Here it is folks! The full details on our Friday Night Fix series, from Flat Fix workshops to Ladies night clinics to everything you ever wanted to know about your brakes. Bike season is in full swing and it would be a shame to miss out on rides due to a maintenance issue! Friday’s kickoff flat fix workshop went quite well, and the rest of the season should be just as great!
All clinics are held right here at the shop from 6-7 pm and are led by Onion River staff or highly qualified “guest lecturers.”
May 11, 6:00-7:00pm at Onion River Sports
Shifting and Drive Trains 101
This edition of the Friday Night Fix will attempt to answer any and all questions you have about proper shifting technique, assessing wear and damage or anything else that relates to the components of you bike that keep you moving forward! We’ll also discuss the basic nomenclature of drivetrain components (so you could theoretically describe problems your experiencing over the phone to one of our mechanical staff with more effectiveness than “I can’t get the wheel thing to mate with the dangly, loose metal rope thing, which is lodged the V-shaped part of the gooseneck thing”. Unlock the secrets of the often misunderstood and overlooked all-important barrel adjuster. If you know you love riding, but don’t know how to figure out how to keep riding problem-free, come to this clinic.
May 25, 6:00-7:0pm at Onion River Sports
Brake Night
Join us for an introduction to the brakes on your bike. Our mechanic will cover the basic differences between and maintenance of V-brakes and hydraulic and cable-actuated disc brakes. Then, they’ll go over V-brake and disc brake pad installation and set up, to keep you out on the roads and trails trouble-free this summer!
June 8, 6:00-7:30pm at Onion River Sports
Ladies’ Night
Join us for this women-only evening of refreshments and bike maintenance! Our female instructor will begin with instruction on how to fix a flat tire and then she’ll discuss preparing your bike for a big ride or race. Did you take your bike out of the car the morning of only to discover your brakes are now rubbing on your wheel and your shifting isn’t quite right? She’ll help you troubleshoot—and learn quick fixes for—some of the bike problems you may encounter on the start line or the start of your ride.
June 29, 6:00-7:0pm at Onion River Sports
Flat Fix and Troubleshooting #2
Have you once again found yourself stuck on the road, a tire lever in this hand, a patch in the other, your pump between you teeth and not knowing what to do next? Then this is the clinic for you! Our seasoned mechanic will give you an overview of fixing a front or rear flat tire, help you identify what flat-fix gear you’ll need to take with you on your ride and give you the skills to fix that flat yourself! They’ll also help you self-diagnose other basic bike issues by showing you what to look and listen for, time permitting.
*While you don’t need to bring your bike to participate in this hands-on tutorial, you’re more than welcome to!
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July 13, 6:00-7:30pm at Onion River Sports
Ladies’ Friday-the-13th Night!
Join us for this 2nd women-only evening of refreshments and bike maintenance! Our female instructor will begin with the basics on how to fix a flat tire and then she’ll delve into shifting and braking issues and possible causes and solutions. Anything else you’d like to know about riding in general, ride diet, training or how to select the right type of bike for your riding style? Come to this fun-filled evening!
August 3, 6:00-7:00pm at Onion River Sports
Flat Fix and Troubleshooting – Encore Edition
If you missed the first and second Flat Fix clinics, here’s your chance to catch up! Since you’re still having trouble getting your steed up and running after an unfortunate encounter with a broken bottle, then this is the clinic for you! Our mechanic will give you an overview of fixing a front or rear flat tire, help you know what flat-fix gear you’ll need to take with you on your ride, and give you the skills to fix that flat yourself. They’ll also help you self-diagnose other common bike problems by showing you what to look and listen for. Know the GU wrapper or dollar bill trick? If not, come to this finale event!
The Salomon XR Demo fleet is coming to Onion River Sports!
Friday April 27th, 12:00-7:00 pm
The
Salomon Trail Tour is rolling across the United States starting…now! It’s a nation-spanning opportunity for all runners to experience the spirit of Salomon Trail Running. As the mobile showroom stops in eight regions of the country, Salomon pro runners, sales reps, brand managers and retailers will offer free trail running clinics, group trail runs, demos and giveaways.
As part of Salomon’s commitment to be directly involved in running sports, the Salomon Trail Tour is partnering with local retail shops where experts will keep runners keyed in on the latest trail running tips and trends. Runners will be able to test
Salomon shoes and
Suunto heart rate monitors, learn about door-to-trail running regimes, and enter to win Salomon products. In addition to demonstrations and education, Salomon reps will hit the trail, participating in community runs at various locations on the tour.
The demo fleet of shoes will be at Onion River Sports from Noon to 5 on Friday April 27th, rain or shine. Try on some shoes, get some fit tips, and go for a trail run in Hubbard Park! Run leaves the parking lot around 5:30 and will go for about 3 miles. After the run, come back to the shop for grillables, refreshments, and great company!
With winter finally here…ummm…in spirit only, those of us who normally populate the backcountry glades of the Greens now find ourselves having to seek out alternative snow-sports. A moderately popular one: winter trail riding of the mountain bike variety. No, not all the usual summer trail systems are winter-riding friendly, but a number of them are, and some of our favorite summer trails that are often soggy, are now rock-hard, more durable and ride like a completely new trail!
Something you’ll also probably notice about this totally new riding experience: it’s slippery. Studded tires are a winter-biker’s gateway to safe, blissful trail-riding. While there’s little competition for the traction provided by a pair of Nokian WXC300 studded tires, they’re also well over $100…each. Tap into a little Vermont do-it-yourselfer ingenuity, however, and we can get out there on the trail with a pretty good alternative at a fraction of the cost.
To prepare for the seriously icy conditions I’ll encounter during our upcoming January Frozen Onion winter mountain bike race, I decided to stud up the front 29″ tire of my commuter 69er bike (26″ tire in the rear, 29″ tire in the front). This will give me better cornering and braking ability to go along with the traction provided by my Nokian W160 factory-studded rear tire.
My 69er steel Hardrock--a trusty friction 5-speed steed ready for action.
First off, I’d recommend taking a look at the amount of clearance your tire has so that the studs won’t make contact with your frame or fork. Since my bike is kind of jury-rigged (as they all are), I have very little clearance in the fork (the 29er tire is a custom addition to this bike; I had to keep the axle-to-crown height as low as possible so that the front end wouldn’t be “choppered-out” and adversely effect handling). The center knobs were out of the question, so I went with alternating middle knobs.
Tight clearance! Using the mid-center knobs gave me the most clearance and still provided adequate straight-on and cornering traction.
Mark the knobs you want to stud. I chose alternating knobs to save time. I'm also lazy. Nice, gentle pressure will get'er through.
Remove the tire from the rim, grab a drill, a small bit and we’re ready to make that tired, old tire an ice-shredding machine! Drill each knob you marked. Be careful not to drill into a part of your tire that gets folded underneath.
Nice, gentle pressure will do.
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This was originally printed in the latest edition of the Catamount Trail News (Volume XXVIII Number 1). If you’d like to be the first to read Kip’s reviews, we recommend you hightail it over to www.catamounttrail.org and become a member!
Gear Review – Skis, an Option for Everyone
Step into any well-stocked Nordic shop these days and you’re bound to be overwhelmed by the multitude of colors, shapes, sizes and brands of skis that fall under the “Nordic ski” umbrella. Gone are the days when you could wander in, proclaim to the sales attendant that you’re “looking for a backcountry ski” and in a few short moments, you’d walk out the proud new owner of a pair of 210 cm Karhu Kodiaks, trusty leather Merrell XCD-Legend boots and the requisite Rottefella “rat trap” 3-pin binders. We’re now faced with a plethora of options: touring, light BC-touring, backcountry and cross country downhill, just to name a few of the seemingly ambiguous industry-coined ski categories. Enter the well-trained sales attendant to guide you through the dense underbrush of the backcountry ski-shopping world.
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I hate to be the first one to tell you this, but our days are getting shorter, the evenings are crisper and the trails are emitting the undeniable crackle of fall. Nine months of winter are just around the corner. Until then, fortunately, we have a brief window of bug-less, amazingly beautiful riding.
The trouble is, it’s tough to fit that ride into our hectic schedules. For those of us who battle “the grind” until 5 or 6 every night, the only options for a trail ride is during the 30 minutes of daylight left at the end of the day. For anything longer than that, we’re going to need lights. Luckily, we at ORS have the best, most cost-effective lighting systems in stock that’ll blow away last year’s options!
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We are ALL water bottle geeks these days. With fears of leaching BPA (and other chemicals), the trend has been to find materials that are greener, cleaner, and chemical free. Metal bottles have been gaining ground over plastic bottles for years, but now there’s a new bottle on the block. You have probably seen glass bottles around – some now covered in a thin silicone sleeve, protecting the glass as well as providing a pop of color to reflect your personal style. For those of us (like me) who tend to be a little less than careful (and do things like pop your metal water bottle in your bike cage – only to watch it get launched down the road when you hit your first big pothole, forcing you to ditch your bike to chase after your, now dented, bottle as it rolls down the hill), the glass option, while lovely, and arguably better in many ways, is just a little too fragile.
Enter the Bamboo Bottle. While I haven’t managed to launch this one down the road yet (it’s a little too wide for the bike cage) it’s served me well in stationary situations. This bottle is built with durability in mind. The thick exterior bamboo shell protects the glass, and serves the dual purpose of insulating the contents of your bottle. Prefer your beverages hot? Great! They’ll stay hot
(jury is still out on the length of time it will keep your morning joe piping hot). Like your water near Arctic-temperature? Excellent, throw in some ice, and you’re good to go.
The mouth of the bottle is wider than my good ol’ Kleen Kanteen, making cleaning easy if by dishwasher or by hand. The lid, green top ring and base are plastic, but clean up is easy (though easier if you clean it regularly–this probably isn’t the bottle you want to leave in your car for a week with the dregs of some sugary recovery drink lolling around in there). This bottle is super easy to disassemble: the cap unscrews, then the green ring, then slip off the bamboo sleeve, and viola – pop the glass part in the sink or dishwasher and wipe the bamboo sleeve with a damp towel – I always vote to hand wash plastic, but Bamboo Bottle’s website says that the cap, top ring and bottom are dishwasher safe – so go for it!
The cons to this bottle are few, but significant. It’s heavy. Even when it’s empty. On the bright side, you could consider each sip a rep in your new desktop-weightlifting workout. And, it’s thick. Will it fit in your car’s cup holder? I wouldn’t count on it.
All in all, it’s a unique addition to the current, crowded landscape of reusable water bottles. You have to hand it to the Bamboo Bottle folks, there’s a ton of consideration that has gone into the resources used and the design. If you are concerned about what’s surrounding your water, give this bottle a try!
So…it’s usually not our style to review a piece of motorized equipment in our “Muscles Not Motors Gear Review”, but with this bike, we couldn’t resist. And, admit it, you’re curious! 
Let’s talk bike commuting; great in theory, a bit harder in practice. Some of the most common impediments to commuting via bike that we hear about in the shop are: “there are just too many hills” and “I’m so sweaty when I get to work and my office has no place to shower”. Well, Trek has a new line of electric-assist bicycles aimed at folks like these (you?). These bikes take the grunt work out of Vermont hills, the sweat out of a 20 mile ride, and make hauling kids/groceries/trailers faster and easier – really!
The Valencia+ is a mid-level offering in the Ride+ series from Trek Bicycles. This baby has a 350 watt BionX electric motor, and a 2-year warranty on the battery and motor. Four levels of assistance increase your output from 25% in level 1 to 200% in level 4. In our highly-scientific tests around Montpelier, we’ve been able to get up to about 18mph going up hill (on Terrace Street) in level 4, without working up a sweat. Honestly, it feels like there is someone behind you giving you a good strong push – that’s thanks to the brushless rear-hub motor. It’s also so incredibly silent that your assist-less friends will wonder what performance-enhancing drug you’re on!
The battery has a charge life of about 40 miles under moderate usage, so you can get just about anywhere you would reasonably need to go before a recharge. The battery makes it easy – with a charge time of about 3-5 hours using a standard wall outlet plug-in charger, you can charge it just about anywhere. Ride your 20 miles to work, pop out the battery, take it inside to charge, unplug at the end of your day, pop the battery back in the bike and ride home. And, the bike has a regenerative braking-mode and regenerative pedal-mode that help give up to 10% power back to the battery as you ride.
This bike has impressed with it’s power, silence, speed, ease of use, and quality. At an MSRP of $2649 it’s not your average mid-price hybrid, but it’s a heck of a lot cheaper and easier to keep up than a car! (the average cost of owning and maintaining a vehicle over the course of a year: $3000). There are other electric bikes out there, but this bike has the quality we’re used to seeing from Trek; it’s well built, well designed, and gets you where you’re going faster and easier. We have one all built up and ready to go in the shop, stop by for a demo ride!
Here it is folks! The full details on our Friday Night Fix series, from Flat Fix workshops to Ladies night clinics to everything you ever wanted to know about your brakes. Bike season is in full swing and it would be a shame to miss out on rides due to a maintenance issue! Friday’s kickoff flat fix workshop went quite well, and the rest of the season should be just as great!
