To continue with the pro-rider appreciation, we cannot forget this great personality. Yet another big stack this year but Jens Voigt is never one to give up voluntarily. Click the image for some classic Jens gold…
And for the curious, here’s today’s current bike-lust focus. The Nicolai Ion ST. I’ll take one please. Scroll down on this here website and check out the ridiculously sexy orange colour scheme.
July 22nd, 2010 | Add comment | Posted by Mischa
I’m a bit of a fan of the ol’ Mountain Bike Race. You know the ones where you have to ride up steep hills and down steep hills on the same bike. The ones that aren’t DH races or XC races, but fall somewhere in the massive space between the two disciplines. The kind of races that test skills and equipment and usually end with lots of dirty people standing around drinking beer and talking shit. The races that are as much about celebrating the fine sport of mountain biking as they are the winning riders.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t actually race ‘em myself, but it’s good to know they’re out there. Stuff like the Downieville, 4Queens & naturally the Mega Avalanche events. We even had the Wellington Super-D in Hobart earlier this year.
Here’s a little video from DirtTV, featuring footage from the latest Mega Avalanche. Enjoy.
July 20th, 2010 | Add comment | Posted by Mischa
Nothing quite like two skinny men in tight lycra trying to have a bit of fisticuffs. Things can get a little heated in the peleton…
July 11th, 2010 | Add comment | Posted by Mischa
A good six months ago I put in an order for the cycling film 24 Solo. It was out of stock at the time so it went on back order. Four months later it hadn’t arrived so I followed it up, only to be told that some muppet had lost the master disc and they couldn’t actually press any more DVDs until they found it. Idiots.
The same people are making the following cycling film, so I’m hoping that no one kooks it this time and I might actually be able to watch it. It looks orright…
July 6th, 2010 | Add comment | Posted by Mischa
With the big lap of France just around the corner I find myself wondering who will capture the hearts of spectators in this year’s installment. We all have our favorites and it’s safe to say the most interesting riders are not always the best. Sure we’re keen for Cadel to fly the flag for Australia and all that but lets be honest, the dude is terminally boring. Contador is a right nonce, and Armstrong is so conceited I’m surprised no one has thrown a stick in his spokes. It’s the guys that have zero chance of winning but don’t mind a bit of fun that become the cult heroes of the race.
Thomas Voeckler loves a yellow jersey and doesn’t mind showing it off, a bit of a crowd favorite.
Robbie McEwen wins stages, pops wheelies and calls a spade a spade, a true Australian hero.
But here at Bottles and Chains we champion the riders that aren’t afraid to flaunt the rules and get loose. Thats why we can’t wait for someone to emulate our favorite rider of all time, a legend who didn’t mind quitting as soon as there was a hill, a guy who paid the fine for not riding in uniform every day so he could race around in stupid shorts…
June 29th, 2010 | 1 comment | Posted by Nic
Can you tell I’m bored on the internet tonight? Luckily for you hapless souls it means more pointless content that you’ll regret ever bothering to read. In fact, most of the time while I’m writing it my finger is hovering around the backspace key and my head is filled with with self-doubt and despair. It’s true.
A few weeks (months?) back the highly motivated and deadline-driven crew over at House of Pistard (by which I mean Xander) launched their webshop, which definitely hasn’t been delayed for the last several years and has had no mention of excuses as to its lack of existance or anything like that. It appeared on time and on target and anyone who says otherwise is a goddamn liar. Over at the HoP shop you can purchase attractive garments printed with clever and aesthetically pleasing designs. They’ll be posted to your door and you’ll be the envy of all your friends.
This all kicked off a while ago and in fact, I visited the shop the moment it was open and bought a bunch of shit. I decided not to post anything because otherwise I end up wearing the same t-shirts as everyone else and looking like a complete goose (more so than usual). So in the interest of self-interest and complete disregard for anyone else, I decided to be a bastard and leave you all to figure it out for yourselves. Given that HoP has a bigger following than BnC, that’s not really a concern, but I did feel a little bad about it. So now here’s a link to the HoP compound and also to their shop, so you can go buy some sweet shit and we can all hang out at the pub together admiring each others t-shirts and talking about how edgy and underground we are for wearing a courier-run brand from the other side of the world. Or maybe it’ll just be me.
The following website contains the teenie-tiniest navigation you’ll ever see, so if you’re some kind of hyper-GUI-sensitive freak or struggle to read anything smaller than font size 12 then it may be worth enlisting a nearby small child to help you out. I was meandering through Seb Kemp’s blog 2Flat earlier and he happened to link to a chap called Jordan Manley. I’m a sucker for a good MTB photo, especially one that kicks the tedious ‘high speed berm with ten flash units and mud’ cliche. Jordan’s work definitely does that. Not sure why I haven’t come across it before, but now that I have I’m happily appreciating it as much as possible via this here laptop. It’s photography like this that tears me out of my chair and onto my bike and I don’t think you can ask for anything better from a mountain bike photograph. It serves as an awesome reminder of how epic it can be out on the trail and how the machines we ride may take all our money and make everyone else look at us funny but they rule our world with good reason.
Liam, Ben, Jordy, and anyone else who loves shutterspeeds and apertures, go have a look.
June 25th, 2010 | 2 comments | Posted by Mischa
Right, the weekend’s here. If you’re anything like me, you’ve got a brand new mountain bike that is desperately screaming out to be thrashed to pieces on the local trails, but you’ve been smashed down by a stupid fucking dose of the flu and will instead spend the next two days snivelling at work and drowning in self-pity and MTB DVDs on the couch. Sucks to be us.
If you’re stuck inside due to some kind of illness or whithering disability then you’ll probably end up on a computer wasting time looking for weird porn on the internet, or trying to guess your mates’ facebook passwords. I’ve got a better idea. A few heads have been contacting me and asking for blatant product endorsement in exchange for bizarre sexual favours (I don’t know what your ‘link’ is, nor am I sure I wish to trade one with you) through the use of strangely template-like e-mails. However, given that I’m in a charitable mood (read: I’m hoping someone will send me free shit) I though I’d pass them on. Here are two that actually seems fairly decent and look to be good heads doing good things, which I think is good for everyone.
Firstly, the kids at the Gutter Bunny Project are putting together a bunch of footage from around the world. They’re after people with helmet cams (or anyone good at riding one-handed) to shoot some video of you cycling through an ‘urban environment’. It’s all going towards some kind of art project, which will hopefully involved an opening with free beer and maybe some cheese. Go have a gander at their website then dig out your old family camcorder and film yourself riding things.
Link: The Gutter Bunny Project
The next one is a little more commercial, and I usually shy away from posting this kind of stuff (I think? Maybe I always say that but keep posting it anyway). Regardless, I’m a huge fan of companies doing things ethically and with a decent amount of respect for fellow humans and the planet we live on. If everyone supported local industries and did their best to look after the people who work with them, the world would be a better place (and I’d hear less whinging about the internet from my boss). Now they did actually refer to us as ‘bikes and chains’ at one point in their e-mail, so hopefully by ignoring that and showing plenty of good will and co-operation they will in turn send me a bunch of free stuff (size S thank you, I’m a skinny cyclist after all). It’s all eco-friendly and you can track the journey your garment has made across the world using google maps, just as if your t-shirt was a real person. These kind of small companies are doing good stuff and setting standards that will hopefully be taken up by the bigger guys as people start realising how important it is. But anyway, they’re a clothing crew based on some island called Wight, and given my general appreciations of islands in general, I’ll now post a link to their website where you can give them your money in exchange for eco-friendly goods. I’ll be waiting for mine in the mail!
Link: Rapanui Eco Brand
That’s it for now. Stay tuned for some gruesome injury photos that I’ve been promised by a damaged reader.
June 25th, 2010 | Add comment | Posted by Mischa
Would you believe it’s happening again? Apparently people love riding in inappropriate clothing whilst sporting a bad hangover and memories that will haunt them for life. Who can blame ‘em? The Aussie SS Nats are always a shitload of fun (I’d imagine, I’ve only actually been to one, and I may be biased). Most of the time you don’t even need to own a single speed bike, so long as you don’t mind sacrificing a gear cable or two. They tell me riding a singlespeed is all about sticking it to the man, so I’d recommend wearing a sex pistols t-shirt on the day. I’ve yet to find any man and stick it to him, but I’m sure you’ll all have more luck than me.
Anyway, enough bullshit. Get involved, you won’t regret it!
Hi all
Registration is now open for the 2010 Australian Single Speed Nationals.
The 2010 Australian Single Speed Nationals will be held in the legendary Majura Pines in Canberra over the weekend of 10-12 September 2010. Festivities kick off on Friday night with racing to be held on both Saturday and Sunday. There’ll be a hill climb, a time trial, tests of skill, courage and determination, and of course the XC race. Camping will be available at Innabaanya campsite adjacent to Majura Pines and there’ll be a fun-filled social program.
Sponsors include Coopers, Mal-Adjusted Bicycle Emporium and shhh! bikes and we’re finalising details with two other major sponsors.
Numbers are limited so get in early with your registration. We’re also bringing back the Australian Single Speed Nationals anti-jersey but you’ll have to be quick as jersey orders will close on 15 July to ensure jerseys are available for collection on the weekend.
Check out the website – www.ssnats.org.au – for all the details and to register.
Any questions, feel free to e-mail info@ssnats.org.au.
Please pass this e-mail on to any like-minded souls and start spreading the love.
See you in September.
Cheers
Michael
Canberra One Gear Society
www.ssnats.org.au
June 25th, 2010 | 1 comment | Posted by Mischa
Ah, the soft lull of winter! Everything quietens a little, and apparently the BnC website is no different. Things are still ticking here, albeit slowly and softly. Sometimes it’s just hard to crawl out from under the couch doona and away from the world cup. Never mind that the TdF starts next month, which will lead to a few more weeks of hibernation and bleary eyed days. But it’s winter, right? That’s what we’re meant to do.
Not everyone’s dead quiet though. Jordy and the BnC crew up in Launceston have been tearing it up on the streets of the city. They’ve kicked off the Launceston Fixedwheel Club (LFC) and have been trashing wheels and tearing tyres fairly regularly by the seems of it. If you’re in the area you should get involved. Can’t go wrong with skids and beers as far as I’m concerned. Go check their FB page for details and snaps and good times.
On a more selfish note, I’ve got some more shit for sale. What’s the point of a blog if I can’t flog my unwanted shit on it, right? Most of this is pretty decent gear, so get involved.
Item #1
Wheelset – DT Swiss XR400 rims laced to a 15/20mm Chub front hub and a DT Swiss 340 135mm rear. Double butted black spokes and alloy nipples. Never ridden, never installed. Throwing in a set of new Kenda Small Block Eight tyres and some tubes. They’re $600 (or about $1,300 if you built them yourself). Came off a build kit last week.
Here’s a picture, click to make it big:
Item #2
Brakeset – Avid Elixir CRs with 6″ rotors. Alloy levers. Again, brand new and never installed. Awesome brakes, just not what I wanted. Grab ‘em for $420 (inc. postage within Australia). No photo, they look just like the ones on the website.
Item #3
Bicycle – This one’s a pearler! A vintage Michalo road bike in beautiful condition. Sized at 54cm square (c-c). Built by Ron Mitten in Tassie back in 1983, it’s barely been ridden since then. Tubing is Tange Championship #1, their top end tubeset. The componentry is a bit of a mix of Shimano, Sachs, Suntour, Dia-Compe, Tange, etc but all looks to be in great condition. Windowed lugs. Beautiful bike that needs little more than a clean up to become a prime road machine. Someone really needs to ride this thing, ’cause it doesn’t fit me and deserves better than my garage. Out the door at $600!
This is a kinda shitty picture, but you get the idea…
Item #4
Bicycle – Another old schooler. Columbus tubed vintage roadie decked out in a bit of a mix of Shimano and Campagnolo components and wheels. The frame’s super nice, but it has a couple of small dings and scratches, and the paint job kinda sucks (British racing green). Lots of nice bits on it though. This one’s a 56cm square (c-c). Selling it ’cause I never actually got around to riding it. No pictures, but hit me up if you might be interested and I’ll take some snaps. Chasin’ $350 for that sucker.
Just e-mail info[at]bottlesandchains.com if you’re interested in anything. Give me money and I will provide you with quality goods! Sweeeeet.
Anyway, enough of the selling shit. Continue on with your day!
June 17th, 2010 | 3 comments | Posted by Mischa
Neil pointed me in the direction of the CyclingFans.com website the other day. Amongst other good things, it has some great shots from the Tour of California by Michael Crook. Go have a look. I also found a shot of Tassie boy Jai Crawford on his website, which was a bit of a spin-out.
Yep.
May 28th, 2010 | Add comment | Posted by Mischa
