This is a last-minute reminder about our August Factory Ride tomorrow (August 18). We conduct factory tours from 8-8:30 AM and roll at 9. Loops range from 20-65 miles, with the long route taking your through Lake Geneva, Williams Bay and Fontana to Walworth, where we head back. We’ll finish up with a cookout from 11:30-1:30 back at the shop. Helmets and waivers are required, cell phones are recommended, but there is no charge. Click here for map.

See you tomorrow!

Bicycling Magazine included us in a review of great steel bikes. We’d heard of some nice words but though we should share them who missed that issue. Here’s a link to the Flickr page..

Enjoy!

Here in southeast Wisconsin we’ve been enjoying the most terrific weather: comfortable temps, low humidity and dry days. To keep our good luck going, we want to talk about riding in the rain. Riding in wet weather is a fact of life for any cycling enthusiast. If you keep your bike waxed and properly lubricated, and if you apply Framesaver once every couple of years, your bike will actually like the rain, as it rinses off some of the dirt and brine that can accumulate on any bike.Here’s a trick for when you are caught out in wet weather. Before you put your Gunnar away, hold the front wheel over the rear, like Johanna demonstrates at left. This lets water drain out of the chainstays and seatstays. It takes just a few seconds to drain any meaningful water from those tubes. Residual moisture will evaporate when you store your Gunnar in a dry spot.If you look closely, you’ll see lots of drain and vent holes in your Gunnar. In recent years, we’ve even added an extra hole in the bottom bracket for drainage and evaporation. These holes actually extend the life of your bike as long as you get rid of the big water. One of the problems with not having drain holes is that moisture that some how gets in doesn’t have a way to get out. More than one mechanic has been surprised by a waterfall when opening up the bottom bracket of a “sealed” frame. Water can still wick down the seatpost. So the vent holes serve a real purpose.

Hopefully, this good luck charm will work to keep the riding around here lovely. If not, you’ll be good to go, whatever the weather and wherever you are.

Patrick from the Lacrosse Wisconsin area, wanted to try as extra long crank on his new Gunnar Sport. Unfortunately, putting a long crank on a regular bike frame raises the risk of hitting your pedals on the ground.

The solution? Working with Gunnar dealer Blue Heron Bicycle Works, we built a custom frame with a an extra-high bottom bracket. The normal large crank length is 175mm and the maximum bottom bracket drop is 80. To keep the pedals that same minimum distance from the ground, the bottom bracket drop must decrease by the same amount as the crank increases. So we built a frame with only 50mm of bottom bracket drop.

Here’s Patrick’s report (edited over a couple of emails): “Just wanted to give you an update on what I’ve been calling the Gunnar Sport Gigantor Edition…!” How do the cranks work? “It’s great! The cranks took a bit longer than anticipated, but they finally got here and Kevin put the finishing touches on it. I was VERY impressed at the quick delivery and attention to detail that is clearly evident with the frame! I’ve attached a picture of the final product.

(It) feels pretty weird at first. Per Kevin’s suggestion, I took it easy at first, just spinning. Finally got enough free time to hammer a couple of the monster hills around here. The combo of cranks and the 34/50 and 11-28 make pretty much any hill a breeze. The integrated BB design is uber stiff.

I feel like my whole leg is now engaged in the effort – the perception of increased torque is significant. I find when I get out of the saddle, I almost need to drop down a gear in anticipation, the acceleration is nice. Time will tell how it treats me in the long run. On the bright side the BB’s not freakishly high, so going back to 180′s would be a non-event…

As far as handling, it’s rock solid. . . . One final note – the welds/finish work/paint are gorgeous – you guys really did a STELLAR job!

It was truly a pleasure to work with you and Kevin on this build. The collaboration and overall positive experience will be something that I’ll share with folks wherever I ride…”

Extra-long cranks aren’t for everyone, not even every tall person. But we’re seeing that this might be the right alternative, when you need that extra stretch.

We get lots of requests for information on older Gunnars, like, “Is the geometry on my ten-year old Roadie the same as it is today?” or “When did you go to the Paragon Dropouts on the Ruffian?”. We now added a Gunnar history page to fill in this gap. It has geometries of old, up to 2005, the year we started keeping individual records on-line (which you get access to when you register your Gunnar). Click here to visit the page.

One of our old friends and a great dealer for us, Alan Ardizone (Cascade Bikes in Montrose, Colorado), retired a couple of years ago. He’s also known as Uncle Al, tech guru for several years at http://roadbikerider.com, a weekly newsletter for roadies. His practical, no-nonsense advice was a breath of fresh air from the usual hype about bikes, parts and service. After retiring, we’d hear reports every so often, but missed our more regular contact. Just before transferring his shop to his son, he purchased a Roadie for his wife Leslie, and a Sport for himself. Since then, he’s taken large chunks of time traveling the country with his pick-up and camper. Yesterday, he passed in this report along with a couple of nice photos.

“Thought I’d send this photo to you taken on the Mickelson Trail in South Dakota last fall.

This bike was a retirement bonus to me after 20 years owning and operating Cascade Bicycles. It’s THE perfect machine for the mixed surfaces one encounters on Rail to Trails. It handles like a dream. My other favorite bike is my orange Roadie.

I run 32mm Conti Contact tires and have the Tubus rack and Ortlieb bag (only one side) for those long days on the trails. Extra clothing, lunch, tool kit, etc. We ditched the fenders as they always rattle and make transporting the bikes in the back of our truck a bear.

Leslie and I do out and back rides,usually around 50 miles total, returning at the end of a ride to our inviting little Scamp trailer (see other photo). We feel like we’ve died and gone to Heaven. This bike has been on the Mickelson S.D., the Paul Bunyan, the Heartland, the Gitchi Gammi, and the Willard Munger Trails in Minnesota, and the Katy Trail in Missouri. Thanks for making our cycling lives so wonderful! Uncle Al & Aunt Leslie Ardizone, Happy Campers “

We can’t thank Uncle Al enough for all he’s done for us, for his community and for the larger cycling community.

By the way, to eliminate rattling fenders, try a product that didn’t exist 3 years ago – leather fender washers . Thanks!