Shop Talk

• Written by Calvin on May 19, 2011/Park Tool News

  TOUR OF CALIFORNIA UPDATE—Stage 2

  The Race within the Race.

  It's easy to see what makes a bike race a bike race. It's very simple, who ever crosses the finish line first is the winner. Well, within the Amgen Tour of California there are more races going on that don't necessarily take place on bicycles. To me as a staff member, some of these races carry more prestige and importance than who wins the overall General Classification.

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• Written by Calvin on May 18, 2011/Park Tool News

  TOUR OF CALIFORNIA UPDATE—Stage 1

  Today was a day I may never forget.

  The Tour of California is scheduled to start today in Lake Tahoe. It is very strange to wake up the day of a bike race and to look out my hotel window to see heavy snow falling from the sky. By the time we checked out of our hotel room and made it to breakfast, the snow was still falling. Not much was sticking to the ground, but all of our team vehicles had several inches of fresh snow accumulating on them.

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• Written by Calvin on May 17, 2011/Park Tool News

  TOUR OF CALIFORNIA UPDATE—Stage "None"

  I arrived in South Lake Tahoe, NV almost a full 72 hours before the start of the 2011 "Amen" Tour of California. It took me 2 days to drive from my new home in Colorado. I had the team's trailer parked in my front yard after the SRAM Tour of Gila, where I was prepping equipment for the upcoming 8 day stage race. The trailer was completely full, with just about all of the team's race bikes and race wheels, so after the halfway point in between Denver to South Lake Tahoe I pulled over at a truck stop.

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• Written by Calvin on May 11, 2011/Calvin's Corner

  2011 Cycle Speedway World Championships

  Cycle Speedway is a type of bicycle racing that is not well known in the USA. It is an international sport, but Speedway's creation was in the United Kingdom. It consists of relatively short anaerobic races at outdoor facilities built for the purpose. The cinder track is absolutely flat and short, between 70–90 meters, and events are usually four laps long.

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• Written by Calvin on May 5, 2011/Calvin's Corner

  To Fixie, or Not to Fixie... Why Not Some of Each With the SRAM® Torpedo® Hub?

  The article will review the service and installation of the SRAM® Torpedo® fix & free rear hub. Torpedo® branded hubs have a long history of coaster brake hub systems. SRAM® offers an interesting option in the Torpedo® fix & free hub. This hub allows freewheeling as any one-speed freewheel bike, but can then be adjusted without removing the wheel from the bike to a fixed gear option. The fixed-freewheel adjusting screw drives into the hub and displaces a carriage that frees a second set of internal locking pawls. This second set of pawls locks the rear cog from turning either direction.

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• Written by Calvin on April 28, 2011/Park Tool News

  Pro Mechanic Eric Jellum reports from Asia

  One of the most enjoyable experiences of my job as the head mechanic of the Kelly Benefit Strategies - Optum Health Cycling Team is when the team travels to new exotic international races. For the first race of the year, the KBS - Optum Health squad visited Singapore for the OCBC criterium and also competed in the Jalajah Malaysia stage race. Along with the 6 riders traveling over to Asia there were 3 staff members supporting the racers.

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• Written by Karl on April 19, 2011/Park Tool News

  Eric Hawkins named Small Business Executive of the Year

  Park Tool President Eric Hawkins received a BRAINy award at the recent Bicycle Leadership Conference. Hawkins was chosen by the staff of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News as the Executive of the Year for small businesses in the cycling industry.

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• Written by Karl on April 15, 2011/Park Tool News

  Park Tool in Roubaix

  Some good shots on velonews.com of Park Tool equipment being used in Roubaix, France after the big Paris-Roubaix race April 10, 2011.

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• Written by Karl on April 1, 2011/Park Tool News

  Park Tool Company Announces Tool Sharpening Service to the Bicycle Industry

  Park Tool now offers a sharpening service for cutting and machining tools. The facers, reamers and taps are the expensive part of the cutting tool system so extra care needs to be taken to ensure smooth cuts and long life. Dull cutters can produce poor results and waste time. Cutters that are regularly sharpened are faster, safer, easier to use and produce better results.

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• Written by Karl on March 3, 2011/Park Tool News

  iceBike Open House 2011

  Pictured in this article is our European Show Display. This booth features almost our entire product line, and travels all over Europe attending consumer and trade shows in several different countries.

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