Art’s Cyclery Blog

railfox is a pretty cool name for a bicycle. Foxes (?) Foxen (?)… whatever, are quick little creatures. For one, they’re hard to catch – so much so that it usually takes a pack of dogs and at least one steed-mounted hunter to catch one fox.  Not only can they outrun just about anything else their size and larger, they reach top speed in no time.  Thus a desirable name for BMC’s All-Mountain killer.  But I think “Mountain Goat” is a better name.  After sampling this trail shredder, I really think Mountain Goat capitalizes on this frames best characteristics.  But, since this is a blog, let me begin with a story.

Communication at Arts Cyclery is often times less than stellar.  In my case I didn’t get the memo about the afternoon ride being a mountain affair, so I ended up riding the Demo Trailfox with my Dura Ace Pedals, Ergo 2 shoes, Bibs and retro T-mobile pink jersey (what… you guys don’t have a pink jersey?).  The worst part about it was the guys forced me to ride about half a mile on a busy city street – and this is a biking town!  What is it about cycling style anyway?  We look like goobers.  Who decided which outfits are acceptable and which ones aren’t.  Side note: wearing your jersey underneath your bibs is never acceptable, no acceptions.  But seriously.  When I started riding mountain bikes in the 90′s, everyone wore spandex.  Now if you’re found in spandex on the trail everyone looks at you like you should have a mustache and be riding a rigid neon bike with cantilevers.  Whatever.  I was on a mission.  On to the bike.

The Trailfox is an awesome bike.  It climbs like nobodies business.  When BMC brought over some frames to have us look at, I personally thought the

check out the girthy magnesium upper rocker arm and the attention to detail on the pivot bolts

Trailfox looked sweet, but with so many gimmicky dual linkage bikes now, I was skeptical.  However, during my ride the minute the trail turned upward, all my skepticism was laid to rest.  The bike climbed so well that I actually turned the ProPedal off on the Fox RP2 shock.  I set the bike up so that I had about 35-40% sag  to really see what the suspension was like and figured I would use the ProPedal for climbing which is almost always the case.  To my surprise the bike performed well beyond my expectations.  This may be the first time I’ve ever ridden a bike that really did what it’s supposed to unaided by compression valving.  Like I said before, it’s a mountain goat.  The Trailfox descends like any standard 140mm travel bike should.  I must say that its descending ability was out-shined by its climbing ability.  Not because it doesn’t descend, it descends as well as any bike with 5 inches of travel, but it just climbs so incredibly.  I will say that dual pivot bikes – on the whole – are sweet descenders because you feel the wheel moving more vertically, making the bike feel more like it’s floating. The Trailfox really is a great riding bicycle.

Some other cool things about the frame are the magnesium rocker arms which not only look great but decrease the weight considerably.  The BB shell is a neat piece of engineering also.  Two pieces of forged 7005 alloy are welded together to create a super strong and stiff BB shell.  Most companies CNC their BB shells or cast them into one solid peice of aluminum.  This is undesireable though.  The difference in stiffness from the hollow BB shell and solid BB shell is similar to a piece of rebar and a piece of steel tubing of the same diameter.  Though the rebar is stronger, its strength is unnecessary in such an application and not nearly as stiff.  The stiffness can be felt in the frame, though I couldn’t say that I noticed it from the BB shell, the bike as a whole is as stiff as any full-suspension bike I’ve ever ridden. There is seemingly zero flex in the frame.  Part of that is attributed to the hydroformed 7005 series alloy, which, aside from BMC, isn’t being manufactured by any other company. Some riders around here don’t like the way the seat stays look (when you see as many bikes as we do you start to get picky), but I happen to like the curvy stays, especially for the rigidity they provide.

The BMC Mountain Goat er… Trailfox is a worthy contender in the All-Mountain trail bike market.  BMC has made a great frame that surprised me and that’s hard to do.  For more high resolution pics of the Trailfox, click  here and and don’t forget,  your bibs are not a one-piece and never tuck your jersey into them.  For more fashion advice or questions about the 09 Trailfox01 don’t be afraid to call or send me an email at brad@artscyclery.com.  As always,

Hammer on

Bradstone Mountain, Pleasures of Riding, Product Reviews

Ah, the afternoon ride!  Is there any better way to break up a day at the office?  Especially a Monday. Work has it’s many benefits, obviously, and can even be enjoyable at times  (I work at a bike shop so who am I to say what a 9 to 5  job is). But let’s get something straight right off the bat: there are few things that compare to a great ride, no matter where you work.  Mountain or Road, we all have our favorites.  In my case the windows to the outside world are just far enough to keep me from staring out enviously on sunny days, but it’s pretty easy to imagine descending Highway 46 west on a clear day.

The great thing is, my employers understand the importance of the afternoon ride.  We go out together on a 12 miler quite often.  It’s just enough work to get some good exercise in.  By splitting up the day, the afternoon tends to go by faster and I work with more motivation and fervor.  It’s common knowledge that people who exercise regularly are more alert during the day, and my employers understand the importance of healthy employees. The afternoon ride’s also a great way to meet coworkers and get to know them outside the office.

So, are you riding everyday?  If not, how come? If the health benefits aren’t enough, its just plain fun.  Think of those times in your life when you were in shape and riding hard frequently (admittedly, this time didn’t last very long for the author).  I remember the ride was my staple, my constant.  No matter what happened during the day I could trust that I would have a good time riding – it would hurt at times, but I felt like I accomplished something. It was good to know I was treating my body well.

So let’s all get on our bikes more.  If you need an incentive our website, www.artscyclery.com, has plenty of cool stuff (we all ride better after we put new tires, bar tape, etc., on – at least in our heads).  We just got some Cervelo S2s and Truvativ Hammerschmidts in, so check those out.  Feel free to send this to your employer  for coercive purposes and keep riding those bikes.

Hammer On

Bradstone Mountain, Pleasures of Riding, Road

Cycling music, in this case, refers to music you listen to while you’re cycling. First, let’s provide a caveat to this post; you shouldn’t listen to music while you ride a  bike—it makes it hard to hear approaching cars, your riding companions, other trail users if you’re on the dirt, and sounds your bike makes if something’s wrong with it. That being said, I love road riding with an MP3 player in my jersey pocket. Music definitely enhances my riding experience, especially if I’m going solo. One of the great features of todays MP3 players is the incredible storage space available, enabling you to carry your entire music library at all times, thus guaranteeing you’ll be able to find the right song for the ride.

What kind of music do I listen to while riding? It all depends on the ride! There’s a long, steep hill that I ride rarely, but when I do, the Allman Brothers thirty-minute opus, Mountain Jam (on Eat a Peach), helps me get to the top. The screaming crowd gets me fired up, the wandering guitar solos seemingly wind in and out of coherence, much like I’m doing as I suffer, and the duelling drum solo motivates me to get to the top so I can change the song! For shorter, interval-style rides where I’m pushing it on the climbs and time-trialling the flats, something more driving and upbeat is needed. That’s when I dial up Iron Maiden’s Piece of Mind and Powerslave to keep my cadence and my heartrate maxed. Lot’s of great songs on these albums but “The Trooper” and “Ace’s High” seem like they’re made for riding bikes. Finally, for sunny-day, relaxed or recovery rides, The John Butler Trio keeps me smiling and happy to be pedaling. Sunrise Over Sea and Three are two of my favorites.

Now, you may be asking how artscyclery.com can help you enjoy your musical riding experience. We stock plenty of clothing designed with music-lovers in mind. The Pearl Izumi Pro Octane Jersey, Louis Garneau Thermal Carbon Jersey, Luis Garneau Powerblock Jacket, Sugoi RS Bibs, and Fox Sergent Short, plus others, all come with pockets specific for MP3 players and ports for headphones.

We’d like to hear what your favorite riding songs are, too. So help us all broaden our musical horizons and increase our cycling pleasure by leaving a comment.

Luke Mountain, Pleasures of Riding, Road