interbike this year. I took pics of the same big-ticket items as most of the rest of the media at the show, but I tend to look for the cool stuff in the “cheap [...]
Civia is stepping it up with a brand new “townie” style bike (Civia Loring with nice bamboo baskets and fenders. They look great and will hopefully hit a more attainable price point than their $2k commuter.
More pics in the Hugger Photostream.
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I’m doing my first triathlon in years.
I just hope I don’t drown.
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Starcrossed is a fan favorite to kick off the cross season in Seattle. It’s part of the new North Americal Cyclocross Trophy. This video will give you a little sense of what you’ll see if you make the trip out to spectate (or [...]
Scotty over at uBRDO sent us a link to a new feature on his store site - a Google Maps Photo GeoLocator.
I did something like this a while back to associate latitude/longitude data with a Google map, then associate photos too it. [...]
I was asked for a follow-up on my post about how I coverted my Single Speed to an 8sp. I rode it for about a month before swapping back to single to get ready for cross season. Here’s a couple bullets on the good [...]
Is this old news?
I knew it was at Trekworld ‘07, but I haven’t actually seen this bike until today. It’s pretty - real simple setup, with an amazing Ivory paint job. The Nexus hub and the throw-back bar/stem/saddle [...]
Sturmey Archer blog is reporting the long-awaited 3-speed fixed cog system is finally to prototype. Made famous by Sheldon Brown is the SA ASC 3-speed fixed. The cogs are fixed - sure, but by the magic of internal gearing, there various speeds are fixed.
I can certainly [...]
I found the joy of single speed cyclocross last year. So simple and so little to go wrong. This year I’ve got my single speed setup with easy-off fenders so I can run it as a rainy-day option.
The rain is coming, and I [...]
Listening to NPR Marketplace on the ride home tonight I heard Sean Cole interview Mike Flanigan of ANT bicycles. It was a refreshing viewpoint - hopefully the NPR masses will start heeding the call to two wheels! Read the transcript here or grab the [...]
I didn’t go, but luckily the Interwebs are full of good pics. Photo Credit to Mark Stevenson by way of Richard Masoner
If you’re in the Seattle area, come on over to downtown Kirkland to support a new race. There are lots of restaurants and a couple pubs with seating only feet from the course. Criterium racing is fast and furious and great for spectators. Got [...]
Finally! A quality US made steel rain bike with a high quality disc wheelset, pure road geometry, and still sub 20lbs! Lots more to come here.
Here’s the trim package that’s standard for the SRAM build:
SRAM Rival is SRAM’s workhorse. New for [...]
One of my favorite areas to ride is out in Southwest King County down by Black Diamond. The rolling hills, quiet roads, and all the different livestock (I once saw an emu) make for some interesting routes. This Labor Day weekend the Juvenile Diabetes Research [...]
A tip from a reader just came in with snaps of the 2009 Trek Madone. I have a 2008 Madone and love it - so what’s new on ‘09? Looks like the folks in Waterloo may have finally gone to a replaceable [...]
I finally have my geared option for my One One Pompino cyclocross bike. I worked with Scotty down at uBRDO to finally dig up a Shimano Nexus 8 Speed hub and convert my single/fixed cross bike into sunny day road cruiser. I’ve [...]
I stopped by Bothell Ski & Bike today and met the owners Greg and John. Greg’s ride - a Scott Addict with SRAM Red all grammed out with Zipp cranks, Zero Gravity brakes, and all the greatest roadie bike porn. [...]
I’m a fan of good socks. My wife likes nice shoes - I like nice socks. The guys over at Swiftwick sent the Hugger a pair of their Ole One sock to try out. “The best sock you’ll ever wear” - [...]
I love the Tour and I can’t wait for it to start tomorow. I’ve followed it twice, and seen individual stages in 3 other years. I know that some people have grown a little callused, or chosen to not pay [...]
I ate shit Tuedsay night. Sure it was my fault, but it didn’t make it feel any better.
I was rolling up to the light on my way home, close to the right side of the road next to a construction area. There was [...]
It looks mostly like an aesthetic upgrade to me. It’s still over 2000g for the group and there’s nothing really “new” about it if you ask me. I do like the cranks/chainring integrated look. Very sharp.
Gotta have it? Taking a pass?
A friend sent me a link to a riding-buddy’s pictures from the Giro - instant gratification. When I first started following cycling, you had to wait for Cycle Sport magazine to show up to see the first shots of the race. CyclingNews [...]
Kudos to the guys over at Hiawatha Cyclery for figuring this one out. I’ve been after this setup for a while for my On-One Pompino. It’s an Alfine internally geared hub with a convensional drop bar-end shifter. The trick is [...]
Here’s my quick list of stuff that I’m still pissed for spending money on. I’m sure there’s plenty more out there, but here’s my start. Please jump in on the comments and let us know the items that stung you.
I bought my first new car a few months back. The biggest issue of course was how I would be schlepping bikes in/on it. Byron tipped me to a brand carried by our friends down at Seattle Bike Supply. The Saris CycleOn [...]
My son is a bike hugger…at 18 months. The kid gets all excited and looks for approval whenever he spots a bike. “Daddy nGike!”. I’ve been getting killed at work of late, but on those nights where I have gotten home early enough to [...]
My wife always gives me a hard time about being drawn to a new bike shop like a kid drawn to the candy store. I’m sure there’s nothing new or all that exciting in the shop, but I always have to go in, kick tires, check [...]
I took the family on a quick trip down I-5 to see the show. My little guy made it a little “interesting” as he was on a mission to turn every crank and wheel he could reach. At most bike shops, this is cute [...]
Yield to Life is a new campaign founded and fronted by US Pro Dave Zabriskie. The site has some well-constructed articles on how to act properly on your bike to stay safe. The 10 Safety Tips For Motorists should be a must-read for all drivers…but oh [...]
I found this bike on Fixed Gear Fever. I emailed Shawn (the “framebuilder”) and he sent me the story behind the bike. I’ve uploaded all the pics from Jacob for you to check out. I wanted to share it with our readers for [...]
I love this idea. I have talked with a number of friends about commuting to work. “It’s easy” I tell them. Of course - I have it good. I have a shower on my floor, and I get to bring my bike up the [...]
As usual - Europe gets the good stuff first. Raw Cannondale is the name of the new bike released last week at a fashion show in Barcelona. I found it on roadcyclinguk which is a site where I usually find new race gear. Anyway - looks pretty hot [...]
I ran across this new “must have” (not really) component at bikesnobnyc. Fast Boy Cycles - a craftsman of amazing wooden fenders, is extending his product line to include wooden handlebars. They are probably great for a trophy bike, but in practice I’m not sure I want to [...]
UPDATE: Yeah - I’m recycling this post from last year. I had a co-worker tell me today that they came across this post so I thought I’d re-run it. I’m going to Lowe’s tonight to get new flap material. Seems I’ve worn a hole in my rear [...]
I commute most days. I’ve become accustomed to a much smaller commuting population in the winter months, but this year there appears to be a pretty solid lift in numbers. As I wind my way out of downtown at night there’s a pretty steady stream [...]
GizMag.com reports that MIT have announced a bicycle powered supercomputer - sort of. Sure they used a machine that only draws 8 Watts, and maybe their cycling team only powered it for 20 minutes, but it’s still sort of cool.
I’ve wanted to build frames for a long time. I even majored in Material Science Engineering with an outside hope of getting a gig in “the biz”. I got to talk with Brian Marcroft about the steps he took to make his framebuilding dream [...]
The World Clock is closing in on 100 million bikes produced in 2007. There are some daunting stats on there.
Scary for me to think, but this story is probably from ~12 years ago. I worked as shop hand at a bike shop in Redmond, WA. In the shop, we had an ace mechanic named Val - this guy could fix anything. His handlebar mustache [...]
I was watching the Amazing Race tonight and saw 2 segments in Holland being hugger-focused! They had to find city bikes, and ride them 5 miles. Then they had to put one person in the front of a Bakfiets and roll to the finish. [...]
Byron will tell you that I NEED to have matched wheels. It’s a bit of an obsession, but I can’t help it. Anyway - I’ve been shopping for a good internal geared hub to run on my SS Cross bike. I’ve got black hubs - [...]
Having spent my lunch reading over the spew that is the Seattle Post-Intelligencer comments board, I’d ask that the hugger readers take at least a few of these car-focused comments to heart. Let’s not blow red lights. Let’s at least make an effort to stop at stop signs. [...]
I finally got my single speed cross bike setup. Saturday was a shakedown ride, and today was the Redline Cup at the Kelly Creek Cross Race. I’ll spare you the details of the race, but will tell you that hanging out with [...]
One of the focused stories at Interbike was bikes for Africa. There were a number of groups represented including SRAM and their World Bicycle Relief, and Tom Ritchey and his Project Rwanda. There is plenty of good literature on the [...]
StreetFilms.org has a cool post about the bike scene in NYC. One of my favorite artists - David Byrne is a big bike advocate in gotham.
One of the fun tourist activities in Hawaii is to take a bus up Haleakala, and zoom back down. No more of that for a while as the Park Service has had to suspend the activity in light of recent accidents and 3 deaths.
How’s I miss this? Apparently they were at the Dirt Demo at Interbike, but I didn’t see them. Sturmy-Archer is even blogging about it. We’ll see what comes of it. FSA is apparently releasing a group soon too - might be interesting here [...]
On the way home tonight, I stopped in at 
I stopped over at 
This is a 
