Pick from full-rigid for hitting the local pumptrack or a suspension fork for the neighborhood dirt jumps with a couple of affordable new Marin Alcatraz mountain bikes. Its hard to beat the simplicity and fun of a singlespeed dirt jump bike. And Marins updated Alcatraz gives you 3 new affordable options to add another bike to your stableMarin Alcatraz affordable alloy dirt jump mountain bikes(Photos/Marin)Hot off Crankworx, Marin has lowered the cost of entry to getting a new DJ bike, adding an all-new rigid build thats a nice stepping stone to get into dirt jumping and also a perfect bike if you want to dial in your flow on the pumptrack. An affordable bike that MTB legend Matt Jones is happy to throw around in the air.Plus, the slopestyle-ready version with a 100mm travel fork carries over with an upgraded brake spec. You can still get a frame kit separately to build your dream dirt jumper. And both of those options at still the exact same price as before.Whats new?The real deal here is the new simplified Marin Alcatraz 1 complete bike model that sells for a whopping five hundred bucks less than the previous bike. Of course, the big savings here is a move away from a suspension fork to a new suspension-corrected chromoly steel uni-crown rigid fork with 100x9mm QR dropouts. You wont get that big hit insurance policy of 100mm of travel up front, but you get a lighter bike overall, and a setup even more ideal for having fun at the pumptrack and smashing around buff trails.Plus, the rigid Alcatraz is still built tough to handle plenty of airtime. And you can always upgrade to a suspension fork down the road as your riding and tricks progress. And when you do, you could pick up an entry-level Manitou Circus fork from just $320 at todays prices. Tech detailsWhat carries over is the same Series 3 6061 aluminum frame built for 26 wheels, shared between both complete bike builds and the separate frame kit. There you get an alloy frame with 10mm bolt-on x 135mm horizontal dropouts with built-in chain tensioners, internal routing for the rear brake line, semi-integrated 1.5 tapered headset, a classic 73mm threaded BSA bottom bracket, and ISCG05 tabs to mount a guide or bash guard if you want.All versions of the Marin Alcatraz come in two sizes Short or Long with 385mm or 430mm frame Reach to fit a wide range of riders. Both sizes share the same proven geometry, with matching 69 head & seattube angles and 395mm long chainstays.2024 Marin Alcatraz Pricing, options & availability2024 Marin Alcatraz 1The most affordable way to get rolling for sure will be the blue fade $900 / 950 Marin Alcatraz 1 complete build. There you get the alloy frame, steel fork, singlespeed build, and Tektro M280 mechanical disc brakes.Marin Alcatraz 2Upgrading to the $1400 / 1500 Alcatraz 2 build starts with the same frame, then gets you a top-tier coil-spring 100mm Manitou Circus Expert suspension fork. The bike also gets a spec upgrade from last season, now to Shimano MT201 hydraulic disc brakes.2024 Alcatraz frame kitOr you can get the same purple & black fade look a recreation of Jones custom paint from a few years back in a $550 / 560 Alcatraz frame kit, and then the rest is up to you. It comes with the alloy frame, tapered ZeroStack headset, seatclamp, and built-in tensioners. Swap all your old parts over for a brand-new dirtjump feel. Or piece together a dream build of the best components for a slopestyle shredder.You can already chase down your local dealer to order the new 2024 Marin Alcatraz dirtjump bikes now. Some are already in some shops. And the bikes should all be available in stock globally starting from September. MarinBikes.comThe post Marin Alcatraz Dirtjump Bike Gets Much More Affordable w/ $500 Cheaper Pumptrack Build appeared first on Bikerumor.

Tom Pidcock successfully defended his Olympic title in the men's mountain bike on Monday afternoon in Paris, putting in a performance that will be remembered for a long while in the process. Could things get even better for the Brit though? A potential second gold of this Olympic Games could lie in...

Above Category is a renowned custom bike shop out of Sausalito, California, in the cycling mecca of Marin County. Theyre excited to announce the AC Invitational, a street-fair-meets-MOMA celebration of cyclings best builders from four different continents. The one-day show will take place on August 31st from 11 am to 5 pm.(Photos / Above Category)About Above CategoryAbove Category Store FrontPart custom bike studio, part art gallery, Californias Above Category may be the ultimate dream bike destination. Founded over 17 years ago, Above Category is an unapologetic champion of handmade, individual products and timeless cycling culture.Where and When?The gathering will take place in the coastal town of Sausalito. And its only a stones throw from the Golden Gate Bridge.(Photos / Above Category)The event will be in and around the AC studio. Some of the brands that will be in attendance are Sarto, Baum, Prova, Bastion, Pinarello, Mosaic, Scarab, English Cycles, No.22, Partington, Lightweight, Enve, Open, and more. Speaking about the event, ACs Co-Founder Chad Norwell said: The AC Invitational has been a dream of ours for some time. We have some of the worlds finest riding on our doorstep and a unique, global collection of friends who build some of the most beautiful bikes in the world. How does it get any better than bringing the two together? If you love handmade bikes and the ethos and people behind them, then the AC Invitational is your chance to chat with the makers themselves and admire their newest and best creations in a welcoming, closed-road setting. And its even free to attend.During the show, visitors can take advantage of special event-only offers, and a raffle with the chance to win a custom-painted OPEN.AboveCategory.comThe post Another Handmade Bike Show? Above Category Bike Shop Announces the AC Invitational appeared first on Bikerumor.

Finish Line has had a ceramic-infused liquid wax chain lube for years, but never dipped into full wax and hot melt products until now. Their new HALO lineup brings that to your workshop, along with claims of reduced friction, water resistance, longevity, reduced mechanical wear, and dirtdefense.And, they do it with a PFAS-free, biodegradable formula that wont hurt the environment. Heres what you need to knowThe Finish Line HALO family has three products, all made in the USA and/or Canada:Liquid Wax LubricantHot Melt WaxWet LubeHALO Wax LubricantThe Wax Lubricant is a liquid product that comes in a 4oz bottle ($29.99) with an applicator cap that makes it easy to coat your chain without wasting product. Three main ingredients set it apart and help it perform. First, highly-refined paraffin wax coats the chain with a dry-to-the-touch film that repels moisture and sloughs off dirt and grit.Second, micron-sized spherical tungsten tubes reduce friction by effectively rolling between the surfaces of chain plates, chainrings, and cogs. Third, ceramic boron nitride platelets form a non-stick coating to keep the tungsten on board so it lasts longer.The first application should be on a completely clean, degreased chain and allowed to dry completely (they recommend 6-12 hours). Subsequent coats can be applied over that, just wipe off any surface contamination. You can also use it to top off theHALO Hot WaxThe HALO Hot Wax comes in a 600g bag that you place directly into a pot of boiling water (or you can pour the pellets directly into your slow cookerbut why?). It includes an immersion tool that you use to hang your chain on, dip it into the melted wax, then keep it hanging for 30 minutes until the wax fully dries.It has the same three performance ingredients as the liquid lube, but fully immerses your chain so the lube gets into all of the nooks and crannies. MSRP is $39.99.HALO Wet LubeTheres the new HALO Wet Lube, which swaps the paraffin wax for a hydrodynamic fluid film synthesized from natural gas. It includes the same spherical tungsten and ceramic platelets, so it provides most of the same benefits as the wax lubes but wont repel and shed dirt and grit.They say it dramatically reduces friction, repels water, and works in extreme temperatures. They also say oil-based lubes have less total friction, handle extreme pressure better, and are quieter, but have that little problem with attracting dust. So it makes a great race day lube when you need the ultimate performance, as long as conditions arent too dusty or the race isnt too long.It comes in a 4oz bottle for $29.99. All three are non-toxic and non-flammable, making them safe for air travel (and humans).FinishLineUSA.comThe post Finish Line HALO Wax Lubes Promise Faster for Longer appeared first on Bikerumor.

Over the past months, there have been several sneak peeks, teases, and glimpses of Ritcheys new Montebello. Well, the teasing is over. Introducing the Ritchey Montebello frameset. You may or may not remember that I highlighted it in my Favorite Bikes and Sites Sea Otter post back in April. The Ritchey Montebello is designed for those who long for longer rides, rides that are even longer than long-distance.(Photos / Ritchey Logic)The Ritchey Montebello is built with proprietary triple-butted Logic steel. It sports an increased stack, a longer wheelbase, and a lower bottom bracket than its Road Logic counterpart. Geometry, Tire Clearance, and a New ForkThese geometry choices deliver a stable ride ideal for randonneuring. There are also other, more practical frame features, like all of the fender and rack mounts that all of us Ritchey lovers expect.Tire clearance is pretty generous at 700x40mm without fenders and 700x36mm with fenders. Something new for the frameset is the Ritchey Brevet Carbon Fork. This fork is designed especially for the Montebello and has mounting options for either a porteur or lowrider rack. The fork comes with threaded drilling in the crown for either a rack or lighting. And speaking of lighting, the fork has internal routing for a dynamo light as well what would a Rando bike be without a dynamo light? And yes, the fork has the hallmark of all Ritchey forks, a 1-1/8 straight steerer.Available as a frameset only, the Montebello is priced at $1,699. Its currently available online and at Ritchey stocking dealers. Montebello Frame SpecificationsSizes: XS, S, M, L, XL, XXLHeat-treated, triple-butted Ritchey Logic steel tubing TIG welded12mm thru-axles in front and rearRack and fender mountsRitchey WCS Carbon Brevet Fork includedInternal Dynamo RoutingPorteur or Low-Rider Rack MountsExternal cable routing w/ routing for Di2 12-speedTire Clearance: 700 x 36c tire clearance with fender, 700x40c without (depending on tire/rim manufacturer)Headset: WCS headset included(upper IS42/28.6 16mm stack height / lower IS42/30)Frame Weight: 2,000 g (size M)Fork Weight: 415g (uncut steerer)Total Weight: 2.4 kg (size M)Color: Hot SauceRitcheyLogic.comThe post Ritchey is Ready to Go the Distance with the New Montebello Road Bike appeared first on Bikerumor.

The greatest of all time in women's mountain bike, the legendaryPauline Ferrand-Prvot had just one goal left to achieve in the sport and last weekend the Frenchwoman finally succeeded, taking the Olympic gold medal in front of her adoring compatriots in Paris.Afterwards, the 32-year-old, who clai...

The funny thing about OSMO is that theyve barely changed since their launch in 2012. Through the years, and perhaps because they didnt keep dropping flashy new flavors and seasonal editions, their business and the attention they garnered has ebbed and flowed.But their quality and performance has remained a constant, which is why its one of my go-to products when I have something big planned.The latest such adventure was 2+ weeks of cycling in Japan, first on an organized tour with Ride & Seek (read about that here), then on a loosely organized bikepacking trip with my son where plans changed hourly. For that, I packed a suitcase full of OSMOs catalog, hauled it halfway around the world, and proceeded to crush it with zero bonks and zero cramps for the entire trip.If youre looking for solid ride nutrition and recovery, heres what you need to know about OSMOOSMO Rapid RecoveryI dont start rides with a recovery drink, but Im starting this review with Rapid Recovery because its one of my favorite products. Heres why: Their Vanilla recovery mix is hands down the best thing to add to iced coffee with a little milk for a killer hot-weather recovery drink. (watch me make it here)Each serving has 17g-18g of protein from whey protein isolate, and thats important. Whey Isolate is a much higher quality version than Whey Concentrate, which is common in a lot of other products (not all, to be fair, but a lot) because its cheaper. But, Isolate digests cleaner with fewer issues (less bloating, fewer farts). Despite guzzling down 1-2 servings after each days ride, I never had any bloating or gastrointestinal stress.The chocolate flavor blends in more Micellar Casein, which I dont have a problem with, but I prefer the vanilla by a large margin.Actually, some days I did start my rides with a recovery drink and mixed it with instant coffee packetsperfect for just getting rolling when youve got to ride to your first meal.For the bikepacking segment, I dumped a couple tins of it into a Gallon Ziploc and shoved it in our trunk bag. Japan has lots of spots to get water, so it was easy to mix after each days ride. And, Rapid Recovery rinses clean, so it didnt build up any film in my shaker cup over two weeks of just rinsing it with water after each useno scrubbing necessary.I finished every days ride with 1-2 servings (and sometimes a half to full serving again before bed). This strategy worked as I felt surprisingly strong and fresh each day for the entire duration, and wasnt completely wrecked after 16 days of hard riding.OSMO Hydration & Power FuelOSMOs original message was simple drink to hydrate, eat to fuel. So, if theres been one big change for the brand over the years, its that theyve finally introduced a drink mix thats designed to fuel you, too. Sort of.Their original Hydration mix is the same as it ever was, and both berry flavors are awesome. Highly recommend. Orange is pretty good, too, and Lemon Lime is among the better Lemon Limes out there, but its still just a Lemon Lime. All of the flavors do an excellent job of keeping me (and, presumably, you) hydrated. We hammered day after day, and once bikepacking, were doing it with loaded bikes up lots and lots of long climbs. Sooo many climbs.Yet we never cramped, and Steve (my partner on the Ride & Seek tour) decided it would be fun to not shift into the little ring for the entire week, so he was definitely pushing big gears on the climbs. No cramps or bonks for him either.It comes in 20 serving canisters, which we used for the cycling tour while they shepherded our bags around for us. Then we switched to their single-serve packets for the bikepacking leg since theyve take up less and less space as we used them. I like bags and pouches of product for that reasonthey pack down smaller, and keep getting smaller throughout a trip. Im guessing they also use less plastic?Some days we added OSMOs newer Power Fuel mix to the Hydration mix, which is how you use it. Its an additive if youre looking to get more carbs in your carbs. Its a Cluster Dextrin (highly branched cyclic dextrin) blended with Fructose and Sodium Citrate, with no flavor. Its designed to add a meaningful dose of carbs (39g) to your current sports drink mix, but remain easily digestible. It makes the drink a bit sweeter, and its a little sticky, but seems to work well. Available in 16-serving pouches and single-serve packets, with or without caffeine.OSMO PreloadWe drank the OSMO Preload alongside Japanese green teanot with it.OSMOs Preload pre-sport hydration mix is one of my favorite things and I dont think it gets the love it deserves. It has a very slight pool water taste, as does anything with a lot of sodium bicarbonate, but the pineapple margarita flavor makes the most of it. I actually kinda like it. Theres also potassium (83mg) and magnesium (14mg), but the main thing is pumping 1,430g to 1,850mg of sodium in you to help you hold water before heading out to ride.If it aint brokeWould I like to see more flavors from OSMO? Sure. But theres something to be said for consistency and predictability. I know that OSMOs products work well for me, the flavors are palatable all day, every day, for weeks at a time, and that they do what they say they will. Recently, theyve added single-serve packaging for all of their products, which is great for travel. If you havent found what youre looking for in a sports nutrition product, Id say give these a try. Theyre relatively simple, without any gimmicky ingredients or promises, but they taste great and they work.Full disclosure: OSMO provided a small travel stipend to support our trip to Japan. In no way did that influence this review or my opinion their products I liked them before, and I like them now.The post Review: OSMO Nutrition Keeps Us Keepin On appeared first on Bikerumor.

Whilst Chris Froome is quite clearly no longer competing at the very highest level, the 39-year-old Brit remains one of the biggest names in the peloton and one of the star attractions wherever he turns up to race.Over the course of his legendary career the seven time Grand Tour winner has done a l...

Weve seen several tweaks as Nordests affordable steel enduro hardtail evolved over the past seven years, but the latest Bardino 3.5 is just a subtle future-proofing update with its move to UDH. Thats pretty unique as this growing standard hasnt really trickled down to affordable steel bikes, but youll need it if you want to build up a bike with the latest wireless SRAM AXS Transmissions. Plus, it looks like Nordest also reshaped the new Bardino 3.5 to better fit how people actually rideNordest Bardino 3.5 affordable steel enduro hardtail with UDH(Photos/Nordest)The Bardino 3.5 is the latest iteration of Nordests affordable steel enduro hardtail. First introduced in 2017 in steel and then titanium, the Bardino was a hardtail a bit ahead of its time. Starting with big tire clearance and slack geometry designed around long travel forks, Pedro Jernimo created an affordable hardtail meant to tame the toughest, steepest enduro trails out there. Its an interesting bike category there are those who love it or hate it. But riding a big travel hardtail can be a lot of fun, but does require some extra skill and attention, because no matter how slack it starts out, the bikes handling gets steeper the bigger the hits keep coming.And this update is a direct response to those customers who love the way the bike ridesWhats new?There arent a lot of steel bikes that use the SRAM Universal Derailleur Hanger. This new standard seems to have really been designed around the thicker dropouts of carbon mountain bikes. And to recreate that in steel kinda requires a heavy bulky dropout, that doesnt always seem well-suited for thin steel tubes. Yet, Nordest has created a pretty light-looking hollowed-out hooded dropout to do the trick.The other interesting update appears to be the removal of the small downtube-to-toptube strut that the 3rd generation bike added to boost max fork travel to 180mm. Id have to guess that so few riders strapped on such long-travel forks, that Nordest just didnt see the benefit to adding the extra tube. Anyway, with the gusseted downtube, you can still run a 140-170mm fork. Tech detailsGeometry-wise, the mk3.5 Bardino is the same as the mk3 bike that debuted a few years ago. And 160mm forks seem to be the sweet spot to soak up big hits at a 64.5 head angle, but still be efficient to pedal up or downhill. Dont mess with success, they say.double-butted 4130 chromoly steel frame made in Taiwan, 2850g claimed (M/L)29 x 2.6 max tire clearance (or even 27.5 x 3)short 425mm chainstays with a bent seattubelow standover height with straight toptube into seatstays & seattube braceBoost spacing73mm BSA threaded BB44mm headtube for 1.5 tapered headset/forks3-pack cage mounting inside the main triangle, plus cage mount under the downtubeexternal cable routing31.6mm seatpost with internal dropper routingUDH hanger & SRAM T-type Transmission compatibleNordest Bardino 3.5 Pre-order, pricing, options & availabilityTheir longest-running bike in an updated version, the steel Bardino 3.5 hardtail will sell for 750 (almost the same price the Bardino 2 & 3). But if you pre-order a frame now you can save 20% at just 599. As for availability, you wont have to wait long. The mk3.5 bikes are already in production, and Nordest says they will ship them to buyers in September, all with free EU delivery.(Previous Bardino photo by Yaroslav Alpizar/Nordest)Pick yours in one of three sizes (M, M/L & L) in classic Nordest blue with a yellow downtube panel, or go all-black with low-key purple graphics. (Custom paint is also a possibility for an extra 250.) And use the rest of the summer to round up your perfect enduro hardtail build kit. NordestCycles.comThe post Nordest Bardino v3.5 Brings UDH to Affordable Steel Enduro Hardtail appeared first on Bikerumor.

Victor Koretzkycame very close to winning the gold medal at the cross-country mountain bike event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. At the end of an exceptional race full of suspense and twists,Tom Pidcock,who came from very far back after a puncture on the third lap, overcame the Frenchman Koretz...