Pinarello Prince Project Bike Seeks Kingdom

One of the most winning and storied bikes in modern racing, the Pinarello Prince has more Grand Tour wins to its name than any other model of bicycle we can think of (True that Lance and Contador have won all their Tours on a Trek, but there have been a few different models in there.)

The third generation of a frame that was originally developed in the mid-1990’s, the 2008 Prince frame has a weight of well under a kilo, but maintains stiffness and razor sharp handling thanks to near magical CAD work by Pinarello’s engineering team and its Torayca Japanese 50K composite material. If you’re reading this though, you probably already know how incredible the Prince is; Bicycling magazine has gushed over this beauty a number of times.



We’d love to see this 55cm Prince find a new kingdom so we can make room for a new project bike. Built with Shimano Dura-Ace 7900 group including Dura-Ace 7850 tubeless road wheels, this yellow Prince also features the company’s stand-out M.O.st Talon Compact integrated carbon handlebar and stem and M.O.st carbon seatpost as well as a Fizik Arione CX saddle.



The first $8700 takes it and, as with all of our project bikes, we’re happy to swap a part or two if it’ll make the bike work better for you.If you're interested give us a call @ 415.389.5461, email or come by the shop.

By the way, these and many of our incredible photos are by local lensmen Dean Bentley. Soon enough we'll do a feature on Dean and his work. Stay tuned.

Our Favorite Things: Rolls Saddle

Funny that, in a world where people spend thousands of dollars to trim a handful of grams from their 12 pound bikes, that the Rolls saddle from Selle San Marco would be a hit--let alone hang onto the charts for more than two decades. What is it about the Rolls that makes it one of our favorite all-time saddles?

Could it be its broad, flat surface? How about the mega high-density foam? Maybe it’s the long saddle rails that make slamming your seat a foot behind your bottom bracket a breeze. How about the legion of professional riders that still call the Rolls their saddle. The perforated white leather top? And we all have to admit that bling-before-they-called-it-that metal scuff guard and nameplate on the back is what first got our attention.

Come to think of it, why would anyone ride anything other than a Rolls? Probably because they’re heavy as a boat anchor. The original Rolls from the 1980s hit the scales at over 300-grams and even the titanium railed version that came out in the 1990’s still added about 280-grams to your rig. It feels though, that complaining about the weight of a Rolls saddle is like griping about a Ferrari’s gas mileage—it misses the point entirely.

After a break of some years, Selle San Marco is again cranking out new Rolls Saddles that come packaged in a fancy commemorative box. Seems like we have one kicking around the shop somewhere and we can probably order more if anyone is interested.

We’ll leave you with a little known fact about Selle San Marco—they use Catholic nuns from a convent near their factory in Veneto to do the final assembly on many of their saddles.

Also, if you happen to be in the Bay Area on the first weekend of December, here's a great event to check out--partially sponsored by Selle San Marco http://supermarketstreetsweep.blogspot.com/

Nothing Says Happy Holidays Like A BMC Custom Build......

Yes, the Holidays are fast approaching and who wouldn’t like to pick up a new bike to either race next season or for a wingman in the inevitable battle to drop that extra five kilos that will magically appear between Christmas and the New Year?

Amongst other bikes in the showroom, we’re trying to find a home for this one-of-a-kind BMC RaceMaster SLX O1. Built as one of Chad’s personal bikes, it’s had about 1,200 miles on it--mostly here on the roads of Marin. The SLX 01 chassis features an Easton CNT carbon top half (top tube, headtube) mated to a 7005 aluminum bottom half (downtube, seattube, bb, chainstays) for the ultimate blend of stiffness and vertical compliance. Lots of things we could say about it, but the bottom line is that this bike rides sweet! We’re trying to get this one out the door to make way for the batch of 2010 BMCs that we have on order.

Built from as a test bed for a range of new parts, this RaceMaster comes outfitted with a complete Campagnolo Chorus 11 group (except for the 172.5 crank which is Record), Edge 45’s clincher wheels shod with Vittoria Open CX tires, Thomson X2 stem and Edge Composites road bar and a Fizik Antares saddle. Of course, if something’s not to your liking (like the width of the bars) it’s easy enough for us to make a switch.

If you’re interested in this one give us a call @ 415.389.5461, or email. If you want another custom BMC—like the all black-and-white ProMachine we’ve got kicking around (and will be posting pics and thoughts on soon), we can make that happen too.

Favorite Rides: Mill Valley – Stinson Beach – Muir Beach – Mill Valley

Feels like it’s time to take a break from all the talk about gear to tell you about one of our favorite rides around here in Marin County. This one is a great ride through the redwoods, over to the coast and back. Unfortunately there’s no shorthand name for it, because people around here usually say something like “I rode over to Stinson and down to Muir.” Basically everyone knows what you're talking about.

For those not from Marin or the Bay Area, our shop in Mill Valley is about five miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge and sits in a perfect ‘U’ shaped depression at the foot of Mount Tamalpais (Mt Tam for short). While the town sits very close to Sausalito and the San Francisco Bay, a 1200-ish foot high southern spur of Mount Tam blocks Mill Valley from the ocean. That spur keeps a good bit of the costal fog that’s responsible for watering the 300-plus foot-tall redwoods within the Muir Woods National Monument out of town and it provides a nice little climb on the way out of town.

Lot’s of ways to get out of Mill Valley, including some dirt routes, but it always seems totally fitting to begin this loop at the four-way intersection of Miller Ave and Montford--home to the landmark 2AM Club. From the Deuce it’s up and up. If you’re pretty good on the bike, you’ll probably spend 30 to 35-minutes making your way up to the high point on this loop at the National Park Service’s Pantoll Ranger Station. If you’re taking your time, maybe 45-minutes. It’s a beautiful, consistent climb with vistas of San Francisco, the Pacific and the East Bay.



At the Pantoll Ranger Station be sure to zip up your jersey as you’re about to drop six or seven miles down to Stinson Beach in just ten minutes. It's perfect descent that begins in the fog drenched protection of native redwood trees and, about half way down, opens for an amazing view of Stinson Beach, Bolinas to the north and, on a perfect day, the Farallon Islands some 30 miles distant.
Only two ways to go from Stinson and, truth be told, either is a winner. To complete this loop, you head south and start climbing yet again. You’ll immediately find yourself on the first in a series of 250 to 500-foot vertical rollers tacked on the coast that make the six mile stretch of Route 1 between Stinson and Muir Beach an absolute ride of a lifetime. Even if you ride it four or five days a week, it’s impossible to tire of this section. If you like natural spring water, take a look on the left-hand side of the road about a mile south of Stinson and you’ll see a little pipe sticking out of the hillside. Perfect water that old timers from all over Marin swear by.


Drop into Muir Beach and its likely you’ll find fog or at the very least cool temperatures. Fortunately you’ll also find the Pelican Inn, a perfect reproduction of a 16th Century English Inn. Before you get any ideas, it has been proven that stopping at the Pelican Inn on a ride results in calls to wives, girlfriends, husbands and/or cabs, usually many hours later, and with a drastically different attitude than when you walked in the door. Good for you, not good for whomever has to pick you up.

A consistent, 10 to 15-minute climb out of Muir Beach takes you back to the ridge above Muir Woods. Lot’s of traffic on weekend days, but, thanks to the endless twists and bends in the road, the cars, busses and motorcycles are usually moving at a reasonable rate of speed. From the top, take a last look and plunge back down toward the bay and where you started in Mill Valley about an hour-and-a-half ago. You may want to pull into the Deuce for a cold one or, just next door, where pretty good Mexican food awaits at Joe’s Taco Lounge.

Note: You can do this ride in the reverse direction. Takes a little bit longer and the final climb is bigger, but the overall effect is pretty similar!

Things We Love: Lezyne Floor Drive Alloy

I still have a Silca floor pump that I use regularly and, to be totally honest, the last time I got a new pump was at least a dozen years back (Pedro’s with a steel barrel and wooden handle). So when the Pedro’s was giving up the ghost for the fifth or sixth time, I had a look around. Saw that Lezyne (the brainchild of the guy that started TruVativ) had a line of awesome looking Floor Drive pumps. Four pumps in total, from the low-end Classic all the way up to the crisp looking CNC. For one reason or another I ended up with an Alloy model (just below the CNC) which is a freakin’ revelation.

Lezyne sends the Alloy Floor Drive out with a CNC’d alloy barrel and double-eared, alloy base and the same steel piston featured in all its other Floor Drive pumps. The Alloy has a beautiful three-piece wood handle that is finished with a light varnish; for whatever reason the handle just screams high quality from across the room. Tucked in the base is a gauge that’s large enough to read and goes all the way to 220PSI. Why anyone would need to pump a bike tire to 220PSI, I have no idea. At least Chad and I are fans of riding tires at lower pressures. Not sure what the trade-off is in efficiency between 110PSI and 125 or higher PSI, but 110 just feels better over bumps and through corners.



We digress. Aside from its instantly classic looks, the real reason to buy the Alloy Floor Drive (or any of the other three Floor Drive models) is the multi-piece Flip-Thread chuck that, like most, works for Presta or Schrader valves. The real beauty of the Flip-Thread is that it screws right onto the valve. Screws on. Not slips on and clamps like most other. When screwed in place, it’s impossible for the head to back off or leak air. A real boon to anyone that’s been trying to crank a tire up to 110PSI using a clapped out old pump that requires one hand on the wheel/pump head and one hand on the pump handle. Hands down, the best pump head we’ve ever used.


We’ve always got a few Floor Drive pumps on hand at the shop and can have anything shipped overnight that we don’t stock.

If you're interested give us a call @ 415.389.5461, email or come by the shop.

CUSTOM MOOTS COMPACT PART 3: COMPLETE BIKE

Well, this is the last of the posts we'll do on this MOOTS Compact, the bike has been picked up, which is great, but also a bummer as we loved looking at it every day, but it's in a better place now, hopefully tearing up the road somewhere in San Francisco or Marin...
In Part 1, we covered the frame and the powder coating process we had done to it. Part 2 covered all the components we chose to hang on the frame and in Part 3 we'll show a few pictures of how it all turned out. Thanks for following and when you are ready to build one of these dream bikes for yourself, give us a shout!



Kris installing the Chris King bottom bracket. We make sure everything is perfect on the frame before installing any of the components. MOOTS does as well as there is usually no prep needed on our end as they do such a great job of facing and chasing all threaded areas...



The complete bike, absolutely beautiful in my opinion. I love the standard MOOTS bead blasted finish, but this is very nice, very unique...



Chris King bottom bracket, Shimano Dura-Ace 165mm cranks. Nice transition from powder coat to natural titanium on the chain stay. Also, an update on the King bottom brackets, in about 2 and a half weeks they WILL have a SRAM compatible version available, very sweet...



Breezer style dropouts and non tapered chain and seat stays, one of the many reasons why MOOTS is the best option in titanium. Dura-Ace quick release skewers are also very choice...



We'll leave you with this...
For more of Deans amazing photography, see the gallery on our website.
Thanks for following!

Pegoretti: Everything We've Got!

Since our flurry of postings on Pegoretti a few weeks back, we’ve had a handful of requests wondering exactly how many of Dario’s creations have in stock. In fact, we’ve had a lot of calls and emails from riders as far away as Australia asking about specifc sizes and colors. So, we thought we’d post a simple listing of everything that we have in stock from Pegoretti along with pricing so everyone can see if we have their next dream bike sitting here in Mill Valley.

Can we get a drumroll please…….

Marcelo($3400 w/fork)
50cm with Baci colorway
51cm with Baci colorway
54cm with Thelonius colorway
56cm with Baci colorway
58cm with Baci colorway

Duende($2850 w/fork)
51cm with ABVD colorway
55cm with ABVD colorway
56cm with Lori colorway
57cm with Osei colorway

Responsorium ($4500 w/fork)
56cm with Catch the Spider colorway
58cm with Catch the Spider colorway

Love #3 ($3400 w/fork)
52cm with You Really colorway
58cm with You Really colorway

8:30AM ($1900 w/fork)
52cm with Red colorway
59cm with Navy Blue colorway

Fina Estampa ($2100 w/fork)
52cm with Masa colorway

Big Leg Emma ($4300 w/fork)
Custom geo (53 ST, 56.5 TT, 11.3 HT) Some Body colorway


Just looking for some pretty pictures of Pegoretti frames, check our blog posting from the show we put together at one of the world’s finest gelaterias here.

If you're interested in one of the frames mentioned above or just want to talk, give us a call @ 415.389.5461, email or come by the shop.

CUSTOM MOOTS COMPACT PART 2: BUILD KIT

Since we were waiting for Kevin's bike to be built and painted we had ample time to figure out the best direction to go in regards to the build kit. To be honest it was pretty simple really as we needed to go with the shortest cranks we could get. Of the mainstream manufacturers, Shimano is the only company that makes a sub 170mm crank set. We ended up going for the 165mm Dura-Ace piece. This was important as the top tube was very short which also gave us a short front center. We didn't want to get too lazy with the head tube angle so by using a short crank and a 50mm rake fork we kept toe overlap as small as possible. And since we prefer not to split component groups up, we went for a total Shimano Dura-Ace 7900 group set. This includes the hubs and pedals as well.



165mm Shimano Dura-Ace Crank Set. Compact is the natural choice for this area as well. Paired w/ an 11X25 for training and an 11X23 for racing you will have a great range of gearing to choose from with minimal gaps between shifts... Beautiful crank set and I love the fact that it's aluminum as well.



The one part of the bike that we strayed from Shimano. The Chris King bottom bracket is simply amazing. First off, it's one of the most beautiful made, but functionally one of the best as well. Feels as smooth and friction free as the best ceramic units out there. Rebuild-able as well, you can take the grease out for race day application or add more for inclement weather riding. For now, only intended to work with Shimano crank sets, though I've seen it used with SRAM, but didn't seem to work as well. It goes without saying that the Chris King headset is the best available. I have used them all, and it's no contest in my opinion...



Shimano Dura-Ace brake calipers, style, style and more style! One of the strongest, crispest feeling stoppers out there. I'm more used to the more modulated feeling of Campagnolo and when I jump on a bike with these I almost feel like I'm going to launch over the front of the bike. Definitely takes a little getting used to!



Front and rear derailleurs. Super precise and in my opinion one of the most modern looking groups.



Shimano 7900 Brake/shift levers. If they could make the manual levers feel like the Di2, ergonomically speaking, I swear I'd use nothing else...



Dura-Ace hubs, 28 hole rear, 24 hole front. Kind of rare these days to have hubs that match the drive train. Gives it such a nice finished look...



Edge 68 rear and 45 front. Both in clincher with Vittoria Open CX 320tpi tires. DT Swiss Aerolite spokes round out the custom wheel build...



The ever popular Dura-Ace pedal...



The Edge carbon handle bar. One of the few carbon bars I'd have no issues w/ on my bike. Super strong, our team sustained many crashes this year and the bars made it through unscathed every time...



Thosmson Masterpeice set back post and the X2 road stem, I don't like how the word "bomb proof" is always thrown around, but if you looked the word up in the dictionary, you should see a photo of these parts! No secret that Fizik is by far our favorite brand of saddle, and for this bike, the newish Antares with braided carbon rails fit the bill. Other small parts included aluminum cage bolts, King titainium cages and DT Swiss quick release skewers...

Check back soon for Part 3, the complete bike...

Thanks for reading!

CUSTOM MOOTS COMPACT PART 1: FRAME AND FINISH

There is nothing, absolutely nothing that I like to hear more at the shop than, "This bike is in your hands, do it the way you think best." This is what I love about building custom bikes, the whole thing, from geometry, to the right frame for the cyclist, to each and every individual component. Then there is the finish, the build and of course the fit (which happens before and after). For this article, we'll keep it to just the frame and finish, part 2 will get into the individual components and why we chose what we did...


For Kevin, we chose a titanium bike and of course if it's ti, it has to be a MOOTS! We then chose the compact, but that was less about style and all about function. We needed to build a small frame and the VAMOOTS would not allow enough seat post showing to even put in a work stand, so, choice # 1 was pretty easy. Also, we could have waited for the new MOOTS RSL that will be out in a few months, but we feel that when you are getting down into the smaller sized frames, stiffer is not always better. Some flex is good when done right, something to think about next time you get your new frame, or wheels for that matter. Moots sent us the frame bare, as you can see above as we knew we'd be sending the frame to Spectrum Powder Works in Colorado Springs for a custom finish. This was the hard part, I know what I like, but will the customer like it? Or, will the finished product look the same as what I pictured in my head? Lucky for us, JT at Spectrum was thinking along the same lines as I was and as you can see in the pictures below, it turned out amazing.
For the nitty gritty of the painting process of our MOOTS follow this link: Spectrum Powder Works



We wanted to make sure you could see it was a ti frame, so we left the seat stays and chain stays natural as well as the MOOTS logo on the down tube. The ti frame is powder coated, but the fork is liquid paint. Color match was perfect.


The MOOTS logo's were then etched on the rear end. Kevin added some of his personal touches as well...



Attention to detail is phenomenal!



More of the rear end. Powder coating is super tough and will last a long time. There are some do's and dont's when it comes to cleaning though... Another thing, when is the last time you have seen a chain hanger???



Liquid paint on the custom painted 50mm rake Edge 1.0 fork. Again, nice attention to detail on the dropouts and logo.

For more photo's and information on all of our products, please visit Above Category

Stay tuned for part 2 soon...

Pinarello FP7: A Bike Even Your Grandma Would Notice (and love).

Only one other brand—and its one with a severe deficit of panache--can match the number of Tour wins by Pinarello in the past 25 years. That amazing run of success under some of the sport’s more storied riders—Delgado, Indurain, Ulrich--along with a history of innovation has made Pinarello the one bike that people walk in the door asking for above all others. Thanks to their completely unique silhouettes they’re also a bike that even your grandmother will ask you about.

We’ve had a ton of interest in the brand from Treviso’s new FP7, so we thought we’d throw a post up about it.

Sharing the same design silhouette as the now legendary Prince, the FP7 features the same 46HM3K carbon as its acclaimed (and more expensive) Paris bike. The FP7 was introduced as a step up from the company’s highly successful FP3. The FP7 has a swoopy ONDA FPK fork hanging off the front with a 1 1/8 to 1 ¼ tapered steerer. The dialed Pinarello geometry as well as the robust build of the FP7’s fork give the bike phenomenal confidence even in the most dicey situations. The chainstays are slightly asymmetrical, which help to give the chassis quick response and good pedaling efficiency without adding excess weight. While not the lightest frame to come out of Pinarello’s Northern Italian shop, a 54cm FP7 tips the scales at just 1050-grams.

We’ve ridden every major Pinarello frame going back to Alexi Grewal’s 1984 Montello with the rattle can multi-color paint (according to legend Grewal’s bike really was panted with spray paint in the days just before the road race in LA) and, as impressive as these details are, the ride is all that counts. Happily, the race-bred FP7 more than lived up to our outsized expectations. We’ll save the war stories for another post though.

The new Pinarello is available in 10 sizes – 44 through 59.5 cm and as a complete bike only (really) equipped with your choice of Dura-Ace, Red, or Chorus groups.

Ahoy Mr. Moots: Another New YBB Dream Bike Is About To Set Sail!

Guess it might be in preparation for the wet time of year, but we’ve been rolling out some sick Moots mountain bikes over the past few weeks. Latest on the list is this new full suspension Moots YBB with an outrageous build. The $2975 YBB frame has just over an inch of travel from a pivotless design (thanks to the inherent springiness of titanium) that relies on a custom Moots rear shock. Although the proud owner of this rig went with a bone stock YBB, he could’ve gone with any number of custom options like ‘slider’ singlespeed dropouts, an S&S coupler and of course custom geometry.

To top off the made-in-Colorado chassis, Lunner in the service department went with a full SRAM XX build including a 100mm travel SID World Cup fork with a carbon crown/steerer, Xloc remote lockout and race tuned XX Motion Control damping. For fireroad flying and supple singletrack there’s nothing more Gucci to hang on the front end of your bike.

We rounded the YBB out with a full 2x10 XX group including the insane XX 11-36 cassette and swoopy XX trigger shifters. This Moots rolls on a pair of Edge Carbon Clincher wheels with 32mm deep, 340-gram composite rims. Yeah. Short of rocking the 340-gram Edge tubulars, they’re about as light as it gets (of course there are the 260g Edge tubulars). Fortunately, we had enough budget that we didn’t have to skimp on the rest of the bike: Chris King headset and hubset, Moots titanium stem and post, Selle Italia SLR saddle, Shimano XTR pedals and, we just couldn't let this bike out the door with any other bottle cage than a pair of Ron Andrews King Cages.

Total retail on this baby? Let’s just say it was more than one dollar and less than a million. Call the shop 415.389.5461, or send us an email and we can start on your Moots dream rig today!

More On The Brand-New Parlee Z5

Pretty safe to say that Bob Parlee knows a thing or two about carbon fiber. What’s more is that because Bob has made so many custom carbon frames over the years (something 99% of all carbon mfgs. have never done!), he truly understands how to combine geometry and unique carbon lay-ups to make a bike that rides like an absolute dream. Anyone of the mind that only ferrous frames can feel magical probably hasn’t ridden a Parlee!

The feathery Z5 is the newest member of the legendary Parlee family and we were lucky enough to get our hands on one of the first composite masterpieces to be FedEx’d out of Massachusetts. Based upon the company’s flagship Z1 model, the Z5 is a “stock” frame that offers the legendary Parlee ride and classic, dare we say, minimalist lines, that has made the frames famous. Like Bob himself says (and we’re paraphrasing here), ‘I am not a stylist. I am a designer and a builder of race bikes. I design and build fast, light, durable and comfortable bikes—qualities that were once considered mutually exclusive in bike building. Because of this you will not see unnecessary shapes in my designs. The guiding principle for parlee is efficiency. Styling makes no sense because it only adds weight and takes away from ride quality. It is akin to putting fins on a car, they may look cool, but they are not going to make it perform better.’
In the Z5 Parlee is utilizing a more efficient molding process and a smaller amount of composite overlap to yield an extremely durable carbon frame that weighs in at just 800 grams! For smaller sizes, the frames actually weigh less than 800-grams and that is a real weight that includes paint, clear coat, water bottle cage bolts, derailleur hanger, cable guide and seat collar clamp! That puts a 13-pound built bike with quite normal parts well within the range of possibility.

The newest Parlee is available in a full five frame sizes – 51, 53, 55, 57, and 59cm. Each size is also offered in a tall version that features an extended headtube. An expensive and important touch from Parlee (because they have to make additional molds for the ‘tall’ models) and it puts an end to a huge stack of spacers for riders that want or need a higher hand position. The Z5’s frame geometry sticks to the Parlee formula used in the Z4 except that the two smallest sizes feature a headtube that has been slackened by a half-degree for a more confident ride quality. More details? The Z5 features carbon dropouts, molded carbon cable stops, and a carbon seatpost clamp. It’s also adopted the BB30 standard for a lighter and stiffer bottom bracket and reduced Q factor. The stock EDGE Composites fork has the tapered (1 1/8” to 11/4”) steerer tube design that is far-and-away our favorite and is the gold standard on 2010 model-year bikes.

Although we’ve not gotten our Z5 out on the road, we’re bullish about the ride quality it promises to offer. Feels to us like the Z5 is the absolute perfect match of clean, conventional lines and the latest advances in composite frame technology. As soon as we get a break from painting and generally kitting out our new service center, we’ll give the Z5 a full pro build and put it through the paces here in Marin County. Stay tuned for our first impressions.

For more photos, check out our Parlee gallery!