Tuesday, June 29, 2010

FMB Cyclocross and Road Tubular pre-order going in

Hi Folks,
I am putting in my annual FMB tubular order next week. I am going to be doing cyclocross and road tubulars this time around. I highly suggest pre-ordering so that you can get exactly what you need and my stock always runs out fast. Francois Marie makes his tubulars by hand in the tradition of the great tire makers of old. Everything except for the tread and the tube is made in his shop on the Brittany coast of France.

He has a wide range of cyclocross treads available. He has two treads of his own design: the SSC and the SSC Sprint. The SSC is a good all-around tread that excels on dry hard-park. The SSC Sprint is a fantastic file tread. It has bulkier side knobs than most file treads which allow it to be used more in a wider range of conditions. He also has the Racing Ralph tread (the FMB Gripo XL), which is a more aggressive tread. He also has the Challenge treads at his disposal (the Grifo, Grifo XS, and Fango). The Fango is the only tread that may be in limited quantities. He is in the process of trying to get more. I might suggest the Grifo as an alternative. While the Fango was originally touted as a tread for muddy conditions, it never really met those expectations though it is a great all-arounder. The Challenge treads are only available on 32 and 34 mm casings. The SSC, SSC Sprint and Gripo XL are available on 30, 32, and 34 mm casings.

On the road side, I will be doing the Competition CX 22, the Paris-Roubaix 25 and Paris-Roubaix 27. The construction of the three is similar, but the larger Paris-Roubaix tubulars get a slightly different tread that comes a bit further down the sidewall of the casing.

The deadline for order and payment is July 6. Please contact me through my website at the link below and I will email you an order form. Francois said delivery would be 6-7 weeks, so they'll be in with plenty of time before the first big races.

Contact Page

Thanks, everyone. Cross is right around the corner!
zank

Thursday, June 10, 2010

A happy fella

David came by to pick up his new bike today. The paint is Baffin blue with a blue pearl coat. Hammered Honjo fenders, Ultegra, and a smart pick on the rest of the components equals an ultra versatile and dependable bike. We'll see him on it at D2R2 in August.

Thanks, David! It's been a blast working with you on this bike.