Moving on out.

I really appreciate all the eyes who have landed on this blog over the past several years.

However, I'm discontinuing moderating two blogs and will be solely adding content to my longer of the two sites- stickboybike.com

The Bianchi Life blog will remain up for those in need of any reference to things of celeste, and addition to the Twitter feed in the right side column.

Click the photo below to get on over to my latest endeavors.

Thanks and be well!

Stocking stuffers.

OH yea! Here's a brief suggestion for something to stuff in your fanboy's (and girl) stocking this holiday season.

I love a good colab!

Retailing for $58 and only through select dealers in the US.

Inner peace behind bars.

I'm a sucker for a good two minute piece on Vimeo. Maybe that's because my brain can only stay focused for that long? 

It takes a business owner a few years of working for free as the sole employee of the shop; wrenching, selling, leading group rides. (If you have friends willing to help for free, that's a bonus too.) Don't forget cleaning the bathroom! All of this needs to be done before the IBD should consider hiring its first full time employee. I call this organically growing the business.

Yes there are instances when a business can prove this process wrong. Most of the time, the independent bicycle retailer who toils for their first few years with very lean overhead, maintains focus on community outreach to other cyclists through events and group rides-- ends up paying their bills on time with their bike companies and 'growing their tribe' faster than those who unlock the front door and just flip over the Open sign. I've found that this is the formula for a sustainable business-- the 3Cs.

Speaking of organic growth and nailing it with community outreach, the guys in Raleigh, North Carolina-- Oak City Cycling Project have put together my favorite shop video of 2013.



If you're in the central NC region, hit them up either late on Wednesday nights or during First Night Fridays. You will find a cold beverage and good discussion is waiting there for you.

Event: Giro d'Italia Gran Fondo Miami recap.

Sometimes it's easy to take for granted the things that go on outside of my little world of being a bike rep, family guy and weekend bike racer. Professional team sponsorships are organized in the off season. Product is passed out to Vacansoleil and Androni in the form of Oltre and Sempre frames. Advertising budgets are sharpened and material is submitted to the magazines and online publications for testing and review. With a kiss of the Cornicello, nod of the head and a brief pointing to the sky, the company waits for a response from the masses in the form of annual sales and event turn out.

Looking to get the best spot at the Gran Fondo Miami bike expo, I consulted our independent rep as to which booth location/ number would be best for us. Across from the VIP tent is where we pitched our tents. 

On Saturday, the riders of the Gran Fondo Miami strolled in to pick up their packets for Sunday's ride. Surrounding their exit from the sign in tent, were us bike companies offering up a peek at the latest cycling technology and a chance to speak with factory reps.

Having a celeste bikes at the booth is always a sure fire way to bring out fans of the brand. Not having Campagnolo on every single bike can also bring out the worst in some people. But let's face it. If you're buying a bike that's over $2200 and it's made of carbon fiber, Bianchi has you covered. There's no need to go home and kick a puppy.

Saturday's booth traffic was defined by a large number of visits from Bianchi owners. A small chunk of passer-bys were generally curious cyclists. If the conversations on Saturday were any sort of a groundswell for what we'd see people riding on Sunday, we'd be very busy that day. And that we were.

Sunday. Ride day. Carbon clincher wheel day. Oltre day? Yes, Oltre day.

Being across from the VIP tent had paid off. As people racked their bikes, enjoyed the food and then departed with a full belly, they strolled over for a chat, some swag and a handshake.

You can spout out gobs of metrics about who attends a gran fondo in Miami, Florida. Some of it might be exaggerated, speculated and methodically formulated. One thing was for sure, the majority of the carbon bikes and their owners that stopped by after the ride to show me their pride and joy, rode an Oltre. Those not on an Oltre-- it was some other model of carbon fiber, Bianchi road bike. Absent were the classic steel bikes like the Imola, Vigorelli and Volpe like I saw endlessly at RAGBRAI 2013. 

I saw every size Oltre from a woman on a 50cm Super Record with EPS, on up to a 61cm frame size with FFW celeste colored deep dish wheels like the Vacansoleil team rode. 

I believe Aldo from Canada gets the super fan award of the weekend. Tri-color helmet, Oltre with Campagnolo Super Record, Bianchi branded sunglasses and.....

....ink. I thought he was showing off is guns until he rolled his arm over revealing this. Edoardo would be proud.

Another event goes down for me and much like RAGBRAI, people felt entitled to tell you their story of how and why they have a celeste colored bike. So much enthusiasm, so much passion and excitement these Bianchi owners have; it's more than any brand I've seen from 20 years of working retail. 

It's difficult at best create a brand's culture, buy culture or force a culture to last over a century like Bianchi. It has to marinade for a long time. Culture creates itself and after 128 years of it, I'm proud to be a part of Bianchi's culture because once you throw a leg over their bicycle, the world is that much smaller. 

From Florida, back to the Mid-Atlantic weather.....brrrrrr!

Would you consider this?

An unavoidable component with my job is travel.

While I obviously have responsibilities such as family, career and personal wellness, getting outside my bubble, is one of  the most exhilarating things in my life. Visiting new and old shops, the people who run them, the next town I'm in- eating dinner at the bar and making small talk with the tie wearing person next to me, and the relationships sowed at the events I attend in support of my shops and/or the ones we sponsor.

I feel that much of the stress that ppl put on themselves is due to a lack of understanding of others and a failure to accept the times when someone else inconveniences themselves or breaks their pace.

Traveling has taught me to loosen my grip a bit more the bar tape of life, sit in for a lap or two and realized that there are other ppl in this land besides ME.

Make 2014 your year of NOW for traveling, not SOMEDAY--->

Sit down and shut up.

Like a well worn pair of comfortable jeans, I installed this Selle Italia Flight saddle on the Bianchi Cavaria 'cross bike last season. This saddle was knocking around in the bottom of my tool box since the dismantling of my Voodoo Bokor (last of the US made ones) and once I realized that a Fizik Arione saddle is a poor choice of a saddle on a cx bike, this seat stepped up to bat.

Do the math. Started using this saddle back in '99 on the Voodoo. It's 2013. The plastic is bound to get a bit brittle and maybe weakened by sloppy remounts by my 6'5" self. DCCX was the end of the road for this saddle. I finished the last two laps with the broken saddle. RIP of friend.

2013 Nittany Lion Cyclocross Race recap Saturday.

This past weekend marked the first #cyclocross race of the season for me. I approached this event as a 'learner' as in getting back into the swing of #cx racing, the bumping of bars, and the demand on my anaerobic threshold. Best of all, seeing some old faces I've missed since last season.

This race was new to me as well. I've never raced at Nittany CX, I moved up a category and now have an extra lap to do versus the previous two seasons of cyclocross racing at one lap less.

Against tradition of installing new gear on the race bike before a race, I installed a new set of Clement LAS clinchers. With a liberal dose of baby powder on the inside tire casing and on tubes, I used the evening before the race as a shakedown run at the local park just to test the corning limits of the tires. Let me just say this, if you've never run file tread tires on dry days, I highly recommend you give them a try. The grip angle is amazing and for the race I ran 26 psi front and 28 psi rear while using the HED Ardennes LT wheels. Such a wonderful ride, I'm extremely happy with this wheel set up.

The first lap had a very hectic start across a gravel section of road into a hairpin left turn, the group was very bunched until we made it into the NW part of the course where the group thinned out a bit. Unfortunately I was gassed bad enough that I mis-timed clipping out for the barriers and slammed into the first one, taking a dirt nap, lost a few spots, the bike was fine and I shook it off and charged the rest of the lap.

There were only a handful of people who passed me so it was a case of riding within myself the rest of the race, dissecting parts of the course and working on taking them as quick and efficient as possible. After all, cyclocross racing is about finishing with the least amount of mistakes made.

Why is that you say? Considering my/ your heart rate is at 173 bpm the full 50 minutes of the race, it's easy to have your body become disconnected from your brain. When that happens, corners sneak up on you too quick, remounts become sloppy instead of fluid and jumping out of a corner under hard acceleration is trumped by the guy behind you because he hears you feather your brakes into the corner that he's since trusted his tires to gripping and leaving the brakes alone; getting a half a bike length of a jump on you.

I'd have to say having the extra lap this year or at least this race allowed me to settle into a rhythm. Next race will be Cross Vegas 2013 and the end of the month marks the first of the #mabrasuper8cxseries at Winchester AppleCross. I'm looking forward to hearing the MC'ing skills of InThe Crosshairs at that one!

Best of legs to all the guys and gals in the Mid-Atlantic, looking forward to cheering you on from behind the tape when my laps are over!

It takes a clinic to build a village.

JGMCX clinic. spotted- 2007 Bianchi Roger, possibly the first production SS cx disc bike in the US?

The beginning of August was kicked off with the Jonathan Gantz Memorial Cyclocross Clinic, located in lower York County, Pennsylvania. 

About 50 local and some far, cyclocross fans, racers, and those curious about the sport assembled at Spring Valley Park to start brushing up on their 'cross skills; hear some wisdom get dropped by Wes and Jake of the Haymarket bike race team and reconnect with cycling friends who only pop their head out of the ground this time of the year. 

Food and refreshments were provided by the York Area Mountain Bike Association so a big thanks goes out to them and Sean Durgin who manned the griddle, serving up pancakes to the attending cyclists.  Sean, or Skip as he's better know as in the area, and I go way back to 1990. He was a classmate back then and took me mountain biking for the first time.  Or at least he was on a mountain bike and I was still riding a bmx bike, but not for long.  That summer I traded my old road bike for a mountain bike and shredded the trails at Rocky Ridge all that summer. 

Clinics are popping up all over the US and what cyclists are understanding is that cultivating a cycling community is important to the health and growth of local cycling. And if you can attract junior cyclocross riders as well, that's the future of the sport right there!  Hosting a clinic with your local bike club will create new friendships, introduce recreational riders to area racers and hopefully breakdown any elitist-preconceived notions the weekend riders might have against those who pin on a number every weekend.  That being said, out of all the bike racers I know, the mountain bike and CX racers are the nicest, most approachable people in my directory.  That's an observation, not a criticism. 

Sean Mealey of Keystone Velo Racing did most of the organizing for this second year event which meant the full cx course would be a blast to ride. The drills we worked on covered the basic dismount, remount, dismount to stair run-up, starts/sprints, and then the team relay. A little bit of chasing each other, over cooking a few turns, and taking random dirt naps keep everyone laughing and enjoying themselves.

Big thanks again to Mealey and KVR, YAMBA, Nuts About Granola, Haymarket Bicycle Shop and Broken Spoke Photography who captured this fine day with the best lens in the county! 

I can't wait for next year!

Bianchi Bicycles Oltre Vaconsoleil frame review.

This is my second season riding an Oltre. Last year I had a stock Oltre frameset and this year decided to get the Vacansoleil livery edition. 61cm for my tall self.

The big thing I noticed about the Oltre last season was it's ability to rail a corner 10% beyond your comfort level, make mid-cornering steering changes and the bike remains stable until you exit the corner. Also, the steer dynamics are such that very little input at the handlebars is required to steer the bike. [Ed note: don't attempt to rail a corner at 'Oltre speeds' when you're on a Impulso back up bike on the last lap of a crit. It will get ugly and you might lose some skin.]

This was obvious to me at the end of last summer when I pulled the parts off the Oltre and installed the build group onto my Cavaria cyclocross frame. On my first shake down ride of the cx bike, I just about over-cooked a  corner because I was trying to steer it like in was on the Oltre... little steering effort. Wrong! Next corner, pretty much the same thing. And this time I realized that I was actually pulling on the inside-turn, of the handlebar to initiate the turn. Yes, the Oltre is that sensitive you can lightly steer it one handed. 

When you introduce a slacker head tube angle like the one you'll find on a cyclocross bike or one of the C2C bikes, you will need to use pressure from both sides of the handlebars to steer and push the bars through the corner and hold it there or the bike will try to 'stand up' through the corner. 

Second note. Last year's Oltre with the same part kit, minus the SL-K crank of this year, included a SRAM Red crank. When I built up the one in the photo below, ran the same winter wheels, tires, everything the same as 2012 except the FSA crank and brakes. This season, out of the saddle efforts were met with the rear wheel flexing and rubbing each side of the brake pads with every pedal stop over a climb. Yes the brakes are now FSA but their gap to the rim is the same. The spoke tension of the winter wheel is where it needs to be as well. 

So the question looming here is... 
-Is the SL-K crank is stiffer than the Red crank? Thus twisting the frame more due to the reduced flex at the arms? The Red crank was a 177.5mm length, the SL-K is 175mm. 
-Is the Vaconsoleil edition frame a bit stiffer in the bottom end of the frame? I need to dig a bit further for an answer when I see Angelo at Interbike.

So the summer rolls on and I'm still humbled by how amazing this bike rides; fast and quick, velvety steering, steer it with your hips thanks to the aero seat post's lateral stiffness or chase down the group

to the township line signs. You won't be disappointed! 

Here are some photos of the final build on the Oltre. I hope you enjoy them!

Final weight without accessories- 61cm.

Building up the cyclocross bike for another season.

It's about that time.

Time to pull up the cx frame from the basement, wash it, wax it and start hanging some bits on the frame. 

Now all that's left is a build kit for the season. 

From bike sharrows to shoofly pie.

It took a rainy day after Memorial Day to realize that I had a handful of photos that never made their way into a post over here. 

Last month, the owners of Proteus Bicycles in College Park, MD decided to play hookie on a sunny Friday and drive up to the land of shoofly pie and Amish buggies in order to test ride the latest Bianchi Infinito bikes. Laurie and Jeff have been super busy the past two seasons since taking on ownership of the shop; so given a chance to get away to ride some new bikes, I didn't have to ask twice.

Jeff rode the Ultegra Di2 Infinito. Quite the anomaly from his daily commuter. He is very active in the DC commuting world and you can follow along with Jeff at his Greenbelt Patch blog.... here!  We traveled pretty much the same route I did with the Bikenetic guys, earlier that month.

 Laurie, rode the 50cm Infinito Ultegra and was pretty excited by the speed and fluidity of the bike. Her daily rider is a Bianchi Zurigo which got the ball rolling for her love of the brand. She bought it back when Jill and Yo owned the bike shop. Such a great customer-to-owner story that she and Jeff share. 

A self portrait of Laurie and me. Next time out, Jeff swears he's bringing his Go-Pro camera to document the beauty of the Lancaster farm lands. I think he just wants to copy the design of the scooters he saw the Amish running around on that day. Ha!

Never the less, you guys are always welcomed up here!

Better than that new car smell. @bianchibicycles #semprepro

New Sempre Pro at Cycles Bikyle. First on the block for PA/MD/VA territory, getting picked up today by a very excited rider.

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#mockorangebikes @bianchibicycles demo

Demo time with the Sempre Pro and Infinito bikes!

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Bianchi Impulso hop up parts kit.

The first crit of the year is this weekend and for the first time ever, I'm rushing to put together something that resembles a competitive bike. A handful of parts from the 'cross bike, another handful from last year's Oltre. 

I've resigned to the fact that I'll never run a stock, out of the box bike unless it's a town/market bike for getting groceries. That being said, I started the transformation this week of a stock Impulso 105 bike.

There are so many places you can get away with middle grade parts on your bike. Two places I never skimp, tires and the chain.

Dura-Ace 10 speed with a Connex quick link. Light, smooth and soon to be covered with a splash of Chain-L lube.

Something old, something new from the basement. I swapped the carbon/alu stock fork from the Impulso which uses a 45mm rake and installed this guy; full carbon 43mm rake, from back in the day... (`the bike fit in that link...geez things have changed since 2005.) Added branding on the inside of the fork legs courtesy of PG-13 Graphics.

More of the build up to come...

2013 Infinito Test Ride, get one now!

Arrhh, I'm slipping on my posts as we enter Spring of 2013. I made a mental note to post more but this month's bike demos have been keeping a wrench in my palm and shop visits, a steering wheel in my hand instead of time at the keyboard.

That being said, I've been working on getting more cyclists out to shop's for a bike demo or two. Or to at least bring a shop to me, along with any available employees, to ride the bikes through the farmlands near my house. 

Some shops are closed on Mondays and one of those is Bikenetic in Falls Church, VA. I phoned the owner, Jan (yahn) and ask if he wants to drive a couple of hours to central PA and ride the new batch of Infinito bikes I had just received for the season. Without hesitation he accepted and invited his service manager Brian and sales associate Jeremy.

Jan in yellow shoes!

It's funny how you get used to receiving riders (consumers) to test your bikes; set them up, swap out pedals and send them off. I sort of forgot that the three guys in my garage are 'shop ready' and upon dropping all their gear in my garage, grabbed some tools and immediately started installing their pedals and adjusting saddle height for themselves. That made my work easy!

Paceline, love the kits.

We rolled out on the blue bird day, slight winds out of the northwest, just cool enough for a long sleeve jersey. As we spin through the first 30 minutes of the ride, I could see the guys getting comfortable immediately. Corning a bit quicker, jumping for the top of the hills a bit sooner, all of this before we started the on-bike discussion about the how and why of the 2013 Infinito Ultegra. 

Bikenetic has sold a handful of Infinito bikes in the past 12 months, they know the product range very well and how to explain the use of this bike to the average rider without barfing macho data on the customer's shoes. Even still, there's still one missing detail... riding it, to experience it. 

Smooth, fast, steady, well balanced, were the words Jan, Brian and Jeremy used to describe the bikes they were operating. In a head wind and cross winds, the bike was "stable; you didn't fight the front wheel as much as you would on the B4P bikes". Much of this Jan realized because he owns a B4P Mono-Q from 2009. Jan likes the quickness of the B4P (Sempre) geometry but was very pleased by the refined ride the Infinito exhibited; along with the way Bianchi K-VID and B.A.T smoothed out the choppy, Amish buggy-gauged asphalt we traveled.

(l-r) Brian, Jan, Jeremy

At about 25 miles, we pulled back into the driveway, parked bikes and grabbed some lunch. 

More questions came from the guys over lunch as we gnawed on some pesto tortellini salad. Jan put it well by stating that, reading about the bike and listening to my clinics is fine but experiencing the 'real world application' is where it's at. 

Thanks guys!

It has two wheels, therefor it belongs in a bike shop.

Not all Bianchi dealers have only bikes on the shop floor.

Mid-70s cafe bike at the Bicycle Stable. 60s Harley motor in a Norton frame. The frame is only 35lbs and made of Reynolds 531 tubing.

Love it.

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Your next pair of winter gloves?

The temps are still in the 30s and merits a winter-type glove for riding. These beauts showed up this week. It's too late in the day to test their warmth on a ride so I tested them the next the best way I knew.

Yup, hands are still warm... More results coming once I get out over the weekend with them.

Hard to find, hard to buy.

On my run through NYC and Queens, last week, I spotted this gem at the Spokesman bike shop.

Circa 2006 Bianchi 928-L carbon Liquigas team frame. This chain of shops owner is quite the collector, not for sale either, just eye candy.

In for a sandwich.

Old Bianchi Brava in Queens, NY.

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Retail ideas that never die.

Perched outside of the DC beltway in College Park, MD is the largest retailer of Bianchi steel framed bicycles this side of NYC. New ones, not refurb classics. Come to think of it, the I-495 region is my largest selling territory for steel bikes by the brand thanks to the retailers I service. These cyclists understand the merits of a good quality steel bicycle. 


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Proteus Bicycles doesn't not carry one of the big four brands. They do not have walls of sterile white slat wall. They also do not carry parts and accessories by a brand that demands only said-brand and their brand only. (You ever walk into a bike shop and 4/5 of the merch racks are XYZ branded pumps, cages, etc?) Proteus is not staffed by employees who will snicker about your flouro riding jacket when you leave the counter after purchasing a clip-on helmet mirror. Proteus Bicycles stocks what they believe in and feels you'll like what they stock.

Helpful, kind, good karma, empathetic- would be a fist full of descriptive words for Laurie, Ben and the crew at Proteus Bicycles. They believe that cycling should be enjoyed on your terms, the way you want to interpret the bicycle- be it cyclocross, adventure cycling, mountain biking, commuting or touring.

Proteus Bicycles was a frame building shop decades ago. Despite the frame building going away, some of the old branded steel bicycles make their way through the shop doors for service or restoration. 

I've been calling on Proteus since 2008, the shop has been staffed lean and efficiently over the years and has the least amount of turnover with it's employees compared to many larger bicycle retailers in the area.

What little to no employee turnover means for a business. 
-Better customer relationships; due to the staff knowing their customer base and their needs. 
-A higher retention of product knowledge due to long term exposure of stocked goods. 
-The closure of sales are greater from a retail manager perspective due to the staff matching the cyclist with exactly what they are looking for.

Sharks find their food, goldfish wait to be fed.
Retailers need to be sharks and find their food. Goldfish die because they wait to be fed. Do this by going out and getting customers! 

This is achieved through Proteus Bicycle's group rides, Pot Luck Dinner on Thursday evenings and political involvement through cycling advocacy like the Tim Johnson's Ride on Washington. All of this outreaching, builds community for the business. When the retail selling season slows during the winter months, the faucet does not totally turn off for Proteus. Service work still comes in, bike sales still ring at the register and accessories like cold weather shoe covers and winter cycling jackets keep the local bike commuters out on their routes- all thanks to loyalty and friendship that's cultivated during Proteus events.

Feb 28, 2013 Proteus Bikes/ Pot luck night.

Great low cost advertising--
Everyone likes a nice bicycle jersey and this winter Laurie and Ben are using their Pot Luck dinner nights to size up their customers for the 2013 shop jersey. The jersey fit kit is hanging on the racks. Last Thursday's Greek themed Pot Luck brought smiles, full stomachs and hopeful conversation that Spring will be here soon enough so the new jerseys will see some miles on the area roads.

Back to steel road bikes-- 
The roads are not the best in this area. Budgets are tight, spirits never fade for cycling and riders want the best ride quality and utility they can get for their money. Carbon road bikes on a non-Pro level provide the rider with almost vibration free ride at the cost of several hundred dollars more than a quality steel framed version. This is where Bianchi steel bicycles come in to play.

Steel frame manufacturing has decreased in demand over the years as the market has shifted towards aluminum and carbon frames. The bikes Bianchi has in their steel range are produced in relatively low numbers, are not cheap hi-tensile (low strength) steel like the latest outcropping of glam-euro city bikes, and are typically air hardened double butted tubing. In the case of the 2013 Vigorelli, Reynolds 631 seamlessly drawn tubes is used for construction of the frame. 

Last Thursday as I ate from my bowl of pasta and wandered the shop, I witness a terrific collection of steel bikes for the adventure cyclist (Volpe), classic road rider (Imola, Vigorelli), commuter (Campione) and the minimalist (Pista). 

All of this adds up to shopping and a test ride you need to experience. If you're there on a Thursday evening looking for a new bicycle, grab a taste of their Pot Luck. You won't regret it!